The Ivies claim that they don't give scholarships. Technically, this might be true - but not really... I'm not completely certain about this, but I heard that Steidl and Sandro were offered by Yale. And I'm very confident that Luke could more than hold his own anywhere. Those are just three players that come to mind. I'm sure there are others.
For sure. And Seth Towns or Aiken probably would not have gotten into Harvard without basketball, but they certainly had bonafide enough academic resumes to make it an option. Most high school athletes (let's be honest--even UVM's recruits) don't meet that standard. I assume Alotutu was in this bucket: he had a dream of playin Ivy League basketball but--even with coaches pulling for him--simply didn't have the grades and academic resume to make the cut.
I would need to see evidence that Steidl and Sandro were accepted to Yale before I believe that statement (there's a hyper-early application process of sorts for Ivy League recruits. I had a HS friend who was recruited to play at Harvard). I know Sandro excelled academically at UVM (so did Lamb, and maybe Apfeld to a degree... but he made a name for himself after college/in law school) but having a 3.8 GPA or whatever as an undergrad business administration major at UVM doesn't quite equate to getting into Yale--even as an Ivy League athlete.
I follow the Cats closely, always curious about who they're up against in recruiting. I read about the Yale option (recruitment) as far as Steidl and Sandro in interviews and/or profiles. When I read it, I remember it jumping out at me. I can't comment on whether they were financially eligible for the Ivy free ride. The Steidls appear to have a deep connection with UVM.
Definitely. These kids have to be at least somewhat decent academically to attend Ivy League schools, no question they are not min qualifiers. That said, the point is mainly that these kids are not paying to play there. If they were, nobody would see them choosing Ivies at the rate they have in recent history over other BCS schools that provide scholarships.
The Ivies calculate an overall class index of SAT and GPA for their student body, and the indices of the composite rosters of each sport have to be within, I believe, a half a standard deviation of the student body's. Harvard, as of a few years ago, also had a minimum individual SAT which was relatively modest by Harvard standards but fairly substantial by typical hoops recruit standards. So a recruit or two with borderline basketball skills and excellent academic credentials could balance out a high-priority recruit with a lesser academic record. As far as cost, Harvard's financial aid for all students is the most generous in the country. I had a couple of daughters there a decade ago and while our family income didn't put us in a particularly high-need range, their cost of attendance there was comparable to what it would have cost to pay room, board and fees with a full-tuition scholarship at an in-state public school in Georgia.
Plays at New Hampton School for Andrew Gale, who some of you with steel-trap minds may remember was a Manager/Grad Assistant at UVM under Becker a few years back. Great connection to work.
Junior Year Highlights:
www.maxpreps.com
And Becker’s nephew played with Guillory last season on the team that won the NEPSAC AAA championship. Guillory at the end of that game was amazing playing against high major recruits. Game is on youtube
So far it's safe to say the pandemic and related shutdowns have had quite a favorable effect on UVM's recruiting.
Question: Are we sure they want to come back?
Becker addressed this in his BFP interview article, they are having ongoing discussions about it. I think it's a difficult decision and needs to be managed on a case-by-case basis. I do see both sides, you want a player like Stef or hometown kid like Shungu to have a proper senior year, but you also need to manage for continued success and perhaps Aaron Deloney didn't expect to still be behind Stef or Shungu by his junior year when he signed on at UVM.
A great get. Very excited, and it raises interesting questions about what they current array of guards have in mind for next year. Do Bennie and Stef come back? That would introduce all sorts of issues, I would guess, unless we want to run a 4 guard offense!Junior Year Highlights:
Watch Video "Junior Highlights"
Watch this highlight video of Evan GUillory on Jun 12, 2019
Sophomore Year:
Some crazy athleticism, a knack for blocks, good scorer.
Exactly. My feeling is the seniors likely move on regardless. But, I'd add on that Schulman categorically said in a statement either to the Freep or one of the other local media earlier this year that spring sport athletes, who were granted waivers by the NCAA to stay on after their seasons were canceled need to move on as the university would not up or honor any scholarship commitments to them. While we know basketball gets preferential treatment and it's a possibility there could be some workarounds, I'm going to imagine the same thing applies here. Any "conversations" about it re: Becker's statements I am not reading too much into right now...but I'd argue if they were serious about it, they wouldn't be landing incoming freshman for 2021, right? I would just say everyone should commit now to knowing this is the last year of the current senior class and then be surprised if it's not. It's not worth the effort to envision otherwise.
