2013 Basketball Recruiting Thread

[BD80]

I've heard talk of both those things as well, but with Cal, it ain't ovah 'till it's ovah. Terrance Jones was staying out west, too.

Actually, it ain't ovah even after its ovah.

[Indoor66]

Actually, it ain't ovah even after its ovah.

Actually, it ain't ovah 'till we SAY its ovah.

[ricks68]

No, it's not actually Ovah until the average American lady (Or man, for that matter-------but then, men don't usually finish off Operas, do they?) sings.

ricks

[BD80]

No, it's not actually Ovah until the average American lady (Or man, for that matter-------but then, men don't usually finish off Operas, do they?) sings.

ricks

Oh come on. Oprah isn't nearly as fat as she used to be. Cut her a break. I mean really ...

Ohhhh, you said opEra

Never mind

[Lord Ash]

It ain't ovah until Cal hangs out with 'Hova.

[gam7]

I've heard talk of both those things as well, but with Cal, it ain't ovah 'till it's ovah. Terrance Jones was staying out west, too.

Actually, it ain't ovah even after its ovah.

Actually, it ain't ovah 'till we SAY its ovah.

No, it's not actually Ovah until the average American lady (Or man, for that matter-------but then, men don't usually finish off Operas, do they?) sings.

ricks

Oh come on. Oprah isn't nearly as fat as she used to be. Cut her a break. I mean really ...

Ohhhh, you said opEra

Never mind

It ain't ovah until Cal hangs out with 'Hova.

I just don't understand how people could have trouble finding relevant recruiting news in these Class-wide threads. The commentary is always so on point...

[BD80]

I just don't understand how people could have trouble finding relevant recruiting news in these Class-wide threads. The commentary is always so on point...

Irony intended?

[Steven43]

'I told Jay-Z that I might get fined $50k for being in HIS locker room tonight. He said "I got you".' John Calipari on Twitter

My gosh, does this man (Calipari) have an ounce of shame left in his body? He is so desperate to appear to be down with the hip-hop crowd, and thus appeal to potential recruits, that he uses even the most benign opportunity to shamelessly name-drop. With every day that passes, and every Calipari story I hear, I think less and less of him. I cannot wait for the day that he is humiliated on a national level for being the shady snake-oil salesman that he has always been. Oh wait, that already happened with the vacated wins at UMass, the vacated Final Four at Memphis, and his firing from the New Jersey Nets due, in part, to a racist comment directed at a reporter. Gotta love this guy.

[dcar1985]

Tweet from the Prestonwood Christian Academy twitter account...

@PCAAthletics: Julius Randle narrows to 6: Kentucky, NC State, Florida, Texas, Kansas, OU.

Looks like we're out of the running for Mr. Randle...that's huge news! Hurts a bit...

[DukieTiger]

Tweet from the Prestonwood Christian Academy twitter account...

@PCAAthletics: Julius Randle narrows to 6: Kentucky, NC State, Florida, Texas, Kansas, OU.

Looks like we're out of the running for Mr. Randle...that's huge news! Hurts a bit...

With the elimination of Duke AND Unc, it sure does look like Julius is going for a certain type of school. Assuming all of this is final and legit, obviously.

[ricks68]

With the elimination of Duke AND Unc, it sure does look like Julius is going for a certain type of school. Assuming all of this is final and legit, obviously.

Are you implying that Unc's "Carolina Way" is different than Kentucky's constant use of ringers?

ricks

[DukieTiger]

Hmmm... I'm implying- well really, I'm stating as fact that UNC and Kentucky don't get the same types of players.

More so I'm just thinking of a divide between coaches like Roy and K, and coaches like Cal, Donovan, Gottfried, Barnes...

Are you implying that Unc's "Carolina Way" is different than Kentucky's constant use of ringers?

ricks

[ricks68]

Hmmm... I'm implying- well really, I'm stating as fact that UNC and Kentucky don't get the same types of players.

More so I'm just thinking of a divide between coaches like Roy and K, and coaches like Cal, Donovan, Gottfried, Barnes...

Aw shucks! Maybe I should have drawn more of a distinction between showing off a lot of rings versus accumulating a lot of ringers. Badabing!

ricks

[elvis14]

Are you implying that Unc's "Carolina Way" is different than Kentucky's constant use of ringers?

ricks

It's the UNC and UK fans who are basically the same, the teams are a little different in how they get put together.

[Kedsy]

So, with our apparent miss on Julius Randle, I've been thinking about what makes a killer recruiting class. Is it quantity, quality, or both?

I've gone through the RSCI database back to the high school class of 1999 (that's as far back as RSCI goes). My first look was how have teams who snared multiple top ten recruits in a class succeeded in the NCAA tournament? Teams with asterisks (*) also appear in the "quantity" table for the same season.

