Class of 2015 Junior Day?

[supp]

I'm going to keep bringing it up every year until it finally actually happens.

 

[bcubs9497]

I'm going to keep bringing it up every year until it finally actually happens.

Until what finally happens?

 

[tep624]

Until what finally happens?

The staff prefers to bring kids on campus 1 on 1 during the spring rather than having a large scale junior day like other schools do. We go through the debate every year on this board as to whether it's a big deal that they don't do an actual junior day or not.

 

[Bambrewer]

We went to a couple jr days and it's good for all the local kids... Probably works well down south. But keep in mind these kids have to pay to go on these trips the college can't give them anything. We went to a jr day at BC and had to pay 10 dollars for the lunch. We also there same day as an offical visit was going. They were doing all kinds of stuff we couldn't do with them.

 

[bcubs9497]

The staff prefers to bring kids on campus 1 on 1 during the spring rather than having a large scale junior day like other schools do. We go through the debate every year on this board as to whether it's a big deal that they don't do an actual junior day or not.

Ah, junior days.

I think they're kinda over-rated.

 

[Libero2]

Ah, junior days.

I think they're kinda over-rated.

I would say they have their benefits but as Bam pointed out, they are way better for the local kids than the top kids who are a long ways away. And let's be honest in terms of true locals with the Syracuse program, their aren't very many major tAlents we would want to host. Perhaps 3-4 NY kids and a PA kid or two (that we would be really interested in), not many else would be able to attend easily.

 

[Rocco]

While there are clearly positives associated with hosting a big junior day, I will point out why I think it could also be negative. I truly like Shafer's approach to these types of things.

If a kid (junior or sophomore) along with 25-30 other kids his age, there is a good chance that he won't get to spend good time with the HC or position coach one-on-one. If the kid feels "snubbed" or "ignored", it will leave him with a bad taste in his mouth about the school. When the time comes to start narrowing down his schools, a lousy experience during our junior day could eliminate SU from contention. This is obviously is not always going to happen, but you can see why Shafer doesn't like these events.

Shafer's approach is that he wants a limited number of kids here at any one given time. That way, he can guarantee a good 30-45 minutes of one-on-one time with the kid and his family. That is where he sets the foundation for the relationship. You can ask many kids on the team or current signees and I'm sure a few of them will talk about how great it was just talking with Shafer. Shafer is a good dude at heart and he truly is passionate about a kid's best interests. It is not hard at all to see this when you talk to him.

 

[oldpinepoint]

While there are clearly positives associated with hosting a big junior day, I will point out why I think it could also be negative. I truly like Shafer's approach to these types of things.

If a kid (junior or sophomore) along with 25-30 other kids his age, there is a good chance that he won't get to spend good time with the HC or position coach one-on-one. If the kid feels "snubbed" or "ignored", it will leave him with a bad taste in his mouth about the school. When the time comes to start narrowing down his schools, a lousy experience during our junior day could eliminate SU from contention. This is obviously is not always going to happen, but you can see why Shafer doesn't like these events.

Shafer's approach is that he wants a limited number of kids here at any one given time. That way, he can guarantee a good 30-45 minutes of one-on-one time with the kid and his family. That is where he sets the foundation for the relationship. You can ask many kids on the team or current signees and I'm sure a few of them will talk about how great it was just talking with Shafer. Shafer is a good dude at heart and he truly is passionate about a kid's best interests. It is not hard at all to see this when you talk to him.

That my friend was a good post!

 

[supp]

While there are clearly positives associated with hosting a big junior day, I will point out why I think it could also be negative. I truly like Shafer's approach to these types of things.

If a kid (junior or sophomore) along with 25-30 other kids his age, there is a good chance that he won't get to spend good time with the HC or position coach one-on-one. If the kid feels "snubbed" or "ignored", it will leave him with a bad taste in his mouth about the school. When the time comes to start narrowing down his schools, a lousy experience during our junior day could eliminate SU from contention. This is obviously is not always going to happen, but you can see why Shafer doesn't like these events.

