By: Zack Cziryak
Eric Bossi has spent nearly two decades in the trenches of high school basketball recruiting.
Traveling to various events and camps since 2000, Bossi started out as a part-time freelancer for several sites in “the infancy of the day of Internet recruiting coverage” before moving to Rivals.com and his current position of national basketball analyst in 2010 and 2012, respectively.
In his time in the grassroots basketball world, he also had a coaches-only scouting service that boasted over 100 subscribers at the Divison One level.
His experiences have left him with a feel for the sport and recruiting landscape, one that has recently experienced new restrictions to the summer recruiting calendar imposed as a result of the Rice Commission. These revisions have left a lot of coaches grumbling, a sentiment Bossi shares.
“The biggest beef is that a group of people with little experience with the game and grassroots scene that they are trying to regulate came down with broad and sweeping rule changes without getting boots on the ground so to speak,” he said. “So far as I know, there won't be much change until at least 2021."
Another outside force prompting potential changes in NCAA basketball and recruiting environment is the federal probe,which has almost come to an end and has been passed on to the NCAA.
"Personally, I think the FBI should have better things to do with their time than to devote so many resources to catching cheaters in college basketball,” Bossi said. “They put a lot of time, effort and money into this and what do they really have to show for it? Not a whole lot if you ask me.”
Whether it be sports, business or “getting past the line at a club,” Bossi feels that people will always attempt to try and find ways around the system.
“I would rather the NCAA have some real conversations with their members about what is or isn't cheating and perhaps take a look at making the grey areas a little more clear,” he said. “I would like to see a cleaner game like anybody else, but I don't think people cheating is going away anytime soon."
Calendar revisions and federal investigations aside, recruiting never stops, as evidenced by Seton Hall’s recent summer commitments of wing Dimingus Stevens and guard Jahari Long, a pair of players Bossi has become familiar with on the recruiting circuit.
He sees Stevens, a Washington D.C. product, as a thin wing “who kind of plays with his hair on fire.”
“[Stevens] has a quick trigger when it comes to shooting jump shots and his handle can be a little loose at time. But, he's also a good athlete and has offensive skill and an aggressive nature that can hopefully be fine-tuned,” Bossi said, adding that time in the weight room “is going to do him well too.”
“As for Long, he's a strong and tough guard from Houston who can play at either the one or the two. He's not a speed burner by any stretch, but he's cautious with the ball, is very tough and gives maximum effort on both ends,” Bossi said.
Seton Hall’s success in pulling Long to Jersey from Texas so early in the recruiting process continues to leave Bossi “incredibly impressed.”
“I can tell you that there are some Big 12 and SEC coaches who would have liked to have more of a chance to recruit him before Willard and Seton Hall swooped in,” he added.
With at least one more scholarship available for Seton Hall in the 2020 class, the program has set its sights on a few different types of players.
“[Darius] Maddox is a tough two guard from the D.C. area who shoots well from deep and has gotten much better off the dribble over the last few years,” while “[Earl] Timberlake is another D.C. kid who I joke sometimes is the best boxing prospect in all of basketball,” Bossi said, noting Timberlake’s “huge hands, long arms, powerful shoulders” and that he’s a “tail kicker off the dribble.”
A name associated with Seton Hall for some time has been New York guard Posh Alexander, who Bossi feels “is a bit of an undersized two guard who is quite bouncy and has relied a lot on his athleticism. An injury as a junior set him back a little as he rounded into shape during the spring and summer.”
“[Keondre] Montgomery is another shot happy two guard who has the size and athleticism to play either the two or the three and [Elijah] Taylor is an old fashioned, rugged big man from Philly,” he said, noting that of those five players, Taylor is the one he believes “the Pirates have the best shot at and who best fills a need for 2020.”
Pirate targets perhaps lesser known to the average fan for 2020 include Canadian guard Karim Mane, a recent FIBA U19 teammate of incoming Hall freshman Tyrese Samuel.
“Strong, athletic and can score,” Bossi said of Mane. “We don't include players from outside the United States in our player rankings, but if he were in the States he would likely be a top 30-50 type recruit.”
“A name that I would really keep a close eye in 2020 is combo forward Taj Thweatt,” Bossi added. “He's a Jersey kid, has the Pirates in his top eight and is the kind of tweener and aggressive player who has thrived under Willard. One other name that really stands out to me in 2020 is Rivals150 big man Akeem Odusipe. He's told me he's pretty high on Seton Hall and I know they've been watching closely.”
Bossi hasn’t noticed any major shift in recruiting philosophy for Seton Hall as Kevin Willard comes up on nearly a decade as the head man in South Orange.
