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When to Say When in Recruiting?

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All it took was a text message.

At Providence’s first Elite Camp in 2012, Ed Cooley saw what everyone else in the gym had seen that day — the relatively unknown Donovan Mitchell was headed for stardom. It took another two seasons before the rest of the country fully understood Mitchell’s upside, but an animated Cooley started the fullcourt press on Mitchell and his family that day and kept it going for the next two years.

In the midst of Mitchell’s breakout summer of 2014, Rick Pitino offered him a scholarship via text message. Three weeks later Mitchell was a Cardinal.

It’s a story that’s been rehashed often around Providence, especially of late, as 2016 big man Wenyen Gabriel has seen his stock take off. Like Mitchell, Gabriel’s first offer came from Ed Cooley, and like Mitchell he has parlayed a breakout summer into interest from an elite list of schools. Coach K has been following him around over the past couple of weeks, and wouldn’t you know it, the 6’9 Gabriel scored 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds, blocked three shots and made 4-4 from 3-point range in front of him last night.

On Sunday morning Gabriel tweeted that he was offered by Kentucky.

There’s a growing sentiment among a growing portion of the fan base that Cooley and his staff should turn their attention elsewhere now that the competition for Gabriel has exploded. Herein lies the difficulty in Cooley’s job. He’s proven to be a terrific evaluator of talent, identifying a number of prospects well before they explode (amazingly, Gabriel is still largely considered a three star prospect and was on no one’s radar last summer), but seemingly all of them have seen their stock take off before their senior seasons.

Still, not every prospect jumps for the school with the best pedigree.

Four months after landing the PC job, Cooley held off the likes of Pitino and Louisville when Kris Dunn verballed in August. Dunn became Louisville’s primary recruiting target during his breakout summer, but when Dunn committed to Providence he noted that Cooley was at every one of his AAU games, and as he  explained to ESPN, “Providence is a special place for me. I have a great connection with the coaches but most importantly with [coach Ed Cooley]. He made my family and I feel at home and like we were wanted.”

When Jalen Lindsey committed to PC, he was ranked 32nd in his class at the time. Lindsey’s father Walt told ESPN that the effort and honesty of Cooley were the determining factors: “There’s no other team that put in half the work that they’ve put in. They’ve been to everything.” He continued, “It’s strictly how they recruited him. They were honest with him and they committed to him that he was their guy.”

Of course there’s an element of knowing when to say when. After Dunn and Ricky Ledo committed, Cooley tried to turn a home run into a 500-foot grand slam by going all in on Nerlens Noel, Chris Obekpa, and Jakarr Sampson. PC wasn’t in the final discussion for either Noel or Obekpa, and Sampson suddenly committed to St. John’s after a trip home to Ohio in the spring.

In ensuing years Mitchell was consistent publicly with his desire to go to a large university, while Kaleb Joseph was a foregone conclusion when Syracuse, his dream school, came calling.

Mitchell and Joseph were calculated risks, however. Few could have predicted just how far Mitchell’s breakout summer would take him, while Joseph very well could have ended up at PC had Syracuse not come calling (PC was in his final 3).

The next two seasons will be fascinating for followers of PC recruiting. 2012 (Dunn/Ledo/Josh Fortune) and 2014 (Lindsey/Ben Bentil/Paschal Chukwu/Kyron Cartwright/Tyree Chambers) were both tremendous classes, while PC has yet to get a single game out of the 2013 class (Brandon Austin/Rodney Bullock). The 2015 group is filled with non-top 100 types that PC will hope to develop over four years.

Recruiting is an unpredictable game, one in which some combination of hard work, personality, vision, circumstance and luck sometimes come together to land you an uber-star like Dunn.

For virtually every school outside of Duke and Kentucky it’s a confounding game full of swings, misses and frustrations that’s ultimately won based on the desires of teenagers and those supporting them. For example?

Around the same time that Mitchell committed to Louisville last August, soon-to-be All American guard Isaiah Briscoe seemingly took the next step toward his college decision.

Briscoe announced a final list of schools that included Villanova, Arizona, St. John’s, Rutgers and Seton Hall. He would make his decision in the spring.

By November Briscoe was committed to Kentucky.

There’s an interesting dynamic building in Providence. Cooley drew praise early in his tenure for setting the bar high and not bowing out when a school like Louisville came calling. The reward for his persistence in his first summer here has been the otherworldly talent of Dunn — a guard Cooley can hold up as an example of what happens for those who take a chance on PC.

Cooley has been consistent in his message that you need pros to make a run in March, and despite Providence’s historical success with under the radar prospects, the top 75 recruiting battles are the ones the Friars have to win if they are to take the program from NCAA Tournament team to something more. Yes, it’s possible, but it’s very difficult to compete consistently without the horses.

With Duke and Kentucky in pursuit, Gabriel vaulted himself into an elite prospect in an almost unbelievably short period of time — a prospect that will be a near impossible get for the Friars — but it’s incredibly difficult to win against top 20 teams in March without winning the top 75 battles in July.

Twitter: @Kevin_Farrahar

Email: kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

9 Comments

  1. Mario Teixeira

    July 26, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    He can’t drop out. He has to keep pushing. Even if we don’t get him. Eventually a star will come. Look at Kris Dunn for example.

  2. Bo Oliveira

    July 26, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    Never give up but also stay very close to plan 1A etc.

  3. Mike Baffaro

    July 26, 2015 at 4:57 pm

    Exactly! Jalen Lindsey too. We’ll lose out on some but grab a few too. Fight till the end!

  4. Mike Baffaro

    July 26, 2015 at 4:58 pm

    Right when Abu chose NC State we got Bentil as plan 1A and he’s going to be a star.

  5. Mario Teixeira

    July 26, 2015 at 5:58 pm

    Eventually one of these dudes is going to say “I’m going to the coach (Cooley) who believed in me from the start. Screw these dudes (Duke/Kentucky) who want me now cuz I’m worth Gold!”

  6. Alex Magz

    July 26, 2015 at 6:32 pm

    We know he’s a great evaluator. It gets frustrating reading all the coverage on this team and get left hanging in the wind when we miss on recruits.

  7. Derec Lamendola

    July 26, 2015 at 7:11 pm

    Derec Lamendola Haenst Been Hone All Weekend And How Every One Weekend And Going Back Saturday August 1 Enenthing Going ON OR What Enney Goood News Yet

  8. Sean McNamara

    July 26, 2015 at 11:37 pm

    When you want to run with the big dogs; you have to pee in the tall grass. Don’t have to win them all.

  9. Chris Primini

    July 27, 2015 at 12:44 am

    Energy better spent somewhere else.

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