by Bluejay Bilas » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:30 am
We’re not Kentucky or Duke. As fans, we can’t expect a recruit who is at or toward the top of another high major’s list of targets to wait and see if we fail to get a commit from a prospect who is above him in our list.
With some of our targets we seem to have a first come, first served approach (of course, if that were truly the case, we’d have 3 or 4 commits, already). But, when McQuaid decommitted, it quickly became clear that he was the staff’s #1 2015 priority and that another shooting guard was only going to seriously come into the picture if McQuaid chose someone else. After all, McQuaid backed away from SMU after they landed a SG transfer from Virginia Tech (not sure if that was the direct cause, but it’s hard to ignore the timing). No way was/is this staff going to risk its #1 target by bringing in Milon, Shamet, or another SG. Creighton can’t beat UT, Michigan State or Indiana by acting the same way that those schools do. For top prospects, until we prove that we’re a consistent top 20 or so program, we must sell the ability for them to play a more significant role here than at a program that brings in a top 100 guy at their position every year. We, as fans who know everything that a CU hoops scholarship offers, may know that it’s as good of a place as any to play basketball in the nation. But, with the average recruit, we’re still at a significant perception disadvantage vis a vis at least a couple of dozen of the bigger name programs.