Christian Vital down to UConn, Iowa & Louisville

[SpecialKHawk]

I think the stars are aligning nicely for him coming to Iowa for a year.

Are you guys thinking Vital is a grad transfer? I believe he's a prep school kid with multiple years to play? That's not a grad transfer.

I'm all for Vital coming in but think we are a long shot amongst the 3 schools listed.

 

[jparmley3]

I'd put the odds of Iowa winning the signature of Vital over Louisville - and especially UConn - and about 200:1

If I were betting it's going to be tough to get him away from Kevin Ollie and the Huskies.
If he comes to Iowa, I will eat crow.
Unfortunately I just don't feel it happening.
Fran has never been very good when it comes to recruiting high-end/highly rated guards.

 

[Hawk5656]

And how do you know that CW cannot handle the PG position with some experience playing heavy minutes next year? The non-con looks challenging so the youth is going to get some big time experience and lessons.

You might be right about the right grad transfer but there is also an opportunity cost with bringing in a one year rental with a young team. That's a vote of no confidence to the young guys and at the end of the day we get a guy for one season. That's it. I'd be more for it if we had a veteran group missing a piece to make a good run.

He had 22 points and 6 assists on the entire season last year. He's a huge question mark for next year

 

[SpecialKHawk]

He had 22 points and 6 assists on the entire season last year. He's a huge question mark for next year

So are many players when they first emerge onto the scene. Your point is because he did not produce much because of very limited minutes it's shaky to expect that he can handle it next year. You might be correct but he could also blossom with some extended minutes in some big games. He showed some flashes of good and bad. I am willing to roll the dice over bringing in a grad transfer at that spot.

 

[BigD]

He had 22 points and 6 assists on the entire season last year. He's a huge question mark for next year

If you mean per game average that's great but if you mean per season then I just won't comment.

Fran at some point very soon has got to land a B1G fish at the point guard position. It's probably the most important position on any successful team. Hopefully we have someone on the team already who will surprise us all and bring it.

Generally over the forty-seven years of following college basketball these type of players show themselves during there sophomore years unless they get injured. Ocassionally you will see it in their freshmen years but those guys are few and far between.

That's why I wasn't too excited by the end of their sophomore years of two particular guards. On a talented team they would both be second or third off of the bench. I wish them both well in what ever pursuits they take in life and I hope they both graduated with good degrees.

 

[Hawk5656]

So are many players when they first emerge onto the scene. Your point is because he did not produce much because of very limited minutes it's shaky to expect that he can handle it next year. You might be correct but he could also blossom with some extended minutes in some big games. He showed some flashes of good and bad. I am willing to roll the dice over bringing in a grad transfer at that spot.

I'd rather bring in a grad transfer than trust a player that had no P6 offers and was stuck behind Brady Ellingson on the depth chart most of the season. I think he'll be a good player down the road but I don't think he's ready to be handed the keys next year.

 

[SteveGarvey1]

I'd put the odds of Iowa winning the signature of Vital over Louisville - and especially UConn - and about 200:1

If I were betting it's going to be tough to get him away from Kevin Ollie and the Huskies.
If he comes to Iowa, I will eat crow.
Unfortunately I just don't feel it happening.
Fran has never been very good when it comes to recruiting high-end/highly rated guards.

I believe that would make a $10 bet worth it. I saw one recruiting site where Iowa's chances were 25-1. Still long but slightly more realistic.

 

[RobHowe]

CV tweeted thank you to Kevin Ollie and UConn for hosting him today. I contacted him. He told me it was an official visit.

 

[Thawki]

Not sure we should be interested in a guy who is interested in Louisville.

Louisville has a LOT of history. I wouldn't hold playing for that program and a HOF, regardless of what YOU think, coach against a guy that is in high school. If he is interested in them and then decides to go to Iowa, why would you hold that against him? Uthoff picked against Iowa and transferred back after he saw Iowa was better than he thought they might be. Do you hold that against him at this point? Not exactly the same, but wanting to transfer after one year, you could say that is a character issue.

It is hard to talk about how a high school kid should have enough character to think the way you are saying he should think. He IS in high school. By definition he is forming his character. Give him a chance to decide before you don't think he has enough character. Then, even if he decides Louisville, that doesn't mean he is an idiot.

Give a high school kid a break. He is trying to decide. Just because he is considering Louisville doesn't mean he shouldn't be pursued by Iowa.

 

[hawkjunkie]

He told me he will visit all three schools. His mom requested he not release the dates of those visits.

Hey Rob, based on the dates given, can you give a hypothetical time frame for a decision to be made? Or simply say what date do you think you would decide, if you were a recruit visiting several schools around those time frames.
You could answer that without giving away any visit dates...

