This recruiting season just keeps getting better and better for UMBC. The Hoop Group has reported today that 6’8″ forward Will Wise has given a verbal to play for the Retrievers next season. Hoop Group’s Alex Kline wrote a great story about his history, which mirrors Baltimore Ravens’ tackle Michael Oher, of the movie The Blind Side. After spending his first two years in Abington Friends School in the Philadelphia area, he went to a prep school for his junior year of high school at The Hun School in Princeton, NJ. This is where he got noticed by scouts from New Hampshire, Fordham, Virginia Military Institute, Manhattan, Western Kentucky, Colorado State and Providence. ESPN’s take on him says that while he has a great mid-range jumper, something that UMBC lacked since the graduation of Darryl Proctor, the two-star prospect (same rating as Jay Greene) needs to improve on his rebounding in his senior year of high school.
My guess now is that Ryan Cook will not be on scholarship, unless I have miscounted.
neilballofrubber
abrose04
truegrit06
Unless someone is leaving … I watched the video (well, half of it) and he seems to play pretty much below the basket. That’s not say that he’s not talented but I had expected at 6’9″ to be more athletic.
That said, I’m incredibly proud to have a kid like him on our team. If he’s not on an athletic scholarship he may have gotten other types of aid to attend UMBC.
By the way, ESPN rated him an 85 before he entered his senior year of High School so I think he could very well end up being the highest rated recruit we’ve landed since Peter Mulligan.
Also, I count four scholarships freeing up after this season (Fry, King, Joliceur, Smith) and I think we’ve added three recruits now for 2011?