Who is this Gilchrist kid?

[chep3]

Apparently this kid Gus Gilchrist (whom I know nothing about) is trying to opt out of his LOI at VT, saying that the shootings there gave him second thought. The article says nothing about where he's going, but everyone on the comment board of course slams us about "sleazy recruiting" or having no class or any number of the same old things we always here. Just wanted to ask if anybody knew about the kid as a prospect or anything more about our relationship with him

blog.washingtonpost.com/recruitinginsider/2007/05/gilchrist_seeking_another_dest.html#comments

[HoyaAtHeart]

A kid i'd take in a heartbeat if I were JT3

[HeartAttackHoya]

via the Va Tech athletics website (techsideline.com):

Gus Gilchrist is the closest thing to a true center that the Hokies recruited this year. He has already filled out quite a bit since he committed to Seth Greenberg, and Mike Gentry and his staff will make him even bigger and stronger after he arrives in Blacksburg for the 2007-08 season.

Gilchrist is a major defensive presence on the inside, with long arms and a physical nature to battle opposing post players. On the summer AAU circuit, he played Patrick Patterson, one of the top 15 players nationally, better than any other big man in the country.

Gilchrist is also known for his ability to rebound the basketball, and that is something that Virginia Tech has been sorely lacking. Because of this ability, he'll be a contributor from day one. He made progress on his low post arsenal over the summer, but he still needs to develop some more post moves.

Gilchrist committed to Tech early in the process, before he began impressing on the summer camp circuit.

Scout.com rates Gilchrist the #54 player in the country. He is #110 in the Rivals rankings, #101 by PrepStar, and #98 by Van Coleman.

[bawlmerhoya]

Wow. I am kind of stunned by the whole discussion on the Post's site.

[bawlmerhoya]

Where is it rumored that we are on this kid?

[Locker]

bawlmerhoya said:

Wow. I am kind of stunned by the whole discussion on the Post's site.

Then you probably won't want to read the vitriol here:

www.techsideline.com/message_board/basketball/

Completely outrageous and unfair to Georgetown and JT3.

[mplshoya]

Yeah the Tech site is ridiculous. From what I can tell it was a few posters over there saying they suspected Gtown (with no proof), but nowhere else has it been reported that we are on this guy. Let the haters hate.

[hoyalove4ever]

It's funny to me- they paint Big John as having been a dirty recruiter. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

[bawlmerhoya]

Well, the whole LOI thing is kind of ree-dick-cue-luss. Coaches change, assistants leave, players improve or get hurt and you have a 17 yr. old signing a contract of adhesion. The system stinks, but I still love the game. I hope we get this guy.

[bawlmerhoya]

I love the Big John story of driving a recruit around and the kid asking him when the $$$, hos and other improper inducements would occur during his visit and JT2 telling him that he needed to go somewhere else to get that nonsense.

[HoyaAtHeart]

BTW...perhaps the greatest collection of talent I've seen on the floor at one time...Gilchrist stood out big time. At Oxon Hills summer league a couple years ago, DC Assault put a team on the floor that featured Tywon Lawson, Nolan Smith, Kevin Durant, Mike Beasley, Gilchrist and they played against Baltimore Select.

[theexorcist]

Wow. I take all the negative stuff I've said about this board back. We just want an arena and a contract - they want to do everything but get the FBI to subpoena his cellphone to analyze his call and text records.

My brother went to Tech. I did not and would not have gone even if they had paid me. The two schools are very, very different - I'd assume that the number of people who apply to both is relatively low. Really, Blacksburg is in the middle of nowhere. All you can do is study, party, and follow the Hokies. Some people like it. Some do not.

[RDF]

How do these people blame Georgetown for this?

Where is it said he's going to Georgetown?

Who said Hibbert/Green are leaving this year? They've entered draft without signing with agents--and we could lose both kids, one of them, or neither--so how is it assumed he's leaving due to that?

