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Y! MyWebWITTENBERG BASKETBALL
Fate hands Witt hoops 11 new recruits
Men's head coach Bill Brown explains how fortunate connections helped bring in the team's new members
Thursday, June 26, 2008
SPRINGFIELD — Wittenberg men's basketball coach Bill Brown and his assistants can run wind sprints the entire offseason in the recruiting game.
Sometimes, though, as even Brown admitted, it comes down to "fortune and fate." That explains how several of the 11 players in Wittenberg's 2008 recruiting class ended up picking the Tigers.
"I feel very fortunate," Brown said. "We had our backs up against the walls in some ways personnel-wise."
Wittenberg got off to a good start when the two Clark County graduates in the class — South's Michael Cooper and Tecumseh's Josh McKee — committed to Wittenberg on national signing day, Feb. 6.
For Cooper and McKee, playing close to home and getting the chance to play football for the Tigers were deciding factors. Some of the other players made the decision for less-obvious reasons.
• Jacob Weide, a 6-foot-6 wing/forward from Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., knew about Wittenberg because his sister, Sarah, ran track and cross country for the Tigers. He also wanted a Lutheran school.
• Two Olentangy High School players — 5-7 guard Mike Duffy and 6-7 post Alex Brandt — were recruited in part by former Tiger Brian Agler, the head coach of the WNBA's Seattle Storm. Agler lives in Columbus in the offseason, and his son goes to Olentangy.
"(Agler) really brought Mike and Alex to our attention," Brown said. "He even brought them to a game, the Wooster game in fact. That initial nudge from him led them to Wittenberg."
• Another 6-7 post, Clayton Black, of Lancaster, heard about the Tigers from Wittenberg economics professor Jeff Ankrom and former Tigers golfer Andy Bonar. Ankrom and Bonar are also from Lancaster.
Brown described Brandt and Black as late bloomers. Black, for instance, was 6-0 as a freshman.
"We've had some good luck with late bloomers," said Brown, citing recent graduates Dan Russ and Dane Borchers as examples. "They grow late, develop some perimeter skills early in junior high, and their biggest successes have spanned the last couple of years. That makes the hunger and fire be even more there."
In other Wittenberg offseason news, guard Derrick Hannon, a Shawnee grad who averaged 2.7 points per game in his freshman season, has left the program.
Hannon has enrolled at Cedarville University, new Yellow Jackets coach Pat Estepp said. Hannon's move was more about Cedarville's Christian environment than basketball, Estepp said.
Wittenberg Men's Basketball 2008 Recruiting Class
Name Ht. Wt. Position Hometown School
Clayton Black 6-7 205 forward Lancaster Lancaster
Alex Brandt 6-7 220 post Lewis Center Olentangy
Michael Cooper 6-4 185 wing Springfield South
Michael Duffy 5-10 160 guard Lewis Center Olentangy
Sam Gardner 6-6 205 post Noblesville, Ind. Guerin Catholic
Josh McKee 6-1 165 wing New Carlisle Tecumseh
Mike Nattis 5-9 150 guard Woodbury, N.Y. Friends Academy
Logan Nourse* 6-2 175 wing Spencerville University of Dayton
Chris Sullivan* 5-10 155 guard Columbus Franklin and Marshall College
Anthony Valerio 6-4 175 wing Kettering Beavercreek
Jacob Weide 6-6 195 wing Ft. Wayne, Ind. Homestead
* Transfer with three years of eligibility remaining
