2019-2020 Season

[justinhub2003]

I would grade Brannen's recruiting as a B so far. There are so many things to look at and things we can't know yet. He ended last year getting Jaevin and Harvey. Then he starts this year with Saunders and Madsen with not a lot of time to build new relationships.

He threw the farm at Madsen leading me to believe CJB sees higher value than his current rank. Probably especially or specifically for his system. I think Mason will end up surprising us some as well. But these two are dedicated gym rats and trending up. They will both work to get better and have tremendous attitudes.

Saunders is super stoked to be here and that is important for chemistry. He is also trending up and outplayed some higher ranked guys along the way. If he can develop a 3 ball he's going to be a very very good get. Again, he fits the system to a T outside of his shooting. Speed at PG seems to be a big deal to the coach and this kid has speed for days.

Speaking of the coach. He is a very smart, analytical and clever dude. Until we see these kids play in his system I have to trust he knows what he wants and why he wants them.

I do worry about getting quality bigs but I am not dissapointed at all with guards and wings so far. And I don't think we are out on the two PF's just yet. Spring will also open up some new opportunities for transfers, late bloomers or yet unsigned kids. Let's see what happens and evaluate after it actually happens.

Here the thing. I give his recruiting to Supplement a roster with 3 returning stars an A+


But the 2020 class he needs to bring in stars of his Own. Harvey was a great start. But the reality is.. we need to start landing 4 stars.

Houston and Memphis are landing them and if we want to keep up, we have to as well.

 

[cincrulz11]

I think the point is... we landed Harvey because nearly all of his offers were pulled. He kinda ran out of landing spots.

Its great for us. But not great for our recruiting potential as I don't think we want to fill out the rest of our roster with dudes no one else will take.

Traynor seems like a moot point, as he is likely headed to Lousiville and Eason has some P5 schools that are closer to home after him.

Our big situation is bad for next season. With Prince likely gone. Its Vogt and Diarra. We need the next gary clark or top 150 big at least. But its been tough to make that happen so far


I was kinda hoping the Mick Cronin "meh" recruiting approach was done and we'd be getting top 30 classes, but as of today, I think his recruiting is actually below what Mick was pulling in.

Obviously its early so no time to panic yet

as it currently stands, this years class 44

next years class 37.


the previous 3 years classes 61, 58, 63




looks to be moving in the right direction to me.

 

[justinhub2003]

as it currently stands, this years class 44

next years class 37.


the previous 3 years classes 61, 58, 63




looks to be moving in the right direction to me.

We’re only 37 because we’ve got 3 commits. It certainly won’t finish that high especially once the class is finished especially if we add guys who aren’t top 200.

One of the posters on BCJ, says that the class average as it stands today would be lower than it ever has been ( or at least in the Cronin era)

Mick usually landed one star every year.
Troy
Gary
Jacob
Jarron
Keith
Possibly Logan Johnson.
Possibly Samari Curtis

His philosophy won us a shit ton of games because it was based around defense.

But winning above your recruiting rank is really tough. Hopefully Brannen can do what mick did if his recruiting never picks up

 

[TheLongHaul]

Man, if you are underwhelmed by Brannen's recruiting because he only has gotten one top 150 recruit in his first 6 months on the job I hate to know how you felt about Mick's recruiting. Mick's last top 150 recruit was in 2017. His last top 50 recruit was, hell, not even sure, Jermaine Lawrence?

 

[cincrulz11]

We’re only 37 because we’ve got 3 commits. It certainly won’t finish that high especially once the class is finished especially if we add guys who aren’t top 200.

One of the posters on BCJ, says that the class average as it stands today would be lower than it ever has been ( or at least in the Cronin era)

Mick usually landed one star every year.
Troy
Gary
Jacob
Jarron
Keith
Possibly Logan Johnson.
Possibly Samari Curtis

His philosophy won us a shit ton of games because it was based around defense.

But winning above your recruiting rank is really tough. Hopefully Brannen can do what mick did if his recruiting never picks up

the problem was after jarron it kinda fell off. Troy through Jarron was great and I thought we were really turning a corner and then it just kinda died off after that. All of those guys made immediate impacts as freshman. You get 1 of those a year and you're in a great place.


LoJo didn't have that kind of impact. Curtis was a wait to see, but he looked like he could have made an impact as a freshman.

 

[justinhub2003]

Man, if you are underwhelmed by Brannen's recruiting because he only has gotten one top 150 recruit in his first 6 months on the job I hate to know how you felt about Mick's recruiting. Mick's last top 150 recruit was in 2017. His last top 50 recruit was, hell, not even sure, Jermaine Lawrence?

No.

