Who We Got
We know we have a lot more commits than you see on the list below, BUT the only names out there in public are these, (in alphabetical order):
1) Ryan Haslett QB Holmdel High School New Jersey
2) Evan Miller LB St. Xavier Ohio
3) Nick Mistretta LB/OL Don Bosco New Jersey
4) Ross Morand DB St. Xavier Ohio
5) Brendan Mulheran LB/FB Lincoln-Way East, Illinois
6) Nico Papas FB Browne & Nichols School Massachusetts
7) Tim Waller LB Wayne Hills High School New Jersey
posted by Jake @ 9:53:00 PM
35 comments
35 Comments:
Three guys out of seven from Catholic high schools so far? And one preppie (if not from a major prep program)? Why am I not surprised? Perhaps Jake is right, these lads do fit much better, and right away, into Ivy-style programs.
But there remains a VERY big game tomorrow night at 7PM, one which will likely determine Columbia's chances at an Ivy title and and NCAA bid. So football can wait, at least for two more nights.
rs
Yes, a VERY BIG basketball game tomorrow night against our visitors from frigid upstate New York State, but I can't help but think ahead to the Fall, so I hope to see some huge high school football recruits in the stands. If they are from Don Bosco or St. Xavier's so much the better, but my experience is that the best offensive and defensive linemen in the Ivy League come from small public and private schools throughout the United States. I'm expecting a big game from John Baumann and rest of the Lion basketball team tomorrow night. Good Luck guys!
Why can't we know who the rest of the commits are?
Mulheran is 5'11" and 185. Played LB in hs. Sounds more like a SS at the next level.
Dr.V
The big basketball game was a terrible disappointment in that Columbia had no answer for Cornell's
speedy guards. This is beginning to sound like a repeating theme for this Lion team. I think Cornell may be the class of the Ivy League this year.
Joe Jones needs to be reevaluated. Not sure this is acceptable at this point in his tenure. Has a strong senior class that is clearly talented yet never show up in meaningful games-that's coaching related. Regardless of how mediocre our facilities are by Ivy standards, it is incredibly frustrating that a NYC school wouldn't be vying for a title at least every 4 years. This is the year we were all waiting for and he is 0-2 out of the Ivy box. Wasn't even close at home to Cornell-really disappointing.
Amen regarding Jones. A nice guy, maybe a great pr man, but not showing up as a coach. This is his fourth season and his team is still WEAK.
If he needs replacing, let's have
a hard-nosed search for a first-class coach, not the usual Columbia candy-assed approach.
And to boot, he has arguably the best player in the league in Baumann.
In response to "slider":
right now, the heat is on for everyone involved in IVY football recruiting. "Likely Letters", confirming a prospects future admission are sent in Jan and Feb to every recruit who has been offered a spot and told the coach he is coming-it is a letter mailed by the IVY admission office stating that the chances of getting admitted in April are "highly likely", providing the kid doesnt rob a bank or do something else egregious. But it is nonbinding, and the kids may get letters from other IVY schools, or even a scholarship offer (the signing date for scholarship schools is on the 1st wed in Feb). Unless the kids publicly announce they are coming (ie news release), there is no way for anyone outside the recruiting process (ie us)to know who actually is coming, until NW releases the list. Most likely, they have 90% of their roster "set" by now.
Jake,
Maybe I am missing this, but when is the spring inrasquad game?
Hard to take away many positives from the Cornell basketball game, but the Columbia Pep Band, Columbia Cheerleaders and Columbia Dancing Team were all great, and there was a large contingent of students who enthusiastically supported the team throughout the game. The half-time entertainment was fun. Most of all, I loved the Pep Band with the four drummers.
The spring game is Saturday, April 19th.
Someone said on this Board that the 2007-2008 season is Basketball Coach Joe Jones' fourth year at Columbia. I believe that statement is incorrect as Coach Jones was hired in April, 2003 so this is his fifth season as Head Coach. Coach Jones seems like a very nice person, but he has been unable to recruit any Division I level point guards to Columbia. That was the major problem four years ago and the principal issue now. It takes less than thirty minutes to evaluate whether or not a high school senior is capable of being a Division I point guard. For whatever reason, Joe appears to have overrated the only three point guards that he has recruited to Columbia in his four recruiting years. An even bigger issue looms for next year, as two of the three current point guards are graduating. Columbia desperately needs to recruit two very talented point guards or it will have little chance of being competitive in the Ivy League.
