2018 General Recruiting

[GarradJ21]

What does this have to do with landing "Ohio" kids? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the Fickell comparison. I want the three best kids we can get in 2018 and DGAF where they come from. Basketball is much more about the shoe company that sponsors your AAU team more than where you are from. Kids are transferring left and right from high schools and prep schools and aau teams. Simple fact is a kid who plays for an Under Armour AAU team from Arizona is much more likely than a Cincinnati kid who plays for Nike to come to UC. That dynamic is different from football. If you dont recruit nationally in basketball you probably are gonna fall on some hard times like Ohio State.

Here's the thing, I'm a huge Cronin supporter and couldn't agree more, I don't care where the kids come from just as long as we get some really good kids. But really we don't get highly ranked players so if some higher ranked kids are at Princeton or in our back yard I would hope that would be an advantage for us. I guess my point is that 2018 I am expecting some really highly rated guys in this class. Our only excuse is that we play in the AAC but really with a decent non conference schedule, Wichita addition and always getting to the tournament it isn't much of an excuse. So with there being 4 stars right in our own back yards and we aren't on their list it made me mad but yea I am assuming Cronin can't do much about that and it is what it is, but really, we need multiple 4 star recruits in 2018 IMO. I hope we get some studs and I believe that we will just was shocked with the lists of these Ohio kids.

 

[JasonS]

There is a difference between talent in Cincinnati for football and basketball. Year after year there are top players nationally that come out of Cincinnati area HS in football. In basketball, it is not that consistent. Fickell can afford to focus a lot of time and energy locally and know that he can get good players he can win with. Mick has to be more selective with his time. In doing so, he will run the risk of losing good players locally ala Kennard to Duke. I personally don't think we want Mick having the same local strategy that Fickell has. I don't think it would be beneficial to the long term success of the program.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

There is a difference between talent in Cincinnati for football and basketball. Year after year there are top players nationally that come out of Cincinnati area HS in football. In basketball, it is not that consistent. Fickell can afford to focus a lot of time and energy locally and know that he can get good players he can win with. Mick has to be more selective with his time. In doing so, he will run the risk of losing good players locally ala Kennard to Duke. I personally don't think we want Mick having the same local strategy that Fickell has. I don't think it would be beneficial to the long term success of the program.

Yeah I agree for the most part, especially when we aren't sitting on several open scholarships. If we do have openings, I wouldn't mind looking harder around Ohio. But that likely won't be the case for a few years since we don't have any JUCO players causing a higher turnover rate on the available scholarships.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the approach. More and more names will pop up this summer. And with 3 scholarships, we can be pretty selective. I'd expect a Clark/Evans/Cumberland/Williams in this class. And probably a couple more guys in the Diarra range, or a spring transfer. Nothing to worry about at this point. These things can happen quickly.

 

[CliftonCat]

I hate basing things off of 247 cause at this stage in 2018 recruiting it's really a crapshoot but for what it's worth, they have Bazley as our top target. I'm sure things will pick up in the summer and we will have somebody commit early. Just really wish we were going after Adams more but I trust the coaches. They know a whole hell of a lot more than me.

 

[UCalum08]

I hate basing things off of 247 cause at this stage in 2018 recruiting it's really a crapshoot but for what it's worth, they have Bazley as our top target. I'm sure things will pick up in the summer and we will have somebody commit early. Just really wish we were going after Adams more but I trust the coaches. They know a whole hell of a lot more than me.

The coaches haven't done anything on Adams for a while now. Cronin hasn't seen him in person which tells me they are looking else where for a PG. Just a guess but it seems like I have seen the coaches look at other players.

 

[Chad Brendel]

The coaches haven't done anything on Adams for a while now. Cronin hasn't seen him in person which tells me they are looking else where for a PG. Just a guess but it seems like I have seen the coaches look at other players.

Cronin evaluated Adams two weekends ago in Indy. Solid player, but not a point guard. Doesn't fit what they are looking for...

 

[AZ BEARCAT]

Cronin evaluated Adams two weekends ago in Indy. Solid player, but not a point guard. Doesn't fit what they are looking for...

thank you !!

 

[Miller193]

Cronin evaluated Adams two weekends ago in Indy. Solid player, but not a point guard. Doesn't fit what they are looking for...

is Cronin still recruiting five* pg Ago Dosumu out Illinois, he visit a couple months ago I believe, or has u.c moved on. Sure hope not, could be a difference maker for the program

 

[UCalum08]

Cronin evaluated Adams two weekends ago in Indy. Solid player, but not a point guard. Doesn't fit what they are looking for...

Nice, good to know! Thanks!

 

[#BearcatNation]

Cronin evaluated Adams two weekends ago in Indy. Solid player, but not a point guard. Doesn't fit what they are looking for...

