Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Evan Cleveland latest to join Mount family

Written for your enjoyment by: Raff

The FanBlog has confirmed that 6-foot 6-inch wing Evan Cleveland from Fort Wayne Indiana has enrolled in classes for the fall semester at Mt. St. Mary's and is on campus as a scholarship basketball player. Cleveland averaged 11.8 points per game for his high school team which reached the semistate Final in the highly competitive basketball land of Indiana.

It had previously been thought that the Mount did not have any scholarships available, so something must have changed in the last few weeks. The FanBlog is hearing that Bowie Md product Jeff James has not enrolled at the Mount and will not be a part of this year's incoming class. We are still trying to confirm that bit of information.

Initial reports on Cleveland are very promising. However, it does leave the Mount in a position where they signed all three incoming freshman after the departure of former head coach Milan Brown during the late signing period. It does show the ability of the new staff headed by head coach Robert Burke to bring players into the system. I'm still very optimistic to see what develops into this year's class, his first with a full year to evaluate and recruit players for the Mount.

Here is one news story from the Fort Wayne paper that involves Cleveland

More on this story as it develops.

8 comments:

  1. I agree this shows how active the new coaching staff is with recruitment. I continue to look for good things with future recruits. As I mentioned previously, this is a new staff with much better credentials for recruiting and excellent, new areas of contact within the HS + college communities.

    I saw Tayvon Jackson on campus yesterday, so the previous rumor that he may not be returning is not substantiated.

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  2. Hey John, I sure hope Tayvon is back. Tayvon is a genius!! Did you see his wonderful GPA? lol

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  3. I think Cleveland is a better recruit than Jeff James anyway. I really was very impressed with how Burke and the staff recovered the new recruits. I guess that is what happens when you have connections, ala Rat Rice.

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  4. Richard - We got Cleveland (and he is a good recruit) partly because he is a good football player! I will leave you all to figure that one out.

    Yes, as I keep saying, Burke, plus Dorsett, Farrelly, and Henry (in no particular order) are a huge upgrade for us, not because the previous staff was in any way other than solid, hard working and successful, but because these new guys simply have been at positions where they are exposed to the realities of basketball training and recruitment.

    Yes, I spoke with Tayvon and he is indeed back and he did mention Coach Burke was running a tighter ship.I am sure, with the returning lettermen there will be, with a few notable exceptions, a good competition for minutes, based on how the new staff evaluates attitudes and performances, as well as how each player learns and executes the new system(s).

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  5. Well John I sure hope there is 100%effort, from the returners anyway. As I said before, I truly am worried about some returners' motivation since their daddy is gone. Running a tight ship hmmm? Well, Tayvon is the 2nd to say that Burke is hard. Shawn said Burke was very hardcore last week. I wonder why exactly they think he is so hard for? You would think since they are seniors that they could handle it. All I hope for is all out effort and I have to wait clear until November to see it. Actually, I will be soon booking a room somehwere close to that metro area in western Ohio, I hope they don't let me down. Thanks for all your great insight John.

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  6. John, do you think Tony Little will make the long drive out to Ohio to sit beside me? I doubt he does. There's usually only certain games he will travel to.

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  7. John, maybe we are going to get a football team in the near future? That would be nice.

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  8. Richard, I've met Tony only once; no predictions possible from me. They already have futbol at the Mount. Actually, that's what the students are calling soccer!

    As for the players and the new coach, my guess is the cream will rise to the top. Think how the better teams usually prevail - they have the discipline and effort necessary to go along with talent.

    Do you know who said 'if you play with your head and your heart' you will succeed?

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