I am confidant that the coaches have a plan

[pfister1]

I'm not sure Thompson wouldn't play his freshman year. I think Chukwu is a bit raw and if DC2 can't play a bunch of minutes then that leaves us with Lydon playing some in the middle along with the wing. Then we have Roberson on the other wing with Moyer spelling him. If Roberson gets into foul trouble or has a few really bad games and needs to come out which seems possible then we would need someone else to take minutes.

The way Lydon finished the season, I wouldn't be totally opposed to him being a backup guy in the middle. Just so long as he plays most of his minutes at one of the forward spots.

 

[SUintheVille]

With the departures of both KJ and Chino, I have to think the coaches have some plans in place to replace those ships. Suddenly, we have plenty of ships.

Here's some new ships JB's bringing in. They look good.

 

[CraigForth]

We are in shape to grab a huge 2017 class, even with the scholly limits.

We have 3 scholarships available now. Let's say we get a high school kid with one of them (Thompson maybe), that leaves 2 that we'll probably fill with grad transfers who will just be here for a year. Then, we have Richardson and Lydon almost certainly leaving sometime before the 2017 season, with DC2 and Roberson definitely leaving. That's 4 more schollies for a total of 6. If Tyus leaves, we're at 7.

6-7 scholarships to work with for 2017 is insane! It could be a bad thing if we whiff on a bunch of recruits, but I'll count it as a plus. Unlike at times in the past, we can go to truly elite recruits and say, "hey, we can guarantee you'll start and see the court for 30 mpg, and we have other spots open for elite player X and elite player Y to play alongside you." Not to get too far ahead of myself, but if ever we were going to land a class with a superstar and/or multiple guys in the top 25, 2017 is it. Diagne should be available at that time, too.

I like having open scholarships because I enjoy following recruiting and it makes it interesting, but, having 6-7 open scholarships would not be a good thing. That many open ships would be a disaster in my opinion. It's not like we are UCONN or Arizona, we haven't offered/recruited 45 kids in the 2017 class. We aren't Duke or Kentucky either, in order to land recruits, we actually have to take the time to recruit them. This is how Ron Patterson happens.

 

[jr4750]

I like having open scholarships because I enjoy following recruiting and it makes it interesting, but, having 6-7 open scholarships would not be a good thing. That many open ships would be a disaster in my opinion. It's not like we are UCONN or Arizona, we haven't offered/recruited 45 kids in the 2017 class. We aren't Duke or Kentucky either, in order to land recruits, we actually have to take the time to recruit them. This is how Ron Patterson happens.

agreed. The prospect of 2017-2018 and what could happen is daunting. I think we have so much potential in 2016-17 you have to focus there first, but you need to start offering 2017's heavily, and tell them playing time can be wide open.

 

[Brooky03]

I like having open scholarships because I enjoy following recruiting and it makes it interesting, but, having 6-7 open scholarships would not be a good thing. That many open ships would be a disaster in my opinion. It's not like we are UCONN or Arizona, we haven't offered/recruited 45 kids in the 2017 class. We aren't Duke or Kentucky either, in order to land recruits, we actually have to take the time to recruit them. This is how Ron Patterson happens.

We've also had successful big recruiting classes from top to bottom before. The 2010 class was Fab (violations aside), Waiters, Fair, and Keita. This last class was Richardson, Lydon, Howard, and Diagne (who would have been good if he was ruled eligible). And the 2007 class was huge, with Flynn, Greene, Scoop, Rick, and Kristof (we'll ignore Sean Williams haha).

I'm not saying we'd use all 6 or 7 scholarships on one class. It just opens up a lot of opportunity to grab a 4 or 5 deep class with some serious talent at the top. And it allows for carryover to the next recruiting class, which helps with stability.

 

[CraigForth]

We've also had successful big recruiting classes from top to bottom before. The 2010 class was Fab (violations aside), Waiters, Fair, and Keita. This last class was Richardson, Lydon, Howard, and Diagne (who would have been good if he was ruled eligible). And the 2007 class was huge, with Flynn, Greene, Scoop, Rick, and Kristof (we'll ignore Sean Williams haha).

