Anyone else find it odd that many on here don't care if the recruits defect, but wanted Lick out if anyone transferred? Not calling anyone out...just an observation.
Pretty sure this is directed at me or someone like me
so let me try and answer:
It's not that I don't care if the recruits defect, it's a matter of whether the new coach wants them on his roster and whether they are going to add value to future teams. All four of these kids are four year commitments, not one will leave early for the NBA. Four scholarships would be 33% of your roster for the next 4 years, which is a pretty big commitment from the new coach for kids that may not fit his style of play or demeanor.
We knew without a doubt that these recruits were critical to build depth on Licks team. Not one of the kids is a game changer, but they all appear to be good interchangeable parts with our current roster. With that said, depth would have maybe won us 3-4 games this year but it wasn't going to save the season. No way we would compete for the top half of the Big10 simply with more depth, we need more talent.
I'm assuming a couple of things here:
1) New Coach is going to bring in SOME players that he has been recruiting OR are still available as there are several top 150 kids still unsigned.
2) The recruits fit the new coaches playing style.
If the new coach wants these kids then I can almost certainly guarantee that he will keep them signed as they have ALL signed LOIs. They can't simply walk away right now without consequences. Not one of these kids has a 'better' offer than Iowa either. Sure they may have some last minute recruiters in their ear from similar programs as Iowa but Duke isn't calling any of them.
Lick was a completely different story. He has a history of players defecting, which is not good. Next years team needed depth. We are heading in to next years team with 7 or 8 scholarship players without these recruits. Not ONCE during Licks tenure at Iowa have we had a full compliment of roster players.