Steve Donahue is doing what Coach Spaz apparently cannot do ... adding recruits. BC's head coach announced that three new players will join the basketball team for the 2011-12 campaign.
BC adds two freshmen forwards, John Cain Carney and Ryan Kilcullen. Both measured 6-foot-7-inches and have respectable high school and AAU resumés. Donahue will likely look to get Cain Carney and Kilcullen involved immediately as he tries to form a new identity for the Eagles. The Eagles lost nearly all of their experienced players from last year, opening the door for new freshmen to contribute right away.
The Eagles also welcome 6-foot-5-inch guard Deirunas Visockas. Visockas graduated from Lafayette College this past spring and has one year of NCAA eligibility left. The Lithuanian native played only 31 games for Lafayette. Injuries kept him off the court for the final two years of his undergraduate career. Visockas will join the Eagles while he pursues a CSOM graduate degree. BC is a team littered with freshmen (8 in total) and could really benefit from a more experienced player such as Visockas.
The forecast regarding the BC basketball team is still quite foggy. It is encouraging, however, to see that Donahue is able to bring in players that he feels will fit his system. It is never easy for a coach to move to a new program and try to implement his own philosophies. This off-season we see a mass exodus of players from the old system and Donahue has a chance to build a roster that fits his style of coaching.
BC now has 13 confirmed players on the roster for the upcoming season. Donahue was always a good recruiter at Cornell and managed to put together competitive rosters despite a relatively undersized program. Now that he is at a program with significantly more national exposure, there is little reason to doubt his ability to succeed as he ushers in a new era of BC hoops.