I Believe

Many won’t believe it until he officially suits up in the Red and Blue, but according to Bill Staten, father of Flyers prized recruit Juwan Staten, he is committed and not looking elsewhere.

Doug Harris reports this in another solid recruiting article from the DDN this (late) summer. On that topic, how about the DDN this offseason? If Doogie keeps up this kind of recruiting info, he’s going to put pay sites like Flyerhoops.net out of business. I say this in jest; Matt Schwade does a great job over there, but the point stands that the DDN has provided better recruiting info then I ever remember. From being the first to report on most things Adrien Payne, who was visiting Sean Miller’s Arizona Wildcats this weekend, to pretty solid coverage of the Jesse Berry and Brandon Spearman recruiting process, I’ve been impressed.

Anyway, good news out of the Juwan Staten camp that he seems steadfast on his commitment to UD. Whether it’s report after report he is not looking elsewhere, proudly sporting Dayton warm-up clothes while playing for his AAU team this summer, or the name on his facebook page reading “Juwan DaytonFlyer Staten,” we’ve heard all the right things out of Juwan and his Dad.

It is worrisome to me that many Flyer fans are as paranoid as they are about the Staten recruitment. As Juwan announced he was attending Oak Hill Academy for his senior year of high school, some feared he was looking for his ticket to the bigger stage. Lots of big time schools sniff around the Oak Hill campus on a daily basis, some of which do not see Juwan’s verbal as" binding" (see Matta and OSU). After all, it’s just UD. He can be swayed elsewhere, right?

But why? We are a tournament team! We are a pre-season top 25 team! When you start playing with the big boys, they are going to be talking to your recruit. When your wife is the 5'11 blonde bombshell at the bar, other men will look at her – whether she’s got a rock on her finger or not. That’s the game you play when you lock up the hot wife. Don't want guys looking at her? Get an ugly wife. Wanna be a top 25 team on a yearly basis? Scum bag coaches from OSU will recruit players who have verbally committed to you – especially since they haven't had a stud point guard since Conley.

So from FlyerNation to you, Doug Harris – thank you for helping calm The Faithful’s paranoia on this one. Although pretty soon the season will start and you’ll have to get back to reporting on more important things ... like why UD and Wright State don’t play.