Shafer's approach is that he wants a limited number of kids here at any one given time. That way, he can guarantee a good 30-45 minutes of one-on-one time with the kid and his family. That is where he sets the foundation for the relationship. You can ask many kids on the team or current signees and I'm sure a few of them will talk about how great it was just talking with Shafer. Shafer is a good dude at heart and he truly is passionate about a kid's best interests. It is not hard at all to see this when you talk to him.

The coaches have talked endlessly about getting ahead in the recruiting cycle. A junior day is one way to do so. Go look at our competition in the region. Many of them already have 5-6 commits from the junior class. For all the talk about one-on-one time, we've seen how many of these recruits decide to go to school together after meeting each other on visits. You can't overlook the camaraderie that the group visits create. And most importantly, if you want to sell kids on the Syracuse experience, wouldn't it be nice for them to see the Dome when it's rocking? The coaches don't have the excuse of game prep to arrange a junior day on a bball game weekend. Can Rutgers or Penn State or BC offer the atmosphere of a Syracuse-Duke or Syracuse-UVA game?

Also, not a direct response to your post but to others in this thread: yes, junior days would largely be for local kids, meaning those in the 5-hour radius. With the new push to grab a bigger chunk of Jersey, this is one way to do it.

 

[Rocco]

The coaches have talked endlessly about getting ahead in the recruiting cycle. A junior day is one way to do so. Go look at our competition in the region. Many of them already have 5-6 commits from the junior class. For all the talk about one-on-one time, we've seen how many of these recruits decide to go to school together after meeting each other on visits. You can't overlook the camaraderie that the group visits create. And most importantly, if you want to sell kids on the Syracuse experience, wouldn't it be nice for them to see the Dome when it's rocking? The coaches don't have the excuse of game prep to arrange a junior day on a bball game weekend. Can Rutgers or Penn State or BC offer the atmosphere of a Syracuse-Duke or Syracuse-UVA game?

Also, not a direct response to your post but to others in this thread: yes, junior days would largely be for local kids, meaning those in the 5-hour radius. With the new push to grab a bigger chunk of Jersey, this is one way to do it.

If you read the beginning of my post, I acknowledged that there are positives associated with a junior day; I was pointing out the negatives and the things that Shafer wants to stay away from.

It doesn't matter IMO that other schools have 5-6 commits already. Pretty sure we had like 20 by the end of June last year. That is good stuff.

 

[tep624]

The coaches have talked endlessly about getting ahead in the recruiting cycle. A junior day is one way to do so. Go look at our competition in the region. Many of them already have 5-6 commits from the junior class. For all the talk about one-on-one time, we've seen how many of these recruits decide to go to school together after meeting each other on visits. You can't overlook the camaraderie that the group visits create. And most importantly, if you want to sell kids on the Syracuse experience, wouldn't it be nice for them to see the Dome when it's rocking? The coaches don't have the excuse of game prep to arrange a junior day on a bball game weekend. Can Rutgers or Penn State or BC offer the atmosphere of a Syracuse-Duke or Syracuse-UVA game?

Also, not a direct response to your post but to others in this thread: yes, junior days would largely be for local kids, meaning those in the 5-hour radius. With the new push to grab a bigger chunk of Jersey, this is one way to do it.

While I agree that it is an opportunity to expose a large number of kids to the program, the problem I continue to have with it is the lack of talent in a 4-5 hour radius of the program. Upstate NY is paper thin. So basically you're hoping that NYC, North/Central Jersey, and North/Eastern PA kids are going to come up, and maybe some New Englanders. With the numbers you're likely to see from those groups, I think you can still effectively recruit in a targeted way rather than the mass visit route.

Is there any correlation between having a junior day and landing a significant number of commits? I remember last year when people were falling all over themselves because BC had some big names up to their junior day and they subsequently landed no one as a result of that junior day.

I think they make a ton of sense if you're in Texas, Florida, Georgia etc because there are so many recruits in those states. But I still don't know if they're necessary in the Northeast.

And our competition in the region - Pitt and BC have Zero commits, Rutgers 3, and PSU 4. I expect PSU, and a little surprised that Rutgers has a good an early start as they do.