Ulis + recruiting results

T

tednugentfan

Banned
I guess this is the ultimate glass half full / empty scenario. On one hand it was nice to be 1 of 3 teams to make Ulis' final list and I can't blame him for picking Kentucky. On the other hand, it seems like McCaffrey's approach was to put all his eggs in one basket on a kid with better offers without a backup plan. All the time and attention devoted to Ulis likely affected our pursuit of others and likely impacted other kids interest in us. The fact that the staff reached out cold turkey to a juco who basically knew nothing about Iowa is pretty telling. Great job identifying Ulis, but it is disconcerting that we had no backup plan. Lots of offers out, but very few visits and no visits from kids I would classify as a better class of recruit. It appears we are getting pretty deep on the depth chart (again) and have yet to land a commitment. I would think one of these kids with no better offers would jump at a shot to play in the big ten, but it hasn't happened. I like McCaffrey, but if we whiff on landing at least one solid recruit with other legit D1 offers, then I think he needs to make a change on his staff and get a closer in here. I fear we are going to miss out on guys and then be told how good so and so is from Sioux City, etc., is (again) in the 23rd hour.
 
tednugentfan said:
I guess this is the ultimate glass half full / empty scenario. On one hand it was nice to be 1 of 3 teams to make Ulis' final list and I can't blame him for picking Kentucky. On the other hand, it seems like McCaffrey's approach was to put all his eggs in one basket on a kid with better offers without a backup plan. All the time and attention devoted to Ulis likely affected our pursuit of others and likely impacted other kids interest in us. The fact that the staff reached out cold turkey to a juco who basically knew nothing about Iowa is pretty telling. Great job identifying Ulis, but it is disconcerting that we had no backup plan. Lots of offers out, but very few visits and no visits from kids I would classify as a better class of recruit. It appears we are getting pretty deep on the depth chart (again) and have yet to land a commitment. I would think one of these kids with no better offers would jump at a shot to play in the big ten, but it hasn't happened. I like McCaffrey, but if we whiff on landing at least one solid recruit with other legit D1 offers, then I think he needs to make a change on his staff and get a closer in here. I fear we are going to miss out on guys and then be told how good so and so is from Sioux City, etc., is (again) in the 23rd hour.
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There are a number of recruits I would still be thrilled to get. Tory Miller has solid offers (not that offers make a player good or not). He's visiting the 20th. The number 80 player Josh Cunningham might visit Iowa (I don't pay for sites, but there's an article below his player page that says "Cunningham planning Iowa visit?"). My ISU buddies seem to think Cunningham is theirs however. I'm not sure what I think about Forbes who already visited. Dominique Uhl is visiting the 20th as well, and someone told me he would be ranked much higher had he played in the states longer. He also has a few high major offers. Just because we're offering new guys doesn't mean this class is a lost cause. I know we won't get all these guys, but I'd think a class of a couple of those guys and a juco pg would be a very good class. On a side note, I think next years class should be the first one we make a jump in recruiting when recruits notice us in the NCAA tourney and battling in the upper tier of the conference.
 
Same song and dance ted, but again not correct. Fran may have devoted a lot of time in Luis, but I think when all is said and done you will see a very solid class put together. Also, if this were late Feb it would be late in the game. A lot of recruits are taking visits into October. Marvin Clark is a name to listen and watch for.
 
Ulis was a luxury recruit and Fran went for it. Iowa did not NEED a point guard per se in this class, but they would like one. So they took a run at Ulis.

There are other players they are and have been in on at other positions.

Also, I don't think the Ulis story is over. While I am not saying he'll play at Iowa one day, I just think he's going to get recruited over and it will not surprise me if he transfers out of there at some point. As I wrote last week, and the Chicago Tribune then wrote on Friday, he is a four-year player. He's not a typical Kentucky recruit. He wasn't their top target; that guy went to SMU....much to Iowa's dismay. It sounds like if that kid had gone to Kentucky, Ulis would have been at Iowa.
 
ted, your guessing here. There is no way a coach would put all of his eggs into one basket and just recruit 1 player. I hope the Ulis story does not turn out to be a bad one. If Ulis thinks he can compete at the level of Kentucky then great, good luck. But like must experts are saying this is not a typical Kentucky recruit and will get over recruited, but every team needs role players and perhaps Ulis is comfortable being just that.
 
ssckelley said:
ted, your guessing here. There is no way a coach would put all of his eggs into one basket and just recruit 1 player. I hope the Ulis story does not turn out to be a bad one. If Ulis thinks he can compete at the level of Kentucky then great, good luck. But like must experts are saying this is not a typical Kentucky recruit and will get over recruited, but every team needs role players and perhaps Ulis is comfortable being just that.
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No kidding, has any coach ever only recruited one player? I mean Fran managed to somehow sign 5 kids a couple years go.....how did he manage to spend the time to secure Woody (by the sounds of it, took as much if not more time to get him than spent on Ulis), plus get another top 100 kid in Gesell, and then 3 others.

