St John's to Add 2 Big Transfers

[Bill Marsh]

Yeah, PC and Georgetown have seemed to drop the ball in recruiting recently. Depaul has never really recruited well so they don't count.

Huh? Providence?

Just 2 years ago Providence brought in a class that included Bentil, Lindsey, and Chukwu. All 3 were top 100 recruits

Yeah, but after signing Bentil they have missed probably a dozen of their top targets and have not signed another Top 100 kid. They completely struck out in the late spring period, on both transfers and HS players, when trying to get a big man to replace Chukwu.

The class last year had 4 guys and only Fazekas and Edwards saw the floor on a team that needed depth and shooting. None of the 4 guys last year were highly rated. I do like having Fazekas on the roster – shooter with height. And Edwards shows potential to be a tough, scrappy guard.

Right now, with or without Bentil, they have minutes at Center to give away and they can’t seem to do it. A guy like Taurean Thompson could come in and get 25 MPG but he seems to be leaning towards SH, UConn or Syracuse. They tried to get JUCO Kavell Bigby-Williams and lost him to Oregon last week - another guy who could have logged close to 30 MPG for PC. Sedee Keita was another big we lost, to South Carolina, who could have logged major minutes at PC. There are others as well.

On the bright side, they did get a verbal from 2017 Dajour Dickens who should be a Top 150 at a minimum. They also continue to land in the final school list with really high caliber recruits who have gone elsewhere (Wenyen Gabriel, Shamorie Ponds, Donovan Mitchell, etc.).

I think the inability to land a big after losing Chukwu is what jumps out at Friar fans the most. But again, I like the Dickens verbal for 2017.

I was responding to the post that said: ". . . Major recruiting issues after a hot start when Cooley was hired."

Cooley was hired in 2011. He recruited well through 2014. That's more than a "hot start". Chukwu didn't do him any favors leaving when he did. That kind of tied his hands in 2015 since Chukwu appeared to be the heir apparent at center. Yes, he's had some problems this year, but every program goes through seasons when they get a lot of near misses.

I think that Cooley deserves credit for coming up with a quality PG at the last minute 2 years ago when he grabbed Kyron Cartwright away from Loyola-Marymount (?) when late developments created an opening there. I also think that there's been some bad luck involved with the reversal of decision by Ricky Ledo and with the unfortunate incident involving Bullock and Austin. Cooley did a great job of handling the situation so that he kept Bullock, which was the equivalent of re-recruiting him. Whatever he did, it was also a great outcome that Austin left. Good riddance to him.

To knock Cooley for recruiting failures at this point is shortsighted IMO after 4 strong recruiting classes.

[Bill Marsh]

Im mostly talking about the 2016 and 2017 classes. I know Georgetown brought in a very nice class last year and prior but given their history, academics, location, they should be getting top 50 recruits regularly IMO. They are bringing in nice recruits but they are mostly top 150 guys, jucos and transfers now. Maybe I think too highly of them but teams like Villanova, Marquette and Georgetown should be bringing in those type of recruits and I just dont see it from the Hoyas recently and before u flame Creighton recruiting which I actually think is on the uptick, other than the support, we dont have the history, academics and location that Georgetown has.

I would think that Georgetown academics are not an asset in recruiting, but make recruiting more difficult. As far as their history is concerned, I doubt that recruits care about what GU did back in the '80's, which was long before they were even born. In fact their recent history of tournament failures can be seen as a liability in recruiting.

[ChelseaFriar]

Im mostly talking about the 2016 and 2017 classes. I know Georgetown brought in a very nice class last year and prior but given their history, academics, location, they should be getting top 50 recruits regularly IMO. They are bringing in nice recruits but they are mostly top 150 guys, jucos and transfers now. Maybe I think too highly of them but teams like Villanova, Marquette and Georgetown should be bringing in those type of recruits and I just dont see it from the Hoyas recently and before u flame Creighton recruiting which I actually think is on the uptick, other than the support, we dont have the history, academics and location that Georgetown has.

Top 50 recruits regularly is a tough ask of any team in our conference. I might be mistaken, but I think even national champion Villanova does the majority of their damage in the 50-100 range. Looking at ESPN, I know Brunson (16) and Arch (46) were Top 50s. All the other guys were in the 50-100 range, I believe. Incoming Spellman is a Top 50.

There are only 50 of them and you are obviously competing with Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, UNC, Arizona, UCLA, Michigan State, etc. for their services.

If BE teams can land kids in the 50-100 range and keep them for 3 or 4 years they will be in good shape. Drop an occasional Top 50 in there, like Villanova, and you can have something special.

