The Apocalypse must be near. It is the second week in October 2001 and four pretty good male basketball players have announced that they will attend the University of Dayton in the Fall of 2002. Since the early signing period came into existence, we, the fans, have been intrigued by the names that are annually associated with our beloved Flyers. We have seen big names and we have seen names that made little sense. But typically, we only see names. We have found ourselves bemoaning the fact that a Xavier or Ohio State or some other foe had convinced our new favorite to go in another direction. It always seemed like we were number two.

The early signing period would come and go and we might get a signee or two, but more often than not we always had more than one scholarship remaining that would need to be filled in the Spring. It used to be that all of the players would sign in the Spring. The coaches knew what they were getting after seeing the player in his final year of high school ball. Now it has become more of a crapshoot. Players are committing earlier and earlier and unless you, as a coach, want to be left behind you have got to take a chance. Nearly all of the top 100 players sign before they make their first basket as a Senior. Only those with question marks about their eligibility or playing ability are left behind and sign in the Spring.

Every once in a while a coach can come up with a diamond in the rough. Ramod Marshall signed with the Flyers in the Spring of 2000. He not only became a starter in his Freshman year, but he showed the potential of becoming a star. Sean Wiggins signed with the Flyers in the Spring of 2001. With statistics similar to Tony Stanley, he looked like a potential contributor as a freshman. The only problem is that he also had a questionable academic background, again like Stanley. As a result, he will be playing his basketball somewhere else this fall. This was not an unusual scenario for Oliver Purnell and his assistants. We needed to take chances and often were burned.

Purnell and troops can now begin to use all of their time recruiting players for even further into the future. No longer concerned about who will fill the voids created by the graduating class of 2002, this year’s Juniors and Sophomores will now be given their full attention. This can only bode well in the future, as there are several good players in Ohio that will be making their choices within the next year or two.

It is difficult to judge just how good a class is this early, but there are several publications that make a living doing just that. More often that not, they have seen few of the players in action and typically utilize other’s rankings of them or simply look at the numbers that they have produced. This, in itself, can be very misleading, but there are not very many people that have actually seen the 1,000 or so new Division I signees on the hardwood. On top of that, you can only really judge a recruiting class by how it fits into the structure of the program and what needs were there. Recruiting an All-Star team does not guarantee success. All one has to do is look at what DePaul has done over the last few years after recruiting possibly the top class in the country.

After David Morris and Yuanta Holland graduate, our returning players will be aligned as follows:

Center Finn
Center/PF Waleskowski
PF Green, Osborne
SF Stelly
SF/2G Smith, Hall
2G/PG Marshall
PG Jones

Some might call this is a team of ‘tweeners. I prefer to look at them as being versatile. We can go big or we can go small. No matter how you slice it, though, there are important holes to fill.

Although everybody likes to talk about 7-footers, this is a game that is won by the little guys. Give me two or three top-flight guards, and I would be glad to take on the world. It all begins at the point and there was little doubt that Purnell needed to bring in an experienced point guard. Marshall can play the point, but he is better as a two. To assume that Jones would grow to the point of being a 30-minute a game player would be a risk at this point. As a result, our first need was filled when Logan White announced that he would be attending UD early this summer.

As with all four of our signees, White has a good upside. Ohio Preps stated that White was the biggest surprise of the summer in Ohio. He is rated as one of the top point guards in the state with his ability to distribute and score as well. His ability to shoot from outside can only help to open up the inside. He averaged 15.2 points with 7 assists as a Junior for the 22-3 Loveland squad from the Cleveland area although he has since transferred. He was a third-team selection on the AP Division II all-state team. The only real downside could be the fact that this will be the third school he has attended while in high school. Sometimes this is a sign of trouble. It may just be that education is just as important in the classroom as it is on the basketball court. This was a good start for the recruiting class in that it fit a real need and could be an even bigger steal.

On the same day that White verbaled, James Cripe followed suit. Another pressing need was at the center position. Although it was manned very well by Keith Waleskowski during his freshman year, the thought of having him at power forward has to have Purnell drooling like Pavlov’s dog. Finn has shown some real potential, but has also looked totally lost. He has a good upside but you can never have too many big guys.

Cripe is one of those players that could make Purnell look like a genius or just be another in that long line of stiffs that only get in the game when the crowd starts yelling out their name. He didn’t start much of his Junior year at Loveland high school in Cincinnati. Although labeled as a project by most, he has literally exploded since the conclusion of the basketball season. Listed by some as tall as 6′ 11′ he has even longer arms than would be expected of someone of this height. He has good quickness and runs the floor well. His upside is tremendous and will fit in nicely although there is a good chance that he might be red-shirted his Freshman year. He will still be 17 when he arrives on campus and another year of conditioning and working with the team might quickly remove that “project” status.

The third member of the class is Doug Scott, a 6′ 6″, 215-pound small forward from Reynoldsburg high school outside of Columbus. He averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds per game for a team that prided itself on its ability to defend the ball. They only scored about 50 points per game which makes Scott’s 18 even more impressive. Doug jumps well and handles the ball very well for someone his size and can make a pass when available. He has a rather large frame with the potential to gain some additional size and possibly help out at the 4 position. As with the other members of this group, he can play on both ends of the court. An area that has been lacking at times for our Flyers is the intensity when on the defensive end. His only real area of concern in the past has been his ability to handle the ball. With a good deal of work, this deficit has become proficiency.

The final member of the recruiting class is 6’ 4″ Marques Bennett. Another intriguing addition in that he also has the ability to play the point. He scored 21.4 points/game while handing out 6 assists. Although not recruited by any big name schools, he has the potential to be a star if he continues to progress. Another player that seems to enjoy playing defense, Marques could be the next “Blanket.” He has been mentioned as a possible contender for the coveted crown of Mister Basketball of Indiana. For that to happen, he will need to improve is outside shooting skills. He played with his brother Michael on the 3A state championship team last year. Michael, who has signed with Ball State, is not as gifted physically, but is said to have a much better work ethic than his younger brother.

Let’s not confuse these guys with the team that Duke and North Carolina recruit every year. White was mentioned with Clemson, OSU, X and Georgia Tech and Scott got some attention from OSU, X and UC. That was it, boys and girls. These are not top 100 players, at least not today. One thing that Purnell and the rest of the staff have the ability to do is find the players that the big boys tend to gloss over. All four of these guys have the ability to play on the defensive end. If there is one thing that a freshman can contribute, it is playing good hard defense when called upon. The offense can come later, but to play at the University of Dayton, you had better be able to defend.

On the surface, this would have to be labeled as the best class to commit since the Chip Hare, Chris Daniels, Rodney Horton group. We all know too well what happened to that era of UD basketball. We seem to have a much better structure today than that group was handed. The Class of 2006 could lead us to 4 NCAA Tournaments or they could just fade into the past as so many other players have done. Only time will tell.