2013 America East Recruiting Thread

[UVM7680]

Originally Posted by dnapolit

Congratulations to Matt St. Amour for being the 6th high school player in Vermont history to score 2,000 points. He had 33 points tonight in a close contest against Vergennes. Unfortunately Missisquoi didn't win the game but it was a terrific high school basketball game.

Originally Posted by dnapolit;

Matt's still deciding about his destination next year. He's considering UVM, Siena, Middlebury, Tufts, and Babson.

Does he have recruiting interest/offers from any of these schools?

Congrats to him on passing the 2000 pt mark!
BFP article
St Albans Messenger article

With at least one playoff game remaining, the senior has 2,013 points. He joins all-time Vermont scoring leader Henry Dalrymple of St. Johnsbury Academy (2,477 points), Matt Johnson of BFA-St. Albans (2,121), Bernie Cieplicki (2,061) and Keith Cieplicki (2,049) of Rice and Josh Albee of Bellows Falls (2,049) in the boys 2,000-point club. Three girls — Jade (2,114) and Jasmyn (2,079) Huntington of Oxbow and Candice Holliday of Windsor (2,054) have also reached the mark.

[dnapolit]

UVM and Siena have both offered a walk on spot. UVM would also allow him to walk on for soccer. Middlebury, Tufts, and Babson are agressively recruiting him to play ball. They can't offer athletic scholarships because they are D3.

[Blakely4Prez]

Does anyone know who the other 2 recruits were in the house? There were 3 that went in the locker room. Obviously one was St. Amour, but not sure who the other two were...they looked young.

[UVM7680]

They all look young... Anyway, good game for Vermont recruits to be at!

[uvm4life20]

Yea it was. Can't wait to hear about who the recruits were. We need some 2014 kids.

[UVM Hoop Cat]

I'm happy to take on St. Amour as a walk-on and see what Cieplicki can do with him, but certainly no promises of a scholarship unless he earns it a la Clancy Rugg.

2000pts is a lot for a kid in HS but there's a reason despite all that scoring he doesn't hold a D1 offer. Based on everything I've seen I'm not convinced he's a D1 athlete. He can't handle the ball and he's 6'2''. I can't see him having the lateral quickness necessary to defend at D1 level. I do think he has nice shooting ability- but can he shoot when the game is much faster for him and not guarded by a 5'9'' kid from Milton?

Can't really emphasize enough how much the kid would benefit from a post-grad year at someplace like Vermont Academy or Philips Exeter. 95% of the kids he's playing with and against right now their highest level of basketball after high school will be intramurals in college. At prep school, he'l be playing with at least 3-4 other D1 players on his own team, let alone the D1 players on some of the opposing schools.

If you just look at where someone like Kilpatrick is right now to where St. Amour would be as a frosh..Kilpatrick is light years ahead- and he can shoot, is taller, is stronger, and far more athletic, and this year has been an adjustment for Kilpatrick.

Again, fine with taking him as a walk-on because he seems like a model kid and someone you want in your program, but I'd make no promises in terms of scholarship, role, etc and if he develops by putting in the work, then anything is possible.

[Blakely4Prez]

Originally Posted by UVM Hoop Cat

Can't really emphasize enough how much the kid would benefit from a post-grad year at someplace like Vermont Academy or Philips Exeter.

While I agree this would totally benefit him and be the best for him if he wants to play D1, I've talked with St. Amour and he doesn't have any interest in prep school. He is a really smart kid academically and wants to go straight to college.

As dnapolit stated, he has also told me the same schools and really, only UVM and Siena are the D1 options available and its as a walk-on.

If he chooses Tufts or Middlebury he does NOT need to be a walk on and would play both soccer and bball. His size at those schools and the D3 level does NOT need a year of prep.

He's pretty much trying to make the decision whether to go D1 and redshirt, or go D3 and play right away and play 2 sports.

Not sure what is better, playing a year in prep with HS players, or redshirting and practicing with college level players...interesting debate.

