COLUMN: Why Bill Self should be the Big 12 CotY
- Thread starter ChrisMWilliams
- Start date
I could give a rats behind who wins COY but it seems like some here don't factor in recruiting. Getting a bad team to play better is great but do we reward them for recruiting a crap team? Also, I don't hold it against self for getting great players. Sure it's easy to get them at ku but he's a big reason why. It wasn't that long ago that St. John's, Georgetown, ucla etc got top kids, being a top program can bring in top kids as long as it stays on top, it's not a god-given right that will always happen.
I truly believe that we were a couple years away from getting a top 5-10 class consistently with FH here. He was starting to get a buzz and bringing in top kids for visits. Whether this will continue to grow and continue is yet to be seen
I truly believe that we were a couple years away from getting a top 5-10 class consistently with FH here. He was starting to get a buzz and bringing in top kids for visits. Whether this will continue to grow and continue is yet to be seen
ISU needs a few players to get to the NBA and stick that they can point to and say "you can do this too if you come here". KU doesn't get players cause "they're Kansas". Kids aren't morons, they go where they think they have the best chance of achieving their goals. For some kids, schools like Kansas and Kentucky may NOT be the best place for them for no other reason than timing and roster makeup. KU wasn't going to land a good PG recruit for Class of '16 because they won't want to be stuck behind Mason and Graham just like ISU wasn't going to get a really good big man recruit for Class of '15 with Niang, McKay and Burton already on the roster. A lot of it is simply timing. If Prohm can keep it together next year and stay in the range of a Top 25 team then I think ISU will survive and see some good recruits head his way; if they dip and fall out of the tourney then it will be a long road just to get back to their current level.
This is a good point. However, ISU has had to do a lot of developing diamonds in the rough rather than having the blue chip recruit. These diamonds in the rough are rough because by definition they aren't the prototypical NBA specimen. They are too slow, too small, too thin, too something to probably stick in the NBA but can be developed by a good coach to become a hell of a college player. Fred was so close to landing a Diallo or a Vaughn who had the measurables to take it to the League. He just couldn't quite get rid of the bridesmaid status in those recruiting battles.
Good point, kids all dream of going to the league, right or wrong the "blue bloods" present the best opportunity, at least in recruits minds. To win you don't need a bunch of burger boys but it certainly doesn't hurt. If isu gets a lot of 4 star kids and recruits smart and well they can win a lot, we've seen it here recently. With wins comes exposure, comes better players.
Fred had a magical way of finding transfers and less recruited guys who played above their ranking. It's going to be an interesting couple years, either Prohm builds on it and we get better or we go backwards.
KU has done a great job with guys ranked in the 15-75 range who have stayed for 3+ years and developed and there is no reason to believe that ISU cannot fish in those same waters and land those types of recruits. It's always great for the buzz factor to land a Top 10 guy but wins are built on the backs of the tier below them. Give me 4 years of a guy ranked 40th over 1 year of a guy ranked 4th all day.