Last night's program notes on Manny's recruitment and other fun stuff

[ZagNative]

SpudZag mentioned in the Dranginis thread this story in last night's program, about Manny's recruitment, and the way he leapt at an offer, so anxious was he to become a Zag. I copytyped the stuff below, so no guarantees it is 100% accurate:

Manny Arop was ready to commit. Really ready. In April of Arop's junior year at St. Mary's High School in Hamilton, Ontario, he was playing on Canada's junior national team and "was really interested in coming to Gonzaga," recalls assistant coach Tommy Lloyd.

"So I'm talking to him on the phone after a tournament [in Houston], and I told him that we were probably in a position to offer him a scholarship. And he was like, "Oh, I'm gonna commit. I'm ready to come right now.' And this is, like, our second phone conversation. I didn't want him to rush a decision, and then have those people around him go, 'Whoa, whoa, you're going too fast.'

"So I said, 'Manny, slow down. We'll talk to your high school coach, we'll talk to your parents.' And I told him, 'Coach Few will call you on Monday.'

"And he said, 'OK, perfect. I'll commit on Monday.'""

I love Manny! what a Zag - long before he ever even arrived on campus!

I liked this from the program as well (also copytyped), encouraging to remember in the coming months with fingers crossed for Bell and Wiltjer:

The program's three assistant coaches -- Rice, Lloyd and Ray Giacoletti -- brought in this exceptionally large class without taking a mass-mailing approach to recruiting. "We don't recruit hundreds of kids," says Rice. We eliminate way more kids than we ever get eliminated on.

"When we're dialed in on a kid, there haven't been many who have sad no. Because we have a lot of kids who want to come here now. We've eliminated kids who are who are going to high-level schools, but we didn't make an offer to them. We're saying no to a lot of good, good players."

[MickMick]

Are they "dialed in" on Bell and Wiltjer?

Also, the only source on Dranginis so far has been Utah State conceding.


Wiltjer, Bell, and Dranginis.

With respect to quality, I would put that on par with the class of Sacre, Gray, and Daye.

I hope they land them.

[23dpg]

Manny is my favorite of the new Zags. He has glue hands, if you know what I mean. Larry G with a little more offense. I think he has a very bright future as a college player.

[ZagNative]

Are they "dialed in" on Bell and Wiltjer?

Also, the only source on Dranginis so far has been Utah State conceding.

Wiltjer, Bell, and Dranginis.

With respect to quality, I would put that on par with the class of Sacre, Gray, and Daye.

I hope they land them.

I assume that "dialed in on" means "determined to get," and I don't think there's any doubt that they are giving it all they've got to reel in those two big fish.

As far as the source on Dranginis, his dad in the Spokesman-Review would seem to be a pretty good source.

[ZagMania]

Wow, that was awesome ZN. Is there any where to find that article online if there is more than what you copied?

[ZagNative]

Wow, that was awesome ZN. Is there any where to find that article online if there is more than what you copied?

I'm sure not finding anything online. Sorry. I'll take another shot copytyping at a bit I liked:

All of this recruiting is subject to the requirements of the NCAA's 438-page rulebook. For his part, Lloyd doesn't feel over-regulated while on the recruiting trail; he even appreciates some of the constraints he's put under. "There's a million rules, and you gotta be careful, because they all matter," he says. "And the intent of the rules is always to help."

Take the prohibition on texting high school prospects. If there weren't one, Lloyd says, "Every night I'm having to text 10 different kids. And I've got a family. If you make no limitations on contact, it never ends.

"I've always felt that certain schools that choose to abuse that rule might have an advantage - if you don't have a family, or your family doesn't matter to you. So the limits on contact -- I appreciate that."

Sometimes those contacts come easy -- or at least as the result of years of networking. And sometimes they net a new starter for the team, as in the case of Harris, who played his high school ball in Speyer, Germany.

Not long before joining Mark Few's staff, Lloyd had played professionally in Dusseldorf. And he'd kept up his contacts there.

"I called a coach in the southern part of Germany who said there's a kid who I really want to sign on my team, but he doesn't want to sign a contract because he wants to play college ball. So he gave me this player's name and number," says Lloyd.

"I called Elias on a Tuesday, and I was in Germany that Saturday watching him play. (Lloyd adds that while such trips may sound glamorous, "Sometimes I'm only in Europe for 24 hours.")

I didn't do more than a cursory job of proofreading, so caveat emptor.

[Rangerzag]

OK, iIRC, last night the quote was the Zags flying something like 16,000 miles in the OOC portion of their season this year. Now if you count in the rest of the jaunting up and down the coast for the regular season, I wonder how many miles ambassador Tommy Lloyd logs in a full calendar year???

[ZagMania]

Thanks so much for that again ZN, very cool stuff.