It seems like there are rumblings on the home board, mostly stemming from how Duke's been recruiting compared to UNC lately, but I don't know if he's feeling any heat yet, other than the usual you get from a demanding fan base.
Yeah, I bet the guy coming off a last second loss in the title game is feeling a ton of heat because of slow start to recruiting
it's weird. if we miss on all three of knox, vandy and pj, it's going to be a brutal class. if we get one, it's going to be a great class. no in between 2018 is already shaping up to be good with leaky black and coby white committed and things look good with zion williamson so far
Trae Young was thinking about signing in the fall but he confirmed this week that he intends to sign in the spring like he had originally planned Nick Richards, #14 overall and #2 center according to 247, announcing at 2 - Seems like a Kentucky lock PJ Washington, #15 overall and #6 PF according to 247, announcing at 6 - Kentucky the very heavy favorite John Petty, #31 overall and #5 SG according to 247, announcing at halftime of his HS game - Sounds like he is going to Alabama over Kentucky
every year... White and Black are definitely nice though, seem to be in our wheelhouse of upper echelon guys who stay a few years I'd imagine we'll be pushing hard for grad transfers if we miss out on Knox
i think we will regardless if we miss on pj and vanderbilt knox doesn't want to play the four and i don't like a theo pinson/luke may rotation at the 4
Looks like Alabama is going to end up with a 5-star backcourt. Just got a commit from PG Collin Sexton, expected to get commit from SG John Petty later tonight
how unbearable is it going to be when we just absolutely run shit in football and basketball. also baseball and academics
Until the blue bloods finish their classes of course. Congrats on the 4* and 5* though. Johnson has you guys heading in the right direction fast.
it's pretty nuts to think how much better our recruiting would be if we didn't force everyone to take all these fake classes nuts
See you queers in Eugene this year!!! Spoiler y'all will prob kick our ass but I'm pumped tonight so fuck it
You keep talking like Oregon is going to have the top class. Even if you pull McCoy that likely won't be the case.
I would imagine not having a one and done player since Brandan Wright probably hurts with top prospects, but that doesn't explain the lack of top 60 type prospects.
Roy did the same thing at KU We complained that he didnt recruit very well some years. I think he grows tired of it or something
I mean, he's still busting his ass on the trail, there's just obviously something about his message/UNC that isn't resonating with the top guys.
Name the best UNC player from the Roy Williams era currently in the NBA after Harrison Barnes. Danny Green? Marvin Williams? Not a single one of his UNC players has made an NBA All-Star game or All-NBA team, and really Ty Lawson is the only guy who may have ever had a shot at being an All-Star, but that ship sailed at least two years ago. Perhaps Harrison Barnes can change that this year. He won't be All-NBA, but maybe All-Star if he can keep scoring at the rate he is through 8 games. That isn't generally going to resonate with 5-star players and McDonald's All-Americans
obviously its gonna change soon but duke has kyrie and that's it as far as all nba tier guys i guess my main point is that it just takes one recruit to switch that message
Coach K also has the whole Team USA thing going for him. Will be interesting to see how his recruiting is once he's done with that as his recruiting really took off shortly after he became the USA coach. He always recruited well, but not always as well as he is now.
I get that, but you'd figure every now and then a guy would see through this. If you're talented enough, it really doesn't matter who coaches you for that one year of college.
