Center Rivas-Sanchez commits to Bulls

USF coach Stan Heath has added a fifth member to his incoming recruiting class, getting an oral commitment Wednesday from Alejandro "Alex" Rivas-Sanchez, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound center from Pratt Community College in Kansas.

Rivas-Sanchez, who was also being recruited by Baylor, Nebraska, West Virginia and Texas A&M, is a strong rebounder and shot-blocker. He averaged 8.7 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game at Pratt. His coach at Pratt, Trevor Rolfs, estimated that Rivas-Sanchez only played at 70 percent strength because of a stress fracture in his leg, noting that Rivas-Sanchez still earned second-team all-conference honors based on his defense and shot-blocking.

Rivas-Sanchez, born in the Dominican Republic, is expected to sign with the Bulls in the next week. He joins center Gene Teague, power forward Eladio Espinosa and point guard Dwan McMillan, who will all enroll this fall, as well as guard Mike Mercer, who transferred to USF from Georgia in January.

The Bulls could add another recruit to the class in the next few days as Gaby Belardo, a 6-foot-3 combo guard from Puerto Rico, is expected to visit USF's campus this weekend.

Comments

[Dave W]

Well, there goes the season.

If Champ doesn't like someone, he can't be worth a scholarship.

I wish I could get a free college education just for being tall.

[mitch]

he can block and rebound
that is what we need

[AGW]

Give me an update on Kyle Fogg. He is much better than Gaby Belardo and I hear that they have a mutual interest. What are our chances of signing Fogg, one of the premier shooters in the 08' class.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

Why do we give scholarships to guys that average 9 points a game in Juco.??

I must be missing something here??

[The Champ]

"Rivas-Sanchez, who was also being recruited by Baylor, Nebraska, West Virginia and Texas A&M"

Neither of those schools were going signing this guy.I got a lot of letters from many colleges too, but they all weren't offering scholarships.

Coach Rolfs just happy that one his players could get a scholarship to a major D-1 school.This will probably help him attract better talent in the furure.My GOD if this guy can get a scholarship to a major conference school think about all the great offers somebody could get if they can actually play a little bit on the D-1 level.

Why, why offer this guy? Why get another Mohamed Esseghir?

This guy said that he didn't need to visit USF for him to commit, RED FLAGS anyone!

We are the South Florida Bulls not the Florida Gators.What player of just decent quality is willing to commit to the Bulls right over the phone without an official visit? I bet that Bulls offer must have seemed like an offer from UNC to a player like Sanchez.

Another thing he is a Samuels recruit which confuses me.The guy is due to be replace by all accounts and soon, so why in the hell are we signing a player that he offers to the program.

Now after saying all that I will say this, IF and I mean IF I am wrong about this guy I will come on here and apologize for being wrong, no problem there.Believe me I hope I am wrong.

I do hope Hipsher stays and a certain other very good coach joins the staff soon, because Sanchez is most definitely going to need coaching up.

[The Champ]

More random thoughts from The Champ.

There are no quality Bigs out there that want to come to USF which is apparent with the Sanchez commitment.

Now what I would have done, and I have no where near the knowledge of Heath, but I would just load up on wing players for the '08 class.

We should get Belardo this weekend, which would mean he will join Mercer, Jones, Verdejo, and McMillian as play makers and scorers.Why not sign another wing scorer/play maker such as a Kyle Fogg that AGW first mentioned on this board.

Our strength is our backcourt and frankly that is probably the way it is going to be for a while.These days in college basketball the Big man is becoming less and less of a factor as a scorer and the game is being dominated by the guards.

Look at Memphis, they pretty much play just 2 PFs with a bunch of wing plyers.What they do is open up the offense and let the play makers create and the scorers score.

As strong as the Big East is most teams in the league struggle agianst teams that are athletic and play fast.Alabama almost beat Georgetown on it's home floor last season by speeding up the tempo and if Steele could have played Bama would have won that game.Bama normally is not a running team, but teams from outside the BE know that you can run on teams in this conference.

You don't have to be as talented man for man if you use an uptempo style of play.I see all the time.

[Brian]

People are being unrealistic as to the present state of USF hoops.

We do not have the leverage to be as choosy with regard to recruiting players. At this point, we go with the team "we can get" as opposed to the team "we want" and see if we can string some decent seasons together and get to .500. If Stan builds it, they will come.

By the way, If Rivas-Sanchez is good enough for Huggins up at WVU (a man many USF fans adore), why isn't he good enough to play for a cellar-dwelling USF team.

[G.A.]

One of his AAU coaches said that Rivas-Sanchez didn't need to visit USF because he knows the area well. He lived in Fort Lauderdale for about six months and is familiar with the Bulls. AAU coach mentioned that Miami offered Rivas-Sanchez out of high school; he had to go junior college after going to Laurinburg Prep.