“They find guys with the toughness they value, they find guys who are versatile and they have done a great job of mining the region for somewhat overlooked or undervalued players who show up with a chip on their shoulders and ready to work," he said.
Assistant coaches set the table for the head coach to serve as a finisher, Bossi said, noting that some places have coaches who rely on their assistants more and some have head coaches who recruit harder than their assistants.
“The best coaches can look in the mirror and recognize their own flaws and build their staff accordingly, the mediocre ones build their staffs for comfort,” he said. “Given that Willard seems to get doted on by other programs on a yearly basis and his habit of continually recruiting well to his system, I'd say he's pretty dialed in on a great working relationship between he and his assistants.”
Stevens and Long will join a Pirate rotation slated to welcome Florida State transfer Ikey Obiagu and the freshman Samuel to the court this coming season.
"Obiagu was an elite shot blocker in high school but just an OK rebounder and he was way behind the curve on the offensive end because he was new to the game and didn't have great hands,” said Bossi, who believes that more experience and time in his year off should have made him better offensively.
“What you are hoping for with him is a true rim protector and a game changer on the defensive end of the floor,” he added.
“Samuel is intriguing. He has pretty good size for a four man, is a good athlete and can put the ball on the floor a bit. He's not a bad shooter either but is sometimes prone to floating along the perimeter,” Bossi said, noting that Samuel has “a real chance to develop into an upper echelon Big East player."
Bossi has been impressed with the Big East’s ability to keep up with the power football conferences given the disparity in revenue between those five and the basketball-focused home of the Pirates.
“The amount of income they are able to generate through television, tickets, donors and everything else is simply tough for the Big East to keep up with, especially without viable big time football programs,” he said. “That being said, for hoops fans paying attention, the Big East is big time and as far as I'm concerned they are the sixth power conference and there is nothing about the league that isn't high major in every way. I don't see the conference going away anytime soon.”
Adding UConn for the 2020 season also “adds legitimacy” to the conference “and could perhaps help in attracting more teams down the road,” Bossi believes.
However, he does not see UConn’s addition impacting the conference’s recruiting on a grand scale in either a positive or negative fashion, Bossi said, adding that the conference has already been recruiting “really well.”
“Most of the teams they recruit against aren't going to change much,” he said. “The important thing is it adds another legitimate program with name recognition, the ability to draw attention to the League and the history to back it up."
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
Eric Bossi has spent nearly two decades in the trenches of high school basketball recruiting.
Traveling to various events and camps since 2000, Bossi started out as a part-time freelancer for several sites in “the infancy of the day of Internet recruiting coverage” before moving to Rivals.com and his current position of national basketball analyst in 2010 and 2012, respectively.
In his time in the grassroots basketball world, he also had a coaches-only scouting service that boasted over 100 subscribers at the Divison One level.
His experiences have left him with a feel for the sport and recruiting landscape, one that has recently experienced new restrictions to the summer recruiting calendar imposed as a result of the Rice Commission. These revisions have left a lot of coaches grumbling, a sentiment Bossi shares.
“The biggest beef is that a group of people with little experience with the game and grassroots scene that they are trying to regulate came down with broad and sweeping rule changes without getting boots on the ground so to speak,” he said. “So far as I know, there won't be much change until at least 2021."
Another outside force prompting potential changes in NCAA basketball and recruiting environment is the federal probe,which has almost come to an end and has been passed on to the NCAA.
"Personally, I think the FBI should have better things to do with their time than to devote so many resources to catching cheaters in college basketball,” Bossi said. “They put a lot of time, effort and money into this and what do they really have to show for it? Not a whole lot if you ask me.”
Whether it be sports, business or “getting past the line at a club,” Bossi feels that people will always attempt to try and find ways around the system.
“I would rather the NCAA have some real conversations with their members about what is or isn't cheating and perhaps take a look at making the grey areas a little more clear,” he said. “I would like to see a cleaner game like anybody else, but I don't think people cheating is going away anytime soon."
Calendar revisions and federal investigations aside, recruiting never stops, as evidenced by Seton Hall’s recent summer commitments of wing Dimingus Stevens and guard Jahari Long, a pair of players Bossi has become familiar with on the recruiting circuit.
He sees Stevens, a Washington D.C. product, as a thin wing “who kind of plays with his hair on fire.”
“[Stevens] has a quick trigger when it comes to shooting jump shots and his handle can be a little loose at time. But, he's also a good athlete and has offensive skill and an aggressive nature that can hopefully be fine-tuned,” Bossi said, adding that time in the weight room “is going to do him well too.”
“As for Long, he's a strong and tough guard from Houston who can play at either the one or the two. He's not a speed burner by any stretch, but he's cautious with the ball, is very tough and gives maximum effort on both ends,” Bossi said.
