Recruiting Questions

[UFG8rGuy3283]

A good friend who frequents these boards mentioned to me the other day that the Randle and UK talks are heating back up again. After a little bit of research online and some other digging/question asking, it appears that this may have a bit of truth to it.

Some of it seems to revolve around the speculation that Wiggins is going to probably go to FSU.

Without going into the whole "Cal cheats, that's all there is to it" that usually gets bantered around on threads like these, here is a question for you NBNers.

What is drawing these elite, top tier kids to Kentucky? Surely it's not just the 1 and done perspective, as there have been plenty of schools and coaches who have had 1 and dones who have gone to the NBA and I'm sure a ton of them sell starting/playing time to these kids.

I have heard that Cal has mastery of social media and the internet, but surely he's not the only coach who uses these mediums effectively.

I understand "the tradition" of UK, but again, UK is out recruiting the UCLAs, UNCs, Dukes and Indianas of the world too.

What is it about playing for Cal at UK makes it so appealing that 4 of the top 15 recruits in the nation have pledged UK with another 3 of the remaining top 6 having UK in their final list (with 2 very strong possibilities).

[themistocles]

That is an extremely good set of information backing your question, and, it is one thing that I also simply do not understand.

I mean, I can understand why Knight, with his mother getting a $150,000 per year job at a Ky booster's going there, but there have been so very many, that it appears somehow either WEIRD, or HARD TO BELIEVE.

Of course, given the incomprehensibility associating with recruits decision-making, there can't possibly be a "reasonable" answer, other than Cheating.

Note that I am not in any way implying that Cal (who was associated with 2 NCAA sanctioned teams in the past), is, in any way, Cheating.

[tommyuf21]

Sure UK has its advantages in everything you cite, but World Wide Wes is a playa and these kids are thinking about their future earnings and such.

Wes and his influence over AAU coaches and kids is a Calipari advantage that will follow hime everywhere he goes.

[int1974]

Any news on Murphy???

[UFG8rGuy3283]

Originally Posted by tommyuf21

Sure UK has its advantages in everything you cite, but World Wide Wes is a playa and these kids are thinking about their future earnings and such.

Wes and his influence over AAU coaches and kids is a Calipari advantage that will follow hime everywhere he goes.

I don't necessarily think that those are all advantages exclusive to UK, though. That's my point.

I understand what you're saying about WWW. We have been talking about it for a few years now and I can certainly see why that would be an advantage of sorts.

But the real issue, for me at least, is that so many of these kids could go to a school where they are "the guy" and if they really are concerned about making a lot of money in the NBA, wouldn't they want as much of the spot light on them as possible instead of sharing it with 4 or 5 other guys ranked as high as you?

I also don't buy in to the "I want to win championships" line. There are plenty of these guys who could go to a more seasoned team with developed talent like Carmelo Anthony or Brad Beal and have just a good an opportunity to go deep into the tourney.

It's just perplexing to me on so many levels. I don't even mean from the standpoint of UF, because I realize there are several things that work against us vs. a program like UK. But for other heavy hitters like I mentioned before, how in the world is UK stockpiling like this?

[BEH]

Originally Posted by UFG8rGuy3283

A good friend who frequents these boards mentioned to me the other day that the Randle and UK talks are heating back up again. After a little bit of research online and some other digging/question asking, it appears that this may have a bit of truth to it.

Some of it seems to revolve around the speculation that Wiggins is going to probably go to FSU.

Without going into the whole "Cal cheats, that's all there is to it" that usually gets bantered around on threads like these, here is a question for you NBNers.

What is drawing these elite, top tier kids to Kentucky? Surely it's not just the 1 and done perspective, as there have been plenty of schools and coaches who have had 1 and dones who have gone to the NBA and I'm sure a ton of them sell starting/playing time to these kids.

I have heard that Cal has mastery of social media and the internet, but surely he's not the only coach who uses these mediums effectively.

I understand "the tradition" of UK, but again, UK is out recruiting the UCLAs, UNCs, Dukes and Indianas of the world too.

What is it about playing for Cal at UK makes it so appealing that 4 of the top 15 recruits in the nation have pledged UK with another 3 of the remaining top 6 having UK in their final list (with 2 very strong possibilities).

