Purple Mafia Profile - Daniel Poneman

Programming Change
The NU RB championship has been moved to Monday to make way for all of today's content. Thanks for your patience!

Today is a Purple Mafia Profile first. Daniel Poneman, a 16-year-old junior and aspiring NU student, becomes the first Wildcat influencer we've profiled who has yet to even go to college. Poneman runs one of the most influential recruiting sites, illinoishsbasketball.com and is an avid NU hoops fan. Poneman has a knack for finding the diamonds in the rough and thanks in large part to an article in SI by a former Purple Mafia Profilee, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, Poneman is a true player among college coaches. My selfish goal is to get Daniel into NU and then have him find the NCAA loophole to enable him to recruit the Wildcat pipeline. It would be Rookie of the
Year meets college basketball. In the middle of Sweet 16 play, I thought what better time to bring the wannabe Wildcat onto LTP. Ladies and gents, Daniel Poneman.




LTP: First off, I'm fascinated by your story - it has all the makings of a Disney movie. It has been well documented that you love the game of hoops, but you realized that your calling was evaluating from the sidelines as opposed to competing. Tell us when you knew you knew you had a knack for evaluation.



DP: I think i knew i had a knack for evaluation when i was a sophomore in high school. I was at the Rising Stars Fall Exposure League and i was watching games, when i noticed a baby faced 6-7 kid and was blown away by his fundamentals. I asked the AAU coaches around me if they knew who he was and none had seen him before, or even noticed his strong play. I was more and more impressed as the game went on and afterwards asked the kid his name so i could rank him. It was a junior from Glenbard West named John Shurna (ed note: Shurna is a freshman-to-be at Northwestern).





LTP: How is it in this day and age, with AAU, the internet and unprecedented media coverage that Illinois high school hoops kids could slip through the cracks?



DP: It's very easy for kids to slide through the cracks these days despite all the media attention. Many kids don't ever get a chance to play AAU and get that added attention, be it because of a different sport, a moral objection, lack of funds, or lack of a team in the area and transportation. Some kids play for teams that don't go to the right tournaments and people like me never get a chance to see them. Sometimes i will only see a team once all season and the kid that should show up doesn't have a good game. Only a select few scouts other than me actually bother to see teams play without proven talent, so if they don't play well when the get their opportunity they might be out of luck.





LTP: What are your personal favorite stories about bringing attention to a kid that enabled him to eventually get a scholarship?

DP: My favorite story is probably Brandon Paul. Brandon was always ranked among the top 30 or 40 players in the state, but after seeing him torch rising stars for 35+ and put on a great performance at the windy city classic with NLP, i realized he was way better. I ranked him top 10 and got him an invite to the Xavier University Elite Camp. I also called a number of coaches about him. Then everyone else caught on, and now he is committed to Illinois (LTP - thanks DP, just what we need - you helping send great prospects to Champaign!).





LTP: Tell us about the coaching relationships you've developed. Who is on your speed dial?



DP: I have developed relationships with tons of coaches across the nation. Some of the coaches, such as Tavaras Hardy, are people that i frequently see at tournaments and games and have just developed relationships with. Others are guys who have never even heard of my website and never met me, but someone refered them to me and gave them my number and the rest is history. Some guys on my speed dial right now are Tavaras, James Johnson from Virginia Tech, Mark Morefield from Baylor, Ron Sanches from Washington State, Kurt Townsend from Kansas, Chris Skinkus from St. Norbert's (D3), Ted Hotaling from Eastern Kentucky, Harly Piercy from Lewis (D2), Brian Davis from Vincennes (juco), Kyle Smithpeters from John Logan (juco), John Grzanich from SE Iowa (Juco), Sean Pryor from Mineral Area (Juco) and a ton more.


LTP: I've read you're an NU hoops fan and would like to go to Northwestern. What is the current perception of the NU program among Illinois high school hoops circles?



