Butler rose to the top echelon of college basketball by recruiting solid midwestern kids, for the most part. It was a tent pole for the Butler Way, and it worked.
Which isn’t to say that the school will turn down a bit of flash, having grown from the Horizon to the A-10 to the Big East in a very short period of time.
This weekend, the Indianapolis Star reports that first-year Bulldogs head man Brandon Miller is entertaining former Miami Hurricanes commit Adonys Henriquez, who will make the trip to Indianapolis all the way from his home in Orlando, Florida. The 6-foot-5 Henriquez initially committed to Jim Larranaga in December 2012, but re-opened his recruitment in August of this year.
Henriquez’s high school coach Reggie Kohn said programs like Creighton, DePaul, Minnesota and Vanderbilt had visited open gym workouts recently, scoping out his player. Miller, the least known of the bunch, might have an edge, according to Kohn.Kohn said he has come away with a favorable impression of Miller, the new Butler coach.
“I like him,” he said. “I can’t say that about all the coaches who come through here. I got a good chance to talk with him. At the same time, it’s a bit of an unknown and he obviously has big shoes to fill. But I’ve heard nothing but good things and came away with a good feeling myself from him.”
Kohn said Henriquez doesn’t have a timeline for a commitment but does plan to sign in November.
It’ll be interesting to see what Miller and the Bulldogs can do with their exalted status as Big East members. Beating rivals from their new conference to players like Henriquez will be a good sign.
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