Note that in both tables, "best achievement" is over the whole time the majority of that class stays in school. So for Duke's 2006 high school class (Henderson, Scheyer, Thomas, Zoubek), I counted all four years, but UNC's 2010 class (Barnes, Bullock, Marshall) I only counted two. Kentucky's recent classes pretty much only count for one season.

HS Year	Team	# top 10 recruits	Best NCAAT achievement
2002	UNC		3		Champ
2006	UNC		3		Champ
2011	Kentucky	3		Champ
2012	Kentucky	3		???
1999	Kentucky	2		Elite 8
1999	Florida		2		Final 2
1999	Duke		2		Champ*
2000	Michigan State	2		Final 4
2005	Kansas		2		Champ*
2009	Kentucky	2		Elite 8
2010	Kentucky	2		Final 4
2012	UCLA		2		???
2013	Florida		2		???
2013	Kentucky	??		???*

Small data sample, but it looks pretty impressive, especially for teams who snagged 3 of the top 10. I guess this year's Kentucky team might be tougher than I'd assumed they'll be. Also, look out for Florida next year and (assuming their guys aren't one-and-dones) the year or two after.

My second table looks at teams with 3 or more kids from the top 30 in the same high school class. Note that I've ignored transfers and re-classifications (like Andre and Alex), because that data isn't always readily available. Here, a single asterisk (*) means the team appears in the "quality" table for the same season. A double asterisk means the team appears in the table for two consecutive years (like Duke in 2006 & 2007), although I didn't count Kentucky's recent classes in this category because their kids pretty much all leave after one year.

HS Year	Team	# top 30 recruits	Best NCAAT achievement
1999	Duke		4		Champ*
2002	Duke		4		Final 4
2005	Kansas		4		Champ*
2006	Duke		4		Champ**
2008	UCLA		4		2nd round
2010	Kentucky	4		Final 4*
2011	Kentucky	4		Champ*
2000	Seton Hall	3		2nd round
2002	UNC		3		Champ*
2002	Arizona		3		Elite 8
2004	Kentucky	3		Elite 8
2005	UNC		3		Champ**
2006	UNC		3		Champ**
2006	Texas		3		2nd round
2006	Ohio State	3		Final 2
2007	Duke		3		Champ**
2009	Kentucky	3		Elite 8
2009	Kansas		3		Final 2
2010	UNC		3		Elite 8
2012	Kentucky	3		???*
2012	UCLA		3		???*
2013	Kentucky	??		???*
2013	Duke		??		???

Here, we see a few duds (2000 Seton Hall, 2006 Texas, 2008 UCLA), but not many. It's still pretty impressive, especially if you get four top 30 kids in a season. In some ways this is more impressive than the quality table, because top 30 includes a lot of kids who aren't stars or NBA players but if you get a bunch of them, you're still probably going to go pretty far.

I conclude that if we can manage to convince Austin Nichols to come to Duke, we should be happy even though we have nobody in the class that's in the top 20. If can get Nichols and Jabari Parker, we should be absolutely ecstatic, even though we may have missed out on Mr. Randle.

[ChillinDuke]

So, with our apparent miss on Julius Randle, I've been thinking about what makes a killer recruiting class. Is it quantity, quality, or both?

I've gone through the RSCI database back to the high school class of 1999 (that's as far back as RSCI goes). My first look was how have teams who snared multiple top ten recruits in a class succeeded in the NCAA tournament? Teams with asterisks (*) also appear in the "quantity" table for the same season.

Note that in both tables, "best achievement" is over the whole time the majority of that class stays in school. So for Duke's 2006 high school class (Henderson, Scheyer, Thomas, Zoubek), I counted all four years, but UNC's 2010 class (Barnes, Bullock, Marshall) I only counted two. Kentucky's recent classes pretty much only count for one season.

HS Year	Team	# top 10 recruits	Best NCAAT achievement
2002	UNC		3		Champ
2006	UNC		3		Champ
2011	Kentucky	3		Champ
2012	Kentucky	3		???
1999	Kentucky	2		Elite 8
1999	Florida		2		Final 2
1999	Duke		2		Champ*
2000	Michigan State	2		Final 4
2005	Kansas		2		Champ*
2009	Kentucky	2		Elite 8
2010	Kentucky	2		Final 4
2012	UCLA		2		???
2013	Florida		2		???
2013	Kentucky	??		???*

Small data sample, but it looks pretty impressive, especially for teams who snagged 3 of the top 10. I guess this year's Kentucky team might be tougher than I'd assumed they'll be. Also, look out for Florida next year and (assuming their guys aren't one-and-dones) the year or two after.

My second table looks at teams with 3 or more kids from the top 30 in the same high school class. Note that I've ignored transfers and re-classifications (like Andre and Alex), because that data isn't always readily available. Here, a single asterisk (*) means the team appears in the "quality" table for the same season. A double asterisk means the team appears in the table for two consecutive years (like Duke in 2006 & 2007), although I didn't count Kentucky's recent classes in this category because their kids pretty much all leave after one year.

