Class of 2018 PF/C Osun Osunniyi (CT) to St. Bonaventure

[Ryand877]

I fully understand recruiting. That said success in any industry is evaluated similarly. Do you think the president of a hospital wants to hear about the risk factors a patient had after a botched surgery? Do you think a CEO wants to hear the excuses of his sales rep? Nope... That said, I stand by my opinion here. We should not lose any recruit to a school like St Bonaventure. PERIOD.

In general I agree, but I feel you aren't looking at all the circumstances. JMO.

 

[kuethstheman]

Do you think the president of a hospital wants to hear about the risk factors a patient had after a botched surgery?

Yet some percentage of patients die during routine surgery.

Duke and Kentucky lose guys to lesser programs.

 

[NateW]

That makes a huge difference. Relationships are a big part of the process. Mike Hopkins had developed relationships with lots of coaches, players, etc over the years. One of the reasons we miss Hopkins most, IMO.

Downplaying networking and relationships is silly. I mean, I transferred to a college pretty much based solely on a friend who had been going there since our freshman year - he vouched for it, I visited, felt comfortable with the group of people I’d be around for the next two years and signed up.

I got an in with my current job by networking with a guy that my brother had previously worked with.

Built in comfort levels are attractive when there are so many unknowns when picking a university to attend. If all else fails, at least you’ll have that one person you know you can trust and rely on.

 

[Orangezoo]

Right now at Guard we sit with FH, JC, BB, HW
At Guard/ Flex we have EH and maybe BB ( doubtful but size maybe is there in case of emergency)
At forward OB, MD and RB
At C - PC and BS and MD( emergency).

That's a solid 10 with questions on health for two guys. Given the flex option it's 3 healthy at Guard, 4 at and 2 at Center. PC was banged up a bit but not like BS. If BS is healthy then we have a solid 3 guys at each position in terms of depth. Yes that includes worst case scenarios but last year we went beyond worst case at times. Thus OO or bubble convo makes no sense at this juncture.

 

[JazzNC]

Yet some percentage of patients die during routine surgery.

Duke and Kentucky lose guys to lesser programs.

In regards to losing patients in surgery... (as a medical professional) I can tell you, it is not looked upon too well when hospitals lose patients during surgery. That's why there is pre-op testing to determine risk assessment.

In regards to Duke and Kentucky... can you name a few recruits that they offered that went to lesser known schools on par with St Bonaventure. In the last decade, I don't think you can find any. For two reasons:

1. They don't recruit guys with borderline P5/mid major talent.
2. When Duke and Kentucky do lose a recruit to a lesser school it's more likely to be to a school like Villanova, Arizona, Michigan St, etc. They don't recruit guys thinking of going to St Bonaventure.

Maybe it wouldn't bother me so much if we had other big guys to choose from. Relationships do matter, but they shouldn't be enough to steer a recruit from Syracuse to St Bonaventure. It's just my opinion, but I see this as a big swing and a miss, if that is in fact what happens.

 

[rrlbees]

I fully understand recruiting. That said success in any industry is evaluated similarly. Do you think the president of a hospital wants to hear about the risk factors a patient had after a botched surgery? Do you think a CEO wants to hear the excuses of his sales rep? Nope... That said, I stand by my opinion here. We should not lose any recruit to a school like St Bonaventure. PERIOD.

I spent 10 years coaching and helping kids work through the recruiting process and you’re completely discounting a players wants, needs, desires, relationships etc.

 

[JazzNC]

I spent 10 years coaching and helping kids work through the recruiting process and you’re completely discounting a players wants, needs, desires, relationships etc.

You may be right, going to SB might be a better choice for OO. That doesn't in any way take away that its a swing and miss for Syracuse, if he doesn't come here.

 

[rrlbees]

In regards to losing patients in surgery... (as a medical professional) I can tell you, it is not looked upon too well when hospitals lose patients during surgery. That's why there is pre-op testing to determine risk assessment.

In regards to Duke and Kentucky... can you name a few recruits that they offered that went to lesser known schools on par with St Bonaventure. In the last decade, I don't think you can find any. For two reasons:

1. They don't recruit guys with borderline P5/mid major talent.
2. When Duke and Kentucky do lose a recruit to a lesser school it's more likely to be to a school like Villanova, Arizona, Michigan St, etc. They don't recruit guys thinking of going to St Bonaventure.

Maybe it wouldn't bother me so much if we had other big guys to choose from. Relationships do matter, but they shouldn't be enough to steer a recruit from Syracuse to St Bonaventure. It's just my opinion, but I see this as a big swing and a miss, if that is in fact what happens.

How did fultz go to UW instead of offerors UK, UNC and Az? UW is higher profile than St Bonnie but the difference is similar to SU and St Bonnie.

 

[JazzNC]

How did fultz go to UW instead of offerors UK, UNC and Az? UW is higher profile than St Bonnie but the difference is similar to SU and St Bonnie.