Seton Hall’s success in pulling Long to Jersey from Texas so early in the recruiting process continues to leave Bossi “incredibly impressed.”
“I can tell you that there are some Big 12 and SEC coaches who would have liked to have more of a chance to recruit him before Willard and Seton Hall swooped in,” he added.
With at least one more scholarship available for Seton Hall in the 2020 class, the program has set its sights on a few different types of players.
“[Darius] Maddox is a tough two guard from the D.C. area who shoots well from deep and has gotten much better off the dribble over the last few years,” while “[Earl] Timberlake is another D.C. kid who I joke sometimes is the best boxing prospect in all of basketball,” Bossi said, noting Timberlake’s “huge hands, long arms, powerful shoulders” and that he’s a “tail kicker off the dribble.”
A name associated with Seton Hall for some time has been New York guard Posh Alexander, who Bossi feels “is a bit of an undersized two guard who is quite bouncy and has relied a lot on his athleticism. An injury as a junior set him back a little as he rounded into shape during the spring and summer.”
“[Keondre] Montgomery is another shot happy two guard who has the size and athleticism to play either the two or the three and [Elijah] Taylor is an old fashioned, rugged big man from Philly,” he said, noting that of those five players, Taylor is the one he believes “the Pirates have the best shot at and who best fills a need for 2020.”
Pirate targets perhaps lesser known to the average fan for 2020 include Canadian guard Karim Mane, a recent FIBA U19 teammate of incoming Hall freshman Tyrese Samuel.
“Strong, athletic and can score,” Bossi said of Mane. “We don't include players from outside the United States in our player rankings, but if he were in the States he would likely be a top 30-50 type recruit.”
“A name that I would really keep a close eye in 2020 is combo forward Taj Thweatt,” Bossi added. “He's a Jersey kid, has the Pirates in his top eight and is the kind of tweener and aggressive player who has thrived under Willard. One other name that really stands out to me in 2020 is Rivals150 big man Akeem Odusipe. He's told me he's pretty high on Seton Hall and I know they've been watching closely.”
Bossi hasn’t noticed any major shift in recruiting philosophy for Seton Hall as Kevin Willard comes up on nearly a decade as the head man in South Orange.
“They find guys with the toughness they value, they find guys who are versatile and they have done a great job of mining the region for somewhat overlooked or undervalued players who show up with a chip on their shoulders and ready to work," he said.
Assistant coaches set the table for the head coach to serve as a finisher, Bossi said, noting that some places have coaches who rely on their assistants more and some have head coaches who recruit harder than their assistants.
“The best coaches can look in the mirror and recognize their own flaws and build their staff accordingly, the mediocre ones build their staffs for comfort,” he said. “Given that Willard seems to get doted on by other programs on a yearly basis and his habit of continually recruiting well to his system, I'd say he's pretty dialed in on a great working relationship between he and his assistants.”
Stevens and Long will join a Pirate rotation slated to welcome Florida State transfer Ikey Obiagu and the freshman Samuel to the court this coming season.
"Obiagu was an elite shot blocker in high school but just an OK rebounder and he was way behind the curve on the offensive end because he was new to the game and didn't have great hands,” said Bossi, who believes that more experience and time in his year off should have made him better offensively.
“What you are hoping for with him is a true rim protector and a game changer on the defensive end of the floor,” he added.
“Samuel is intriguing. He has pretty good size for a four man, is a good athlete and can put the ball on the floor a bit. He's not a bad shooter either but is sometimes prone to floating along the perimeter,” Bossi said, noting that Samuel has “a real chance to develop into an upper echelon Big East player."
Bossi has been impressed with the Big East’s ability to keep up with the power football conferences given the disparity in revenue between those five and the basketball-focused home of the Pirates.
“The amount of income they are able to generate through television, tickets, donors and everything else is simply tough for the Big East to keep up with, especially without viable big time football programs,” he said. “That being said, for hoops fans paying attention, the Big East is big time and as far as I'm concerned they are the sixth power conference and there is nothing about the league that isn't high major in every way. I don't see the conference going away anytime soon.”
Adding UConn for the 2020 season also “adds legitimacy” to the conference “and could perhaps help in attracting more teams down the road,” Bossi believes.
However, he does not see UConn’s addition impacting the conference’s recruiting on a grand scale in either a positive or negative fashion, Bossi said, adding that the conference has already been recruiting “really well.”
“Most of the teams they recruit against aren't going to change much,” he said. “The important thing is it adds another legitimate program with name recognition, the ability to draw attention to the League and the history to back it up."
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
