Updated Rivals150 (4/15)

[Cataclysmo]

Deonta was a big contributor as a Freshman, 1st team all Big East as a Soph., 2nd team all Big East as a Jr., and nothing as a senior. That is not improvement. In general, everyone improves over time from all the practicing. I think we're speaking of substantial improvement. I wouldn't say SK has improved leaps and bounds. I felt his shooting went backwards this year. His ball handling hasn't gotten any better. Defense has improved a little. Dixon was inconsistent when he got here, and he was inconsistent when he left. Did he improve? Yes, but not by leaps and bounds. In seven years, you picked three names and even those three are debatable. The original premise was correct. "In general", we haven't seen players making significant improvements in their time playing for Mick. He hasn't put anyone in the NBA except for the guy that was "Born Ready" for the NBA before he even played his one year for Mick.

I absolutely despised Dion Dixon his first two years (especially after the WVU thing) but his last two years he improved all the little parts of his game and became a solid contributor. So to did Rashaad Bishop, who developped into the best defender Mick has coached. Larry Davis and Darnell Wilks went from mediocere players on Bad teams to role players on a good team in their senior season. SK was a three star recruit who had offers from basically no one and developed into a scorer who has increased his scoring average by multiple points every year. Lance Stephenson looked lost most of his year and finally came into his own in the Big East tournament. Cashmere Wright went from a frosh that averaged what? 5 ppg? To a senior point guard who was our second best scorer and was held back only by injuries. Hell, even Biggie McClain scored in his final season, soemthing he never did his first 3.

While no player under Mick has ever developed such as Kenyon or Trey Burke, it is ignorant and a strong display of confirmation bias to say that no player has developed at all.

 

[coachpipe]

I absolutely despised Dion Dixon his first two years (especially after the WVU thing) but his last two years he improved all the little parts of his game and became a solid contributor. So to did Rashaad Bishop, who developped into the best defender Mick has coached. Larry Davis and Darnell Wilks went from mediocere players on Bad teams to role players on a good team in their senior season. SK was a three star recruit who had offers from basically no one and developed into a scorer who has increased his scoring average by multiple points every year. Lance Stephenson looked lost most of his year and finally came into his own in the Big East tournament. Cashmere Wright went from a frosh that averaged what? 5 ppg? To a senior point guard who was our second best scorer and was held back only by injuries. Hell, even Biggie McClain scored in his final season, soemthing he never did his first 3.

While no player under Mick has ever developed such as Kenyon or Trey Burke, it is ignorant and a strong display of confirmation bias to say that no player has developed at all.

X2

 

[Gotcha23]

Nobody had SK, Trey Burke, etc. very high, either. One does not have to be a top 10 recruit to contribute right away. On the other hand, you can usually only find one or two diamonds in the rough a year, so if either Caupain or Strickland can be that guy, that would really help with the scoring problem.

Trey Burke was a 4 star recruit. That's big time.

 

[Twest24]

Trey Burke was a 4 star recruit. That's big time.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/basketballrecruiting/basketball/recruiting/rankings/rank-rivals150/2011

No Trey Burke was a 3* ranked behind both Shaq Thomas and Jermaine Sanders. You read way to much into rankings.

 

[Gotcha23]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/basketballrecruiting/basketball/recruiting/rankings/rank-rivals150/2011

No Trey Burke was a 3* ranked behind both Shaq Thomas and Jermaine Sanders. You read way to much into rankings.

NO!! He was a four star. Check around before you come at me with garbage.

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=4091300

 

[JackBauer151]

Trey Burke was a 4 star recruit. That's big time.

So was Justin Jackson. He is not big time. Rankings are overrated. Sometimes you get Trey Burke and Kemba Walker. Sometimes you get BJ Grove and Rod Flowers. You just have to evaluate the best you can and hope the kids works really hard and light turns on. Sometimes that means just a solid role player and other times it means a superstar. Never know how a kid will react to D1 ball.