Y'all should know me by now. I don't cave. I have no idea why Fultz chose UW, though we can all speculate. I'm sure UK, UNC and Arizona viewed it as a big swing and miss. They didn't lose Fultz to St Bonaventure either, they lost him to UW which is in a P5 conference with lots of tv exposure.

 

[rrlbees]

You may be right, going to SB might be a better choice for OO. That doesn't in any way take away that its a swing and miss for Syracuse, if he doesn't come here.

IF, OO wants to go someplace where he can start or be a heavy contributor from day 1 AND he has a great relationship with the coach brought in from Lasalle, I can absolutely see him going to SB. If he wants to learn from one of the best centers ever I can see him going to Gtown. If he wants to play with and against some of the best players in the best conference and play for a HOF coach in front of huge crowds and isn’t concerned about PT right now, I can see him going to SU.

Each kid and each scenario are different. You have to be able to get inside a kids head, which we can’t do.

 

[JazzNC]

IF, OO wants to go someplace where he can start or be a heavy contributor from day 1 AND he has a great relationship with the coach brought in from Lasalle, I can absolutely see him going to SB. If he wants to learn from one of the best centers ever I can see him going to Gtown. If he wants to play with and against some of the best players in the best conference and play for a HOF coach in front of huge crowds and isn’t concerned about PT right now, I can see him going to SU.

Each kid and each scenario are different. You have to be able to get inside a kids head, which we can’t do.

I dont' disagree with anything you've written. It still doesn't change the fact that this is (perhaps) a big swing and miss, that shouldn't happen IMO.

 

[rrlbees]

Y'all should know me by now. I don't cave. I have no idea why Fultz chose UW, though we can all speculate. I'm sure UK, UNC and Arizona viewed it as a big swing and miss. They didn't lose Fultz to St Bonaventure either, they lost him to UW which is in a P5 conference with lots of tv exposure.

The difference between SU and st Bonnie isn’t much different than uk losing a kid to uw.

 

[JazzNC]

The difference between SU and st Bonnie isn’t much different than uk losing a kid to uw.

We can agree to disagree... that's ok.

 

[manleyzoo]

The difference between SU and st Bonnie isn’t much different than uk losing a kid to uw.

Maybe he just simply prefers SBU (if he does). Sometimes the best answer is the simplest one (see Razor, Occum).

 

[JeremyCuse]

The difference between SU and st Bonnie isn’t much different than uk losing a kid to uw.

I would disagree with that big time. Your talking about a Power 5 team who plays in the Pac 12 versus a school (relatively speaking) in the middle of no where NY who plays in a conference most college bball fans couldn't name if you paid them a grand. The differences is enormous.

 

[JazzNC]

Maybe he just simply prefers SBU (if he does). Sometimes the best answer is the simplest one (see Razor, Occum).

If that's the case we didn't do enough to sell him on our program.

 

[PauliePeppas]

Does he turn down a Mich St, Zona, Nova if they came calling the same time Syracuse did?

 

[OrangeDW]

I would disagree with that big time. Your talking about a Power 5 team who plays in the Pac 12 versus a school (relatively speaking) in the middle of no where NY who plays in a conference most college bball fans couldn't name if you paid them a grand. The differences is enormous.

Agreed. And UW has put a good number of kids in the NBA in the last decade or so. St. Bonnie’s might as well not exist on that front.

 

[SoBeCuse]

If that's the case we didn't do enough to sell him on our program.

I don’t know. I don’t think SU can afford to be taking too many projects like Osun and Braswell. Braswell has some upside for sure even though I’m not as high on him as others. But, Braswell is intriguing, can jump & shoot even though he is pretty clunky and stiff, IMO. We should be trying to win ACC Championships. I’m OK with rolling the dice hoping Sidibe comes back healthy and stronger. Paschal will be even better I’m sure and hopefully stronger physically as well. It’s risky but IF those two are good to go than the C position is fine. Now Carrigan is another story. He’s a guy who can come in and potentially leapfrog someone which is great. Can’t have enough talent. Osun likely wouldn’t be able to contribute for awhile. Ballhandlers and shooters is what I hope the staff will address. Not enough ballhandlers (any position) and shooters with OUR system? More games in the 50s/60s. Not good.

 

[Janner]

While I think it would be a nice pick up to get OO I don't necessarily think this recruitment is the end all and be all. As others have stated he would be a bit of a luxury this year with Chewy and Sidebe coming back. They were playing no where near 100% last year and still preformed adequately, and we have an experience MD in case of an emergency.

OO would likely play a larger roll in creating continuity and assistance in future years, which is certainly important. That said, for all we know OO might not even be the last option to pick up a quality center for this year. Once the draft combine filters itself out you will have another run on traditional transfers which could serve the same purpose. Also we are in the mix for some quality bigs in 2019 and I am sure other bigs will also emerge as the process continues. The silver lining of not getting OO would be our increased appeal to some quality bigs in 2019 especially if Sidebe is not able to fully recover. Is it ideal, most certainly not, but I guess what I am trying to say is that there is a TON of time for numerous other developments to occur between now and then so lets see how things play out.

