I did a recap of the Doba dinner over at AOL. I didn’t touch on everything, obviously, there was a ton of information to try and remember so you know how that goes. But the overriding theme to the 2007 recruiting class? Character, no question. Doba went out of his way to talk about the recruiting process, how disappointing it is these days as the “in” thing to de-commit, and told a few stories about some Pac-10 teams doing some things that, well, aren’t exactly cool with Doba and company. Teams text-messaging players non-stop, making phone calls and refusing to hang up the phone while Doba was in their living rooms at the time, on and on it goes.
But you know what? GET USED TO IT! Recruiting has never been more vital to a program’s success, and while Doba may be turned off by the tactics of other schools, you know what? It’s the nature of the game today. Just because a kid commits doesn’t mean he’s 100% sold on a school, and as Doba mentioned, one kid that committed to them last fall was sort of an off-the-radar type kid, but as soon as the verbal came down, he was contacted by FIVE other Pac-10 schools that all wanted film of him and to schedule a visit! So in other words, for some kids, giving a verbal commitment gets them on the radar so to speak, and other schools suddenly think “hmmm, WSU beat the bushes and found this kid we haven’t heard much of, but if they think he’s worth a scholie, let’s check him out!” Again, GET USED TO IT. Unless the NCAA adopts an early signing period, as Doba pointed out at the dinner, it’s only going to get more extreme – more early commitments, more de-committing, etc, etc, ETC.
I liked what I briefly saw out of Sterk regarding the stadium. It was a lightning-quick presentation, but it was still nice to see. The entrance will be a whole new ballgame, plus upgrades to restrooms, concessions, wider concourses, bigger scoreboard, it’s going to be a much different feel walking in there this fall.
So there’s a big hoops game or something tonight?? While I hope they can pull it out, I’m not exactly holding my breath. This is revenge-city and UW is already in that do-or-die tournament mode. They MUST win this game if they have designs on playing their way into the NCAA’s. Combine that with the 75-47 humiliation, and it’s their in-state rival, all at home? Hawes is playing well again? Brockman is leading the world in hustle plays, if you believe the media? Let’s just say I’m fully prepared to see UW dance on the logo tonight when it’s all said and done. Not that I’m not a believer in our 10th ranked Cougs, and hey, 25 games into the season, if these guys were a fraud or a fake we would have seen it by now, but this just has the feel of a “logical loss”. Sorry.
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