• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

BBall Recruiting Thread 2k19 - Charles Coleman de-commits to Wake. :(

Bilau has been on campus a lot lately with Sarr and Hoard. His offer list is good and had pretty solid reviews from the Will Barton camp. I wouldn’t mind that pickup and continuing the French connection.
 
PsychDeac said:
Do we know that? They both played for the Canadian team. If not, I don't see much reason to pursue him. Bilau at least has a decent list of solid offers.
Click to expand...

They have never played HS ball together and never played on the same AAU team. Their exposure to each other is limited to one summer playing on Canada's U18 team.
 
sportsnut said:
I think we will wrap this class up with Neath, Bilau, and Oguama. This will give us 5 (which I don't like that many in a class) when you add in Massoud and Adrien White who is sitting out after transferring
Click to expand...

Who signs is somewhat irrelevant. We are almost assuredly getting a new coach this spring. With coaching changes come changes in the recruiting class.
 
sportsnut said:
I think we will wrap this class up with Neath, Bilau, and Oguama. This will give us 5 (which I don't like that many in a class) when you add in Massoud and Adrien White who is sitting out after transferring
Click to expand...

What about Baugh? Any real chance there? Or just the staff sniffing around because some of his better offers have dried up?
 
sportsnut said:
I think we will wrap this class up with Neath, Bilau, and Oguama. This will give us 5 (which I don't like that many in a class) when you add in Massoud and Adrien White who is sitting out after transferring
Click to expand...
What's taking so long? Do these kids not trust that Manning will be here? Are they still in shock and/or as confused as I am? Maybe they are worried they are part of a new Punk'd type series? Are we telling them they can't commit until we hear from some other offers? It's not like they have a bunch of similar type offers to weigh against ours.
 
RacerDeac said:
What's taking so long? Do these kids not trust that Manning will be here? Are they still in shock and/or as confused as I am? Maybe they are worried they are part of a new Punk'd type series? Are we telling them they can't commit until we hear from some other offers? It's not like they have a bunch of similar type offers to weigh against ours.
Click to expand...

Are we sure these offers are committable right now?

It’s also possible these guys actually are late bloomers (or see themselves as such) and see a Wake offer as a sign of things to come rather than the best they are going to get.
 
Last edited:
RChildress107 said:
Are we sure these offers are committable right now?

It’s also possible these guys actually are late bloomers (or see themselves as such) and see a Wake offer as a sign of things to come rather than the best they are going to get.
Click to expand...

technically, anything is possible
 
Our recruiting strategy still feels random. In year 5, your recruiting strategy and MO should be pretty clear. Ours is not. At all.
 
Last edited:
As one would expect, other coaches are using the recruiting tactic of telling kids that Manning will not be here next season. It puts uncertainty in their minds and makes the process slower than it should be, even with lower rated recruits. As for higher rated recruits, not happening, which puts them in an unenviable position of taking kids that they can get and hoping (based on their own viewings of them or recommendations from guys they trust who have watched them)) they turn out better than their rankings. One thing we should note is that the foreign kids and some prep school ones are either not rated due to lack of visibility to scouting services or relatively new to the American basketball scene in general
 
Not sure if this article has already been posted about Bilau, but this was posted earlier this spring:

https://www.prephoops.com/2018/03/prospect-spotlight-josaphat-bilau-2019/

French import Josaphat Bilau, a 6-foot-10 post prospect at Riverdale Baptist, is making the most of his opportunities to showcase his talent at various exposure camps this spring. Having just arrived to the states in October, the transition has ben relatively quick for the native of Nantes. After a strong initial showing at Hoop Group NoVA Top 100, Bilau followed up with another at the Metro Challenge last weekend.

“I’m big.I’m versatile. I can do pretty much anything on the court,” Bilau said of his overall game. “I can take the rebound. Bring the ball up. Shoot. Pass the ball.”

Bilau demonstrates solid fundamentals for the game, which include good footwork, and adept passing abilities. He believes his passing and outside shooting could be considered underrated.

“I need to work on my pull up game,” Bilau explained. “Ball-handling as well. Staying low is important cause I’m tall. When I handle the ball I gotta stay low.

Bilau is sturdily built, with broad shoulders at 6-foot-10. He is good at using his frame to carve out space on the low block, and uses his 7’2 wing span along with strong hands to attack the ball at the high point off the boards. Bilau certainly needs to improve in terms of his lateral quickness, but his blend of size and skill is intriguing. Did we forget to mention he’s only been playing basketball for four years?

Given the fact that he saw little to no action during the high school season, this spring is Bilau’s first chance to make an impression on college coaches here in the states. He will feature with Team Thrill on the UAA come the first live period.

What can Bilau bring to a college program down the road?

“A lot of things. Being a good teammate. I can carry myself off the court. And a good basketball player that can do everything on the court.”
Click to expand...
 
Transitioning primary contacts to some kids with the abrupt removal of Jones may also have slowed recruiting. Coaches build relationships with these kids over months. Wake lost that with all the kids Jones was the lead guy for. The remaining coaches had to step in and try to rebuild in weeks what had been built by Jones over months, or even a few years.
 
sportsnut said:
As one would expect, other coaches are using the recruiting tactic of telling kids that Manning will not be here next season. It puts uncertainty in their minds and makes the process slower than it should be, even with lower rated recruits. As for higher rated recruits, not happening, which puts them in an unenviable position of taking kids that they can get and hoping (based on their own viewings of them or recommendations from guys they trust who have watched them)) they turn out better than their rankings. One thing we should note is that the foreign kids and some prep school ones are either not rated due to lack of visibility to scouting services or relatively new to the American basketball scene in general
Click to expand...

