Transfer Targets :: 2019

[Chicagojayfan]

Most were very excited about Jacob cause we saw him playing w Bowen's team. Mac didn't even know anything about Martin when we signed him. I think Lutz was the only one that had even seen him play. All Mac knew was he as playing in Florida and Lutz wanted him. Drock just gave me the hell if i know when I asked him about him. I remember Mac going to see him in Florida and I am pretty sure that was after he had committed. Then he got here and his knee was all screwed up. How in the hell would anyone be excited about that?

there was film of him out there. I definitely liked the film, although he played more as a wing when he was at the sports academy in FL.

He also had a Virginia Tech offer. say what you will about Buzz, he knows talent

[Chicagojayfan]

we've had quite a few 'stealth' recruits - Martin being one. He's a big success

most of the others - (Marlon, Malik, Suarez, Paras, etc) - have not been.

Marlon was a miss, but he was a generally considered 3 star and had apparently played pretty well on his visit with the team. We may have over rated him as a stealth guy because he missed a big part of the evaluation time due to breaking a finger/thumb, IIRC, and maybe he just had a great day of practice with us.

Malik and Suarez were short term roster fillers, Paras I never really had a read on why we recruited him other than that UCLA had him on their list and he fell to us -- maybe we relied too much on their ability to scout a guy. So I don't think Paras was much of a "stealth" guy at all (UCLA, CAL, and Arizona State offers aren't a stealth guy offers)

In the end, misses happen, but we really don't have many stealth guys anymore. We've gone from a first BE roster with ZERO top 100 recruits to 3- 5 this year (depending on how we rank a couple of them - Marcus wasn't a consensus top 100)

Two REAL stealth guys were Khyri Thomas and Patton when we offered them. We knew a bit about them, but when we offered them they were not considered Big East material by the "market" of teams. They turned out pretty well, but we'd also had a shot to scout them pretty extensively as they were local and at least Patton spent a lot of time in Creighton camps

[bluejayb13]

we've had quite a few 'stealth' recruits - Martin being one. He's a big success

most of the others - (Marlon, Malik, Suarez, Paras, etc) - have not been.

Marlon was a miss, but he was a generally considered 3 star and had apparently played pretty well on his visit with the team. We may have over rated him as a stealth guy because he missed a big part of the evaluation time due to breaking a finger/thumb, IIRC, and maybe he just had a great day of practice with us.

Malik and Suarez were short term roster fillers, Paras I never really had a read on why we recruited him other than that UCLA had him on their list and he fell to us -- maybe we relied too much on their ability to scout a guy. So I don't think Paras was much of a "stealth" guy at all (UCLA, CAL, and Arizona State offers aren't a stealth guy offers)

In the end, misses happen, but we really don't have many stealth guys anymore. We've gone from a first BE roster with ZERO top 100 recruits to 3- 5 this year (depending on how we rank a couple of them - Marcus wasn't a consensus top 100)

Two REAL stealth guys were Khyri Thomas and Patton when we offered them. We knew a bit about them, but when we offered them they were not considered Big East material by the "market" of teams. They turned out pretty well, but we'd also had a shot to scout them pretty extensively as they were local and at least Patton spent a lot of time in Creighton camps

It is harder and harder to consider guys "stealth" recruits just due to the evolution in exposure and recruiting services. Also getting on a guy early doesn't mean he ends up being stealth, Creighton got on Enaruna first and that didn't matter once he was on the radar, but it mattered a lot to Patton.

[cujaysfan]

Patton and Khyri were under recruited - not really 'stealth' recruits as I was defining them - we had them well evaluated for quite some time

the guys listed above were all very late in the cycle - and appeared out of no where with almost no other offers/info

Cashaw fits as well - but I don't put him in either the 'bust' or 'success' category - his production was somewhere in between.

[Chicagojayfan]

Patton and Khyri were under recruited - not really 'stealth' recruits as I was defining them - we had them well evaluated for quite some time

the guys listed above were all very late in the cycle - and appeared out of no where with almost no other offers/info

Cashaw fits as well - but I don't put him in either the 'bust' or 'success' category - his production was somewhere in between.

Marlon Stewart wasn't really stealth, we just ranked him higher. He got some visibility, but had hurt his hand/finger at one point in the AAU season so missed out. We just overrated him. he had a Bradley offer which was more his correct level

Paras was well recruited - AZ State, Cal and UCLA are nothing like "no other offers/info"

Saurez wasn't really stealth, he was a clear roster filler. People who paid attention knew he was a guy to eat up some space and fouls when others got hurt or got in foul trouble. Some on the board overrated him, but it wasn't like nobody knew anything about him.

Albert was another roster filler. Again some overrated him, but he was a JUCO guy who we brought in to fill a spot. He may be considered a stealth guy, though. Not a lot of info about him as he was a JUCO player and the best guys don't go JUCO these days.

Thomas was a stealth guy, I'd argue, at least in the market place for recruiting. We watched him play a lot and sent him to Prep school, but even after other teams had had ample time to see him they didn't offer. I think he had UNO, Portland state and UMKC offers all said and done. We evaluated him and evaluated him correctly without regard to what the rest of college basketball thought of him.

We did the same with Patton, but the rest of the teams quickly offered as well.

There's a good argument that our coaches do a better job than most of evaluating players and that other teams pay attention to who we go after these days.

[cu8493]

The problem has never really been the ability to evaluate for the most part. The problem is too many times having to "fill a spot" after we failed to land option A, B or C.

[gtmoBlue]

+1

[Chicagojayfan]

they will go after an international big, likely a 2019 freshman.

I'd like this. Add in a grad transfer like Kelvin Jones to add depth immediately and get a guy who fits our style for longer term.

International works for us on a lot of levels. Lots of international bigs come with perimeter skills and are used to running the court aggressively. We also don't have the automatic competition that comes in the US from every big with skills having been recruited and courted since JR high. We have also shown we can be a good stopping place for international bigs for getting degrees and developing their game (we aren't Gonzaga in that area, but it is a trend for us, and a good trend)

Yes, there's risk like this, but look at our last several international bigs - Martin, Epperson, Froling. Martin is the guy everyone is traumatized about not having now, but wasn't all that thrilled with when we got him. Epperson's only real need is to stay healthy at this point, and Froling was a really nice developmental project IMO (good hands and tough that you just can't teach), but who just wanted to go home and play for money.

[bluejayb13]

We've had Martin work out for us in the way of international bigs. Epperson was a highly ranked recruit playing HS ball in Indiana, and Froling is gone. One international big has worked out, I wouldn't say we are even close to being known for taking in international talent.

[Bluejays4ever]

I agree we are not “known” yet, but I would add Gregory to the list of successful international bigs.