bpcats wrote:I think that this year Coach Binford did a great job of recruiting in-state and almost pulled a sweep. My guess is that it is a top three class at the very least. Mslacat mentioned that UM got a lot of talented kids from out of state to come and play for the Griz and he does a great job of coaching them up.
I believe that Ali Hurley falls under this year for UM's recruiting.
If nothing else Coach Binford is building the program the right way and the future looks bright.
Binford is way ahead of schedule in breaking the U of Montana monopoly on landing athletes from Montana.
This is the first year I can remember since at least 1980 that the Lady Griz did not sign a single player from the State of Montana. Traditionally the lady Griz scoop up the majority of the Montana Girls they want, and then supplement there need with an out of state player or two. This year it has been the opposite where they were forced to get all of there recruits from out of states becuase the Cats (and Stanford) gobbled up all of their key Montana recruits All three of these Bobcat recruits were also highly sought after by Selvig. I talked to Binford about a year ago, and I asked her if she thought she was making head way into recruiting Montana for the best athletes. She bluntly said then that, it was not going well, then lathered on all sort of compliments about Robin and the Lady Griz program, but did not see it at all improving over night.. She said though that she had to crack the strangle hold Robins had and what she hoped to do is land one or two Montana athletes a year (she pointed to Rachel Pauli as an example) and build up from there. A year later she is 3-0 head to head against Robin. Now before you (us) Bobcats start pumping up your chests and getting cocky next year should be real tough for Binford in Montana three of the top girls players will have direct connections to the Griz program. All state center, Carly Selvig from Glendive is of course Robin's Niece, and I have heard that forward Jordan Sullivan of Sidney is also a relative of Selvig's. Another top recruit is point guard Torry Hill from Anaconda, who I understand family also has strong connections to Montana, not to mention former team mate and friend Ali Hurley is also a Lady Griz. Still though Binford is only going to have 1-2 scholarships next year anyway.
Ali Hurley, is a 2007-08 signee, who redshirted this year. She is not part of this years class. Ali, though, should be a immediate contributor for the Griz next year. The Griz lose a lot of scoring this year and do not have a lot of pure scorers coming back. They will need her to provide some scoring punch right away if they are to be successful.
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