FORT MYERS — So, how did Ricky Doyle’s Florida Gulf Coast University visit go?
Whispers around Alico Arena aside, we have no idea.
A rising junior center who is transferring from Michigan after playing a big role there, Doyle is playing really hard to get. We reached out to his former coach, Matt Herting of Bishop Verot, on Monday. He said he’d pass along our number.
We got notta.
The 6-foot-9, 250-pound old-school center’s last Twitter post was a retweet on March 16.
What we do know is Doyle previously visited Central Florida, Creighton and USC before finishing up his official visits at FGCU last weekend.
We also know FGCU now has a for-sure spot for him with Tuesday’s announcement that junior center Patson Siame, who redshirted last season after transferring from Loyola Marymount, has left the program by “mutual decision.”
USC coach Andy Enfield, who took over the Trojans after leading FGCU to that 2013 Sweet 16 run in his second season as a head coach, recruited Doyle, then a 4-star prospect, out of high school. The thought is Doyle probably wants to stay closer to home.
UCF is led by Johnny Dawkins, who was recently fired at Stanford after eight seasons. The connection? His son, Aubrey, has joined UCF from Michigan.
Creighton was 20-15 last season under sixth-year coach Greg McDermott. As did Michigan, where Doyle never quite fit in, the Bluejays favor a very uptempo offensive style.
FGCU seems custom-made for Doyle. Under fourth-year coach Joe Dooley, the Eagles have made the postseason three straight times and have gone 65-38. Dooley is a ball-screen and high-low fanatic, which perfectly suits Doyle’s game.
The Eagles’ most talented roster will no doubt make an interesting run next season and quite-young FGCU (only two seniors next season) is built to last.
We still very much like the Eagles’ chances of landing Doyle, even though we have zip idea of what he’s thinking.
Dana Caldwell is the Daily News beat writer for Florida Gulf Coast University athletics and can be followed on Twitter
at @NDN_DCaldwell