What is boosting our recruiting?

[Singaporegator]

We seem to be competing and sometimes winning some high level recruiting battles this year. How does this year differ from the near past or does it differ at all?

1. We have Billy Donovan. OK we have had him before but does the fact that he coached the US under 18s play a big role? That must have made him more visible to the HS players.
2. Billy and Florida have two rings and lots of success in the NBA. OK that's old news as well but... the last two years elite 8 and...
3. Bradley Beal. How big is having a one and done who goes #3 in the draft? I think this may have been the difference maker this year. There may have been a perception that Billy is a great coach and that you will reach the highest level with him but that it will take time. All of a sudden that's not true anymore. Did Brad change Billy's views on one & dones or more likely, is it still all about character and Brad had both the skill and the character?
4. Other top coaches getting older(Duke, Uconn). Is he still Billy the Kid in recruits minds or has be become a coaching icon?
5. Is he beating Calapari at his own game?
6. Does being back in the top ranks as a football school help or hurt? Would you rather go to a school where football is king but you can still win championships or would you rather go where your sport is the big show and football sucks?
7. Are we a basketball school or Billy Donovan's school? Hopefully we will not have to answer that for a looong time!

[tampajack1]

I think that the following are all contributing factors:

1. Aggressive recruiting by our coaching staff;
2. 2 recent national titles;
3. 2 straight elite 8's;
4. Beal's draft position;
5. Getting the 2 Florida kids (Hill and Walker);
6. Getting the 2 transfers; and
7. Billy's coaching the Junior US team.

[kellgator]

7. Are we a basketball school or Billy Donovan's school? Hopefully we will not have to answer that for a looong time!

Even though it may be 20 years before we have to answer this question it will always be in the back of people's mind. Billy is perfect for us because he doesn't mind that football is king. There are enough "basketball" schools that most elite coaches would have moved on by now. Luckily, football allows us to pay Billy as well, if not better, than any "basketball" school, and I think he enjoys the fact that he gets to live a relatively "normal" life for most of the year. It will be a sad day for all Gators when Billy finally decides to move on or retire. Only then will we know the answer to this question. I suspect we won't like the answer, but maybe not. Maybe after 30 years of Billy ball the fan interest and support will be built up enough to sustain us even after he's gone.

[108]

Donovan
Getting back to Elite 8's
Bradley Beal's draft status
Matt McCall /Burno/Pelphrey

[InstiGATOR1]

1. Two top10 players from Florida one whose mother wanted him to stay close.

2. The maturation of the Monteverde program sunder their relatively new not anti-UF coach.

3. Player specific thing like Randle's success playing for Donovan, Parker not being a Cal type kid,ect.

[rserina]

1. Two top10 players from Florida one whose mother wanted him to stay close.
This is absolutely huge. With changing recruiting limitations over recent years, it has become much harder to recruit a kid if he is not local, you have no personal or travel team contacts around him, and you aren't connected to his prep program. That at elast accounts for the Walker-Hill tandem.

But we also did a great job with far flung kids like Macklin, Rosario, Beal, and Finney-Smith (though Macklin helped with that one).

[akaGatorhoops]

I do not discount the sales pitch of being able to compete with UK, and their recruiting classes. I have no doubt this is being used. "You can be pat of what UK is doing, or you can be part of what will beat UK".

[don23lucia]

I think that the following are all contributing factors:

1. Aggressive recruiting by our coaching staff;
2. 2 recent national titles;
3. 2 straight elite 8's;
4. Beal's draft position;
5. Getting the 2 Florida kids (Hill and Walker);
6. Getting the 2 transfers; and
7. Billy's coaching the Junior US team.

All this and Beals 1 and done was huge for the program even though we hated to see him go.

[Osiris_DPM]

This is absolutely huge. With changing recruiting limitations over recent years, it has become much harder to recruit a kid if he is not local, you have no personal or travel team contacts around him, and you aren't connected to his prep program. That at elast accounts for the Walker-Hill tandem.

But we also did a great job with far flung kids like Macklin, Rosario, Beal, and Finney-Smith (though Macklin helped with that one).

You had those contacts with Beal and Rosario.

[rserina]

You had those contacts with Beal and Rosario.
You are right. Chaminade/Lee with Beal, but who with Rosario? We haven't signed any other Hurley guys.

[xenythx]

What Calipari is doing at Kentucky is forcing Billy and the rest of the SEC to step up their recruiting efforts.

