Billy Gillispie: Setting The Standard

Original SEC Sports Hub Article:

http://www.secsportshub.com/_mgxroot/page_10728.html

Alot has been made recently of Kentucky Basketball Coach Billy Gillispie's recruiting tactics. Gillispie has come under fire in the media for accepting the commitment of Michael Avery, a six foot four, 185 pound shooting guard from Lake Sherwood, California. The catch: Avery just finished his eighth grade year. 

To put that into perspective, Avery still has four high school basketball seasons to play before he will ever step foot onto the University of Kentucky campus as a student. It seems strange that someone so young has already made such an important decision on his life's path.

Consider the fact that at this point, exactly half (75) of the Rivals.com Top 150 prospects have committed somewhere to play their college ball. Half of this coming year's top seniors have yet to commit, and yet, here Gillespie is accepting the commitment of an eighth grader. 

This isn't exactly a new tactic for Gillispie either. He recruited the same way at Texas A&M and hit the recruiting trail as soon as his plane touched down in Lexington. For Kentucky fans, it brought an immediate sigh of relief and buzz of excitement, in a basketball city that had lost its patience wallowing in mediocrity. 

However, to Kentucky haters and Gillispie critics around the country, this latest act from the Wildcats coach has stirred a violent debate. Two time National Champion coach, Billy Donovan, of the Florida Gators, was trapped in the debate when he recently accepted the commitment of Austin Rivers, the former NBA great Doc Rivers' son. Rivers just completed his ninth grade year. 

Donovan has taken considerably less heat than Gillispie, saying that Rivers' situation was a family matter and there was already a great relationship between the Rivers family and the Gators. However, the fact that two high profile coaches such as Gillispie and Donovan have taken this path leads many to wonder where it will stop. 

Critics of this so called "way-too-early recruiting" point out that it is nearly impossible to gauge how well a player will develop over a three or four year span. Other than physical projections of a player's development, there is no method to accurately predict mental maturation and skill development. 

However, this reasoning may very well be the reason that Gillispie has had such great success relatively quickly in his coaching stops. While other coaches who don't recruit players two to three years in advance of their college arrival often struggle coaching their newer players up once they arrive, Gillispie's newest players seem to thrive almost instantly. 

The explanation for this is so simple it's shocking. Coaches who recruit players in their junior and senior years only have a limited time to get their commits on their college workout regimens and practicing the aspects of their game that the coach wants them to improve. 

Gillispie's commits, on the other hand, are likely already on his strength and conditioning program by their sophomore year. Gillispie can watch their game film and recommend changes in technique or certain things to practice, years in advance to his player actually arriving on campus. 

Essentially, by recruiting his players so early in their high school careers, Gillispie is effectively giving himself an extra year or two to help prepare a player. It's a tactic not many coaches have tried, but it may be one that all coaches start using in a short matter of time. 

Donovan's latest commitment might be the key in the ignition for the early recruitment movement.  

One thing is clear: Billy Gillispie is setting a new standard for recruiting. Opposing coaches are either going to follow his lead... or suffer the consequences.

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