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Message: [QUOTE="RF2044, post: 2984881, member: 40"] Back in the late 80s / early 90s, our recruiting profile was completely different. We were going toe-to-toe with blue chip programs for blue chip recruits -- and landing our fair share. Guys like Pearl Washington [#1 rated overall in his class], Derrick Coleman [#2], Billy Owens [#1B], John Wallace [#7], we were landing seemingly every class -- along with other McD's and top 35-ish kinds of recruiting classes. That 1987 class had DC, Stevie, Earl Duncan, and Keith Hughes -- all in the top 35. Two of them transferred out because they couldn't get PT. Nowadays, those guys would be the crown jewel of our recruiting classes. Then, shiz hit the fan in 1991, when the Post-Standard published a multi-year investigation titled "Outside the Lines: How SU plays ball off of the court." The investigation was a hatchet job, outlining hundreds of allegations, but it drew the attention of the NCAA, who then spent a full year sifting through the findings. At the end, they nailed us with about 10 minor findings, but we were the first program that the NCAA had the opportunity to drop the hammer on, so they did. While that investigation was going on, we lost out on several prospects that I think we otherwise might have had a chance to land, including highly rated blue chippers like Donyell Marshall and Jalen Rose. We were very fortunate that we landed John Wallace, who came to SU over Kansas because he wanted to stay closer to home to be near his younger brothers -- even with the impending spectre of probation hanging over the program. One of the things the PS investigation focused on was SU's relationship with a buffoon named Rob Johnson, who was a "street agent." Johnson had been highly instrumental in steering McD's all american Conrad McRae to Syracuse [or at least that was the perception]. After the NCAA penalties, SU was one of the first programs to establish a compliance office, and whatever recruiting shenanigans were going on before came to an abrupt halt. From there, our recruiting "range" tangibly dipped. We still went after some highly rated guys, but the days of recruiting entire classes of top 35 talent were gone. JB started landing quality athletes who were dark horses with upside, and many of those guys panned out. But we still underwent a dry spell in the mid 90s, until we landed the highly touted Hart / Etan / Blackwell class. Those guys weren't immediate impact players like the players from the early 90s, but by the time they were upperclassmen they were good, and they had a pretty good senior year. Things changed when we brought in Troy Weaver, who then helped us to land quality players from the DC area [Edelin, Carmelo -- who wasn't as highly rated when he committed to us as a junior as where he ended up], as well as important players like Pace, Warrick, Forth, etc. Suddenly we were cooking with gas again. In fact, we had classes lined up a full year in advance, which enabled our coaching staff to start focusing on the next year's class, making inroads / establishing relationships with the juniors, etc. Overall, I think we used to play the game -- and that's how we were landing blue chip talent [along with the high profile Big East, playing in the largest on campus basketball arena in college sports, etc.]. Then, we got hit with sanctions, and JB switched things up. We started recruiting lower rated guys with high athletic upside. Then we transitioned again to going after zone athletes. And most recently, we've transitioned to looking for bigger guards, emphasizing length up top over basketball skill. It's been a long strange trip. [/QUOTE]

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