Showing posts with label big east. Show all posts
Showing posts with label big east. Show all posts
Coach Ed Conroy has signed a fourth 2013 recruit for Tulane basketball. Josh Hearlihy, a 6'7" prep school prospect, has committed to join the Green Wave.

Hearlihy originally committed to Utah earlier in his senior year, but eventually his college search turned to Davidson, Tulane, and Santa Clara.

Adam Finkelstein, northeast recruiting czar for ESPN, confirmed it here: 
Make sure to follow Fear the Wave on Twitter. 

Check out the video below of Hearlihy from his season at Northfield Mount Hermon. He previously played out west for the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. 

Kid is a scorer inside with some mid-range ability to boot. Looks like a much-needed late signing period addition for the Green Wave.

Other Buzz:

Now that the high school class of 2014 is getting into the commitment cycle, I wanted to keep a running tab here on Coach Johnson's progress.

If you see that I am missing someone, please make sure to leave a comment or tweet at me. I'll keep it updated as best as possible.

Roll Wave.

Commitments from HS Class of 2014 as of 4/18

1. Glen Cuiellette - QB (6'1"/205) :: Rivals :: Scout

Cuielette is the first Tulane signing of the 2014 class. He led his Mandeville squad to Louisiana's state Class 5A semifinal game as a junior. He was ranked no. 18 in the "Fantastic Forty" for the upcoming season. Will likely employ his football IQ and athleticism as a safety or linebacker.

2. Sean Wilson - DL (6'4"/265) :: Scout 

Wilson is a defensive lineman out of South Plaquemines. He's the second recruit from 2014, and he is also the second LA native. Wilson's speed is another big asset for the rising senior.

3. Peter Woullard - DE (6'3"/240) :: Rivals 

Woullard is a product of St. Augustine and will become the third LA commitment from this class. Great physical skills. Woullard picked up interest from FSU, Ole Miss, and Mississippi St. but decided to stay local. Parents said they loved CJ's pitch about what Tulane has to offer after four years.

So... if you know anything about Tulane basketball, you are aware that today was crazy. The Green Wave program - fresh off its first postseason appearance in 13 years - was rocked by a rapid series of transfers by key members of the program.

You can read a million articles with news of the unexpected exodus from Ed Conroy's program. Like here, here, here, and finally... here too. Conference USA first team selection Josh Davis, second team selection Ricky Tarrant, redshirt senior Ben Cherry, and Lotanna Nwogbo are headed out of the program.

Here's a little breakdown of the action on Twitter.

First, Ricky Tarrant declares that he's transferring out of the program:
Tulane beat writer Scott Kushner confirms that Tarrant would be granted a release and announced two other departing players:
Graduating senior Kendall Timmons - after retweeting several messages about the transfers - tweets:
Big man Lotanna Nwogbo follows with the announcement of his departure with his take on the situation:
Marc-Eddy Norelia, a current member of the team, comments:

And finally... a Green Wave fan pretty much hits the nail on the head with this one:
So there you have it. In spite of a pretty promising season, the team has changed its dynamic dramatically. Worse yet, it's pretty evident that it wasn't a coincidence that these players left at the same time.

Yesterday, I posted a little breakdown of how Conference USA will shape up next year, which is the final year of Tulane's participation.

Of course, 2014 will be the first year that the Green Wave will play in the zombie Big East or Conference TBA or not-America 12 or whatever you want to call it.

Early coverage of the new conference focused primarily on its imminent breakup and then the departure of the Catholic 7. Now, however, the mystery conference is showing its value.

Last week, the conference inked a deal with ESPN that will put 90% of conference games on the ESPN family of networks. Additionally, the conference championship will be played on either ABC or ESPN. Good stuff, right?

The conference moved a step further by signing a second deal for coverage with CBS today.

While it was disappointing to see most of the basketball powerhouses say goodbye to the Big East, it's pretty clear that this conference will put Tulane in a better position to be seen. Of course, that matters for a variety of reasons. The money is better. Recruits like it. Plus, it builds the national profile of the program. Good move for the program.

Tulane men's basketball doesn't take the court again until Feb. 23 against a fairly horrific Rice team. So in the meantime, it's worth taking a look at where the team is, at this stage, compared to previous years.

At 17-9 with five games left in the regular season, it is clear that the Green Wave came back to earth after a dominant non-conference season against weak teams. We all knew that would happen, at some level.

That said, four of the last five games this year are against teams in the bottom half of the Conference USA standings: Rice, UAB, Houston, and East Carolina. The fifth game will feature Tulsa, a team Tulane already beat on the road.

If Tulane were to finish 3-2, this would give the Green Wave a 20-win season, a feat that the team hasn't achieved since 1999. Yep. Take that in. No Tulane squad achieved 20 or more wins in the first decade of this millenium.

Worse yet, in that span, no Tulane team achieved more than 17 wins in a single season. As a result, with five games remaining, the Green Wave has already tied its best mark in quite a while... Here's a breakdown of Tulane's record, all-time.

Wow. While there is certainly more work to be done, it is evident that Tulane is heading in a different direction as it prepares for Big East entry in 2014. And of course, that's good news.



Two weeks ago, President Cowen lifted a Big East flag as the Green Wave prepared to join a major conference, following the trend of bigger Conference USA teams including Memphis and UCF. For the Tulane faithful, this was likely the biggest announcement in some years for a fairly stagnant sports program.

But what a two weeks it has been since then. Yesterday, as we all know, the seven Catholic schools of the Big East... well, let's call it the Big East BT (Before Tulane), for clarity... announced they are collectively on their way out. Whether they will dissolve the league (they have the power to do that with seven votes) or allow it to exist is still up in the air.



Anyway you slice it, this is a huge blow to the momentum Tulane gained from what once looked like a major upgrade. The chance to play Villanova, Georgetown, etc. in basketball pretty much instantly gave our basketball program more credibility, which likely would have translated to a whole new recruiting landscape. Unfortunately, it seems like that is no more.

What's worse, the ESPN-storyline places the blame on Tulane. Marquette's Athletic Director (and an anonymous power player as well) cited the Tulane invitation as the final straw. They could make do with solid Memphis and UCF teams, as well as a new-look SMU Mustangs program led by Larry Brown, but the Green Wave was their sticking point.

Here's Larry Williams of Marquette on the move:

“I was not pleased that we issued an invitation to Tulane without any diligence to what effect that would have on our basketball product, the draw on our RPI and other such things. I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to participate as a member of the conference in the deliberation that went into adding that."

Ehhh. Not a show of confidence in Tulane, obviously, but (as ESPN later blogged), a big part of this is that the bread-and-butter Big East teams were apparently not really consulted about the Tulane addition rather than being angry that Tulane had a chance to join. I can imagine that adding Tulane without any consultation seemed like a pretty desperate move on the league's part, especially in light of the conference's success riding on the shoulders of the non-basketball bunch like Marquette. Not good.

The future of the Big East isn't clear. This is especially true on the football side, where teams like Boise State and East Carolina are also coming into the picture. That said, Tulane released its statement yesterday saying it will remain committed to the Big East in 2014. Whatever Big East that is...
#Tulane was trending nationally today, almost certainly for the first time ever. While the attitude in Uptown was overwhelmingly positive, the reaction nationwide was more... we'll say... mixed.

Reax:




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