Nice looking class. Three forwards, a center, and a guard.
One thing you need to worry about is the foreign bigs. Weber has tried this approach before, with mixed results. Stephan Bachman and Slobodan Ocokolich (transferred from Ohio State) both ended up being part of one of the best teams in Weber State/Big Sky history. However, at the same time Weber has brought in four other foreign bigs in the last decade who never really saw any PT (Ivan Gatto, Niparavic, Danko, Thurig). Foreign bigs aren't as prepared for the American style of play, which is far more physical than in Europe or Australia. Down at SUU Roger Reid has tried to infuse foreign talent into his suffering program in the hope that it would act as the catalyst towards rebuilding SUU's program quicker; he has used mostly Australian players. For the most part, this experiment has failed. His guys, from what I have observed, have had a hard time meshing and handling the Physical nature of the American game. However, we all know that talented and quality foreign players, do, from time to time, find nice homes at mid-major schools. Saint Mary's is a great example of using foreign players to boost their program.
I like Hayford, and I know that he will turn Eastern around (pretty quickly too; I think Eastern is better than UM), but I'm really skeptical of foreign bigs. Powell and Hill (the Aussie PG) look like they are good additions. Hill will probably need a redshirt, which won't be bad for him, and is defintely possible, especially with the number of guards playing at Eastern right now. Also, Crosgile should be a nice addition to the Eagles depth, as well as the other German big Sieferth (why are they leaving their programs).
Coach Rahe said something really interesting at the last Wildcat Club Coaches luncheon. He said that, on paper, our 2012 recruiting class is something special. However, until they play with the other members of the team and have a chance to really participate in practice he doesn't know how good they will be or if they will even make it. He recruits on the hope that the guys are physical, great character kids, hard-working, and have the potential to develop into great players. Talent doesn't always = automatic or guaranteed success though. Look at Vaughn Autry at UM or Walker III at USU. Neither are playing and one is in jail, after being billed as being the next greats at their respective schools.
No matter, I'm glad that Hayford is having success. I want all Big Sky schools to succeed. Chiverton, is the real deal. Hard to imagine nobody else wanted him. Hayford definitely found a gem. Finally, one thing Eastern fans need to realize is that Earlywine wasn't a bad recruiter. He is a solid assistant coach, but a poor head coach. He can find talent, but isn't very successful at getting that talent to mesh. He left Hayford a lot of talented players.
