Are the recruiting "experts" becoming obsolete?

[SilentsAreGolden]

Don't know if it's a change but it seems that these experts are not getting many scoops, and they are not as in the know as they maybe used to be. Kids are announcing more and more on social media, and don't seem to be confiding in folks outside their inner circles as much. Just a thought.

 

[Joneslab]

Twitter and social media have created a situation where the players have to be really careful what they say and whom they say it to.

You didn't have to protect information as much in the past. In six or eight years so much has changed. It's a crazy thing to think about but when Tubby Smith's best class committed, Facebook didn't exist.

 

[Sithlyone]

Obsolete? I don't believe they were really that relevant in the first place. Just like Mock drafts, everyone has an opinion and everyone thinks they are an "Expert". And really what are they worth? Even when one comes out and makes a firm stand, you never really know.

 

[Federal Cat]

It's a brave new world, spy versus spy, see who can get the most hype and drag it out the longest and they probably don't trust any news media anyway, they just try to sensationalize every bit of news they

 

[bucsrule8872]

Obsolete? I don't believe they were really that relevant in the first place. Just like Mock drafts, everyone has an opinion and everyone thinks they are an "Expert". And really what are they worth? Even when one comes out and makes a firm stand, you never really know.

This.

There were "gurus" guessing about where Ralph Sampson was going. He was UK bound. Same with Jason Kidd in the 90's. That's what we always use to hear around here before the Internet.

I'm sure it was much more locally biased back then. When Mashburn announced, I'm sure there were several Syracuse recruiting guys on their local radio shows saying he would choose the Cuse. We just didn't hear about it, because we didn't have the Internet.

The Internet has just made it easier for "gurus" to be heard.

Today, if you have an opinion and a Twitter account, you can be a recruiting "guru."

The "gurus" haven't changed, it's just that there are more of them and everyone "hears" them because of the Internet.

 

[Poetax]

You see these podcasts of the player talking to some media guy, and they get asked the same questions over and over, what schools are you interested in, what is your favorite order, do you like the coach, the staff and the present players. Have you visited yet, will you visit, did you like the visit, did you like the school, etc etc. Finally the kid answers and most of the time its positive and almost the same things are repeated for every new media person. Some years it seems to be location, close to home or relationships with people in the recruiting processes. And other years, its about who can make me better, get me to my dreams, and win me a championship. I think we know which year this was, lol.

 

[GOING FOR #9]

No more inside news. Since Maggard retired we get nothing. We need another Ted maggard to emerge

 

[westerncat]

If someone came on here with some inside information they would be run off or called a troll !

 

[W2R]

I always laughed at the notion of premium info or paying for "insider" stuff the past few years. This day and age of social media it's leaked within seconds. If the info is out there and someone shares it so be it. This has what has driven the local newspaper and newsrations in the ground but yet we still have some that get upset when " premium or insider info" is leaked.

 

[Uk1111]

I think that many people who pay for the premium do it more to be on a board with fewer trolls, as much, if not more than to get into faster. At least that's why I joined for a while but the trolls invaded HOB so I decided not to pay anymore. They lost my business to their unwillingness to police that site of its trolls! Why pay if u still have to seal with trolls?

 

[JPScott]

Obsolete? I don't believe they were really that relevant in the first place. Just like Mock drafts, everyone has an opinion and everyone thinks they are an "Expert". And really what are they worth? Even when one comes out and makes a firm stand, you never really know.

Agree with this. Maybe 25 years ago there were maybe only a handful of guys who attended all the camps and were privy to the inside gossip but that's changed since then, and how reliable the information actually was, was always suspect to begin with. As people have mentioned with social media, the method and speed with which information is spread has changed dramatically, making these types of guys less critical in the information pipeline.

As far as recruiting experts knowing where players are going, sure there will from time to time be people who have an iron-clad inside source, but for the majority I think a lot of these predictions are educated guesses. I have always been wary of the 'recruiting guru' who claims to have a source for any and every recruit, regardless of where the recruit comes from or what the circumstances of the recruitment are.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

If someone came on here with some inside information they would be run off or called a troll !

This.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

No, in fact they are more important than ever due to multiple people being involved and in some cases controlling a kid's choice.

Everyone has their sources and relationships, and these experts are right more often than not, although most on this forum only call out the times they are wrong.