Midwestguy
Freshman
Posts: 22
Age: 60
Reg: 08-05-09
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08-05-09 09:17 AM - Post#64781
I am from Indiana. A good friend of mine is affiliated with a Michigan AAU team - Common Bond. She has been telling me that during July many of the Ivys (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, and Cornell) were closely watching a 2010 7 footer on Common Bond - Brandon Crane. I receieved an e-mail from her this morning and she said that Yale's head Coach has been in contact with Crane this week and a home visit and an official visit are both planned for September. She also said that former Harvard Assistant - Will Wade - traveled to Michigan last winter to take in one of his high school games and met the family, etc.
We just might see a 7 footer in the Ivy League before long.
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: 7 footer heading to Yale??? 08-05-09 09:21 AM - Post#64782
In response to Midwestguy
Jeff Foote, Zack Crimmins, Brian Cusworth, Brian Sigafoos...
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pennhoops
Postdoc
Posts: 2470
Reg: 11-21-04
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08-05-09 10:33 AM - Post#64783
In response to mrjames
Don't forget Conor Tolan.
Rivals has him at 7-0, 210. If that's correct, you might want to suggest that your friend start feeding him, you know, food.
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Midwestguy
Freshman
Posts: 22
Age: 60
Reg: 08-05-09
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08-05-09 11:03 AM - Post#64785
In response to pennhoops
17 year old incoming senior 7 footers appear to come in two weights - 300 pounds or 200 pounds! To add value in college they probably need to weigh about 240. Question is - is it easier for a 7 footer to drop 60 pounds or to gain 40 pounds? Often times Mother nature is not too friendly to these teenage 7 footers - until they are no longer teenagers.
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pennhoops
Postdoc
Posts: 2470
Reg: 11-21-04
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08-05-09 11:16 AM - Post#64786
In response to Midwestguy
All valid points - and all equally sound illustrations of why seven-footers, or at least the seven-footers who tend to end up in Ivy-land, don't have as much of an impact as we'd hope.
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Midwestguy
Freshman
Posts: 22
Age: 60
Reg: 08-05-09
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08-05-09 01:33 PM - Post#64788
In response to pennhoops
For a 7 footer to have much of an impact in the Ivy, a bunch of factors have to fall into place. First - you are starting with a small population to begin with (7 footers), then you have to throw out the ones who cannot cut it academically via Ivy standards then, of those still in the running you have to throw out the ones who cannot / will not pay for a portion of their education - whether or not they understand the long term value of an Ivy Leauge Education. Considering all of these factors is probably the biggest reason 7 footers have not had much of an impact in the Ivy - probably more so than being the ideal basketball weight. My friend said that of the 4 tourneys Crane played at during the two Live periods in July, Yale was at every single game in 3 of the tourneys and the Other Ivys mentioned above were also at several games. There must be a belief amongst the Ivy coaches that he is Ivy League material and worth the effort.
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pennhoops
Postdoc
Posts: 2470
Reg: 11-21-04
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08-05-09 02:07 PM - Post#64790
In response to Midwestguy
I'm guessing that you haven't followed Ivy League basketball very long. What I'm talking about doesn't involve academics - if we're talking about someone being offered home visits by Yale or any of the other schools then "Ivy standards" needn't come up. This is about ability, and good pivots in the Ivies are an extremely rare breed. A center - you don't even need to be seven-foot - with any kind of skill coming out of high school can pretty much write his own ticket. Witness Greg Echenique, who was this close to choosing Penn and wound up enrolling early at Rutgers where he was stellar last year. Jeff Foote was second-team All-Ivy last year and couldn't get off the bench at St. Bonnie's. That's not to say that every Ivy isn't constantly on the lookout for centers, even those who might be gambles (like Garvin Hunt). Your friend could wind up at Yale and have a spectacular career. But the statistical reality is that most bigs recruited into the Ivies don't do a whole lot.
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Howard Gensler
Postdoc
Posts: 4141
Reg: 11-21-04
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08-05-09 07:17 PM - Post#64795
In response to Midwestguy
My friend said that of the 4 tourneys Crane played at during the two Live periods in July, Yale was at every single game in 3 of the tourneys and the Other Ivys mentioned above were also at several games. There must be a belief amongst the Ivy coaches that he is Ivy League material and worth the effort.
Could be, but he probably wasn't the only kid the coaches were looking at at these tourney games.
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