What part does a roster play in a recruits decision

[crawfords corner]

Let's look at these two teams Mississippi State(Newman) and St. Johns(Diallo)

First let's start with St. Johns:

Christian Jones
Myles Stewart
David Lipscomb
Felix Balamou
Chris Obekpa
Amar Alibegovic
Jay Henderson
Rysheed Jordan
Samuel Harris IV
Adonis De La Rosa
Sam Sealy
Keith Thomas

Of the players on this roster only Rysheed Jordan scored more than 10 points a game. Their best players coming in are 3* Yankuba and Doughty. The 2nd best player on this squad is Chris Obekpa who scored nearly 6 points, grabbed 7 boards, and blocked a very nice 3.1 shots a game last year. This does not have the makings of a very good team. This is a 14-17 wins team. Shouldn't you at least want to be on a winning team as a competitor. I don't care how much I want to be the man. If my team doesn't win that sucks. It's close to my home. Your family wants to just come see you play, but damn the team so long as you do well even if they only win 14 or 15 games. Makes no sense to me.


-Mississippi State(13 wins, vomit)

Maurice Dunlap
Demetrius Houston
Johnny Zuppardo
De'Runnya Wilson
Elijah Staley
IJ Ready
Gavin Ware
Fallou Ndoye
Travis Daniels
Craig Sword
Oliver Black
Fred Thomas

Incoming freshmen are SG Quinndary Weatherspoon and C Joseph Struggs

Starting 5 probably looks like

PG-Ready
SG-Sword
SF-Daniels
PF-Ware
C- Houston/Black/Struggs

Very thin bench. Not a lot of size. A bad shooting team. If you are wanting to go to a team to be the man and run the point shouldn't you want to go somewhere that the players around you are good enough to capitalize off the situations you put them in. This is a Mississippi State team that can probably win 13-15 games. Is Malik Newman really going to be such a good point guard that he can make up the difference to get this team in to the NCAAT. I don't think so.

So again, at what point does the roster have to play in to your decision. I know it would be one of the first things to me once I figured out which place was most comfortable to me. Playing at home is nice, but I want to play where I can have the most impact while winning the most games.


At least for Stephen Zimmerman the decision to stay at home to play comes with a chance for his team to be pretty good next year. In the cases of Diallo and Newman that doesn't seem like a winning idea.

 

[truebluewildcat]

it plays a part in that dudes want to play and get buckets...

if a kid is and OAD talent, it doesn't matter if he goes to UK, Miss St, UNLV, or Dog-ass St...

what it comes down to for a lot of kids is playing time and touches...where are they going to shine...

and when the home town team is in play, then it makes sense...stay home, get buckets, go pro...

 

[bookerfan66]

I don't think as many of the kids care that much about being on a winning team anymore.With some it's just about being the star and getting all they can get.Which makes it even more amazing what Cal was able to do last season with getting those guys to sacrifice for the better of the team.Not many guys would do that.

 

[docholiday51]

Originally posted by crawfords corner:
Let's look at these two teams Mississippi State(Newman) and St. Johns(Diallo)

First let's start with St. Johns:

Christian Jones
Myles Stewart
David Lipscomb
Felix Balamou
Chris Obekpa
Amar Alibegovic
Jay Henderson
Rysheed Jordan
Samuel Harris IV
Adonis De La Rosa
Sam Sealy
Keith Thomas

Of the players on this roster only Rysheed Jordan scored more than 10 points a game. Their best players coming in are 3* Yankuba and Doughty. The 2nd best player on this squad is Chris Obekpa who scored nearly 6 points, grabbed 7 boards, and blocked a very nice 3.1 shots a game last year. This does not have the makings of a very good team. This is a 14-17 wins team. Shouldn't you at least want to be on a winning team as a competitor. I don't care how much I want to be the man. If my team doesn't win that sucks. It's close to my home. Your family wants to just come see you play, but damn the team so long as you do well even if they only win 14 or 15 games. Makes no sense to me.


-Mississippi State(13 wins, vomit)

Maurice Dunlap
Demetrius Houston
Johnny Zuppardo
De'Runnya Wilson
Elijah Staley
IJ Ready
Gavin Ware
Fallou Ndoye
Travis Daniels
Craig Sword
Oliver Black
Fred Thomas

Incoming freshmen are SG Quinndary Weatherspoon and C Joseph Struggs

Starting 5 probably looks like

PG-Ready
SG-Sword
SF-Daniels
PF-Ware
C- Houston/Black/Struggs

Very thin bench. Not a lot of size. A bad shooting team. If you are wanting to go to a team to be the man and run the point shouldn't you want to go somewhere that the players around you are good enough to capitalize off the situations you put them in. This is a Mississippi State team that can probably win 13-15 games. Is Malik Newman really going to be such a good point guard that he can make up the difference to get this team in to the NCAAT. I don't think so.

