MUScoop > Hangin' at the Al
[Cracked Sidewalks] New Recruit for Marquette
CrackedSidewalksSays:
New Recruit for Marquette
Written by: noreply@blogger.com (Henry Sugar)
In a somewhat strange development, it appears that Marquette has received a commitment from another player. The new player is Liam McMorrow, who is a 7', 260lb transfer from Durham College in Canada. But not only has McMorrow committed to Marquette, but he's already on Marquette's campus and checked into Humphrey. In fact, as confirmed by Mark Miller, McMorrow has started practicing with the guys at the AL (link has more info).
So what do we know about Liam McMorrow? He's big and he's a bit of a project. According to Mark Miller, McMorrow will have to sit out a year due to the transfer. He'll end up in the same class as Otule and will have three years of eligibility. In the MUScoop discussion thread, poster MU Chi_IL found a number of links on the internet about McMorrow.
--- Quote ---Liam McMorrow, a six-foot-eleven newcomer, will help that defensive goal. Displaying good hands for the basketball and a soft shooting touch around the basket, he shouldn’t be limited to just a defensive role either. from the Durham College Chronicle
--- End quote ---
In one game, he pulled down 18 rebounds. In another game, he sank the two winning free throws, despite a season average of 55%. Finally, poster Pakuni found a youtube clip of McMorrow that really doesn't show a whole lot.
Color us floored (is that a color?). Not only did this guy fly under the radar, but he made it all the way to campus without so much as a peep. Have to hand it to Buzz for his stealth recruiting.
Personally, I'm a big fan of this signing despite the fact that he's still raw. Frankly, any legitimate big man these days is probably a one and done and they're signing with a school like Duke/UNC/Kansas. It's worthwhile to take 1-2 guys per year that have potential because of the hope that they'll pan out. Some of the best big men in the Big East, such as Aaron Gray and Roy Hibbert, were considered projects that developed. Plus, given that McMorrow will have a transfer year to work with Dale Layer and Tony Benford, there's a better chance of realizing his potential. Both assistant coaches have worked and developed quality big men in the past, unlike the previous coaching staff.
Here is how the classes now look according to the MUScoop Scholarship Table. There is only one spot available, and all belief is that it will go to fill the need of PG. Hopefully, another Canadian named Junior Cadougan, who was on campus visiting this week, will be that final scholarship slot.
Finally, because no Friday is complete without a random topic, please be careful. There are ninja in the woods!
http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/06/new-recruit-for-marquette.html
ToddRosiakSays:
MU signs Canadian 7-footer
Written by: Todd Rosiak
After weeks and weeks of behind-the-scenes legwork and wrangling, the Marquette Golden Eagles have added a fourth and final player to their 2008-'09 recruiting class -- and he's a big one.
Liam McMorrow, a 7-foot, 260-pound center from Toronto, Ontario joins Joe Fulce, Jimmy Butler and Chris Otule as a member of coach Buzz Williams' first recruiting class at MU.
Unlike those three, McMorrow will sit out this coming season as a redshirt. But considering his lack of organized basketball experience -- one season at Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario -- Williams is hopeful that 15 months' worth of work on the court and in the weight room will help get the big man up to speed in time to make an impact in the 2009-'10 season.
"With one scholarship (for 2008-'09), I think it's important as it relates to our team that we use it for someone that can immediately help us, or something that is going to be able to step in the following year when we lose four seniors, and have the opportunity to help us," said Williams. "In relation to when I took the job, there wasn't really a lot of good players as far as being able to make an immediate impact. So my focus almost shifted to, ‘What can we do?'
"Liam, in essence, is a member of the 2009 recruiting class. The benefit is he gets to be here for a year, take part in every practice as a redshirt, do all the strength stuff, and then he's going to have three years left."
McMorrow, who's already on campus and will begin attending summer school on Monday, grew up as a hockey fan in his native Canada. One of his older brothers, Sean, was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in 2000 and spent most of his career playing for the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League.
McMorrow himself played both hockey and lacrosse competitively as a youngster, but basketball only recreationally until his ever-increasing height started gaining him some notice as he headed into college. After averaging 8.4 points and 6.5 rebounds in 20 league games for Durham last season, McMorrow set his sights on bringing his game to the United States.
"Pretty much I was looking to come somewhere in the United States to go to Division I for next year; I just wasn't sure where, really," he said. "I was training at a gym near my house and my personal trainer was helping me out with that, contacting a few schools and seeing if we could go for some workouts or if they could come see me, stuff like that. It just turned out that he called someone at Marquette."
