A year after the regular season champions started three freshmen, recruiting has come to the forefront of the Horizon League men's basketball offseason schedule. What Butler was able to do with one recruiting class really shows how important, and sometimes lucky, recruiting is at the mid-major level. In one class you can make or break a program.
I had a lot of fun putting together this year's previews. Talking with coaches, reading pretty unreliable and biased write-ups, and trying to make sense of conflicting reports on almost every amateur player is all part of putting together these write-ups. At this time of year everybody thinks their team has brought in a great class. We all know that's not the case.
Predicting recruits is playing with fire but I'll do it anyway:
Best incoming player: Jason Calliste
Best shooters: Ryan Broekhoff, Calliste, Tyler Koch and Ja'Rob McCallum
Best inside player: Andrew Smith
Most underrated: John Hoskins
Most important to their team's success: Lance James, Milos Milosevic, Green Bay trio of Smith/Pearson/Snyder.
Here's a list of the profiles for easy navigation:
Butler Recruiting Profile
Cleveland State Recruiting Profile
Detroit Recruiting Profile
Green Bay Recruiting Profile
Loyola Recruiting Profile
Milwaukee Recruiting Profile
UIC Recruiting Profile
Valpo Recruiting Profile
Wright State Recruiting Profile
Youngstown State Recruiting Profile
Disagree? Think I left someone out? Hit the message boards.