Elijah Hughes

[Fly Rodder]

Nice little article, but it doesn't explain why no one else other than Iona and Seton Hall are going after a 6'6" 220 SG "physical presence" who is talented with easy athleticism and a great feel for the game. If that's true then why is SU (tall guard U) the only big school interested in him?

 

[PhatOrange]

6-6 220? sounds good to me.

people realize we need more than 2 guards on a the team right?

 

[Orangefan1]

The problem is he has to sit out a year.

 

[JazzNC]

Nice little article, but it doesn't explain why no one else other than Iona and Seton Hall are going after a 6'6" 220 SG "physical presence" who is talented with easy athleticism and a great feel for the game. If that's true then why is SU (tall guard U) the only big school interested in him?

I think the silence says it all... No one else is offering him because he's nothing special. Lots of folks are about to drive away a lemon. I, myself, prefer real oranges. ;-)

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Nice little article, but it doesn't explain why no one else other than Iona and Seton Hall are going after a 6'6" 220 SG "physical presence" who is talented with easy athleticism and a great feel for the game. If that's true then why is SU (tall guard U) the only big school interested in him?

Lots of rosters are set.

 

[MSOrange]

Thank you. I am passionate to a fault sometimes. But, We are ALL entitled to our opinions, including those whose account longevity is short, and those whose opinions differ from the consensus. I've always been a champion for the underdog, and I know how to hold my own. Speaking ones truth takes courage, much more than parroting what the legendary posters on here have to say.

I actually enjoy reading posts with views that differ from my own. Anyhow, thanks for the advice.

Congrats on your new title. I'm glad I caught this thread so I could get the context.

 

[JazzNC]

Congrats on your new title. I'm glad I caught this thread so I could get the context.

Thanks ;-)

 

[jdubs30]

Nice little article, but it doesn't explain why no one else other than Iona and Seton Hall are going after a 6'6" 220 SG "physical presence" who is talented with easy athleticism and a great feel for the game. If that's true then why is SU (tall guard U) the only big school interested in him?

Lots of rosters are set.

This.


It's May 2017. The kid won't be playing until October 2018.

Also - not every big time program has to go after every good kid.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Nc state has 4 openings right now. Lots of schools have room. Oregon has a dozen openings more or less. Washington. Mizzou. UConn. These are just off the top of my head.

 

[Louie and Bouie]

Fair point. Exceptions do exist. Hell the reigning MVP, Steph Curry, is a perfect example. But, I'm guessing if you actually broke down the percentage of NBA players from non P5 schools in the last 10 years it would be very minimal.

I don't have the time or energy to do the research, but I'd also be curious how those guys you listed did as freshman in college? Did they excel their entire career in college or come on late? Getting to the NBA as a non P5 happens, but how often does it happen after a lackluster freshman campaign? I'm also curious if any of the players you named made the NBA after a college career that included a transfer?

Also, I understand that he was under the radar in high school and did not garner much interest from college programs. BUT now that it's widely known that Syracuse has expressed interest, where are the other programs who want him? Iona and Seton Hall... anyone else?

Thanks for the good post.

I don't have the time to answer all of your questions, many which are good ones. However, I was able to find the statistical make-up of NBA rosters at the beginning of the 2016-17 season and found the following. Some interesting/surprising information (to me at least).

There were 360 Division I players on rosters with 263 coming from P5 conferences (73%) and 97 coming from non P5 conferences (27%). The non-P5 representation was much higher than I had expected. The Big East was the number 1 conference in non-P5 representation with the Mountain West and AAC being 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Additionally, Syracuse was in the Top 10 in active players with the list shaking out as follows (list included 13 active and 2 non-active roster spots):

1. Kentucky - 24
2. Duke - 19
3. Kansas - 15
4. UNC - 14
5. UCLA - 13
6. Arizona - 12
7. SU - 11
8. Florida - 10
9. (tie) LSU, Texas, Washington - 8

Just information to peruse as your questions caught my interest as to non-P5 representation in the NBA.

 

[JazzNC]

I don't have the time to answer all of your questions, many which are good ones. However, I was able to find the statistical make-up of NBA rosters at the beginning of the 2016-17 season and found the following. Some interesting/surprising information (to me at least).

