Ouch

[heresjohnny88]

He didn't want to come here. Simple as that. Next.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Every center looks like an All-American against Syracuse this season. Chino is good, but no better than what Syracuse already has.

 

[Gotothehole]

+

He shoots FTs under handed, and is far from an all american. A legacy recruit we could have had if wanted...maybe. But I can see why they wouldn't put on the full court press for him. He averages 10 and 9, and looked AA against us last night, but he is not even in the same category as say Rak's Sr year. He is a functional big, and I can see why SU fans would drool over that THIS year. But I would not take this as some great indicator of the staff's ineptitude.

We don’t have the luxury of turning away any kid who has game and wants to come here away

 

[rrlbees]

Someone this board during this kid’s recruitment, said he did not want to come here. Now we find out he did not even get a phone call? We let a legacy recruit get away? He beat our** like it was personal last night. We can’t let kids like this get away

Not exactly how it went down.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

+



We don’t have the luxury of turning away any kid who has game and wants to come here away

But what in the history of his recruiting suggests he even wanted to? The kid could just be spouting revisionist history. And I disagree that things are so bad we'll take any recruit who shows interest back to the school. The staff selects who fits in with their model. They didn't expect to be so short handed in the middle this year, but it's not because they didn't have a C in place from the same class as Chinanu.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Someone this board during this kid’s recruitment, said he did not want to come here. Now we find out he did not even get a phone call? We let a legacy recruit get away? He beat our** like it was personal last night. We can’t let kids like this get away

I don't see a story here. He is a Louisville player. I couldn't care less what he says about Syracuse. It isn't like we refused to recruit LeBron James here. It's like being totally upset that we didn't recruit that Milon kid from BC just because he had a good game against us. Who knows what the full story is, but I know we were in the hunt or thought we had outstanding chances for some seriously talented bigs at the time he was on the board. Yeah, it turns out it would be nice to have Onuaku now, but having him would mean that our scholarship penalties would be extended or we would have to kick Obokoh to the curb. Onuaku is better than Obokoh but I thought we prided ourselves on not being a Jim Calhoun style program who would throw a good kid out on his butt because a better player came along?

 

[JDubbin]

I don't see a story here. He is a Louisville player. I couldn't care less what he says about Syracuse. It isn't like we refused to recruit LeBron James here. It's like being totally upset that we didn't recruit that Milon kid from BC just because he had a good game against us. Who knows what the full story is, but I know we were in the hunt or thought we had outstanding chances for some seriously talented bigs at the time he was on the board. Yeah, it turns out it would be nice to have Onuaku now, but having him would mean that our scholarship penalties would be extended or we would have to kick Obokoh to the curb. Onuaku is better than Obokoh but I thought we prided ourselves on not being a Jim Calhoun style program who would throw a good kid out on his butt because a better player came along?

Why didn't we recruit a one half wonder lefty shooter like Milon?!

 

[AlaskaSU]

My memory is no longer perfect but I know for certain that I started the first thread on Chin, many years ago, on the recruiting board. therefore, I followed the thread. It dragged on for quite a while with at least one poster stating that he was not interested. I wish that we would ofat least tried to change his mind. the mind of a teen is silly putty; sometimes amenable to change, sometimes not, but worth a try. perhaps the parents closed the door?

 

[Gotothehole]

Bees how did it go down

 

[TheCusian]

I get the family connection - but there are literally teams full of players that play well against us that we pass on (or they pass on us). It's how this works.

 

[Rocketlax44]

Recruiting is a two-way street, he would have needed to show an interest in us if he wasn't on our radar initially. He would have been around 8 years old when SU was recruiting his older brother...

 

[KaiserUEO]

no way the kid is so calculating and suave with the press that he can get a dig in on a school and turn the tables by saying he didnt get a call when in fact he didn't want to go there because of some bullspit reason that his brother didn't like the team trainer.

you guys live in fantasy land.

we didn't want him.

simple as that.

we've been missing on some recruits lately, bj, patterson, oboko, caleb...and clearly not wanting onuaku was another miss.

 

[pfister1]

+



We don’t have the luxury of turning away any kid who has game and wants to come here away

Well actually we only have 11 scholarships so not only do we have the luxury of turning guys down, we actually have to do it all the time. Sometimes you will have wished that you had pursued someone harder, you can't be right with all of your projections. I am sure there are lots of schools that wish they had worked harder to get Hakim and many others over the years.

 

[RF2044]

I still remember it as him not having any interest in us. That could be why we didn't pursue him if he made it clear. The memory is foggy but I seem to remember part of it having to do with AO's rehab or their opinion of the rehab.

