Reflecting back on the athletes that Golding has recruited in his time here and also the athletes that transferred here during Walden's first year, one variable stands out - size. Golding has year after year recruited players that turned out to be exceptional athletes and good basketball players but that lacked the one key element that we often associate with high level basketball performers which is size, height, length, whatever you want to call it. Every year we moan and groan about how we tend to recruit small guards seemingly exclusively. Guys who are 6'4" and below. Right now we have 7 players on the team who are 6"4" and below and three more guys who are 6'5" and 6"6". The rest are guys between 6'8 and 7'0" who play sparingly. Kalu being the obvious "big man" trying to fend off the opposing teams 7 footers at a small looking 6'9". This UTEP basketball squad is one of the smallest I can remember, certainly can't compare with Barbee's squad of 2010 nor Haskins squad from '92.
A casual glance at Walden's first year squad would reveal the same. Guys who play hard and with a lot of heart but who are small compared to other D-1 squads we play.
Why is it that our coaches don't recruit larger athletes at key positions? I believe it's the small school mentality. The coaches we get from former FCS schools go after players they recruited at their previous schools that they can know they can attract instead of going after players they need to win at this level. The ACUs and Austin Peays can compete with other teams in their conferences with small athletes but they struggle to compete against larger athletes. Bottom line is we need size, not just heart to win at the D-1 level. One need only look at our rebounding stats to figure that out.
I believe Lou Holtz said it best when we said, "I'd rather have a good big guy than a good small guy".
(And yeah, I know UTEP is not that big of a school but we expect to perform at big school level)
A casual glance at Walden's first year squad would reveal the same. Guys who play hard and with a lot of heart but who are small compared to other D-1 squads we play.
Why is it that our coaches don't recruit larger athletes at key positions? I believe it's the small school mentality. The coaches we get from former FCS schools go after players they recruited at their previous schools that they can know they can attract instead of going after players they need to win at this level. The ACUs and Austin Peays can compete with other teams in their conferences with small athletes but they struggle to compete against larger athletes. Bottom line is we need size, not just heart to win at the D-1 level. One need only look at our rebounding stats to figure that out.
I believe Lou Holtz said it best when we said, "I'd rather have a good big guy than a good small guy".
(And yeah, I know UTEP is not that big of a school but we expect to perform at big school level)
