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Wake Forest Basketball Recruiting: Juke Harris Commits!!

Strick is just asking questions. People are saying we should freak out. Not Strick. Don’t get mad at him.
 
Interesting thread. No one wants to admit College Basketball is in collapse. No governance by the NCAA . Rampant cheating. 90% of coaches thoroughly pissed off. While Forbes comes across like he has a handle on it all. I hope he does. This sport in a bad place.
 
I think we need better players. If the rising sophs were promising, they would have played more as freshmen. Marsh could be the exception.

It also wouldn't hurt to have a coach who didn't subscribe to the philosophy that "players coach themselves." Didn't see much of that in the Sweet Sixteen.

Given the past decade I understand the Forbes love, but I think the jury is still out. However, I hope there is more to come via this year's recruiting.
 
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I’ll be a lot more concerned if we are in this spot next year.

By the time it was clear we had turned things around it was probably too late with most of this year’s class.
 
Who else have we been a legit finalist for? I’m concerned that we aren’t really in the mix getting a lot of visit, getting on top 5 lists, and being finalists? Seems like the visit pool was small to start with and left little room for error.
 
Strickland33 said:
Nobody is freaking out. I’ve been told to shut up, wait until a later date, and trust Forbes like 50 times on two boards, though, for even asking questions lol

I don’t think there are official names yet, but the staff is scouting/recruiting.

Agree with the latter point.
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The “trust Forbes” response from many posters amuses me. Forbes has been at Wake two years. He is clearly an upgrade from an xs and os standpoint, but he is completely unproven as a power 5 conference recruiter. Reportedly he was a good recruiter as an assistant at UT and I guess recruited well to ETSU. He has yet to show he can recruit quality ACC caliber high school kids. Yes he landed a great portal group this past year, which of course is not the same as recruiting high school kids. I think he will recruit HS kids well based on his personality and hopefully continued on court results, but he has yet to do so.
 
Buttermaker said:
The “trust Forbes” response from many posters amuses me. Forbes has been at Wake two years. He is clearly an upgrade from an xs and os standpoint, but he is completely unproven as a power 5 conference recruiter. Reportedly he was a good recruiter as an assistant at UT and I guess recruited well to ETSU. He has yet to show he can recruit quality ACC caliber high school kids. Yes he landed a great portal group this past year, which of course is not the same as recruiting high school kids. I think he will recruit HS kids well based on his personality and hopefully continued on court results, but he has yet to do so.
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This is completely anecdotal, and so means little. But with BZ and Manning I felt like we just offered everyone, and hoped 1-2 of them would accidentally commit. Like those idiots who robocall me every day, thinking maybe the 312th time is the charm.

I don't feel that way with Forbes. This feels different, and better, and plan-based.
 
Sure. But with respect to recruiting HS kids, the plan isn’t working yet.
 
Buttermaker said:
The “trust Forbes” response from many posters amuses me. Forbes has been at Wake two years. He is clearly an upgrade from an xs and os standpoint, but he is completely unproven as a power 5 conference recruiter. Reportedly he was a good recruiter as an assistant at UT and I guess recruited well to ETSU. He has yet to show he can recruit quality ACC caliber high school kids. Yes he landed a great portal group this past year, which of course is not the same as recruiting high school kids. I think he will recruit HS kids well based on his personality and hopefully continued on court results, but he has yet to do so.
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You contradict yourself with the "good recruiter at UT" and "unproven at P6 level" statements. Unless Tennessee is no longer P6? He recruited Damari Monsanto to ETSU from HS. From all perspectives, Monsanto is a P6 starter level guy. Forbes got some talented guys from the portal with not much help from the season's record.

Forbes has a track record and reputation of being a good recruiter at all his previous stops. More reasonable to think that continues as opposed to thinking it changes.
 
I’d rather get a player from the transfer portal than the end of the high school recruiting pool we’re currently fishing in.
 
The way I view WF recruiting right now is kinda similar to NFL roster building - you can either build through the draft (HS players) or free agency (transfers). Both are viable strategies and have their own opportunity costs.

It's definitely easier not to have to consistently reload numerous players every season and it's great to develop some players who can contribute 3-4 years. But at the same time, the other option likely is giving you better results in the short-term even if it kinda reeks mercenarism vs homegrown pride.

I'd love to see a nice mix between the two but at the end of the day, I'll take 13 transfers and 0 high school players if that is what gives WF the best team (although that is certainly not going to be correct). I am a little disappointed that WF was unable to have a lot of success with 22 recruits, outside Keller, but given the success of this season, I will be pretty worried if the 23 class is not markedly improved. I'll also be worried if WF does not have some success in getting a few priority transfers that can help the team vs ones they have to fall back on.
 
Deaconblue said:
You contradict yourself with the "good recruiter at UT" and "unproven at P6 level" statements. Unless Tennessee is no longer P6? He recruited Damari Monsanto to ETSU from HS. From all perspectives, Monsanto is a P6 starter level guy. Forbes got some talented guys from the portal with not much help from the season's record.

Forbes has a track record and reputation of being a good recruiter at all his previous stops. More reasonable to think that continues as opposed to thinking it changes.
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Forbes wasn’t the head coach at UT.
 
Deaconblue said:
Talent evaluation still had to be "can this guy help us win a SEC championship and national championship."
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College football is all about talent evaluation, b/c there is not a system like in basketball with AAU and the academies where the elite go head-to-head. So in college basketball everybody pretty much knows who can play and who can't coming out of high school, i.e. it's not as much about evaluation as it is getting the guys signed who you want and have a realistic shot at.
 
Assistants do plenty of recruiting. Forbes certainly gets credit for that.
 
CreamyGoodness said:
Don't sleep on Cam, Rob, and Damari. I'll be curious to see if Lucas can carve out a role.
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Well, Taylor seemed to be ahead of McCray on the depth chart most of this season, and Forbes implied that was because of McCray's defensive shortcomings.

I'm a big fan of McCray, and I wanted him to be getting 6th man-level minutes early this season, but I wouldn't blame folks for "sleeping" on him when the guy who's seen him play the most put him in games for all of 57 minutes this year. Seems fair to say he needs to take a big step forward somewhere.
 
Why do you say Taylor seemed to be ahead of McCray?
 
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