Recruiting News (updated 10:56 a.m.)

Above, Dartmouth's Leede Arnea. Below, some recruiting news around the Ivy League.

Dave Dudzinski, a 6'9" post player from Kaneland, Illinois had reported offers from Cornell, Brown, and Princeton, as well as interest from several other Ivy League schools, but he appears to have eliminated consideration of the Ancient Eight. He told a local newspaper, the Daily Chronicle that the timing isn’t right for the financial commitment that would accompany one of those schools, which can’t offer the full-ride scholarships that most other Division I programs can. “No matter what kind of education you're going to get, you have to weigh that against the fact that you're paying to go there,” Dudzinski said. “[Financial aid] is just not a scholarship. You pay for a lot of things you wouldn’t have to pay for in a scholarship situation. That was something we definitely thought about, especially with the economy the way it is.” The article reports that he is now considering Holy Cross, Austin Peay, Loyola-IL and Evansville.

The Washington Post previously reported that 6'3" Malcolm Lemmons, had offers from Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Bucknell, Colgate, Loyola, Robert Morris, Vermont, Stony Brook, and Maryland-Baltimore County. This week the Washington Post reports that Lemmons committed to Robert Morris. He visited Vermont before making his final decision.

After we reported yesterday that South Portland, Maine's Keegan Hyland committed to Vermont, New England Recruiting Report breaks the story that 6'5" wing decommitted 24 hours later and will instead attend a prep school. Ivies are reportedly interested in his services. Options include Northfield Mt. Hermon, Worcester Academy, Tilton, New Hampton, and others as reported by NE Hoops Report.

NE Hoops Report also notes that Northfield Mt. Hermon School's (MA) Joe Sharkey (6'2" G), who committed earlier this week to Brown before he even played a single game of his junior year of high school, is the "earliest commitment ever to an Ivy League program."

The Stanford Cardinal Examiner discusses the recruitment of Dwight Powell, who is also considering Harvard. Powell may be Harvard's last chance this year to secure a recruit worthy of all the hype the program received during the summer. Harvard's other "high major" targets Rod Odom (Arizona) and Keala King (Arizona State), turned the Crimson down earlier this fall.

The Examiner also projects Santa Clara transfer, Andrew Zimmerman, a 6'9" center, as a potential starter for the Cardinal. Zimmerman's decision came down to Stanford and Cornell, but ultimately he wanted to follow his former coach, Dick Davey to Stanford.

Below is an interesting piece written by Evan Daniels at Scout.com on the topic of coaches using Twitter:

Is Twitter a college basketball fad or useful recruiting tool? Scout.com went right to the source and spoke with two college coaches to gain their perspective on tweeting.

Oliver Purnell does it. John Calipari and Tom Crean too. Chances are, just about every major college coach is utilizing Twitter these days.

Personally, I like the Twitter. However, I’m not sure it’s going to change the way coaches recruit. Regardless, we asked a pair of college coaches how they perceive the newest social media that has become the rage in college hoops.

# 1 Do you use twitter and if so, how often do you update? OR, do you just "lurk?"

Coach 1 Yes to using Twitter. I update it almost daily.

Coach 2 I do not have a twitter account and no one on our staff does. I do check other a few others peoples accounts though. One of our players has one, so I check that about once a week. I check a few head coaches as well - sometimes they offer some coaching/teaching points that are useful or just to see something that might be going in their program. I also check some national writers for good links to articles to read and/or send to our players.

#2 Is there pressure to use Twitter it because in theory everyone else is?

Coach 1 No pressure to use it. I actually had a Twitter account last December before it got hot- although I didn't start actually using it until recently.

Coach 2 I don't feel pressure to have one at this point, however, if I were a head coach, I think I would. I think it's a little "goofy" for assistants to have one, but I'd assume that they feel they do to in order to compete with others. I was definitely opposed to it when it first came out, but it's definitely growing on me as a source for information and to keep improving as a coach.

#3 Do you see Twitter as a valuable recruiting tool?

Coach 1 Not sure how valuable it is, but definitely another avenue to put your school or something about your school in front of fans, other coaches and recruits.

Coach 2 Twitter is valuable in that it provides information, which is essential in recruiting. It seems like it's helped teams with Kyrie Irving a little but, although Indiana is out now! It's another form of obtaining information from kids, coaches, evaluators, etc. I think it could help a kid get to know the personality of the coach that is recruiting them too, which is important.

#4 Would you ever make a tweet aimed at a player or group of players?

Coach 1To my knowledge I have not tweeted towards a player or group. Some coaches have tweeted what city they are in or where they are going recruiting, which I don't think you are allowed to do. Also other recruits might see what you've posted or where you were and it could possibly be counter-productive.

Coach 2 If I had twitter, I don't think I'd aim a tweet at a specific kid, but it's a very fine line. I'd try to focus on insights into our program, knowing that kids may read it. For example, talk about our scheduling philosophy, or what we just worked on in an individual workout.

# 5 How often do you or staffers checks what recruits are saying on Twitter?

Coach 1 I follow recruits on Twitter. Just whenever I refresh it or have it sent to my phone.

Coach 2 We don't ever check what recruits are saying twitter, maybe we should?!

# 6 Do you feel you can be open and "yourself" when making Tweets?

Coach 1 Definite “No” about being open and "yourself". I posted something (actually re-tweeted something one of our players wrote) that was pretty funny and got a scathing, demeaning e-mail from a fan of a rival team. Since then I've been very careful as to what I've posted.

Coach 2 If I started to tweet, I think I'd feel comfortable being myself. However, like we tell our players about twitter, Facebook, etc "if you don't want it on the front page of the newspaper, don't put it on Facebook!"