April 8, 2024
Byron Shores is the first Lafayette player--and the first Patriot League player--to earn the status of "lottery pick" in the pro draft. Byron was chosen with the #11 overall pick. He'll earn a little more than $13 million by the time he's completed the three years of his rookie contract.
Milton Garcia, against whom
Kurt Ritchie battled in the NCAA tournament game against Oklahoma, was the #2 pick, as expected. And I think someone got a steal when they chose
Rico Peterson of Holy Cross with the final pick of the draft.
Gabriel Deffrenne chose Indiana's offer over ours, so we'll see if there's a player in the transfer portal who interests us. Otherwise, our recruiting class is complete. Here are the Patriot League recruiting rankings:
Code:
2023 Recruiting Rankings
# Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
69. Lafayette Patriot League PG Duncan Sims *** 0 0 2 0 1
117. Navy Patriot League SG Rudolf Henry *** 0 0 1 1 1
123. American Patriot League PF Andre Bretz *** 0 0 2 0 2
139. Colgate Patriot League PF Laurence Lewis *** 0 0 1 0 0
193. Army Patriot League PF Robert Weinberger *** 0 0 1 2 0
243. Lehigh Patriot League PF Chris Wimer *** 0 0 1 0 0
304. Holy Cross Patriot League C Virgil Teeter ** 0 0 0 2 0
320. Bucknell Patriot League C Dino Klotz ** 0 0 0 1 0
With two players ranked in the top 150,
Duncan Sims (#118) and
Bret Bryant (#137), we land the top-rated recruiting class in the Patriot League. I'd expect that to happen. We're the most prestigious program in the conference, by far, and we have the best facilities.
Andre Bretz (#112) is the highest-ranked recruit entering the league, but Duncan turns out to have Blue potential, rather than the Green we saw when Dad scouted him.
Bretz's potential is Yellow, which makes me wonder.