madden and deMasa weren't number one they were one of the top classes but not number 1

Cass always sprinkled in one or 2 guys for outside the US to fill out a successfull lineup. Dumitru Caradima, Ante Matijevic, Khaled El Dorry. But his focus was always on getting the best Americans first and foremost. He was a heck of a motivator and coach. Don't know that I can say the same for Denton. And yes Newport played #5 his first Spring, but he had just graduated from high school that December. He was playing #2 by his sophomore season.

Looked pretty motivated from where I was sitting last Saturday afternoon.

dumitru and khaled both went to high school in america, so they aren't your typical "foreign" college tennis players who played club leagues and the tour for years before school. cass RARELY recruited players who didn't at least live and/or train in america before college.

also, cass and denton are both motivators, but in different ways. neither way is "better" per se; some ways just work better with certain players than others.