DP: I am an Iowa hoops fan first (ed note: boo!) and foremost (its easier to be one of those than a NU fan), and i am also a NU hoops fan. I was born in Iowa, and we were season ticket holders until we moved here when i was 3. At first i wasn't a Northwestern fan, but i started going to so many games i grew into one. My relationship with Coach Hardy also made me pull for the Wildcats more. I do want to go to Northwestern. It is my number one college choice by far. I can't comment on the state of the program right now. I like coach Carmody a lot, but people like to give him a bad rap.



LTP: What do you think it will take for NU to turn the program around from a recruiting perspective? When are you going to expand your reach beyond Illinois to help our fair Cats?



DP: I think NU is doing very well in recruiting. Offering Mike Dunigan, Iman Shumpert, Brandon Paul, Kyle Rowley, Alex Rossi, and others at such an early point was a big step. I don't plan on going outside of Illinois too much, i've got something in New York in the works, but other than that i'm sticking to Illinois.



LTP: Let's assume you get in to NU and LTP helps you navigate some NCAA loopholes - how do you think you can impact the basketball program while at NU?What are your thoughts on Bill Carmody and the current system employed at NU?



DP: Say i get into NU, which is a big if, i will be going to a lot of Cats games and will be more of a Cats fan then ever. However, i will not try and help the program too much, as 1) i don't want to get the program into trouble because of something stupid i do, and 2) if i discover a good kid and i only tell NU about him, i am doing a disservice to the kid by not letting him explore all of his opportunities. It isn't my job to dictate where a kid goes, only to give him the best possible opportunity to succeed. I like Coach Carmody a lot, and despite the poor season i feel the program is going in the right direction with Juice, Capocci, Ryan, Fruendt, Shurna, and obviously Coble.



LTP: Crystal ball time. After you help bring NU to their first ever NCAA Tournament, what would be your post college plan? Are you the next Theo Epstein of hoops?



DP: My plan is to get a degree in Psychology from NU, then to keep growing what i'm doing and make connections in the basketball world. I will then come back and attend Kellogg, graduate, and essentially become the Theo Epstein of hoops by becoming the GM of the Bulls at age 29.



LTP: Tell us about how the recent media attention has impacted your life. More calls from major coaches? More prom dates?



DP: The media attention has been crazy, and at times overwhelming. The biggest impact has been the pressure to do even better work now, and the toll that has taken on my social life and on my school work. I haven't gotten many more calls from major coaches, it's still virtually the same nucleus of guys that it always was. I have been getting a lot more attention from fans at games and tournaments, in the streets, and in the hallways, and i have even had to sign a few autographs. As for Prom Dates... i had a girlfriend before all of this so girls know i'm taken ;).





LTP: It seems that this must be a huge time commitment. Tell us about what it takes and why you do it.



DP: Doing what i do is hard, and takes a ton of commitment- more work than i ever dreamed of doing at this point in my life, but it feels good. I recently started getting on the college speaking circuit by giving a lecture at Loyola University, sponsored by the Loyola Marketing Club. Hopefully i can get in at NU soon! I am also adding a portion of my scouting that coaches have to pay for my services, because the number of coaches is getting overwhelming and i'm going to narrow it down to just a few schools per conference. I love knowing that i am helping kids, there is no better feeling than knowing you changed someone's life for the better. I also love being able to text my friends saying "congrats on making it to the sweet 16!" or calling them to say "you should have made it to the ncaa tournament, they snubbed you!" It's also cool being able to watch a game on ESPN and know in a few years i will see that same game with players that i helped get into school on the court.

Go Cats!

Thanks for taking time out of your crazy schedule to offer us some insights into your world. I do have to get you back on to get your real take on the NU program! Best of luck and have fun at the prom!

News & Notes
-Former NU DC, Greg Colby, has landed as head coach at Millersville University (PA). See here for article.

-I'm a day late on this but future Purple Mafia Profilee, Dan Reed, President of the NBA's D-League (and former Club hoop teammate of mine!) is making quite an impression. Check out this Q&A on Hardwood Paroxysm.

-Congrats to soon-to-be Purple Mafia Profilee, Michael Wilbon and his wife on the birth of their new baby boy.

Where Were You 16 Years Ago Today?
Shall I jog the memory...yes, it has been 16 years.