Duke/Syracuse Recruiting

[Etancuse]

Have we in recent memory lost out on a recruit to duke or vice versa?

 

[EastCoast2]

Duke is more of a national recruiter and we're a regional recruiter

 

[jekelish]

Amile Jefferson? I know we were recruiting him at one point, but I don't recall how serious we were after him toward the end of his recruitment.

Michael Gbinije, obviously. And he's like a doorknob in this equation, because everyone gets a turn.

Who was the dude a few years ago from Jersey who looked like Jar Jar Binks that signed with Duke, who we were recruiting? Turned out to be a bust but was a highly sought after kid coming out of HS. EDIT: Lance Thomas!

And of course, K would later say he wasn't really recruiting him that hard, but Gerry chose SU over Duke.

Oh, and duh...Greg Paulus.

 

[DeGrozz]

Taylor King from Mater Dei? I think we were on him, but he chose Duke, didn't last there and went to Nova. Not too recent of a recruit, but it probably happened within the last 5 - 10 years.

Edit: the biggest loss, of course, was Jay Bilas

 

[Cuse'91]

Again not recent, but Elton Brand was a huge loss...

 

[Alsacs]

Duke gets more top 5 kids in each class while Syracuse recruits 5 stars kids we don't get the top 5 kids outside of Carmelo Anthony. We get top 20 kids which makes us good, but JB hasn't been recruiting many 1 and done type kids outside of Nerlens Noel and Anthony Davis years ago. Duke recruits a slight better than us, but we are a top 10 recruiting school. Kansas/Kentucky/North Carolina/Duke are the best recruiting schools then Arizona w/Sean Miller/UCLA/Syracuse/Ohio State/Michigan State are that next tier.

 

[kuethstheman]

Not recent but we offered Laettner, didn't we?

 

[chs234]

I don't recall you guys being in the race for Amile Jefferson at the end but I could be wrong. If I recall correctly his final two were NC State and Duke, and he then chose Duke. Amile is doing very well at Duke but I have to say his length, energy, and athleticism would have fit in very well with your zone.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Amile Jefferson? I know we were recruiting him at one point, but I don't recall how serious we were after him toward the end of his recruitment.

Michael Gbinije, obviously. And he's like a doorknob in this equation, because everyone gets a turn.

Who was the dude a few years ago from Jersey who looked like Jar Jar Binks that signed with Duke, who we were recruiting? Turned out to be a bust but was a highly sought after kid coming out of HS. EDIT: Lance Thomas!

And of course, K would later say he wasn't really recruiting him that hard, but Gerry chose SU over Duke.

Oh, and duh...Greg Paulus.

I thought GMac chose SU over Notre Dame.

 

[chs234]

Amile Jefferson? I know we were recruiting him at one point, but I don't recall how serious we were after him toward the end of his recruitment.

Michael Gbinije, obviously. And he's like a doorknob in this equation, because everyone gets a turn.

Who was the dude a few years ago from Jersey who looked like Jar Jar Binks that signed with Duke, who we were recruiting? Turned out to be a bust but was a highly sought after kid coming out of HS. EDIT: Lance Thomas!

And of course, K would later say he wasn't really recruiting him that hard, but Gerry chose SU over Duke.

Oh, and duh...Greg Paulus.

Again if I recall correctly I don't think Syracuse was in the final two. I think it was Duke and Rutgers but I could be wrong. I personally don't think Lance Thomas was a bust, he was a 3-4 year starter IIRC and was a huge part of our 2010 team. He was in the NBA a little bit but I don't know if he stuck anywhere.

Paulus was a big bust.

 

[chs234]

It's weird how Duke and Syracuse are both elite programs yet very, very rarely battle for a top recruit. All the recruits listed in this thread aren't even real battles between Duke and Syracuse, they are more along the lines of at one point both Duke and Syracuse were recruiting the player and then one of the programs faded out and looked elsewhere.

 

[orange2win]

Chris McCullough was heavily sought after by Duke, but they lost that one.

 

[bnoro]

I don't recall you guys being in the race for Amile Jefferson at the end but I could be wrong. If I recall correctly his final two were NC State and Duke, and he then chose Duke. Amile is doing very well at Duke but I have to say his length, energy, and athleticism would have fit in very well with your zone.

I think we stopped recruiting him when we landed Roberson but I'm not sure.