Columbia needs to redesign the entranceway to the Dodge Physical Fitness Center to improve its appearance and functionality. The nondescript narrow concrete stairway should be replaced with an attractive plaza entrance having a broad stone stairway leading into the Fitness Center. At the very least,the outdoor "tunnel" on the Levien Gymnasium level should be painted in light blue and better lighting installed.
I'm sure it's too late now, but a few modifications could have made a nice difference, such as building an entrance with a small lobby off of 120th St.; raising the ceiling of the gym so as to be able to hand a scoreboard off of it etc.
I agree that the modifications you mentioned would have made a very nice difference. Why do you believe it is too late now to make those modifications? What about the suggested redesign of the entranceway. Given that a significant number of people utilize the Dodge Fitness Center daily, a corporate sponsor might be found to finance the redesign.
It was pathetic Saturday night. The women's team clearly adjusted to their previous defeat at Cornell (appropriate nod to Coach Nixon here), the men's simply could not. We were outplayed in every facet of the game. Even Cornell's very awkward and slow big man, No. 1, seemed to outplay us. I don't know if it's Coach Jones' fault, but I do know that he is a very charming, voluble man who can talk your ear off. Is that enough?
I also know that, luckily or unluckily for him, he is not a Dianne Murphy hire, and that, as a former basketball coach herself, she probably knows a good deal about the game. This may or may not be in Coach Jones' favor at season's end. His team winning all 12 remaining Ivy games, however, yes, that'd help a great deal. At least 10 of the remaining 12.
And as someone asked, were there in fact any prospective football recruits in the stands Saturday night? For that matter, I also didn't see Dianne Murphy or Lee Bollinger present. Anyone know if they were there for the home Ivy opener?
rs
Probably too late for modifications because of the ongoing construction that will add a building on top of Levien.
Dr. Murphy was not only present and accounted for, but spoke at the Homecoming presentation of the Columbia-Cornell men's swimming meet immediately before the game. As far as this alum is concerned, we are blessed to have her at Columbia. She's fair-minded, tough, very intelligent and has a great vision of the future of Columbia Athletics.
The Spec story http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/28813
mentions players on both teams and Jones commenting on Cornell's hustle, intensity.
It's ridiculous to suggest that the Columbia Men's Basketball Team lost to Cornell Saturday night because the Columbia players were outhustled by Cornell and played with less intensity, whatever that means. Having attended the game, I saw the Columbia players give a huge 110% effort from start to finish, but unfortunately the Cornell players were better athletes.
Having attended the very same game Saturday evening, I saw a Columbia team which shot and rebounded very badly, which simply could not get in close when they had to, which fell for a lot of very nicely executed Cornell ploys. (The ball-handling and passing skill of Dale alone is a big difference-maker.). They didn't score until almost 6 minutes had gone by in the first half, either. And has anyone else ever noticed big Ben's initial hesitance to shoot every time he gets the ball? It's as if his first thought is never to try and put one up, to muscle past guys; he can play much better than he does but to do so it has to be a purely visceral response.
I never got the impression Columbia played with "110% effort" Saturday night. And while most Columbia alums hate to ever agree with Spectator's sportswriters, yes (of course!), our Lions were indeed outplayed by a Big Red team which displayed far more intensity as necessary. Perhaps even worse, we had a partisan crowd in our small gym very vocally behind this team, to naught.
rs
It was a recruit weekend for football(last one) but with the game being at 7pm, all the recruits were being hosted at Planet Hollywood at that time.
It was a recruit weekend for football(last one) but with the game being at 7pm, all the recruits were being hosted at Planet Hollywood at that time.
The fewer football recruits at the Cornell game the better. This is the same core group that we ahve had for four years. Thye ahve not gotten better; arguably they have regressed. Coach Jones seems to be a nice man but not a very good coach. the Cornell coach reacted tot he 6 point game a week ago; Jones did not. I told dianne two years ago that JJ is simpy not a very good coach. She said that she is a fromer basketball coach, knows a good coach when she sees one, and that in her opinion JJ is a very good coach. I just don't think so. We have no offensive movement, players haven't improved, and soemplayers have regressed. Unless JJ puts on a miracle reversal, it's time to start over again. And yes, the facilities are pretty bad. In fact they are embarrassing.