I don't buy that negative recruiting is affecting any of the recent offers. All the programs offering these kids have plenty negative to discuss. For example with Baugh, Pastner is more likely to be fired than Manning. Manning can tell any recruit that Wake Forest's AD gives him time to make the program better and he's probably not lying. Without billboards would Bzzzz have gotten another year? Wellman won't want to fire Manning unless he absolutely has to. He has shown as much.

The lack of commitments is more and indictment of what our players do when they get here. Manning can only point to bigs and claim success. He hasn't gotten any wings or guards to improve and play themselves into a good pro career under his watch. Recruits want to see a "plan" on how the coach will get them to the next level and Manning's program is only good at developing bigs. That, proximity, and the French connection is why Bilau will probably end up here, despite the fact he's never played against any real competition prior to this year. But Manning has to start convincing guys like Baugh, and 100-150 guys that he can develop guards and wings too. He can't but all coaches talk a lot of bullshit.

Cole can be negative recruited because its harder to negative recruit the top programs back. If I were Manning I'd just try to relate to him more. They were both top players in HS, their dads involved in basketball. Manning can talk about how he lead a bunch of guys to the finals that weren't supposed to be there, and how Cole can do the same here. Sending Randolph to sit in the upper most back row to watch a scrimmage isn't really the message he should be sending to the only guy left who can make an impact at Wake as a Freshman. Probably too late for all that, but thats what he should've been saying, and it should have been him and Randolph at that game sitting front row, decked out in Wake Forest gear.

IMO the class will bomb, we will suck this year, Hoard will jump for the pros and Danny will be fired. It didn't have to go this way but its obvious the staff doesn't know how to do their jobs well on all levels - recruiting, talent development, in game coaching, all subpar for the top half of the ACC. Getting to the top half is the goal, and it takes a great coach to consistently be in the top 6-7 coaches of the best basketball conference in college. Manning isn't that guy. Hopefully some of the big donors can step up in March and take that decision away from Wellman.
 
I don’t think of obvious truths as “negative recruiting.” Do parents think their child is going to get a quality four years after seeing three potential seniors bolt despite none of them being obvious NBA prospects?
 
PhDeac said:
I don’t think of obvious truths as “negative recruiting.” Do parents think their child is going to get a quality four years after seeing three potential seniors bolt despite none of them being obvious NBA prospects?
Click to expand...

I am not aware of any rumors that that either of the two guys who left for pro careers this year were pushed out. They rather seem to have voluntarily ended their college careers.

The other departed one finished his degree before leaving for graduate study at a mega state U. And it wasn't his first time changing schools.

Also hard to use that argument about either Collins or Mitiglou. Both got millions to drop out of school.
 
Quite simply, anyone who didn't see the massive improvement of the three bigs - Collins, Dinos and Collins- is either being willfully blind or an absolute moron.
 
netflixnchildres said:
I don't buy that negative recruiting is affecting any of the recent offers. All the programs offering these kids have plenty negative to discuss. For example with Baugh, Pastner is more likely to be fired than Manning. Manning can tell any recruit that Wake Forest's AD gives him time to make the program better and he's probably not lying. Without billboards would Bzzzz have gotten another year? Wellman won't want to fire Manning unless he absolutely has to. He has shown as much.

The lack of commitments is more and indictment of what our players do when they get here. Manning can only point to bigs and claim success. He hasn't gotten any wings or guards to improve and play themselves into a good pro career under his watch. Recruits want to see a "plan" on how the coach will get them to the next level and Manning's program is only good at developing bigs. That, proximity, and the French connection is why Bilau will probably end up here, despite the fact he's never played against any real competition prior to this year. But Manning has to start convincing guys like Baugh, and 100-150 guys that he can develop guards and wings too. He can't but all coaches talk a lot of bullshit.

Cole can be negative recruited because its harder to negative recruit the top programs back. If I were Manning I'd just try to relate to him more. They were both top players in HS, their dads involved in basketball. Manning can talk about how he lead a bunch of guys to the finals that weren't supposed to be there, and how Cole can do the same here. Sending Randolph to sit in the upper most back row to watch a scrimmage isn't really the message he should be sending to the only guy left who can make an impact at Wake as a Freshman. Probably too late for all that, but thats what he should've been saying, and it should have been him and Randolph at that game sitting front row, decked out in Wake Forest gear.

IMO the class will bomb, we will suck this year, Hoard will jump for the pros and Danny will be fired. It didn't have to go this way but its obvious the staff doesn't know how to do their jobs well on all levels - recruiting, talent development, in game coaching, all subpar for the top half of the ACC. Getting to the top half is the goal, and it takes a great coach to consistently be in the top 6-7 coaches of the best basketball conference in college. Manning isn't that guy. Hopefully some of the big donors can step up in March and take that decision away from Wellman.
Click to expand...

Your comment reminded me of two very different scenes from my trips to watch the All Star games at the Five Star Camps at Radford many years ago. First year I went we sat 2 rows behind Coach K and his entourage from DOOK. His intensity in watching Joey Beard was obvious (insert joke about expectations here). The next year (or maybe two years later) Dave Odom was lounging in a chair on the baseline talking to someone and ignoring requests from Garfinkel for him to report to the score's table. Maybe just the difference in their personalities but maybe it helps explain why K made it to the top and Odom had only a modicum of success.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top