Hey, Mike, way to go!!!!
Date: Friday, November 14, 1997
Source: Barry Temkin.
Section: SPORTS
Column: Preps Plus. On high schools.
Parts: 16
Copyright Chicago Tribune
RECRUITING GOES MULTIMEDIA--AND MAYBE TOO FAR
Media frenzies are nothing new in the overheated world of basketball recruiting, but multimedia mania is. We had plenty of the latter Wednesday, when two of the country's most vigorously pursued tall youngsters revealed the winners of their own personal lotteries.
Quentin Richardson, the 6-foot-6-inch forward from Young, announced at a 6 p.m. press conference he would sign a letter of intent with DePaul. At 9 p.m., 6-6 forward Corey Maggette of Fenwick went on local cable TV to disclose that Duke, not Illinois, is his future address.
This was definitely recruiting for the millennium. Richardson revealed his choice at the Rainforest Cafe, a '90s-style Near North Side theme restaurant complete with ersatz animals, foliage, sound effects and a waterfall.
Recruiting may be a jungle, but the setting nonetheless seemed surreal, right down to a restaurant banner containing a huge frog with bulging red eyes that looked way too much like a recruiter.
But the most distinctive aspect of the Richardson courtship has been the Q Web site, as close as your nearest modem at www.towertrading.com/q.htm. There you could find everything from a closeup of Richardson's Chi-Town hoops tattoo to a series of thank-yous to the various coaches who helped him develop into one of the country's most highly rated prospects.
Richardson started his site last summer with help from Young assistant coach Mike Naiditch, who in his role as a market maker on the Chicago Board Options Exchange with Tower Trading gave "Q" and teammate Dennis Gates jobs as clerks last summer. While surfing the Web at work one day, the players asked if they could create their own sites, and Naiditch showed them how.
According to Naiditch, Richardson's Web site got more than 3,000 hits a day this week as word of it spread along the recruiting grapevine and it came closer to the time for the player to choose DePaul, Kansas or Kentucky. Richardson even teased inquisitive surfers by giving a description of his choice that could apply to any of the three.
In the end, he scooped himself by posting his choice of DePaul on the Web at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, exactly 30 minutes before he finally stepped to the microphones in the Rainforest. Naiditch brought his laptop to practice, had Richardson type in the winner and then sent the file--without looking, by the way.
"I like a surprise," said Naiditch, who said he was able to arrange the unusual press conference setting because he trades Rainforest Cafe stock.
He doesn't enjoy suspense any more than Maggette, who kept fans of Duke, Illinois and Stanford guessing until about 9:15, when he punctuated his 18th birthday by revealing he'll play for Mike Krzyzewski.
It was great theater for Tribune-owned CLTV, which also had Richardson in the studio, but one wonders whether recruiting is getting out of hand when choices are revealed with this much pomp and circumstance.
To his credit, Young head coach George Stanton tried to make the Rainforest Cafe event a team press conference. Each of his seniors spoke, and center Corey Harris and guard Cordell Henry confirmed their previously announced choices of, respectively, Ball State and Marquette, but the cameras didn't start rolling until Richardson stepped to the line.
The problem is that increased attention brings increased expectations. Watching Richardson announce for DePaul was reminiscent of 1981, when Providence star center Walter Downing disclosed his choice of the Blue Demons in a radio studio.
Downing failed to meet expectations as a freshman and sophomore and was booed by disappointed DePaul fans. He finally transferred to Marquette.
Richardson didn't help tone down DePaul fans' ambitions Wednesday by predicting his new team will make the Final Four next season, when he and two other DePaul Public League signees, Simeon forward Bobby Simmons and Julian center Lance Williams, get together.
Today's high school stars, grown accustomed to national competition and publicity on the summer basketball circuit, are not bashful--or patient when it comes to playing time and success. And thanks to Michigan's freshman fivesome of 1991-92, anytime at least three top-50 national prospects sign with the same school, they are instantly touted as the Fab something.
So while everything was smiles, hugs and handshakes Wednesday, it's good to remember that the stronger the hype, the shorter the honeymoon.
All the people lining up for DePaul season tickets will expect immediate returns on that investment. We still allow a breaking-in period for baseball gloves, but not for high-school hotshots.
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Way Cool!!!!!
Dennis |
