Agree with your post, but want to point out an omission.  Ball was also a Siena recruit who visited very soon after JC was hired and committed on the spot.  I think he falls in to the same category as Walker on the face of it.  Not sure about Brelsford, but Brown was highly recruited by all accounts.  To me, it seems like JC underestimated the quality of play in the A-10 and has had to reassess his recruiting targets.  

I obviously hope that Ball & Brelsford are more than up to the task and will contribute significantly (both seem like great kids), but won't be surprised if they end up transferring down a year or two down the road.

I agree with most of your post but would add two points:

1. Don't count Bishop out. Although the release indicated that he will have to sit-out, that is a required statement until a waiver is granted. My sources tell me he will apply for a waiver and will likely be granted one based on certain aspects of his reasoning for transferring. Of course, we will have to wait for a NCAA verdict. Lindo is probably a different case absent a blanket waiver for all transfers.

2. You have to remember that just like any coach, it is hard to sell transfers/recruits prior to your first year of coaching at a program. I think transfers/recruits wanted to see what JC's GW program looked like. This was similarly the case with Mike Lonergan. I suspect JC will be able to attract HM transfers (and higher rated recruits) in the future, especially if the program starts to thrive.

Last edited by GWRising (4/16/2020 11:06 am)

I think it is a very good point that BM and mayhem make, namely maybe the staff did underestimate the quality of play in the Atlantic-10 to the extent that they recruited players that looked good to them, but not really A-10 quality.  That had not occurred to me before.    Further, the Atlantic 10 was also signifcantly better this past season than it was the prior few seasons now.

Even if guys like Shawn and Ace aren't A10 caliber players, having them around made it far easier for the coaching staff to install the system they wanted to run. Despite their limited minutes in actual gameplay, I'm sure having them in practice was crucial considering how much of an overhaul this was from MoJo's system. They must have showed just enough in actual gameplay that we were able to find three P5 transfers who wanted to come here! 

I very much disagree with the statement that JC was not aware/prepared for recruiting for the A10. JC has mentioned several times at pregame events and meetings with GW groups that he tends to recruit players he sees very high upside but are a year or two away from blossoming when he recruits them (he mentioned he will often recruit kids who are a year or two younger than their class in hopes they blossom in college). He has mentioned that this is his style because he often can't compete with the big boys (P5 conferences) for top 100 talent.

If you look at who he has recruited at his previous stops, you'll see he had plenty of relationships with players who ended up signing higher (players who blossomed quicker than he had hoped). JNJ is a reasonable example. The reason he was so quickly able to pick us after decommitting from St. Joes, was because JC had recruited him at Siena. Also, several of the transfers we were looking at early on had ties to JC as he had recruited them at his previous stops.

Shawn Walker is not a good example of JC's lack of understanding of talent at the A10 level. He was merely  trying to fill a spot late in the process. Think about Lonergan brining in John Kopriva. 

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of diamond in the rough recruiting in the future. This paired with a higher conference player transferring down (most likely someone JC recruited or had a relationship with earlier).  

The most curious cases are Sloan Seymour, Hunter Dean and Lincoln Ball.  Seymour was ineligible to play this year so the year 1/few weeks to recruit theory does not apply here.  Sloan played for JC at Siena and it's obvious that JC feels that Sloan can contribute at a high level at GW.  A concern of mine is whether we're adding a third player, to go along with Maceo and Jameson, who can hit 3's at a high rate but will not offer much on the defensive end.     Hunter is a former recruiting target for Siena who played sparingly at Southern Miss.  Lincoln was a Siena recruit as BM pointed out earlier.  

I never made the statement that JC underestimated the talent needed to succeed in the A10.  I did point out that it did seem unusual that most of his early recruits at GW were guys who either played for him or were considering playing for him at Siena.  JNJ, Shawn and Ace in Year 1, Sloan, Hunter and Lincon in Year 2.  

It would be hard to argue that Moyer, Bishop and Lindo, players who JC hadn't necessarily had a relationship with prior to arriving at GW, doesn't represent a serious upgrade over these other players as a whole. 

Gwmayhem wrote:

The most curious cases are Sloan Seymour, Hunter Dean and Lincoln Ball.  Seymour was ineligible to play this year so the year 1/few weeks to recruit theory does not apply here.  Sloan played for JC at Siena and it's obvious that JC feels that Sloan can contribute at a high level at GW.  A concern of mine is whether we're adding a third player, to go along with Maceo and Jameson, who can hit 3's at a high rate but will not offer much on the defensive end.     Hunter is a former recruiting target for Siena who played sparingly at Southern Miss.  Lincoln was a Siena recruit as BM pointed out earlier.  

I never made the statement that JC underestimated the talent needed to succeed in the A10.  I did point out that it did seem unusual that most of his early recruits at GW were guys who either played for him or were considering playing for him at Siena.  JNJ, Shawn and Ace in Year 1, Sloan, Hunter and Lincon in Year 2.  

It would be hard to argue that Moyer, Bishop and Lindo, players who JC hadn't necessarily had a relationship with prior to arriving at GW, doesn't represent a serious upgrade over these other players as a whole. 

To be fair, Sloan and Ball committed to GW before GW ever played a game under JC. So I look at it as almost the same although it took longer.
 

Jamion Christian wasn't a McDonald's All-American who played at a BCS school, a long-time assistant at a BCS school, a former AAU coach who has strong connections to the top 100 high school seniors, or someone who is coaching in the A10 because he got fired from a BCS school, so you can't expect to sign or come close to signing BCS level high school recruits initially. The only high school players that JC was really familiar with are the guys he was recruiting/recruited to Siena and Mount St.Mary's, so those are the guys he signed when he first got the GW job, but the fact that his 1st group of freshman(JNJ, Paar, Battle) were arguably the 2nd best freshman class in the A10, despite being projected as one of the worst before the year should help him tremendously with recruiting moving forward. Also, getting former BCS recruits Moyer, Bishop and Lindo to all transfer to GW within 2 weeks is huge for his ability to sign higher rated recruits in the future. 

"Donuts at a Distance' just ended.  This was a video chat with the coach, AD and others.   Next one is Sunday, April 28th, 2020 at 4pm for season ticket holders.   If you do not get the link, you should contact Jennifer Montgomery.      This event was great, as fans got to ask the coach anything he or she wished.   Coach seemed extremely excited for this years transfers and incoming freshman class.  Tidbits of information included efforts to upgrade schedule (no names mentioned), confirmation that Amir will be a medical redshirt for next season and that we can anticipate Jameer as the point guard.   Sounds like overall, he wants us to get bigger and faster.  He believed injuries were a factor in our end of season fade. I will let those with better memories than I to elaborate on other points raised by the coach.

Really good work by the Staff, Impressive

Onward and upward GW