Great pick up for the Cougs!!! The only problem is that he will never qualify to play there!

Under 2.0 grade point!

wow, wsu picks up one of the best prospects ever out of the state of washington. GOOD WORK BLOWMAR.

if he was that great how come he didn't pick up more interest from schools? i always thought he seemed like a good addition for most teams, but scout had him listed as not getting any offers. was it the grades? if so, wazoo should be a perfect fit! haha. no but seriously it sounds like a good deal for both sides.

"wow, wsu picks up one of the best prospects ever out of the state of washington. GOOD WORK BLOWMAR."

wow, you know absolutely nothing, good work doug

Bos, Can you elaborate on the recruitment of Casto? Was he recruited by any other big schools? The Dawgs? If not, why not? Were other teams scared off by his academics or his game?

Good luck to Casto and the Cougs. I just hope the Huskies do better. Our success is not predicated on the Cougs failure.

Huskies! Huskies! Huskies! Huskies!

The Huskies did not offer Casto a scholarship as they have no more room on their roster. In fact, as I think most readers of this board are aware, they actually remain one over the limit at the moment, with 14 players in the fold for next year --- only 13 can be on scholarship at one time. Due to the 13-limit, basketball recruiting is much more selective than football recruiting, often as much about numbers and timing as anything else. So in this case, there is no need to blame Romar or anyone else. They simply already have signed their full allotment of players for next year. WSU, as the story I linked pointed out, suddenly had room for one more player after Stephen Sauls decided not to return. So they were able to offer Casto and sign him.

From the Olympian:

"Casto said Eastern Washington was the only other school that offered him a scholarship, but Washington, Gonzaga and Georgetown were other interested suitors. His academic standing apparently scared off many schools."

He appears to be a strong young man who has had a difficult life and it makes sense to me that grades wouldn't always be his priority. One thing WSU has learned about Tony Bennett is that he builds character in his players. I can assure you all that IF Casto makes grades to get to WSU, he will only improve his academic standard under TB's guidance. He may not make it here this year, but we can always hope! However, since he is only in Spokane it's not like WSU can't send people to help him out or tutor him one-on-one, it's only an hour away.

And where is Mark Hendrickson now? He has a 3-0 record for the Florida Marlins. Pride of Mount Vernon WA!.

Bob,

In the blog, you stated the Huskies are one scholarship over the limit. Is there any risk that any players in the incoming class don't qualify? Can you give us an update?

"one of the best prospects ever out of the state of washington"

John Stockton, Detlef Schrempf, Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Adam Morrison, Quin Snyder, Jamal Crawford, Scot Pollard, Jason Terry, Doug Christie, Michael Dickerson, Will Conroy and about 100 other guys beg to differ

Citing varying levels of NBA talent against a HS Senior makes zero sense, but I'd expect nothing less from a UW fan trying to mitigate the Casto news. Cameron Dollar has been in Spokane twice this month to visit him, if UW had a spot they would have made a scholarship offer.

To answer the other guy's question about UW's potential academic risks, look no further than Isiah Thomas. He has been trying to get qualified for 2+ years now, definitely not a sure-thing.

all of the above were better prospects coming out of high school. Nobody is trying to "mitigate" the Casto news, best of luck to him. If WSU continues to outdo UW in hoops over the long term as they have the past few seasosn (extremely doubtful) it will not be because of Deangelo Casto.

agree with the coug, it is clear to any one who has watched casto he is one of the best high school talents we have ever seen. enjoy him droppin 40 on ya like morrison did routinely FUSKIEZ

if by "routinely" you mean "once" then you are correct.

Casto was WSU's 6th signee in this class, hardly a top priority for TB. He has a lot of work to do yet before he can wear a WSU uniform, if he ever does. His history of transfers argues against him being a four year guy anywhere. Further, Artem freakin' Wallace was higher rated than him as a hs senior. So LOL at the Coug fans who think this guy is gonna "drop 40" on anybody.

casto is not rated by any service as a top recruit, so for all you cougars who think he is the truth you are probably wrong. he only averaged 14 pts a game, which isn't too good considering he was probably 3-4 inches taller than the majority of people he played against. I hear all these cougar fans talk about their great recruiting class but they are not in the top 25 whereas UW has a consensus top 20, and in some cases top 15 class coming in.

GOOD WORK BLOWMAR???

I like how everyone in Seattle has turned on him.

UW fans talking about recruiting rankings and equating them to player development/potential is hilarious.

7-in-a-row ring a bell? That's what the Bennett's have done with a bunch of recruits that weren't rated even half as high as UW's recent classes.

With the young talent already here and the guys coming in if UW keeps playing with the intensity and defensive effort they did toward the end of the year they will be fine. Romar gets

That should say," Romar gets it".

Doug,

"Me think [you] doth protest too much"

Perhaps you're not as confident about the Cougs prospects next year as you claim.

yeah, 7 in a row really has a lot to do with Deangelo being a historically great prospect. Good job there IBC2991.

DeAngelo will never qualify to play. His total disregard for academics, authority in general will see to that.
I am tired of hearing about his hard life. I call bs on that. WHen he left seattle he said his life was threatened by gangs at franklin. Please.