Dukes Ready To Recruit
HARRISONBURG — Louis Rowe wasted little time mourning the end of James Madison’s season.
Almost immediately the Dukes basketball coach was out on the road recruiting, trying to secure commitments to fill the three scholarships JMU still had open. Before Madison even began its 2017-18 season, it had received a National Letter of Intent from Deshon Parker, a point guard out of Ohio, and Matthew Urbach, who played at Woodson High School in Fairfax, verbally committed to the program.
Two weeks after the season ended, Northside Christian Academy (N.C.) wing Jonathan Hicklin pledged his commitment to the Dukes, bringing Rowe’s third recruiting class up to three players. Hicklin is a traditional small forward who averaged 16.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game last season for the Charlotte, N.C., private school.
With two more scholarships available, Rowe said he and his staff are focused on a specific type of player for at least one of those spots as the recruiting period reopens today at noon.
“We would love to get another forward, another skill guy that can play forward,” Rowe said. “We want one more young guy that’s really similar to the guys we have, character-wise: Wants to work hard, wants to play hard, wants to get better, 6-[foot]-7, 6-8.”
JMU’s frontcourt depth diminished with Ramone Snowden graduating in May and Gerron Scissum transferring in December to Alabama A&M. The Dukes currently have just three true scholarship forwards on the roster — rising senior Develle Phillips and rising sophomores Zach Jacobs and Dwight Wilson. Greg Jones, who split time between being a wing and a forward during his freshman year last season, could also slide into the frontcourt if necessary, but Rowe said he would like to find a younger forward.
Unlike last season when Rowe needed to recruit more junior college and transfer players to help balance out the classes, he said he is comfortable adding a fourth true freshman to this class as long as they fit the program.
“The main thing we’re looking is character,” Rowe said. “We want guys that fit the program; guys that are unselfish; guys that will fit in the locker room; guys that are good academically. I would never do anything to disrupt the chemistry of the guys we have out there.
“We’re looking for a good kid, if it’s a junior college guy, a grad transfer or a freshman. Last year, I showed I’ll play young guys, so I don’t care, I just want good kids.”
Rowe said after signing a forward, he is going to simply sign the best available player — if he elects to utilize the scholarship. The coach said he might hold onto the scholarship for next year or to recruit a transfer after the signing period ends, similar to what he did last year with Cam Smith, who joined the Dukes in June as a graduate transfer from Florida International.
JMU women’s basketball coach Sean O’Regan has a relatively easier spring recruiting season ahead of him because the Dukes are comfortable with the three players who signed National Letters of Intent in November before the season began. O’Regan said he is still talking to one or two other high school seniors, but does not believe he will use the remaining scholarship available.
O’Regan said the conversation about what to do with that last scholarship remains very fluid as the staff weighs whether to keep it for the Class of 2019, use it on a current high school senior or hold it for a potential transfer.
“You always have to be looking,” O’Regan said. “It would have to be a very special freshman who could fit in, too. I’m more apt to go with a transfer that can add something to us. You don’t want to take a junior transfer, though, because they’ll fall right into that class.”
The class O’Regan is referring to is the current sophomores that comprised more than half of JMU’s roster this past season. The seven-person group includes three transfers, three true sophomores and Kayla Cooper-Williams, who took an injury redshirt season in 2016-17 after tearing her ACL.
O’Regan has been planning for that crew’s senior year since before Siena transfer Jackie Benitez, who sat out this past season, became the seventh member last summer. He said a transfer might be a better use of the scholarship because that player would redshirt next season and not add to the logjam of talent the Dukes have with 11 members of this year’s squad returning along with the three true freshmen already signed.
“I think the transfer is more appealing to me because they have to sit out,” O’Regan said. “Not that we’re standing still, but I’m very pleased and comfortable with the pieces we have for next year.”
The spring signing period begins Wednesday and runs through May 16.