Julius Randle Recruiting Thread

[Cameron]

I guess I wasn't clear. My point had nothing to do with how good Taylor King was (or wasn't). I was talking about perception and self-perception. There's not a prospect today (outside of perhaps Taylor King's family or kids going to the same high school) who would compare themselves to Taylor King, or think that in a million years whatever happened to Taylor King is relevant to them. Frankly, I expect it's the same for Andre Dawkins. The good prospects all think they're going to be stars -- that confidence is part of what makes them good players -- they're not looking at bench players and saying "that could happen to me."

That makes sense and I think I would tend to agree with you. As I've stated several times, the thoughts expressed in my original post merely constituted a suggestion.

The only exception, possibly, would be if someone couldn't get off the bench at Duke but then became an NBA star, but really has that ever happened?

Admittedly, I cannot think of a case and it would seem unlikely for that to happen.

[slower]

So forget Worldwide Wes hunh? Blame anything I guess...

Hood is a HUGE Big Krit fan. He came to Duke. Most of you have no idea who that is - neither does Coach K. Hood still came to Duke.

No, don't forget WWW, but don't dismiss Cameron's point out of hand. If it is the top story on SI's CBB section, then obviously SOMEBODY who knows CBB thinks there's something to it.

Yeah, Hood came to Duke. He's one guy. That doesn't automatically nullify the point of Cameron's statement or the SI article. UK has a different vibe than Duke. It is what it is.

And of course it's more than just Drake and Jay-Z (and Worldwide Wes - who is the probably the most important name in this whole equation), but it DOES mean something to these guys.

[wilko]

Lotta chatter about a guy who isnt coming here...

Good for him he knows what he wants. Good luck until he plays us is all I can say.

I LIKE that he cut us early. We now have time to regroup and get involved on another guy, as opposed to coming up short and having our hearts broken at the 11th hour. If he doesn't wanna be here fine, at least UNC isn't getting him either. I can live with that!

Lotta angst over KY.
Look at what the NCAA is doing right now. They are AFRAID to mess up the cash flow. It seems like a lot of the comments here should be under a thread entitled "Everybody else is cheating and getting away with it; shouldnt we?"

This has become less about Randle and more about the state of college athletics.
College athletics has become a real turn-off quite frankly.

[plimnko]

Lotta chatter about a guy who isnt coming here...

Good for him he knows what he wants. Good luck until he plays us is all I can say.

I LIKE that he cut us early. We now have time to regroup and get involved on another guy, as opposed to coming up short and having our hearts broken at the 11th hour. If he doesn't wanna be here fine, at least UNC isn't getting him either. I can live with that!

Lotta angst over KY.
Look at what the NCAA is doing right now. They are AFRAID to mess up the cash flow. It seems like a lot of the comments here should be under a thread entitled "Everybody else is cheating and getting away with it; shouldnt we?"

This has become less about Randle and more about the state of college athletics.
College athletics has become a real turn-off quite frankly.

SUCKS!!! How "pro like" college athletics has become. Aca what??? What's next....paid little leaguers?

[MCFinARL]

Lotta chatter about a guy who isnt coming here...

Good for him he knows what he wants. Good luck until he plays us is all I can say.

I LIKE that he cut us early. We now have time to regroup and get involved on another guy, as opposed to coming up short and having our hearts broken at the 11th hour. If he doesn't wanna be here fine, at least UNC isn't getting him either. I can live with that!

Lotta angst over KY.
Look at what the NCAA is doing right now. They are AFRAID to mess up the cash flow. It seems like a lot of the comments here should be under a thread entitled "Everybody else is cheating and getting away with it; shouldnt we?"

This has become less about Randle and more about the state of college athletics.
College athletics has become a real turn-off quite frankly.

I so agree with this--last year, for whatever reasons, some recruits kept Duke on their lists to the bitter end, long after many people had concluded they were almost certainly going elsewhere. Possibly part of this has to do with the difficulty of saying no to Coach K, whom most recruits respect highly and describe as someone they really enjoy talking to. But if you know Duke isn't the right place for you, cutting it from your list shows more respect for Coach K and the program than leaving it on if you are not really considering it any more. Julius Randle is a very exciting player I would have loved to see in a Duke uniform, but if it's not for him, that's fine, good luck to him wherever he goes (except if his team is playing Duke).

[Billy Dat]

Lotta angst over KY.
Look at what the NCAA is doing right now. They are AFRAID to mess up the cash flow. It seems like a lot of the comments here should be under a thread entitled "Everybody else is cheating and getting away with it; shouldnt we?"

I am mostly interested in the way recruiting techniques evolve over time. I like the way Duke does it and wouldn't want it to change. It will have to change when K steps down because K won't be the closer anymore, but I think the Duke pitch will always center on a combination of developing players for the pros (NBA or elsewhere), a great academic institution, an amazing basketball program and school-wide alumni network, and being part of something bigger than yourself. But, I do appreciate what Cal has built, if he's done it honestly. If he's cheating, then he cheated and he deserves no credit. But, he's really cracked the code in a new way and I wonder if he'll be able to keep it rolling.

[tommy]

Lotta chatter about a guy who isnt coming here...

Good for him he knows what he wants. Good luck until he plays us is all I can say.

I LIKE that he cut us early. We now have time to regroup and get involved on another guy, as opposed to coming up short and having our hearts broken at the 11th hour.

