BBall Recruiting Thread, Robert McCray ('21) commits!

[Deaconblue]

Transfers and Graduate Transfers are hard to get at Wake with their unwillingness to accept credits from some other schools. Except for Stanford, we have the toughest time with transfer credits than just about anyone in the country. Personally I think this Okpomo commit is a win-win for us, he can fill an area of need and could develop into a critical piece by his junior year and occasionally even in his first 2 years.

Les has alluded to this being an issue for at least 2 interested transfers since Forbes took over.

Hatch is fucking us.

This goes back some time. Before Hatch. When Wake went the "academic elite school" route, one of the policy changes was to accept relatively few transfer credits. Virtually no JuCo credits get accepted. And some credits from four year schools are likewise deemed unacceptable at Wake. At least Wake accepts the whole package from grad transfers. As long as they graduate from accredited four year schools, Wake will let them into some grad program.

The refusal to accept JuCo credits hurts basketball and football some, but is really killing Wake Baseball.

 

[xmandeac]

Well, not sure if we'll be any good, but kudos to Forbes for getting us to a balanced roster with some competition for minutes. Barring waivers being granted, seems like our biggest remaining gap is someone to push Neath.

 

[Strickland33]

Well, not sure if we'll be any good, but kudos to Forbes for getting us to a balanced roster with some competition for minutes. Barring waivers being granted, seems like our biggest remaining gap is someone to push Neath.

Depending on the waiver situation, I hope Williamson can be a bit of this kind of guy.

 

[RJKarl]

Well, not sure if we'll be any good, but kudos to Forbes for getting us to a balanced roster with some competition for minutes. Barring waivers being granted, seems like our biggest remaining gap is someone to push Neath.

This seems to be right. We need Neath to play 32-36 mpg. If he doesn't get into foul trouble, it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[DeacsATS]

PF?? He's listed as a 6'7 guard on ESPN and as a G/F by Ole Miss.

Not that it matters anymore, but Hinson is 6'7" and 230lbs. He split his minutes last year w/ Ole Miss about 50/50 between the 3 and the 4.

If you watch his game, he's clearly not a guard. He's a wing that would be a slightly undersized 4. If he had come to Wake, I suspect he'd have split minutes w/ Mucius & Massoud at the 3/4 slots. He's not as tall as either, but he outweighs each of them by 30+ pounds.

 

[WRS]

This goes back some time. Before Hatch. When Wake went the "academic elite school" route, one of the policy changes was to accept relatively few transfer credits. Virtually no JuCo credits get accepted. And some credits from four year schools are likewise deemed unacceptable at Wake. At least Wake accepts the whole package from grad transfers. As long as they graduate from accredited four year schools, Wake will let them into some grad program.

The refusal to accept JuCo credits hurts basketball and football some, but is really killing Wake Baseball.

It’s not killing Wake basketball. Hiring two of the worst coaches in the history of NCAA basketball and constantly trying to rely on stopgap transfers to rebuild or fill emergency roster holes is killing Wake basketball. Hopefully that will no longer be the case in 2021 and beyond.

 

[RJKarl]

Not that it matters anymore, but Hinson is 6'7" and 230lbs. He split his minutes last year w/ Ole Miss about 50/50 between the 3 and the 4.

If you watch his game, he's clearly not a guard. He's a wing that would be a slightly undersized 4. If he had come to Wake, I suspect he'd have split minutes w/ Mucius & Massoud at the 3/4 slots. He's not as tall as either, but he outweighs each of them by 30+ pounds.

If that's the case, his rebounding numbers were not good and I'd take the chance with what we have and not lock up a scholarship for 2-3 years.

 

[TheIshThatSaved WakeForest]

It’s not killing Wake basketball. Hiring two of the worst coaches in the history of NCAA basketball and constantly trying to rely on stopgap transfers to rebuild or fill emergency roster holes is killing Wake basketball. Hopefully that will no longer be the case in 2021 and beyond.

I think both can be true. With the new emphasis on transfers once the rule is passed, we will certainly be at a disadvantage vs everyone else in the ACC. No reason our transfer policies have to be more stringent than Duke, UVA, UNC, and GT.

 

[Strickland33]

It’s not killing Wake basketball. Hiring two of the worst coaches in the history of NCAA basketball and constantly trying to rely on stopgap transfers to rebuild or fill emergency roster holes is killing Wake basketball. Hopefully that will no longer be the case in 2021 and beyond.

TITCR

It hasn't been that long, but I'm already feeling much better about this staff's vision and strategy.

 

[WRS]

I think both can be true. With the new emphasis on transfers once the rule is passed, we will certainly be at a disadvantage vs everyone else in the ACC. No reason our transfer policies have to be more stringent than Duke, UVA, UNC, and GT.

I suppose that’s also true. Good counterpoint.

 

[ChaosDeac]

It’s not killing Wake basketball. Hiring two of the worst coaches in the history of NCAA basketball and constantly trying to rely on stopgap transfers to rebuild or fill emergency roster holes is killing Wake basketball. Hopefully that will no longer be the case in 2021 and beyond.