So again, at what point does the roster have to play in to your decision. I know it would be one of the first things to me once I figured out which place was most comfortable to me. Playing at home is nice, but I want to play where I can have the most impact while winning the most games.


At least for Stephen Zimmerman the decision to stay at home to play comes with a chance for his team to be pretty good next year. In the cases of Diallo and Newman that doesn't seem like a winning idea.

Two thoughts

(1) where do I fit in with who is there,how much competition is there at my position

(2) I don't think some of these kids care about how good or bad the team is going to be.I think this is a by-product of the AAU influence on college basketball,it is just about playing and getting to the next level W's and L's are a secondary concern

In the case of Newman I think the only roster spots that matter are Ulis and Briscoe,they are enough to keep him away

In the case of Diallo Ulis and Briscoe may be an attraction for him + there is PT to be had
This post was edited on 4/20 6:20 PM by docholiday51

 

[anon_l8pbkn96tg3j6]

I think it is an indirect effect more than a direct effect. When the roster is full, it is stupid for guys to commit in the early signing period. When they don't commit, they aren't bound to a specific school and explore their options. When they explore their options they might find something else they like.

 

[Teachable Moe]

The last bucket I scored in organized play was in freshman intramurals, so my decision would be based on whether or not I wanted to live where the school was located and whether or not the coach was insane. The roster would matter less than 0.

The University of Hawaii didn't call. The London School of Economics didn't field a team. Nor did the University of Gothenburg.

So, I stayed in-state.

 

[Poetax]

I'm not so sure that they don't care if they win or not, that's a stretch because of their egos. Most I think want some great players around them but not a platoon full of them. And sometimes with Kentucky I think recruits look at our bench players as being better then they really are just because we are Kentucky. Saying that I want kids who want to play with other great kids and are not afraid to compete for a position but not all want to do that.

 

[UK CAT in FL]

Originally posted by bookerfan66:

I don't think as many of the kids care that much about being on a winning team anymore.With some it's just about being the star and getting all they can get. . . .

This is why some teams with decent talent can get up to play us and then still loose to other weak teams. They are out to just get theirs and winning is secondary. They are also easy teams to defeat if you just get on top of them and don't let up. They are not really playing for the win.

 

[UK-chulo]

Let's be honest, our squad is not loaded by any means. We have some great athletes and only a couple of basketball skill players. While we will always see the best in our squad and try to be as optimistic as possible, a recruit looking from the outside may likely see a team that will struggle next year.

As it stands our only hope is if Ulis makes these other guys look they know what they are doing. Every team we play will also know Ulis is the engine on this train.

 

[Smashcat]

As it stands our only hope is if Ulis makes these other guys look they know what they are doing.

LOL

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

Of what is on the roster now Ulis is by far the most skilled player we have.
We do have some athletes that are not skilled players but are just trying to learn the game. I'd rather build a team on skill players with some athletic ability. Much like Duke does, if Duke had any kind of quality front court they would be a formidable team every year. This year they had 1 guy who was a tremendous front court guy and look what that got them. Back in '10 Zoubek or whatever his name is come on strong at the end of the her and I thought he was the biggest key to their title that year.
While K recruits outstanding guards and wings he does struggle a bit on from court guys. That's because he concentrates too much on the outside game and not let them have any touches on the inside.

 

[crawfords corner]

This squad might not be loaded, but let's see how it stacks up against possible no.1 Virginia

5 star Lee
5 star Poythress
5 star Briscoe
5 star Ulis
5 star Labissiere
4 star Matthews
Top 131 player in Willis
Top 200 player Hawkins



Ulis/Briscoe/Hawkins
Briscoe/Matthews
Matthews/Poythress/Willis
Poythress/Lee/Willis
Labissiere/Lee


Virginia has been listed as a possible no.1 candidate. Their squad looks like this

Perrantes/Darius Thompson
Brogdon/Hall/Stith
Shayok
Gill/Nolte
Tobey/Reuter/Salt


Is that really a better roster than Kentucky's? I'd say no way. Not even close. You are going to be hard pressed to find 10 teams with better rosters. Compared to most rosters that's a loaded team. Now, it might not be 2012 loaded or 2015 loaded, but it's still a good roster. Would be great to get some more depth. You can never be good enough. Let's not pretend that this team doesn't have good prospects. There was a ton of major talent that left the college game this past year. Kentucky does better than most when it comes to reloading it.

 

[swflCAT]

For some the roster don't mean anything at all, Bledsoe for example. They have a coach in mind that can help them get better and make a better pro. Some are in love with a school and there are some that have the ideal that it don't matter what coach or what school. They feel that they are so great that all they need to do is get on the court and I guess the most important thing there is no one on the team in their way or that has a chance of limiting "their" playing time.