 

[rrlbees]

I would disagree with that big time. Your talking about a Power 5 team who plays in the Pac 12 versus a school (relatively speaking) in the middle of no where NY who plays in a conference most college bball fans couldn't name if you paid them a grand. The differences is enormous.

Ask uk or its fans if they think uw is or should be a player for any of their recruits. It might hurt people’s feelings but uk is a selector school, we are not. Just like some can say we should never lose a recruit to the Bonnie’s, uk would say the same about uw.

But that’s not even the point. Unless you’re in the kids head there could be valid reasons he selects st Bonny...or Gtown...or SU. A stud like bazley doesn’t worry about competition and roster make up (he would have started over Dolezaj) but a kid like OO if he’s realistic isn’t going to think that way. If you had it in your head that you wanted to go someplace where you’d start or play big minutes this fall and that was your number one criteria, where would you go?

 

[rrlbees]

Does he turn down a Mich St, Zona, Nova if they came calling the same time Syracuse did?

Depends on what’s important to him.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I don’t know. I don’t think SU can afford to be taking too many projects like Osun and Braswell. Braswell has some upside for sure even though I’m not as high on him as others. But, Braswell is intriguing, can jump & shoot even though he is pretty clunky and stiff, IMO. We should be trying to win ACC Championships. I’m OK with rolling the dice hoping Sidibe comes back healthy and stronger. Paschal will be even better I’m sure and hopefully stronger physically as well. It’s risky but IF those two are good to go than the C position is fine. Now Carrigan is another story. He’s a guy who can come in and potentially leapfrog someone which is great. Can’t have enough talent. Osun likely wouldn’t be able to contribute for awhile. Ballhandlers and shooters is what I hope the staff will address. Not enough ballhandlers (any position) and shooters with OUR system? More games in the 50s/60s. Not good.

You make some excellent points in that post but if you look at the current team and whats on the horizon recruiting wise Osun actually would be an excellent pick up. Recruiting has been a bit up and down, clearly we still ahve gotten elite players ie Carey Bazley, and Goodine but we have also struggled to get top end big men (who hasn't besides Duke, Zona , KU an UK) and our recruiting has been a bit uneven when you look at the struggles with the sanctions. With Uconn now getting a coach with a pulse and other NE teams getting more active it would be nice to get a guy like Osun to have a backup plan if were unable to hit any of our big targets in 2019 as there is a ton of competition for those C/PF types. We all saw what happened last year when we our main targets chose elsewhere and we were force to scramble. Luckily we got Dolezaj but imagine if we hadn't.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Ask uk or its fans if they think uw is or should be a player for any of their recruits. It might hurt people’s feelings but uk is a selector school, we are not. Just like some can say we should never lose a recruit to the Bonnie’s, uk would say the same about uw.

But that’s not even the point. Unless you’re in the kids head there could be valid reasons he selects st Bonny...or Gtown...or SU. A stud like bazley doesn’t worry about competition and roster make up (he would have started over Dolezaj) but a kid like OO if he’s realistic isn’t going to think that way. If you had it in your head that you wanted to go someplace where you’d start or play big minutes this fall and that was your number one criteria, where would you go?

Your comparing different things in your post. SU losing a recruit to Gtown is totally understandable, losing one to St. Bonaventure is an enormous difference, your talking about two different things. Your probably right about UK and its fans but again the comparison is off the mark. UK might think they should never lose a guy to a school like UW but UW is another power 5 school who plays in a premier conference. Thats like PSU getting upset that they lost a recruit to Syracuse or Pitt or even Rutgers, there fans might not get it but its not a crazy development. This scenario is like Penn State losing a kid to Kent State or Syracuse losing a kid to Army.

The availability of PT is a valid concern but that still shouldn't trump a scholarship offer from a program like Syracuse that I think we all believe is just outside of blue blood status. We can't compare ourselves to Duke, UNC, and UK and then not be able to close on a kid like this.

 

[rrlbees]

You make some excellent points in that post but if you look at the current team and whats on the horizon recruiting wise Osun actually would be an excellent pick up. Recruiting has been a bit up and down, clearly we still ahve gotten elite players ie Carey Bazley, and Goodine but we have also struggled to get top end big men (who hasn't besides Duke, Zona , KU an UK) and our recruiting has been a bit uneven when you look at the struggles with the sanctions. With Uconn now getting a coach with a pulse and other NE teams getting more active it would be nice to get a guy like Osun to have a backup plan if were unable to hit any of our big targets in 2019 as there is a ton of competition for those C/PF types. We all saw what happened last year when we our main targets chose elsewhere and we were force to scramble. Luckily we got Dolezaj but imagine if we hadn't.

I want to be clear I very much want OO. I see a lot of potential in the few videos we have of him. And I do ageee you can never have enough bigs. They seem to be more hit and miss than wings and guards, especially here. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t understand why in the kids mind that SU doesn’t offer him what he could get someplace else. Then there’s that whole asst coach thing.