[uvm4life20]

Originally Posted by Blakely4Prez

While I agree this would totally benefit him and be the best for him if he wants to play D1, I've talked with St. Amour and he doesn't have any interest in prep school. He is a really smart kid academically and wants to go straight to college.

As dnapolit stated, he has also told me the same schools and really, only UVM and Siena are the D1 options available and its as a walk-on.

If he chooses Tufts or Middlebury he does NOT need to be a walk on and would play both soccer and bball. His size at those schools and the D3 level does NOT need a year of prep.

He's pretty much trying to make the decision whether to go D1 and redshirt, or go D3 and play right away and play 2 sports.

Not sure what is better, playing a year in prep with HS players, or redshirting and practicing with college level players...interesting debate.

I think learning from a college coach, developing a relationship and chemistry with your college teammates, learning the system you will play for the next 4 years, and practicing against college kids is way more beneficial.

[dnapolit]

UVMHC, I agree with 95% of your post on St. Amour. The one part I disagree with is the defense he's faced over the past two seasons. He's definitely faced much tougher defense than the average "5'9 kid from Milton." Every game he gets the opposing teams best TWO defenders and every team's game plan has been to shut down Matt at all costs. Even if that means leaving three other Missisquoi players wide open. Despite being a marked man he still averaged in the high twenties this season.

Will he be at an athletic disadvantage in D1 basketball? Absolutely but his game reminds me alot of Kyle Cieplicki's and he found ways to make up for his lack of athleticism. Ultimately Matt needs to decide how important the first two season of college are for playing basketball. If he feels a need to play right away D3 is the way to go. If he's willing to be patient and work really hard in the gym and weight room I do see him contributing at UVM.

[GoCatsGo]

This might not be even worth mentioning, but...I was on the NERR site, seeing if I could figure out maybe who some of those kids were at Saturday's game, and I noticed on their 2013 recruiting rankings they don't list Kiefer Douse as committed to Vermont.

Now, there's an article that mentions him as recently as 2/4, and mentions his commitment. Wasn't sure if anyone had an idea whether this is just a typo/oversight in their rankings (though, they're usually pretty good), or whether something else was up.

[uvm4life20]

Originally Posted by GoCatsGo

This might not be even worth mentioning, but...I was on the NERR site, seeing if I could figure out maybe who some of those kids were at Saturday's game, and I noticed on their 2013 recruiting rankings they don't list Kiefer Douse as committed to Vermont.

Now, there's an article that mentions him as recently as 2/4, and mentions his commitment. Wasn't sure if anyone had an idea whether this is just a typo/oversight in their rankings (though, they're usually pretty good), or whether something else was up.

This is really weird because Douse was on the new englands overall rankings list saying he was committed to UVM. I wonder if that changed or if he signed his LOI

I think Douse is only a verbal so he could of went back on his commitment. On the Maine ranking page he has Vermont taken off his commitment list as well. This can't be a good sign. Hopefully Becker is reopening the recruiting trail for 2013 and we can land someone good.

[UVM Hoop Cat]

Originally Posted by dnapolit

UVMHC, I agree with 95% of your post on St. Amour. The one part I disagree with is the defense he's faced over the past two seasons. He's definitely faced much tougher defense than the average "5'9 kid from Milton." Every game he gets the opposing teams best TWO defenders and every team's game plan has been to shut down Matt at all costs. Even if that means leaving three other Missisquoi players wide open. Despite being a marked man he still averaged in the high twenties this season.

Will he be at an athletic disadvantage in D1 basketball? Absolutely but his game reminds me alot of Kyle Cieplicki's and he found ways to make up for his lack of athleticism. Ultimately Matt needs to decide how important the first two season of college are for playing basketball. If he feels a need to play right away D3 is the way to go. If he's willing to be patient and work really hard in the gym and weight room I do see him contributing at UVM.