Yes, this. What I was told was that the Onuaku family didn't think our athletic department handled Arinze's knee as well as they could have. I don't want to say I'm certain, but this comes from someone who wouldn't be wrong.

Both of these ^^^^ are consistent with what I've heard, as well.

 

[dasher]

Both of these ^^^^ are consistent with what I've heard, as well.

That would seem kind of ridiculous to me. So, the kid had a great 5 years here and because they didn't like the trainer, he doesn't want to even give us a visit?

 

[cuseinseattle]

That would seem kind of ridiculous to me. So, the kid had a great 5 years here and because they didn't like the trainer, he doesn't want to even give us a visit?

I would think that would be a huge deal. If he was trying to get back and ready to fill out an NBA roster or get a good run in D League and the parents felt like it wasn't handled right they would be really pissed. I'm assuming it's his last rehab and not the one before when he medical red shirted.

 

[KaiserUEO]

no way the kid is taking passive/aggressive shots at JB and the monster that is Syracuse basketball.

only way any of that makes sense is if the parents or AO, told Syracuse to not bother and never told him about it.

but then if the staff still didn't bother to kick the tires, that would be a complete disgrace and lazyass Fn way of recruiting.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

DC and Rak were on the roster.

 

[RF2044]

That would seem kind of ridiculous to me. So, the kid had a great 5 years here and because they didn't like the trainer, he doesn't want to even give us a visit?

No, it was because they were displeased with how Arinze's medical situation was handled--not the trainer.

 

[two3zone]

DC and Rak were on the roster.

And Chinoso?

 

[Cheriehoop]

Might just be a story of timing, differing priorities. We had Rakeem, we had DC ( who we didn't envision getting injured), Chinosa and had been recruiting Thomas Bryant since shortly after he was born . We may not have targeted another center thinking there was no real need. We then targeted Diagne rather late after the extent of DC's injury was known and unforeseen difficulties with Bryant's recruitment which didn't work out.

Things like early entries, injuries etc can suddenly alter years of recruiting and development work/plans. Couple that with our reduced scholarships which normally wouldn't be an issue for us except for the unanticipated early entries and injury issues, we now find gaps in our roster. We lost some of our ability to develop players who needed time to develop. Lots of could have, should haves after the fact which other teams like Louisville have filled with recruited grad students. There are now 1 year Plug n play players that have changed the recruiting landscape mitigating the inescapable results of early entries, recruiting evaluating misses, transfers and unexpected injuries. What would Louisville's roster and record look like without Lewis and Lee? We just have had very little wiggle room.

 

[RF2044]

What would Louisville's roster and record look like without Lewis and Lee? We just have had very little wiggle room.

It is shocking how bad they'd be without those two fifth year senior transfers. I wonder how they got in this boat?

 

[Cheriehoop]

It is shocking how bad they'd be without those two fifth year senior transfers. I wonder how they got in this boat?

Anton Gill not working out so he transferred to Nebraska after his sophomore year last year, Terry Rosier going pro after his sophomore year, Quentin Snyder , Kentucky's Mr Basketball, slower in developing than anticipated and Shaquan Aaron transferring to USC all last year left them with very few guard options particularly with their ball pressure defense which thrives on some depth.

 

[721Comstock]

DC and Rak were on the roster.

AND CMac. AND Chino.
AND the talk was (incorrectly, but) that we were going to land Bryant the next year, too.

How many bigs would be possibly want at the same time??

We couldn't possibly have known that CMac would leave AND DC would get hurt again AND Chino would be a bust AND we wouldn't get Bryant AND Diagne would get screwed by the NCAA AND...

you just can't plan for every contingency. Especially now with limited scholarships.

AND... supposedly he wasn't actually interested in coming to SU anyway.
Which is really all that matters.
See: Bryant, Thomas.

(PS - I realize that Bryant and Diange are a different class than Onuaku - but he really didn't do all that much last year as a Frosh, so it's only now, after last night, that folks are lamenting us "not recruiting" him)

 

[two3zone]

I see everyone's reasoning behind not recruiting him, but no contingency plan? Can't make one stinking phone call?

He was obviously playing with a chip on his shoulder and with all due respect to the "insiders" making posts saying it was because of how AO's injury was handled, or he wanted his own destiny or whatever has been said, it's been said by literally 1 or 2 people the entire time and just gets repeated on here. The horses mouths keep talking with this situation and others yet people around here refuse to admit they're wrong.

I trust CTO and Francis, outside of that I don't buy one thing others say.