 

[FranklinHawk]

Hey Rob, based on the dates given, can you give a hypothetical time frame for a decision to be made? Or simply say what date do you think you would decide, if you were a recruit visiting several schools around those time frames.
You could answer that without giving away any visit dates...

I read Rob's note to say that CV hadn't given any dates at his Mother's request, so Rob would not have that info.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Louisville has a LOT of history. I wouldn't hold playing for that program and a HOF, regardless of what YOU think, coach against a guy that is in high school. If he is interested in them and then decides to go to Iowa, why would you hold that against him? Uthoff picked against Iowa and transferred back after he saw Iowa was better than he thought they might be. Do you hold that against him at this point? Not exactly the same, but wanting to transfer after one year, you could say that is a character issue.

It is hard to talk about how a high school kid should have enough character to think the way you are saying he should think. He IS in high school. By definition he is forming his character. Give him a chance to decide before you don't think he has enough character. Then, even if he decides Louisville, that doesn't mean he is an idiot.

Give a high school kid a break. He is trying to decide. Just because he is considering Louisville doesn't mean he shouldn't be pursued by Iowa.

I'm going to nit pick with you on Uthoff... I don't think he transferred to Iowa because he thought Iowa was going to be better then he'd thought. I think he thought Wisky was just a terrible fit for him. Between their coach and style of play he just knew after redshirting it just wasn't going to work so coming home from there when Iowa would wanted him from the git go only made sense. Iowa got better much because of him coming too. He pushed White in practice that year he had to sit out hard I think.

 

[PCHawk]

I'm going to nit pick with you on Uthoff... I don't think he transferred to Iowa because he thought Iowa was going to be better then he'd thought. I think he thought Wisky was just a terrible fit for him. Between their coach and style of play he just knew after redshirting it just wasn't going to work so coming home from there when Iowa would wanted him from the git go only made sense. Iowa got better much because of him coming too. He pushed White in practice that year he had to sit out hard I think.

Uthoff paid his way for a year to come to iowa after wanting nothing to do with them a year earlier.

 

[philmein0091]

You can read and watch how Fran feels about this situation here http://hawkeyenation.com/2016/mccaffery-discusses-options-open-scholarship

I didn't get the sense that he's stressed about it at all. If they find someone he thinks fits - grad transfer, transfer, HS - he makes a move. If not, he's fine rolling it over to next year.

I think Spike Albrecht would be a great fit. But there aren't many of those guys out there on the grad transfer market.

As for Vital, Fran likes him quite a bit. I do, too.

I may be in the minority here but I do not see Iowa landing any of the these prospects, Moore seems like a kid that will be swayed to stay now that Tubby Smith is there and roster openings suggest early playing time for Charlie. I think Charlie's height is exaggerated at 5'11". More like 5'9.5". Charlie is quick and has good handles and streaky stroke but how would he do against bigger guards. Charlie gets compared to Tyler Ulis but Tyler was All American material and Charlie is 4 star material. I would still take 4 star material over what Iowa has now.

Vital seems likely to either commit to UCONN (where he has a couple of friends playing) or Louisville (East Coast comfort zone and BB history). Iowa looks like a courtesy call and a way to force UCONN or Louisville from slow playing their hand for Vital.

Fran and his staff have been a recruiting rut as Iowa has only gotten Iowa kids and marginal neighboring/conference state recruits to come to Iowa. The recruitment of Moss and Hutton seemed like a good sign of progress of Iowa getting back into Chicago , especially the Public League where 4 and 5 star talent usually comes from in IL. Tyler Cook is a another example of Iowa's work to network the St.Louis area for basketball talent. Still, Iowa needs to land at least one 4 star quality player per year if Iowa ever wants to win its conference or advance to the Sweet 16/ Elite 8. Getting mainly Iowa HS prospects is not a recipe for great success as the college game is faster and more demanding. I am not sold on Jordan Bohannon as a PG because he is barely 6'0" tall and not very quick. Is Bohannon another Brady Ellingson with better ball handling skills? Time will tell.

