Recruiting in holding pattern for Griz Hoops

When Travis DeCuire and his staff recruit a student-athlete, it's a process, sometimes a multi-year progression. Once he and his staff can see a player's athletic ability, be it on film or in person, the real work begins.

Phone calls with the athlete. Phone calls with his coaches. Writing letters. Taking a visit to his hometown to sit down with he and his family. Hopefully bringing him to Missoula and sealing the deal.

The process is important for the Montana basketball staff, to make sure they're finding the right guy who fits their program, but is also important for the recruit, making sure he likes what he sees and knows what to expect.

Over the past several months, much of that has been stripped away.

When COVID-19 shut down the sports world, it also shut down recruiting. Since March, coaches have been unable to leave campus to visit recruits. Similarly, the NCAA has not allowed for recruits to take official visits to campuses, either. Just this week, the NCAA extended that period through April 15.

"That's a complete year of not being able to see student-athletes in person, which makes it very difficult to know what you're doing," DeCuire said. "Sometimes I think the biggest mistake staffs can make is taking a high school player sight unseen."

Montana's coaches can still talk to recruits by phone, and send him mail to highlight the Griz program, but the extended dead period has prevented DeCuire and his staff from doing what they do best.

"For us, being with someone face to face is critical," DeCuire said. "Getting in a recruit's home and being with him and his family is one of our biggest strengths as a staff. The in-person relationship, to us, is so important, and in order to have someone be successful in our program, and in order to maintain things we're proud of – like 100-percent graduation rate – we have to do an incredible job of investigating the basketball player and the person.

"You can't fully do that right now."

National Signing Day came and went without much of a noise from the Montana basketball program. It was strange for a program that has built its success on finding hidden gems or out-recruiting bigger schools for talent.

The inability to see players live played a big factor in Montana making no moves last week. It takes a lot to invite someone into their program for the next four or five years, and without being able to see him face to face – or for him to see his new home in person – makes little sense.

Secondly, the signing class was going to be small regardless. Unlike this past season, when Montana signed four freshmen and added six newcomers overall, Montana will have two scholarships to fill after the 2020-21 season is complete – if that.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, like it did for spring-sport student-athletes in April and fall-sport student-athletes a few months ago, the NCAA has declared the 2020-21 basketball season as an exempt season, meaning it does not count against one's eligibility, regardless of how many games are played.

What that means is that all 14 Montana basketball players could return next year in the same class they are currently at. Not only would seniors not graduate, but down the line, every player would get an extra year of eligibility.

"Every college player in the country is essentially redshirting this year," DeCuire said. "Do teams even have the scholarships available that they might have signed someone to? I don't want to be that guy making the mistake who has too many guys and has to run guys off, or has too many guys who don't fit the program."

There's still plenty to determine about the exempt season, mainly if the student-athletes wants the extra year of eligibility, and if so, how to pay for his scholarship, but the option is there, meaning open scholarships are even tighter.

Add in the fact that there is serious discussion among the NCAA to allow one-time transfers to play immediately, and not have to sit out a season, as Michael Steadman did last year and previous Grizzlies did before him. If that's the case, DeCuire expects a larger pool of transfers come spring.

With so many factors, DeCuire and his staff decided to take a wait-and-see approach.

He feels for the high school Class of 2021 – and likely the 2022 and 2023 ones, as well. He also feels for his current student-athletes. Take Montana's trio of sophomores, who had their freshman season end prematurely, without a postseason, and now have their second season delayed, shortened and up in the air in terms of what it will truly look like.

So for now, DeCuire is focusing on the guys he currently has in his program and going from there.

"To not have spring workouts, and not have a normal summer, I feel like I don't even know what our needs are," DeCuire said. "We have so many new guys, and I'm just starting to see them."

He knows he may have a few scholarships in his back pocket, and he and his staff will continue to monitor what's out there, be it a prep star, transfer or something else.

But he's not going to rush into anything.

"The worst thing we can do right now is panic, and the worst thing a high school kids can do right now is panic," DeCuire said. "Typically in March and April, that would have been our main evaluation. Over the summer, we'd set visit dates, and really know where we stand with four or five guys in August, so we can try and get a commitment in September when they visit campus.

"We're sitting here in November and still haven't had our March and April evaluations."

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Michael Steadman

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