Recruiting News

Below, some recruiting news from around the Ivy League...

Checking in and around the Ivy, it looks like all eight Ivy programs may continue recruiting into the winter period. Nevertheless, it appears to us that while some of the Ivies should be recruiting, others seem to be over-recruiting at this point.

The latter group includes, Penn, Columbia and Harvard. Penn already projects to have a roster of 23 players for 2010-2011. Meanwhile, Columbia has 18 slated for next season while Harvard is holding in place 17, none of which are seniors. Significant player cuts appear inevitable at all three of these programs.

On the flip side of that coin, Brown seriously needs to add some warm bodies. The Bears had the shallowest bench in Ivy last year and only have 13 players on their current roster. The 2010-2011 Brown roster will also have just 13 players, including 5 seniors graduating in May '11.

Meanwhile, Cornell projects just a slightly bigger roster than Brown with 14, including 3 seniors. To address its shortage of players, the Big Red could potentially add a few new recruits to its class this winter and are actively tracking both frontcourt and backcourt high school players. Cornell is also always open to accept a transfer from a junior college or a four-year school. Although, at this early stage in the season, there are not many four-year players seeking to transfer. This will quickly change by January.

In other recruiting news, NEHoopsNews reports that D.J. Irving, a 5'8" guard from Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor, Pennsylvanian committed to Boston University. He received interest from Penn, Mt. St. Mary's, Robert Morris, Bucknell, Army, Vermont.

Also, Anthony Taylor, a 5'10" guard from Pleasntiville, N.J. committed to Longwood over interest from Brown.

By the way, we are hearing from a few sources that Brown recruit, Sean McGonagil is the best incoming guard in the Ivy League next year. Nevertheless, he has not received nearly the amount of hype of a few of the other guards committed to Ivy schools.

ScoutHoops.com reports that Brian Holmes, a 6'1" guard out of Winter Springs (Fla.) High, made a commitment to North Florida on Monday evening. After playing for the Florida Rams during the spring and summer, Holmes also picked up interest from Gardner-Webb and Columbia.

Mat Piotrowski, a 2009 graduate of New Jersey’s Atlantic Christian High School, is currently taking a postgrad year at in-state Lawrenceville Prep School. Piotrowski, a 7'1" center recently spoke with the Bootleg.com after visiting Stanford during October 31. Apparently several Ivies are after him.

My high school was a small, Christian school and our league wasn’t that strong. We played a lot of public schools. … Stanford was the first to start recruiting me. They came sophomore year. Trent Johnson was first person I met from Stanford. He came down to see me work out. Then, with the coaching change, things chilled out, but they popped back on the scene last year. They said they were just getting the recruiting process together, so I waited until the spring. I had no solid offers on the table and so I decided to take a prep year and see how things went. They came on stronger, so I’m pretty happy with it. I have some interest from mid-majors, but right now, I’m putting that on hold to see from Stanford. Right now, I’m waiting on admissions I believe. [Piotrowski reports a 3.8 GPA and 1750 SAT.]...A lot of Ivies want me really bad. I just worked out for Lafayette and am just waiting to see on Stanford or Georgia Tech. For high majors, it’s Stanford and Georgia Tech showing interest. I’m waiting on the Georgia Tech head coach, he’s waiting to see me, to get me on an official before things go too far with Stanford...none of the big-time programs really know about me, but then they come and see me work out, and then there’s scrambling, ‘Whoa, we’ve never seen this kid before.’ Stanford’s coaches said they won’t offer until I’m accepted, which makes total sense. How can you have an offer from a school and not be accepted? So that’s where we are.