Should We Be Concerned?

[longtimefan]

Depth looks very thin right now, and we lose Yancy and Dion after this year. I hope the freshmen start contributing but I am really starting to worry about the future as well. Should we be concerned that we have nobody signed for the 2012 recruiting class?

[bearcats011]

Yes... We should. Its frightening. Next year essentially all we have coming back is Kilpatrick, Wright, and Jackson

[coach]

no we should not. we only have two scholarships as shaq thomas will be back next year. with this big of a frosh class, they likely will have to use at least one if not both for jucos. juco recruiting is typically done in the feb-apr timeframe. they will likel need some instant help offensively depending on who pans out this year once we get thru march.

[Major ----de Coverley]

not a lot of "instant help" offensively in the Juco ranks anymore. Instant warm body and role player is about all to expect.

[CincyEngGrad02]

coach Cronin could take 5 guys named Harry and win. I'm not worried a bit.

[BearcatAlum1]

Originally Posted by Major ----de Coverley

not a lot of "instant help" offensively in the Juco ranks anymore. Instant warm body and role player is about all to expect.

Darius Odom Johnson and Jae Crowder at Marquette would disagree...

Nurideen Lindsay at St Johns.....

There are a bunch of guys that can contribute in the JC ranks.

[Best Body]

Originally Posted by longtimefan

Depth looks very thin right now, and we lose Yancy and Dion after this year. I hope the freshmen start contributing but I am really starting to worry about the future as well. Should we be concerned that we have nobody signed for the 2012 recruiting class?

Absolutely yes. There are between 17-18 unsigned players from the top 100 left, depending on which one you look at. Mick MUST get at least one of these players. UC is losing its most talented player (possibly 2 best players), and sorry but this current class of freshman is underwhelming. More 3 star guys aren't going to cut it in the BE, if you look at how many of the top 100 are going to other BE schools.

This Andrew White kid is exactly what the program needs, and Mick needs to start signing these kids vs. "getting in on them" or whatever.

If South Florida, Providence, Syracuse, West Virginia, UCONN, etc. not to mention Xavier can sign these players, UC ought to be able / must be able to, as well to keep pace with these teams.

[cmm27]

UC needs to stop keeping pace and start lapping some of those teams.

[coach]

Originally Posted by cmm27

UC needs to stop keeping pace and start lapping some of those teams.

that's not going to happen for various reasons. there is plenty of scoring help int the juco ranks. the difficult part with jucos is transitioning them to a more organized offensive game. most of them play a lot of one on one ball(r patterson) and it takes a while to fit in. heck, look at marshall the other night, robert goff is a prime example.

[Best Body]

Originally Posted by cmm27

UC needs to stop keeping pace and start lapping some of those teams.

baby steps: I'll settle for getting close first, then keeping pace. At that point we can start hoping to pass and lap them.

[Best Body]

Originally Posted by coach

that's not going to happen for various reasons. there is plenty of scoring help int the juco ranks. the difficult part with jucos is transitioning them to a more organized offensive game. most of them play a lot of one on one ball(r patterson) and it takes a while to fit in. heck, look at marshall the other night, robert goff is a prime example.

If UC continues to get outrecruited by X, South Florida, and Providence, and by more than half of the BE conference, something needs to change.

I did read an article yesterday on CBSsports website that ranked Murray States assistant coach as one of the top assistants in recruiting. I wonder if he worked with Mick before, and if so, perhaps he needs to be offered to do so again.

[coach]

Who would you specifically want from x, usf or providence? Holloway signed with indiana and basically fell into miller's lap when sampson imploded. Same with Crawford and Lavender. You are reading to many recruiting sites. The last big guy x signed was Frease and he isn't exactly setting the world on fire.

[GoBearcats31]

Originally Posted by coach

Who would you specifically want from x, usf or providence? Holloway signed with indiana and basically fell into miller's lap when sampson imploded. Same with Crawford and Lavender. You are reading to many recruiting sites. The last big guy x signed was Frease and he isn't exactly setting the world on fire.

X has been recruiting at a high level the last couple years (and I mean that in reference to a good 2011, good 2012 and being in on a number of quality current prospects), whether people on this board want to admit it or not. On this year's squad, Dez Wells is legit; Dee Davis is young and playing behind Holloway and Lyons, but was Jeremiah Davis' AAU teammate and has outperformed JD3 thus far.

[Best Body]

Originally Posted by coach

Who would you specifically want from x, usf or providence? Holloway signed with indiana and basically fell into miller's lap when sampson imploded. Same with Crawford and Lavender. You are reading to many recruiting sites. The last big guy x signed was Frease and he isn't exactly setting the world on fire.

Providence has two 5 star players coming in next year, and has the highest ranked 2012 recruiting class in the BE.

X has a 4 star PG coming in, rated in the 40s or 50s - 3rd ranked recruiting class for non BCS schools (after memphis and Houston).

USF is probably the worst program in the BE, yet they have a top 100 player signed for 2012.

UC is losing Gates and Dixon, and has zero 2012 recruits signed, and almost all of the top players are committed elsewhere.

My point was that UC needs to replace a couple of its most talented players after this year, and has failed to do so, thus far. And if USF, X and Providence can get these players, UC should also be able to do so. I realize UK, Duke, Kansas and O$U are going to get whomever they want, but there are good players out there available to BE schools, and I am concerned UC isn't getting them.