Williams -- who'd specifically asked the few staff members he had in place shortly after his hiring in April to follow any and all leads with regard to prospects -- got the lead on McMorrow from staff member Brad Autry and was understandably intrigued.
He also just so happened to have a former player of his from New Orleans, Jamie McNeilly, living near McMorrow in the Toronto area.
"Obviously, people are interested in a 7-footer, and it was a good coincidence that Coach Buzz had coached someone that lived like pretty much in my neighborhood and was in town at the time, that could actually see what level I was at," said McMorrow. "He was right in my neck of the woods so he took me to a little run he was having with a couple other guys that played in Europe and stuff, and he just reported back to Coach on where I was at, and everything's come from there, pretty much."
The ensuing weeks were spent trying to determine what exactly MU needed to do to get McMorrow transferred and qualified rather than what he'd accomplished as a player, making the recruitment process a strange one for Williams.
"There's really not a way to equate it because it's just completely different," said Williams, who lauded the behind-the-scenes efforts of deputy athletic director Mike Broeker, compliance director Danielle Josetti and academic coordinator Adrienne Trice. "I don't know that it was an extremely long process, but we had to get to the bottom of it, and because he's an international student it makes the situation different. There was a lot of stuff. We were as efficient in the process as we could possibly be.
"So it's not your typical recruitment because we're not having home visits, we're not going to watch him play at his school or an AAU tournament. There was none of that. Our phone conversations weren't, ‘Hey man, you know about Syracuse and UConn and what about AAU.' They were, ‘What about this? What about that?' I talked to his coaches, but they're not excited about losing a 7-footer. They're not going to help."
And while the process was a drawn-out one, time was also of the essence, in order to prevent other interested schools from swooping in and stealing McMorrow away from MU. McMorrow said he'd heard from Purdue, Ohio State, UTEP and Valparaiso while things played out.
"I told (athletic director) Steve Cottingham we have to stay on this every single day," Williams said. "We can't let him go until the fall because if we do, we're opening up a whole new realm in this. We're the ones doing all the work at Marquette, as it relates to him getting in school, getting his visa, all those things. We're not going to do all this work and then have someone else go in there and try to sign him. The timing of it was more important than anything else."
Now that he's in the fold, the challenge for McMorrow will be to catch up as best he can to a group of players that has, quite literally, a lifetime's worth of basketball experience. Keeping that in mind, Williams said he'd be as reasonable as he could be with his expectations for McMorrow.
"I don't know that I'm really patient in any aspect of my life. The key is to just make sure that every single day we exhaust every opportunity that we have as a program and as a staff for Liam as a player, to make sure that he's as good as he can possibly be over the next four years," said Williams. "The other thing I think that's important in this is I think Liam is going to be able to help Dwight Burke and our other post players because now they're going to have to compete every day against a 7-foot kid every day in practice."
As far as McMorrow's physical tools, Williams said his hockey background should actually serve him well on the basketball court.
"His brother's a professional hockey player; (Liam) spent a lot of time in hockey growing up. He's got great feet just because he's been a skater," he said. "He's a very mobile player for his size. He hasn't lifted a lot of weights but he's got a very good body for his size. I think over those next 15 months his development will be critical.
"So now he steps in and we've got a sophomore who's 7 feet, and we've got Chris Otule, who's a sophomore who's 6-11. That definitely increases our interior depth and it gives us something that I think you have to have in order to win in the Big East."
McMorrow will wear No. 55.
http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/06/27/mu-signs-canadian-7-footer.aspx
Rockmic87:
Seems like a waste of a scholarship that could have been used towards a higher caliber athlete. :o.....I'm not counting on this guy being better then Mike Kinisella!
GoMarquetteSays:
Canadian 7-Footer Liam McMorrow Added To Roster
The Marquette University men's basketball program has announced the addition of Canadian import Liam McMorrow, who has signed a scholarship agreement, head coach Buzz Williams announced.
http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/marq/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/062708aaa.html
mosarsour:
I think it's nice to have a couple bigs around to defend some of these centers in the Big East. Our one glaring weakness last season was a lack of size in out front court. So what if he's "a project", so was Ousmane Barro and I didn't mind how he turned out. We'll see how he turns out. But having a 7 footer on your roster is NEVER a bad thing.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version