Class of 2015 C/PF Thomas Bryant (NY) Verballed to Indiana

[Henny & Coke]

Well, this is officially the (SU-related) recruit decision that I understand the very least - after about 10 or so years of closely following this stuff.

Rochester kid.
SU was on him as early as 3-4 years ago, recruiting him first & often.
A former high school teammate & friend plays for SU.
Kid was participant at Elite Camp 3 years in a row.
His mother badly wanted SU & publicly said so, even going so far as to mocking other schools.
His godmother lives in Syracuse & is a big SU basketball fan.
JB publicly (seemingly) alluded to SU having a 5th verbal commitment earlier this season that most people thought to be Bryant.
There is a great opportunity for Bryant to play here & play major minutes, esp with CM going pro.
Bryant is friends with many of the players on SU, even Malachi Richardson, a McDonald's AA who was helping to recruit Bryant to SU all last week.

And those are just the pro-SU items.

The anti-Indiana items include:

Fact their head coach is often thought of as being on the hot seat.
They lost in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament this year.
They have major roster turnover.
They got into the recruitment of Thomas Bryant pretty late.
This quote from Bryant's mom from article in just this past Nov (article saying SU was the leader for TB):

As for Indiana, Bryant said she and her son have been turned off by the Hoosiers' recent spate of bad news, issues that have included failed drug tests and underage drinking. Six of Indiana's 13 scholarship players have been implicated in one or the other over the past year.

"They have a lot going on," Linda said. "It seems like we went down there under false pretenses. They didn't tell us anything about failed drug tests or that type of thing going on. My son doesn't need to be around that stuff."

I mean, I understand this more if rumors about Bryant wanting to be away from home are true...if he picked Kentucky instead. I'd def understand that. But Indiana? W. T. ?

There has just got to be more to this story than what we are currently hearing. Just doesn't make any sense to me at the moment. Only thing I can think of is that, with news of SU not having spoken with Thomas for months, that the NCAA bs somehow got in the way of having room for Bryant. I don't know, that's really all I can think of right now.

But, as it stands, the Thomas Bryant recruitment will now forever hold place of "#1 strangest SU-related recruitment/decision" to me.

 

[Flacusian]

Much like Tee's avatar, Crean is gonna be left holding his...

Ok, so there we have it. The answer we all HAVEN"T been waiting for. I guess now I'm waiting for someone to try to put a GOOD SPIN on this development.

OMG... the fact that he picked IU over us really puts a lot of things in a new perspective. One that I'm not particularly fond of.

 

[jordoo]

Its not that strange. Son wants to get away from home n mom. Mom wanted to keep him close to home n her.

 

[pearl31]

"They have a lot going on," Linda said. "It seems like we went down there under false pretenses. They didn't tell us anything about failed drug tests or that type of thing going on. My son doesn't need to be around that stuff."

thing is, she very well could have arrived at this same conclusion regarding SU after the report/media coverage over the past month

 

[longtimefan]

Well, this is officially the (SU-related) recruit decision that I understand the very least - after about 10 or so years of closely following this stuff.

Rochester kid.
SU was on him as early as 3-4 years ago, recruiting him first & often.
A former high school teammate & friend plays for SU.
Kid was participant at Elite Camp 3 years in a row.
His mother badly wanted SU & publicly said so, even going so far as to mocking other schools.
His godmother lives in Syracuse & is a big SU basketball fan.
JB publicly (seemingly) alluded to SU having a 5th verbal commitment earlier this season that most people thought to be Bryant.
There is a great opportunity for Bryant to play here & play major minutes, esp with CM going pro.
Bryant is friends with many of the players on SU, even Malachi Richardson, a McDonald's AA who was helping to recruit Bryant to SU all last week.

And those are just the pro-SU items.

The anti-Indiana items include:

Fact their head coach is often thought of as being on the hot seat.
They lost in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament this year.
They have major roster turnover.
They got into the recruitment of Thomas Bryant pretty late.
This quote from Bryant's mom from article in just this past Nov (article saying SU was the leader for TB):

As for Indiana, Bryant said she and her son have been turned off by the Hoosiers' recent spate of bad news, issues that have included failed drug tests and underage drinking. Six of Indiana's 13 scholarship players have been implicated in one or the other over the past year.

"They have a lot going on," Linda said. "It seems like we went down there under false pretenses. They didn't tell us anything about failed drug tests or that type of thing going on. My son doesn't need to be around that stuff."

I mean, I understand this more if rumors about Bryant wanting to be away from home are true...if he picked Kentucky instead. I'd def I wonderif the UK understand that. But Indiana? W. T. ?