 

[tbonezone]

i remember years back we were heavy in the mix for a kid named mike chappell. duke was also recruiting
chappell but had already inked another top kid named cris carrawell. now these kids play the same position. looks good for the cuse ? no! chappell signs with duke anyway. doesn't play and later ends up transferring to msu where he won a title with izzo.

 

[Consigliere]

Going back a ways but Greg Koubek was another upstate NY kid who went to the dark side.

 

[jordoo]

Chris McCullough was heavily sought after by Duke, but they lost that one.

This is true but it didn't seem like a big battle because he committed pretty early. Most of the ones that commit late like Jefferson both schools were involved early but the player wasn't their only option and by the time the player committed the other school had already signed a player at that spot or moved in another direction. I would doubt K and JB would want to really clash hard and battle over a recruit unless the recruit was very highly coveted by each and each felt they had a great chance at landing him. I mean what are they going to say? That other coach sucks I should know he's my good friend and we coach the USA Olympic team together. I just don't see them playing dirty pool against each other nor that being the way either program recruits. It would be more of a trying to sell the kid on the system being a better fit if anything. It may begin to happen now that they are both in the ACC but I'm not too sure because they are both toward the end of their careers I mean what 10 years more tops for either. I can't see JB going another 10 honestly.

 

[orange2win]

Jordoo, I agree entirely with your post. I would only add that when we go after a consensus 5 Star recruit, we are up against the one-and-done crowd (Kentucky, Duke, UNC, Kansas). We do not often fish in those turbulent waters. However, I doubt rancor was emplyed with Duke over McCullough.

 

[pfister1]

I don't recall you guys being in the race for Amile Jefferson at the end but I could be wrong. If I recall correctly his final two were NC State and Duke, and he then chose Duke. Amile is doing very well at Duke but I have to say his length, energy, and athleticism would have fit in very well with your zone.

We were in the discussion for Amile early, but then the interest seemed to fizz out...not sure whether it was on our part, his part or mutual. Given that he went to Hakim Warrick's Alma Mater, and would seemingly fit our system pretty well I always wondered what happened with his recruitment?

 

[pfister1]

I think we stopped recruiting him when we landed Roberson but I'm not sure.

Jerami Grant maybe....Roberson (Frosh) is a class after Jefferson (Soph) ...... you may be thinking of Rondae Jefferson, also from the Philly area who ended up at Arizona.

 

[bnoro]

Jerami Grant maybe...Roberson (Frosh) is a class after Jefferson (Soph) ... you may be thinking of Rondae Jefferson, also from the Philly area who ended up at Arizona.

both of those things combined. in my original post I put Grant and changed it because i thought i was off. Didn't feel like doing the research haha.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Not recent but we offered Laettner, didn't we?

Did we recruit Laettner? I mean we may have offered him just because of him being from the region, but we landed Billy Owens in that class who was a better prospect.

 

[seanmac1844]

What about the kid from Niagara Falls? Greg Newton maybe or was that Eric Meek?

 

[Francis03]

I don't recall you guys being in the race for Amile Jefferson at the end but I could be wrong. If I recall correctly his final two were NC State and Duke, and he then chose Duke. Amile is doing very well at Duke but I have to say his length, energy, and athleticism would have fit in very well with your zone.

There was interest in Jefferson, but once we closed in on Grant that was the end of things.

Again if I recall correctly I don't think Syracuse was in the final two. I think it was Duke and Rutgers but I could be wrong. I personally don't think Lance Thomas was a bust, he was a 3-4 year starter IIRC and was a huge part of our 2010 team. He was in the NBA a little bit but I don't know if he stuck anywhere.

Paulus was a big bust.

There was some interest in Thomas as well but the staff decided that he wasn't the best fit for their system. If I recall correctly, I think he had a girlfriend that was attending Rutgers at the time, which is why he surprisingly had them and Duke in his final two schools.

 

[LAOrange]

We don't compete because both recruit to their systems. Duke goes for the skills players and we go for the athletes. Ours all have wingspans longer than their height and have to have tremendous lateral quickness. Since they have to learn a completely alien defensive structure they don't usually start immediately. Duke needs their guys to contribute immediately and if they're exceptional they go pro. We grow ours.
The downside to theirs is it seems if a player doesn't contribute immediately, they're relegated to the bench and barely see the floor, whereas ours can count on major time at some point in their career.

 

[Noexcuse]

Did we recruit Laettner? I mean we may have offered him just because of him being from the region, but we landed Billy Owens in that class who was a better prospect.

I seem to remember him dissing us at the time. Going way back, I think we recruited Gene Banks.