It's been a long day, so forgive the title. Or laugh at it. I did. Oh, speaking of T-Pain, if you haven't seen AutoTune the News, you must. So fantastic.
So I think it's fair to describe what we currently have right now as a glut of guards. Bringing in four different freshman guards isn't a bad idea given that three of the four of them are highly touted (and were sought after by other Patriot League teams) but it's going to be very interesting how the coaching staff balances all this new young talent (assuming they live up to the hype) against what experience actually is on the team.
I'm going to cheat a little bit here because I just wrote an entry about Jordan Borucki, and I still don't have a ton of information on him. So for what I do have, please see this entry, and I'll try to get you some more info pretty soon.
Moving on.
Let's get to know...Blake Jolivette
5'11", 170lb, St. Thomas High School, Houston, TX
One thing you can say about Blake Jolivette. The guy isn't discriminating about courts. Whether they be the kind you play basketball on or the kind I wind up in after leaving parties at the Berks, Blake likes them. Apparently he wants to be a lawyer and is really smart, given that he got 12 scholarship offers, some from Ivy League schools and two of the service academies. Impressive. He also turned down a scholarship offer from Holy Cross. That's not impressive, it's just smart.
Blake's rationale for winding up as an Eagle?
"I originally wanted to attend an Ivy League school because I have good grades, but they don’t offer athletic scholarships … I chose American because I was close with the coaches and they did a good job recruiting me. I like their philosophy pertaining to me and the fact that I will have a good chance to start my freshman year … and I really like the DC area because it is a perfect environment for law,” Blake said. Well how about that, told him he had a good chance to start eh? Tell that to the other eight guys, five of them with a year or more of experience. There's a pretty good reason for him to think he's got a good shot at starting though.
Rivals gives him two stars. ESPN grades him an 82 and says, "Jolivette has a good basketball body and is a strong lead guard. He has a good basketball IQ and takes care of the ball. He has the ability to run the team and is very steady...He makes excellent decisions in transition as well as in the half court and scores with his mid range game on dribble pull ups and slashes to the rim. He can keep the defense honest from behind the arc but his strength is running the team and finding the open man." Sounds like the skill set Mercer was so successful with for four years. At 5'11", he's got four inches on Mercer, now let's see if he's got anywhere close to Mercer's handle. If he lives up to the hype he could be the starting point guard by the end of the season, but he's got a lot of people to go through to get there, including junior Steve Luptak and also the guy behind door number two...
Let's get to know...Daniel Munoz
6'1", 175lb, St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Plantation, FL
Dan came remarkably close to being a Terrier up at Boston University. In fact, he committed to the university and would've been barking his little terrier tail (Dan, if you read this, seriously, think about it, you were going to be one of those dogs that snooty women carry around in dog purses, gross) up in Boston if it weren't for BU's coach Dennis Wolff becoming a member of the unwillingly jobless club. After Wolff was made to leave, Dan decided to decommit and signed with us. Munoz now becomes a key part of what could be a fantastically talented backcourt in a year or two, maybe better than Mercer/Carr. Munoz, according to AU Athletics' press release, was "named All-County by both the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald in his junior and senior seasons. He averaged 11.1 points and 7.0 assists per game in his senior year, helping to lead his team to a 17-8 record and a runner-up finish in the district." Jeff Jones offered him lofty praise saying, "Dan is a throwback, pass first-type player who makes everyone around him better. He's an extremely hard worker and a basketball junkie who will fit in well with our team and our incoming class."
That hard work is probably what helped turn him into a two-star Rivals recruit. ESPN gave him an 81 and said, "Munoz is a true point with a high basketball IQ. He is a fundamentally sound good athlete that is also gym rat. He is an excellent ball handler and passer that can find the open man when penetrating the lane or when running the half court offense. He does a great job of feeding the post as well. Munoz is an excellent decision maker in transition as well as in the half court. He can knock down the open jumper with range to the arc." My thought is that in a year or two the coaching staff tries to convert him to a solid-handling shooting guard since he seems to have, from the sound of it, better range than Blake. That hard work will serve him well I'm sure, though I don't know if being called a "gym rat" is a good thing. Should be a hell of a battle between Luptak, Jolivette, Munoz, and our last candidate...
Let's get to know...Josh Snodgrass
6'4", 220lb, P.K. Yonge High School, Gainesville, FL
Josh, yet another Rivals two-star recruit, got offers from six schools but ended up here at AU. I'm excited to have him because I think they could convert him to a solid 3-guy, which means that in two years you could potentially have the trio of Jolivette-Munoz-Snodgrass starting. That would be nasty. I'd put money on it now if gambling on sports wasn't so wrong (unless you're in Delaware or Las Vegas, in which case, track me down we'll get a wager going). Josh was named to the class 3A all-state first-team in Florida last year. That's just the beginning of a long list of accolades, though. Gainesville Sun Basketball Player of the Year. North Central Florida Class 3A player of the year. Hell, he finished third in class 3A Mr. Basketball voting behind Kenny Boynton (now at Florida, where Josh can give him hell in the game this season) and Brandon Knight (2009 Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year Award, ranked in the top 5 by Rivals, ESPN, and Scouts, Inc. in the NATION). Nah, Josh didn't do much in high school. Not much at all. Pffft.
Along with Jeff Holton he has the highest ESPN grade of the new recruits (an 83), and ESPN's analysis of him was short, sweet, and positive:
"Josh is a solid shooter with good size. He has range to 22 feet. He has solid strength and should have no problem adjusting to the college game. He can do a little off the dribble but is mostly a shooter and a scorer. He is a great get for American."
The Gainesville Sun offers their own analysis: "Quite possibly the area's best inside/outside offensive player, Snodgrass is comfortable behind the three-point line, driving to the basket or using his 6-5 frame to post up smaller guards or forwards. Similarly to Gantt, he worked diligently throughout his career to build his once-slender frame into one resembling a muscular college guard."
Impressive.
The best thing about having all this talent on the team is that they all have to play each other in practice. They'll only get better having high caliber competition.
I'm all about it. If things turn sour this year (and God I hope they don't) but if they do, you better believe we have a solid foundation to build on for the future. Good Lord. Great work by the coaching staff to bring in a fantastic new class of seven after losing seven to graduation last year. So exciting. Well, that's that, now you've met the freshmen. What do we think of the class now that we know about them? Leave your comments!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
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