<p><a href="http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_6754488%5B/url%5D">http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_6754488</a></p>
<p>Does anyone know if they always gave verbal commitments this early or if this is how they are offsetting the termination of their early action program? I don't remember the timetable looking like this or, frankly, hearing much about HYP giving verbal commitments at all.</p>
<p>august verbals....common as can be in the ivy league.</p>
<p>Interesting. He's only 6'-3" and 180. That would be on the 'short' side in my son's intramural league. Not sure why those stats needed an August committment.</p>
<p>Great? Um.....he's not on the USA today All USA team--not the first, second or third team.</p>
<p>Pesonally, I'd reserve 'great' for players that are NBA bound. That's me. I've seen a few local boys go to the NBA.</p>
<p>Not uncommon for applicants recruited for sports teams to get verbal commitments early in the application season, even in early action days. Doesn't apply to the regular applicant.</p>
<p>Just a couple random notes:
- This is actually quite LATE for a D-I school to be securing their first '08 verbal commitment for basketball. Signing period is in early November - while this doesn't truly apply to Harvard, since there is no scholarship to sign, it obviously has a huge impact on their recruiting, knowing who will be coming.
- Recruiting, by nature, primarily occurs in the offseason. Coaches don't have time for much contact once the season rolls around. For winter and spring sports, the summer competition before senior year is the last critical push to get your name out there as an athlete.
- Heck, a lot of elite kids are verbally committing during their junior year, or even earlier (not good in my opinion, but whatever). USC coach Tim Floyd has drawn ire for offering scholarships - real offers - to kids in 8th and 9th grade recently
- I don't know what planet "cheers" is from, but the inhabitants must be awfully tall! ;-) 6'3" is plenty tall for a point guard, even at the NBA level. Very few players of that height or above are quick enough to play PG.</p>
<p>Lesser- Schools are not allowed contact with athletes (DI) during junior year. You can visit schools and meet with coaches, but they can't initiate contact until July 1 after junior year. This is being enforced more and more strictly.</p>
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Interesting. He's only 6'-3" and 180. That would be on the 'short' side in my son's intramural league. Not sure why those stats needed an August committment.
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Great? Um.....he's not on the USA today All USA team--not the first, second or third team.</p>
<p>Pesonally, I'd reserve 'great' for players that are NBA bound. That's me. I've seen a few local boys go to the NBA.
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Let's remember that this is Harvard. While I go there, I'll completely admit that our basketball team isn't THAT good. I'm sure the best bball players go to powerhouse schools, not Harvard. And we also have to remember that Harvard can only go so low academic wise...So while he may not be the best player, maybe not too many prospective players have similar academic records...</p>
<p>college coaches look beyond Never seen this kid play, but I think that Tommy Amaker knows a little more about basketball than cheers.</p>
<p>"...I think Tommy Amaker knows a little more about basketball than cheers."</p>
<p>Don't tell that to anyone connected to the Univeristy of Michigan.</p>
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Lesser- Schools are not allowed contact with athletes (DI) during junior year. You can visit schools and meet with coaches, but they can't initiate contact until July 1 after junior year. This is being enforced more and more strictly.
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<p>Correct, but I don't think my statements contradicted yours in any manner. The athlete is permitted to initiate contact or visit the campus at any time; this includes summer camps, which is when the real recruiting bonanza occurs. The only restriction is that the coach cannot initiate a phone call before July 1 going into senior year. This does not stop email and mail bombing, either, which can start on Sept. 1 of junior year.</p>
<p>The young kids in question at USC were offered scholarships during a summer camp; feel free to look it up, as it was all over sports news websites.</p>
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when he averaged nearly 14 points, four assists and three rebounds
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- I don't know what planet "cheers" is from, but the inhabitants must be awfully tall! ;-) 6'3" is plenty tall for a point guard, even at the NBA level. Very few players of that height or above are quick enough to play PG.
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<p>Doesn't seem to be much of a point guard with his four assists a game. Most solid point guards, especially the ones who eventually make the NBA also tend to be superb scorers in high school and earlier. I agree with Cheers.</p>
<p>Though I'm also biased after watching a season of Amaker's in-game coaching.</p>
<p>He's ranked a 2* recruit and had a number of other offers. Most D-1 schools have their 2008 class nearly done already.
