Top College Basketball Recruiting Classes for 2007

Tonight marks the culmination of events that began in mid-October when teams began practicing with one goal in mind: win the national championship. For Florida or Ohio State, it will become a reality. For everyone else, they can look forward to next year and the fruits of their seemingly ceaseless recruiting pitches.

Data from Rivals.com

1. Kansas St.
***** Michael Beasley, PF, 6-9 235 (1)
***** Bill Walker, SF, 6-6 220 (7)
*** Dominique Sutton, SF, 6-4 195 (97)
*** Fred Brown, SG, 6-3 185
*** Jacob Pullen, PG, 6-1 175

Next year, Kansas State will not be in the discussion as a bubble team, because they’ll have top recruit Michael Beasley playing the 4 for them. Bill Walker should be able to return from injury and the Wildcats should return most of its players. Not to mention, Bill Huggins will have another year to mold his players to his likening.

2. Syracuse Orange
***** Donte Green, SF, 6-9 217 (10)
***** Johnny Flynn, PG, 5-11 170 (22)
**** Antonio Jardine, SG, 6-1 180 (57)
**** Rick Jackson, PF, 6-8 235 (95)
*** Sean Williams, C, 6-11 220

The Orange reloads at every position, with Flynn and Green leading the recruiting class. Syracuse will need leadership at the guard and forward, as they lose crucial starters in both areas. The maturation process of Paul Harris may play a big role in determining how far these Orange may go next season.

3. USC Trojans
***** OJ Mayo, PG, 6-5 215 (6)
***** Davon Jefferson, SF, 6-7 190 (15 – class of 2006)
*** Leonard Washington, SF, 6-6 225 (108)
*** Venoy Overton, PG, 6-0 165
*** Marcus Simmons, SF, 6-4 175

USC was 10 minutes and a couple of fresh bodies away from upending #1 seed North Carolina in the East region. Next year, that excuse won’t apply, as the Trojans have reloaded with speed and skill. Note to Tim Floyd: Keep OJ Mayo on the court and out of trouble.

4. Arizona Wildcats
***** Jerryd Bayless, SG, 6-3 193 (9)
***** Jamelle Horne, SF, 6-7 205 (19)
*** Laval Lucas-Perry, PG, 6-1 191 (128)
*** Zane Johnson, SF, 6-6 200 (132)
*** Alex Jacobson, C, 7-1 223

Lute Olsen is just dying for leadership. He didn’t get it with Mustapha Shakur and he’s hoping that Bayless is more than a one-and-done player. Horne will immediately step into the Marcus Williams role, who’s more than likely NBA-bound. With that said, will Jacobson fill the shoes of Ivan Radenovic, who was by far, the most consistent player on last year’s underachieving roster.

5. Florida Gators
***** Nick Calathes, PG, 6-5 185 (13)
**** Chandler Parsons, SF, 6-8 190 (21)
**** Alex Tyus, PF, 6-8 210 (47)
**** Adam Allen, SF, 6-6 185 (68)

With this recruiting class, you can expect a mass exodus from the Florida player ranks. If Billy Donovan jettisons for Lexington, you can expect at least a couple of de-commits to occur. Meanwhile, the Gators are still chasing 5-star big man Patrick Patterson. Should the Gators land Patterson, they’ll have to be considered a top 3 recruiting class.

ON THE PERIPHERY

Ohio State: It should be no shock to anyone that Thad Matta can recruit. Knowing Greg Oden is very likely to ascend to the NBA ranks this summer, Matta signed Kosta Koufos, a 7-footer with skill who is a 5-star recruit. Matta signed four other young men, all of whom can fight for minutes upon arrival in Columbus.

Purdue: Knowing that his squad lacks size, Matt Painter signed four versatile 4-star recruits, three of which are 6’8” and taller.

Duke: Coach K must’ve known that his team would have scoring problems this season, because he’s snapped up Kyle Singler, who’s considered the most complete recruit entering college basketball next season. After a year’s hiatus, Duke gets a commit from the nation’s top white player. Taylor King can light it up from deep and Nolan Smith provides some badly-needed ball-handling skills.

Indiana: No matter how he got him (google "Gregg Doyel" + "Kelvin Sampson" + "Gordon" and you're golden), Kelvin Sampson landed Eric Gordon, the nation’s #2 recruit according to Rivals. Gordon should make sure that Indiana scores more than 13 points in a half versus UCLA. Sampson also signed imposing center Eli Holman, Jordan Crawford (PG), Jamarcus Ellis (JUCO-SG), and Brandon McGee. Can the talent get Sampson back into the Sweet 16 for the first time in what seems like forever?

College Football Recruiting Special - Part I
by Matt Carroll

Signing Day is one of the most exciting days of the year for any College Football fan, especially those that know that next year always begins on January 2nd (or thanks to the BCS, January 9th). This day signifies the end of the College Football recruiting period. All of the letters, the calls, the e-mails, the text messages, the official visits, the unofficial visits, the coaches visits, the in-house visits, the coach-to-coach visits, all end on this day. It can be a lot to handle for a kid when he's only 16 or 17 years old.

Perfect evidence of this is Safety recruit Jerimy Finch. Finch committed to the University of Michigan on May 11, 2006. His committment was solid for 7 months until he decided to take an official visit on January 12, 2007 to Indiana University, his home state school. On January 14, he announced that he was de-committing from Michigan, and committing to Indiana. Two weeks later he announced that he was 50-50 between Michigan and Indiana. So yesterday he decided that he would attend ... The University of Florida.

