2017 SF Brian "Tugs" Bowen (South Carolina Commit)

[cujaysfan]

don't you have to wait 4 years? i thought that was the deal when Vanderloo came to CU from Sioux City.

[AttyAlum]

My understanding is that if the hire is for an actual assistant coach position, there is no waiting period. If you are hiring someone as support staff (i.e., not as an assistant coach), the wait period applies. Vanderloo is support staff, not technically one of the assistant coaches.

[LynchMob]

Going somewhere because your high school coach got hired there specifically to drag you along is one of those things that really makes you question whether you wanted a player in the first place. Hopefully Tugs is way too smart to allow himself to be selfishly used like that from the jump, that never says anything good about a player's future.

[cu8493]

At this point, it seems to me that he is either waiting to see who stays or goes from AZ or still hoping for a "better" offer, I assume NC, Duke, Kansas, etc. I think its pretty clear at this point who is going to be at CU next year. Perhaps someone has been in his ear that other offers could come depending on players leaving some blue-blood programs. I doubt JP's decision has any bearing. He knows what point guards we will have. He now knows Marcus and Khyri are back. And, he knows who the other incoming players are. If he thinks that is enough, I assume he will commit soon. Otherwise, it will not surprise me if he is hoping that either certain players choose to leave AZ after the season or that a scholarship opens up at a NC, Duke, Kansas, etc. after an underclassman or two declares for the NBA (and hires an agent) prior to signing day. I am resigned to the fact that he isn't coming unless all the other options are closed to him.

[#RollJays]

At this point, it seems to me that he is either waiting to see who stays or goes from AZ or still hoping for a "better" offer, I assume NC, Duke, Kansas, etc. I think its pretty clear at this point who is going to be at CU next year. Perhaps someone has been in his ear that other offers could come depending on players leaving some blue-blood programs. I doubt JP's decision has any bearing. He knows what point guards we will have. He now knows Marcus and Khyri are back. And, he knows who the other incoming players are. If he thinks that is enough, I assume he will commit soon. Otherwise, it will not surprise me if he is hoping that either certain players choose to leave AZ after the season or that a scholarship opens up at a NC, Duke, Kansas, etc. after an underclassman or two declares for the NBA (and hires an agent) prior to signing day. I am resigned to the fact that he isn't coming unless all the other options are closed to him.

I'd imagine he's waiting to see if Allonzo Trier declares for the draft or not. He has no reason not to wait it out and roster watch.

[NUgradCUfan]

At this point, it seems to me that he is either waiting to see who stays or goes from AZ or still hoping for a "better" offer, I assume NC, Duke, Kansas, etc. I think its pretty clear at this point who is going to be at CU next year. Perhaps someone has been in his ear that other offers could come depending on players leaving some blue-blood programs. I doubt JP's decision has any bearing. He knows what point guards we will have. He now knows Marcus and Khyri are back. And, he knows who the other incoming players are. If he thinks that is enough, I assume he will commit soon. Otherwise, it will not surprise me if he is hoping that either certain players choose to leave AZ after the season or that a scholarship opens up at a NC, Duke, Kansas, etc. after an underclassman or two declares for the NBA (and hires an agent) prior to signing day. I am resigned to the fact that he isn't coming unless all the other options are closed to him.

I'd lean more towards he's waiting to see what the roster is going to look like at AZ. He already has an offer from Kansas, and I think the other blue bloods that haven't offered yet (Duke, Kentucky, UNC) are too far removed this late in the game. If Arizona's lineup isn't the way he would prefer it looks, if Patton says he's back, or preferably the combination of the two, then I think he's ours.

[minakirogue]

At this point, it seems to me that he is either waiting to see who stays or goes from AZ or still hoping for a "better" offer, I assume NC, Duke, Kansas, etc. I think its pretty clear at this point who is going to be at CU next year. Perhaps someone has been in his ear that other offers could come depending on players leaving some blue-blood programs. I doubt JP's decision has any bearing. He knows what point guards we will have. He now knows Marcus and Khyri are back. And, he knows who the other incoming players are. If he thinks that is enough, I assume he will commit soon. Otherwise, it will not surprise me if he is hoping that either certain players choose to leave AZ after the season or that a scholarship opens up at a NC, Duke, Kansas, etc. after an underclassman or two declares for the NBA (and hires an agent) prior to signing day. I am resigned to the fact that he isn't coming unless all the other options are closed to him.

Epperson just committed last week. Marcus just announced he was coming back two days ago. We still don't know what JP will do. It's not like CU's 2017 roster has been set for weeks now. Why would JP's decision have no bearing? He's a first round pick this year and if he stays another year, he'll likely be a lottery pick in the 2018 NBA draft - I highly doubt a player of his caliber makes no difference to a recruit. Wouldn't you want to know 100% what team you were walking in to? If I'm a top 25 recruit, I'm not going to choose Creighton unless I believe that the roster is the best it possibly can be. Without JP, it's clearly not. Tugs has waited this long to commit and that this point, you might as well wait another month and know exactly what each team's roster looks like.

I don't disagree that I'm also resigned to him not choosing Creighton, but I think it is disingenuous to say that JP's decision has no bearing on his decision.

[mredle]

I agree that there is no reason to believe that Tugs isn't waiting to try to figure out what Justin might do. It is also possible that Justin's future may still be up in the air when Tugs has to decide. It's pretty apparent that Tugs wants to see what the cast looks like around him at CU or AZ or any of the other finalists. That's smart. He understands that however the team he joins, does next season, may advance his position in the draft and that's money in his pocket.

[Ethanfor3]

This is the point that many on here refuse to appreciate.

I agree that there is no reason to believe that Tugs isn't waiting to try to figure out what Justin might do. It is also possible that Justin's future may still be up in the air when Tugs has to decide. It's pretty apparent that Tugs wants to see what the cast looks like around him at CU or AZ or any of the other finalists. That's smart. He understands that however the team he joins, does next season, may advance his position in the draft and that's money in his pocket.

Recruiting at a big boy level becomes less about what we all think players should appreciate. We use words like good education, great fan base, etc as calling cards and they are. But in reality they are not the key deciding factors when you're recruiting guys that believe they can be a one and done player. The key factors for guys like this are likely:

Do I like the coaching staff and can they develop me into the lottery pick I believe I am
What do the guys look like that I'll be playing with and do they accentuate my skill set
Can we win at a high level (win the conference, get to the sweet 16 and beyond, etc.)

Justin is a key component to points 2 and 3. We're being naive if we don't accept that. Marcus was also a component to that, although I would contend he isn't as critical to the Tugs situation as Justin is as Marcus potentially eats up shot attempts that Tugs might want. Marcus definitely helps the equation, but it's not as definitive as the role Justin plays.

Mredle is correct in his assessment that Tugs may have to decide before it's a done deal with Justin which sucks for us. We've all seen the projected starters with and without Justin and it ain't pretty in the post if Justin leaves.

I'll stand by what I've said earlier in this thread...Justin stays - I think we get Tugs. Justin appears to be leaving - we have less than a 50 / 50 shot at Tugs.

[cujaysfan]

i'm in the camp that thinks he doesn't have to decide before anything is settled

guys at his level of 'sought after' - don't have to sign a LOI - he could sign a grant in aid instead and not be locked into a school and he could do that wherever he wants - and with as many schools as he wants

there are plenty of places where he could show up a few weeks before fall semester starts and there are schools that would figure out what they have to do (bump another player or whatever)

i'm not saying creighton would do that - and frankly - i hope we wouldn't dump someone to get Tugs in such a scenario

but - i think that is the new reality for the true elite recruits