Do current recruits know who Danny Manning is?

Some of you people need other hobbies.

Let me say this, it will be much easier to convince recruits that Danny Manning was a stud player than it will be to convince them that Wake Forest was once relevant at basketball

buckets said:

ok so maybe they don't know off of the top of their head, but will they go more than 2 minutes without knowing if we start to recruit?

its not like its some secret information that recruits may never come across

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I don't disagree. Now that he's a coach at a top school kids will want to know who he is and will be impressed by his pedigree. Didn't answer the OP's question though.

He will be an imposing figure when he walks into a kids living room. Maybe hes a young John Thompson. If he gets the same results we'll all be pretty damn happy Deacon fans. I'm choosing to be positive about this hire because I'm tired of going into a basketball season knowing that we would suck and had no chance of getting better or seeing post-season play with [dumbass] at the helm. I really feel like this will work out well.

#ManUp

To the OP's point, I don't think it matters that much because most recruits will figure it out 10 seconds after we start recruiting them

I think we'll have an idea how big of an impact it has after Danny gets through a few recruiting classes if we read a lot of quotes talking about how they're impressed with his pedigree.

My guess is it's going to matter way more to recruits if the guy can coach and Wake becomes competitive again versus being bowled over by the fact that he was in the NBA and NPOY in college.

Pilchard said:

Hard to understand the point of the question. Some kids will know that Manning was a stud player and some won't. Regardless, if the recruit has any interest in WF, at that point, I am sure that any recruit that did not already know who Manning is, will discover that:

- He was the NCAA POY
- Won a NC
- #1 NBA draft pick
- 15 year NBA career
- NBA All-star

All of this can only help.

So, to re-cap:

- For those recruits that know who Manning is or whose parents know who Manning is, Manning will give WF instant recruiting cred;
- For those recruits have no clue who Manning is, they will find out which will also boost recruiting (as in, who will help my development as a professional basketball player more? Some OWG that never sniffed the NBA or a former #1 pick who played in the league for 15 years)

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Most kids in HS don't know shit. They just think they do. That's part of the charm of being a teen. When Danny Manning starts to recruit them they will hear things like NCAA champ, no' 1 draft pick, NBA All-Star, and the rest. Those in the know will also be able to connect Danny with some great coaches and influences.

"Duke? You're thinking of Duke. Well, that's a fine school and all but so is Wake. But you know what was really great? Beating Duke and Coach K for the national championship."

"You want to know about the NBA and what it's like to be a number one pick? All you have to do is ask."

Outside of VA, would they be more likely to know Shaka's name or Manning?

DeacinBama said:

Jeebus, dude. Probably should have just sat on this particular nugget.

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lol. Sometimes you just need to keep it to yourself. Pretty embarrassing to be a basketball fan and not know that Danny Manning was probably one of the top 5 players to play college basketball during the 1980's.

1980's basketball players in the same stratosphere as Manning:

(In no particular order)
Len Bias
Lionel Simmons
Hakeem Olajuwon
Wayman Tisdale
Ralph Sampson
Patrick Ewing
Michael Jordan
David Robinson
Chris Mullen
Sean Elliott

Of that list I would probably only put Sampson and Ewing ahead of Manning, and it wouldn't be that far off. We are talking about someone who would be in the starting five for a team of the decade. Manning was simply the man. I really can't wait to see what he can do on the recruiting trail. Now that he has a High Major Program to recruit to, I just have to believe he is going to be able to pull in some big time talent.

buckets said:

To the OP's point, I don't think it matters that much because most recruits will figure it out 10 seconds after we start recruiting them

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Exactly, then they will check his highlights on YouTube.

Similarly, I never saw Pistol Pete, Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton or David Thompson play in college, but I sure knew that that they were among the best college players ever when I was 18.

Pilchard said:

Hard to understand the point of the question. Some kids will know that Manning was a stud player and some won't. Regardless, if the recruit has any interest in WF, at that point, I am sure that any recruit that did not already know who Manning is, will discover that:

- He was the NCAA POY
- Won a NC
- #1 NBA draft pick
- 15 year NBA career
- NBA All-star

All of this can only help.

So, to re-cap:

- For those recruits that know who Manning is or whose parents know who Manning is, Manning will give WF instant recruiting cred;
- For those recruits have no clue who Manning is, they will find out which will also boost recruiting (as in, who will help my development as a professional basketball player more? Some OWG that never sniffed the NBA or a former #1 pick who played in the league for 15 years)

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It is also somewhat likely that he can grab a coach of the year award from some publication this year. If he can manage to do that it will help his recruiting pitch.