[Josh]

Man I hope Riek is still an option.

[G.A.]

Josh, it's an option, but again, only if (a) he doesn't like his NBA draft position and (b) can overcome a language barrier that ultimately is his biggest hurdle to getting eligible by NCAA standards and (c) USF beats out top-tier college options such as Duke, Florida, Connecticut and others. So yes, USF has a shot, but they're down three with the ball at the other end of the court and 0.4 seconds on the court. Don't get mad at Heath if Riek isn't in a Bulls uniform in November.

[reality]

Greg,

Doesnt UCONN have too many players signed already? They have to get rid of one kid on scholarship already.

I don't think you have to worry about Riek, so thanks Greg for putting it into perspective where the Bulls are in his recruitment.

As Dave W. states, you know this guy is a stiff if The Champ cannot say much for the kid. I think this says all you need to know about the kid and about Stan's ability to bring kids to the program.
Stan is in BIG TROUBLE, as he cant do the one thing that he was supposed to be able to do. Recruit.

All you Green and Gold apologists, how many games are we going to win this upcoming year? How about in the Big East? 0-19 Baby!

[reality]

BTW Champ, Memphis' two pf's are a little better than USF's.

You guys will finally realize how important KG was this year, when you see Rivas and Ajayi getting blown up next year. Teague is going to be a superstar on this team compared to some of the stiffs that are coming in.

I just cannot get over how bad this team is going to be.

The guard based offense doesnt work in the Big East, The Champ, Just ask Bobby Gonzalez how that worked out for Seton Hall the last two years. They played with a 6 ft 4 center occasionally, and the best they could do was a first round BET loss this year, after missing the tourney last year. That was with much better guards than USF has, so don't dream that you can play in the roughest conference in the land with a bunch of MJ Kelly's.

Sorry for the second post, but I had to vent.

[G.A.]

Last I checked, UConn still had a reserve or two considering a transfer out -- much like here a month or so ago -- which could free up a scholarship or three.

[Bull Hooper]

thanks for the updates, Greg. And to those who dont visit this board frequently, dont take these highly negative posters too seriously. Stan is a very energetic recruiter, and the quality of USF basketball recruits is improving. And of course, the returning players will be improved too, although the posters on this board dont consider that possible. USF basketball has a great future.

[reality]

Bull Hooper, can you back up your statements with facts?

If you actually looked at what was leaving, versus what was coming in, you might restate your "opinion", as the "reality" is quite different.

[Dave W]

Bull Hooper, you've taken the title of being the most insanely optimistic poster here away from Champ. All the players at other schools are getting better, too. And they were already better to begin with.

I think McMillan is going to be a pretty good Big East PG. Teague could be a strong PF, but do you really think that a 6'6" (he's not 6'8", look at the tapes) can be a C in this conference? Blair is taller and way more athletic.

And the negative posters here are the most ardent followers USF has. We all want to see USF improve (drastically). Rivas-Sanchez is NOT the right way to go. If you can't score 10 PPG in JUCO, how on earth can you do it in the Big East? And the rebounds suggest that he had plenty of minutes. If he can play 10 mins per game without stupid fouls and blown rotations while maintaining that rebound rate, we get an average player. And I highly doubt that he can do that.

Remember, Bob at least brought in D. Jones and KG. Stan so far has already lost his first recruit in Chin and chased away half of the team, and that is on top of losing his best big man, whom he hasn't adequately replaced.

And Champ, wasn't Mo Esseghir a walk-on? If a guy isn't on scholarship, then I don't really care if he doesn't produce; we don't lose anything as a program and he's probably having a good time. But Rivas may match Mo's productivity, which is terrible for a scholarship player that is needed to contribute right away.

[Dave W]

That was even longer than normal for me. And I have two finals today.

It's called prioritizing.

[G.A.]

Esseghir was a walk-on.

[The Champ]

Alright time to clear up some things.

Brian)I'm not being unrealistic.IMO there was no need to sign a Sanchez.The way the team is being constructed we could have gotten by w/o Sanchez this coming season.Also I didn't see an offer from Huggy Bear to Sanchez.I go by that not a player just naming a school he is interested in.

G.A.)I was well aware of Sanchez being somewhat familiar with USF.However I have seen kids take official visits to schools even if they have unofficially visited multiple times.Ronnie Brewer took an official visit to Stan and the UofA and he played what 1 block from the campus.

reality)"BTW Champ, Memphis' two pf's are a little better than USF's." Whatttttt you mean USF's PFs are not as good as those on Memphis's team.WOWWWWW I didn't know that.Now Jones and Mercer are 2 potential first round draft picks, read what the NBA scouts are saying.They don't have to take a backseat to anybody's backcourt in the BE.Where in the HELL did I say anything about playing a 2G at center?As far as next season goes, you seem confused on fact that no one is looking for USF to win a Championship, it is all about the Future buddy, not just next season.