Not to be that guy, but a Top 100 player "isn't what they're looking for"? Are we in a place where we can be that snotty about recruiting? We're going to have 3 (maybe 4) schollys available next year, so I don't get why we'd have to turn down a kid of this caliber just because we also want a point guard. Get a point and shooting guard.

 

[waterhead]

Not to be that guy, but a Top 100 player "isn't what they're looking for"? Are we in a place where we can be that snotty about recruiting? We're going to have 3 (maybe 4) schollys available next year, so I don't get why we'd have to turn down a kid of this caliber just because we also want a point guard. Get a point and shooting guard.

If there are 3 possible scenarios...yes, no, maybe...I prefer the yes and no answers. Those are definitive. In this case it was a no and he didn't fit. It beats having to spend time continually evaluating whether he could fit or not.

Eliminating players means we can move on to options that might fit better for us. In this case it doesn't even seem to be a maybe...it's just a no. I'm good with that. I don't think we would stop recruiting if there wasn't a very solid reason from the coaching staff. If there is a very solid reason...that's all I need to know really. It beats wondering if we are still in on a player or not as a fan IMO.

 

[GarradJ21]

I'm cool with what ever happens as long as we get some higher rated recruits. If we start getting guys in this class that no one has heard of or we are beating Stephen F Austin that will be a letdown. Rankings aren't everything I get that, but it does make you feel a hell of a lot better beating out UConn and other schools than SFA. I just really feel this is the class to make a statement.

 

[waterhead]

I'm cool with what ever happens as long as we get some higher rated recruits. If we start getting guys in this class that no one has heard of or we are beating Stephen F Austin that will be a letdown. Rankings aren't everything I get that, but it does make you feel a hell of a lot better beating out UConn and other schools than SFA. I just really feel this is the class to make a statement.

I agree and I don't really recall ever saying that in the past. We have momentum now and we have a talented starting roster and expectations are high. We have a new arena being built. If we are ever going to land a big class I would think it's now. I am not saying I don't think Cronin has been improving with getting better talent. I think we have landed some guys in Washington, Evans, Clark, Cumberland, Caupain, etc who have worked out extremely well. We seem to get one very nice talent per year. I would like to see at least 2 in the next class that are along these lines and a 3rd guy who is not far off.

We should be able to land a big to help on offense when Clark and Washington leave. It may be a bit tougher to land a wing and a PG since it could be another year before significant playing time is available but we can find room on the court for any player who is talented enough NOT to keep on the bench.

 

[GarradJ21]

It seems like Cronin has been all in on Nassir Little. Now if he pulls that off, I'll never be worried or have skepticism ever again.

 

[GarradJ21]

How's recruiting work? Are we in a dead period or something. I haven't heard any offers or anything exciting in awhile.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

How's recruiting work? Are we in a dead period or something. I haven't heard any offers or anything exciting in awhile.

Cronin is waiting until he gets his jet to recruit

 

[Miller193]

Cronin is waiting until he gets his jet to recruit

It's really sad, a school of u.c size. And don't have a private jet to recruit. How are we suppose to be a major program, when we run it like a mid major one. But a little as school across town provides a private one for recruiting. It make a difference in recruiting, because if it didn't, other schools wouldn't provide them.

 

[UCalum08]

It's really sad, a school of u.c size. And don't have a private jet to recruit. How are we suppose to be a major program, when we run it like a mid major one. But a little as school across town provides a private one for recruiting. It make a difference in recruiting, because if it didn't, other schools wouldn't provide them.

I agree. It was sad when I recently saw Coach Fickell at CVG coming through standard screening at the check point. The line was real long and took a while. I went up to him and told him welcome to Cincinnati and he's been doing a great job already. He joked about the line and said he hasn't had a chance to get his precheck set up yet. I joked back and said, well you're probably use to private jets for recruiting so he never had to worry about it. He laughed and played it off. But seriously, it's embarrassing.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I thought we were over the whiny excuse making. But I guess not.

Our coaches have a lot of resources at their disposal, including a brand new basketball arena under construction. If they can only deliver when absolutely every single thing in the world is perfectly set up for them, then I gotta wonder how good they are at the job. Luckily, I'm confident that we can still win conference championships, have the top players in the conference, and have postseason success with things the way they currently are.

The thing that might hurt more than not having a jet is being known for having a whiny, excuse making fan base, who is hell-bent on only focusing on the things we don't have, instead of the pretty great things we do have.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I thought we were over the whiny excuse making. But I guess not.

Our coaches have a lot of resources at their disposal, including a brand new basketball arena under construction. If they can only deliver when absolutely every single thing in the world is perfectly set up for them, then I gotta wonder how good they are at the job. Luckily, I'm confident that we can still win conference championships, have the top players in the conference, and have postseason success with things the way they currently are.

The thing that might hurt more than not having a jet is being known for having a whiny, excuse making fan base, who is hell-bent on only focusing on the things we don't have, instead of the pretty great things we do have.

Sorry. This whole thing just strikes a nerve with me.