Men’s basketball season over, recruiting begins
Posted on 29. Mar, 2007 by Archivist in Sports
James Sturgeon
Sports Reporter
Despite a respectable third-place finish at this year’s provincial championships a few weeks ago, men’s basketball team is looking to add some critical components for the upcoming season.
Head Coach Darrell Glenn is optimistic that through some successful recruiting this off-season the coaching staff can fill the gaps.
“We certainly have those pieces on paper,” Glenn said while taking in a game at this year’s OFSAA high school championships in Hamilton on Saturday.
Glenn was joined by assistant coaches Chris Cheng and Ajay Sharma over the weekend to see potential Hawks Ricky Dunkley and six-foot-four guard Henry Carr in Etobicoke.
“We like his size, we like his athleticism and we think he’s going to be a great addition to the program,” Glenn said.
“I live in the community around (Humber) and I heard it was a very good program,” Dunkley said.
The coaching staff’s focus is getting potential players like Dunkley registered at Humber, or at least verbally committed to coming to the school, something problematic at the college level.
“You’re never really relaxed about your recruits,” Glenn said. “We’re competing with Division I, Division II, Division III (NCAA), prep schools (in the U.S.) and the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sports). That’s the order.”
“Once all that’s exhausted then a player will listen to us,” he said.
Dunkley said he wants to take his game further and “maybe go down to the States or something.”
According to Glenn, the challenge isn’t only pressure from other leagues and institutions, it’s ensuring recruits are able to succeed academically as well.
“If we focus too much on just the athlete who doesn’t take school seriously, he’s not going to be any use to us because he’s going to be ineligible to play,” Glenn said.
Humber’s rule is players must maintain a 60 per cent average or better to participate in varsity athletics.
“If you come to Humber, you can’t just be an athlete,” assistant coach Chris Cheng added. “We try to identify those student athletes and get them into the program, and make sure they’re successful on and off the court.”
The two obstacles of losing recruits to universities or opportunities in the United States as well as poor marks means a list of about 50 prospects in the fall (when the recruiting process begins) is reduced to only a handful of players when registration starts in the spring.
“You have your tier one guys or your wish list and on that list you may only really have a chance at one or two of them,” Glenn said “As far as I’m concerned they’re not really committed until they’ve paid their fees. Then we become pretty confident they’re coming. We’re still not 100 per cent confident until we see a player in classes in September though.”
Despite the challenges, Glenn said the staff remains diligent to put the best team together with the tools they have.
“We’ve got four coaches that are all committed to doing all we can do to try and get (good players) to come – to show that it would a great experience coming to Humber.”
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