Summer signings

[tsull]

According to verbal commits, lots of summer signings the last few weeks. Looks like St. Martin's is doing quite well, they're going to be a force for awhile. UAA and UA appear to have done well with in-state signings, which I like.

My WOU Wolves as usual keeps things top secret, away from those pesky fans, not announcing any signings, though they have one new JC guy apparently. Maybe they're miffed that their 3-person recruiting class from a couple years ago all left before playing any games. It's a locked vault in Monmouth, top secret, don't tell anyone about our teams! Don't get that theory. The coach could change this if he wanted to.

[tsull]

UAA signing ...

https://goseawolves.com/news/2023/5/...star-tosi.aspx

Anchorage can add to this, large UAA recruiting class.

Articles on all new UAA players on their website.

[tsull]

One of 4 UAF signings, articles on all UAF players on their website:

https://alaskananooks.com/news/2023/...asketball.aspx

[tsull]

St. Martin's picks up 2 D1 transfers:

https://smusaints.com/news/2023/7/8/...24-season.aspx

[tsull]

WWU signs four, just click on the dots ... got a high-scoring JC guard from Mt. Hood CC in Oregon, averaged 27 mpg and was the NWAC South player of the year.

https://wwuvikings.com/sports/mens-basketball

[tsull]

Simon Fraser signing, more to come, according to the article:

https://athletics.sfu.ca/sports/mens-basketball

[tsull]

Northwest Nazarene signs four: one D1 transfer, one local JC, two preps.

https://verbalcommits.com/conferences/gnac

[Anchorage]

Yeah UAA picked up a few in-state guys. UAA will be small again with a slew of 6’7 and under guys. One freshman big man who probably won’t play a lot. UAA will probably get killed on the boards again a lot of nights and their 3 point shooting looks ok at best. Going to be reliant on activity and ball movement to be successful, and a tough defense. Bigger teams that can slow the game down on them will probably find great success again.

[tsull]

WWU adds a 7-footer. Class has two local preps from Sehome High, the touted 27 ppg Mt. Hood CC transfer, the 7-footer, and Seattle U. transfer. I'm not WWU fan that's for sure, but they certainly helped themselves with their latest recruits.

https://wwuvikings.com/sports/mens-basketball

Still waiting on the other Western, my alma mater ... not sure what's going on, crickets, or getting killed in recruiting.

[tsull]

UAA adds another, Cali JC guard, 7th player in the class, but as noted by Anchorage, very short. The latest guy is 6-1 and not a lot of height in the class.

https://goseawolves.com/news/2023/7/...backcourt.aspx

[Anchorage]

UAA adds another, Cali JC guard, 7th player in the class, but as noted by Anchorage, very short. The latest guy is 6-1 and not a lot of height in the class.

https://goseawolves.com/news/2023/7/...backcourt.aspx

I understand the desire to play a more perimeter based game but Rusty is looking at this like it’s 2016…he continues to be 8 years behind the trend.

If you are going to play without a traditional big man then you need size at the other positions because rebounding is important as most teams have figured out. They should be playing two 6’7 dudes and a 6’6 guy at the 3 and a 6’4 two guard. That’s how you play “small ball”. Too often UAA plays 5’10, 5’11, 6’2, 6’4 and 6’7 on the court. Too many mismatches defensively occur and battling on the glass become impossible. You can’t get out in run if the other team has an easy time scoring and/or continues to grab second chance opportunities.

I just don’t think he understands where the game is at in the year 2023. You can’t be tiny and think we are just are going to outrun and gun everyone. Teams will exploit your overall lack of size. Nova Southeastern had 7 guys over 6’7. Western Liberty had 10 guys 6’3/6’4 and over, 4 guys over 6’7. And both were athletic on top of it. UAA is neither of those things. I don’t understand what he’s thinking doubling down on that type of roster again after last years debacle of a season.

But really UAA’s identify and culture has been built around a top notch big man, that’s always when they’ve had the most success so I don’t know why he is trying to fix what isn’t broke, They just went to the conference finals with Oggie…so now why are we building around 5’10 and 6’2 guys? None of what is happening up here makes any sense from a winning basketball perspective but I am glad that they are getting more local kids to come back after JC. Locals are important from a community perspective.

[tsull]

I understand the desire to play a more perimeter based game but Rusty is looking at this like it’s 2016…he continues to be 8 years behind the trend.

If you are going to play without a traditional big man then you need size at the other positions because rebounding is important as most teams have figured out. They should be playing two 6’7 dudes and a 6’6 guy at the 3 and a 6’4 two guard. That’s how you play “small ball”. Too often UAA plays 5’10, 5’11, 6’2, 6’4 and 6’7 on the court. Too many mismatches defensively occur and battling on the glass become impossible. You can’t get out in run if the other team has an easy time scoring and/or continues to grab second chance opportunities.

I just don’t think he understands where the game is at in the year 2023. You can’t be tiny and think we are just are going to outrun and gun everyone. Teams will exploit your overall lack of size. Nova Southeastern had 7 guys over 6’7. Western Liberty had 10 guys 6’3/6’4 and over, 4 guys over 6’7. And both were athletic on top of it. UAA is neither of those things. I don’t understand what he’s thinking doubling down on that type of roster again after last years debacle of a season.

But really UAA’s identify and culture has been built around a top notch big man, that’s always when they’ve had the most success so I don’t know why he is trying to fix what isn’t broke, They just went to the conference finals with Oggie…so now why are we building around 5’10 and 6’2 guys? None of what is happening up here makes any sense from a winning basketball perspective but I am glad that they are getting more local kids to come back after JC. Locals are important from a community perspective.

If I recall, WOU has recent success vs. a higher ranked UAA squad by pounding it inside. Morrill-Keeler and Benzel were pretty good D2 inside players. They need to replace Morrill-Keeler, haven't heard anything yet. I'm glad Benzel is back, he's got great hops and is a fine player. I wish they could've gotten an extra year out of Cobb, the backup post, I liked his energy. I'm counting six returnees and one 6-5 JC guy signed. I hope they don't go tiny either, like you said, it's not going to work. I'm not against the small man playing hoops, but you need quality big men.

[tsull]

Central Washington University just signed a bunch of guys, according to verbal commits. I'd rather have CWU Nation comment on these as he knows more about the program than I do. Looks like they did pick up some quality players, however.

[tsull]

The strange goings on at WOU -- and I know few if any are reading this or care -- one JC guy signed, five or more slots open. No news, nothing. Women's hoops is worse, new coach hired, roster is completely empty. No one listed. Wonder if she's running the entire team, which was actually OK last year. Seeing WOU recruiting trends of late in most sports, guessing women's hoops ignores the state of Oregon, thinking that's a great idea, lose like crazy, then get out of Dodge. At least the track & field coach knows what he's doing.

[Anchorage]

The strange goings on at WOU -- and I know few if any are reading this or care -- one JC guy signed, five or more slots open. No news, nothing. Women's hoops is worse, new coach hired, roster is completely empty. No one listed. Wonder if she's running the entire team, which was actually OK last year. Seeing WOU recruiting trends of late in most sports, guessing women's hoops ignores the state of Oregon, thinking that's a great idea, lose like crazy, then get out of Dodge. At least the track & field coach knows what he's doing.

I don’t know why this is but more and more schools are keeping their signees bottled up until right before school. It seems like Fairbanks did a similar thing a few years ago. I’ve seen others do the same thing, like nothing even on VC till late either, I have no idea what the advantages would be of announcing late.