Pitino shuts down HS recruiting at St. John's

[Madbiker]

Rick Pitino says he will not be recruiting high school players this year to replace those experienced players he's losing. He says you need older, experienced players to win and you won't win relying on freshmen to play key roles unless they are the top top guys like Cooper Flagg. He will be bringing in players from the portal. In his words ... there is no more in home recruiting visits only NIL negotiations. Great article.

Big East Notebook: Pitino shuts down high school recruiting | Seton Hall hoping for burst | Sorber injury update

Big East Notebook: Pitino shuts down high school recruiting | Seton Hall hoping for burst | Sorber sustains injury

www.nj.com

 

[xc84]

Makes sense.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Rick Pitino says he will not be recruiting high school players this year to replace those experienced players he's losing. He says you need older, experienced players to win and you won't win relying on freshmen to play key roles unless they are the top top guys like Cooper Flagg. He will be bringing in players from the portal. In his words ... there is no more in home recruiting visits only NIL negotiations. Great article.

Big East Notebook: Pitino shuts down high school recruiting | Seton Hall hoping for burst | Sorber injury update

Big East Notebook: Pitino shuts down high school recruiting | Seton Hall hoping for burst | Sorber sustains injury

www.nj.com

He's absolutely right. It's about "adapt or die" not waiting out freshmen and turning into a feeder program that loses a Maliq Brown-like player every couple years.
Unless Kiyan and the other blue chip recruit we're getting are generational talents, a la Melo, Flagg, Anthony Davis, who'll help you win now, HS recruiting is vastly overrated and honestly, becoming obsolete.

 

[PoppyHart]

Yup. 100%. Let someone else develop (or try to develop) your future players.

 

[phil77]

It is the new way of college sports unless the NIL turns into actual contracts like NBA 2 year deals etc this will be the norm. They see teams like Rutgers that are led by two top 5 picks but are both freshmen and they are terrible. Or teams that get top rated Freshman and after 1 year they just transfer our for a bigger pay check some place yet.

 

[althea]

I seem to remember one of our esteemed board experts suggest to do the opposite? Only recruit high school and no portal players.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I seem to remember one of our esteemed board experts suggest to do the opposite? Only recruit high school and no portal players.

I didn't say no portal players, but I am a strong advocate that high school talent can be a resource pool to leverage as programs and coaches like this stop bothering.

 

[HyattsCuse]

He’s only talking about next year. He’s not shutting down HS recruiting forever.

He has some young guys already he references in the article. He wants to surround those guys with more experience, not more youth, because his experience is leaving after this season. He’ll still have a roster with a good balance of youth and experience.

Must be nice to have a coach that understands and has a plan for roster construction. Having a billionaire back you with the NIL to make Pitino’s vision happen is helpful also.

 

[kcsu]

He’s only talking about next year. He’s not shutting down HS recruiting forever.

He has some young guys already he references in the article. He wants to surround those guys with more experience, not more youth, because his experience is leaving after this season. He’ll still have a roster with a good balance of youth and experience.

Must be nice to have a coach that understands and has a plan for roster construction. Having a billionaire back you with the NIL to make his vision happen is helpful also.

Rick should have been our coach

 

[gmoney44]

Rick Pitino says he will not be recruiting high school players this year to replace those experienced players he's losing. He says you need older, experienced players to win and you won't win relying on freshmen to play key roles unless they are the top top guys like Cooper Flagg. He will be bringing in players from the portal. In his words ... there is no more in home recruiting visits only NIL negotiations. Great article.

Big East Notebook: Pitino shuts down high school recruiting | Seton Hall hoping for burst | Sorber injury update

Big East Notebook: Pitino shuts down high school recruiting | Seton Hall hoping for burst | Sorber sustains injury

www.nj.com

He’s smart and we’re dumb. We are going to keep a horrible head coach because he has two decent freshmen.

 

[phil77]

The big rub with Freshman is very few each year can be counted on to be high-level starters each year. So they are bench players and if you don't play them enough and develop them enough then they and their camp feel like you don't have their best interest in mind and look to leave. You need to have high school players on your roster of course but you have to figure out the right balance and learn how to treat them because it is different than it was years ago.

 

[sufan59]

He’s only talking about next year. He’s not shutting down HS recruiting forever.

He has some young guys already he references in the article. He wants to surround those guys with more experience, not more youth, because his experience is leaving after this season. He’ll still have a roster with a good balance of youth and experience.

Must be nice to have a coach that understands and has a plan for roster construction. Having a billionaire back you with the NIL to make Pitino’s vision happen is helpful also.

All he has to do is deliver to keep the donors and the school has to have a plan for post Rick Pitino. But St John’s may be set and a consistent tournament team for a long time.

 

[Dcuse]

Glad you're all so happy with this strategy. Probably the only way to do it now but to me it's the end of the joy of college basketball. It stinks to the pits of hell.

 

[sufan59]

Glad you're all so happy with this strategy. Probably the only way to do it now but to me it's the end of the joy of college basketball. It stinks to the pits of hell.