I guess I just need to be direct- the kids he's playing against, whether it's 1 5'9'' kid from Milton or 3 kids from Milton- are not good basketball players.

The Kyle Cieplicki comparison does a disservice to Kyle Cieplicki- and I was critical of Cieplicki for his lack of athleticism when he played for us- but there were no doubts Kyle Cieplicki was a D1 athlete/basketball player and even though he wasn't an explosive athlete like a Tyrone Conley or even Candon Rusin, Kyle had a deadly D1-ready outside shot and he was a legit 6'4''- not 6'2'', and at the very least you knew you were getting a fundamentally sound player who knew the game because he was a Cieplicki.


Anyways, when I think about Vermont HS players that have been D1 recently- Tyrone Conley, Pat Bergmann, Matt Glass, Joe O'Shea, Candon Rusin- St. Amour looks worlds away from any of them.

Again, not trying to rain on the kid's parade and if he's willing to accept it's probably a long road ahead to being ready as a D1 player- like at least 2, maybe even 3 years- then I'm all for giving him a walk-on spot, but to me right now I'm not seeing it and he looks like a great fit at a Middlebury/Tufts or Babson then he does at D1.

[UVM Hoop Cat]

Originally Posted by GoCatsGo

This might not be even worth mentioning, but...I was on the NERR site, seeing if I could figure out maybe who some of those kids were at Saturday's game, and I noticed on their 2013 recruiting rankings they don't list Kiefer Douse as committed to Vermont.

Now, there's an article that mentions him as recently as 2/4, and mentions his commitment. Wasn't sure if anyone had an idea whether this is just a typo/oversight in their rankings (though, they're usually pretty good), or whether something else was up.

Honestly, the entire Douse commitment came out of left field and took me by surprise. I would not be at all surprised if he gave a soft verbal and did not sign a LOI to keep his options open, though it's been a pretty quiet year for him at Lee Academy.

With all the PGs we were tied to for class of 2013, I was honestly somewhat surprised to see Douse the one we went with. Watching some of his Lee highlights, it's pretty clear he's highly athletic and has excellent size for a PG- but he turned the ball over a lot from what I saw. My feelings/expectations on Douse have been mixed from what I've seen and certainly give the benefit of the doubt to the coaching staff.

For whatever it's worth, he still says he's officially committed to the University of Vermont on his Twitter account.

[Blakely4Prez]

Originally Posted by UVM Hoop Cat

Honestly, the entire Douse commitment came out of left field and took me by surprise. I would not be at all surprised if he gave a soft verbal and did not sign a LOI to keep his options open, though it's been a pretty quiet year for him at Lee Academy.

With all the PGs we were tied to for class of 2013, I was honestly somewhat surprised to see Douse the one we went with. Watching some of his Lee highlights, it's pretty clear he's highly athletic and has excellent size for a PG- but he turned the ball over a lot from what I saw. My feelings/expectations on Douse have been mixed from what I've seen and certainly give the benefit of the doubt to the coaching staff.

For whatever it's worth, he still says he's officially committed to the University of Vermont on his Twitter account.

What twitter handle are you using for him? I've seen a couple

[UVM Hoop Cat]

And I also think the whole "Patrick fans want to see Vermonters" is overstated. Now don't get me wrong- it's nice to see Vermont kids on the team, but unless *maybe* they're from Chittenden County (really just BHS/Rice), it's really not a big deal or draw. The Patrick faithful IMO want to see two things:

1) Wins
2) Stars like Marqus Blakely. Whether it's been Kevin Roberson, Eddie Benton, Tony Orciari, Taylor Coppenrath, TJ Sorrentine, Mike Trimboli, Joe Trapani, Marqus Blakely, Four McGlynn- UVM fans like their "Star Players".

I was at the Fairleigh Dickinson game back in December and more people in the crowd near me were talking about Four McGlynn than they were anyone on the current team. Of course, we had played some lousy games at home OOC before that, but still....Patrick Gym likes its stars.