Selector School Status

[anomander]

The current run we have been on the last 5 years though the 2015 class has to put us among the elite of the elite. Other then UK, and Kansas, I would put Syracuse as the best program when it comes to recruiting talent. We basically have a stranglehold on the Mid-Atlantic/New England, and it's only going to get better.

Boy it feels good

 

[Full_Rebar]

It sure helps that Donahue at BC is such a non-factor in the NE area. Let's hope that they don't replace him with someone close to the BABC program and the area prep schools.

 

[Oakland]

The current run we have been on the last 5 years though the 2015 class has to put us among the elite of the elite. Other then UK, and Kansas, I would put Syracuse as the best program when it comes to recruiting talent. We basically have a stranglehold on the Mid-Atlantic/New England, and it's only going to get better.

Boy it feels good

I think we are still behind Duke and UNC in the amount and quality of high end talent, but have eclipsed UCLA and Indiana which is nice, and probably on par with Arizona.

A fly in the onitment is that our high end recruits (5 stars) are not tending to live up to their rankings as freshmen, and some beyond that.

 

[bballbeadle]

Better than - ulp! - Duke? They have two fabulous recruits coming in next year. (I think it's next year.)

 

[cusetown1]

I think we are still behind Duke and UNC in the amount and quality of high end talent, but have eclipsed UCLA and Indiana which is nice, and probably on par with Arizona.

A fly in the onitment is that our high end recruits (5 stars) are not tending to live up to their rankings as freshmen, and some beyond that.

We recruit for our team needs. UNC throws offers out because of their name they have no strategy. Arizona is well below us right now, although they had a good year last year.

 

[AlaskaSU]

We are doing what we have to do to keep up with Duke and Carolina. We are just entering the top tier of destination schools and I expect us to stay.
I go back to Manley. This is all particularly satisfying because it is exactly what I expected would happen over time as JB's consistency would, and did, lead to the pinnacle of respect and thus prestige for the program. His contribution to the program is priceless.

 

[cto]

Don't forget the credit that JB gives to the Melo Center as a recruiting aid. He has cited it several times. It opened in 2009. Cause and effect?

 

[newmexicuse]

I think we are a selector school for the kids ranked say between 20 & 100 who we want. The difference is that Kentucky, Duke, Kansas and maybe one or two of the others mentioned are selecting from amongst the Top 20 kids. Our recruiting has been terrific, but we are still not able to consistently nab from the Top 20 kids the way a few other programs seem to be doing. I think a good example of this is that we were mentioned early in recent years with Davis, Noel, & Wiggins, but we weren't really there in the end.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Duke and UNC are not too shabby.

 

[AlaskaSU]

If we beat NC and Duke, the added prestige will take us up that one last step, to elite recruiting. A lot hinges on how we do this season.

 

[thebigeast44]

McDonald's AA by school last 5 years (2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 classes):

1) Kentucky - 16
2) North Carolina - 12
3) Duke - 10
4) Kansas - 5
5) Florida - 5
6) Texas - 5
7) NC State - 5
8) SU - 4
9) UCLA - 4
10) Ohio State - 4
11) Arizona - 4
12) Memphis - 4
13) Michigan State - 3
14) Indiana - 3
15) Louisville - 3

Champs the last 5 years:

2009 - North Carolina
2010 - Duke
2011 - UConn
2012 - Kentucky
2013 - Louisville

I'll leave it there.

http://statsheet.com/bhsb/mcplayers_by_college

 

[Entropic]

I don't think you need a team of studs in the way that UK does it. You need to have some role players and leadership. Syracuse had the blueprint in '03. 1 superstar, several role players and a senior leader in Duany.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Don't forget the credit that JB gives to the Melo Center as a recruiting aid. He has cited it several times. It opened in 2009. Cause and effect?

Huge impact on recruiting, which is why I am so disappointed with SU for not getting the IPF done 5 years ago when Marrone was hired. The ability to sell kids on facilities that are available to them whenever they want is huge...and by moving hoops to the Melo Center it's opened up more space to the other teams at SU- helping them to grow.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Only the blue blood programs like Duke KU UNC and Kentucky are really selector schools. And even they lose recruits to each other. But we seldom lose a recruit we want, so that's nice.

