DCU's #11 Selection Is...Bryan Arguez, Midfielder. Brad North selected 2nd round. Needham and Schramm in 3rd.

UPDATED: And it's Bryan Arguez. A project, to some degree, central midfielder holding type. Interesting choice...Not sure the one I would have made (Findlay being on the board still) but one that could work out. May fall under the "this guy is safe, let's get him" theory.

What do people say? Buzz Carrick rated him as the #3 Midfielder in the draft, noting he's a good linking and posession midfielder with "upside". Jeff Carlisle had him projected as the #9 pick: "Arguez is described as a player with great tools who is incredibly comfortable on the ball." In short, the more I look at this, the more it makes sense as a "Best available talent" selection. Which is fine with me. The fact that he's a Generation Adidas player doesn't hurt either.

This may not have been the pick I would have made, but it's not a bad pick. It doesn't address a need, but it's tough to do that in the draft. Working with Simms, Olsen, and perhaps even the Carroll brothers... you have a player that can contribute in a few years.

Kinney's Take: I agree with the above. Very much a "best available talent" pick. Which IMHO is the way to in the superdraft.

SECOND ROUND: BRAD NORTH (F-Northwestern) -- Our Rod Dyachenko for this year? Led Northwestern with 9 goals and 2 assists in his Senior Year. A pick from off the radar of most, I'm guessing. Nice to grab a forward.

Kinney's Take: Ranked 20th of the forwards by Buzz. First player picked not invited to either the combine or Generation Adidas. Hopefully this is just more great scouting by the DC Front Office, but we're just hoping at this point. Could be the next Van Sicklen as well. Here is his School Bio.

THIRD ROUND: Jay Needham (D - Southern Methodist University). For a kid who got rave reviews in the Combine, he fell a long way. DC picks him up, and at first blush it seems like great value. From College to the Pros praised his size and awareness, and Joe Soccer Fan said he read the game well. This seems like a good pick at this late in the game. Add a defensive reservist to develop, which is something we need.

Kinney's Take: Great pick this late. I wanted him in the second round. Makes the North pick okay even if he doesn't pan out in my mind. Buzz has him rated 5th out of all defenders. He has problems with pace, but should be good as a back-up. Basically a younger Prideaux with more ball handling skills, won't be as savy, but United can teach that.

D: Totally in agreement with that. Allows us to still take a flyer with our other 3rd round pick. Good stuff here.

THIRD ROUND: RICKY SCHRAMM (F - Georgetown). Anyone? I have no idea. Kinney, what you got?

Kinney's Take: I've got nothing. 21st on Buzz's Forward Rankings. 2004 Big East Player of the Year. Waiting on what JoeSoccerFan thinks of this pick. Hopefully it is one of the ones he was holding close to his chest because he thought we could get him in the Supplemental. But I don't know. Buzz calls him a sleeper pick, but apparently he is very streaky.

FOURTH ROUND: LUIS ROBLES (GK - Portland): This seems like a "Have him in the pocket" pick. Robles wasn't at the Combine, but that's okay. Robles was the 3rd rated keeper from Carrick. Wynalda mentions Nick Rimando, the the absurdly high save total indicates that Robles has some reflexes along those lines. One of those "Hey, why not?" picks. Look, it's the fourth round, you're not going to be wowed, all you can hope for is that you don't get a "What are they thinking" pick. This is fine.

Kinney's Take: This is the goalkeeper that we wanted all along folks. I don't know that for a fact but Goff said that United might draft a goalkeeper and Robles is one of the better ones. Didn't play for a big name team, but he has been on the fringe of the youth national team for while now. Not sure how I feel about taking a goalkeeper, but I think this is exactly what DCU was looking for with this pick. By the way D, Carrick moved him up to second after he wrote the ESPN article, maybe because Noble didn't show much at the combine.