[regurgigator]

My answer is the same as it was when some were complaining in the last few years that our recruiting was down:

Billy D has proven over the long haul that he's a great recruiter, and as far as I'm concerned, the logical assumption is that he does a great job recruiting every year. The variations in recruiting results are due to factors which Billy (along with all other coaches) cannot control.



No doubt, if we have a string of recruiting misses in a couple of years, people will be wondering what Billy is doing wrong yet again - when it could just be the luck of the draw that our top prospects (1) don't happen to be from Florida, (2) don't have some other connection to UF, (3) love UF, but some other school just edges us out due to some connection we can't match, etc. etc. etc......

Recruiting success will always be somewhat cyclical.

[runswithbulls]

Do y'all remember when we didn't get hardly any info on incoming recruits or recruiting? Before the modern age of the Internet we would get what? Maybe a blurb in the newspaper say so and so commited. Freshman we would know next to nothing about and just base prognostication of the upcoming season on returning players. It's crazy how the Internet, media, and things like twitter ( it's da debil ya know) have affected big time college recruiting.

[GothamGator]

Don't ignore the current staff. Donovan has some great assistants that are recruiting well.

[tim]

I think McCall is having a bigger impact than we realize

[StrangeGator]

I think McCall is having a bigger impact than we realize

I think that's been the difference very recently. When I read about some stud who is suddenly interested in UF, it turns out that Matt is the guy assigned to recruit him.

[Osiris_DPM]

You are right. Chaminade/Lee with Beal, but who with Rosario? We haven't signed any other Hurley guys.

Hurley's relationship with and respect for Billy is what made Hurley recommend the transfer to UF. There are some articles about it floating around on the net.

There are some other travel team relationships that have helped us land other kids from distant states as well (i.e., Miller/Larson), not to mention former players and current recruits tend to be valuable recruiting assets in particular situations.

[ufgator4ever]

Billy D has gotten more serious about recruiting and relationships with aau coaches again since re-committing after magic backout.
Assts have been really good at recruiting.
Billy d seems willing to roll dice with top talent, one and dones being shown by calapari and beal of delivering elite 8 or better teams.

[themistocles]

Personally, I think at least some of this results from the constantly changing cycles, clusters and patterns phenomenon, which occurs in everything and everywhere.

There are UP cycles and DOWN cycles. This appears to be something of an UP cycle. This followed a 3-4-year DOWN cycle. Not that the recruiting was bad during that time, it was simply that almost everyone either failed to develop well or transferred, or jumped to the Pros, meaning 3 successive NITs.

[Ahab]

Personally we are now back to recruiting at the level I expect under Billy. Yes having the right assts is important but I also think Bill's dalliance with the Magic set us back a couple of years.

[bullish]

If we sign four studs for 2013, I guess the one and done routine is catching on at schools like ours.

[InstiGATOR1]

I basically agree with those who have argued that there are random cycles or that things outside of Donovan's or any coach's control affect recruiting. Beside my the poins that I raised earilier, I would add:

1. UF having a 2012 squad composition including of 7 SRs and JRs. This was bad for 2012 recruiting and now is good for 2013 recruiting.

2. Julius Randle being good enough as a high school rising senior to lead a team USA U18 squad in scoring. Think about this. It is a squad composed of some college rising Sophs, some entering college Frosh and a handfull of rising high school seniors. I bet not once in 10 years will the leading scorer on such a team be recruitable high school player. So it is rare for your coach to coach a team USA squad and it is even rarer for such a squad to have a player like Randle.

[ofmgator]

108 thanks for ruining my day with a picture of the empty chair.

[fox]

What Calipari is doing at Kentucky is forcing Billy and the rest of the SEC to step up their recruiting efforts.

This is what came to my mind, along with the ups and downs - serendipity. And 20 years of hard work and success the right way paying off.

[InstiGATOR1]

What Calipari is doing at Kentucky is forcing Billy and the rest of the SEC to step up their recruiting efforts.

I wonder about this. Maybe it is guys who dont chose to go to UK or guys who are not offerred by UK, want to play against them and the top players they get. I seriously doubt that UF or any other SEC coaches were trying any less hard to get top players in the past.

[gatordee]

I believe the main reason this year is because of the domino effect. We landed a top recruit who is friends with another top recruit and feels theat them together plus with all the other possitives this year can win a championship together.

[gatormann]

I believe this is a big factor, also.

[Go2gtr]

Billy was made wary by the Kwame Brown and Harvey departure leaving gaping holes. He was also buoyed by the low ranked 04s winning back to back and stayed with that strategy until recently.

Billy is not stupid, he knows what he has t do to stay competitive and one-and-dones is where it's at.