Thursday Morning Basketball and Football Recruiting Links

When it comes to recruiting, Ohio State has always protected its borders – Tribune.com
Woody Hayes, or so the story goes, is returning from a recruiting trip to Michigan. His car runs out of fuel a half-mile north of the state line. Rather than bring back a gas can from a filling station within view of the highway, he orders an assistant coach to help him push the car into Ohio. “But coach,” the assistant asks, “why don’t we just get some gas right over there?” “Because,” Woody explains with a snarl, “I’m not going to buy one damned drop of gas in the state of Michigan!” Twenty years after his death, the Legend of the Hollow Tank remains a knee slapper around Ohio’s after-dinner speaking circuit. But the tale is fraught with inconsistencies. Hayes, attentive to every last detail when he was coaching the Ohio State Buckeyes, never would’ve allowed his car’s fuel gauge to dip below a quarter-tank. Furthermore, a filling station within walking distance? How often does that happen.

College basketball recruiters chase southern Indiana’s Tyler Zeller – Indy Star
The attention, the headlines, the text messages, all of it almost never happened. Tyler once nearly quit basketball. He didn’t want to deal with the expectations of being Luke Zeller’s little brother. He embraces the challenge now. Walking around the Zeller house, it’s clear the sport is an integral part of family life. Luke’s room, now occupied by the youngest of the three boys, Cody, a 6-5 freshman, is filled with trophies and mementos, including a framed No. 1 Indianapolis Star Indiana All-Star uniform Luke wore as the 2005 Mr. Basketball. A regulation backboard and rim hang on the wall above the bed.

Illinois has the hoops program it wanted – SportingNews
Bruce Weber can’t really explain how everything went so wrong. Perhaps his vision is clouded by that Final Four appearance, the 9-4 record in NCAA Tournament play, the four consecutive years of NCAA advancement, those two Big Ten championships and the .750 conference winning percentage. All that stuff can get in the way of really understanding the truth, you know. And the truth is — what, exactly? “Sometimes we have comments from parents and they’ll say to us they don’t understand … people are like, ‘What’s wrong? Why is there the negativity?’ ” Weber said.

Southern Utah football: Facing an uphill climb – Salt Lake Tribune
In the summers, Southern Utah football coach Wes Meier hops into a car with a couple of his assistants and heads out to California, Arizona and Texas. It’s more than a road trip with his buddies. It’s work. It’s dirty work. The Thunderbirds lack the funding – for now – to travel by air when they look at recruits because of their $15,500 recruiting budget. So they do it by car. Simply put, it’s not pretty to be a part of the Football Championship Subdivision school (formerly known as Division I-AA) located in Cedar City. But even so, the Thunderbirds try to make the best out of their situation.

Perks make schools desirable, but ASU & SDSU sell recruits on right reasons – East Valley Tribune
To hear some college football observers talk about Arizona State and San Diego State, one might think that today’s game between the two schools at Sun Devil Stadium should be called the Underachievement Bowl. For years, the Sun Devils and Aztecs have been labeled “sleeping giants,” programs that have not performed at the level commensurate to the recruiting advantages both schools are perceived to have. “It’s kind of ironic that we’re playing Arizona State,” said Jeff Schemmel, SDSU athletic director and former senior vice president of the ASU Foundation, the school’s primary fund-raising arm.