But its not unreasonable to expect John's First full class (the 2020 class) to be top 30.

If you look at the 2019 Class rankings, 5 of the top 30 teams (memphis, Xavier, Louisville, Georgia, & UCONN) had new coaches who recruited their first full recruiting class, just like 2020 will be for CJB's. 2 of which are from our conference and one shares the city with us. We should and very much should expect a new more offensively focused staff, in a brand new Arena, with a sold out season ticket fan base and in a Conference that is getting other elite athletes, to land a top 30 class.

WHY NOT US? I bitched about the Mick's recruiting and his inability to stack together high level players in a single class (something i feel is crucial to winning when it counts) and I'll do the same for CJB.

I'm fairly certain that Mick Cronin's first full recruiting class was ranked #19 in the country and included 3 4-Star players.

Its not unprecedented to ask for high level recruiting from a new staff with a whole lot to sell.


So, at this very moment, Im not concerned. But the chances of landing a top 30 class get slimmer and slimmer by the day as the 2 bigs we spent so much time on, are seemingly getting less and less likely by the day. And we don't really hear us involved in a whole lot of other dudes besides another 300+ ranked big from England. The reality is... the guys on our current staff are now facing very stiff competition and none of them have the kind of experience of battling the big dogs.


If the 2020 class turns out to be without a single 4 star, then I think CJB needs to look at trying to pull in a high level recruiter from another staff. He tried with Pettway, and he chose to stay at Alabama, but maybe another swing at him once were established

 

[cincyalum2014]

JB is getting guys into visit but can't seem to close the deal. We struck out on Loveday who choose Baylor, Kalkbrenner who committed to Creighton, Patrick Iriel who choose South Carolina. We are still in the running for John Hugley who would be a nice get and holds many offers from big schools but ultimately signs are pointing him signing with Pitt and then there's JJ Traynor who was at midnight madness, Louisville and Xavier are also in the mix with him. We also struck out on Charles Coleman in the 2019 class who had an offer from Duke but ultimately ended up signing at East Carolina.

 

[justinhub2003]

JB is getting guys into visit but can't seem to close the deal. We struck out on Loveday who choose Baylor, Kalkbrenner who committed to Creighton, Patrick Iriel who choose South Carolina. We are still in the running for John Hugley who would be a nice get and holds many offers from big schools but ultimately signs are pointing him signing with Pitt and then there's JJ Traynor who was at midnight madness, Louisville and Xavier are also in the mix with him. We also struck out on Charles Coleman in the 2019 class who had an offer from Duke but ultimately ended up signing at East Carolina.

We still have a chance with Eason but it seems like the further we get away from his official visit, then the chances of it happening get slimmer. USC and Colorado really want him to.

Just need to get one of these guys to buy into what we are selling. And if not, then CJB may need some new salesman on his staff.

 

[waterhead]

We still have a chance with Eason but it seems like the further we get away from his official visit, then the chances of it happening get slimmer. USC and Colorado really want him to.

Just need to get one of these guys to buy into what we are selling. And if not, then CJB may need some new salesman on his staff.

We should be able to pull in a big with Scott and Sorolla leaving and Vogt as one of the successors. The jury is still out on Diara but I would think a good big wouldn't be too worried about PT. The problem is every program in America wants the quality bigs too. Sure hate to see us losing steam on Traynor and Eason but it's not for a lack of effort and CJB may very well have sold them the best or hardest but other factors can override a good sales pitch. Proximity to home, playing where your father played, getting a shot to play for a blue blood etc.

I am happy with the guards we have so far but we will need some quality bigs to compete at a high level. I think Brannen will scour the Earth to come up with something for us. Whether that is a transfer or something else. Let's give it some time.

 

[waterhead]

We still have a chance with Eason but it seems like the further we get away from his official visit, then the chances of it happening get slimmer. USC and Colorado really want him to.

Just need to get one of these guys to buy into what we are selling. And if not, then CJB may need some new salesman on his staff.

One other thing I will mention about recruiting is Cronin found it awful hard to land any quality behind the one 4 star guy per year. I mean right now we have Williams for 2 years and Harvey but CJB landed Madsen behind/with them. Cronin probably wouldn't pull that off. There were times when Cronin would hold over 2 roster spots and/or fill them with guys in the 300's or 400's.

If we can keep getting guys in the Madsen and Saunders range our quality depth should be better and the potential for one or more of them to outshine their star ranking is greater than just recruiting a body.

I am not saying I don't want the clearly more talented higher star guys because I do...but if we can get 2 high 3 star guys to put in place of that we can probably get one of them to perhaps give us 4 star production.

