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Wake Forest Basketball Recruiting: Juke Harris Commits!!

I heard that Juke shagged both Boswell and Passmore's girlfriends. I don't think that factored into their decisions though.
 
I would just stop recruiting high school altogether if I was a college coach.

Just rely solely on transfers from other programs.

We spent like 2 years trying to get Boswell and Passmore and like 2 weeks to get Sallis.
 
I think that strategy is too extreme, but it is an interesting thought.

What does a decent, but not elite, program like Wake Forest do? The top HS players go to the elite programs. If we aren't going to get them (and I'd argue Boswell isn't even "elite"), then why fight for lesser players instead of just using less prominent programs as a sort of farm team for transfers?

Feels like, ideally, a program like ours would only bring in 1-2 players per HS class and rely on transfers when necessary. But why not swing for the fences on the 1-2 spots you're trying to fill? I think Forbes is a good enough recruiter to bring in top talent, but we've got to have more on court success. Just one deep(ish) run in the NCAAs would really boost what he can do on the HS recruiting trail, IMO.
 
DeacsATS said:
I think that strategy is too extreme, but it is an interesting thought.

What does a decent, but not elite, program like Wake Forest do? The top HS players go to the elite programs. If we aren't going to get them (and I'd argue Boswell isn't even "elite"), then why fight for lesser players instead of just using less prominent programs as a sort of farm team for transfers?

Feels like, ideally, a program like ours would only bring in 1-2 players per HS class and rely on transfers when necessary. But why not swing for the fences on the 1-2 spots you're trying to fill? I think Forbes is a good enough recruiter to bring in top talent, but we've got to have more on court success. Just one deep(ish) run in the NCAAs would really boost what he can do on the HS recruiting trail, IMO.
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I mean we don't really have any proof of concept for the bold during his time at Wake.
 
We have evidence he can do it in the portal - it would be interesting to see why we're having great success there, but not so much out of HS.
 
Forbes knew most of the transfers because he recruited them out of high school. If he didn't have that existing relationship from the initial recruiting process, it's doubtful he would have had the same success.
 
thatguy2016 said:
Forbes knew most of the transfers because he recruited them out of high school. If he didn't have that existing relationship from the initial recruiting process, it's doubtful he would have had the same success.
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I don't think that's entirely accurate.

He has a ton of relationships with coaches all across the country, but I don't think we were overly involved with any of these specific players. It's not like Sallis or Reid were considering Wake out of HS.

ETA: He did apparently recruit Canka, but we didn't know that at the time.
 
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DeaconSig said:
I mean we don't really have any proof of concept for the bold during his time at Wake.
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Fair, but I think he was initially a little hamstrung by the lack of NIL funds. And now I think not getting to the NCAA Tourney is being used against him.

The recruiting classes do seem to be improving...

2020 - Whitt (#85), Okpomo, Adams
2021 - Hildreth (#99), McCray (#151), Taylor (#181), Marsh
2022 - Keller (#94), Klintman (#137)
2023 - Friedrichsen (#93), Clark (#164), MMM (#213)
2024 - Harris (#81)

I'd like to see us bring in more DUDES, but it's tough when we've had zero success. Not making excuses, I'm just not in panic mode.

Forbes has definitely developed a reputation for having success with transfers (Laravia, ManMan, Appleby, etc)... That has to have helped with Sallis & Reid.
 
It is weird that from the first 3 Forbes recruiting classes, Keller is the only US high school recruit that is currently on the roster with any minutes played.
 
DeacsATS said:
I don't think that's entirely accurate.

He has a ton of relationships with coaches all across the country, but I don't think we were overly involved with any of these specific players. It's not like Sallis or Reid were considering Wake out of HS.

ETA: He did apparently recruit Canka, but we didn't know that at the time.
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When he was in the booth for the NCAA regional baseball game he specifically mentioned knowing Canka and I believe Sallis from high school

ETA: and it's more than just specific instances of one-off relationships. If Forbes were to hypothetically just stop recruiting high school kids (or even cut back to any meaningful degree) then he is reducing the number of relationships he establishes (high school coaches, AAU coaches, etc.), which we know, knowing his personality, is a huge part of his draw and his success.
 
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Just because he was not as active in recruiting circles doesn't mean he loses those relationships and an "he's always been good to my guys even when they didn't choose his program probably would still go a long way.
 
thatguy2016 said:
When he was in the booth for the NCAA regional baseball game he specifically mentioned knowing Canka and I believe Sallis from high school

ETA: and it's more than just specific instances of one-off relationships. If Forbes were to hypothetically just stop recruiting high school kids (or even cut back to any meaningful degree) then he is reducing the number of relationships he establishes (high school coaches, AAU coaches, etc.), which we know, knowing his personality, is a huge part of his draw and his success.
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I too am in the camp that says Forbes needs to keep recruiting HS kids. However, he may need to recalibrate the appropriate level of effort expended on guys like Boswell who want to take more visits etc.
 
DeacsATS said:
I think Forbes is a good enough recruiter to bring in top talent, but we've got to have more on court success. Just one deep(ish) run in the NCAAs would really boost what he can do on the HS recruiting trail, IMO.
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Agree totally. But at the moment, the transfer portal is working out well for us. Think about it. Sallis was ranked # 10 in the Class of 2021 while Reid was ranked #32. The advantage of recruiting portal kids is that - unlike the kids who enroll directly out of high school - they're not going to be back in the portal (unless there's a family issue - and the player feels the NCAA will be sympathetic to his cause). Portal recruitment gives the coaching staff an opportunity to evaluate kids that have already performed at the college level as opposed to the summer camp or high school level. I'm not gonna stress at all if Juke Harris is the only freshman who signs with us. I have a hunch that our new transfers will perform well enough in 2023-24 that Forbes and team can continue point to our success with kids from the portal.
 
I see it as, something changed and Forbes felt we were no longer in the lead. He'd take the commit but he'll cut bait too.
 
Also, it will not shake out like this as we all know, but everyone on our roster currently will have eligibility next year. We don’t even technically have a spot for Juke atm, though I’m sure they know how they’re going to get at least one.

I don’t know how much/if that plays into recruits’ thinking or negative recruiting or whatever, but just another variable this cycle. We def gotta make the tournament.
 
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OldGouldandBlack said:
Also, it will not shake out like this as we all know, but everyone on our roster currently will have eligibility next year. We don’t even technically have a spot for Juke atm, though I’m sure they know how they’re going to get at least one.

I don’t know how much/if that plays into recruits’ thinking or negative recruiting or whatever, but just another variable this cycle. We def gotta make they tournament.
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This is what got me into trouble with Cam on 247, but there was always going to be an available scholarship for all three if it came to that. I have no doubt that we were getting negatively recruited with this line, but there's just no way in hell that this was ever told to a recruit by the staff.

And yea, we gotta make the tournament one of these days. Enough is enough.
 
Also, this isn't a case of the staff losing interest and backing off of recruits. I want to make sure that's clear.

Forbes gave Boswell an ultimatum of sorts and Boswell wasn't interested. Forbes was ready to move on (after functionally losing the recruitment), but Boswell's mom asked Forbes to continue to recruit him. We recruited Boswell about as hard as anybody we've recruited since Forbes got here, so it's definitely disappointing.

Forbes visited Passmore on the eve of his decision to cut his list to 4 (and not include Wake), so I think it's safe to say we didn't back off that recruitment either.

I also want to make clear that this doesn't mean that the staff did anything wrong. They recruited the hell out of these guys, and it feels pretty safe to say that they both are gonna end up making some dumb choices. I'm pretty sure that we're gonna see Boswell in the portal sooner rather than later.
 
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