Verbal commits

[tsull]

Following VC on Twitter, I think they are dropping down. I just don’t think we are seeing them in the GNAC for whatever reason. I’m not sure if the GNAC coaches prefer JC kids who have been through the grind over D1 drop downs that think they are too good for D2? Or if they just haven’t been attracted to GNAC schools. The last D1 drop down UAA had was 3 years or so ago with Darius Guinn who quickly found himself out of the rotation and not playing. I’m not sure what the deal was but he never looked happy at UAA and left after one season.

Great report, it does seem like the conference coaches do prefer junior college players and I'm not against that since Division 1 isn't recruiting the junior colleges much anymore. That said, there needs to be a combination of in-state prep players, in-state junior college players and out-of-state players.

All Division II programs are regional, not national programs and the only way they will get a fan base is to have some sort of local interest. At Western Oregon our theoryof late has been to go to California to get most of our players and its resulted in some pretty bad won-oss records. Last year the team had one in-state player on the roster in Benzel and I thought he was the best player. For decades our bread and butter has been the Northwest and I believe the reason the latest coaching staff is struggling is because they've gone away from that.

I am encouraged that they seem to be returning to that in this year's recruiting class. I'm not against getting some Californians but you can't have your entire roster that way and then lose games like crazy. I won't speak for Alaska Anchorage but there's some talent up there that could play at UAA and I think they should get it being the big university in the big city in the state. It's rather obvious.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

CWU's coach is an exception, really targeting the D1 guys (Camron McNeil, Samaad Hector, Seth Dawson, etc). Just none so far in this current recruiting class.

[Anchorage]

UAA added a 6’3 guard from 5-22 Nebraska Kearney. Looks like depth to their rebuild of their guards.

[Anchorage]

Former SPU guard Maui Sze ends up at Asuza Pacific.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

WWU just picked up a JUCO transfer forward from Sacramento City College in Dajon Lott. Last season he averaged 21 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game. Only had 1 other offer from Academy of Art, which seems surprising. Big much needed recruit for Western as they rebuild to replace 4 departed starters

[D2Rover]

WWU just picked up a JUCO transfer forward from Sacramento City College in Dajon Lott. Last season he averaged 21 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game. Only had 1 other offer from Academy of Art, which seems surprising. Big much needed recruit for Western as they rebuild to replace 4 departed starters

Heard rumour a lot of D2 coaches just assumed he was a D1 guy so he didn't get a lot of D2 looks.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

CWU adds Arizona former 6A player of the year in Garrett Anderson, a 6'6" guard from SJSU. Central seems to do a really good job of bringing in division 1 transfers (Cameron McNeil, Samaad Hector)

[Goods]

CWU's offseason looks incredible based on the accolades of the incoming commits. My biggest concern (besides the fact that the season is 5 months away) is the chemistry. If you have five stars who expect to take all the shots or only one who comes back on transition defense, you could have not only a mediocre season, but so much negativity that it sets you back a couple of seasons. But we're clearly on the upward track. It took some time, but we're in a good place.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

CWU's offseason looks incredible based on the accolades of the incoming commits. My biggest concern (besides the fact that the season is 5 months away) is the chemistry. If you have five stars who expect to take all the shots or only one who comes back on transition defense, you could have not only a mediocre season, but so much negativity that it sets you back a couple of seasons. But we're clearly on the upward track. It took some time, but we're in a good place.

I haven't seen that at all since Rinta became coach. In the Sparling days with guys like Mark McLaughlin and Dom Williams there was certainly more selfish play and no defense. But since Rinta was hired, the team play and defense has been so much better. CWU never has superstar players and that's why they never have GNAC 1st Team selections. But the balance has been so good and this year's recruiting class has a lot of balance. And with the new added size CWU has always needed to compete against the best teams, I think CWU now has to be a favorite to make the Sweet 16.

[tsull]

Seems like CWU had a tremendous recruiting season. Could someone post their new recruits and heights and any bio information? Thanks.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Fairbanks is getting a former CWU player in Jalai O'Keith. Didn't play much for the Wildcats but played last season at East LA College where he averaged 7.3 mpg

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

CWU signs Richland HS 6'10" Luke Westerfield. He is the fourth player on Central's roster at least 6'9" or up what could be the tallest roster they've ever had

[Anchorage]

Fairbanks is getting a former CWU player in Jalai O'Keith. Didn't play much for the Wildcats but played last season at East LA College where he averaged 7.3 mpg

yeah that’s kind of where you have to go when starting recruiting on July 1st. Guys that have ability but haven’t put it together yet for one reason or another. You basically are compiling lottery tickets hoping that a couple of them are able to put it together with opportunity/playing time they may not have previously been afforded.

UAA just landed their seventh and final recruit, a freshman guard from Anchorage. He’s going to be way back on the depth chart but could have gone to Fairbanks for a lot more opportunity and sooner. Still chose UAA.

70 to 80% of the state talent comes from Anchorage and Mat Valley area. Most go out of state for JC but many have been coming back for their jr and sr years. They are going to UAA and only one (Demarcus Hall Scrivens) has chosen UAF in the last 4 or 5 years. Those are recruiting battles that UAF probably needs to win a lot more of. It’s doubtful that 60 year old former Monroe Catholic coach is going to appeal to an east side Anchorage kid but that’s probably why he quickly went after Tobin as his lead assistant. Tobin is going to have to convince those kids to come up there while Rusty is telling them that they don’t want to go to 40 below Fairbanks that rarely beats UAA, doesn’t have the facilities UAA has and there is nothing for them to do up there.

It’s a tough gig in Fairbanks which is why Sparling got up here and realized that going after lower 48 kids that don’t know what they are getting themselves into was the easier route. Bring them up in April and May for recruiting trips when the weather isn’t so bad.

It will be interesting which way the staff up there look when building their roster over the next few years. Can Tobin bring in enough Alaskan kids to give them quality depth and local appeal? Or will they recruit exclusively out of Alaska as many coaches before them have?

[Anchorage]

Looks like UAF landed former 2019 Alaska all-state player Chris Lee. Talented but it hasn’t worked out for the kid to this point. Started off at Pima CC in Arizona but quickly left after the short Covid season. Sat out for a year before joining Edmonds of the NWAC where he posted pretty good numbers in the NWAC even if his 3 ball percentage dipped his sophomore season to just 32%. 6’3 SG, very athletic and a lightening first step. Was originally recruited out of HS very hard by UAA but went JC to chase the elusive D1 scholarship. After his roller coaster JC career finally ends he ends up signing extremely late with a UAF team starting basically from scratch. Maybe they can get something out of him but I think what held him back is he can be a bit of a ball stopper. That becomes Frank’s first objective with him, get Chris to play the game the right way and not always try to be a superstar.

UAF also landed a 6’4 athlete/defensive specialist from the California JC system. Mike Miller played at San Bernardino CC where he averaged 14 a game but struggled scoring the ball. Shooting just 40% from the field and 28% from 3.

Frank and Tobin doing what we expected, grabbing available talented and athletic guys who haven’t panned out to this point.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

CWU already dishing out offers for the 2025 recruiting class. CWU just offered hometown Ellensburg rising senior 6'9" Garrett Marrs, "little" brother of Oregon State 7-footer Gavin. https://x.com/GarrettMarrs1/status/1813352023636717776