I'm not saying we'd use all 6 or 7 scholarships on one class. It just opens up a lot of opportunity to grab a 4 or 5 deep class with some serious talent at the top. And it allows for carryover to the next recruiting class, which helps with stability.

For sure, point well taken

 

[jordoo]

I think whatever happens to round out the 2016 class 2017 will be a huge class. We all know that. It seems we look like we are in very good shape with Green & Diallo. We are hard after Richards and also recruiting Bamba. Of course these things are all very fluid. That being said having another deep run next season combined with lots of available PT and some good pieces left in place we will be a very desirable destination for these high level prospects.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We are in shape to grab a huge 2017 class, even with the scholly limits.

We have 3 scholarships available now. Let's say we get a high school kid with one of them (Thompson maybe), that leaves 2 that we'll probably fill with grad transfers who will just be here for a year. Then, we have Richardson and Lydon almost certainly leaving sometime before the 2017 season, with DC2 and Roberson definitely leaving. That's 4 more schollies for a total of 6. If Tyus leaves, we're at 7.

6-7 scholarships to work with for 2017 is insane! It could be a bad thing if we whiff on a bunch of recruits, but I'll count it as a plus. Unlike at times in the past, we can go to truly elite recruits and say, "hey, we can guarantee you'll start and see the court for 30 mpg, and we have other spots open for elite player X and elite player Y to play alongside you." Not to get too far ahead of myself, but if ever we were going to land a class with a superstar and/or multiple guys in the top 25, 2017 is it. Diagne should be available at that time, too.

We have been in a position to recruit this way about every 4 or 5 years, it seems, where we can absolutely load up on a class. Problem is, the last time we took 5 guys, it was the Ennis class, only two of whom turned out to be good enough to contribute. That's the main cause of our current pain and lack of depth. That class has 3 whiffs - Chino, BJ and Buss.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yep...That class is going to really decide how the JB to Hop transition goes. I think we really need to have a monster class, maybe not in terms of high end talent, but we can't miss on kids. There will be so little certainty going into the '17-'18 season, and we'll absolutely need some impact freshmen or we're looking at a terrible year. Now if we knock that class out of the park, we would be in great shape going forward.

If we want to remain elite, we have to get two elite guys in that class, and ideally we get three. You can use the others to fill in the roster.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Is Dembele any good? His offer list isn't very impressive.

That practice video shows a kid with very good lateral mobility for his size, a pretty decent shooting stroke, especially for a big man from Africa who has played little organized ball, and he looks very bouncy and seems to catch the ball fairly well. He just came to the US this fall, and it's hard for colleges to scout kids who only appear during the school year, if they don't play any AAU ball in the summer. Taurean Thompson seems to have some basketball skills, finishing inside, etc., but does not look like the kind of athlete that Dembele is. His reaction time is not that great. Thompson is not "electric" to watch; he's functional.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Never known JB not to have a plan.

The problem is, according to his plan, he can't be bothered with in-home meetings with top prospects if it requires a flight layover. Regardless of the other intangibles, it will be nice to get back to a national recruiting footprint when Hop takes over.

 

[dasher]

The problem is, according to his plan, he can't be bothered with in-home meetings with top prospects if it requires a flight layover. Regardless of the other intangibles, it will be nice to get back to a national recruiting footprint when Hop takes over.

I don't believe that is true. Good to see you posting again. Where have you been?

 

[Brooky03]

We have been in a position to recruit this way about every 4 or 5 years, it seems, where we can absolutely load up on a class. Problem is, the last time we took 5 guys, it was the Ennis class, only two of whom turned out to be good enough to contribute. That's the main cause of our current pain and lack of depth. That class has 3 whiffs - Chino, BJ and Buss.

Yeah, we definitely can't afford another class like that going into the Hop era.

 

[BlazeOrange]

Here's some new ships JB's bringing in. They look good.
View attachment 60088

Hopefully this...

and not this...