zbrent, my biggest question is, what role do you envision them playing? if you dont have a clear purpose in mind, then i dont even need to look at the players - its not a good lot. this game is all about finding the right shape player to fit in the system to create the best possible combination of talents and abilities.
when i look at these players, what i struggle with is, where are they going to play? sure, they have some decent ratings. and as usual, ill apply my standard, 2 strength measure to each player (every player in a role must have 2 clear strengths, that you are able to leverage. when you are good enough to pick the right 2+ strengths per role, thats when you really start to fire on all cylinders).
so, starting with keeling. his ath/spd/def combo is good - although 41 work ethic, he will take a while to get there, and hes not going to be playing maxed out in those areas except maybe senior year. thats always a good start. but where is his second strength? rebounding is OK, but that is not an allowable strength for guards (the possible strengths you can have for guards are offense, defense, ball control, for bigs, offense, defense, rebounding. sfs can have any of those). his passing on its own effectively rules him out as a guard, so he really needs to play sf. but in terms of both ball control and rebounding, its not a strength, hes just not totally devoid. on the other hand, he does have a small contribution to make in all the other 3 areas (other than defense, his only clear strength), he can score a bit, has non zero bh/pass/reb. so its not like hes terrible or anything. and if you are going to break the 2 strength rule, teh best place is with a well rounded sf, so you are really doing OK there, but id try to avoid well rounded guys in the future and get some stronger players. i know its tough - you are competing in one of the best d2 confs ever, with a great d2 conf next door. its not an easy place to recruit. but you'll get there all the same. if he does end up being one of those high/high lp guys who gets +70, which is unlikely with his WE and all the other **** you need to practice, even if he had the caps - then he could really be a nice player, because hed have 2 clear strengths for you, with some bonus other stuff. especially with that nice FT%. actually, if you were running FB, id applaud the signing, because really he fits perfectly into that kind of mold. for triangle, hes still pretty solid - definitely not going to be losing you any games - im just concerned hes not going to be winning you any, either.
avalos... now, hopefully you can guess my next comment. its a bad one. with keeling a sf, what is avalos? if the answer is sf, thats a really bad combo - you want maybe 2 sfs (natural, dont care about listed position), on your whole team. the worst possible arrangement is to have them in the same class. anyway, basically, i have all the same comments as the last guy. his ath/spd/def combo is good enough to call defense a strength, and thats very possibly the most important strength to have. but then where is #2? his ath/reb isn't there yet, i dont think, but its not bad. maybe thats close enough. bh/pass, definitely not. offense? very little. so i definitely like him less, he doesn't have the potential to hit the 2 strengths, and with his spd strength, im not liking him swinging to pf - and his bh/pass preclude him from being a sg.
you are new to the GLV and probably also fairly new to the CBG system, but if you stick around and continue to get advice from me, you will effectively here the same thing a hundred times. its all about roles and team planning. these two guys, on their own, are ok - keeling is decent and maybe pretty good, im not a fan of avalos but hes not terrible by any means. but as a pair, they REALLY, REALLY dont work together. when you have just 2 seniors, you want them to be major building blocks for the rest of your team, your pillars of strength. do you see these two guys ever filling a role like that? i cant even see them both starting, and that is really the first step. make sure you are thinking ahead 2, 3, 4 seasons every time you recruit, its absolutely critical to your continued success as a coach.
on a final note, i just want to say, i dont mean to sound totally negative, but im trying to give you all the angles and the thinking behind why i wouldnt have signed both of these guys. without question, if i signed keeling, i would hvae taken a walkon before avalos, and its not even close - dont be afraid of walkons, they don't bite, look at them as a second chance. but the reality is, these guys ARE good enough to play on a team that will make the NT, and you are a low end d2 school right now trying to get your prestige up, so by that metric, you succeeded. in d3, especially d3 worlds that aren't that populated (which is most of them, now), its a lot easier to jump into a C range school and in a single cycle (4 seasons), be up to an A, trying to build a championship team. that gets harder as you move up, and when you are in a power d2 conference, its especially the case. so just have a little patience, and try to learn from the lumps you will take! ultimately thats why a promising young coach such as yourself should join a conference like the GLV - to experience that sharp learning curve.
let me know if you have any questions/comments... if you haven't read the interview i did a while back, you might want to do that, i talk a lot about your vision for your team and that kind of stuff, which is sort of the required framework for us to have intelligent conversations about your strategy and how you are doing implementing it. i didn't do it here because you are new, was going easy on you - but my response to this kind of inquiry is almost always a question, what was YOUR plan and how well do you think you executed it? well, i guess i sort of did open with that, but then i answered anyway. the reality is, you are early enough to get a solid answer without you specifying the system you expect them to fit in, and how they fit in - but when you are trying to go from a 2 time national champion (congrats on achieving that so early by the way, thats really not common at all) to a 10 time national champion, not just trying to learn the ropes of a new division, ill be pressing you a lot harder to give the context - context is everything, once you've mastered the basics. good luck!