Georgetown Recruiting, Pittsburgh Recruiting, Ron Bailey, Syracuse Recruiting, West Virginia Recruiting

TOUGHNESS OF BIG EAST ATTRACTED CHARM CITY CHALLENGE TRIO

by Ron Bailey, Publisher of  i95Ballerz.com

April 8, 2008 – Sunday’s Charm City Challenge brought a handful of high school seniors bound for Big East competition to Towson University’s Towson Center. Resultantly, fans of the best top to bottom hoops conference in American were afforded an opportunity to see future league participants compete.

For a analysis of those student’s athletes performances, which includes Henry Sims (Georgetown), Kris Joseph (Syracuse), Roscoe Davis (WVU), Nasir Robinson (Pitt), and possibly Chris Turner, see Brian Crownover’s, Charm City Player Analysis, on NBE Basketball Report.

Many conference fans are curious as to why talented high school student-athletes chose Big East schools, as well as these young people’s perception of the conference itself. After the Challenge concluded, several of the young men above shared just such information.

Sims, a 6’10”, 225 pound forward/center who was a two time Baltimore All-Met for that city’s Mt. St. Josephs High School was clear in his thoughts on the Big East, saying “The Big East is tough. You have to play tough and you have to be tough”, when asked what drew him to Georgetown and the league. With an eye toward development, he continued “I mean the Big East is known for big men. If you want to be tough, and become a tough player, that’s the place to go.” Though he refused to label the Big East more physical than the Atlantic Coast Conference (a point many observers embrace), Sims did allow “I just like the style of play in the Big East. The Big East is more oriented around inside-outside play, than the ACC would be”.

That hard-nosed ethos was also noted as significant by Joseph, a 6’7”, 220 pound swingman who starred at Washington, D.C.’s Archbishop High School, where he was widely believed to be one of, if not the most, versatile offensive performer in the D.C. area.

“The Big East is a tough league, I know that much for a fact” said the native of Montreal, Canada, of his future college, Syracuse’s, conference home. “Every team – you can’t sleep on any of them. It’s a pretty tough league. I think it’s the toughest league in the NCAA right now”.

So far, ‘tough’ seems to be the operative word regarding the Big East, from the perspective of both physically challenging, skill development, and competitiveness. Roscoe Davis, a 6’10”+, 205 pound forward hailing from Clinton, MD did not deviate from that analysis.

“Well it’s a tough conference, it’s a conference where I can improve my game” shared Davis of his thoughts pertaining to the Big East. “And (it’s a conference where he can) just be all I can be”.

Being a tall player blessed with good mobility and athleticism, Roscoe, who attended Chatham, VA’s Hargrave Military Academy last season, greatly embraces the opportunity to improve, as he stated next season at West Virginia an expectation to play “probably the three (small forward), four (power forward), and a little bit of the five (center)”.

Robinson and Turner were not reached afterward, but there is little doubt their conception of the Big East would greatly differ: Many people, young and old alike, believe the league, founded on May 31, 1979 with Boston College, Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. Johns, and Syracuse, boasts a rugged style of play, talented players, programs that develop players and great competition.

Based on the litany of standouts that have chosen and may decide the Big East is for them, those perceptions seem almost universal.

Be Sociable, Share!

•