One thing southernhawk, and we mentioned the same thing when
ISU got Mac.....is it that he's pulling in great players or is it that his recruiting is a lil different then it was at Butler......Meaning the constraints he has for various reasons at
EIU will be much tougher then at Butler, so he was able to recruit great athletes that were not able to make it into other schools. Is he recruiting big ten players????
As far as evaluating them - I think both Fuller and Gatens will be solid players. But, for Indyclone to point out that Gatens was Mr Basketball in Iowa - who cares....we've had some great Mr. Iowa basketball players, but, the past couple have been weak and
ISU can speak from recent experience, just because you have Mr. Basketball in Iowa as a title means little when it comes to playing ball with the big boys (Vette-enjoy playing at Wartburg)....
Being named to Metro all star team big deal......if he's that good he should be under consideration for player of the year for his respective state and different states have different levels of competition.....
Out of
EIU's class, i really like Fullers game and think he will blossum at iowa. That said, before they recruited Fuller, they were really recruiting Mann and he chose
ISU over Iowa. For me, to see who
EIU is recruiting against with these guys tells me a lot about them. Bawinkel, Davis, Brommer all were mid major prospects with a few majors involved. Of course they love
EIU, compared to Eastern Michigan, Utah State or SMU where would you want to go to play ball......One comment about Fuller - i had read on a message board indicated that he was an academic risk and that may explain why he hasnt signed a letter of intent yet, he hasnt qualified.....
I think Lickliter is a very good to great coach. It will take him a little time, but he will turn Iowa around. This first recruiting class will not be a measuring stick for future recruit classes imo, he is known to be a very good recruiter. Both schools are going through major transition, the one thing thats worries me is about the styles of each coach. For me, the system installed at Butler was an exciting, fun to watch, fast tempo game that stud recruits will want to play in - if executed well. Currently he hasn't the talent level to run it, but that will come. At
ISU i'm not sure what our offensive philosophy is, but, i hope that as our talent level increases so does the level of play. Thats what i was most disappointed with, was how the team operated in the half court and the lack of up tempo - I pray that it was based on the lack of quality guard play and that next years incoming class can improve on that......PLEASE - all i want for x-mas is 3 fast break opportunities a game....thats not asking too much is it???
K