I am not a fan of Spike Albrecht due to his health condition nor the idea of a 5th year grad coming in to eat minutes from developing players. CW needs the minutes to develop into a team leader at PG. Moss could lend his hand to covering the PG spot for a short breather and Bohannon might average 6 to 9 minutes per game in mop up duties/spelling CW. Next year's club is about team growth and learning to win. A 5th year grad is looking for starter's minutes (25+) or a big role on a tournament run club. Neither is what Iowa is about. I vote on banking the scholarship and looking at getting a 4 star athlete (guard) that can impact the team from their first day on campus. 2017 5 star Gary Trent, Jr. is totally out of Iowa's scope as he is destined for a blue blood program and he's is a likely one and done kid. Iowa needs a kid like Jordan Goodwin. He is higher rated than Connor McC. He can play multiple spots, has very good ball handling skills, quickness, a strong defender and a very good athlete. He plays in an uptempo HS offense that compares favorably to the college game and Fran's desired style. Goodwin is a better athlete than most of Iowa's BB roster and he was a AAU teammate of Tyler Cook. Goodwin is from the IL side of St. Louis area and will likely be Mr. Basketball in IL next year. He should have been named that this year.

Iowa needs to land better talent before Mizzou and ILL-Annoy find new HCs and awakens from their current nightmares.

 

[deanvogs]

Fran and his staff have been a recruiting rut as Iowa has only gotten Iowa kids and marginal neighboring/conference state recruits to come to Iowa. The recruitment of Moss and Hutton seemed like a good sign of progress of Iowa getting back into Chicago , especially the Public League where 4 and 5 star talent usually comes from in IL. Tyler Cook is a another example of Iowa's work to network the St.Louis area for basketball talent. Still, Iowa needs to land at least one 4 star quality player per year if Iowa ever wants to win its conference or advance to the Sweet 16/ Elite 8.

How is Iowa in a "recruiting rut". By your own stipulations Iowa will do what you say they need to do. They signed 4* Tyler Cook this year. They have 4* Conner coming in next year. They have 4* Weiscamp the year after. They have 4*/5* Patrick the year after that.

So that will be four years in a row of meeting your minimum requirements. How is that a "recruiting rut"?

 

[RobHowe]

Hey Rob, based on the dates given, can you give a hypothetical time frame for a decision to be made? Or simply say what date do you think you would decide, if you were a recruit visiting several schools around those time frames.
You could answer that without giving away any visit dates...

As mentioned above, the family would like to keep the official visit dates under wraps. I think they'd like to focus on the process without a lot of attention.

When I saw CV Tweet he visited UConn yesterday, I simply texted him to ask if it was an official. He responded that it was and I left it at that. I'm trying to respect the family's wishes. I think Christian will continue to do what he did yesterday to let us know after he's visited somewhere.

I'm speculating somewhat, but based on what I've gathered from communications with him, I think he would like to get these three visits in and then make a decision. The signing period goes into the middle of May but I get a feeling his decision will come sooner than that. A mid-week visit to UConn indicates to me that they process is moving along.

I've heard Louisville is next and then it will be Iowa but that's not coming from CV. I'd like it if we were the last visit.

 

[philmein0091]

How is Iowa in a "recruiting rut". By your own stipulations Iowa will do what you say they need to do. They signed 4* Tyler Cook this year. They have 4* Conner coming in next year. They have 4* Weiscamp the year after. They have 4*/5* Patrick the year after that.

So that will be four years in a row of meeting your minimum requirements. How is that a "recruiting rut"?

Iowa's recruiting rut is having a lot of 3 star scholar-shipped players who are not highly recruited (offered by P5 schools). Iowa was lucky to have Marble and Aaron White come to Iowa. Things are getting better for Iowa as Connor is developing into a top 100 (although sliding in annual rankings) SG . Weiskamp is a bright star for the Iowa program and shows signs of becoming a top 50 national recruit in his class, maybe top 25. Patrick is a hopeful 4 star recruit with several years to mature yet so the jury is out. The state of Iowa only really produces 1 to 2 D-1 BB players per year, if that. I have serious doubts about Bohannon's game in the B1G. Pemsl is working through his rehabilation and Kreiner seems like a decent role guy who should more athleticism than Woody.

Iowa needs to match the Wisconsins, Michigans, tOSUs, Indianas (annual top echelon of the B1G conference ) with some NBA like talents. Iowa needs to do better and Iowa's recruiting circle must expand to nearby bigger metros like St. Louis, Minneapolis and Chicago. Iowa needs to get out of their safe zone and expand its recruiting base. And not this "Let's go to our East Coast roots" route. Iowa needs to hit MO, IL, IN, OH and MI harder, especially MO and IL where the chief state MBB programs are in disarray. John Groce and Kim Anderson are cruel jokes and bad coaches. Both are hot seat material next year. With Tyler Cook, Iowa needs to network the St.Louis area and develop relationships.

 

[WindsorHawk]

I may be in the minority here but I do not see Iowa landing any of the these prospects, Moore seems like a kid that will be swayed to stay now that Tubby Smith is there and roster openings suggest early playing time for Charlie. I think Charlie's height is exaggerated at 5'11". More like 5'9.5". Charlie is quick and has good handles and streaky stroke but how would he do against bigger guards. Charlie gets compared to Tyler Ulis but Tyler was All American material and Charlie is 4 star material. I would still take 4 star material over what Iowa has now.