If you don't expect bball teams to utilize regular transfers as a way to build teams going forward, especially with the new transfer rule likely coming eventually, you are going to be disappointed.

Team building was once just about recruiting 4 year guys, but then the early departure level guys emerged & that changed recruiting. Then the grad transfer rule came & that changed recruiting. Now regular transfers are getting waivers much more often, including possibly a blanket waiver once for everyone, & it's going to change recruiting as well.

 

[Strickland33]

New from Les on the updated 247 rankings:

The Deacs are in early recruiting battles with 13 players ranked in the 247Sports Top150 that was released Wednesday. Here's a look at those prospects:

Aminu Mohammed #16
Malaki Branham #27
Jordan Hawkins #56
James Graham #57
Brandon Weston #62
Dallan Coleman #69
Roosevelt Wheeler #70
Eric Van Der Heijden #73
John Butler #79
Carter Whitt #81
Cesare Edwards #102
Kuluel Mading #118 [not yet offered fwiw]
Angelo Brizzi #128

With the exception of Mohammed who they rated a 5-star and Brizzi who they rated a 3-star, 247 rated all of these guys as 4-star prospects.

 

[WRS]

If you don't expect bball teams to utilize regular transfers as a way to build teams going forward, especially with the new transfer rule likely coming eventually, you are going to be disappointed.

Team building was once just about recruiting 4 year guys, but then the early departure level guys emerged & that changed recruiting. Then the grad transfer rule came & that changed recruiting. Now regular transfers are getting waivers much more often, including possibly a blanket waiver once for everyone, & it's going to change recruiting as well.

Huge difference between supplementing a strong core through opportunistic transfers and pinning all your hopes for fielding a barely competitive team on it (the Manning approach).

 

[JuiceCrewAllStar]

even removing athletics from the conversation, the transfer rule is very bad and smacks of great elitism

 

[CamLemons]

even removing athletics from the conversation, the transfer rule is very bad and smacks of great elitism

I yell this into the void, but Stanford should be the model of Wake Forest recruiting, in both football and basketball. If you're going to tout world-class academics and divisionals(which blow but I think are important to the growth of a student), yes the transfer restrictions need to lessen a bit because they're honestly absurd, but it just stresses the importance of 1) winning in general and 2) winning recruiting battles. Is it going to suck for quickly rebuilding a team? Absolutely, but if Forbes is as good of a recruiter as he believes he is(i think he's a very good one) then he just has to win them over when they're in high school.

Record be damned, in basketball since 2010 they've had 8/11 recruiting classes in the top 40, 5/11 in the top 20 and 1 top 10 class. They kick similar ass in football as well. There's so much of an emphasis in putting out a good product and winning the recruiting battles out of high school because they know taking in transfers just can't happen unless they transfer from a Wake, from a service academy, from a Michigan. And moving forward that should be Wake's focus as well IMO

 

[BlackjackMc]

Forbes had to take transfers this year to fill out a roster. I expect he will target 4-5 freshmen recruits every year hereafter, expecting attrition from the transfer portal. He can't control admissions but he can control the number of incoming players.

 

[Deaconblue]

It’s not killing Wake basketball. Hiring two of the worst coaches in the history of NCAA basketball and constantly trying to rely on stopgap transfers to rebuild or fill emergency roster holes is killing Wake basketball. Hopefully that will no longer be the case in 2021 and beyond.

I didn't say its killing Wake basketball. I said it is hurting. The reports that a few guys Forbes tried to bring in didn't pass the transfer muster at Wake, but were able to go to other schools hurts. Transfers are happening more frequently. With new transfer, don't have to sit rule, transfers will happen more frequently. If Wake is handicapping its basketball coach with stricter academic standards that don't accept credits from accredited four year schools, that puts Forbes at a disadvantage.

So does the Wake policy of accepting very few JuCo credits. Late bloomers need not apply to Wake. This policy, in conjunction with the MLB draft rules prior to 2020, will forever have Wake Baseball at a severe disadvantage with respect to our competition.

 

[tagsfan]

Please show me.

Before Strick's post, the only one I can see that is the least bit off topic (for the past week) is about Chris Mack's availability which is about this topic as he is recruiting against us.

Mack just picked up El Ellis, a top JUCO. His backcourt will be loaded next year.

 

[DeacsATS]

Mack just picked up El Ellis, a top JUCO. His backcourt will be loaded next year.

Only silver lining is that they may not have room for Aminu Mohammed... From what I understand, they are the perceived leader.

 

[WRS]

I didn't say its killing Wake basketball. I said it is hurting. The reports that a few guys Forbes tried to bring in didn't pass the transfer muster at Wake, but were able to go to other schools hurts. Transfers are happening more frequently. With new transfer, don't have to sit rule, transfers will happen more frequently. If Wake is handicapping its basketball coach with stricter academic standards that don't accept credits from accredited four year schools, that puts Forbes at a disadvantage.

So does the Wake policy of accepting very few JuCo credits. Late bloomers need not apply to Wake. This policy, in conjunction with the MLB draft rules prior to 2020, will forever have Wake Baseball at a severe disadvantage with respect to our competition.

My bad, you said baseball in your original post and my quarantine brain had it mistaken for basketball.