Class of 2022 C Donovan Clingan (CT) Offered

[DoctorBombay]

Literally NONE of those things pertained to Clingan.

He was always heavily favored to 'stay home', so that meant UConn.
By default.

He is very close to his family, and IIRC there also may have been some sort of family member health issue at play too?
Anyway - he was always UConn's to lose, and they didn't, by virtue of being right in his backyard.


Conversely - some kids just want to get the heck outta Dodge, and do so -
Like JJ Starling, for example.
His family wanted him to play at home, but he had other ideas.

Clingan wasn’t coming here, that’s true. But our recruiting in general has gone into the **ter, and I submit its largely based on the 3 or more issues I outlined in my post. It’s been a perfect storm of suck, and it’s now starting to catch up to us. JMHO

 

[Cusefan0307]

I disagree. Hop is definitely a factor, but there’s a reason that Villanova, Providence and Seton Hall have all improved since we are no longer a factor in the big East. Northeast players and families want to see their kids play. The ACC gives them fewer opportunities to watch them.

We’ve lost top targets from New York to Maryland, Notre Dame, Washington, Arizona and Indiana. We stopped recruiting Jersey and Philly once Hop left.

 

[DoctorBombay]

We’ve lost top targets from New York to Maryland, Notre Dame, Washington, Arizona and Indiana. We stopped recruiting Jersey and Philly once Hop left.

And we lost a few players who “probably” would’ve signed if Hop was still around, even some local kids who followed him all the way to Washington state.
Once the momentum turned, it’s become harder and harder to get the elite recruits, notwithstanding the good class from last year. Remember, Judah fell into our laps at the last minute.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Literally NONE of those things pertained to Clingan.

He was always heavily favored to 'stay home', so that meant UConn.
By default.

He is very close to his family, and IIRC there also may have been some sort of family member health issue at play too?
Anyway - he was always UConn's to lose, and they didn't, by virtue of being right in his backyard.


Conversely - some kids just want to get the heck outta Dodge, and do so -
Like JJ Starling, for example.
His family wanted him to play at home, but he had other ideas.

While those things are true, the mass defections and results speak for how we are viewed on the trail. We are being negatively recruited against these past few years, and we haven't had an effective counter-argument to get the recruits we really wanted.

I think also is that part of it is that our staff still thinks it's 10 or 15 years ago when they make an offer, and don't realize that we've been a mediocre team for 8 years and counting. We view our program better than recruits do.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I disagree. Hop is definitely a factor, but there’s a reason that Villanova, Providence and Seton Hall have all improved since we are no longer a factor in the big East. Northeast players and families want to see their kids play. The ACC gives them fewer opportunities to watch them.

This is undeniably true.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We’ve lost top targets from New York to Maryland, Notre Dame, Washington, Arizona and Indiana. We stopped recruiting Jersey and Philly once Hop left.

Not recruiting Philly and Jersey doesn't make any sense. We already don't recruit NYC. We need to get those kids. They have been the backbone of our best teams.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Not recruiting Philly and Jersey doesn't make any sense. We already don't recruit NYC. We need to get those kids. They have been the backbone of our best teams.

I agree. I‘m sick of the ACC excuse though. If we lost more guys to Big East schools I’d at least see it, but we are losing most of our top targets to Big Ten and western schools. Hardly easy for families to see their kids play.

We don’t even recruit the same kids Nova does anymore.

 

[hoopsupstate]

We’ve lost top targets from New York to Maryland, Notre Dame, Washington, Arizona and Indiana. We stopped recruiting Jersey and Philly once Hop left.

We used to own Philly and New Jersey. Those kids now want to play closer to home, ie Big East. This has all happened since joining the ACC. If this was all on Hop, then why aren’t they all going to Washington?

 

[Cusefan0307]

We used to own Philly and New Jersey. Those kids now want to play closer to home, ie Big East. This has all happened since joining the ACC. If this was all on Hop, them why aren’t they all going to Washington?