 

[SUfanNC]

I don't think you need a team of studs in the way that UK does it. You need to have some role players and leadership. Syracuse had the blueprint in '03. 1 superstar, several role players and a senior leader in Duany.

I agree about the UK part but just because that worked in 03 doesn't mean that is a tried and true blueprint. As we have seen it takes getting things to fall your way. I'm not saying we would have won a NC but AO getting hurt that year and Fab being unavailable hurt our run at a NC since and those teams had a totally different mesh of talent. Besides let's be honest a talent like Carmelo is hard to come by and look as good as a freshman.


Hell of a ride we are on recruiting right now. It's great to be able to enjoy this.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Honestly unc's recruiting has fallen off a tad bit since Calipari went to UK. The lost zeller to indiana. I'd say its Kentucky, then Kansas, then duke, with us mixed in with unc and zona.

I do think way to much stock is put in these rankings. Our fans complain that our recruits rankings always seem to slide, while kids who go to these schools may be artificially inflated. Either way I am just glad our basketball team is playing as good as anyone right now.

 

[pfister1]

Only the blue blood programs like Duke KU UNC and Kentucky are really selector schools. And even they lose recruits to each other. But we seldom lose a recruit we want, so that's nice.

Is that last part true, or is the staff just doing a better job of focusing on the realistic targets toward the end of the process and thus focusing our attention on the guys that we are likely to get.

The only real disappointments that I recall recently are Tobias Harris and Nerlens Noel, but there are other guys that we seemed to be in the running for and then backed off as the recruitment hit the home stretch. One guy that comes to mind is Rondae Jefferson who ended up at Arizona. Amile Jefferson who is at Duke might be another example. I don't follow recruiting closely enough to know whether they lost interest in us, or we lost interest in them.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Is that last part true, or is the staff just doing a better job of focusing on the realistic targets toward the end of the process and thus focusing our attention on the guys that we are likely to get.

The only real disappointments that I recall recently are Tobias Harris and Nerlens Noel, but there are other guys that we seemed to be in the running for and then backed off as the recruitment hit the home stretch. One guy that comes to mind is Rondae Jefferson who ended up at Arizona. Amile Jefferson who is at Duke might be another example. I don't follow recruiting closely enough to know whether they lost interest in us, or we lost interest in them.

I don't recall us having really big interest in either Jefferson.

We do seem to go after guys who project to fit our system..even if it's in a few years and not as freshman. It makes a really successful program, but not a "selector school" ...whatever that means.

 

[tee1222]

I don't know. Even Kentucky has lost out to names like Coleman, Tyus Jones, Okafor, Mudiay, Aubrey, Stanley Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Wiggy Wiggy in recent years. Cal would like you to think they land everyone they target, but no one does.

 

[anomander]

Only the blue blood programs like Duke KU UNC and Kentucky are really selector schools. And even they lose recruits to each other. But we seldom lose a recruit we want, so that's nice.

I'd like to believe that if we targeted all top 20, or 50 kids like UK, UNC, and Duke to an extent we would grab even more. We are smart in recruiting for our style of play. Only so many players fall into that category in the top 20. When we target them we usually get them, or worst case have been runner up. But since the completion of the Melo Center we seem to be hitting on an unearthly percentage of our high priority recruits.

Take this season for example. We possibly could have had Derrick Jones, who is a consensus 5 star recruit, but we wanted Tyler Lydon instead. Sure Lydon isn't rated as highly, but we wanted him more because he fit our system. Then you have high 4 and 5 star recruits like Bryant, Diagne, and Diallo. We could only possibly take 2 of them, but all 3 are very realistic if we make a run. I think Bryant's recruitment will show us just how far we have come. He now has a Duke offer, is said to be a fan of UNC, and then there is always UK. We should revisit this after the 2015 class because post Melo Center we aren't taking a back seat to anyone...unless of course it's our choice

 

[anomander]

Better than - ulp! - Duke? They have two fabulous recruits coming in next year. (I think it's next year.)

we didn't even recruit them fwiw.

my point we get the guys we want more times then not