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Agreed we have a real hole in the middle with height.....these guys are really hard to find...even UConn went with a guy who had basically never played ball before (Thabeet)......anyone got any insights on 6" 10" guys for inside? Even North Carolina and Duke were short this year (although Hansbrough mostly made up for UNC)......Nolan's best teams never really had great big men and he played lots of forwards...Corliss was solid inside but that was an oddity given his overall talent and Nolan's style of play......Big O Miller had the size and potential and was really the only true big guy Nolan had who played at really high level.... find one solid big guy and your team can shoot way up in ratings....

FYI...

This is a "signing period" not a "signing day". There's a month after that first date. Seems so many people on different boards are cursing the high heavens that they signed no one on the first day - thinking it was just one day.

BEARS SIGN TWO MORE FOR BASKETBALL

Rather odd that Chappell hasn't signed any high schoolers, according to the article. Not sure the quick fix approach will work. But hey, with our program steadily going downhill I guess he figures any approach is a better approach.

How many high schoolers has he signed since he's been here? I don't think there have been very many. I really thnk that in order to be competitive at the DI level, you need to build your program with kids that will be here 4+ years...just my opinion though.

Signing the high school kids seem to be working for the football program.

I heard him say the exact same thing in front of a Kiwanis meeting once.

Said the big difference in D1 and D2 is that you get to keep them for 4+ years and not have to rely on transfers anymore.

Freshman classes since Chappell's been here..

03-04 Matt Williamson (played 2 seasons, transferred)
Orion Fliessbach (redshirted, played 1 season, left program)

04-05 Jerrell Walker (played 1 season, left porgram)

05-06 Mitch Rueter (3 seasons, medical redshirted, graduated, 1 year left)
Andrew Silverman (redshirted, 3 seasons, one year left)
King Cannon (redshirted, 3 seasons, one year left)
Will Cranford (redshirted, 1 season)
Josh Laymon (redshirted, 1 season)

06-07 Marcus Pillow (3 seasons, 1 year left)
Payne Harding (redshirted, 1 season, left program)
Drew Haymaker (2 seasons, transferred)
Seth LeMaster (redshirted, manager)

07-08 Imad Qahwash (2 seasons, 2 years left)
TK Smith (1 season, left program)
Jordan Womack (redshirted, left program)

08-09 Dewan Clayborn (1 season, 3 left)
Chris Henson (1 season, 3 left)
Robert Crawford (redshirted, 4 left)
Marvin Adams (redshirted, 4 left)
Dominique Newton (redshirted, 4 left)

For the most part, they haven't worked out.

Over an extended period, I don't think you can really rely on re-stocking all the time on two-year transfers and have great success. But when you're not having much success as it is, I don't think it's a bad idea to go out and load up on what you feel/hope is instant help across the board. At least he's going exclusively JUCO guys and making a hard push for instant turnaround.

If nothing else, by doing that then you can (theoretically, of course) get yourself better over the next year or two as you come out from under the cloud of the postseason restriction, and then hopefully you find yourself tournament-eligible and a little more successful – all of which sets you up to be a more attractive option to better quality high school guys.

There's no point in taking freshmen for the sake of having freshmen if they can't play. Look at the list posted above ... not a whole lot of difference-makers in that group.

Of the 20 (well, 17 since three redshirted this year), only two – Pillow and Rueter – have made a significant impact. Too early to really say anything about the full body of work on Clayborn and Henson, but they obviously didn't do much this season.

So basically that's two of 15 so far (13 percent!) that have panned out.

I'd probably give transfers a shot, too.

Well he's got to try something. He's holding onto a mighty thin limb at this time, imo, or at least he should be.

DI basketball at this level is very difficult. The players you recruit want to be told they are upper echelon players that will have a chance to "get to the league." The reality is that the only league that 99.9% of them will ever get to is the Dunbar Community League and a limited few might bang around Europe for a few years and make a little money. The coaches promote the myth to get the best they can, if things don't work out the players are disgruntled and "the coach is holding me down." You can win in this league with a good 5 and a great 1 and adequate role players at the other spots. It is hard to find players to accept their roles. It is not that way in football. You ask a football player what his goals are and he wants to use football to get an education and to play and have fun, if something nice happens after football, it is a miracle. You ask the 15th man on a low level DI bench what his goals are and he "is hanging out til I get to the league." You have to recruit high school players, make it fun to where they want to work hard and get a chance to contribute in their junior year, but if it is not fun, it is hard to get them to stick around. What blows my mind is Marcus, a green light to shoot at will, a good young man, a chance to be the all time three point shooter in school history, a three year starter, and he is probably leaving. It speaks to morale. Rand hates losing and losing is not fun. Rand and his staff can coach, it is simply tough to build a program from ground up. We will see, I hope he gets it done next year.

Hope Marcus will reconsider as he is solid and can light it up on occasion. I wish him well whatever he decides.

D1 basketball is certainly tough, even in SLC. There is lots of "pretty good" talent and most teams have to out hustle the others to go far. Work ethic is always important and working as a team member is essential.

BEARS SIGN GUARD REHMEL

CONWAY, Ark _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears have signed guard Jared Rehmel to an NCAA letter of intent to play basketball for the Bears.

Rehmel, a 6-foot, 160-pound guard, is transferring to UCA from Olney (Ill.) Central College. As a sophomore at Olney, Rehmel averaged 21.3 points per game and was the 12th leading scorer in the nation among junior colleges.

Rehmel to continue hoop career at Central Arkansas

I don't know how many have put it together, but Rehmel and Daniels are both coming from Olney Central.