I will say a couple of things about the recruiting so people get a better sense of where things are...
The talent can win games, but I don’t think the “system” is right For 95 out of 100 kids. Gonna say that flat out. The short bench. The zone. The lack of freedom to just play. Kids look at this stuff now because they have so many people around them to help make the decision now on what school to choose... North Carolina is easy to recruit because their system is score points. Run plays. Score points and see if you make some in game adjustments to win the game. SU doesn’t do recruit that way where they give the player the keys to the car. If they did, they would be far more successful. Lastly, kids care about who got drafted last year. The schools that our recruit SU always have a first round pick. It’s no mystery !
As far as the coaching element to the recruiting- the staff has tried to land some big fish but for the reasons I stated above it gives the recruit all the reasons TO NOT COME versus come to Syracuse. Everyone wants to talk about how su is a big time program and so successful and I’m telling you the perception with recruits is not that because they don’t get players drafted on consistent basis that end up being great pros that these kids watch every night on TNT. Kids are realizing the path is much easier to go to a school where they don’t have to change for a system and they can be themselves as a player. Jalen Carey is a perfect example here. The kid could flat out play. But the system for Jalen Carey was the worst possible scenario BC it took away his natural ability to play the game he’s really good at ... so that’s why we lose talent that’s really good. I love Boeheim for what he has done, but it’s his way or the highway like we all know and he’s not gonna have some kid come in and possibly cost them games because he plays erratically free even though the player will show his natural ability the more he plays and gets comfortable on his own...
last thing- JB doesn’t travel and recruit anymore. You guys wanna blame Gmac so much but lemmme share a little story... I got recruited by SEC and Big East programs to play Division 1 golf at the highest level. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and it was a crazy 3 years of recruiting. But You know who called me? THE HEAD COACH. You know who visited me? THE HEAD COACH. I had one program where just the assistant called me. Do you think I took that program seriously ? Immediately off my list. And you know what program I went to ? The one that said you’re guaranteed to play every single tournament your entire career. And then coach said he’s never going to impede my improvement and was going to let me be and do my thing. I became an all American my senior year of college because I learned on my own without sticking to a system that I was forced to follow. I hope this gives you a sense of how the factors that occur at SU really does affect the recruits you guys want so bad...
sorry for the long winded answer and speech, but I think it’s important to look at it from the real side and not the fan side. Those are facts. JB has been better with the recruiting and making contact during a pandemic bc he doesn’t need to leave the house ! He has a team of great people and asst coaches but at some point, these kids need to be let loose and guaranteed of that. It’s basketball it’s meant to be played a certain way and recruits choose other schools because they are guaranteed they can do that there and not here