[Bill Marsh]

Im mostly talking about the 2016 and 2017 classes. I know Georgetown brought in a very nice class last year and prior but given their history, academics, location, they should be getting top 50 recruits regularly IMO. They are bringing in nice recruits but they are mostly top 150 guys, jucos and transfers now. Maybe I think too highly of them but teams like Villanova, Marquette and Georgetown should be bringing in those type of recruits and I just dont see it from the Hoyas recently and before u flame Creighton recruiting which I actually think is on the uptick, other than the support, we dont have the history, academics and location that Georgetown has.

Top 50 recruits regularly is a tough ask of any team in our conference. I might be mistaken, but I think even national champion Villanova does the majority of their damage in the 50-100 range. Looking at ESPN, I know Brunson (16) and Arch (46) were Top 50s. All the other guys were in the 50-100 range, I believe. Incoming Spellman is a Top 50.

There are only 50 of them and you are obviously competing with Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, UNC, Arizona, UCLA, Michigan State, etc. for their services.

If BE teams can land kids in the 50-100 range and keep them for 3 or 4 years they will be in good shape. Drop an occasional Top 50 in there, like Villanova, and you can have something special.

Great point. Totally agree with your 50-100 comment.

With all its top recruits, Kentucky has won one national title since the turn of the century. The problem for UK and others like them is that so many of those kids are one-and-done. No way that any coach can develop the team chemistry that Villanova had, nor teach the approach that he wants in his program when a program has that kind of turnover. In addition, recruiting is taking a tremendous amount of time in those programs because they have to bring in so many more players over a 4 year period to fill the vacancies created by the revolving door.

[Bluejay]

Recruiting hasn't been the problem for Georgetown.

Coaching has been the problem for Georgetown.

[Bill Marsh]

Recruiting hasn't been the problem for Georgetown.

Coaching has been the problem for Georgetown.

[stever20]

Im mostly talking about the 2016 and 2017 classes. I know Georgetown brought in a very nice class last year and prior but given their history, academics, location, they should be getting top 50 recruits regularly IMO. They are bringing in nice recruits but they are mostly top 150 guys, jucos and transfers now. Maybe I think too highly of them but teams like Villanova, Marquette and Georgetown should be bringing in those type of recruits and I just dont see it from the Hoyas recently and before u flame Creighton recruiting which I actually think is on the uptick, other than the support, we dont have the history, academics and location that Georgetown has.

Top 50 recruits regularly is a tough ask of any team in our conference. I might be mistaken, but I think even national champion Villanova does the majority of their damage in the 50-100 range. Looking at ESPN, I know Brunson (16) and Arch (46) were Top 50s. All the other guys were in the 50-100 range, I believe. Incoming Spellman is a Top 50.

There are only 50 of them and you are obviously competing with Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, UNC, Arizona, UCLA, Michigan State, etc. for their services.

If BE teams can land kids in the 50-100 range and keep them for 3 or 4 years they will be in good shape. Drop an occasional Top 50 in there, like Villanova, and you can have something special.

Great point. Totally agree with your 50-100 comment.

With all its top recruits, Kentucky has won one national title since the turn of the century. The problem for UK and others like them is that so many of those kids are one-and-done. No way that any coach can develop the team chemistry that Villanova had, nor teach the approach that he wants in his program when a program has that kind of turnover. In addition, recruiting is taking a tremendous amount of time in those programs because they have to bring in so many more players over a 4 year period to fill the vacancies created by the revolving door.

yeah if you just want to look at the title. But Kentucky has 4 final 4's in the last 6 years. not many programs would trade places with them results wise at all.

Also would say the chemistry that Nova had- that doesn't happen all that often anywhere. EVER.

[SJUBBALL]

@jeffborzello: Michigan State transfer Marvin Clark has committed to St. John's, sources told ESPN.


@NYPostBraziller: Marvin Clark Jr. picked St. John's over Oklahoma State, South Florida and Providence. Said #sjubb was "perfect fit."



On top of the Marvin Clark Jr. news, I'm told #sjubb is in terrific shape with Arizona transfer Justin Simon. Visited together over weekend

[stever20]

the thing that's interesting to me.

While initial recruiting doesn't feel like it's picked up that much, transfer recruiting seems to be EXTREMELY strong and it feels like that's improved considerably in the last year or two. To me, that's the area where the non football would make a difference.....

[Westbrook#36]

yeah if you just want to look at the title. But Kentucky has 4 final 4's in the last 6 years. not many programs would trade places with them results wise at all.

Also would say the chemistry that Nova had- that doesn't happen all that often anywhere. EVER.

I beg to differ, it happens EVERY year once. The NCAA champion EVERY year has that championship type chemistry or they wouldn't be champions. Some may have better or stronger chemistry at least in superficial appearance, but at the end they are NCAA champions. They came together and played their best when it mattered the most.