From Rivals:</p>
<p>"One of the top point guards in the West is headed East for college. Oliver McNally, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound floor general from Ross (Calif.) Branson High School is committed to Harvard on Sunday.</p>
<p>Oliver McNally is headed to the Ivy League.
McNally picked Harvard over Columbia, UC-Santa Barbara and Santa Clara. A number of other mid-majors showed interest while Cal recently took a gauge in interest, according to Philippe Doherty, McNally's Bay Area Hoosiers AAU coach. </p>
<p>"He is the ultimate team guy that can do different things on different nights for his team to win," Doherty said. "Some nights he will score in bunches, other nights he will set teammates up, other nights he will guard the other team's best guard, he simply has the ability to do a lot of different things on the basketball court."</p>
<p>McNally shined with the Bay Area Hoosiers over during the grassroots season and shined when Rivals.com watched him in action. Paired with Rivals100 junior Jared Cunningham, the two were one of the better backcourts in the West on the summer circuit. </p>
<p>Doherty said Harvard is landing a great competitor, an underrated athlete in the backcourt and a prototypical combo guard.</p>
<p>"Oliver did an outstanding job of leading and mentoring players in our program and is respected by everyone, something to be said this day and age," Doherty said. "Oliver can change speeds and really get up the floor or in the heart of the defense. He can finish around the rim and has excellent floor vision accompanied with great body control which makes him tough to deal with.</p>
<p>"Once Oliver gets the chance to work on his body and get in the weight room consistently he is going to be even better. He has the frame and size of a typical combo guard and he is only going to get stronger and quicker with year round work on his body.""</p>
<p>Not surprising at all. The ivies know just like any other athletic program who they are targeting and the likelihood of that prospect clearing their respective admissions departments. As for his stats/measurables they are within range of many elite point guards. Mike Conley formerly of Ohio State, is only 6'1'', 160 lbs and avg about 11 ppg in hs. Those great Duke teams of old barely avg 1100 on their sat's and you would be pressed to find higher at stanford, ucla, cal and other elite D-1 programs. I would imagine this young man is well beyound those thresholds. Harvard apparently is a good fit academically and athletically. Congrats to the young man.</p>
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Mike Conley formerly of Ohio State, is only 6'1'', 160 lbs and avg about 11 ppg in hs.
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<p>He averaged 11/6 as a college freshman, not in high school. He played in both with Greg Oden. He's also one of the best athletes in the world. That's very very different from the guy we're originally talking about.</p>
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Doesn't seem to be much of a point guard with his four assists a game. Most solid point guards, especially the ones who eventually make the NBA also tend to be superb scorers in high school and earlier. I agree with Cheers.
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<p>Conley was not a proficient scorer nor was he amongst the leaders nationally in assists in high school. The point being is you can't just look at the numbers and determine a players ability. Sadly, most NBA point guards forgot how to score when they got older. The fact is any D1 athlete has achieved a remarkable accomplishment just to make it that far. Comparably, it could be argued it is easier to get into the Ivies than it is to become a D1 athlete. To accomplish both is quite an achievement.</p>
<p>In all sports, many "offers" and "acceptances" at Ivies irrespective of admission and notification deadlines. Ultimately, of course, dependant on regular admission decision but very limited pool and fierce competition, particularly in major sports. Just go on basketball-u, college hockey boards, FCS football boards, etc. and you will see many junior year of high school, and summer prior to senior year, commits to Ivies. Academic Index in all sports and banding in football with a hard floor make it a challenge for all Ivy coaches, and the varsity athletes able to balance the rigors of an Ivy education with excellence in their chosen sports are to be commended. Unlike, in particular, Duke and Georgetown among top 20 schools, no special programs or courses for athletes at the Ivies.</p>
<p>Guys... the top prospects usually do not attend the IVY League to play BB. The four and five stars go to big Division I schools where many games are broadcast on television so they can get the exposure they neeed to get drafted in the NBA. There is a lot of pressure for players to attend schools that will be playing in the tournament every year, again for the exposure. Good for this kid to lock up a top education!</p>
<p>There are a lot of athletes that the ivy league can't take. This is a quote from the Harvard Crimson from 2003, when the AI was raised:</p>
<p>"The minimum Academic Index (AI), a measure of eligibility that incorporates SAT scores and GPA or class rank on a 240-point scale, was also raised from 169 to 171, and a requirement was added that the mean AI of recruited athletes be no more than one standard deviation below the mean of all undergraduates at the particular college."</p>