Class of 2025 SF Aaron Womack (WI) COMMITTED TO SYRACUSE (9/30/24)

[two3zone]

why don't we let the portal guys play first before you pass judgement on "they aren't acceptable". Why do you think a class full of freshmen is going to make leaps and bounds in today's ncaam? There's not many 18 and 19 years old who do well in this current environment against 24 years olds especially a team full of them. I'm bullish on HS recruits these days, you win with a mixture sure but also you're completely forgetting that while we may miss on these HS recruits, they might end up being here eventually later down the road.
You might be right on the portal guys, but let's see them play.

Expecting massive improvements from middle of the road mid major players is asking a lot.

The guy people are trashing for playing "10 minutes a game" at Duke next year would easily be this teams best player.

 

[two3zone]

Both of those guys you could watch their tape and be quite underwhelmed too. Seeing a kid like this and then seeing the tape showing things we want to see vs more question marks is what we should see when an under the radar kid pops up. When a project looks like a major project on tape to us then that’s a concern. Give me kids that don’t look their ranking all day long. Nothing is a guarantee but it’s refreshing to see a kid like this vs some of the others.

This isn't true, I was berated because I said Howard stunk and a bunch of tool boxes were getting off on his elite vision.

I'm just going to talk about this guy anymore, he'll be playing for some mid central state after this season anyway.

 

[two3zone]

Woody Newton 2.0

He was a top 100 I think though.

 

[two3zone]

agreed

im not too up to date on who is who in this recruiting class

but I feel like people in this thread are way too focused on the ratings ...they really dont mean much.

i mean Ja Morant was a zero star unranked player...steph curry was a 3 star and apparently not even in the top 50 PGs in hs class...STEPH CURRY!!

if that doesnt tell you what you need to know, idk what to tell you.

there's simply way too many players across the country for the rankings to be accurate...

unfortunately SU hasnt really hit too well on some guys that were lower rated in the past couple years...so I get that there's some whiplash here...but it does happen frequently that lower rated guys blow up in NCAABB. do I want 5 stars? yeah...obviously...but schools like kentucky havent won much lately, either.

when i watch Womoack's tape, there's a lot to like: he moves like a guy under 6 feet (in a good way)...his shot is wet...and there's a good chance he keeps rowing and comes in around 6'8" or whatever...players that coordinated at his height are not really that common, imo (assuming he keeps growing)

my hope is that they had womack run with the current team unofficially and he did well...so they scooped him up.

as fa as missing out on the other recruits...it happens. these guys have so many options...its a numbers game. i'd rather them swing and miss than not swing at all.

keep going for the 5 stars.

team just needs to have a great season and the 5 stars will come.

what are people expecting from a team that hasnt made the tourney in 3 years????

this coming season is huge. have a great season and it changes everything, imo

For every Curry and Morant there are about 10,000 guys who are selling insurance.

They should buy lotto tickets with any investment for this kid and put any potential winnings into NIL. Or hope he's Curry.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Was told this when the Buss Pattersons and Frank Howard's were starting for us.

If this guy averages 14.5 ppg on a sweet 16 team I will be happy

 

[two3zone]

The core of the Championship team, Duany, McNeal, Forth, Warwick, and Pace were not highly rated. Melo, and Billy from. Oak Hill, and Gerry one of best players from PA, were the main players and Warwick grew up that year.

You could put Melo on almost any team for that 20 year period and you probably win the title. Not discrediting the team, but he's a generational college player.

 

[two3zone]

If this guy averages 14.5 ppg on a sweet 16 team I will be happy

You thought Frank Howard was good? He was horrible.

 

[DoctahLexus]

You thought Frank Howard was good? He was horrible.

Wink face=messing around

 

[two3zone]

Wink face=messing around

 

[DoctahLexus]

The full Frank Howard story is a good deal more complicated lol

 

[hoopsupstate]

We’ve had several 4 and 5 star flops.

 

[two3zone]

Here are the 23-24 AA teams with their HS recruit rating. Anything below a 4 star is outside the top 100 ( some waaay outside) and 2 of the 4 stars here are outside the top 100. If you know what you are doing finding talent the rating is meaningless. Below is a perfect example of why.

2023-24 all Americans 1st team - HS rating
Zach Edey - 3 star
Tristan Newton- 0 star
Jamal Shead 3 star
RJ Davis 4 star
Dalton Knecht - juco 0 star

2nd team
Tyler Kolek- 0 star
Daron Holmes 4 star
Mark sears - 3 star
Kyle Filipowski- 5 star
Hunter Dickinson - 4 star

Third team

Jaedon ledee borderline 4 star
Johni Broome 3 star
Terrence Shannon - 4 star
Caleb love- 5 star
Baylor Schieierman -0 star

How does thay prove rankings are meaningless? The pool of top 100 players substantial smaller than non top 100 players. They make up less than 1% of college players and they take up 50% of the list.

 

[orangefog]

This response took waaay longer than I had expected. Well done.

I was driving. I had to wait for a light.

 

[Sherman20]

Here are the 23-24 AA teams with their HS recruit rating. Anything below a 4 star is outside the top 100 ( some waaay outside) and 2 of the 4 stars here are outside the top 100. If you know what you are doing finding talent the rating is meaningless. Below is a perfect example of why.

