Bridgewater                        A-

Bjken brought in three recruits to Bridgewater and, for the first time in a long time, they were all locals.  All three recruits are very solid, which seems to be the theme of this year’s recruiting classes.   Evans projects out as a good SF: his ath/spd combo will be pretty high, his rebounding will be good, he’ll play good defense, and he should be able to put the ball in the basket without turnovers.  Overall, Evans has no weaknesses, which is in itself, a great strength.  Macdonald projects out as a very skilled guard who needs some work on his defense.  If his WE allows him to reach his potential, we will see a very solid player.  Washington has the best chance to be great of anyone in this Bridgewater class- His ath/reb combo is tremendous and if the LP potential is high-high, he could end up being a monster big man.


Emory & Henry            A-

After losing out on a HUGE battle for Anthony Vizcarrondo to USA South upstart Christopher Newport (yes, that’s the name of the school, not a recruit or a coach), they were left with very little money and two openings.  They had already secured James Carpenter, but were reportedly very happy to bring in Joe Echeverria as well.  Echeverria will reportedly be starting for them when the season starts for the pre-season #11 team.  They will be taking one walk-on.  Carpenter projects out as a very good SF for benwf’s FB/Press: He will be fast and athletic (hopefully reaching 60 in both) as well as being a good rebounder, a great defender, as well as very skilled with the ball.  If he learns how to put the ball in the basket, look out, he could be a good one.  Echeverria will probably never learn to put the ball in the basket, but he should be good anyway.  His athleticism, which is already high, will be a great advantage.  He should be a great defender as well.  If either of these players get hurt, expect long recovery times. 


East Mennonite            B 

After a very long wait, coach CJ finally convinced Matthew Senger to come to East Mennonite.  According to Senger, there were EMU reps at nearly 20 of his games this year.  Senger will be a good player, and it will be interesting to see which position he ends up playing.  Senger’s ath/spd will be average for an SF, but pretty good for a PF.  When his REB gets high enough, I could see him being a very skilled PF or a great rebounding SF.  Either way, Senger should be a pretty awesome player.  If Senger ends up being a PF, Barry will probably be the SF.  Barry’s ath/spd should end up being much better than Senger’s and he has a passable amount of rebounding ability to play SF.  His defense should wind up being decent.  While he won’t be able to score around the rim like Senger, he should be able to shoot the ball better (eventually) as well as handle pressure better.  With such low passing, I never see Barry being a guard and with the lack of rebounding I don’t see him being a PF, so it looks like SF is the position for him.

Lynchburg                        B

Chichisteve continues to bring in good class after good class.  Every player in this year’s class is high in either Spd or ath and low in neither.  Jay Hazeltine is high in both, which means he will be an extremely fast and athletic player, probably slotted to play SF down the line.  He will be an overall very solid player, but he will never be a super-star.  Scot Coy will be a decent player, but his lack of athleticism will limit him from ever being very good.  Jody Mathis should be slightly better than Coy with his advantage in athleticism.  They won’t be the best tandem of bigs, but they’ll be solid for sure.  Monroe looks like a potentially very good point guard, but he may never reach his potential with his 19 WE.


Roanoke                        C+

This was not the class we were hoping for at the beginning of recruiting.  Josh Collins will probably end up being a slow point guard with low passing, but I’m hoping his high DEF, LP, and BH will help him overcome his deficiencies.  Magdaleno will have even worse ath/spd than Collins, but it’s possible Roanoke might see Magdaleno playing SF.  Although he won’t be a physical specimen, he will be a very skilled player.  He isn’t ready to play yet, so he will be red shirting this year.  I have high hopes for Magdaleno that he probably won’t live up to.  Webb was definitely not my first choice of big men.  In no way will Webb ever be good, but he might be passable as a rebounder and scorer once his athleticism gets up, but he will never be a good defender.  Is it bad that I already hate him?


Virginia Wesleyan            B-

After a great run ended too early, VWC looked to restock its program.  While they brought in a good class, I don’t think it was up to VWC standards.  While all the ath/spd they brought in looks nice, they are severely lacking in defense.  No one will ever see 50 defense, which is a problem.  Failla look like the best player in this class with his offense skills mixed with a little defense.  Cody Tyrell looks like a better offensive option than Failla, but his low defense might mean we see him fouling out in 10 minutes.  Thomas Fails (the second player in this year’s class whose name starts with FAIL) projects out to be a pretty good SF.  His high BH/P will end up being a huge benefit in the FB offense at SF.  I see him being a valuable asset, but he’s another guy with questionable defense.  Christopher Gregory will also be an SF who will probably end up backing up Fails for his entire career.  Gregory is nothing special.  Patrick Mitchell is definitely the best defender in this class, as well as their only big guy.  Mitchell’s ath/spd is not great for FB/Press, but it’s passable.  His rebounding will be very high though, which is something they were certainly missing this past year.  Mitchell is the kind of center that VWC needs.  Christopher Young  a poor man’s Tyrell: fast and athletic with some offensive skills, but he’ll be fouling out quickly whenever he sees action his first couple seasons.