There were 360 Division I players on rosters with 263 coming from P5 conferences (73%) and 97 coming from non P5 conferences (27%). The non-P5 representation was much higher than I had expected. The Big East was the number 1 conference in non-P5 representation with the Mountain West and AAC being 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Additionally, Syracuse was in the Top 10 in active players with the list shaking out as follows (list included 13 active and 2 non-active roster spots):

1. Kentucky - 24
2. Duke - 19
3. Kansas - 15
4. UNC - 14
5. UCLA - 13
6. Arizona - 12
7. SU - 11
8. Florida - 10
9. (tie) LSU, Texas, Washington - 8

Just information to peruse as your questions caught my interest as to non-P5 representation in the NBA.

Nice work!

 

[JLine]

Nice little article, but it doesn't explain why no one else other than Iona and Seton Hall are going after a 6'6" 220 SG "physical presence" who is talented with easy athleticism and a great feel for the game. If that's true then why is SU (tall guard U) the only big school interested in him?

Maybe he has made it known that he wants to play closer to home.

And is intelligent, so if UCon came calling then he wouldn't answer.

 

[721Comstock]

I don't have the time to answer all of your questions, many which are good ones. However, I was able to find the statistical make-up of NBA rosters at the beginning of the 2016-17 season and found the following. Some interesting/surprising information (to me at least).

There were 360 Division I players on rosters with 263 coming from P5 conferences (73%) and 97 coming from non P5 conferences (27%). The non-P5 representation was much higher than I had expected. The Big East was the number 1 conference in non-P5 representation with the Mountain West and AAC being 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Additionally, Syracuse was in the Top 10 in active players with the list shaking out as follows (list included 13 active and 2 non-active roster spots):

1. Kentucky - 24
2. Duke - 19
3. Kansas - 15
4. UNC - 14
5. UCLA - 13
6. Arizona - 12
7. SU - 11
8. Florida - 10
9. (tie) LSU, Texas, Washington - 8

Just information to peruse as your questions caught my interest as to non-P5 representation in the NBA.

What, no Georgia Tech?
I thought they were an NBA factory, according to some recently added new pos(t)ers.

 

[JazzNC]

I haven't seen the guy play so I don't have any opinion as to his skill level but the argument that he can't play P5 hoops because he is/was being recruited by ECU, Iona, Seton Hall etc. is a non-starter. Guys can develop later and a look at any NBA roster will more than prove that point.

For example: Norris Cole, Robert Covington, CJ McCollum, Andrew Nicholson, Matthew Delladova, Tony Snell, Jeremy Lin, Rodney Stuckey, George Hill, Courtney Lee, etc.

All played at non P5 schools and that is a fraction of the list.

Since a lot of the arguments are about who recruited him and where he ended up I thought I would share. Its not always where you start, its how you end up. A lot can change between 17 and 20 years old, for better or worse.

You did a lot of work, so I figured I'd see what I could find. Here goes:

Norris Cole (Cleveland St) 4.9 ppg FR, and 21.7ppg SR POY Horizon
Robert Covington (Tennessee St) 11.5ppg FR, and 17ppg SR
CJ McCollum (Lehigh) 19.1ppg Fr and POY Patriot, 23.9ppg SR POY Patriot
Andrew Nicholson (St. Bon) 12.5ppg FR, 18.5ppg SR POY A-10
Matthew Dellavadova (St Mary's) 12.1ppg FR, 15.5ppg SO POY WCC, 15.8 SR
Tony Snell (N. Mexico) 4.4ppg FR, 12.5ppg SR
Jeremy Lin (Harvard) 4.8ppg FR, 16.4ppg SR
Rodney Stuckey (E. Washington) 24.2ppg FR POY Big Sky, 24.6ppg SO
George Hill (IUPUI) 10.7ppg FR, 21.5ppg SR POY Summit
Courtney Lee (Western Kentucky) 14.9ppg FR, 20.4ppg SR POY Sun Belt
Stephen Curry (Davidson) 21.5ppg FR, 25.9ppg SO, 28.6ppg JR POY Southern Conference SO and JR years

So it looks like Norris Cole, Tony Snell and Jeremy Lin averaged single digits in their Freshman seasons and still made the NBA. The rest all averaged double figures.

No player listed above succeeded after a transfer in college.

What it all means... I don't know. But I don't think it gives Hughes the greatest odds. I'm holding firm that he's too big a gamble with the needs of the team (shooting), and scholarship reductions.

