JUCO impact

[shaunsimpson]

Interesting article on JUCOs from last year. I was one of the few who way overvalued the recruiting class and looking at things like this can show that JUCOs rarely contribute the way we would hope for them to.

JUCO article (http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/new/story/2006_07_juco_class_less_productive40692)

[jplog]

Even more reason to give Mick credit on last years last minute class. Three of the top ten (on this guys list anyway).

[solomon33]

I have to admit I overvalued last year's class as well. Even after the news of all three centers, I still thought that we would win a few more games. With that being said, jucos or not these players experienced a lot of things during this season and hopefully with an influx of new talent they can transition with the youngsters into a competitive team. At least they know what it feels like to lose, and hopefully they didn't like that feeling!

[Nator]

Isn't their performance and therefore ranking on this list slightly tainted by their opportunity to perform? On another team with less roster holes, it would have been tougher to get the minutes and PPG

[London 'Cat]

At UC under Huggins, the JUCO players were much more effective in their second D1 season. I'll be interested to see the statistical analysis following next season to see whether the players contribute more or less in their second season. At UC, I believe playing time will decrease significantly for all of the JUCOs, the exception being Williamson. His time will likely decrease, but he will still see significant minutes off the bench.

[shaunsimpson]

Nator - I agree. I wasn't putting this out there as a "look what a great job Mick did" kind of thing. I was showing how important it is to get young talent that you can develop into your system. Mick was under the gun and this shows how hard it was to succeed last year.

Oppertunity is huge. I wonder how many rebounds/points Othella Hunter at OSU would have had at UC due to his height?

Just thought it interesting.

[waterhead]

I think Williamson was the only Juco player that would have or could have provided significant playing time (25+ minutes), scoring (10+ points), and rebounding (5+ rebounds) for the better teams in the Beast. I think the rest of the Jucos at Cincy would have to come off the bench for the most part in top level Beast play. Their numbers were seriously skewed because of the lack of talent on our team.

That being said Huggins had pretty good success recruiting at the top of the Juco ranks. Some of the guys Mick "had" to recruit Huggins wouldn't have bothered with. Juco is nice to fill immediate needs or when you can get a super standout player. I would much rather recruit the 3-4-5 star high school guys with a good head on their shoulders but thats what all teams are looking for.