I can't be definitive on Ferris recruiting because I was out of state at the time. However, I have personally heard Coach Binford say on more than one occasion that everyone wanted Ferris and she had multiple offers.... but I don't know who from. She did lead Twin Bridges to a state title "almost single handedly" (words from an associate but I didn't see it) so a lot of people saw her. She did have the knee issue which might have caused some teams to pull back a bit.arvcat2 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:28 pmThe in-state versus out-of-state debate is timeless so accept it. There are few if any Cat fans that believe that any Cat team should be exclusively all in-state kids. However, there seems to be a significant number of Cat fans that have no issue with our teams being predominately or entirely made up of out-of-state kids. A Montana State team should have a healthy representation of in-state athletes for the reason that BobcatDel posted today and is:Catlady wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 9:46 pmIs this even a debate? I think the key is to win championships! I don’t care if the players are from Venus! I know it’s the off season, but can we get back to talking about putting together a winning basketball team? Binford is doing her job and has built a solid program. Montana, Wyoming, Mars........ lets find players that can contribute!
“I guess some would call it civic pride, hometown pride, state pride, country pride (ex. olympics wanting to see an American kid do well). It might be more prevalent than you think.”
Coach Choate (with BJ Robertson’s continual prodding) gets it, Coach Sprinkle has given lip service to it (time will tell) but I don’t believe Coach Binford possesses that viewpoint.
As Peyton Ferris is held up as the shining example of Binford’s in-state recruiting, can someone educate me on Peyton’s recruiting history? Was she highly sought after by the Griz (and/or other DI teams) and a recruiting coup or was she more of a lucky “get” to fill out a recruiting class?
Also, remember that Binford has recruited other Montana girls that were very successful in her tenure also. Ferris was a standout. But on the 2009-10 club that played for the tourney title she had two freshmen in Semansky from Highwood and Albert-Brumwell from Hamilton that both rose to the 1000 point club. The 2015-16 team that won the regular season title but not the conference tourney included Ferris and Dawkins from Bozeman who ranks 6th in blocks all time and was hell for endurance playing in over 118 games. Of course 2016-17 was all Ferris with a good supporting crew around her in Nordgaard, Caudill, etc.
Just my last comment. I am not an all-Montana team guy but 1) when I interact with the current team members the lady Bobcats love it... Binford has created an atmosphere where the girls like to play 2) the team across the divide has shown us they can win 23 regular season titles and 21 tourneys with a solid core of Montana recruits 3) I believe every team that Binford has coached to a regular season or tourney title game had some outstanding Montana players on it (???) 4) the reputation of Montana State has for excellence.......... all that being said we should be able to attract the #1 player in the state every year in my opinion. I love supporting the Lady Cats, I will be there this year, I hope next years team is wildly successful. Success brings success on the recruiting trail also...so if we can't get #1 now maybe with a few more conference titles under our belt we can.
I've said my piece and I'm out of here.