The state of recruiting

 

In my estimation, there were four types of Fran Dunphy recruits: the local kid, the Jersey kid, the Cali kid and the miscellaneous. In fact 10 of the 15 players on the current roster, all recruited by Dunphy, come from the first three categories.

And if the last week is any indication, there will be four types of Glen Miller recruits too: the San Diego kid, the Bay Area kid, the Valley kid and the kid from the 909.

Miller's first reported conquest as Quakers coach was point guard Harrison Gaines out of Phelan, Calif., located 75 miles outside Los Angeles in the Inland Empire. For the second, he went right back where he started from, getting 6-foot-6 guard Tyler Bernardini out of San Diego.

Those two will join Tommy McMahon from NorCal and Andreas Schreiber from Sweden via SoCal in the Cali contingent. (Schreiber, by the way, was the player to be named later in the deal that sent Eric Osmundson to play professionally in Sweden.) Even if there are only four from the Golden State next year, it's pretty impressive, considering the volleyball team of 19 players only has seven from California, where it's the state sport.

And it's not like the coaching staff is making the cross-country trips just to fill out the roster. McMahon, Schreiber, Gaines and Bernardini all drew interest from bigger and better hoops schools, including several from the Pac-10.

The eastward migration is part of a larger campus pattern of students foregoing the In & Out Burgers for the hoagies. According to this story from a January issue of the DP, California passed New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in undergraduate applicants.

So don't be the least bit surpised if, with the changing demographics comes a changing schedule. Penn went to San Francisco two years ago and will likely be looking for more games out West.

Comments powered by Disqus

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.