This brings me to my one caveat: Recruiting is an imperfect science, for many reasons. There are a variety of factors that go into establishing who are the top recruits. Their size, their athleticism, their speed, their injury status, their HS performance and their HS pedigree. But the one thing that it is all based on is potential. These are the players that have the raw talent to become the best of the best, both in College Football and beyond.

But it takes hard work and great coaching to develop these student-athletes into the players that they are expected to become. Unlike College Basketball, the top College Football recruits are not always expected to make immediate impacts, especially in the case of top-tier programs. Oftentimes the top recruits for one recruiting class are not heard of until their Sophomore and Junior years of eligibility. With that in mind, I present the top 5 players whose names will be known by the end of their college careers (and in some cases, by this fall):



1) DE Everson Griffen - Avondale, AZ - Committed to USC:
This kid has the talent to play right away for USC, and that is saying a lot when you look at the talent on USC's defensive line. He already has the perfect build at 6'4", 265 pounds. Oh, and he can run the 40 in 4.55 seconds. He has incredible speed and agility coming off the edge and has more than enough power to disrupt the backfield as soon as he gets there. He was nicknamed "The Freak" when he attended the 2005 summer camp at The University of Arizona. He played against the best of the best in high school football in the Army All-American game last month, where he consistently rushed the backfield and forced the play to one side of the field.


2) DT Marvin Austin - Washington, D.C. - Committed to UNC:
This player is the Signing Day highlight among a few extremely talented players for new Head Coach Butch Davis. He already has the size at 6'3", 300 pounds. This kid had 30+ offers around the country. Name a big-time program and this kid had an offer from them. He has the power and athleticism to dominate the middle of the line and will start immediately for the Tar Heels. The fun thing about this student-athlete is his personality. Not only does he look and play similar to Warren Sapp, he acts (and jokes) like him, too.


3) QB Ryan Mallett - Texarkana, TX -
Committed to Michigan:
It is impossible to look at Mallett and not notice his presence. He is over 6'6" and reportedly weighs between 225 and 240 pounds. He has a rocket of an arm, both in terms of distance and velocity. Add his phenomenal accuracy to those attributes and this student-athlete should be fearsome in years to come. He has played against some of the top HS talent in the state of Texas, so he is game ready. Another positive is his natural leadership skills.


4) WR Arrelious Benn - Washington, D.C. - Committed to Illinois:
Ron Zook has proven once again that he is a master recruiter. Benn is a fantastic WR that has great size and body control. He will become an immediate impact player for the Fighting Illini, and QB Juice Williams has to love that. He has fantastic moves once the ball in his hand which enables him to get a lot of YAC.




5) CB Eric Berry - Fairburn, GA -
Committed to Tennessee:
Speed, speed, speed. Eric Berry has been clocked at a 4.35 second 40-yard dash. He has incredible speed, burst, and agility which should make him a fantastic CB at the college level. It would not be surprising to see him return kicks and play some WR as well. He is the kind of player that could have an immediate impact at Tennessee and he has the versatility to be used in a variety of ways on the field.


Noteworthy player to watch out for:

RB Noel Devine - North Fort Myers, FL:

This player has just as much speed as Berry, plus the moves to go along with it. He had a very long kick return in the Army All-American game. Devine is uncommitted right now because it is still TBD whether or not he will be academically qualified to play next season. He may have to play a year of prep school to qualify, but if he is able to do so this semester there is a lot of interest in him from West Virginia and Florida State. If he is able to attend school next year, he would be a great fit in the West Virginia offense and could very well be the next Steve Slaton.

In Part II I will give a capsule of the top 5 recruiting classes of the year, and also highlight some of the surprises that came about during the recruiting season.

All images are credited to Scout.com.

How Much Does A Trip to the Sweet 16 Cost?

It’s no secret that college basketball is big business. Today, more conferences are cashing in on successful runs in March to secure lucrative television contracts. Despite a momentum shift in favor of mid-major schools in recent years largely due to scholarship limits and star players bolting early for the professional ranks, spending gaps between schools from major conferences and mid-majors still exist.

Below is a breakdown of money spent by last year’s Sweet 16 schools for their men’s basketball program and recruiting, respectively. The national rank among the 330 Division I schools is in parentheses.

Team	Men’s Basketball	Recruiting
Boston College	$1.595m (108)	$336,786 (76)
Bradley	$1.752m (99)	$118,758 (172)
Connecticut	$5.525m (10)	$531,687 (35)
Duke	$7.400m (2)	$754,380 (6)
Florida	$4.649m (15)	$749,160 (8)
George Mason	$1.020m (183)	$125,798 (160)
Georgetown	$3.712m (27)	$58,561 (263)
Gonzaga	$1.582m (110)	$122,026 (167)
LSU	$2.217m (85)	$558,871 (30)
Memphis	$4.478m (18)	$344,067 (71)
Texas	$5.088m (12)	$715,324 (10)
UCLA	$3.659m (29)	$377,593 (66)
Villanova	$2.618m (65)	$206,667 (112)
Washington	$3.191m (40)	$429,585 (54)
West Virginia	$3.066m (44)	$627,700 (18)
Wichita St.	$2.012m (91)	$133,248 (153)

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education

FINDINGS:

• The Bradley Braves spent more on their program than ACC school Boston College; however, BC has a football program that gets more attention.
• Additionally, Georgetown spent the least amount of money on recruiting. This is absolutely fascinating considering the talent that JT3 has brought to DC.
• Meanwhile, Florida made amends for continual disappointments in the NCAA tournament and made good on their long-term investment by being the nation’s best team in March and April.
• The disproportionate amount of money spent in recruiting by LSU paid off … and his name is Tyrus Thomas. Not to mention, he was not highly touted coming out of high school - believe it or not.