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Basketball Recruiting Megathread 1.0 has run its course

And that will hurt with not being very big in the post as well. You can play a little bit smaller if you have a bunch of athletic guys. That changes things now.
 
tbpnwe said:
We are suddenly unathletic at the 2.
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Not really. J.T. was athletic, but it's all about how you use it. Athleticism is hardly visible when your team can't score in transition and your best athlete would rather take a contested 35-footer than attack the basket.

Why not pursue six, though?

Zena, of course, would be the best possible scenario.

Minutes will be plentiful on the perimeter and in the post. If we even have a remote chance with Andrew White, then I think he's the perfect fit for this team and we should pursue him relentlessly. He's a true swingman as opposed to Moto's power-wing style of play.

Moto is great and would be a tremendous pick-up, but he reminds me a bit of Travis in terms of how I think we'd utilize him. Same goes for Marshall Wood, more of a power-wing or a stretch-4 then I think we need right now, with our best and most committed player (Travis embodies what Wellman/[Redacted] are looking for in a culture change) playing this role.
 
Wakegrad said:
And that will hurt with not being very big in the post as well. You can play a little bit smaller if you have a bunch of athletic guys. That changes things now.
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Again, I'm not sure this is true. If you have a scatter-shot system, then it doesn't matter how athletic you are. Teams that run in transition, make three-point shots, and are scrappy in their pressure defense can, as you put it, "play a little bit smaller" and can get away with it. We weren't and still aren't that team.

Wake didn't do that last season and I'm not sure they have the personnel to do that this season. Maybe Chennault and Fields will prove me wrong, but I don't see this being a pressure-D into transition team.

Exercising a more deliberate Princeton-based offense probably suits this team's strengths far more. Utilizing a system like Wisconsin's with C.J. in the Jordan Taylor role seems optimal, as well.
 
You don't take 6 in 2012 not because we couldn't use the help but because
1. that's a large class. the bigger the class, the more difficult to build team unity, help the freshmen adjust to college life, etc.
2. taking 6 in 2012 would only leave 1 scholarship for 2013 and that's a really bad problem to have because a one man class means the kid has to adjust to the team, college, etc. without the benefit of someone else to go through it with. coaches pay attention to this sort of thing
3. we may need all the help we can get now, but if we take 6 in 2012, it opens up a greater chance of matriculation/could hurt us for scholarships farther down the road
 
WFUtoUSC said:
You don't take 6 in 2012 not because we couldn't use the help but because
1. that's a large class. the bigger the class, the more difficult to build team unity, help the freshmen adjust to college life, etc.
2. taking 6 in 2012 would only leave 1 scholarship for 2013 and that's a really bad problem to have because a one man class means the kid has to adjust to the team, college, etc. without the benefit of someone else to go through it with. coaches pay attention to this sort of thing
3. we may need all the help we can get now, but if we take 6 in 2012, it opens up a greater chance of matriculation/could hurt us for scholarships farther down the road
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Thank you and good points.

I would just like to add on to what I said before and say that an undersized and athletic backcourt/undersized and athletic frontcourt does not a run-and-gun team make.
 
White wants to play SG. There's a slot for him [Redacted] should be all over him with how he took Burk to being a lottery pick.
 
RJKarl said:
White wants to play SG. There's a slot for him [Redacted] should be all over him with how he took Burk to being a lottery pick.
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Agreed. Every high-major on his list has a stacked, veteran backcourt. There is no reason why we can't sell him on minutes, campus, and the chance to develop with an NBA friendly staff.
 
Obviously White is a becoming a real long shot though. I don't think he's narrowed his list and he has north of a dozen good high majors hard on him, including Kansas. Kind of looking bleak there.

At least Moto has us in his top 6, and I still think he would be a fantastic get and fill a need. We will have some players on the lineup that can play a couple of positions so we should be versatile enough to utilize his strengths.

I would stick with 5 in 12 and 2 in 13. We might still even have 3 in 13 when all is said and done depending on what shakes out at the PG position. Some of the 2012 guys could ultimately help our recruiting momentum in 2013 to really build on some recruiting success.

I'm not sure if we still want Zena with Thomas. I would imagine they'd rather have a player more comfortable at the wing with White, Moto, Jank, and Wood on the wish list in that order.
 
I'm not sure White is a real long shot. A long list doesn't necessarily mean we're out of the running, especially given what we have to offer.

According to ESPN, his list reads:
South Florida, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, Wake Forest, Oklahoma State, Texas, Richmond, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Alabama, Cincinnati, Kansas, Miami (FL), and Tennessee

Of this list, set by ESPN staff on August 29, I would consider Louisville and NC State to be our most serious competition.

Louisville is welcoming Wayne Blackshear and Kevin Ware (Class of 2011) onto campus this year. Blackshear is a 6'5 power-wing and Ware is a 6'5 pure-SG.

NC State already has Lorenzo Brown and Scott Brown, SO and JR, respectively. They are also recruiting Rodney Purvis, Devonta Pollard, and TJ Warren hard and seem to be in good position with all three.

I don't consider South Florida, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Richmond, Miami, Tenn, and Cincy to be particularly stiff competition, equals at most.

Oklahoma State, Texas, West Virginia, Alabama, and Kansas have stocked backcourts, high profile recruits waiting in the wings, and a solid list of highly-regarded backcourt recruits they are pursuing in 2012.

So, White has a long list, but I still think we have a shot.
 
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I was looking at it more from a completely numbers perspective, but I hope you are right Strickland.
 
Excerpt from the Texas Rivals site on Andrew White earlier this week:

"I'm hearing from Texas, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Wake Forest, NC State, Richmond, George Mason, Tennessee and Cincinnati,"
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No-one on that list is out of our league. Considering his stated preference to stay relatively close to home (ACC country), I'm pretty confident that we'll get one of his 5 officials. So I'd say we probably have like a 15% chance.

Our chances with Moto are probably fairly similar, since we're officially in the final 6 (along with UCLA, Florida, Miami, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech). He comes back to the states from Cameroon this week I believe, so hopefully we'll get an update on him soon.
 
Kansas offered White a week ago but I see the point that we have a decent shot comparable to that of Moto.
 
RJKarl said:
I thought he got an offer from Kansas...
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That answer was probably his response to the stock "Who are you hearing from the most?" question, not an exhaustive offer list.

He did get a Kansas offer, and he plans to visit, but I'm not sure how much "love" they are showing him so far. It's probably safe to say that Shabazz is Kansas' priority #1 right now.
 
Hopefully this helps usher in the Anton Gill era.
 
That should be no surprise. Best hire the ACC has made since Roy.
 
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