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Steve Francis, Cleanthony Early, Jimmy Butler...

MdWIldcat55

MdWIldcat55

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Dec 9, 2007
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...Marshall Henderson, just a few guys off the top of my head who were immediate impact scorers in D1 after transferring from the JUCO ranks. The ideas that Mulder can't have a major impact is crazy. His shooting percentage, athleticism and attitude suggest otherwise.
 
We really needed a shooter because our roster at the moment is really lacking that.So I think he will really help us but I don't expect big numbers from him.I am very excited we appear to have landed him.
 
I agree. I believe that Mulder can be that good college player that everyone needs to be successful. A hard working blue collar type player. Whose to say he want work his way into the draft. Look what Cal did with Liggins and Harrellson.(Yes I know Liggins didn't come from a JUCO)
 
Larry Johnson was merely the best player in the nation immediately out of juco, leading UNLV to the national championship, two final fours, and undefeated regular season, and being the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. I'd say he was a pretty successful juco, no?

And Shawn Marion being another awesome UNLV juco that comes to mind.
 
I'm not saying your wrong....but man I hope your right. The problem with juco is you never know exactly what you are getting. I feel like juco is more hit or miss than high school recruiting. Take barbour for instance. That kid absolutely dominated juco and the nba was all over him. UK fans were certain he was going to dominate alongside bogans. Barbour never quite lived up to his reputation. Whether coaching, missed scouting, or insecurity in his abilities...something happened.

But Mulder can be an impact. Especially if Murray doesn't reclassify and commit or Brown doesn't come. He will have the opportunity to thrive.
 
We have a recruiting class that 99% of the other college basketball programs would kill to have but some on here just want to gripe and complain. We have 5-7 future pros on our roster right now and for some "fans" it's not enough. I'm tickled about Mulder's probable commitment and believe he fills an area of need, whether he's a starter or not.
 
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I used to say that Steve Francis was the best ever Juco transfer, but I did not realize that Larry Johnson was a juco transfer until just now. Thanks UK90.

Here's to hoping. We've had our fair share. I'd say our best to date is Dale Brown.
 
I hope he will be a factor but we have Ulis, Briscoe, Matthews and Hawkins to share the scoring load, we shall see, I trust the coach
 
Glad to see that someone mentioned Shawn Marion, because yes, he did go to Vincennes.

Larry Johnson has to win as the greatest JUCO ever, at least of relatively modern vintage, but Johnson was not your average JUCO player. He was a top 5 guy in the 87 HS class, originally intending to stay home and attend SMU, but his SAT score got thrown out and he was forced to go JUCO.

There was a stretch where there were a lot of impact JUCO's, but that was mainly back in Larry Johnson's era. Prop 48 academic standards came into play in 1985 or 86, and you initially saw a huge number of players ineligible to play as freshmen. For the 1st 5 years or so of that rule, it was not unusual for 20-25 of the top 100 recruits to be forced to sit out a year, and some of those guys chose to go the JUCO route instead. The Oklahoma team that lost the title game to Kansas in 88 was built almost entirely out of JUCO players, and it's no coincidence that UNLV (which had always used a ton of JUCO guys) hit its peak in that era.

Those prop 48 rules became less strict over the years, so that it's now rare for a guy to be ineligible, and the quality of talent coming out of the JUCO ranks isn't what it used to be.

Not that Mulder can't make an impact. He's an intriguing prospect, and I trust Cal's scouting ability. Yeah, Mulder was plan B, but Cal's plan B's are nothing to scoff at. Just don't expect him to be Steve Francis.
 
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So what are those percentages that it can happen, as the OP suggests? Something like 1-3%?

...Yeah, I'm not holding my breath. If he has a career like some of those mentioned in this thread, it will be a surprise and an anomaly. It's possible, but given the history of JUCOs transfers over the past 30 years, it will be more likely that he has a Nate Knight career.


That's just history, those are the facts. Not that I will be rooting against him, its just reality. Everyone named in this thread is in the JUCO hall of fame of transfers. There are about 60 every year that transfer to D-I; you MAY recognize about 1 or 2 of them when each season gets rolling.
 
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KopiKat said:
I used to say that Steve Francis was the best ever Juco transfer, but I did not realize that Larry Johnson was a juco transfer until just now. Thanks UK90.
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Not sure if Larry Johnson was the best Juco ever either. For example, basketball Hall of Famer and former NBA MVP Bob McAdoo was also a Juco. And guess what juco McAdoo attended? Vincennes, same school as Mulder (and Shawn Marion).

There have been a lot of past great jucos. A few others that pop in my head are Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell, Ken Norman, Walter Berry, Spud Webb, and there've been plenty more besides that. Anyone simply assuming Mulder lacks talent because he attended a juco has a short sense of history.
 
UK90 said:
Not sure if Larry Johnson was the best Juco ever either. For example, basketball Hall of Famer and former NBA MVP Bob McAdoo was also a Juco. And guess what juco McAdoo attended? Vincennes, same school as Mulder (and Shawn Marion).

There have been a lot of past great jucos. A few others that pop in my head are Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell, Ken Norman, Walter Berry, Spud Webb, and there've been plenty more besides that. Anyone simply assuming Mulder lacks talent because he attended a juco has a short sense of history.
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On the college level, Larry Johnson reigns supreme. He went straight from JUCO to being the best player in the country on a national title team. Overall, it might be McAdoo.

But you do need to consider how the landscape of college hoops has changed the last 15 years. The NCAA has moved away from punitive measures for academically questionable players. A much lower percentage of guys have eligibility issues now than in prior eras, as the NCAA has seemed to take the stance that giving them an opportunity and then (allegedly) holding the schools accountable for educating them is better than just banning them from playing. And scouting is far more precise now. Great talents aren't allowed to fall through the cracks in the way they were in prior eras. People go out of their way to at least give those guys a shot.

All of that adds up to a generally lesser pool of JUCO's than what you saw 25-35 years ago. Not one of the guys you mentioned played college ball in the last 15 years. That doesn't mean that Mulder isn't talented, but it does mean that he's not likely to be some undiscovered superstar.
 
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As other's have noted it's not exactly unheard of for JUCO guy to have big success in Div 1. Whether Muldor will be one of them we'll just have to wait and see. If in fact we get him. At his point I'm not believing anything until we hear it from the recruits mouth.
 
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