There has been very little criticism of Coach Jones during his five years at Columbia. Is the Honeymoon over? Probably not, as long as he successfully recruits a couple of talented point guards in the next two months, and the Lions win some games. Meanwhile, I'm going to start attending the Columbia Women's Basketball Games, as the Lady Lions demolished a decent Cornell team.
Very obvious differences in style and coaching between Cornell and Columbia Saturday night.
Cornell guards attacked the basket and wound up often with 5-10 foot shots and/or drew fouls on the men guarding them. Columbia passed around the perimeter endlessly looking for an open three; occasionally Columbia would try to jam the ball underneath, but Cornell defense collapsed on lion posts and Lions scored almost no points in the paint.
Cornell looked like the more experienced and poised team, even though it is sophomore dominated. Columbia's seniors have shown little improvement in poise and execution in their four years - some seem less certain as to what they are doing out there than as 1st and 2nd year players. Ben had a dynamite turn around jumper and Mack strong moves to the basket earlier in their careers; now, you don't see them do these things, which were major elements of their games.
Cornell's backcourt is simply better talentwise than Columbia's. But, Lions have much better front-court talent. Nevertheless, Cornell front-court clearly out-played Columbia's - their players simply got the job done - defense, rebounding and scoring - when they needed to. Ben and Baumann were almost invisible.
Last Ivy championship in hoops was 1967-absolutely astonishing that we haven't won one in 40 yrs. By contrast the women's soccer program which is about 10 years old and requires much more depth and players already has one. Seems to me Dianne has done a great job turning around women's sports but men's is going backwards. NYC/Northern Jersey is arguably the best hs hoops in the country and we can't get this done? embarrassing..
Brendan Mulerhan is a freshman at Notre Dame, and was recruited in last year's class.
I thought someone earlier had said Mulheran was at a prep school this year. Is he trying to walk on at ND? He is not on last years varsity roster, did he compete on a jv squad?
Last year we heard about a recruit who "got away" to Notre Dame. I believe Mulheran was that player and perhaps he has now reconsidered since, as predicted, he did not play there.
TV NJ has clips of various BB and FB games. Two recruits' teams are represented:
Wayne: http://www.tvjersey.com/videos/39/
Don Bosco
http://tvjersey.com/high-school-football/2007-championships/4/
Scout.com
By Brandon Huffman
West Recruiting Analyst
Posted Jan 31, 2008
Van Nuys (Calif.) Birmingham tight end Rafael Lopez became the sixth player from the City Champs to make his college decision and he'll head east to the Big Apple to play his college football...
Van Nuys (Calif.) Birmingham was the most talented team in Los Angeles this past fall, and the Patriots had their sixth prospect from that class make his college decision.
"I committed to Columbia," said tight end Rafael Lopez. "I love the atmosphere in New York. It's a great place to be and I feel comfortable with the coaching staff."
Lopez was a key cog in the Patriots offense, which led the City in scoring and total offense. An excellent student, the chance to play at Columbia was appealing.
"Coach Blackshear did a great job selling the school to me, plus you cant go wrong with an Ivy League education," said Lopez.
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=2&c=725231
More on Rfael Lopez
Ht: 6-foot-4
Wt: 235 lbs
Forty: 4.91 secs
Bench max: 255 pounds
Squat max: 460 pounds
Vertical: 28 inches
GPA: 4.0
Class: 2008 (High School)
Others which were on his list: Stanford
Utah
Washington
Nevada
Yale
By JOE KOCH
Special to The Palm Beach Post
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
STUART — In the weeks following a strange accident that nearly forced the amputation of the middle finger on his right hand, South Fork High linebacker Will Claunch had doubts about his future as an athlete.
But in front of his parents, coach and several members of the South Fork administration, Claunch declared his intention Wednesday to attend Columbia University this fall and play for the Ivy League school.
he Ivy League, however, does not issue athletic letters-of-intent to prospective student-athletes. That means Claunch, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound linebacker, must wait for another month or so before he receives a letter from the New York City school confirming his admission. He and his parents expect to know around April 1.
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