Washington & Jefferson            B

Coming off their first NT wins in school history (Congrats HP!), W&J also were looking to restock their program with quality recruits. Ronnie Carrero is not one of those quality recruits.  He lacks the ath/spd to be competitive and his skills won’t be near where they should be.  Down the line he will probably be at SF if he ever find the floor at all.  Davis, on the other hand, looks like he will be better.  He won’t be great, but he will be better than Carrero.  Davis’ speed and defense along with passable BH/P will make a pretty decent guard.  Lodge won’t be as fast as Davis, but he’ll be slightly more skilled.  His perimeter rating will be good enough to be a good 3pt shooter and his BH/P could make him a good distributor.  McCoil looks like a pretty good SF:  His ath/spd is good and his rebounding will make him a good player on the boards.  He will also be a good offensive player with such high LP.  Shipley is listed at SF, but he will probably end up being a perimeter oriented PF because of his lack of speed.  His rebounding won’t be great, but his LP/PER could possibly both be over 70, which could make him a potent scorer.  I can’t wait to see how his career develops.


Randolph-Macon            D+

Pump’s eagerness to recruit got the best of him and he ended up cutting a player to sign Jose Gonzalez, a Puerto Rican big man.  Pump went in blind on Gonzalez and, well, he sucks.  Gonzalez’s low potential in ath/spd/def means he will never be an effective player.  Although he might contribute off the bench with a couple rebounds here and there, Gonzalez probably won’t see 4 years at R-M. 


Bethany                        B

Bethany’s class is very solid: Not stunning, but a very solid class.  Turner looks like he’ll be a pretty fast guard who can play D, although he will never be putting up more than a couple points per game.  Williamson does look like a fantastic recruit.  His high athleticism along with elite rebounding and shot blocking, Williamson will contend for DPOY in his last two seasons.  Williamson’s scoring ability is not very good right now, but down the line he might be able to put up some good number.  If his LP is high-high, that would make him an effective scorer.  His PER could easily hit 40 as well, which means he’d be able to step out and make some jump shots, making him even harder to defend.  Larry Larose is coming in from Canada, and he looks like a steal.  Larose won’t be a great defender, but he’ll be passable and his offense will certainly make up for it.  He’ll be able to score inside with his 20ish LP and he’ll eventually be able to shoot eventually, but his biggest strengths are BH/P.  His BH will be excellent and his P will be elite, when coupled with his ath/spd, will make him an excellent PG, a welcome addition for a team trying to climb the ODAC ladder.

Hampden-Sydney            B

Hampden-Sydney’s class is another one with solid, but not spectacular players.  Pelfrey will be fast and a good PG offensively, but defensively he will definitely struggle.  Meredith has the potential to be a special player as a shooter and generally as an offensive player, but his defense is suspect at best and his low WE is very worrying.  Crandall, on the other hand, has a pretty good WE and should develop into a very solid offensive player.  Crandall is athletic and should be decently fast as a PF, but he will be a rebounding liability.  He will play good defense though, and should be able to score extremely well.  Blow should be the remedy for Crandall’s lack of rebounding:  This guy will be a special rebounding with 60+ ath and 100 REB.  He’ll also be a pretty good defensive player, although he’ll never be great scorer.  Huot will be Crandall’s competition for playing time at PF.  Huot will be the most athletic of all the big men, although he won’t have the rebounding of Blow, he will certainly top Crandall’s rebounding.  He won’t be the offensive player Crandall will be, but he should be a very effective player.  These three bigs are certainly going to be a scary three headed monster when they become juniors and seniors.


Washington & Lee                        B-

Overall, I really liked how this class turned out for ix, he is certainly improving as a recruiter.  Carroll, while he will never be an elite player, at least has a lot of athetlicism and defense.  I don’t really think Carroll has a position, but he surpasses most of the low level players W&L has been bringing in.  Alocer is probably the best player ix has ever brought in.  He will actually be a fantastic defensive player and all his high potentials means he projects out to be a very talented SF.  Great signing ix!  I put all of Pirtle’s attributes in red because of his 1 WE.  A 1 WE means Pirtle will never progress and will probably get worse, and he’s not that good to start with.

Guilford                        D

Guilford’s newest coach inherits a program that is currently ranked #15 in the pre-season poll.  Unfortunately for Guilford, neither of these recruits are high quality enough to play on a team that good.  Keith is the worse of the two recruits.  He will always be extremely slow, probably too slow to play, and won’t ever be skilled enough in other areas to overcome it.  Romeo is definitely better than Keith because he might actually be able to contribute.  His speed is not great, but decent, and he should be a pretty good defender.  His jumpshot should improve and his BH/P will make him a PG worthy of some PT.  Overall, this class is not what Guilford needed, but I have faith bhall will be able to turn it around next year.