MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Galahad]

Does anyone know if Calvin has had Jonathan Huizinga in for a visit.  He's
6'6", from Timothy Christian, and was 2nd team all-state according to the Chicago Sun Times.  I saw him play last year as a junior and he was very fundamentally sound.  He had excellent footwork for a low post player.  He also can shoot a mid range jumper.

Jonathan Huizinga committed to Trinity
http://www.trnty.edu/athletics/news/archive/060202/index.html

[kcrest]

For those of you just joining us - welcome to the CRC...


that's the Calvin Recruiting Center   

Nice.     I'd give you karma but I'm pretty sure I can't.  Plus every time I post I lose it (karma that is). 

In re to the 6-8 kid, maybe he's not top 100 in the state of Denver, but he's 6-8.   

And sometimes 6-8 kids are late bloomers.  I think Duane Bosma would be an example of that.  Sometimes they don't improve a ton but all things being equal I'll take as many 6-8 kids as I can get.

One story I read noted that Schusters put up 17 with 7 boards against a 6-9 center who is going to Colorado on a football scholarship.  So that's a nice day's work.

Bottom line is the kid will get a great education at a Christian college and be part of a solid basketball program headed up by a great coach who gets the most out of his players.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Posting sure is a lot more fun than lurking.   I should have started this months ago.

Holy smokes DenverKnight, you've only got 11 posts to your name and you're already +4 on the karma index. 8)

The result of too many Calvin posters with the ability to hand out Karma 

(I'm just kidding - relax)

We've been recruiting Knight talent for this board lately--including some in-season transfers. 

Karma for that one

[oldknight]

In re to the 6-8 kid, maybe he's not top 100 in the state of Denver, but he's 6-8.   

And sometimes 6-8 kids are late bloomers.  I think Duane Bosma would be an example of that.  Sometimes they don't improve a ton but all things being equal I'll take as many 6-8 kids as I can get.

One story I read noted that Schusters put up 17 with 7 boards against a 6-9 center who is going to Colorado on a football scholarship.  So that's a nice day's work.

Bottom line is the kid will get a great education at a Christian college and be part of a solid basketball program headed up by a great coach who gets the most out of his players.

I think Don Overbeek worked pretty well for the Dutch too. He wasn't highly featured coming out of high school either.

[oldknight]

Wow, a karma point from FDF.  8) That's got to be worth a bonus point.  Guess I'll have to wait 18 hours.   

[Flying Dutch Fan]

In re to the 6-8 kid, maybe he's not top 100 in the state of Denver, but he's 6-8.   

And sometimes 6-8 kids are late bloomers.  I think Duane Bosma would be an example of that.  Sometimes they don't improve a ton but all things being equal I'll take as many 6-8 kids as I can get.

One story I read noted that Schusters put up 17 with 7 boards against a 6-9 center who is going to Colorado on a football scholarship.  So that's a nice day's work.

Bottom line is the kid will get a great education at a Christian college and be part of a solid basketball program headed up by a great coach who gets the most out of his players.

I think Don Overbeek worked pretty well for the Dutch too. He wasn't highly featured coming out of high school either.

True enough - Don was more highly recruited as a football player than a hoops guy.

[oldknight]

I didn't realize Overbeek played HS football--though given his size it's not surprising. Did he ever play FB at Hope?

[Civic Minded]

In re to the 6-8 kid, maybe he's not top 100 in the state of Denver, but he's 6-8.   

And sometimes 6-8 kids are late bloomers.  I think Duane Bosma would be an example of that.  Sometimes they don't improve a ton but all things being equal I'll take as many 6-8 kids as I can get.

One story I read noted that Schusters put up 17 with 7 boards against a 6-9 center who is going to Colorado on a football scholarship.  So that's a nice day's work.

Bottom line is the kid will get a great education at a Christian college and be part of a solid basketball program headed up by a great coach who gets the most out of his players.

I think Don Overbeek worked pretty well for the Dutch too. He wasn't highly featured coming out of high school either.

True enough - Don was more highly recruited as a football player than a hoops guy.

And he took a lot of time and patience to develop.  If he had been able to develop some speed, too, it would have been bliss!

[sac]

My general feelings about recruit talk and other coaching issues is that if its public, ie in the papers your free to talk about it.

If you want my honest opinion recruit talk at D3 pushes us a little too close to the D1 mentality in my opinion.  But its still fun to talk about.  Just be smart.

[sac]

I've seen some of the banter about the all region team but I don't think anyone has commented on the selection of Carnegie Mellon's Tony Wingen for region coach of the year.  He obviously did a good job with a win over DI Princeton but I dont think I could ever be convinced that anyone outcoached Kevin Vande Streek this year.  Maybe I'm biased but what they did this year compared to what I was expecting was amazing.

Come on ziggy.......how hard was it to tell Caleb to shoot the ball. 

[hornet fan]

Does anyone else realize how much of an advantage it is to have kids from Denver even consider your school?

Typical recruting areas by school:
Albion - Michigan
Adrian - Michigan and Northern Ohio
Alma - Michigan
Olivet - Michigan
Tri-State - Indiana and Michigan ??
Kalamazoo - Michigan and NW Indiana
Hope - Michigan (esp. West Michigan) and all Christian schools
Calvin - Michigan and ALL (Denver, North Dakota, Canada, etc.) Christian schools

I think the most important thing to remember is that kids from those Christian schools typically only consider 2 MIAA schools.  They may go to other Christian-based schools (Grace College, Anderson University, etc.).  As a former Assistant Coach at K and recruiter, it is very hard to get those kids to even consider it.  And when they do, they typically do not choose K.  This is a nice advantage for Hope and Calvin to have...

And do not get me whining on the minimum academic requirements at other schools...

[KnightSlappy]

I would be nice to see the Knights get some young big men.  Meckes, Snoeyink, and DeVries will all be seniors next season.

[oldknight]

Hornet fan is right that Calvin and Hope (Calvin especially) have an inherent recruiting base through the Christian school system that is hard to match at other MIAA schools. I can remember back in the 70's when Gary Morrison was at Olivet that he expressed the same thing after Calvin landed Mark Veenstra.

I will add this: I don't think the advantage is nearly as large as it once was compared to 30 or 40 years ago. Just think about all the good high school players out of Christian schools in the last 20 years who have gone elsewhere due to athletic scholarship money. That didn't happen all that much in the 60's and 70's.

[knights2000]

Hornet fan is right that Calvin and Hope (Calvin especially) have an inherent recruiting base through the Christian school system that is hard to match at other MIAA schools. I can remember back in the 70's when Gary Morrison was at Olivet that he expressed the same thing after Calvin landed Mark Veenstra.

I will add this: I don't think the advantage is nearly as large as it once was compared to 30 or 40 years ago. Just think about all the good high school players out of Christian schools in the last 20 years who have gone elsewhere due to athletic scholarship money. That didn't happen all that much in the 60's and 70's.

Don't forget about family ties. (sons, cousins, etc.)

[knights2000]

Anyone heard anything about John Mantel and his college situation?