 

[kcsu]

Nice little article, but it doesn't explain why no one else other than Iona and Seton Hall are going after a 6'6" 220 SG "physical presence" who is talented with easy athleticism and a great feel for the game. If that's true then why is SU (tall guard U) the only big school interested in him?

He is being pursued to replace battle.

 

[longislandcuse]

It's not easy to read through this thread and see "I trust the coaches" and "the coaches think he's really good".

Given our recruiting lately, both in who we've lost out on, who we've recruited and then force-transferred out of here and who wanted to come here but we turned away, I'm going to need the staff to actually convince me to trust in them.

...because right now, my confidence in JB and his staff are at an all time low.

I'm definitely not in a place to trust that some no offer kid from a no name school that put up no numbers in a nothing conference and has to sit out a year makes sense for us.

 

[Louie and Bouie]

It's not easy to read through this thread and see "I trust the coaches" and "the coaches think he's really good".

Given our recruiting lately, both in who we've lost out on, who we've recruited and then force-transferred out of here and who wanted to come here but we turned away, I'm going to need the staff to actually convince me to trust in them.

...because right now, my confidence in JB and his staff are at an all time low.

I'm definitely not in a place to trust that some no offer kid from a no name school that put up no numbers in a nothing conference and has to sit out a year makes sense for us.

So the 12 NBA draft picks since 2010 doesn't come into play in your recruiting analysis? Despite some recent misses, pretty confident the staff has an better eye for talent than most of us.

 

[djorange1989]

So the 12 NBA draft picks since 2010 doesn't come into play in your recruiting analysis? Despite some recent misses, pretty confident the staff has an better eye for talent than most of us.

Hey, remember, NCAA sanctions and a lame duck JB should be ignored, that had no impact on recruiting. Nope not one bit. And GMAC is a bum for losing Quade. No way a school like, say, Duke would let Cal and WWW swoop in and steal a prized recruit..

 

[jgeorge322]

6-6 220? sounds good to me.

people realize we need more than 2 guards on a the team right?

If anyone watches this kids video, even his film from south kent, not hard to know why we are interested. Super athletic and good shooting form.

 

[jgeorge322]

It's not easy to read through this thread and see "I trust the coaches" and "the coaches think he's really good".

Given our recruiting lately, both in who we've lost out on, who we've recruited and then force-transferred out of here and who wanted to come here but we turned away, I'm going to need the staff to actually convince me to trust in them.

...because right now, my confidence in JB and his staff are at an all time low.

I'm definitely not in a place to trust that some no offer kid from a no name school that put up no numbers in a nothing conference and has to sit out a year makes sense for us.

Why not watch the video and make a call for yourself instead of speculating whether the coaches are pursuing the right talent or not.

 

[longislandcuse]

So the 12 NBA draft picks since 2010 doesn't come into play in your recruiting analysis? Despite some recent misses, pretty confident the staff has an better eye for talent than most of us.

This is such a bogus fallback. We haven't put any impact players into the league since Melo (maybe Dion but he was also early lotto). If we want to contend for ACC titles using the mid-late first round funnel, we'll need to be putting a Malachi Richardson and Tyler Lydon into the NBA the same year, not consecutive years, with reloadable talent coming in behind them.

 

[jgeorge322]

This is such a bogus fallback. We haven't put any impact players into the league since Melo. If we want to contend for anything using the mid-late first round funnel, we'll need to be putting a Malachi Richardson and Tyler Lydon into the NBA the same year, not consecutive years, with reloadable talent coming in behind them.

Not exactly. You just need good college players to compete. Id take a cj fair over tyler lydon or mali.

 

[longislandcuse]

Not exactly. You just need good college players to compete. Id take a cj fair over tyler lydon or mali.

Ok, well we aren't doing that either since we've been wildly mediocre since joining the ACC.

...and yes, I'll take improbable Final 4's over a successful regular season. However, we actually have to get into the tournament to do that.

 

[jgeorge322]

Ok, well we aren't doing that either since we've been wildly mediocre since joining the ACC.

...and yes, I'll take improbable Final 4's over a successful regular season. However, we actually have to get into the tournament to do that.

Thats fine and i agree were in a bit of a valley right now but it also seems people are being extreme.

 

[djorange1989]

Thats fine and i agree were in a bit of a valley right now but it also seems people are being extreme.

We have been in a valley since sanctions hit. You are dead on, people are being very extreme