I'm not an expert the situation, but you'd have to think the investigation is a huge factor. If I'm an elite recruit, and I've got offers from Kansas, UK, Duke, UNC, etc... I'm gonna pick the one not under investigation. They're all recruiting those same 10-20 kids and it's gonna be hard for any kid to choose UNC when you can go to the other elite schools and get the same benefits and not have to worry about the penalties
a little long and yall may not care but this write up from one of our mods pretty much hits on every issue right now: Spoiler * The pattern we see is that when UNC identifies a top target early on, Roy Williams and the staff make the full effort. That’s hard to dispute. These recruits always speak highly of the relationship with Williams (often citing him as a father-figure type), and the common thread with the official visits are raves about team chemistry and the family feel of the program. So, what’s missing? And what’s the solution? It’s a complicated question with no single clear answer. But we’ve given it a lot of thought, often discussing it as a staff, and have spoken with a number of people that have been involved in many of these recruitments and the national recruiting scene. In total I think we’ll at least cover the majority of the issues that are potentially making an impact. * For context, the most basic overall description of the situation is that North Carolina isn’t really in the conversation right now with elite (Top 10? 20?) recruiting. The last one UNC landed of that ilk was Justin Jackson, so it’s a three-year run. We can nitpick details and rankings, but that’s the most basic point. * First, the NCAA case. We certainly hear less talk of it on the circuit these days. Doesn’t mean it’s not an issue, but it’s at least less of an issue. I can’t remember the last interview we ran where a recruit brought it up, and that used to happen a lot. IC’s Greg Barnes asked Roy Williams on Thursday - during a discussion about the Fall Signing Period - if the removal of men’s basketball and the absence of his name from the Notice of Allegations, as well as the PR shift nationally about expected sanctions for UNC, have made a difference on the recruiting trail. His response ... "It's helped a little. The fact that we have the light at the end of the tunnel has helped more. But we still, with all the seniors, we had to spend time going over it again and again and again. ... The last three or four years it's been really a huge negative for us. But I think it's starting to be over with. And not having men's basketball or my name mentioned has been something I've been saying forever so it confirmed what I'd been saying. But then we've still got to be able to get past it. And it's different on an individual basis. One thing we have noticed is that the underclassmen - the juniors, where we already have a couple commitments - nobody has ever mentioned it to them because everybody else realizes it'll be over with soon." * Winning. After three relative down years (meaning compared to the standard set from 2004-2012), UNC won the ACC and reached the title game - the game’s biggest stage. If the issue was winning, such a season would have resulted in a recruiting uptick. As far as we could tell in the 2017 class, it did not. * Culture. What the majority of the top players value in a college program above all else is to be showcased in a high profile manner as part of a fast track to the NBA. Things like tradition, winning, education - items at the front of the UNC pitch - don’t resonate as strongly as the NBA factory pitch in most cases with elite prospects. As strange as it sounds, we seem to be getting more recruiting interview answers from elite players where their citing of "tradition" seems more like a fallback answer than a thoughtful response. * Perception. Fair or not (and, yes, this is all certainly debatable with facts), the perception has perpetuated that UNC doesn’t have a modern style of play, doesn’t develop players as well or as quickly as others, and isn’t an ideal spot for those with one-and-done aspirations. While, as Rob has said many times, it can potentially take one to break the ice and reverse the perception, we’re now at 10-straight UNC classes without a one-and-done success story. Roy Williams notoriously “hates cool,” but is UNC Basketball not as “cool” with elite players? As ridiculous as the notion is to some, that has to be considered, even in the abstract. The absence of NBA stars - at a time when the aforementioned college basketball culture is all about the NBA - furthers this. * Vetting. Is UNC identifying the right targets efficiently? The ability to determine the recruits and situations as early as possible that ultimately won’t be feasible - for any number of reasons, especially the off-the-court variety - is a crucial component of recruiting. Otherwise you’re spending a lot of time on players you definitely won’t land. And who are the right targets? If the Top 10 isn’t an attainable group right now, is the better move to be more realistic and carefully vet and attack that second tier of prospects - instead of having to scan for sub-Top 100 guys late in the game because that middle tier is off the board? What it might have been unintentional, UNC’s 2016 class ranges in the rankings from 25-60 and UNC can definitely win over the long haul with players in that range. Some on the national level that we talked to also wondered about issues of staff autonomy and synergy and how that relates to the vetting process. That’s a very difficult thing to nail down, but the explanation given was that the nationally elite programs give assistants more independence and yet are better coordinated, whereas UNC’s recruiting system is more strictly hierarchal and dependent on the head coach. From Roy Williams’s standpoint, this is safer, as prospects are usually thoroughly evaluated on all fronts over a lengthy process and he is ultimately responsible for all the recruiting decisions. But this can make it more difficult to be agile and adapt to emerging players and changing situations. It also doesn’t give assistants the freedom to be aggressive. Hence my response to those who question if UNC’s assistants are good recruiters: do they have enough autonomy to prove it one way or the other? * Which brings us to the 2018 and 2019 classes, where UNC has already showed an altered approach and has been very aggressive. Even though the N.C. pool in those classes isn’t trending as highly as it once was, they are prospects in the aforementioned mid range that can be very good college players, and UNC has made a major mark there, already landing two of them, while also still pursuing what appear to be the elites. The staff made offers, and then showed the ability to pivot when another local player emerged - closing quickly in one instance and raising the intensity to the max with another.
Sounds like Kentucky is going to be getting the #4 ranked PG Quade Green. Already signed his LOI and announcing between Kentucky and Syracuse on Saturday. All the chatter since the Champions Classic has been that he is going to Kentucky.
Quade Green supposedly makes guys like Bamba and Diallo more likely as well. Don't really care much for Diallo, but Bamba would take UK's class from good to great. Also, I love Trae Young, but it seems like he may have waited to long. I wonder if he will still have a spot?