The Need For Intelligent Recruiting
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There isn’t any great 5’s left to get. But in terms of system players and fit, Diallo & Thorne are it.
You could say Zimmerman’s skill would be good in the high/low but he’s already publicly said he’s going to college for one year with the least risk. He could at least gave fans any hope that he’d try in his short career. AKA I’m going to do just enough to get by.
Maker is a UK system and possible red-flag written all over him. The fact that staying another year in prep school is a distinct possibility says that. He won’t get better playing HS kids but it will allow him the least resistance to the league.
At this juncture Diallo is the only inkling of a player who could play more than 1 year of college ball.
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Edit
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We could use Diallo and Thorne.
I guess what I’m getting at is why is it midnight and our carriage turned to a pumpkin? I look around the country and see many D1 schools, ranked far far below Kansas, and they have a decent big man. I’m not still expecting the next JoJo to suddenly appear in the night.
Waiting on a kid like Zim sounds like fouls gold. He reminds me of Tarc at Arizona. We waited on that guy, too.
Is our bar just set too high, and then at the end, when the music stops we grab the first chair available?
Maybe we keep waiting around too long for a frog to turn into a magic prince?
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After last call the women still left at the bar start looking much better…or so I am told…:)
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It just looks more and more like Chaos recruiting than anything. We didn’t sign anyone in the fall, but for the staff’s sake almost everyone they were recruiting with regularity said they were going to wait. If it wasn’t for getting Bragg in January I’m sure we’d be in even more meltdown mode. Knowing that, knowing guys would leave wouldn’t it have been beneficial to try and lock someone else in the fall?? Nope we are stuck in the carousel waiting for a kid to get off at our stop…
You look at the 16 class and you see almost 30 kids already signed. Why haven’t we locked in anyone yet? Goes into your fools gold statement of waiting around for that magical chair. I look at a kid like Schnider Herard who was ranked in the #50’s before rivals update is now up to #35. Sign him he’s 6"10 250, don’t wait for him to hit the grassroots stage and have a breakout summer and then next time he’s in the top 15… The kid has been to KU multiple times and we should already be trying to get him to verbal.
You know the top 10-15 kids are going to do the same thing that previous classes have done and wait. They know the exposure they get from holding out. I wonder if its as stressful for Self and staff as it is for us fans waiting and waiting for kids to announce on ESPN.
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Good points. However, this particular class has been difficult to read because so many top players are still unsigned, no doubt waiting to see who declares and who stays and who will have available playing time. 7 of the top 12 players are still unsigned and all 7 have KU in their list of candidate schools; all we really need is one (two would be better) capable C/PF and with Bragg we will be in very good shape…it makes you yearn for the predictable days when only senior left and underclassmen stayed hoping to get playing time in their junior and senior years…the good ol’ days.
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Valid response, I think its trending towards a norm where the top kids are going to wait to the last minute now. I wouldn’t be surprised to see none of the remaining kids sign til next spring.
Weird things have happened, kids have gone overseas like Jennings & Mudiay. Kids are re-classifying at an alarming rate (Wiggins, Towns) to mention a few. Duke literally may have to rely on a 2016 kid reclassifying to be their point guard next year.
ESPN plays a factor now too. They televise more and more HS games, and then when kids announce want them on TV to do it.
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Unless a kid really knows for certain where they want to go (no matter what) then it is smart for them to declare later. Mostly because it is hard to say who will come and go on teams they are considering. Plus… there are other late players signing so they want to know who all will be coming to what school.
It has really made recruiting tough because if you don’t get players to sign late the time has run out on even just respectable players. That thought put me in a panic this morning…
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…and with so many players leaving UK every year the chance of schoolies not being available for top players is extremely small.
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I have a question about OADs that I would ike someone to answer and explain.
Does the NCAA believe that the OAD issue is a problem? From what I’ve read the NCAA thinks it isn’t good for CBB and the NBA will have to fix it. Why can’t the NCAA go back to the way it was 40-50 years ago and declare freshmen ineligible for varsity competition? Or is it a fundamental right for a freshman to play on the varsity?
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@Wigs2 Back in the day there were freshmen teams for basketball and football. These were also the only two revenue sports year in year out. Title nine made the schools split the funds in half and give half to the women. I believe that is when freshmen teams were eliminated.
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You would have to think if they are a top prospect that no matter where they go the coach is clearing his spot for that player.
If you think about it right now looking at KU’s roster with the assumption Ellis will finish his career with us we have 3 Senior big men leaving next year and 1 guard (Selden) that could be gone after his Jr. year. Not to mention if Svi becomes a starter and improves leaps and bounds, or Greene becomes a more well rounded player to go with his jump-shot. Honestly our roster is taylor made for guys to commit early to. Then you got Bragg (unknown how big his role will be) and I really think Diallo is KU bound.
The moral of my story is that we should be hitting this summer hard to get some 2016 commits because we are going to need a whole lot next year.
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The OAD issue was not created by the NCAA and there is not much it can do about it. The OAD rule is an NBA rule that indicates that in order to play in the NBA a player has to be at least 19 years old and be one year removed from his graduating HS class. The NBA could go the way baseball does, you can go to the League straight from College but if you go to college first, you have to wait 3 years…there you have it, problem solved. Most of the true OAD players would move straight to the NBA (and bypass UK) and the rest stay in college for 3 years or go play overseas.
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“The moral of my story is that we should be hitting this summer hard to get some 2016 commits because we are going to need a whole lot next year.”
I think your story is a pretty good crystal ball into the future, as well as it can be predicted. I’m not sure why we are unable to land more talent early… like players who are ready to blow up their game and hit everyone’s charts.