Could we have maybe gone after and gotten another PG ranked like 120-150? Sure, but you don't hit home runs if you don't even get up to the plate for an at bat.
 
deanvogs said:
No kidding, has any coach ever only recruited one player? I mean Fran managed to somehow sign 5 kids a couple years go.....how did he manage to spend the time to secure Woody (by the sounds of it, took as much if not more time to get him than spent on Ulis), plus get another top 100 kid in Gesell, and then 3 others.

Could we have maybe gone after and gotten another PG ranked like 120-150? Sure, but you don't hit home runs if you don't even get up to the plate for an at bat.
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Exactly, the most encouraging thing about the Ulis recruiting is that Fran is taking chances on top recruits. Since Fran has been here he has went up against programs like Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky for recruits. You are going to swing and miss a lot going after those types of recruits but you never know if you can't get one to come here if you don't try.
 
Fran saw something in Ulis early on, BEFORE he was a highly ranked PG. Ulis's rise didn't start until earlier this year. That's when the big boys got involved.


Would it have been nice to get Ulis? Absolutely! It's not everyday you've got the chance to get a top 30 prospect. But it was not imperative. It's not even indicative of Fran and his recruiting. We're set at the point for a few years. Fran just went after a great player. He'll fill this class with good players that fit his system.


Fran did two things with the recruitment of Ulis. First, he re-opened the Chicago recruiting door and (hopefully) started to restore Iowa's reputation there. That will pay dividends down the road.


Second, he got Iowa on the map for other recruits. The fact that Iowa was in the final three (with MSU and UK) brought good exposure to the program. I believe some highly ranked recruits will say "If Iowa was good enough to be in Ulis's final three maybe I should take a look". That's a positive.


That along with a deep run in the NCAAs this year will help the future of the program. Fran will be fine.

Just my 2¢ .. ..

GO HAWKS!!!
 
TySash9 said:
There are a number of recruits I would still be thrilled to get. Tory Miller has solid offers (not that offers make a player good or not). He's visiting the 20th. The number 80 player Josh Cunningham might visit Iowa (I don't pay for sites, but there's an article below his player page that says "Cunningham planning Iowa visit?"). My ISU buddies seem to think Cunningham is theirs however. I'm not sure what I think about Forbes who already visited. Dominique Uhl is visiting the 20th as well, and someone told me he would be ranked much higher had he played in the states longer. He also has a few high major offers. Just because we're offering new guys doesn't mean this class is a lost cause. I know we won't get all these guys, but I'd think a class of a couple of those guys and a juco pg would be a very good class. On a side note, I think next years class should be the first one we make a jump in recruiting when recruits notice us in the NCAA tourney and battling in the upper tier of the conference.
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ISU is recruiting Cunningham but he isn't "theirs" by any stretch. His recruitment is a mystery as far as a favorite unless there is very recent news.
 
The "eggs in one basket" critique is not fair for the following reasons. First, coaches do not have infinite time. I don't think anyone would accuse Fran of not being a committed recruiter. In order to land a player like Ulis, you need to spend tons of time on the road (unless you coach at Kentucky apparently). It's a risk, of course, if you don't get your guy, but you have to take risks to succeed at Iowa. This is how Fran landed Gessel, Woodbury, and Jok. It may not always be the right approach but when you have two solid sophmore PGs, it seems like the risk reward balance was correctly calculated.

Second, recruiting two top level prospects at the same level position could be detrimental to landing either of them. This is because you both won't have the time necessary to put on the full-court press and a player may be scared away by the competition or lack of committment. Again, this is fine at schools like Kentucky but we can't afford to do this. All you can really do at a school like Iowa is try as hard as possible to land the top players that show interest in you and hope that the under the radar players like Aaron White will commit to you before they blow up.

The best thing we can do to help our recrcuiting is make a deep run in the NCAA tourney this year.
 
Cydkar said:
ISU is recruiting Cunningham but he isn't "theirs" by any stretch. His recruitment is a mystery as far as a favorite unless there is very recent news.
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Chris Williams reported ISU and OU favorites today. It doesn't sound like Iowa is really in the running.
 
ssckelley said:
Exactly, the most encouraging thing about the Ulis recruiting is that Fran is taking chances on top recruits. Since Fran has been here he has went up against programs like Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky for recruits. You are going to swing and miss a lot going after those types of recruits but you never know if you can't get one to come here if you don't try.
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I'd rather swing for the fences, personally.
 
sportstalent said:
Swing for the fences always and then you are filling scholarships in April, Iowa has been down that road before...not a good one and led to the worst stretch in Iowa's basketball history.
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not always, It can be nice to have a few open schollies in April and May to get a transfer or two.
 
sportstalent said:
Swing for the fences always and then you are filling scholarships in April, Iowa has been down that road before...not a good one and led to the worst stretch in Iowa's basketball history.
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If you look at it, Iowa didn't really take huge swings. Fran was in on Ulis well before he was a big fish. I'm sure Fran wished that Ulis didn't blow up so much on the AAU circuit this summer.

He has gone after kids that he had every reason to believe he could get. He isn't spending a bunch of time on top 25 kids that he has no shot at.
 
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