 

[cincyguy13]

I think Brannen has done great so far. I don’t expect to start getting Memphis level recruits. Houston level is realistic I think. But that will come with some success. Sampson just recently started getting high recruits. He had to piece it together the first couple years. Like Brannen is doing now.

 

[cincyguy13]

One other thing I will mention about recruiting is Cronin found it awful hard to land any quality behind the one 4 star guy per year. I mean right now we have Williams for 2 years and Harvey but CJB landed Madsen behind/with them. Cronin probably wouldn't pull that off. There were times when Cronin would hold over 2 roster spots and/or fill them with guys in the 300's or 400's.

If we can keep getting guys in the Madsen and Saunders range our quality depth should be better and the potential for one or more of them to outshine their star ranking is greater than just recruiting a body.

I am not saying I don't want the clearly more talented higher star guys because I do...but if we can get 2 high 3 star guys to put in place of that we can probably get one of them to perhaps give us 4 star production.

I have thought this for a long time. That’s why I don’t think Brannen has to improve the recruiting much to have success. Just fill the unranked players on the roster, with players that are some kind of threat on the court.

 

[justinhub2003]

One other thing I will mention about recruiting is Cronin found it awful hard to land any quality behind the one 4 star guy per year. I mean right now we have Williams for 2 years and Harvey but CJB landed Madsen behind/with them. Cronin probably wouldn't pull that off. There were times when Cronin would hold over 2 roster spots and/or fill them with guys in the 300's or 400's.

If we can keep getting guys in the Madsen and Saunders range our quality depth should be better and the potential for one or more of them to outshine their star ranking is greater than just recruiting a body.

I am not saying I don't want the clearly more talented higher star guys because I do...but if we can get 2 high 3 star guys to put in place of that we can probably get one of them to perhaps give us 4 star production.

I just have been told for years that Cronin under sold UC and that we should be nabbing top 100 guys all the time.

But to this point, I think Brannen is finding out, it’s a lot harder than it seems.

Getting guys in the door is a huge waste of time if you can’t seal the deal. Mick stopped shooting for the stars and started finding unpolished gems. His approach won us a lot of games. Hopefully Brannen’s does as well,

 

[cincyguy13]

I just have been told for years that Cronin under sold UC and that we should be nabbing top 100 guys all the time.

But to this point, I think Brannen is finding out, it’s a lot harder than it seems.

Getting guys in the door is a huge waste of time if you can’t seal the deal. Mick stopped shooting for the stars and started finding unpolished gems. His approach won us a lot of games. Hopefully Brannen’s does as well,

No, actually you haven’t been told Cronin should be nabbing top 100 guys all the time. More than he did? Yes. But not all the time. Good try though. Keep telling yourself Cronin was a good recruiter

 

[cincyguy13]

I’m on to the Brannen era. I think he will be a great coach. Maybe I’ll be wrong, but I’m ready for something different.

For this year, I think the regular season will be a learning process. Hopefully they get better throughout the year. Too many unknowns to know how good they will be. Will know more after a couple games.

 

[waterhead]

I just have been told for years that Cronin under sold UC and that we should be nabbing top 100 guys all the time.

But to this point, I think Brannen is finding out, it’s a lot harder than it seems.

Getting guys in the door is a huge waste of time if you can’t seal the deal. Mick stopped shooting for the stars and started finding unpolished gems. His approach won us a lot of games. Hopefully Brannen’s does as well,

I think it is possible to get better recruits. I don’t think it’s easy at all. Be patient and let’s see what happens. Brannen May need more help who knows

 

[justinhub2003]

No, actually you haven’t been told Cronin should be nabbing top 100 guys all the time. More than he did? Yes. But not all the time. Good try though. Keep telling yourself Cronin was a good recruiter

Plenty of people on this board and others were non stop complainers about the quality of player mick was bringing in.

 

[justinhub2003]

In my mind, you absolutely have to make the tourney this year. It’s an absolute must.

Because next year, will be a bubble team at very very best. Can’t miss the tourney 2 years in a row.

 

[justinhub2003]

No, actually you haven’t been told Cronin should be nabbing top 100 guys all the time. More than he did? Yes. But not all the time. Good try though. Keep telling yourself Cronin was a good recruiter

I literally didn’t say Cronin was a good recruiter either. I just said I thought he sucked at it to.

But his first full class was ranked #19 in the country. Brannen’s first class is shaping up to be barely top 50

 

[cincyguy13]

Plenty of people on this board and others were non stop complainers about the quality of player mick was bringing in.

I think they were talking about the guys that didn’t contribute anything except being athletic. Like some mentioned earlier, if he would have replaced some of those with decent players, not 4 stars, it would have helped.