I wish recruits felt more urgency to come to Kansas. If I was a recruit, I would feel it, but then, I’m from Kansas!
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@drgnslayr duh!
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Duh… I’m from Kansas, or duh I’d want to go to Kansas?
Ha… I WENT to Kansas… and they didn’t want me! I have to admit, it was my own fault because I had an opportunity to tryout as a walk-on and didn’t even try. I don’t even remember that they called the opportunity for “walk-ons.” Anyone know when that terminology came about? I don’t remember it back then… in the dinosaur era.
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@drgnslayr I’m from ks, of course we all think KU’s the best!!! Most of us!
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Think? Sista, don’t you KNOW?!
Any doubt is blasphemy! Now drop and give me 20!
Hallelujah!
(You all got me jacked sky high earlier with all your uplifting posts… so now you have to suffer the consequences)
Church has begun! Father Drgnslayr will read from the wise book of Jayhawk. All rise!
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@drgnslayr I think we need to find smarter basketball players, like Devonte. Making 1 great play will never make up for 3 dumb plays. It seems our offense collects dumb turnovers like white to rice, and this year was no different. The names change, but the turnover problem doesn’t.
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@KUSTEVE that comment is so funny coming from jethro!
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@KUSTEVE how would you determine those? A written and oral bb test?
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@Crimsonorblue22 i have a 6th grade education, and i’m real good at cypherin’!!!
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@Crimsonorblue22 silly you…lol. basketball smarts …great handles…great passing ability…etc…
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@KUSTEVE you can be skilled, but not smart, no?
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@Crimsonorblue22 you can be 6’6, going over a 5’9 guy but you are 4 feet away from the basket when you go up for your dunk, so you throw the ball at the basket because you’ve already committed yourself. And then do it 20 times during the season. That isn’t smart basketball. That is a walking turnover. And we had those types of possessions all season. And that partly, was what caused us to go home in the first weekend for the 2nd straight year. We don’t value the ball nearly enough, or our possessions. Our point guard play was much better than last year, but I think we certainly needs lots of improvement from the rest of the team in just the basic fundamentals of the game, from passing, protecting the ball, making good decisions with the ball, etc. I watched Wisconsin in the championship game, and watched an offensive show of passing, hitting the open man, back doors, and I really wished our offense looked like theirs. I really do.
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@KUSTEVE I know!
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@JayHawkFanToo The NBA rule doesn’t force anything on CBB. The NCAA just doesn’t do anything about it and wants the NBA Players Union to fix the problem. If the NCAA was really serious about eliminating the OAD, and reinstate the freshman-ineligibility rule, the NBA couldn’t do anything about it. That would force them to draft players who have not been tested. Then those high schoolers who think they are good enough to play pro can either go to the NBDL or somewhere else for a year… I just don’t agree that it’s an NBA problem.
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In today’s environment the NCAA could not reinstate the freshman ineligibility rule. The game, the players and the environment no longer fit that rule; frankly, you are the only person I have heard on the subject. The students don’t want it, the schools don’t want it and except for the very wealthy programs, most don’t have the money to support two teams. As much as we complain about the level of the game. the average HS prospect is physically at the level a college sophomore was 40+ years ago when the freshman rule was in effect; likewise, the current average OAD lottery pick plays a at higher level than a first round pick college senior 40+ years ago. The iPhone has more computer power than the mainframes NASA had in 1969 when it placed two astronauts on the moon…things change and we cannot go back to a rule that was applicable 50 years ago but now it makes zero sense.
You are right insofar that the NBA cannot force anything on the NCAA and does not, and I did not say it did; however, the entire OAD issue is predicated by the NBA rule that outlines eligibility to join the League. There is really nothing the NCAA can do to change the NBA rule to affect one way or another the OAD issue. If, as you suggest, the NCAA reinstates the freshman ineligibility rule, players will simply skip college and either play overseas, join a Development League, go to basketball academy to play an extra year and college basketball will wilt away since any player with potential of a pro career would not go to college…more likely, the NBA would do away with their own rule and select who they want. The NCAA cannot force the NBA to do anything any more than the NBA can force the NCAA; they are difference type of organizations with different goals and objectives and each will do what fits their plans best.
Frankly, the best way to bring parity to college basketball is to allow the best prospect to go straight to the League and bypass UK all together, and the ones that go to college cannot join the League for 3 years. This would allow the ubber-talented players to go straight to the League and the rest would have 3 years to bring their game up to the level that they can join the NBA and have decent chance to succeed, plus they would have the benefit of completing 3 years of college which would allow many to graduate and the rest can comeback and in one extra year get a degree if their NBA careers do not work…a win-win situation as it would prevent situations as Josh Selby’s with no chance of playing in the League or getting a degree.
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@JayHawkFanToo after Googling “freshman ineligible rule,” I see that there has been some discussion about it as recently as February 2015.
espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/12349646/big-ten-considering-ineligibility-freshmen
It would be great if all the major conferences would do that. Then maybe teams like UMKC would get the OADs and the 3 and 4 stars would go to the major conferences. That would be great
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@Wigs2 we’d miss all the players that find out they are more than OAD. OAD’s would all go overseas.
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Yes, there is talk but it is just wishful thinking; that horse left the barn and there is no bringing it back. If you read the stories you cited, this item is always mentioned as a segue to the application of the baseball rule. The unintended consequences of making freshmen ineligible would destroy the sport, all the good players would skip college and who wants to watch a NCAA tournament full of players that are not good enough to play in the NBA?
