Let’s play a different recruiting game!

[kyjeff1]

That’s the thing, for every successful 4 Star you name I can spit back a five star that didn’t like wiltjer or green or EJ or the Harrison twins. Five star burger boys that didn’t quite get that magic.

Specifically look at Herro vs Johnson last year. Both wings, Johnson was the more highly regarded player. He was a mock draft lotto pick during the first month of the season, ended up falling to the late 20s. Herro wasn’t even on the preseason mock draft radar and went top 15. So is herro a better listener than Johnson, or did johnson not work as hard? Was the coaching staff coaching them any differently? Or is it possible the high school rankings underrated herros game and perhaps overvalued Johnson’s.

When you're outside the top 10 in high school recruiting (some years are stronger than others), it typically means you aren't a surefire stud player. a lot of times it's because a kid has good measurables and athletesism or a great shooting ability (Wiltjer), but in order to get to the NBA, you still better work your ass off.

Kahlil Whitney chose to quit instead of working hard.

Keldon Johnson relied on his natural ability all season. He was well ahead of Herro in November and December, but Herro passed him because he worked extremely hard.

Shai Alexander took over the reigns about mid season from Green. He worked harder and it paid off.

Some guys are driven, some have been told all their lives that they're great, so they don't think they need to put up 500 shots a day or hit the weight room hard. "Why would I do that when I'm a top 15 recruit?"

There are plenty of examples, but Booker, Shai and Herro were 4* guys because they didn't perform well on the AAU circuit and if Herro kept his word and went to Wisconsin, he would be getting ready for his junior year in college right now.

 

[SheriffBufordTJustice]

So it is on the PLAYER.


If I recruit a bunch of athletes with upside some of them are going to get drafted.
That is what the NBA desires.

NBA drafts exclusively based on upside and not production.

Some of the players people are mentioning were very raw when they got to the NBA.


Shaka did that with Jaxson Hayes and did that with Kai Jones.
Luckily Smart found a way to keep Jones in the program for another year.
Neither were big time recruits. But they are extremely athletic. Nothing Texas nor Smart did.

 

[Montana81]

I think Keldon Johnson’s lack of elite athleticism got exposed in college. He struggled to finish at the rim due to his lack of explosiveness.

 

[IUfanBorden]

I hated playing defense...



So, obviously I'd go to Iowa...

 

[SheriffBufordTJustice]

I think Keldon Johnson’s lack of elite athleticism got exposed in college. He struggled to finish at the rim due to his lack of explosiveness.

Plus he is stuck in the G League.

Cannot promote players as developed when they are in the G League.
Pretty much means a NBA team saw the upside of a player but didn't think the player was developed.

 

[Villian07]

I'm not promoting UK, I'm just talking about what I know. I'm sure other coaches have pulled off the same feat, but off the top.of my head, I knew about those three players without the need for Google.

That’s impressive no doubt, but each one of those three guys had a 5 star mcdaa on the same roster basically at the same position. You could argue herro and Johnson were a 2 and a 3 not the same position but I could chose Quickley as well as he was a burger boy and won’t get drafted anywhere near as high as Herro went despite being the sec player of the year. But none of the five stars in front of the four star players u mentioned performed as well as their backup. So why did cal fail to improve the draft stock of the Harrison’s(booker), quade green (shai), and Johnson/quickley (herro), while the lower rated guys succeeded well beyond expectations.

Bc imo it’s more about talent and and in these cases, work ethic, than whatever “magic” cal is telling them.

 

[Villian07]

And as far a the HS rankings, how many UK games did u have to watch before you knew gilgeous Alexander was better than quade greene? Not many I suspect.

 

[Villian07]

When you're outside the top 10 in high school recruiting (some years are stronger than others), it typically means you aren't a surefire stud player. a lot of times it's because a kid has good measurables and athletesism or a great shooting ability (Wiltjer), but in order to get to the NBA, you still better work your ass off.

Kahlil Whitney chose to quit instead of working hard.

Keldon Johnson relied on his natural ability all season. He was well ahead of Herro in November and December, but Herro passed him because he worked extremely hard.

Shai Alexander took over the reigns about mid season from Green. He worked harder and it paid off.

Some guys are driven, some have been told all their lives that they're great, so they don't think they need to put up 500 shots a day or hit the weight room hard. "Why would I do that when I'm a top 15 recruit?"

There are plenty of examples, but Booker, Shai and Herro were 4* guys because they didn't perform well on the AAU circuit and if Herro kept his word and went to Wisconsin, he would be getting ready for his junior year in college right now.

Spot on imo. Regardless of their HS rankings those guys worked harder than the guys who were ranked higher and they performed better and got drafted higher than the burger boys they started the season backing up. Heck I guess the better comparison for herro would be quickley but it doesn’t change my argument.

Also, and I don’t mean this as a knock on cal, but the way he runs the uk program, losing anywhere from 3-5 freshmen and here lately a sophomore or two each and every season, along with the yearly transfers, he has the chance to bring more players in than most any other coach, and the way he recruits, he’s always landing talented players. If anything it’s a credit to his success of getting people to the league. But I’d have to bet this decade UK has had twice the number of players wear a uk uniform than most schools that aren’t able to recruit at that level and have more 3-4 year players than they do one and dones. UKs roster turnover is insane. Duke maybe comes close but only these past few seasons. I can’t remember a single Cal uk team that returned more than they lost.