Haven't we scrimmaged the V-Tech program the past 2 years and had a decent relationship with them? Why would Hoyas use a tragedy as an excuse to recruit a player when they just came off a season that saw them win BE, win BET, and make it to Final Four?

I just don't believe Hoyas run a program like this and what will be the talk be if Gilchrist doesn't end up at Georgetown? Will JT III still receive blame for someone leaving V-Tech to go elsewhere? Unreal.

[DanMcQ]

More about Gilchrist:

www.roanoke.com/sports/notebookplus/wb/wb/xp-116552

...praises Hoyas' recent local recruiting success, mentions the Gilchrist rumors, but says nothing about the Hoyas in relation to those rumors...

[RBHoya]

Keeping my mouth shut on this other than to point out that it would be a pretty solid name replacement, to fill the scholarship of an "Octavius" with an "Augustus".

Doubt it though.

[RDF]

The only connection I knew of with Georgetown to V-Tech tragedy was Roy Hibbert saying his good friend and current Hokie player Deron Washington came back to DC and stayed with him to get away from things for a bit--and that was it. With the relationship scrimmaging them, and the class of Coach Thompson as a person, I don't see our program doing anything of the sort.

I just wonder if the speculation is purely based upon Jeff/Roy possibly leaving--which is truly distasteful of Tech fans if that is all these comments/assumptions are being based upon. There is truth and then there is manure like this that can get started up due to someone on internet looking at rosters and speculating.

If that is what is being insuated--then Seth Greenburg should come out and say so--but if it's NOT a program and they are getting hammered to the degree his own fans are trashing Georgetown--he should come out and say they are NOT involved in any way of these accusations. That's on Greenburg and as I stated above--I don't believe our program/school is about things like this and I certainly don't think it's needed to trash others to help our recruiting. It's not as if we're desperate to land top talent.

[chep3]

let me just say first off that i really doubt that we are and hope that we are not using the VT tragedy as a recruiting tool. but i think everyone on the VT board is a little too quick to lambast a 17 yr old for being scared about something bad he heard in the news. overreacting to the news is something 95% of this country does.

so lets say this kid gets scared/changes his mind about going to blacksburg and decides to reopen his recruiting. say he even contacts us. do we have to stay out of the re-recruitment for pr purposes? it would look pretty bad, regardless of teh reasons behind it, to capitalize on what happened at VT.

[FromTheBeginning]

Whether we are interested in Gilchrist or not, how unrealistic is it to expect what happened out there to not disturb some kids and their parents. If he is unsettled to the point of not wanting to play there anymore, is he supposed to not look for another school and pass up on a college education? If he contacts other schools (when released), they have every right to give the kid an opportunity. I'm not sure I would want my kid going to Virginia Tech right now, even if he wanted to and I would certainly understand if he wanted to change his mind if that was where he had intended to go.

[FLHoya]

rdf said:

I just wonder if the speculation is purely based upon Jeff/Roy possibly leaving--which is truly distasteful of Tech fans if that is all these comments/assumptions are being based upon. There is truth and then there is manure like this that can get started up due to someone on internet looking at rosters and speculating.

I mean from reading the TSL board, it seemed like the train of thought goes:

1. Dude's trying to opt out of his LOI

2. SOMEONE'S STEALING HIM!!!!!!!

3. Who's stealing him?

4. Hey, let's name schools we know in the DC area!!!!!

5. Hey, Georgetown's in the DC area!!!!!

6a. Maryland's in the DC area
6b. Nah, Gary would never do that...he's on record as hating that kind of stuff. (that post slayed me, really did ;D )

7. Yeah, JT3's a crook for some reason I can't really figure out other than...he's a crook!!!!!


And thus we've stolen some recruit I just read about two hours ago on a Virginia Tech message board thread talking about how we stole him.

Except we haven't.

Or something.

People are weird.

[Churchwell]

Brilliant post FLHoya - pretty much sums it up.