 

[Amberlycolonel]

Yup, Deonta, Dion, SK, and co. have never gotten better. That's why we've only made the tourney 3 straight years, including a sweet 16. Awful, just awful!!!

Those players never improved from their freshman years. Your idea of improvement and mine seem light years apart. Dixon, I may go along with slightly. But Vaughn and SK? No way.

 

[Gotcha23]

So was Justin Jackson. He is not big time. Rankings are overrated. Sometimes you get Trey Burke and Kemba Walker. Sometimes you get BJ Grove and Rod Flowers. You just have to evaluate the best you can and hope the kids works really hard and light turns on. Sometimes that means just a solid role player and other times it means a superstar. Never know how a kid will react to D1 ball.

Respectfully disagree. How many NBA stars from the US were not monster recruits?

 

[JackBauer151]

Yea no doubt the top 20 are typically monsters but after that it is very hard to ascertain where a kid will end up. Those are typically all 3 and 4 star recruits.

 

[Gotcha23]

Yea no doubt the top 20 are typically monsters but after that it is very hard to ascertain where a kid will end up. Those are typically all 3 and 4 star recruits.

Good point. I agree.

 

[Twest24]

So you use scout hoops and im the one coming with garbage? Ok

 

[westsidecat]

Is this a good class? I go back and forth.

well look at who we bring in. a class should fill a void. what was uc biggest void this year? yep, the 5 spot.

who do we bring in? another project. so right now the 5 has gains, dn, and strickland..

so sick of hearing about cronin ability to find diamonds in the rough talk. i got an ideal, how about actually getting someone who can play and contribute at a high level. unless you like watching our centers get abused night after night, with zero scoring.

some don't want to admit cronin's recruiting failures. still point at who he brought in 12 years ago for other coaches and pretend he's the man. how does a coach who's coming off a sweet 16 and 3 stright trips to the ncaa have to settle for projects? because he's getting beat like he stole something on the recruiting trail.

the scary part is his classes were ranked higher when he took over the dumpsterfire. now uc is back on solid ground, yet the recruiting has gotten worse.

some just refuse to see or admit the truth.

 

[Gotcha23]

So you use scout hoops and im the one coming with garbage? Ok

I use them all Tweet.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

well look at who we bring in. a class should fill a void. what was uc biggest void this year? yep, the 5 spot.

who do we bring in? another project. so right now the 5 has gains, dn, and strickland..

so sick of hearing about cronin ability to find diamonds in the rough talk. i got an ideal, how about actually getting someone who can play and contribute at a high level. unless you like watching our centers get abused night after night, with zero scoring.

some don't want to admit cronin's recruiting failures. still point at who he brought in 12 years ago for other coaches and pretend he's the man. how does a coach who's coming off a sweet 16 and 3 stright trips to the ncaa have to settle for projects? because he's getting beat like he stole something on the recruiting trail.

the scary part is his classes were ranked higher when he took over the dumpsterfire. now uc is back on solid ground, yet the recruiting has gotten worse.

some just refuse to see or admit the truth.

Our 2013 recruiting class is rated by most publications in the top 25. The link below has us at #24. The problem is the last 2 classes have holes. But Cronin got his 2nd best recruit ever in this class. Lawrence is probably the caveat of reaching the NCAA's 3 years in a row as well. Look for OSU on the rankings, where are they? They have been to back to back sweet 16's. Mick's early classes were ranked higher by some publications because they added the total stars. Also, Wilks and Biggie were ranked high and produced little.

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/classrankings?class=2013&date=null

 

[JumpinJack5]

Trey Burke was a 4 star recruit. That's big time.

Shaq Thomas was also a 4 star and Burke was a 3 star by some.....