Early? We've been recruiting this guy hard for about a year and a half, and we've been on his short list (later expanded to less short) the whole time. Until very recently, he was planning to announce in the fall. That's like, now. Then he pushed it back to the spring, but still, we have put in a ton of resources and a ton of time into recruiting this guy, and it's a big blow.

As far as getting involved with another guy, we're pretty much down to Nichols and Parker. Marcus Lee, our backup plan on the bigs, eliminated us a few weeks ago. Not sure who else of quality you think we can get in on at this late date.

[wilko]

Early? We've been recruiting this guy hard for about a year and a half, and we've been on his short list (later expanded to less short) the whole time. Until very recently, he was planning to announce in the fall. That's like, now. Then he pushed it back to the spring, but still, we have put in a ton of resources and a ton of time into recruiting this guy, and it's a big blow.

As far as getting involved with another guy, we're pretty much down to Nichols and Parker. Marcus Lee, our backup plan on the bigs, eliminated us a few weeks ago. Not sure who else of quality you think we can get in on at this late date.

It is a blow. I wont deny that. Buts its not a heartbreaking embarrassment of a guy skyping his announcement either. Nor is it finishing as a runner up to a U of M. I get OH SO tired of the drama and disappointment around those types of things.

I'm not a recruiting guru so I wont pretend to be trying to rattle off guys names. I'm sure the staff is in tune with current commitments and guys that may be soft on their current school selections (Hi Seth, Hi Austin) We got late momentum with Jefferson and secured his services.

I find it refreshing that Semi knew what he wanted and pulled the trigger. I'd rather see dudes LIKE THAT than a punch in the gut over a 1 and done guy. I no longer have any stomach for drama. I'm sorry we didn't get Randle - but you never know who may be fired that will change a circumstance and cause him to revisit his school selections.

It seems the best way to curtail KY's recruiting is to pull the plug on the 1 and done rule.
Just let em go..

[mdj]

So forget Worldwide Wes hunh? Blame anything I guess...

Hood is a HUGE Big Krit fan. He came to Duke. Most of you have no idea who that is - neither does Coach K. Hood still came to Duke.

i dont think the point was that no fan of (insert random rapper's name here) would come to Duke but when Cal arranged fro his players to meet Jay Z he did it for a reason. To think this has no effect on a kids decision doesn't make sense. It may not be the overriding factor but it has to have some influence. When I was deciding on schools if I knew that Dave Matthews or whoever liked to hang out with the BME majors it might have had some effect on my decision.

[Cameron]

I agree with many of the posters above in reference to SupaDave's comments in his "WWW" post. Really, I think this is just a case of SupaDave misinterpreting my original post as anything more than just a way to sneak in a shot at the ridiculous land of make-believe that Cal has created in Lexington in trying to promote himself as some sort of player in the rap game. Cal's shoutout to Jay-Z about "bailing him out" from the law is all you need to know. The guy has put a serious investment into building connections with people in the hip-hop world and, essentially, using that as an additional -- and major, I might argue --branding tool to lure in impressionable young ballers who have grown up idolizing that culture. And it is working brilliantly for him.

Look, I am sure Iceberg Slim also has some other very effective -- or very shady, depending on how you perceive things -- approaches to recruiting, but there is no doubt that the "Come here if you want Waka Flocka Flame to come watch you play and then let you hold his chains in the lockeroom afterwards" technique is having an appreciable effect.

[superdave]

I LIKE that he cut us early. We now have time to regroup and get involved on another guy, as opposed to coming up short and having our hearts broken at the 11th hour.

I agree with this. I want to get Austin Nichols. The coaches have made him the priority, and that's enough for me. But we also have time to look for a plan b. There's plenty of uncommitted 4/5 guys on here for class of 2013. Anyone know of any targets we could be reaching out to this fall?
http://www.rscihoops.com/

[Greg_Newton]

Hood is a HUGE Big Krit fan. He came to Duke. Most of you have no idea who that is - neither does Coach K. Hood still came to Duke.

This strikes me as a complete non-sequitur and an apparent excuse to show off personal knowledge about one of our players.

Like... "James McAdoo is a fan of Kobe and Lebron. However, he went to UNC, whose coach has never coached the Olympics. Therefore, coaching the Olympics does not factor into Coach K's recruiting." Not even a remotely logical argument.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

This is starting to look pretty clear to me. Kentucky will likely have Wiltjer and Noel in '13, maybe Poythress, and has now received verbals from the Harrison twins.

Randle is said to be a one and done, no doubt.

Wouldn't you want to play there your one year?

His decision is not a diss to Duke, or coach K, or Roy and UNC for that matter. It's about him and what he thinks will be good for his career.

I'll be shocked if I'm wrong and it's not UK, and look forward to seeing his game after all the hype.

[Kedsy]

This is starting to look pretty clear to me. Kentucky will likely have Wiltjer and Noel in '13, maybe Poythress, and has now received verbals from the Harrison twins.

Why do you think Noel will still be there in '13-'14?

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Why do you think Noel will still be there in '13-'14?

It's a guess, for sure. I've never seen him play, but what I read is he's mainly a shot blocker and still pretty raw offensively. Also I see he's only still about 215lbs at 6'11".

Just seems like he's the kind of kid that will need two years at least, but granted it's all a guess theses days.

[-jk]

I think it's time to close this one down and take the discussion to other recruiting threads.

It's wandering far from a Randle discussion.

-jk