Fond memories of recruitments past.

[cuseman404]

I think so.

When is he deciding?

 

[Jake]

Good enough for me. Jake pretty much confirmed we are landing Green, Diallo, Randolph and Bamba. You have read between the lines, but it's there.

Lol. I wish..

 

[HoustonCuse]

Good enough for me. Jake pretty much confirmed we are landing Green, Diallo, Randolph and Bamba. You have read between the lines, but it's there.

Yep that's how I read it too. Look close and he also confirms the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa and who was on the grassy knoll. It's all there.

 

[orangefog]

Yep that's how I read it too. Look close and he also confirms the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa and who was on the grassy knoll. It's all there.

A simple Jake post is more enlightening than doing LSD with the Beatles in Bangladesh.

 

[orangefog]

Lol. I wish..

I'm just messing around, I took Nyquil. It is at least good to know that we are alive with the big four targets and that the staff hasn't given up on any of them.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Hell, I remember watching Gerry play in the Pennsylvania state tournament streaming online when he was a senior committed to SU.

This was in the years well before the name change to U of S.

I remember the video of that crazy game where he had 50-some points. I think it was the state semifinals. He was practically hitting them from half court once he got on a roll. Yeah, that was a great one.

 

[Francis03]

I remember when making his college announcement, Hodge walked in the gym with an Adidas bag. Right then and there it was basically obvious where he was heading. It's quite funny looking back because I remember him laughing to me about us getting Hak as his plan B and saying that he wasn't any good. I think it's safe to say that Hak will probably go down as the greatest backup plan recruit of all time. Gary D told JB after the Hodge debacle "not to worry, I'll get you another player." That gift turned out to be Louie Mac. JB owes Gary D a chair shot to return the favor. Melo's ACT score was also a great memory. I was scared to actually check the board when the verdict was out whether he got the score he needed or not. The meltdown this board had when we supposedly took some 3 star scrub at the time name MCW, than the brash 5 star Tony Wroten was another classic moment.

 

[tep624]

Been following recruiting for the past 20 years or so. Lots of whackiness.

I thought we got Melo early, before he blew up into a top 5 player. Seemed relatively mild compared to recruitments today. Then he showed up on campus 10-15 lbs bigger than expected and it was a foregone conclusion he was one and done.

The Hodge recruitment was probably the most intense. I mean, it was war. Gary DeCesare screwed us a little bit on that one, but Steve Hodge was the really bad guy here. I remember Hodge going on Adam Schine's show on the weekend of his visit.

We were desperate after the Greg Davis / Janes Theus class that essentially cost Orr and Fine their jobs on the road.

I think Hop learned a ton about recruiting when we lost him to NCState.

Getting Fab Melo when everyone thought he was a Louisville lock was brilliant. (The recruitment, not the net result).

Seen a few whiffs too. Josh Wright over Kyle Lowry...still stings. Tobias Harris and DeShawn Sims..

Getting Dion Waiters his freshman year in high school and waiting forever for him to get here.

This year's stuff has been crazy though. Very different for us to be in the market so late in the year.

We need to get rockin on 2017...it's getting late early.

We did get Melo early, really early for that time. At the time when we got him, he hadn't physically developed and then he just blew up his senior year and I'm pretty sure there was real concern he would declare for the NBA right out of high school if I remember correctly.

Then there were also those rumors that Lebron wasn't going to declare out of high school so he could come to Syracuse and play a year with Melo, so Melo would return for his Sophomore year. Loved those.

 

[RF2044]

I remember when making his college announcement, Hodge walked in the gym with an Adidas bag. Right then and there it was basically obvious where he was heading. It's quite funny looking back because I remember him laughing to me about us getting Hak as his plan B and saying that he wasn't any good. I think it's safe to say that Hak will probably go down as the greatest backup plan recruit of all time. Gary D told JB after the Hodge debacle "not to worry, I'll get you another player." That gift turned out to be Louie Mac. JB owes Gary D a chair shot to return the favor. Melo's ACT score was also a great memory. I was scared to actually check the board when the verdict was out whether he got the score he needed or not. The meltdown this board had when we supposedly took some 3 star scrub at the time name MCW, than the brash 5 star Tony Wroten was another classic moment.

That was hilarious... and sad. Epic-ally dumb thread.

 

[Briancuse]

If the Tobias Harris recruitment happened these days it would have been a circus. That had it all, from "point forwards" to painted rocks, to rumors of hearing the team celebration of his alleged commitment, during halftime of some random Tennesee game. Lol that had to be the best.

I think Tobias Harris was really the first player that I followed on the recruiting trail, probably the only player that I was really ticked off about losing.