I actually don't look at recruiting sites very often, but this thread made me look into it. Of course, all I need to do is look at this forum to see that UC has nobody coming at all, at this point, which is cause enough for concern.

[coach]

Originally Posted by Best Body

Providence has two 5 star players coming in next year, and has the highest ranked 2012 recruiting class in the BE.

X has a 4 star PG coming in, rated in the 40s or 50s - 3rd ranked recruiting class for non BCS schools (after memphis and Houston).

USF is probably the worst program in the BE, yet they have a top 100 player signed for 2012.

UC is losing Gates and Dixon, and has zero 2012 recruits signed, and almost all of the top players are committed elsewhere.



I actually don't look at recruiting sites very often, but this thread made me look into it. Of course, all I need to do is look at this forum to see that UC has nobody coming at all, at this point, which is cause enough for concern.

Providence has two kids coming in one who is from providence and the other who is right there in ct. They are local guys who are not always going to leave town. X has the local point guard sc as well. We will not add a pg with either of our open scholly's. USF's recruiting class right now is two juco's and the hawkins kid who has taken a liking to going to florida from michigan. We only have two openings next year. When you already have 5 frosh this year, you can't just add 2 more frosh in the fall. It does not work that way. We are not coached by Callipari.

[Best Body]

Originally Posted by coach

Providence has two kids coming in one who is from providence and the other who is right there in ct. They are local guys who are not always going to leave town. X has the local point guard sc as well. We will not add a pg with either of our open scholly's. USF's recruiting class right now is two juco's and the hawkins kid who has taken a liking to going to florida from michigan. We only have two openings next year. When you already have 5 frosh this year, you can't just add 2 more frosh in the fall. It does not work that way. We are not coached by Callipari.

The point is there are plenty of good players availabe such that schools in UC's category can get them. I am not specifically concerned with excuses as to why UC didn't get 3 or 4 of them. But rather that they have signed none.

If there was not interest in Mick's part, there wouldn't have been one of the remaining players on campus recently (white), so the Calipari deflection is lame. Mick knows he needs to replace the talent that he is losing, otherwise the kid wouldn't have visited.

The thread was basically should we be concerned. I certainly am. I think Mick is also.

[coach]

Recruiting in this day and age is a much more precise science than you seem to understand. With 13 scholly's you cannot just recruit the highest rated player in order to win recruiting rankings. You have obviously never coached bball.

[Best Body]

Originally Posted by coach

Recruiting in this day and age is a much more precise science than you seem to understand. With 13 scholly's you cannot just recruit the highest rated player in order to win recruiting rankings. You have obviously never coached bball.

Please - That's just more denial. True, I have never coached Div 1 basketball, but alot of mediocre recruiters have, and most have eventually failed b/c of that.

You are dead wrong that recruiting is complicated - O$U, UK, UNC, Syracuse, etc. win the recruiting rankings and then put the best teams on the floor. The better players you recruit, the better team you have. You can spin it all you like to make it appear that Mick is doing well, but this team needs more talent for next season, and as of now, it will not be getting any.

Sure, if you had a loaded team like Ohio State (who has no signed recruits), you don't always go get some additional studs. But try to find one highly rated player that couldn't help this team next year, or for that matter start right away. If they don't get the fairly highly rated kid that Mick had visit recently, it's b/c he didn't want to come here/liked it better elsewhere, not b/c he wasn't a good fit on the roster.

This team flat out needs a great shooter (amongst other things). It has two open scholarships. There is no precision scientific reason to not have recruited a big time player - If UC ends up with an unheralded recruit it is b/c it was the best player Mick could get to come here, period.

[Helicopter]

This team has solid PG play next year: Cash/Guin
Good forwards: Jackson/Mooj
Good Wings: Shaq/SK

And a giant dearth at the 5. They really have no acceptable Yancy replacement. Are also lacking "star power" unless Shaq is more than we expected. This team will really really struggle unless we land a big prospect.

[coach]

Originally Posted by Best Body

Please - That's just more denial. True, I have never coached Div 1 basketball, but alot of mediocre recruiters have, and most have eventually failed b/c of that.

You are dead wrong that recruiting is complicated - O$U, UK, UNC, Syracuse, etc. win the recruiting rankings and then put the best teams on the floor. The better players you recruit, the better team you have. You can spin it all you like to make it appear that Mick is doing well, but this team needs more talent for next season, and as of now, it will not be getting any.

Sure, if you had a loaded team like Ohio State (who has no signed recruits), you don't always go get some additional studs. But try to find one highly rated player that couldn't help this team next year, or for that matter start right away. If they don't get the fairly highly rated kid that Mick had visit recently, it's b/c he didn't want to come here/liked it better elsewhere, not b/c he wasn't a good fit on the roster.

This team flat out needs a great shooter (amongst other things). It has two open scholarships. There is no precision scientific reason to not have recruited a big time player - If UC ends up with an unheralded recruit it is b/c it was the best player Mick could get to come here, period.

Now you have really gone off the deep end. You're comparing UC and it's 5k fans a game to recruiting OSU, Syracuse, NC and UK? We are only in on a fraction, and i mean fraction, of the guys they get. If you are holding out for that group on an annual basis, you're kidding yourself.