Recruiting for the Zone and Early Departures

[JOC44]

One collateral consequence of the Syracuse zone is that it leads to guys leaving before we get top-end performance from them at the college level. When we recruit for the zone, we recruit tall, rangy, athletic guys. Those guys are oozing with "upside potential," which makes them attractive candidates to be drafted as an early entry even if they haven't yet delivered big-time performance at the college level. As a result, we're in the dilemma that we often lose guys who are "ready" to turn pro in the sense that they have interest from NBA teams, but haven't yet delivered on their potential through big-time production at the college level.

Teams that don't consistently recruit tall, rangy guys with "NBA bodies" don't have this same problem. I'm not saying we should stop playing zone or stop recruiting for the zone, but this is a fact of life flowing from the defense we play and the way we recruit.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Recruiting for the zone is the exact reason why we can’t score this year.

 

[longtimefan]

One collateral consequence of the Syracuse zone is that it leads to guys leaving before we get top-end performance from them at the college level. When we recruit for the zone, we recruit tall, rangy, athletic guys. Those guys are oozing with "upside potential," which makes them attractive candidates to be drafted as an early entry even if they haven't yet delivered big-time performance at the college level. As a result, we're in the dilemma that we often lose guys who are "ready" to turn pro in the sense that they have interest from NBA teams, but haven't yet delivered on their potential through big-time production at the college level.

Teams that don't consistently recruit tall, rangy guys with "NBA bodies" don't have this same problem. I'm not saying we should stop playing zone or stop recruiting for the zone, but this is a fact of life flowing from the defense we play and the way we recruit.

The big wild card here is the real possibility that the NBA/NBAPA/NCAA come up with a change to the one-and-done rule. That would rearrange the whole world of recruiting, starting with Duke/UK and rippling down to all of the peons.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

One collateral consequence of the Syracuse zone is that it leads to guys leaving before we get top-end performance from them at the college level. When we recruit for the zone, we recruit tall, rangy, athletic guys. Those guys are oozing with "upside potential," which makes them attractive candidates to be drafted as an early entry even if they haven't yet delivered big-time performance at the college level. As a result, we're in the dilemma that we often lose guys who are "ready" to turn pro in the sense that they have interest from NBA teams, but haven't yet delivered on their potential through big-time production at the college level.

Teams that don't consistently recruit tall, rangy guys with "NBA bodies" don't have this same problem. I'm not saying we should stop playing zone or stop recruiting for the zone, but this is a fact of life flowing from the defense we play and the way we recruit.

What type of player should we be recruiting?

 

[Fly Rodder]

What type of player should we be recruiting?

Preferably the ones who can catch the ball from a pass, dribble, and make a layup.

 

[JOC44]

What type of player should we be recruiting?

I'm not necessarily saying we should change. If we're sticking with the zone (spoiler alert: we are), we can recruit for the zone and realize those players have the physical attributes that will tend to make them attractive to the NBA before they've really had production in college, or we can recruit guys less well suited for the zone and not have the zone be as good (but who might stick around longer).

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

One collateral consequence of the Syracuse zone is that it leads to guys leaving before we get top-end performance from them at the college level. When we recruit for the zone, we recruit tall, rangy, athletic guys. Those guys are oozing with "upside potential," which makes them attractive candidates to be drafted as an early entry even if they haven't yet delivered big-time performance at the college level. As a result, we're in the dilemma that we often lose guys who are "ready" to turn pro in the sense that they have interest from NBA teams, but haven't yet delivered on their potential through big-time production at the college level.

Teams that don't consistently recruit tall, rangy guys with "NBA bodies" don't have this same problem. I'm not saying we should stop playing zone or stop recruiting for the zone, but this is a fact of life flowing from the defense we play and the way we recruit.

I think everybody recruits tall, rangy athletic guys, especially elite programs. We are recruiting the same players as Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, and Arizona, whom all play man to man defense.

 

[Cheriehoop]

The big wild card here is the real possibility that the NBA/NBAPA/NCAA come up with a change to the one-and-done rule. That would rearrange the whole world of recruiting, starting with Duke/UK and rippling down to all of the peons.

I don’t see where many of our players drafted early would have been recruiting targets directly out of high school anyways. We play a pro style ISO offense in a premier conference which highlights an individual’s offensive skills to drive, hit 3’s. That SU recruits for length and athleticism is also a definite plus for NBA evaluators. MCollough was probably the only recent recruit that I can think of who may have been an NBA target out of high school.

 

[shermstheman]

I think everybody recruits tall, rangy athletic guys, especially elite programs. We are recruiting the same players as Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, and Arizona, whom all play man to man defense.

Cuse isn’t recruiting the same players as those programs- they go after to top 10 or 20 which Cuse isn’t able to do right now, Bazely excepted. Cuse goes after what they think they can get, those three go after what they want.

 

[Briancuse]

Cuse isn’t recruiting the same players as those programs- they go after to top 10 or 20 which Cuse isn’t able to do right now, Bazely excepted. Cuse goes after what they think they can get, those three go after what they want.

I don't think its because we can't get them jb hasn't been recruiting them.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I don't think its because we can't get them jb hasn't been recruiting them.

There are probably very good reasons why we don’t go after a top player and why JB believes we wouldn’t have a chance.

 

[Briancuse]

There are probably very good reasons why we don’t go after a player and why JB believes we wouldn’t have a chance.

I don't want to sound concieted but we are syracuse we should be able to get pretty much any recruit we want..