 

[hoopsupstate]

To me, the toughest loss was Sam Perkins. JB spent the whole year going to Albany to watch him play. He would have joined Rautins, Bruin, and Santifer. They could have been pretty good. "Big Smooth" was a difficult loss for JB. That was before you had all the resources to keep up with the recruiting. I remember trying to listen to an Albany sports radio show, hoping to get some information.

 

[Trueblue25]

I had fun arriving on this board in time to see the Nerlens Noel threads.

 

[Scotch]

I remember when making his college announcement, Hodge walked in the gym with an Adidas bag. Right then and there it was basically obvious where he was heading. It's quite funny looking back because I remember him laughing to me about us getting Hak as his plan B and saying that he wasn't any good. I think it's safe to say that Hak will probably go down as the greatest backup plan recruit of all time. Gary D told JB after the Hodge debacle "not to worry, I'll get you another player." That gift turned out to be Louie Mac. JB owes Gary D a chair shot to return the favor. Melo's ACT score was also a great memory. I was scared to actually check the board when the verdict was out whether he got the score he needed or not. The meltdown this board had when we supposedly took some 3 star scrub at the time name MCW, than the brash 5 star Tony Wroten was another classic moment.

Just want to say that this is a fun thread. Love hearing details after the fact from insiders.

Most annoying for me were Nerlens, Tobias and Thomas Bryant. On the plus side, it was fun to know that Jake felt good about Fab when the world was preaching a Louisville lock. Wish all of them were like Dion and MCW.

 

[pfister1]

This year's stuff has been crazy though. Very different for us to be in the market so late in the year.

We need to get rockin on 2017...it's getting late early.

Question for you:

How different is this year in terms of our allocation of resources?

1. Are we under a limitation in the number of guys that can recruit off campus for us?
2. Did having to focus on Gillon, TT and AWIII so late in the recruiting cycle for this season distract resources from Class of '17 recruiting efforts to a degree that it might be impactful and might that be why things are progressing slowly for us now?
3. Did JB and Hop's involvement with the Olympics negatively impact recruiting in the sense that we were still dedicating lots of time to finalizing this year's team and then JB and Hop were both away and/or distracted by their obligations to USA basketball.

Just wondering if we are behind the curve, or it is really just the way that it happens to be shaping up this year?

 

[pfister1]

I think Tobias Harris was really the first player that I followed on the recruiting trail, probably the only player that I was really ticked off about losing.

I remember losing Adonal Foyle to Colgate. There wasn't as much information generally available in those days to know if he had been an SU lean or just a target, but to know that a guy we had interest in chose Colgate over SU was crushing.

Also remember losing Donyell Marshall to UConn. Again not sure how solid we were with him, but at the time based on the information available I thought we had a decent shot.

First disappointment I recall is Sam Perkins (UNC), like hoopsupstate mentions.

Others were King Rice (UNC), Kenny Anderson (Ga Tech) and Jalen Rose (Michigan)...Andray Blatche, Curtis Aiken.

The trail of tears....

 

[HoustonCuse]

I remember losing Adonal Foyle to Colgate. There wasn't as much information generally available in those days to know if he had been an SU lean or just a target, but to know that a guy we had interest in chose Colgate over SU was crushing.

Both of his parents were Colgate faculty so I don't think it was as insane as it sounds. I think the feeling was he would come to Syracuse if he went anywhere but Colgate. It was just impossible to believe that any top player would go to Colgate and even now it would be hard to think. It's not like Colgate is 400 miles away or a much better academic school or even close to a peer athletically. So still a little odd.

 

[Francis03]

That was hilarious... and sad. Epic-ally dumb thread.

Quite funny and ironic that Wroten was MCW's backup during their Philly days.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Both of his parents were Colgate faculty so I don't think it was as insane as it sounds. I think the feeling was he would come to Syracuse if he went anywhere but Colgate. It was just impossible to believe that any top player would go to Colgate and even now it would be hard to think. It's not like Colgate is 400 miles away or a much better academic school or even close to a peer athletically. So still a little odd.

I was a huge Sam Perkins fan but I never pictured him in Orange. Losing Foyle hurt the most to me. I couldn't figure him going to Colgate either but he did. It definitely was a little odd. I'm sure JAB doesn't mind beating Colgate 50 more times in a row to make up for it.

 

[OttoMets]

Both of his parents were Colgate faculty so I don't think it was as insane as it sounds. I think the feeling was he would come to Syracuse if he went anywhere but Colgate. It was just impossible to believe that any top player would go to Colgate and even now it would be hard to think. It's not like Colgate is 400 miles away or a much better academic school or even close to a peer athletically. So still a little odd.

Not for nothing, but Colgate is a much better school.

Anyway, you're right about the faculty connection. I get the sense that there was only one school he truly considered. (Why one would want to take five-hour bus rides to Easton, PA is beyond me, but I guess he enjoyed the experience.)