Delaware’s Oliver is Generating Big Interest
Ron Bailey, Publisher
October 25, 2006 – In today’s environment, colleges are recruiting talented players at a younger age: Long gone are the days in which recruiters only spent times evaluating high school juniors and seniors. In fact, most future college basketball student athletes have committed by the time the day they can officially sign with a school rolls around; many of these commitments have taken place well in advance.
Brian Oliver, a 6’6’, 210 pound swingman, formerly of New Jersey but now hailing from Bear, DE is a prime example of this situation. After a freshman year at William Penn High School (New Castle, DE) in which he averaged 10 points, seven rebounds, and 2 assists per game, Oliver is receiving major interest from Division I caliber schools.
According to his mother, Zena Oliver, “Wisconsin, Florida State, Maryland, NC State, Penn State, Stanford, Baylor, Cincinnati, Xavier, Rutgers, Iowa, Virginia, Temple”, along with “St. Joseph's, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Northwestern and LSU” have all expressed interest. Tennessee, Villanova, and Seton Hall have recently jointed that list.
Though just a sophomore, Oliver is already physically exploring possible college homes through unofficial visits. To date, he has ventured to Rutgers, Maryland, and Penn State.
Brian Oliver, shown here at the Eastern Invitational Clinic this summer, has generated not only interest from eastern schools, but those in the midwest and south as well. (Photo courtesy of Z. Oliver)
“This was my first real trip and I really didn’t know what to expect when I went to Rutgers” said Brian, via email of a recent visit to that school’s East Brunswick, NJ campus. “There were a lot of players there that I knew, so that made it a little easier. I did enjoy talking with the coaches during the football game. They are all very easy to talk to and explained a lot about”.
The young guy’s visit to College Park, MD was not a novel experience. “I’ve played AAU tournaments at U of MD so I was familiar with the campus and their facilities” he shared. “Going to Maryland's Midnight Madness was the second time I had been there to meet coaches and some of the team. The Comcast Center is a great facility. Midnight Madness was pretty fun. I also got to see some of my friends I've made through AAU that live in Maryland and talked to them some during the event”.
Penn State, located in what’s affectionately known as Happy Valley,
PA, is known nationally for football, but the school has really attempted
to jump start its hoops program in recent years. Those efforts were recognized
by Oliver, who recounted his visit there, “When I walked into the
main gym at the Penn State Bryce Jordan Center with my mom and dad I was
really surprised. This is another school and facility
I’ve played in, but not the main gym. It was very impressive”.
In addition to a tour of the facilities, Brian “had a chance to meet (head) Coach (Ed) DeChellis and spent a lot of time talking to Coach (Dan) Earl and they were both very nice”. Of course he had an opportunity to check out a football game while on campus, and left feeling “The football stadium is bigger and louder than any that I’ve ever been in”.
That Brian is being pursued by a significant number of schools should stand as no surprise. His coach at William Penn, Steve DiGennaro, indicated Brian was nutured last year as a freshman. “In the beginning of the year, he kind of played a four (power forward) for me, then he moved to a three (small forward)”, in their “continuity offense” he recounted. That move was done not only for immediate on court success, but with an eye to future.