HS Year	Team	# top 30 recruits	Best NCAAT achievement
1999	Duke		4		Champ*
2002	Duke		4		Final 4
2005	Kansas		4		Champ*
2006	Duke		4		Champ**
2008	UCLA		4		2nd round
2010	Kentucky	4		Final 4*
2011	Kentucky	4		Champ*
2000	Seton Hall	3		2nd round
2002	UNC		3		Champ*
2002	Arizona		3		Elite 8
2004	Kentucky	3		Elite 8
2005	UNC		3		Champ**
2006	UNC		3		Champ**
2006	Texas		3		2nd round
2006	Ohio State	3		Final 2
2007	Duke		3		Champ**
2009	Kentucky	3		Elite 8
2009	Kansas		3		Final 2
2010	UNC		3		Elite 8
2012	Kentucky	3		???*
2012	UCLA		3		???*
2013	Kentucky	??		???*
2013	Duke		??		???

Here, we see a few duds (2000 Seton Hall, 2006 Texas, 2008 UCLA), but not many. It's still pretty impressive, especially if you get four top 30 kids in a season. In some ways this is more impressive than the quality table, because top 30 includes a lot of kids who aren't stars or NBA players but if you get a bunch of them, you're still probably going to go pretty far.

I conclude that if we can manage to convince Austin Nichols to come to Duke, we should be happy even though we have nobody in the class that's in the top 20. If can get Nichols and Jabari Parker, we should be absolutely ecstatic, even though we may have missed out on Mr. Randle.

Interesting stuff. Thx for compiling.

It occurred to me that this data might say more about the programs that pull off these feats (nabbing Top-10 or Top-30 recruits) and less about the actual recruits themselves. I mean, every team in both of these tables is a perennial power (save Seton Hall and maybe Texas) for the most part. So what I'm saying is it's a function of individual recruiting class as well as surrounding recruiting classes which correlate highly in all likelihood. Correlation doesn't imply causation and all that good stuff. Just my $0.02.

Can't disagree with your conclusion though. Absolutely.

- Chillin (tab: $0.16)

[juise]

Harrison twins to Kentucky.

[JasonEvans]

Harrison twins to Kentucky.

Big get for Calipari. Those kids can play! Maryland pulled out all the stops for these two. Major loss for the Terps. EVen the UnderArmour influence couldn't pry them from Kentucky.

-Jason

[tommy]

Harrison twins to Kentucky.

And the beat goes on.

I had read a few places that Randle did not want to play with the Harrisons for some reason. Who know if it's true or not, but I wonder if this will affect Randle. If what I read is not true, and Randle does as many expect, and goes Kentucky, keeping in mind they're going to get top 10-or-15 James Young almost for sure, and have the inside track on a re-classifying Wiggins as well, well . . . I don't know if there are going to be enough basketballs for all those guys. I know Cal got last year's team to put their egos aside and play beautiful team basketball, but Davis was a guy who didn't need the be the focus of an offense, Kidd-Gilchrist I think is naturally an unselfish player, so really the two best players were not me-focused guys. Would the same be the case if it was Wiggins-Randle-Harrison-Harrison-Young?

[yancem]

And the beat goes on.

I had read a few places that Randle did not want to play with the Harrisons for some reason. Who know if it's true or not, but I wonder if this will affect Randle. If what I read is not true, and Randle does as many expect, and goes Kentucky, keeping in mind they're going to get top 10-or-15 James Young almost for sure, and have the inside track on a re-classifying Wiggins as well, well . . . I don't know if there are going to be enough basketballs for all those guys. I know Cal got last year's team to put their egos aside and play beautiful team basketball, but Davis was a guy who didn't need the be the focus of an offense, Kidd-Gilchrist I think is naturally an unselfish player, so really the two best players were not me-focused guys. Would the same be the case if it was Wiggins-Randle-Harrison-Harrison-Young?

I really don't think that it is likely or really even possible for KY to sign all of those guys. First off, I think they will most likely not have the scholarships but more importantly that's a whole lot of ego for one team. From what I have seen and read about the twins, Randle and Wiggins is that they are all offensive oriented and require the ball in their hands a lot. Their isn't a Jamison like player (only needed the ball for about :30 to score 15 pts) in the group. Even though Randle is a beast inside, he has become more and more perimeter oriented. Andre Harrison seems to dominate the ball (much like Rivers did for Duke last year) from the couple of games I've seen him play. And Wiggins is probably the best of the bunch. You can't tell me he is going to sit around and watch the others dribble and shoot the whole game.

My guess is that this may push Wiggins to Florida St. It also may effect Randle although he is at least enough different from the twins that he has a chance to co-exist. Although their presence would probably force him to play more down low, which I don't get the impression he wants to do. I would think that NCSU is looking pretty good to him right now and maybe Kansas or Florida. Unfortunately I don't think that it effects Duke though. If I'm wrong though and KY does land all 5, they would make the Fab 5 look much less Fab!