 

[JackBauer151]

well look at who we bring in. a class should fill a void. what was uc biggest void this year? yep, the 5 spot.

who do we bring in? another project. so right now the 5 has gains, dn, and strickland..

so sick of hearing about cronin ability to find diamonds in the rough talk. i got an ideal, how about actually getting someone who can play and contribute at a high level. unless you like watching our centers get abused night after night, with zero scoring.

some don't want to admit cronin's recruiting failures. still point at who he brought in 12 years ago for other coaches and pretend he's the man. how does a coach who's coming off a sweet 16 and 3 stright trips to the ncaa have to settle for projects? because he's getting beat like he stole something on the recruiting trail.

the scary part is his classes were ranked higher when he took over the dumpsterfire. now uc is back on solid ground, yet the recruiting has gotten worse.

some just refuse to see or admit the truth.

They have a 5 star recruit coming in. How is that a project? Also most centers or the 5 position are projects and the ones that arent are coveted by the best programs in the country. Not easy to get. I agree that I would like to see the recruiting to improve but lets not act like we have no good players coming in or that the recruiting has been really bad because that just is simply not true.

 

[JackBauer151]

Also you have never seen Strickland play. How do you know he is a project?

 

[Cataclysmo]

Who cares about recruiting rankings. If they arent top 10 it can be a wild card. Even Lance wasnt that good his frosh year and he was rated #11 in the class.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

well look at who we bring in. a class should fill a void. what was uc biggest void this year? yep, the 5 spot.

who do we bring in? another project. so right now the 5 has gains, dn, and strickland..

so sick of hearing about cronin ability to find diamonds in the rough talk. i got an ideal, how about actually getting someone who can play and contribute at a high level. unless you like watching our centers get abused night after night, with zero scoring.

some don't want to admit cronin's recruiting failures. still point at who he brought in 12 years ago for other coaches and pretend he's the man. how does a coach who's coming off a sweet 16 and 3 stright trips to the ncaa have to settle for projects? because he's getting beat like he stole something on the recruiting trail.

the scary part is his classes were ranked higher when he took over the dumpsterfire. now uc is back on solid ground, yet the recruiting has gotten worse.

some just refuse to see or admit the truth.

Lets look around the league at other team's big men

Davante Gardner - 3 star - Marquette tied for 1st in BE
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=4357987

Jack Cooley - 3 star - Not ranked
http://rivals.yahoo.com/notredame/basketball/recruiting/player-Jack-Cooley-70490

Moussa Keita - Syracuse - 3 star Unranked
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Baye Moussa-Keita-89513

Maurice Sutton - Villanova - 3 stars Unranked
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Baye Moussa-Keita-89513

Enosch WOlf - Uconn - Unranked
http://butler.scout.com/a.z?s=512&p=8&c=1&nid=6633225

Kadeem Batts - Providence - 3 Star - Unranked
http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/basketball/recruiting/player-Kadeem-Batts-72265

Georgetown had a top 100 C

Dieng was a top 50 C



Do you think other top teams take "projects" at the 5?

 

[L-T]

I absolutely despised Dion Dixon his first two years (especially after the WVU thing) but his last two years he improved all the little parts of his game and became a solid contributor. So to did Rashaad Bishop, who developped into the best defender Mick has coached. Larry Davis and Darnell Wilks went from mediocere players on Bad teams to role players on a good team in their senior season. SK was a three star recruit who had offers from basically no one and developed into a scorer who has increased his scoring average by multiple points every year. Lance Stephenson looked lost most of his year and finally came into his own in the Big East tournament. Cashmere Wright went from a frosh that averaged what? 5 ppg? To a senior point guard who was our second best scorer and was held back only by injuries. Hell, even Biggie McClain scored in his final season, soemthing he never did his first 3.

While no player under Mick has ever developed such as Kenyon or Trey Burke, it is ignorant and a strong display of confirmation bias to say that no player has developed at all.

This post is one of the funnier ones I've read in a long time. You rattled off a litany of the best examples of no improvement. And, you called me ignorant? I didn't expect the majority on this forum to see anything less than massive improvement in these 7 years of players. Anyway, I'll stand by my original statement. Players aren't getting better under Mick. This season was a classic example of that.