 

[cuseattle]

Our recruits go up one star when we recruit them, and another half when someone else does. JB has a good eye.

 

[Shark58]

I don't want to sound concieted but we are syracuse we should be able to get pretty much any recruit we want..

 

[cuseattle]

In former Soviet Union, milk bags you.

 

[Jake]

One collateral consequence of the Syracuse zone is that it leads to guys leaving before we get top-end performance from them at the college level. When we recruit for the zone, we recruit tall, rangy, athletic guys. Those guys are oozing with "upside potential," which makes them attractive candidates to be drafted as an early entry even if they haven't yet delivered big-time performance at the college level. As a result, we're in the dilemma that we often lose guys who are "ready" to turn pro in the sense that they have interest from NBA teams, but haven't yet delivered on their potential through big-time production at the college level.

Teams that don't consistently recruit tall, rangy guys with "NBA bodies" don't have this same problem. I'm not saying we should stop playing zone or stop recruiting for the zone, but this is a fact of life flowing from the defense we play and the way we recruit.

Yep. Especially at the guard positions.

 

[CuseCPT]

In former Soviet Union, milk bags you.

I don’t think you really need to say former anymore.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Cuse isn’t recruiting the same players as those programs- they go after to top 10 or 20 which Cuse isn’t able to do right now, Bazely excepted. Cuse goes after what they think they can get, those three go after what they want.

Look at the list of players I gave. Trevon Duval, Jordan Tucker and Alex O'Connell all ended up at Duke. Diallo, Quade Green and Nick Richards all picked Kentucky. Billy Preston picked Kansas. Jahvon Quinerly and Brandon Randolph picked Arizona. VJ King ended up at Louisville. Syracuse recruited all of those players. We can't recruit every Top 20 kid because it doens't make sense. Some kids we have no shot at because of geography, but we do recruit Top 10 and Top 20 kids. We recruited Duval and Porter and Bamba, all Top 5 kids. Lonnie Walker Top 15.

 

[syrcuse]

Look at the list of players I gave. Trevon Duval, Jordan Tucker and Alex O'Connell all ended up at Duke. Diallo, Quade Green and Nick Richards all picked Kentucky. Billy Preston picked Kansas. Jahvon Quinerly and Brandon Randolph picked Arizona. Syracuse recruited all of those players. We can't recruit every Top 20 kid because it doens't make sense. Some kids we have no shot at because of geography, but we do recruit Top 10 and Top 20 kids. We recruited Duval and Porter and Bamba, all Top 5 kids. Lonnie Walker Top 15.

I think it's how "hard" we recruit those players. Not going after the top guys for a few years takes us out of the conversation for the following year's next top players. We need to be out there and aggressive on the recruiting trail THat includes the top guy...if we want to land the top tier guys. We don't have to do that but you can see where that has taken us.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

I think it's how "hard" we recruit those players. Not going after the top guys for a few years takes us out of the conversation for the following year's next top players. We need to be out there and aggressive on the recruiting trail THat includes the top guy...if we want to land the top tier guys. We don't have to do that but you can see where that has taken us.

I don't know what that means. We recruited Duval pretty hard for a while, then we stopped. Maybe he wanted to get paid. We recruited Quade Green really hard. We recruited Bamba and Porter early on, but there may not have much interest on their end, or we determined it was highly unlikely they pick Cuse. Maybe they won't come for a visit, so there's no point to continue to recruit them. We had Billy Preston on campus for a visit. He turned out to be shady. Quinerly was going to get $100,000, right? Maybe Syracuse doesn't want to recruit the kid for good reason. We recruited Harry Giles the year before, but that kid was never leaving the state of North Carolina.

 

[two3zone]

I don't know what that means. We recruited Duval pretty hard for a while, then we stopped. Maybe he wanted to get paid. We recruited Quade Green really hard. We recruited Bamba and Porter early on, but there may not have much interest on their end, or we determined it was highly unlikely they pick Cuse. Maybe they won't come for a visit, so there's no point to continue to recruit them. We had Billy Preston on campus for a visit. He turned out to be shady. Quinerly was going to get $100,000, right? Maybe Syracuse doesn't want to recruit the kid for good reason.

Of course, any kid that doesn't come here must be getting paid.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Of course, any kid that doesn't come here must be getting paid.

Not what I said, but Preston and Quinerly look questionable right now. I don't think Tucker or O'Connell are getting paid at Duke, just think they picked a better program. It's hard to beat out Duke when they offer.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Recruiting for the zone is the exact reason why we can’t score this year.

Imagine if we signed Quade Green, Jordan Tucker and Lonnie Walker. We recruited those kids, right?

 

[syrcuse]

Imagine if we signed Quade Green, Jordan Tucker and Lonnie Walker. We recruited those kids, right?

We can play the "what ifs" and we recruited to the best of our knowledge and ability (without paying as you suggest) assumptions. But the proof ultimately comes down to what's on the floor. And...as I'm sure you know, our beloved recruiting guru Francis, has said the top guy hadn't been to a hs game that wasn't his boys' in a long time. I understand summer AAu, but recruiting is a full time aspect of the job as well. I think we've been missing that.

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

Imagine if we signed Quade Green, Jordan Tucker and Lonnie Walker. We recruited those kids, right?

Fair point. But recruiting for the zone is also why we currently have a 6'5" HS SG starting at PG for us. It worked with MCW (who played MUCH more PG in HS/AAU than Frank). We'll see if it works with Goodine, who's being brought in to play PG.