Bull Hooper) I know that the future of USF basketball is going to be bright.Don't group me with reality.IMO Sanchez is a little sorry, but reality is sorry and that's fact not opinion.I calls it like I see it, good or bad.I like Stan and he is the right man for the job.However I don't want to hear about another recruit, I want to hear about him hiring 2 new assistant coaches.Some of you might not know this, but Stan is all along on the recruiting trail these days which is not good.Only a few coaches can recruit w/o having "go getters" for assistants.

[Ken]

All alone, I assume, on that trail?

[The Champ]

Ken this is a serious blog of bringing and taking in imformation.

Do you have any worthy info you like to share on this topic?

Surely a super smart guy like you has something to bring to the table, right?

[The Champ]

Oh Noooooooooooooooo I just put imfo instead of info ohhhhhh the shame of it all.

I guess I better start watching that spelling from now on, huh?

btw I don't really care as long as the point gets across, but others do so I will just start getting it right more often.

[Herman Momart]

The kid wasnt even offered an official visit!!! How many Big East players do you think were not offered official visits and still went to that school?

save the scholarship, do like Champ says and run a 4 guard system, take another losing season and pick up the Big Man you need next year, its obvious there are none left this year.

As a supporter of Stan I am puzzled in this move. We dont need the scraps.

[jb2000]

I am not sure where to start. First of all Sanchez is a great player and is dedicated not only to his team and it's players but he also holds a strong committment to his school work which apparently by reading your statements to this article you could use some help. I am not sure how you can degrade someone whom you do not know. Sanchez does have some stess fractures in both of his legs and intends to correct them prior to next season. If your school does not recruit this player you are missing out on an incredable young man. Sanchez makes his decisions on what feels right to him, and you sir, should be honored to have him.

[G.A.]

JB, who are you speaking to? USF is recruiting Rivas Sanchez heavily. He's committed to accept a scholarship there.

Probably a good idea to drop in a spellcheck if you're going to offer up the "you could use some help" line.

[jb2000]

for one thing champ dont u have better things to do than bag on a guy that u af not seeen play yet, and do u think it makes rolfs look good if his players go to naia schools this guy iis 6-10 and grabs more than 15 rebounds a game id be preying he signs with the way it looks u guys need all the help u can get, alex turned down trips to a&m, lsu ,wsu ,iowa state,and baylor and hear u r bagging on him cause he signed without a visit that should so that he trust the coach and by the way have u ever played ball before or do u just sit on the computer and worry about someone u didnt have time to take a visit because he studying for finals

[jb2000]

alex rivas turned down to play on the dominican national team to come to play in the usa and get a dagree u south flordia fans better prey he signs that letter

[jarred]

I hope you are messing up your spelling on purpose, otherwise you now look even more retarded.

[Bull Hooper]

i think jb2000 makes some excellent points. If the coaching staff wants this fine young man, i certainly hope he signs, regardless of the opinion of the 4 or 5 people who dominate the "comments" section of this blog. I personally think we should avoid name-calling (retarded!) On behalf of all real fans of USF basketball, i apologize to jb2000. i look forward to this fine young man, Mr. Sanchez, joining our team, if the coaches want him.

[The Champ]

jb2000 If you read my entire statements about Rivas Sanchez then you would have clearly seen that I said I hope I'm wrong about the guy and he can come here and do what is needed to help USF win games.I said I would be glad to come on here and take back every negative thing I said if that turns out to be the case.

When you see IMO the means In my opinion.

[Herman Momart]

Honest question: Do you guys think USF fans are th most sensitive ever? I mean Im the kind of fan when I see Grothe throw picks 6's im cursing his name. When Chris Howard is our starter and a non factor at PG, I want a replacement. When we require a last available recruit instead of one who is desired by our competition, I am pissed. Why are USF fans goggles so clogged. Its like we are a communist treehouse and once someone says something negative about USF everyones panties get in a bunch.

You should read the NY Jets blogs, their fans are their biggest critics, the way it should be.

[Herman Momart]

require = acquire

[DELdaBULL]

Herman

I think you speak the truth.
When a QB has thrown his 5th INT for the game he should be benched. If he is your best put him back outh there next game.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

I take full credit for turning Greg Auman into a crap talking spectator..

Nice one right here greg..
HA
---

JB, who are you speaking to? USF is recruiting Rivas Sanchez heavily. He's committed to accept a scholarship there.

Probably a good idea to drop in a spellcheck if you're going to offer up the "you could use some help" line.

Posted by: G.A. | May 04, 2008 at 11:58 PM