2015 recruits

[fritzpointer]

So Jaysfor3 you want The Jays to buy players?

[jaysfor3]

So Jaysfor3 you want The Jays to buy players?

Ha!! Yes!

[Chicagojayfan]

...


And yet with all of that we are picked 9th in the BE this year. I know I'm just a troll so take my comment with a grain of salt, but as others have said, we have to start to land some of these program changers.

Harrell and Gilmore are a great start, but they are both being talked about for RSing this year (which I have no problem with actually).

Watson and Huff are definitely bright spots. They will no doubt help this team out.

The rest of the guys will continue to develop and get better. How much better is what we don't know?

The thing we have to remember though is that the Big East is recruiting very, very well. In the Valley if you looked at the list above we would be loving life! The issue now is that every team (well, besides DePaul obviously) is recruiting very, very well.

We are picked very low this year. Yes, we will add Huff/Watson next year, but at the same time look what we will lose. 4 seniors that have been in the system for a long time. Brooks, Chatman, Dingman and Artino will be missed. The bad thing is that this is their only year to "really shine" since they have sat behind Gibbs, McDermott, Wragge and Manigat. Its the one thing that always worried me going forward. Its almost like we put all of our eggs in one basket for those 4 to take us to the promise land. It didn't happen (NCAA tourney wise that is) and now, yes we have 4 seniors, but how experienced are they really?

What is the guarantee that any of those other "game changers" will produce in the rest of the Big East? St. John's continues to put up awful Points per possession stats. They D can pull them out sometimes, but their 5 and 4 star recruits don't help them put the ball through the basket. Georgetown has some big recruits this year, but is picked second with a roster that is thin in important positions and could just as easily have a repeat of last year (especially if they need to try to go through another season without a center, so whether or not Smith makes it is a big question for them)

We will get some big recruits, but usually we are going to get them by being first to the party.. especially when we have to get a kid to travel cross country. Not to mention that we will find guys locally who can fit our system perfectly and keep our depth at a point where we are able to swing for the fences on big recruits.. doesn't mean we land all of them, but it does mean we win games and stay competitive.

Does anyone REALLY think we are finishing 9th this year? Seriously? And if we aren't finishing 9th.. what do we care what the rest of the Big East thinks about our recruiting or about us? The rude awakening to them will be losing to a team they thought would be in the cellar.

On one hand you say that we have all these great recruits coming in, but the next sentence you tell me about how GTown and St. John's have all these great recruits but that doesn't always equal success? So, our coaching alone is what will get us over the top? Look, as much as I like Coach Mac, you HAVE to have players, period. We have to start landing some of these top notch players. So many point out "Well, we were great last year in the Big East so we will be fine moving forward." We had Doug McDermott! The guy was one of the best College basketball players in a LONG, LONG time. He hid a lot of our players weaknesses because of the attention he drew to him. Then you throw in Wragge who took his defender with him at all times because if you left him he would kill you.

Here is my fear. Who do we go to in crunch time in the final 4 minutes of a game this year? Brooks? Chapman? Who gets their shot off when we desperately need a basket. That is where recruiting comes in. I can guarantee you that their are a lot of coaches that are much, much better than Calipari from the X's and O's standpoint. But Coach Cal has players. Damn good players. You can have the greatest game plan in the world, but at the end of the day we have to continue to recruit, recruit, recruit. I'm not saying Coach Mac isn't recruiting well, but eventually we have to hit on some of these studs. I'm not saying we are UK or ever will be, but the point was simply that our "system" alone isn't going to win us games.

This year will be very telling to see how far our guys come along. The key is to continue to get Harrell/Gilmore better whether from RSing or playing and see how much we improve as the year goes on. Next year I think we are solid with the additions of Watson and Huff obviously.

1. Great does not equal highly ranked. They have highly ranked recruits, but that does not equal greatness. We have a lot of guys who fit our system well, and because of that I see us surprising this year. Note that some of the guys we have were vastly underrated IMO, by the services.

2. I've discussed the seniors and the roster in another thread and feel comfortable saying the roster (Doug excluded) is much better this year than it was last year, and will be even better next year. We are longer, more athletic and more versatile. The seniors, due to injuries and physical limitations were much more single dimensional in what they brought to the floor.

3. Yes, you need someone to take the big shots, but remember, until last year Doug had never hit a game winning shot. Points are often about minutes and opportunity and we have a number of guys who have played big games and been successful. Yes, they have to step up, but I'm confident we'll have more than enough candidates.