That’s his strategy for this offseason. Retention and High School recruiting will become more relevant again, but not as relevant as it once was. Rick can also be pretty blunt with his strategy because he is not thinking long term. St John’s though should be thinking post Pitino though.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

The big rub with Freshman is very few each year can be counted on to be high-level starters each year. So they are bench players and if you don't play them enough and develop them enough then they and their camp feel like you don't have their best interest in mind and look to leave. You need to have high school players on your roster of course but you have to figure out the right balance and learn how to treat them because it is different than it was years ago.

It will be interesting. On the one hand if you have a kid already on campus it is easier to keep him there (cheaper too). But if they aren't playing much as a Frosh they will want more PT. At the same time their market value won't be very high, so why leave? Are you going to leave SU for more playing time at Seton Hall if you aren't getting a pay day? Some will, as they always have in the past. But it shouldn't be because of NIL. The key IMO will be prestige and winning. Old SU is harder to walk away from than last 10 year SU.

 

[kcsu]

Set the NIL for two years if possible heavy on the second year i would say 33% year one the remainder year two. Recruit kids that will need a year to develop. Like the kid from Milwaukee. Bring three of those on each year. Spend the rest of the money on portal studs.

 

[phil77]

It will be interesting. On the one hand if you have a kid already on campus it is easier to keep him there (cheaper too). But if they aren't playing much as a Frosh they will want more PT. At the same time their market value won't be very high, so why leave? Are you going to leave SU for more playing time at Seton Hall if you aren't getting a pay day? Some will, as they always have in the past. But it shouldn't be because of NIL. The key IMO will be prestige and winning. Old SU is harder to walk away from than last 10 year SU.

Yes, they may go down to Seton Hall and get some money to play guaranteed minutes then put up numbers for one year, and then transfer again to another P4 school. It is a shell game and players will go down to get minutes to go up again next year. The key for some will be prestige and winning but some some it will be cash and for some it will be development and NBA. All kids and camps will be different.

 

[phil77]

Glad you're all so happy with this strategy. Probably the only way to do it now but to me it's the end of the joy of college basketball. It stinks to the pits of hell.

Big difference between being happy about it and accepting the reality of the situation. The problem with Syracuse they are always late to the acceptance stage which means we are always behind.

 

[Dcuse]

Set the NIL for two years if possible heavy on the second year i would say 33% year one the remainder year two. Recruit kids that will need a year to develop. Like the kid from Milwaukee. Bring three of those on each year. Spend the rest of the money on portal studs.

Power has been given to the kids. By and large, they're not hanging around after a develop year. At least that's what everyone here is saying. I've been told that Moore is likely gone. He is having the quintessential development year, right? Sorry to be negative but this system sucks. Whoever the brainiac powers were that made these changes (Judges, lawyers, other idiots) I hate them.

 

[Dcuse]

Big difference between being happy about it and accepting the reality of the situation. The problem with Syracuse they are always late to the acceptance stage which means we are always behind.

Maybe, but look around. Are we really later than everyone or are we in the same boat? There's a lot of traditionally strong programs that are really struggling with this new system.

 

[Oakland]

Rick Pitino says he will not be recruiting high school players this year to replace those experienced players he's losing. He says you need older, experienced players to win and you won't win relying on freshmen to play key roles unless they are the top top guys like Cooper Flagg. He will be bringing in players from the portal. In his words ... there is no more in home recruiting visits only NIL negotiations. Great article.

Big East Notebook: Pitino shuts down high school recruiting | Seton Hall hoping for burst | Sorber injury update

Big East Notebook: Pitino shuts down high school recruiting | Seton Hall hoping for burst | Sorber sustains injury

www.nj.com

The next step in college sports; can't wait to see what is next.

 

[NineOneSeven]

College athletics!

 

[Sbucketball]

Mid Majors are becoming a sort of JV team / G-league for high school recruits. Five years ago you would have been recruited to a HM, but now you have to go lower level and put up numbers and hope to get called up. In addition to not having a choice because there will be less recruiting opportunities, it's a better way to drive up your NIL value than sitting on the bench at a HM for a year or two.

 

[bpo57]

Also works for Rick in that he'll be 73 when practice starts next season. Now he won't have to answer questions from the parents of 18 YOs of whether he intends to be at SJU for the next four years.

 

[phil77]

Maybe, but look around. Are we really later than everyone or are we in the same boat? There's a lot of traditionally strong programs that are really struggling with this new system.

That is because they are stuck in the way they have done things and what has worked for them for years and unwilling to change and adapt. This is why the ACC has fallen off all the old head coaches have retired and the entire league has fallen off because the old-school way of doing things both on and off the court just doesn't work anymore (many fans still cant accept that).

SEC not only started spending money on players but also on coaches. They have the highest paid coaches they have the biggest NIL's because they were prepared because of football. While everyone else was way behind because I guess they didn't think it would impact Basketball as much.