Sorry but Calipari now has a committment from the 5th five star....

You asked your question and the answers you got was all about the way Calipari and Kentucky cheats. Every player at UK has a parent that gets six figures in salary at their new Kentucky home, world wide wes cheats to get kids to go to UK and the same old tired lies that are spewed out when the truth is so inadequate in overcoming the hate.

Below are a few things that the NBN crew will not tell you:

Calipari does not make many promises to kids except that he will ride them hard.
Calipari works harder than his counterparts.
UK has better tradition than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has better attendance than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has been a better program longer than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has better media coverage than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has better facilities than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
Calipari has proven that he can turn around a kid to realize his potential faster than the other coaches.

So my question is why would those kids not want to go to UK and play for Calipari?

[UFG8rGuy3283]

Originally Posted by BEH

Sorry but Calipari now has a committment from the 5th five star....

You asked your question and the answers you got was all about the way Calipari and Kentucky cheats. Every player at UK has a parent that gets six figures in salary at their new Kentucky home, world wide wes cheats to get kids to go to UK and the same old tired lies that are spewed out when the truth is so inadequate in overcoming the hate.

Below are a few things that the NBN crew will not tell you:

Calipari does not make many promises to kids except that he will ride them hard.
Calipari works harder than his counterparts.
UK has better tradition than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has better attendance than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has been a better program longer than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has better media coverage than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has better facilities than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
Calipari has proven that he can turn around a kid to realize his potential faster than the other coaches.

So my question is why would those kids not want to go to UK and play for Calipari?

LOL, I think we are all aware of your vantage point and appreciate the input regardless of your bias.

[UFG8rGuy3283]

Originally Posted by BEH

Sorry but Calipari now has a committment from the 5th five star....

You asked your question and the answers you got was all about the way Calipari and Kentucky cheats. Every player at UK has a parent that gets six figures in salary at their new Kentucky home, world wide wes cheats to get kids to go to UK and the same old tired lies that are spewed out when the truth is so inadequate in overcoming the hate.

Below are a few things that the NBN crew will not tell you:

Calipari does not make many promises to kids except that he will ride them hard.
Calipari works harder than his counterparts.
UK has better tradition than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has better attendance than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has been a better program longer than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has better media coverage than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
UK has better facilities than UCLA, UNC, Duke and Indiana.
Calipari has proven that he can turn around a kid to realize his potential faster than the other coaches.

So my question is why would those kids not want to go to UK and play for Calipari?

BTW, I know about Johnson, Young and the Harrisons. Who is the 5th? If you're referring to Karl Towns, he's 2014.

[phideltdj]

Reality...UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Indiana, Ohio State all cheat. You have to understand that in order to compete in college basketball you have to cheat to be good because they are cheating to get players in high school and junior high now. So Kentucky just has a better "system" than those traditional programs right now and it does have something to do with Cal and WWW. For some reason all those factors that existed for Kentucky with Gillispie as coach didn't allow him to recruit like Cal. For that matter, Pitino and Tubby never recruited this much talent as Cal and they were succesful. So to answer the question...Cal has the best recruiting "system" and when he was at Memphis he was out recruiting all the big name schools as well at Memphis..so it has nothing to do with Kentucky. If Cal was at UF than UF would be in that position. If Cal went to Pepperdine than all of a sudden Pepperdine would be one of the top programs in the country. The school does not matter as much as we think to these top recruits unless the kid has some sort of allegiance or legacy like a Wiggins. When AAU coaches can make over $250K in a year what do you think matters the most?

[tommyuf21]

Originally Posted by phideltdj

If Cal was at UF than UF would be in that position. If Cal went to Pepperdine than all of a sudden Pepperdine would be one of the top programs in the country. The school does not matter as much as we think to these top recruits unless the kid has some sort of allegiance or legacy like a Wiggins. When AAU coaches can make over $250K in a year what do you think matters the most?

If Cal was our coach, we'd get the death penalty. There is no way the powers that be would put up with his stuff here.