Box score from the national championship game. Just ridiculous. 31 & 18?

Wakeforest22890 said:

I mean I knew Danny Manning played at Kansas and knew he played in the NBA, but I didn't know he was NPOY or a top draft pick.

My point was that I was born after Manning left Kansas, really love basketball, would consider myself pretty knowledgeable on the topic, and didn't have a grasp of his reputation or anything. That doesn't mean that recruits won't grasp it if they do research, ask their parents, watch you tube videos of him, etc. though.

I didn't necessarily remember Melo being compared to Manning in 2003, but that was also 11 years ago.

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I'm baffled by this to be honest. I was born the year before Manning won his title at Kansas but I knew his name from a pretty early age. Probably originally from NBA Jam and then from just watching the NCAA tournament year after year. If you watched the Final Four in 03 that had to have been the top story line. Carmelo going on a one man run in the tournament culminating with a win over Kansas who 15 years earlier rode a one man run through the tournament. Does that seriously not ring a bell?

Edit: This would be like me saying I knew Ralph Sampson played at UVA but had no idea that he dominated college basketball for 3 straight years.

Manning's playing career will get him in the door with a lot of recruits, certainly more so than Jeff [name redacted], but I don't think his recruiting success or failure will have very much to do with that. Frankly, these appeals to his playing career feel a lot like everything pointing to Bzzdick's NBA experience 4 years ago. Ultimately, he needs to sell these players and their parents on his coaching ability and on Wake Forest. I'm hopeful he can do that, but we're light on evidence that he can.

DeacinBama said:

Manning's playing career will get him in the door with a lot of recruits, certainly more so than Jeff [name redacted], but I don't think his recruiting success or failure will have very much to do with that. Frankly, these appeals to his playing career feel a lot like everything pointing to Bzzdick's NBA experience 4 years ago. Ultimately, he needs to sell these players and their parents on his coaching ability and on Wake Forest. I'm hopeful he can do that, but we're light on evidence that he can.

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Pretty much agree. His name will always get him the foot in the door, and will set up his first encounter to be favorable (or at least amicable). After that he will have to earn it.

Wakeforest22890 said:

Manning left Kansas before I was born. I've heard of the Cinderella story around March Madness, but didn't necessarily connect it to Danny Manning even though I think I'd definitely heard of "Danny and the Miracles."

The Larry Brown/Bobcats connection was the reason I definitely knew I had heard of Manning.

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I meant his 7 years as an assistant at Kansas, or hell, even the last 2 years at KU, where they talk about the coaches' kids in every single game (Evan Manning, Niko Roberts, Tyler Self). When he was on the bench for 7 years, the announcers noted him in every game.

Again, I get why the vast majority of people wouldn't know anything about Manning, but someone who follows college basketball "religiously?" That's just baffling.

Wakeforest22890 said:

While at Wake, there were multiple football players I knew and hung out with who didn't know that N.C. State was in our division in football.

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I bet they knew who Torry Holt was though

Don't know how relavent this is, but we now have a main recruiter who was better than virtually any player he'll ever recruit. I want to think that this is going to help us, but then again, Michael Jordan drafted Kwame Brown #1 overall. All that said, even if Manning has no HC experience, he would still be better than Bzz.

bigdoublezero said:

It's like a main argument for why he'd be a good coach for us. I feel like that's why people care?

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The main argument is probably more along the lines of Manning just coaching a C-USA regular season and conference champ, and being named C-USA COY in addition to being recognized as one of the best coaches of big men in the country. If Kansas fans are to be believed, he turned a lot of recruits that were nothing special into NBA draftees. He also mentored under a great coach and won a national title under him. Self also has nothing but great things to say about him. I realize that C-USA is not a good conference and he hasn't beaten a really good team, but that's the main argument in my opinion.

I really have no idea about how celebrity impacts the decision of a recruit. I imagine that a recruit goes to a school mostly because he believes the coach is the right fit as well as the school, not because its coach was a POY, NCAAT champion and #1 pick. There is an argument to be made that those accomplishments could partly affect the decision of a recruit. For example, I think a guy like Giles would watch a game focusing on coaching style and development of his position as well as how competitive the team is as a whole and post-season expectations. That really makes or breaks the decision. If what he sees is compelling, I do think that Manning's storied NCAA career and 15-year NBA career is advantageous because he's uniquely qualified to advise players on the matter. Not saying we're in the same galaxy as far as landing a guy like Giles right now, just an example.

He should be able to relate to superstar big men from the Triad even if they don't know who he is