It doesn't help that he was on Dambrot's staff at SVSM before Dambrot got the Akron job, then he was promoted. Any guys he gets that are worth anything are probably getting fed right to him first.

Nice find, Tilly. I mean really, other than Travis and Joyce III, who has there been from SVSM? I think Chad Mraz ended up there after a short stint elsewhere. Corey Jones ended up at Walsh University. Aly Samabaly went to Duquesne.

To prevent anyone else from stating the obvious, I'm going to go ahead and mention LeBron James.

I expect SVSM to continue to turn out some high profile recruits. That is the first place good players in Akron look to play if they are thinking of going private, period.

I never knew Dru Joyce was an Ohio guy. Obviously, his son went to Akron. Even with that being the case, beating out Akron for a SVSM kid is going to be tough. Really tough. Dambrot is on this kids from day 0. Unless the kids fall in love with OHIO, that is a tough game.

I do think we need to get more involved with Sonny Johnson at Garfield Heights. He is a huge name in NEO basketball. Crucial alumni relationship right there.
For all the criticism on Christian, I am disappointed we won't get to see him recruit the state of Ohio for us the next couple of years because he was in on all the right kids. Hopefully Saul follows up on that. Not sure how big Fuss was involved with that aspect of the program, but if so he would be a great holdover for that reason alone.

Saul mentioned recruiting OHIO kids. If we can sell your average student on OHIO over X, Dayton, UC, OSU, the other MAC schools and out of state programs, no reason we shouldn't be able to sell hoops recruits on our high-major atmosphere, right?

Also keep in mind kids who grew up in NEO grew up as kids watching the Lebron hype. When 18 year olds today were 6, 7, 8, 9 they were watching Lebron at SVSM playing on ESPN. Lebron going #1, Lebron tearing it up as a young pro...
 

For a long time, Lebron's SVSM high school jersey was a hot seller by itself. It doesn't hurt that Lebron still goes back and visits the school and donates money to upgrade the facilities. I'm a Cavs fan and don't like LBJ..  However, NO debating he still gives back to Akron and SVSM in particular.
 

That school will continue to be an EASY recruiting sell to any player willing to get themselves to classes in Akron every day.
 

Saul Phillips may be the kind of character necessary to go into SVSM and recruit kids from there. It definitely won't be easy though. I would say it is worth a shot.