Boston College coach Al Skinner and his Michigan State counterpart, Tom Izzo, haven’t engaged in any of the recruiting skirmishes that so frequently pop up on the college basketball landscape.
That’s because the chances of Skinner of Izzo recruiting the same player are about the same as Derek Jeter and this writer being finalists for Jessica Alba’s affections.
Some guys just run in different circles, yet both come out OK.
Izzo, the longtime assistant to Jud Heathcote, has returned the Spartans to their rightful place as a Midwest power. Almost any elite player from Flint to Detroit to Indianapolis is going to consider the Spartans.
Skinner, the Long Island prep star who signed with Massachusetts, not a Big East power, and went on to play in the ABA before the NBA, has become the master gem-finder.
He recruits players overlooked by power programs from California to Virginia, and he develops them into Division I players.
Skinner’s Eagles (6-0) met Izzo’s Spartans (5-2) last night in the Garden in the second game of the Jimmy V Classic.
It also was a classic matchup of recruiting styles.
“Recruiting is not an exact science,” Skinner’s assistant, Bill Coen, recently told Boston Herald.
At BC it’s a strange magic. Power forward Craig Smith, the player Izzo feared going into last night’s matchup, is from Los Angeles. But since Smith has a body like Eddie Murphy’s Nutty Professor, Southern Cal and UCLA weren’t very interested.
So Skinner stashed Smith at Worcester Academy for a year. Smith dropped weight and now is considered the best power forward in the country.
“The kid’s a horse,” said Izzo earlier this week.
But not a thoroughbred.
No ACC school really broke down the door of 6-foot-4 point guard Louis Hinnant, nor did any ACC school even flirt with Virginia guard Tyrese Rice, who broke J.J. Redick’s high-school record by making 314 3’s.
“I want to make teams pay for not recruiting me, and we’re also out to prove ourselves in the ACC,” said Rice.
Forward Sean Marshall of Rialto, Calif., was twice named the Citrus Belt League MVP, which probably is a nice honor but pales in comparison to Michigan State’s Paul Davis, a 2002 McDonald’s All-American.
Jared Dudley led San Diego’s Horizon High to the 2002 and 2003 Division IV state titles and was named the Union-Tribune newspaper’s section player of the year. But Michigan State’s Drew Neitzel was a 2004 Parade All-American and considered the most significant in-state recruit since some guy named Magic.
“I think Boston College since he’s been there has really taken it’s play to another level,” said Izzo. “And with being in the ACC and everyone knowing they have a chance to compete in that conference and win a championship it’ll be a great honor for us [to play them].”
Whoever they are.