Well we don't even try there. Here's where some of our bigger misses mostly from NY have gone that did not include Duke. Answer to me if they are better schools and more convenient for their families to see them?

Gayle-Ohio State
Starling- Notre Dame
Huerter-Maryland
Stewart-Washington
T Bryant-Indiana
Randolph-Arizona
Huntley Hatfield-Tennessee
Mulvey-Iowa
Cockburn-Illinois
Lonnie Walker-Miami

 

[Syracuslove]

Well we don't even try there. Here's where some of our bigger misses mostly from NY have gone that did not include Duke. Answer to me if they are better schools and more convenient for their families to see them?

Gayle-Ohio State
Starling- Notre Dame
Huerter-Maryland
Stewart-Washington
T Bryant-Indiana
Randolph-Arizona
Huntley Hatfield-Tennessee
Mulvey-Iowa
Cockburn-Illinois
Lonnie Walker-Miami

Makes me think we spend too much time going after the wrong recruits.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Makes me think we spend too much time going after the wrong recruits.

The main takeaway to me is we are getting destroyed by Big 10 schools.

 

[Syracuslove]

The main takeaway to me is we are getting destroyed by Big 10 schools.

In my opinion, we need to be going after guys that fit our system/culture more, not the top recruits that half the country is recruiting and then settling for backups after missing. The issue is, I don’t think there’s a clear vision of our system anymore…

 

[Melancer46]

People always seem to assume local kids want to stay local. At least from my experience, a lot of them seem to actively want to get out of the area.

I don't think Boeheim has done a good job of recruiting recently, but I also don't really agree with the idea that we start out in an advantageous position with the local kids due to our location and blow it.

 

[Cusefan0307]

People always seem to assume local kids want to stay local. At least from my experience, a lot of them seem to actively want to get out of the area.

I don't think Boeheim has done a good job of recruiting recently, but I also don't really agree with the idea that we start out in an advantageous position with the local kids due to our location and blow it.

That may be somewhat true if we always were this bad at keeping local talent, but that has not always been the case.

 

[Melancer46]

That may be somewhat true if we always were this bad at keeping local talent, but that has not always been the case.

I think the culture around staying close to home has probably changed too relative to the old days. Even just look at the list of "locals" you alluded to before and where they actually went to high school:

Gayle- Utah
Starling- Indiana
Huerter- New York
Stewart- Indiana
T Bryant- West Virginia
Randolph- Pennsylvania
Huntley Hatfield- Florida/Pennsylvania
Mulvey- Connecticut
Cockburn- Virginia
Lonnie Walker- Pennsylvania

Huerter was the only kid that stayed in New York through high school. A couple others stuck it out at their non-NY high school but most were transferring to greener pastures with more visibility as is.

This isn't limited to us either. Looking at the top 20 recruits from the current freshman class, these are the guys that stayed local:

• Nick Smith
• GG Jackson
• Keyonte George
• Amari Bailey
• Arterio Morris
• Adem Bona - if you consider him local; he grew up in Nigeria and Turkey until he moved to California a couple years ago

Our recruiting in terms of landing highly rated kids was great up until 2017. From 2003-2017, here's where the 4 star or better NYers went (according to 24/7):

• Syracuse - 6 (out of 62)
• UConn - 5
• St. John's - 4
• Seton Hall - 4
• West Virginia - 3
• Virginia - 3
• Pittsburgh - 3
• Louisville - 3
• A bunch of schools with 1 or 2

We haven't landed a 4+ star recruit from NY since the 2012 class when we got Coleman. Maybe coincidentally, that was our last class before our move to the ACC; it's not lost on me that if you focus on the time period we were in the Big East, 11 schools landed at least 2 NYers and 9 of those 11 were Big East schools. Since the Big East crumbled, NY recruits have been spread around with no real pattern. The other notable thing is that NY just doesn't have highly rated recruits for the most part anymore. In the glory years, NY averaged 4-5 4+ star recruits. Now we're lucky to have more than 2. Generally speaking, if kids in NY are good at basketball nowadays, they leave in high school and never return.