[BEH]

Originally Posted by phideltdj

Reality...UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Indiana, Ohio State all cheat. You have to understand that in order to compete in college basketball you have to cheat to be good because they are cheating to get players in high school and junior high now. So Kentucky just has a better "system" than those traditional programs right now and it does have something to do with Cal and WWW. For some reason all those factors that existed for Kentucky with Gillispie as coach didn't allow him to recruit like Cal. For that matter, Pitino and Tubby never recruited this much talent as Cal and they were succesful. So to answer the question...Cal has the best recruiting "system" and when he was at Memphis he was out recruiting all the big name schools as well at Memphis..so it has nothing to do with Kentucky. If Cal was at UF than UF would be in that position. If Cal went to Pepperdine than all of a sudden Pepperdine would be one of the top programs in the country. The school does not matter as much as we think to these top recruits unless the kid has some sort of allegiance or legacy like a Wiggins. When AAU coaches can make over $250K in a year what do you think matters the most?

The only problem with your post is that fact that Calipari could not recruit at Memphis like he does at Kentucky. Sorry, but it simply did not happen.

[BEH]

Originally Posted by UFG8rGuy3283

BTW, I know about Johnson, Young and the Harrisons. Who is the 5th? If you're referring to Karl Towns, he's 2014.

Aaron Harrison SG 6-5/210 5 star
Andrew Harrison PG 6-5/205 5 star
Dakari Johnson C 6-10/265 5 star
Marcus Lee PF 6-9/205 5 star
Derek Willis PF 6-8/190 3 star
James Young SG 6-6/200 5 star

[StrangeGator]

Originally Posted by UFG8rGuy3283

BTW, I know about Johnson, Young and the Harrisons. Who is the 5th? If you're referring to Karl Towns, he's 2014.

He's probably counting Wiggins already. And why not?

[StrangeGator]

I follow football recruiting closely and there hasn't been this kind of dominance by one team since the sixties, right before the NCAA stepped in and made the "Bama Rules." The difference is the closer proximity in time between high school and seven figure contracts. Agents, runners, the AAU circuit have all closed in to reap the rewards. Players and their parents are playing right along. College is nothing more than an extra season of AAU ball, with the annoying distraction of academics. For a college coach to be successful recruiting players almost certain to be drafted high after their freshman season, he has to play by the established rules. I don't know what they are, but I can't imagine all those people putting their hands back in the pockets just because an NCAA coach walked in the room.

[tampajack1]

It seems to me that Calipari is recruiting right now better than anyone else has done in the history of men's college basketball. What's particularly galling about this is that I can't stand Calipari more than anyone else in the history of men's college basketball.

[UFG8rGuy3283]

Originally Posted by BEH

Aaron Harrison SG 6-5/210 5 star
Andrew Harrison PG 6-5/205 5 star
Dakari Johnson C 6-10/265 5 star
Marcus Lee PF 6-9/205 5 star
Derek Willis PF 6-8/190 3 star
James Young SG 6-6/200 5 star

I guess it depends on the site as scout has Lee as a 4 star, but point taken.

[GatorLurker]

Originally Posted by tampajack1

It seems to me that Calipari is recruiting right now better than anyone else has done in the history of men's college basketball. What's particularly galling about this is that I can't stand Calipari more than anyone else in the history of men's college basketball.

You don't remember Harrick as for a recent one?

Tarkanian?

Norm Ellenberger?

And the one that will grate against most folks: John Wooden?

[UFG8rGuy3283]

Originally Posted by GatorLurker

You don't remember Harrick as for a recent one?

Tarkanian?

Norm Ellenberger?

And the one that will grate against most folks: John Wooden?

True, but not the way Cal has done it 4 years running in today's modern game where there is so much parity between schools, right?

[jmac83]

On the recruiting front, Tony Parker is taking to social media to sound his discontent with living in L.A. Lots of speculation he will transfer from UCLA. We were players in his original recruitment; any possibility we get him now?

[UFG8rGuy3283]

Originally Posted by jmac83

On the recruiting front, Tony Parker is taking to social media to sound his discontent with living in L.A. Lots of speculation he will transfer from UCLA. We were players in his original recruitment; any possibility we get him now?

Kentucky. LOL