There has just got to be more to this story than what we are currently hearing. Just doesn't make any sense to me at the moment. Only thing I can think of is that, with news of SU not having spoken with Thomas for months, that the NCAA bs somehow got in the way of having room for Bryant. I don't know, that's really all I can think of right now.

But, as it stands, the Thomas Bryant recruitment will now forever hold place of "#1 strangest SU-related recruitment/decision" to me.

I wonder if the UK offer was soft. As in, you're our third (fourth?) choice. We have to wait on the guys ahead of you.

 

[Henny & Coke]

thing is, she very well could have arrived at this same conclusion regarding SU after the report/media coverage over the past month

By all indications, JB & staff has been very upfront with all committs & potential recruits about the NCAA investigation & what was happening every step of the way. In fact, I have no complaints at all about what appears to be really good communication about this stuff by SU.

And, all the failed drug tests RE SU seem to be not from current team, if I am correct.

So, really not the same type of situation. Thomas' mom seemed to also be upset that Indiana seemingly didn't even tell them they had that stuff going on before they went to visit.

 

[Trueblue25]

I love the kids fire and attitude but I've said it throughout his whole recruitment, I've never been impressed with his highlights and never for a moment saw anything that separated him from Diagne. That's the honest truth. Good pick up for Indiana though.

 

[Henny & Coke]

Its not that strange. Son wants to get away from home n mom. Mom wanted to keep him close to home n her.

I'm sorry, if you read my post at #2527 & still not think this is "not that strange"...well, then nothing I can say will ever change your mind. Suffice it to say I vehemently disagree.

 

[Madbiker]

Well, this is officially the (SU-related) recruit decision that I understand the very least - after about 10 or so years of closely following this stuff.

Rochester kid.
SU was on him as early as 3-4 years ago, recruiting him first & often.
A former high school teammate & friend plays for SU.
Kid was participant at Elite Camp 3 years in a row.
His mother badly wanted SU & publicly said so, even going so far as to mocking other schools.
His godmother lives in Syracuse & is a big SU basketball fan.
JB publicly (seemingly) alluded to SU having a 5th verbal commitment earlier this season that most people thought to be Bryant.
There is a great opportunity for Bryant to play here & play major minutes, esp with CM going pro.
Bryant is friends with many of the players on SU, even Malachi Richardson, a McDonald's AA who was helping to recruit Bryant to SU all last week.

And those are just the pro-SU items.

The anti-Indiana items include:

Fact their head coach is often thought of as being on the hot seat.
They lost in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament this year.
They have major roster turnover.
They got into the recruitment of Thomas Bryant pretty late.
This quote from Bryant's mom from article in just this past Nov (article saying SU was the leader for TB):

As for Indiana, Bryant said she and her son have been turned off by the Hoosiers' recent spate of bad news, issues that have included failed drug tests and underage drinking. Six of Indiana's 13 scholarship players have been implicated in one or the other over the past year.

"They have a lot going on," Linda said. "It seems like we went down there under false pretenses. They didn't tell us anything about failed drug tests or that type of thing going on. My son doesn't need to be around that stuff."

I mean, I understand this more if rumors about Bryant wanting to be away from home are true...if he picked Kentucky instead. I'd def understand that. But Indiana? W. T. ?

There has just got to be more to this story than what we are currently hearing. Just doesn't make any sense to me at the moment. Only thing I can think of is that, with news of SU not having spoken with Thomas for months, that the NCAA bs somehow got in the way of having room for Bryant. I don't know, that's really all I can think of right now.

But, as it stands, the Thomas Bryant recruitment will now forever hold place of "#1 strangest SU-related recruitment/decision" to me.

Seems a strange case where the recruit's parent strongly favored SU while the recruit himself never seemed to have much enthusiasm for the school and wanted to go elsewhere, further from home. My guess is that the staff realized that and backed off him a while ago (hence the no contact since late January). Very bizarre.

 

[jordoo]

I'm sorry, if you read my post at #2527 & still not think this is "not that strange"...well, then nothing I can say will ever change your mind. Suffice it to say I vehemently disagree.

I'm just telling you what it came down to. We can agree to disagree. I think it really sucks and is a big blow.

 

[RF2044]

I've been thinking about you lately.

A lot.

[nauseating. Hope crean gets canned after this season]

 

[Madbiker]

Here's the headline: BRYANT TURNS DOWN KENTUCKY

Look on the bright side.

 

[tee1222]

Shocked. I don't know if this has been said yet, but

 

[ORANGE OATH]

Good luck to TB , as long as it is not against the Orange.

 

[Jake]

I'm sorry, if you read my post at #2527 & still not think this is "not that strange"...well, then nothing I can say will ever change your mind. Suffice it to say I vehemently disagree.

And you would be wrong. The kid simply wanted away from home (mom)...badly.

