One-time Mount signee Justin Burrell, a Potomac (Va.) High School point guard, has committed to play at the College of the Holy Cross after he attends one year of prep school in the upcoming academic year, according to a source.
Burrell was supposed to enroll at the Mount this summer and join the men's basketball team in the fall as the heir apparent to Jeremy Goode. But after Milan Brown left the Mount for Holy Cross, Burrell received a partial release from Mount head coach Robert Burke and reopened his recruitment.
That recruitment ended today when Burrell gave a verbal commitment to become a Crusader in 2011 after attending Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Va., this year. Ironically, this is also the prep school Donte Morales, the other prize recruit of Brown's incoming Mount class who de-committed, attended before re-committing to UNC-Wilimington once Brown left.
Burrell was a Washington Post All-Metro Second-Team selection and was expected to compete with junior Lamar Trice for the starting point guard position this fall. Replacing Burrell and Morales, and joining original signee Jeff James of Bowie, Md., are Julian Norfleet and Josh Castellanos.
6 comments:
I am actually somewhat surprised Milan accepted Burrell.
This I admit is a little complicated, but follow me - IF you watch recruitment at the D1 level and IF you have followed the Mount during the Brown years, you would have seen the number and quality of the prospective recruits running 2 years into the future.
Starting with the accepted 2010-11 class (Burrell, Morales and James) and looking forward 2 more years, there has been, when compared to the few years past, fewer players and the ratings have been lower.
Here's what I think:
1. Brown had a subconscious feeling he would eventually be elsewhere.
2. The effort to recruit diminished.
Here's why I think Burrell is getting in to HC:
1. Coach Dunlap
Time will tell. Just for fun, let's see how Burrell vs. Norfleet compare statistically through their years.
^^^ This whole comment is confusing.
The number of recruits from year to year will fluctuate depending on how many scholarship players leave the program. So this past year we lost Holland, Goode and Beidler, meaning we had three scholarships to fill. This coming year we'll lose Brown, Jackson, Atupem and Cajou, which means four scholarships will open up. But that has nothing to do with the quality of the recruits. If this isn't what you meant, sorry.
As for the quality of the recruits, it has certainly gotten better. We haven't seen rising sophomores Ja'Colby Wells, Raven Barber or Kristijan Krajina eligible or healthy for a full season. And our guard spots were dominated by the three aforementioned seniors we just lost. Just because we haven't seen a lot of the younger guys doesn't mean the quality has gone down. Obviously the guys we lost will be difficult to replace, but we plenty left in the chamber.
I'm also confused when you say two years ahead. How can we look two years ahead of the incoming class when it doesn't exist?
And what does Brown's supposed subconscious feeling have to do with anything? For one, any coach in the NEC besides Dave Bike and Howie Dickenman has visions of going to a higher level at some point - I promise. So that thought is there from day one and has no affect on recruiting. There's never a guarantee you'll get to move up so you're not going to slack on recruiting as a coach. And to suggest the coaching staff's effort to recruit diminished over time is blasphemous.
And did you want to give more reasons for Burrell going to HC? You started a list and only gave one point. I actually agree with that point, but I think it was the entire staff, not just Dunlap.
Lastly, you posted anonymously and really didn't need to since your post wasn't malicious - only perplexing. Please clarify these riddles you have placed before us.
OK, you do not understand what I am saying, my fault for not being more clear; I will try again:
My comments have no relationship to the number of scholarships open each year. Of course we all understand the school can only sign as many players as there are scholarships available. (Actually even that is NOT true, think Cajou or Hayden - I can explain this further if you don't get it, but this is tangential to the core subject).
As to Burrell signing with HC, yes, coach Brown had to assent but given coach Bri's connections with NOVA, none of this would have happened without him; thus this part of my comment.
The big purpose of my post was in fact about "the quality of the recruits", looking forward. I limited my comment to the incoming class 2010-2011 AND TWO YEARS FORWARD.
To understand this, you need to be cognizant of the recruiting services (paid subscriptions) and have a network of D1 coaches and assistants, so I admit since I am working from a larger data base than you, this is unfair.
Anyway, IF anyone was watching a few years in the past, he would have seen that Milan & crew had on average 15 players they were following and who had an expressed interest in MSM.
Compare that to the paltry sum this year (prior to the new coach arriving) and 2 years into the future.
It does not matter how many scholarships there are. What matters is how many athletes are interested and how highly they are rated.
Yes, you can look into the future! (You MUST be looking if you are going to succeed).
OK, I am being called for dinner, so I will continue as needed later.
Ask away!
P.S. - blogs are, by definition, anonymous.
So Burrell was not likely to qualify for admission this year?
I see your all points now - thanks for clarifying. I don't agree with some of them but I see what you're saying.
And the word "blog" is short for "Web log", which implies no anonymity whatsoever. So feel free to tell us for which team you are a coach. Either way, thanks for the comments.
Do you have any leftovers from dinner?
icepack- No he would have definitely qualified at Holy Cross - they have no scholarships available.
Oh *sigh* *sigh* *sigh*. Where in thee heck is the wonderful JOEY BUTLER, when you need him???(The enquiring mind of Tony Little wants to know) Is he still at St. Vincent, PA, lol? We would have won 3 NEC titles in a row if Butler wouldn't have got caught doing the usual thing that players do. With a backcourt like that, just imagine. Now, what the heck do we truly have to look forward to in the backcourt, good grief, Castellanos and Trice? Sounds like a law firm. I guess big Sam Ah-too-puhm will straighten them out, won't he? Big Sam rocks! And, no, I haven't been doing what that one former wonderful point guard was allegedly doing.
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