DU basketball has but one open scholarship to offer for 2017.
After DU’s recent summer Elite Camp and coaching staff road trips to various AAU tournaments around the country, Verbal Commits has reported that DU has extended offers to 11 prospects – and the numbers are likely to increase.
While the pool of potential recruits appears large, all the 2017 DU candidates have received multiple offers from other schools. Over time, there will be a natural narrowing of interest. During the Joe Scott era, offers were usually reserved later in the process, often following a campus visit and academic screening. Rodney Billups’ approach is to express serious interest earlier in the process. Neither approach is right or wrong – just a difference in philosophy. With the growth of social media, prospects like to announce their offer on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms.
Seven of the 11 offers were extended to point guards while only one offer went to a big man – 6’8″ power forward Evan Cole from Cumming, Georgia. The remaining three were given to shooting guards.
Expressing interest opens the door for the Denver staff to review academic information, gauge interest, and schedule campus visits. Most prospect visits are likely to occur in the fall so they can get a feel for DU’s campus when the fall quarter is in session. Of course, some prospects may elect to not visit Denver in favor of other schools while other prospects may have scheduled formal visits to DU as well as other schools.
According to sources close to the program, the Denver coaching staff has formally developed a list of key characteristics that they look for in a top recruit and they will be screening the prospects in these areas over the next several months. Beside superior basketball skills, two other critical areas are character and academic fit.
LetsGoDU will review our top 3-4 prospects for 2017 early this fall.
The hard part begins when prospects make their final school choice, often before their senior high school basketball season begins so they do not face distractions during their final prep season.
In other news, Joe Rosga is off to Italy to play four games with Athletes in Action; A hometown article on C. J. Bobbitt featured a comment by Chauncey Billups that he has NBA potential with better conditioning – so expect Bobbitt to come into the season in great shape; Finally, the word from summer practices was very positive, especially for Denver’s three new freshmen Jake Krafka, Luke Neff, and Ade Murkey. They will have their hands full filling in for the departed senior’s Nate Engesser, Marcus Byrd, and Bryant Rucker.
We need to go big.
Well, this is certainly a different approach to recruiting than Joe Scott’s philosophy over the past nine years. While I really like about it is the signaling of earlier interest in candidates to build stronger relationships (and not be stuck with leftovers). That said, there is part of me that worries about churning out 11 offers for just one scholarship spot, which seems more risky to me. What happens if 3 or 4 of those offers want to commit to DU? Who do you turn down and what bridges are then burned as a result? It’s not like hockey, where you can park excess recruits in the juniors for another year and still keep them. All but one of the 11 offers are for two-star recruits, so it’s not as if DU is shooting for the big time stars and hoping one of them likes DU… I know that Billups, Patton and Snell have been recruiting D-I players for a long time, so I assume they know exactly what they are doing. Let’s hope it works…
We need to go big.
Well, this is certainly a different approach to recruiting than Joe Scott’s philosophy over the past nine years. While I really like about it is the signaling of earlier interest in candidates to build stronger relationships (and not be stuck with leftovers). That said, there is part of me that worries about churning out 11 offers for just one scholarship spot, which seems more risky to me. What happens if 3 or 4 of those offers want to commit to DU? Who do you turn down and what bridges are then burned as a result? It’s not like hockey, where you can park excess recruits in the juniors for another year and still keep them. All but one of the 11 offers are for two-star recruits, so it’s not as if DU is shooting for the big time stars and hoping one of them likes DU… I know that Billups, Patton and Snell have been recruiting D-I players for a long time, so I assume they know exactly what they are doing. Let’s hope it works…
The number open DU 2017 offers has now grown to 14 for 2017, of which 3 offers are for 3 star point guards. If, we can somehow land a 3 to 4 star scoring point guard and 1 new strong big things could really look good for 2017 or 2018. BILLUPS. like many of the more aggressive head coaches is putting out lots of offers for what seems to be just one opening for 2017. However, with the high number of DI transfers, we could easily have 1 or more available scholarships for 2017. A few of this year’s team may not fit into BILLUPS more up tempo game vs the system that Scot used that they were recruited to. I would guess that we probably will see a freshman class of 3 t0 4 for 2017 based on the system change and the large number of transfers.
Atlanta, I agree to a point, and a jaded one at that. I agree some of the current players will not fit the Billup’s style and might like to transfer. However, it’s possible no other Div 1 school might want them. Some might garner interest from a Div 1 school where the value of a degree is worth much less then at DU. There’s a good chance the kids unhappy with possible playing time will stick it out to earn their degree. No way Rodney pulls a scholarship.
From all accounts, all the players are ‘on board’. Rodney likes the current group and is pleased with Joe’s two freshmen recruits – Neff and Krafka. I do not see anyone leaving unless they have academic issues.
The number open DU 2017 offers has now grown to 14 for 2017, of which 3 offers are for 3 star point guards. If, we can somehow land a 3 to 4 star scoring point guard and 1 new strong big things could really look good for 2017 or 2018. BILLUPS. like many of the more aggressive head coaches is putting out lots of offers for what seems to be just one opening for 2017. However, with the high number of DI transfers, we could easily have 1 or more available scholarships for 2017. A few of this year’s team may not fit into BILLUPS more up tempo game vs the system that Scot used that they were recruited to. I would guess that we probably will see a freshman class of 3 t0 4 for 2017 based on the system change and the large number of transfers.
Atlanta, I agree to a point, and a jaded one at that. I agree some of the current players will not fit the Billup’s style and might like to transfer. However, it’s possible no other Div 1 school might want them. Some might garner interest from a Div 1 school where the value of a degree is worth much less then at DU. There’s a good chance the kids unhappy with possible playing time will stick it out to earn their degree. No way Rodney pulls a scholarship.
From all accounts, all the players are ‘on board’. Rodney likes the current group and is pleased with Joe’s two freshmen recruits – Neff and Krafka. I do not see anyone leaving unless they have academic issues.
Come on 5b. Coach can’t say so and so is not division 1 player. I hope for the best.
Come on 5b. Coach can’t say so and so is not division 1 player. I hope for the best.