 

[Madbiker]

So I

And you would be wrong. The kid simply wanted away from home (mom)...badly.

guess that .5% really was 1/2 of 1%.

 

[SUOrangeSU]

Jake - we rolling with these 10 for next year or think the staff will jump on a 5th year?

 

[HoustonCuse]

Then this dude must really hate his mom because Crean is basically a national joke at this point and with McCullough gone, Syracuse was a dream landing spot for a big.

Oh well, allows us to get a year of penalty out of the way and assures there is absolutely room for Battle who is an order of magnitude more important to us.

 

[wiCuse]

So with the bad news, what are the odds we go after a 5th year transfer??? We could really use the depth with DCII and his durability along with Chino who is a ways off from contributing.

 

[kidorange]

So with the bad news, what are the odds we go after a 5th year transfer??? We could really use the depth with DCII and his durability along with Chino who is a ways off from contributing.

Doesn't seem likely now they are down to 10 scholarships. Even though though it possibly gets reduced, it's better to be safe and bite the bullet now.

Too bad they can't divide 12 scholarships over 4 years. It's nearly impossible in this one-and-done era to manage 10 scholarships.

Edit: ...it takes two years to replace a player that leaves unexpectedly.

 

[Jake]

We're likely done.

 

[jr4750]

We're likely done.

Jake how much is this Cuse backing off vs kid just wanting to go to Indiana? JB probably shouldnt have said anything about a 5th recruit.

 

[pfister1]

Well, this is officially the (SU-related) recruit decision that I understand the very least - after about 10 or so years of closely following this stuff.

Rochester kid.
SU was on him as early as 3-4 years ago, recruiting him first & often.
A former high school teammate & friend plays for SU.
Kid was participant at Elite Camp 3 years in a row.
His mother badly wanted SU & publicly said so, even going so far as to mocking other schools.
His godmother lives in Syracuse & is a big SU basketball fan.
JB publicly (seemingly) alluded to SU having a 5th verbal commitment earlier this season that most people thought to be Bryant.
There is a great opportunity for Bryant to play here & play major minutes, esp with CM going pro.
Bryant is friends with many of the players on SU, even Malachi Richardson, a McDonald's AA who was helping to recruit Bryant to SU all last week.

And those are just the pro-SU items.

The anti-Indiana items include:

Fact their head coach is often thought of as being on the hot seat.
They lost in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament this year.
They have major roster turnover.
They got into the recruitment of Thomas Bryant pretty late.
This quote from Bryant's mom from article in just this past Nov (article saying SU was the leader for TB):

As for Indiana, Bryant said she and her son have been turned off by the Hoosiers' recent spate of bad news, issues that have included failed drug tests and underage drinking. Six of Indiana's 13 scholarship players have been implicated in one or the other over the past year.

"They have a lot going on," Linda said. "It seems like we went down there under false pretenses. They didn't tell us anything about failed drug tests or that type of thing going on. My son doesn't need to be around that stuff."

I mean, I understand this more if rumors about Bryant wanting to be away from home are true...if he picked Kentucky instead. I'd def understand that. But Indiana? W. T. ?

There has just got to be more to this story than what we are currently hearing. Just doesn't make any sense to me at the moment. Only thing I can think of is that, with news of SU not having spoken with Thomas for months, that the NCAA bs somehow got in the way of having room for Bryant. I don't know, that's really all I can think of right now.

But, as it stands, the Thomas Bryant recruitment will now forever hold place of "#1 strangest SU-related recruitment/decision" to me.

I agree it makes no sense. Makes me wonder if they told him we can't guarantee you a scholarship until we get a reduction on appeal or the NCAA agrees we can take the deferral and Mom was ok waiting but TB wasn't?

I don't understand the claims that we haven't been in touch in months.

 

[longtimefan]

We're likely done.

I don't like the double meaning of your statement!

 

[Henny & Coke]

And you would be wrong. The kid simply wanted away from home (mom)...badly.

How can I be wrong about thinking it's "strange" when I get to define whats "strange" to me???? :crazy:

Bryant's wanting to be away from his mother may be 100% true...and yet, a guy allowing something like that to be the #1 influence on such a big decision as where he will be attending college for 1-2 years before hopefully then going to the NBA to make millions of dollars is crazy/strange to me.

Honestly, who lets such a trivial factor like wanting to get away from someone factor into such a hugely important decision?

And, for the record...Syracuse is still over an hour away from Rochester! He is still living on his own, and away from his mother!

And who then passes up the perennially top 25 ranked team in his own backyard to play for a coach who may not legitimately still be coaching the program one year from now? I believe Thomas is the only top 100 ranked prospect that Indiana has signed up for next year, correct? If so...that's because it's not a great situation!!!!

I'm sorry, I get to define what's "strange" to me...and this all fits my definition.