Courtship series: Recruiting provides lifeblood of winners in men's college basketball

Call it the courtship.

The place where basketball talent -- high school, junior college and four-year college transfers -- and college coaches forge a relationship in an annual process: the distribution of college scholarships.

It's a vital process for all parties.

A coach can win games, win championships and enhance the image of his program and university with the right talent onboard. The right signings can be the first step toward job security for a coach and his staff. The wrong signing can mean losing, empty seats, firings and uprooting lives of coaches and their families.

For the prospects, it's a chance to start new in a fresh environment with dreams ranging from a professional career in basketball to a lifetime vocation outside of sports. It's new friends and a father figure who might mold their thinking for years to come. It's the fulfillment of the dream of playing beyond high school. It's the next level with its extended pursuit of wins and championships.

Lafayette's Ryan Willen tries to put up a shot against Lehigh during a game last season. Willen, a Notre Dame Regional High School graduate, leads his team in scoring, averaging 16.3 points this season. (Associated Press file photo)

The courtship can be fickle, and sometimes oddly similar to the one on the court.

The action can be slow-paced or fast-paced as athletes rate from long shots to slam-dunk prospects. Decisions can feel like full-court pressure. Scholarships often vied for like rebounds, with one player blocking out another.

"Most colleges recruit two or three kids for the same position and they offer to the one they think can help their program best," said former Notre Dame standout Ryan Willen, who is beginning his junior season at Lafayette College. "And if that kid goes somewhere else, they offer the next kid."

It's also a numbers game with big and small players, ranging from Division I to junior college. And the courtship plays out in all 50 states.

In Division I alone, 329 schools offer 13 full scholarships apiece. Add the 290 schools at the Division II level, which can offer a total of 10 full scholarships, and suddenly 7,177 players are needed. Then there are the 395 men's teams in Division III, which do not offer scholarships but can offer grant programs and loans, 113 teams in NAIA Division I, 149 teams in NAIA Division II, and the nearly 350 teams in the two scholarship divisions of junior college, and the game gets broad and hectic.

For athletes, that can lead to a lot of mail, phone calls, decisions and headaches.

"I'm just so glad it's over with," former Scott County Central point guard Bobby Hatchett said of the recruiting process after signing this past spring with Midland College, a junior college in Midland, Texas. "I was just about to bang my head against the wall stressing out about it."

It's a common feeling for those lucky enough to have the basketball skills to play beyond high school.

The stress can come from trying to land a single offer or from trying to choose between numerous offers.

In the latter case, it is accompanied by the unpleasant chore of delivering the news to all but one suitor that, "I've decided to sign with someone else."

Former Poplar Bluff star Tyler Hansbrough had the rare but unenviable task of saying no to former Missouri coach Quin Snyder. That came after the Tigers had all but serenaded the Mules' big man during their courtship.

Hansbrough, who graduated from Poplar Bluff High School in 2005, experienced an extreme end of the recruiting spectrum that few, if any, live to see in Southeast Missouri.

While some receive letters of interest, Hansbrough received shoeboxes full of handwritten recruiting letters from the top coaches in the country. They also made calls to a town most previously never knew existed to throw pebbles at the window of a 6-foot-8 power forward. Among the suitors to visit Poplar Bluff during Hansbrough's junior year were the biggest coaching names in college basketball: Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Roy Williams of North Carolina, Billy Donovan of Florida, Bill Self of Kansas and Tubby Smith of Kentucky.

And if the suitor is able to woo his talent to use one of his five official visits to check out his school and facilities, he will do his best to make a lasting impression.

Hansbrough made one of his official visits to Missouri, and the Tigers did not disguise their desire for the talent raised in the Bootheel. On a tour of Mizzou Arena, which was under construction at the time, the lights were dimmed and a Hansbrough No. 50 jersey appeared as Missouri radio announcer Mike Kelly belted out the high school junior's name in a mock starting lineup.

A ploy such as that might seem impossible to top, that is unless you're powerhouse North Carolina, which also lured the Poplar Bluff standout with the jersey bit. However, Hansbrough's jersey hung beside the likes of former Tar Heels stars Michael Jordan, Vince Carter and Phil Ford.

Hansbrough proved to be the ultimate catch. He made the jersey gimmick a reality.

His jersey now hangs in the rafters of Dean Smith Arena after a four-year All-American career that netted the school's all-time scoring record and a national championship. Hansbrough's legend continued to grow after he was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft.

While the Poplar Bluff native witnessed a side of recruiting most high school players never see, Hansbrough used a common vehicle to gain the attention of college coaches. He played summer AAU basketball for the St. Louis Eagles, and that national exposure vaulted him into the stratosphere of elite recruits.

It's a big tool in the matchmaker process.

In the coming Sundays, the Southeast Missourian will run a series of articles about the courtship of college basketball. You will hear from both benches. You will hear from the coaches, and how they approach the restocking of their shelves, which they consider the lifeblood of their program.

You'll also hear from the players and how they made themselves more attractive and noticeable in the recruiting process.