 

[721Comstock]

That may be somewhat true if we always were this bad at keeping local talent, but that has not always been the case.

Facts not in evidence.

What local talent have we kept over the years?

Buddy? JGIII?

Rautins & Triche weren’t very highly rated (I think Andy was like a 2*, literally Just A Guy - but obviously he became an excellent college player).

IIRC - Last notable highly ranked local recruit we won was DaJuan Coleman, who picked us over Kentucky.

Lydon was a great get, but we landed his commitment before he broke into the Top 100.

You’ve gotta go back to Paul Harris & Jonny Flynn to find upstate guys we landed who were highly regarded, and who were impactful.

 

[Cusedog]

Well we don't even try there. Here's where some of our bigger misses mostly from NY have gone that did not include Duke. Answer to me if they are better schools and more convenient for their families to see them?

Gayle-Ohio State
Starling- Notre Dame
Huerter-Maryland
Stewart-Washington
T Bryant-Indiana
Randolph-Arizona
Huntley Hatfield-Tennessee
Mulvey-Iowa
Cockburn-Illinois

Like we use to. The Melo and Flynn classes were the best as a whole. This class has play well lots of potential. Joe had a bad shooting night and we lost our starting point and had the game won if we stopped the damn ball.

In my opinion, we need to be going after guys that fit our system/culture more, not the top recruits that half the country is recruiting and then settling for backups after missing. The issue is, I don’t think there’s a clear vision of our system anymore…

 

[rhcuse]

Only caught a few minutes of UConn this weekend before my remote had a gag reflex and changed channels. My only impression of Clingan was he seemed much too slow to play effective post in a D1 2-3 zone. He would have got the old 17-minute mark hook and plenty of JB stink eye to go along with our 0-8 deficit.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Only caught a few minutes of UConn this weekend before my remote had a gag reflex and changed channels. My only impression of Clingan was he seemed much too slow to play effective post in a D1 2-3 zone. He would have got the old 17-minute mark hook and plenty of JB stink eye to go along with our 0-8 deficit.

You should have watched longer because he was MVP of the tournament. I’d take him in a heartbeat.

 

[orange79]

Only caught a few minutes of UConn this weekend before my remote had a gag reflex and changed channels. My only impression of Clingan was he seemed much too slow to play effective post in a D1 2-3 zone. He would have got the old 17-minute mark hook and plenty of JB stink eye to go along with our 0-8 deficit.

Kudos.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We used to own Philly and New Jersey. Those kids now want to play closer to home, ie Big East. This has all happened since joining the ACC. If this was all on Hop, then why aren’t they all going to Washington?

A bunch of them did, in case you've forgotten.

 

[hoopsupstate]

A bunch of them did, in case you've forgotten.

Not lately.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Makes me think we spend too much time going after the wrong recruits.

I think the point is that we used to get those kinds of recruits a decade ago.

 

[pfister1]

It's not any one thing. It's a combination of factors; probably starting with our head coach being as old as the Hills (not Otis). Being in the ACC and playing games in remote locations and having local (home for the kid) media attention diminished because we aren't playing their "local" schools and the unknown of whether JB will still be there for the length of time that they will be there or even by the time that they arrive on campus.
One of the reasons Hop was so important was he was very well known in the basketball world and he appeared to be the certain continuation plan when JB kicked it in, so kids had some idea that if JB wasn't going to be their the entire time they were things would look similar under the next coach.

 

[Cuse181]

We used to own Philly and New Jersey. Those kids now want to play closer to home, ie Big East. This has all happened since joining the ACC. If this was all on Hop, then why aren’t they all going to Washington?

Looking through those states in recent years, only jersey is sending top level talent to the big east, Penn, CT, NY, most of the 4 star+ talent is going outside the big east. The 3 stars are staying home but like, who cares