4. Calipari is a great recruiter, no doubt, but there isn't anyone in the Big East that remotely comes close to him... and there's nobody in the Big East that recruits so well as to put a big gap in between us and them IMO. JTIII has had a good couple of years, but it was following some awful years, and then there's the matter of his scheme and coaching....Lavin? Good recruiter, Even worse coach. Look at their team PPP's for the past few years. Nova has good, but not incredible recruiting and very good coaching, but we can compete with them - in part due to their defensive schemes and ours

5. It's about development. Yes, you need the athletes, but I've made it clear I think we have the bodies to compete -- One thing I like is that when I saw the Big East thoroughly last year I wasn't afraid of the scheming and coaching. Yes, they had athletes, but I saw a lot of disjointed offensive play, I saw inefficient scoring attempts, I saw poor post play on offense and defense, I saw teams with pretty lousy scouting reports and game plans. If we do what we do with the talent we have, we can be successful.. and even more so moving ahead with the young, more athletic talent the coaches have recruited.

I'm not saying this year is all peaches and cream, but I can see us fighting for 4th and 5th place and getting to .500 in the conference and a chance to get to the NCAA, but more likely the NIT.. pretty good for a "rebuilding year".

[jaysfor3]

Chicagojayfan, I hope you are right. maybe I just don't see the talent on the roster that you do. None of our guys have played enough meaningful minutes for me to feel extremely comfortable this year. And as I pointed out, Doug/Ethan took away any game plan a team could have. Doug was magical. The guy would have an "off" night and drop 21 points. I know in years past we have had Korver, A-Train, etc. But Doug was so freaking good and I just worry who fills the void. Obviously our team play and game planning is a huge part of our success. But will that translate into a more athletic league is my worry. Sure we could out game plan teams in the Valley that had the same athleticism as us. This is different though. We are going to be playing teams with NBA talent on any given night.

Should be an interesting season. I just have a lot of question marks for this team this year. I hope they prove me wrong.

One more thing. You keep talking about how we have a better overall team. I just can't see it. Doug, Wragge, Manigat and Gibbs were special together. We were picked to win the or be top 2 in the Big East. And I know pre-season rankings don't mean much, but they were ranked in the top 25 most of the year for a reason.

[jln]

Chicagojayfan, I hope you are right. maybe I just don't see the talent on the roster that you do. None of our guys have played enough meaningful minutes for me to feel extremely comfortable this year. And as I pointed out, Doug/Ethan took away any game plan a team could have. Doug was magical. The guy would have an "off" night and drop 21 points. I know in years past we have had Korver, A-Train, etc. But Doug was so freaking good and I just worry who fills the void. Obviously our team play and game planning is a huge part of our success. But will that translate into a more athletic league is my worry. Sure we could out game plan teams in the Valley that had the same athleticism as us. This is different though. We are going to be playing teams with NBA talent on any given night.

Should be an interesting season. I just have a lot of question marks for this team this year. I hope they prove me wrong.

One more thing. You keep talking about how we have a better overall team. I just can't see it. Doug, Wragge, Manigat and Gibbs were special together. We were picked to win the or be top 2 in the Big East. And I know pre-season rankings don't mean much, but they were ranked in the top 25 most of the year for a reason.

Like who? I'm not saying this isn't a long term concern, but this year doesn't seem to be a strong year for talent in the Big East.

[AttyAlum]

Don't feed the troll.

[jayfan]

I was called troll too! HA It's been interesting watching the ups and downs of the 2015 recruiting season. After landing Patton, I was hoping it was the start to a great class, but so far its been pretty disappointing. One thought about the lack of recruits might be our transfers. Taking all these transfers might be the reason some top 150 players might be deciding to go elsewhere. Why would a HS player want to come here and then find out after he signed, he has battle for a spot with a guy who is 2 years older, played at the college level, and 25 pounds heavier. Furthermore, I feel the coaches cooled on some top 150 players after transfers join our team this summer. Iowa State has been recruiting this way and I checked their chart….0 signed recruits thus far. Secondly, I think we should start a new thread "Which offered players didn't come to CU". At one time, the board had over 30 quality players plus all the ones added this fall.

[JayPak]

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2. I've discussed the seniors and the roster in another thread and feel comfortable saying the roster (Doug excluded) is much better this year than it was last year...

I'm not saying this year is all peaches and cream, but I can see us fighting for 4th and 5th place and getting to .500 in the conference and a chance to get to the NCAA, but more likely the NIT.. pretty good for a "rebuilding year".

This is illogical. If the roster is much better, than we should easily finish 1st b/c we were 2nd last year. Unless by "better," you simply mean, "more athletic."

[Chicagojayfan]

\
2. I've discussed the seniors and the roster in another thread and feel comfortable saying the roster (Doug excluded) is much better this year than it was last year...

I'm not saying this year is all peaches and cream, but I can see us fighting for 4th and 5th place and getting to .500 in the conference and a chance to get to the NCAA, but more likely the NIT.. pretty good for a "rebuilding year".

This is illogical. If the roster is much better, than we should easily finish 1st b/c we were 2nd last year. Unless by "better," you simply mean, "more athletic."

Without Doug, I'd rather have this roster. . No time to type it all out away from my desk though

[gtmoBlue]

As for crunch time and the go-to guy, I am thinking that coach will want J Milliken or IZ taking that shot. Both are shooters and drip confidence. At least that is who I am hoping will be designated. If his shot has improved you could add Devin to this short list.