Vital seems likely to either commit to UCONN (where he has a couple of friends playing) or Louisville (East Coast comfort zone and BB history). Iowa looks like a courtesy call and a way to force UCONN or Louisville from slow playing their hand for Vital.

Fran and his staff have been a recruiting rut as Iowa has only gotten Iowa kids and marginal neighboring/conference state recruits to come to Iowa. The recruitment of Moss and Hutton seemed like a good sign of progress of Iowa getting back into Chicago , especially the Public League where 4 and 5 star talent usually comes from in IL. Tyler Cook is a another example of Iowa's work to network the St.Louis area for basketball talent. Still, Iowa needs to land at least one 4 star quality player per year if Iowa ever wants to win its conference or advance to the Sweet 16/ Elite 8. Getting mainly Iowa HS prospects is not a recipe for great success as the college game is faster and more demanding. I am not sold on Jordan Bohannon as a PG because he is barely 6'0" tall and not very quick. Is Bohannon another Brady Ellingson with better ball handling skills? Time will tell.

I am not a fan of Spike Albrecht due to his health condition nor the idea of a 5th year grad coming in to eat minutes from developing players. CW needs the minutes to develop into a team leader at PG. Moss could lend his hand to covering the PG spot for a short breather and Bohannon might average 6 to 9 minutes per game in mop up duties/spelling CW. Next year's club is about team growth and learning to win. A 5th year grad is looking for starter's minutes (25+) or a big role on a tournament run club. Neither is what Iowa is about. I vote on banking the scholarship and looking at getting a 4 star athlete (guard) that can impact the team from their first day on campus. 2017 5 star Gary Trent, Jr. is totally out of Iowa's scope as he is destined for a blue blood program and he's is a likely one and done kid. Iowa needs a kid like Jordan Goodwin. He is higher rated than Connor McC. He can play multiple spots, has very good ball handling skills, quickness, a strong defender and a very good athlete. He plays in an uptempo HS offense that compares favorably to the college game and Fran's desired style. Goodwin is a better athlete than most of Iowa's BB roster and he was a AAU teammate of Tyler Cook. Goodwin is from the IL side of St. Louis area and will likely be Mr. Basketball in IL next year. He should have been named that this year.

Iowa needs to land better talent before Mizzou and ILL-Annoy find new HCs and awakens from their current nightmares.

I don't know anything about Moore. But Vital narrowed his list to 5 and then narrowed it to 3. We are on that list of 3. And why in the world would he give Iowa a "courtesy" visit? Your Vital comments are baseless.

Iowa isn't in a recruiting rut...more fiction. I'm looking forward to seeing what Bohannon can do. I put more stock in Fran's ability to evaluate talent than yours...be it Bohannon, Trent, Goodwin or anyone else.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Iowa's recruiting rut is having a lot of 3 star scholar-shipped players who are not highly recruited (offered by P5 schools). Iowa was lucky to have Marble and Aaron White come to Iowa. Things are getting better for Iowa as Connor is developing into a top 100 (although sliding in annual rankings) SG . Weiskamp is a bright star for the Iowa program and shows signs of becoming a top 50 national recruit in his class, maybe top 25. Patrick is a hopeful 4 star recruit with several years to mature yet so the jury is out. The state of Iowa only really produces 1 to 2 D-1 BB players per year, if that. I have serious doubts about Bohannon's game in the B1G. Pemsl is working through his rehabilation and Kreiner seems like a decent role guy who should more athleticism than Woody.

Iowa needs to match the Wisconsins, Michigans, tOSUs, Indianas (annual top echelon of the B1G conference ) with some NBA like talents. Iowa needs to do better and Iowa's recruiting circle must expand to nearby bigger metros like St. Louis, Minneapolis and Chicago. Iowa needs to get out of their safe zone and expand its recruiting base. And not this "Let's go to our East Coast roots" route. Iowa needs to hit MO, IL, IN, OH and MI harder, especially MO and IL where the chief state MBB programs are in disarray. John Groce and Kim Anderson are cruel jokes and bad coaches. Both are hot seat material next year. With Tyler Cook, Iowa needs to network the St.Louis area and develop relationships.

I won't bother picking this post apart. It's just nonsense...getting a definite troll vibe.

 

[Hawks319]

I won't bother picking this post apart. It's just nonsense...getting a definite troll vibe.

This.
Wagner Williams Moss. And Moss is going to be legit IMO. I'm looking forward to the athleticism next year. I can't wait. Shut some people up.