08-09 Forward Recruiting Class

In an article in today's WSJ, Coach Mike Eaves indicates that the forward recruiting class coming in '08-'09 is pretty much complete, saying "We're pretty much done." Not too much of a surprise, given that with the addition of transfer Tom Bardis the Badgers have 8 forwards lined up for either '08-'09 or '09-'10. As only a few forwards graduate over the next 2 years (Ford this year, Gorowsky and Street next year), the forward ranks should remain full, even allowing for early departures.

At one point Chuck had indicated that UW was a front-runner for NTDP forward Vinny Saponari. I'm interested in seeing where the situation stands now. I have no idea how much scholarship money is available, nor do I know much about Saponari besides what I've been told by others (like DPlaya and Chuck.) It did occur to me that the commitment by Bardis might indicate that the coaching staff feels that Wisconsin is out of the running for Saponari, whose brother will be playing at BU. Because, honestly, there just isn't much room left. Although one can argue that you make room for a player like Saponari regardless.

While playing time does not appear to be the reason for his transfer, I find it a bit ironic that Tom Bardis is transferring from a program with a logjam at forward (SLU had 17 forwards last year) to another program that has a bit of a logjam at forward.