2023-24 all Americans 1st team - HS rating
Zach Edey - 3 star
Tristan Newton- 0 star
Jamal Shead 3 star
RJ Davis 4 star
Dalton Knecht - juco 0 star

2nd team
Tyler Kolek- 0 star
Daron Holmes 4 star
Mark sears - 3 star
Kyle Filipowski- 5 star
Hunter Dickinson - 4 star

Third team

Jaedon ledee borderline 4 star
Johni Broome 3 star
Terrence Shannon - 4 star
Caleb love- 5 star
Baylor Schieierman -0 star

Thank you for posting this.

 

[tptcuse]

How does thay prove rankings are meaningless? The pool of top 100 players substantial smaller than non top 100 players. They make up less than 1% of college players and they take up 50% of the list.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I was driving. I had to wait for a light.

I admire the restraint. Good roll modeling by you.

 

[Sherman20]

Was told this when the Buss Pattersons and Frank Howard's were starting for us.

But he could also be like a James Southerland or Rautins or Arinze or Triche, all 3 stars or less. You don’t know. You don’t always have to point to the examples of the lower rated busts or guys that disappointed. Frank was seen as a fringe top 100 project and Buss was a random add-on at the last minute. I had zero expectations for Buss.

 

[Sherman20]

You could put Melo on almost any team for that 20 year period and you probably win the title. Not discrediting the team, but he's a generational college player.

Disagree. Look at Durant at Texas. He wasn’t able to do that. You have to get talent around him and team players.

 

[Niastri]

How does thay prove rankings are meaningless? The pool of top 100 players substantial smaller than non top 100 players. They make up less than 1% of college players and they take up 50% of the list.

The last couple years was also an aberration with hundreds of four and five year players that otherwise would have playing pro somewhere.

NIL and the COVID year made the last few years extraordinary. Edey, Bacot and others like them went the full five years and made good money as a result. They also put up huge numbers in spite of being low level NBA prospects (at best).

A player being a decent talent that won't get drafted, but can put up big numbers in college is a specific niche that became lucrative.

The abnormality will discontinue going forward.

The top talent goes pro after one or two years, often without making much mark on the college game. The balance of four year players has swung back a bit, with guys that would have tried for the draft and wings up playing internationally actually making better money in college.

It's probably not a coincidence that this year, we have a bunch of four year guys who have decent talent, and a lot of experience.

If we get the right gestalt from all that experience, we could have a terrific team with only one or two NBA talents.

 

[dasher]

At best, we know he wasn’t a high priority considering he wasn’t brought in until this late. And seriously, looking at his other offers, you’re surprised he jumped at SU?

Well, you are wrong. We have been on him for awhile. the coaches think he is really good. We have been worried that he might get an offer from a couple of local schools and that we would be out. This is very far away from being a settle. And not for nothing, that it is October should tell you that.

 

[djcon57]

Disagree. Look at Durant at Texas. He wasn’t able to do that. You have to get talent around him and team players.

Easy, JB vs Barnes.

 

[djcon57]

Tristan Newton being a 0 star is apples to oranges.

If Womack went to William & Mary for 3 years and averaged 18 pts a game his Jr year then came to Syracuse his Sr year, that'd be a better compare.

Not 1 of the "0 Star" players on that list made the list with the team they started with. That's the issue.

 

[Orangezoo]

How does thay prove rankings are meaningless? The pool of top 100 players substantial smaller than non top 100 players. They make up less than 1% of college players and they take up 50% of the list.

So it’s a double sided comment. I’m not saying rankings are meaningless as a whole I’m just saying that if you know how to find talent, top 100 or not - the number next to their name doesn’t mean much at all. We split hairs over 65 vs 150 vs 450 as fans but it’s more nuanced than that. The success of players outside that top 100 proves that talent evaluation and success isn’t strictly tied down to recruiting ranking.

Theres a common sense line there too- I’m not saying you can just recruit a bunch of guys not ready to play that cost nothing. That said if you look at that AA team- half are finds not chart toppers. We’ve always leaned on both big time recruits and guys not ranked as highly that developed that were talented college players when all was said and done. When you look at how many higher ranked guys we have had that never played to their ranking it just further points out that you recruit talent first and things work their way out in the end.

 

[Sherman20]

Easy, JB vs Barnes.

I hope you’re being sarcastic. I was trying to refute a point by twothree that Melo could’ve won the title with any other team around him, which is not true. Barnes may be a perennial tourney flameout but he’s had a lot of success at Texas and Tennessee for years and years.

 

[Orangezoo]

Tristan Newton being a 0 star is apples to oranges.

If Womack went to William & Mary for 3 years and averaged 18 pts a game his Jr year then came to Syracuse his Sr year, that'd be a better compare.

Not 1 of the "0 Star" players on that list made the list with the team they started with. That's the issue.

Isn’t that more about the portal significance though? We have to play every avenue( more than ever now). The appropriate balance of HS talent that’s higher ranked to portal guys to 3-4 yr guys that include finding underrated talent seems to ebb and flow from program to program. So zeroing in on a HS class ranking is a bit overplayed unless you have a top 10 NIL budget.

We have struggled in 2 of those 3 aspects if not all 3 ( portal is still newer so too early to truly grade yet) in our decade of struggles. We’ve missed on guys both higher and lower ranked paired with the outcomes that go with. Many top 25 programs though have succeeded with all of the above and it shows.