Vandy Star Illustrates Pain of Recruiting What-Ifs
So it appears that the Utes once had a line on both a junior-college All-American and another Australian star-in-the-making ... yet managed to wind up with neither one of them.
Perhaps that's how you wind up with a program in need of rebuilding.
At any rate, the Utes evidently had a great shot at Vanderbilt's A.J. Ogilvy, whom former coach Ray Giacoletti discovered through his connections to the Australian Institute for Sport. And that could have been a huge score for them, judging by the way the 6-foot-10 freshman is leading the unbeaten Commodores by averaging 19.6 points and 6.3 rebounds and shooting 70 percent from the field.
But according to an article on ESPN.com -- thanks to the gang over at Utefans.net for calling my attention to it -- Giacoletti and the Utes had no room for Ogilvy because they had committed to using their final scholarship last year on a "junior-college post player," which would have been 6-9 power forward Nemanja Calasan.
Now, Calasan was hardly a slouch, having been a junior-college All-American who had led Midland College in Texas to the national junior-college championship last season.
But once new coach Jim Boylen arrived and inherited a glut of juniors who presumably will all depart the program at the same time after the 2008-09 season, he decided he could not afford to add yet another one that could leave the program seriously depleted heading into 2009-10.
So he cut Calasan loose.
Of course, Calasan wound up at Purdue (he turned down Kentucky), where he's off to a fine start with the Boilermakers. Meanwhile, the Utes did not use the scholarship that had been reserved for Calasan to recruit another player -- instead using it along with the one that had been occupied by departed Daniel Deane on senior guard Chris Grant and senior forward Sayre Brennan. Both former walk-ons will be gone after this season, again freeing the scholarships for Boylen to recruit new players.
What if Giacoletti had valued Ogilvy over Calasan, though?
Given that Ogilvy is only a freshman, it's easy to presume that Boylen would have honored his letter-of-intent obligation and added him to the team. You think the Utes couldn't use a big man to be scoring nearly 20 points per game right about now? Just a thought ...
Perhaps that's how you wind up with a program in need of rebuilding.
At any rate, the Utes evidently had a great shot at Vanderbilt's A.J. Ogilvy, whom former coach Ray Giacoletti discovered through his connections to the Australian Institute for Sport. And that could have been a huge score for them, judging by the way the 6-foot-10 freshman is leading the unbeaten Commodores by averaging 19.6 points and 6.3 rebounds and shooting 70 percent from the field.
But according to an article on ESPN.com -- thanks to the gang over at Utefans.net for calling my attention to it -- Giacoletti and the Utes had no room for Ogilvy because they had committed to using their final scholarship last year on a "junior-college post player," which would have been 6-9 power forward Nemanja Calasan.
Now, Calasan was hardly a slouch, having been a junior-college All-American who had led Midland College in Texas to the national junior-college championship last season.
But once new coach Jim Boylen arrived and inherited a glut of juniors who presumably will all depart the program at the same time after the 2008-09 season, he decided he could not afford to add yet another one that could leave the program seriously depleted heading into 2009-10.
So he cut Calasan loose.
Of course, Calasan wound up at Purdue (he turned down Kentucky), where he's off to a fine start with the Boilermakers. Meanwhile, the Utes did not use the scholarship that had been reserved for Calasan to recruit another player -- instead using it along with the one that had been occupied by departed Daniel Deane on senior guard Chris Grant and senior forward Sayre Brennan. Both former walk-ons will be gone after this season, again freeing the scholarships for Boylen to recruit new players.
What if Giacoletti had valued Ogilvy over Calasan, though?
Given that Ogilvy is only a freshman, it's easy to presume that Boylen would have honored his letter-of-intent obligation and added him to the team. You think the Utes couldn't use a big man to be scoring nearly 20 points per game right about now? Just a thought ...
3:11 PM
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