Kentucky Basketball Recruiting: Tarczewski Off The Table?
by Glenn Logan on Sep 12, 2011 1:27 PM EDT
in Kentucky Wildcats Baseball
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According to multiple reports, the 7-foot center from St. Mark’s (Mass.) will trip to Kansas this coming weekend and Arizona the following weekend, and then decide between the two.
I don't know how that reads to you, but to me it says that UK is no longer under consideration, and neither is North Carolina.
Calipari is turning his attention back to Kentucky and, in particular, to recruiting, which I consider a very good think owing to the lack of commitments for 2012 so far. That really isn't something to necessarily worry about, Calipari will get his players -- he always does -- but from a layman's standpoint, its fairly easy to conclude that Kentucky has lost some recruiting momentum while Coach Cal has been coaching the Dominicans. He did a great job with the DR team even though they didn't get a spot in the Olympics this time around (a loss to Brazil put them in third).
I expect Calipari will try to immediately re-establish his momentum with the 2012 recruits and try to capitalize on his experience in South America.
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If I’ve learned anything since I started following recruiting very closely it’s that you don’t listen to anything like this until it’s over. So many reports these days are proven false or inaccurate that you just have to wait until the kid commits anymore. You’ve got these twitter/armchair scouts out there these days that seem to just make things up to try and garner an audience and get themselves started. And then reputable people sometimes buy into their false reporting to try and get a leg up and provide the scoop so they can stay ahead as well.
An Example To Remember
Jamaal Magloire “committed” to Purdue TWICE in May 1997, calling Pitino to tell him Thanks But No Thanks both times.
Magloire ultimately committed to (and signed with) UK on May 15, 1997.
One example of many.
by FortyYearCatFan on Sep 12, 2011 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes, that's right.
Verbal commitments are, to borrow a phrase from Jerry Maguire, “Stronger than oak.” ;-)
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Well...
… but from a layman’s standpoint, its fairly easy to conclude that Kentucky has lost some recruiting momentum while Coach Cal has been coaching the Dominicans.
I don’t know if I will be the only layman to disagree with this, or only the first, but I do not conclude this. I just conclude that we’re talking about kids here. Maybe a kid would think a call from Coach Cal from South America taking time away from his DR team would be a really cool thing. (As long as it wasn’t collect- does that even exist anymore?) So I would say that the laymen are not unanimous on this one.
And besides, when is Cal supposed to go out into the world and increase his international presence and reach, between the months of November to April?
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"I watch (UK) every night... I am going to support them for the rest of my life. I'm a Wildcat for the rest of my life." -- JWall, 2/8/11
I agree HSLex ...
Here’s a CBSSports.com article by Parrish expressing confidence in Cal’s ability to parachute from an Argentine jet, paraglide over the 2012 recruiting pool and pluck another top-rated class. I thought the comparison of Cal’s recruiting to George Clooney’s womanizing was terrific!
I applaud Cal’s Dominican Team success but I’m angered disappointed that he has allowed his other basketball interests to interfere with his ability to make in-home visits. Joining Kenny Payne on speakerphone or Skype is no substitute for having the Head Coach, especially Calipari sitting in a recruit’s living room. Such techno-assisted meetings are great for passing information and giving directions but they are absolutely NOT for establishing rapport, building relationships or wooing parents .
Granted, I’m sure the in-home visit period has been intensely strategized by Cal and his assistants to minimize the impact of his early absence from the recruiting trail, but if the recruiting media analysts are to be believed, Kentucky is not the hands-down favorite for any 5-star recruit. And even where Kentucky is thought to be well positioned, we are being hard pressed by the home state school or other top programs who are right there with us.
This is new ground in the Calipari recruiting era, by this time Cal already had crucial commitments for the prior 3 classes. This situation has engendered disturbing flashbacks to prior recruiting years where Kentucky was frequently a finalist but seldom the choice as top recruits strung out their decisions to disappointing conclusions. Our program’s return to the summit of college basketball has not been long enough to instill the confidence necessary to forestall the nervous jitters of the BBN, jitters bad enough to encourage the sports media to write articles like the one above seeking to calm our fears.
Like most Kentucky fan’s I like to express my confidence in Cal despite the tightening I feel in the pit of my stomach. And It’s true, we are well positioned with the majority of top uncommitted talent in the class, have an incredible array of talent coming the Big Blue Madness, and most importantly Cal has never let us down. And no matter what the 2012 class is rated top-5 or not, Cal will still have to carry the burden of my love and affection. But, if this 2012 class fails to live up to the standard set by Calipari as the Uber-Recruiter, I will for ever wonder if the time/energy commitment he made to the Dominican Team was the tipping effect.
You of course make some great points as usual, TW... however...
But, if this 2012 class fails to live up to the standard set by Calipari as the Uber-Recruiter, I will for ever wonder if the time/energy commitment he made to the Dominican Team was the tipping effect.
And I will forever not give it a second thought.
The guy is living his life and also taking all of us along for one heck of a ride. And those two are not, and should not, be synonymous.
Besides, you don’t really have to settle for “wondering” about all of this- it doesn’t come down to just some sort of general feeling about things. UK is recruiting specific players. You (or whoever) could ask each of those specific players if Coach Cal coaching the DR team was a tipping effect to their signing with someone else. I would be shocked if these savvy kids and their advisers would say “Yes” to that- or if they would even feel it.
These kids (and their advisers) are future pros looking out for their future careers… what the heck does Coach Cal spending some summer time coaching the DR team have to do with that? We’re not recruiting a bunch of touchy-feely kids who are looking for a friend.
P.S. Who do we have to talk to around here to get rid of these Big Ten advertisements and bring back the ice tea ads? Glenn?
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"I watch (UK) every night... I am going to support them for the rest of my life. I'm a Wildcat for the rest of my life." -- JWall, 2/8/11
Hey.
Hey, whatever it takes to keep the lights on around here.
It looks a lot weirder on Team Speed Kills. :-)
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
I'm with you, Glenn...
… but I will say that my ice tea consumption has dropped lately. Someone from SBNation Headquarters should pass that information along to that ice tea advertiser…
… whoever they were. I actually don’t even remember what brand it was. :-)
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"I watch (UK) every night... I am going to support them for the rest of my life. I'm a Wildcat for the rest of my life." -- JWall, 2/8/11
This line by TeamWeaver is the same mistake that I think most people are making.
“This is new ground in the Calipari recruiting era, by this time Cal already had crucial commitments for the prior 3 classes.”
Out of the 2010 class, Stacey Poole was the first commit on 9/24/09. The next commit was Enes Kanter on 3/23/10. Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones, and Eloy Vargas all waited to commit until they knew what the previous class was going to do. I think this is more the norm than the 2011 class who all committed early. It just makes it seem worse than it really is since we haven’t had a commit since last fall. People in general are making way too much out if this at this point IMHO.
by mess038 on Sep 12, 2011 9:38 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I'm sure many would disagree.
That’s fine by me.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
I don't know that Cal's involvement with DR had anything to do with Tarczewski
He was always said to be leaning toward Kansas. In fact, 7 foot white guys seem to be a tradition at KU. Although it would be nice to get him, I never really expected to.
I think kids this year are looking to milk the recruiting publicity all the way to spring. That keeps their options open should anything happen with the NBA CBA. It also keeps them in the news.
I don't know, but I do think Calipari has lost some momentum.
Not that he can’t get it back. And I expect he will rather quickly.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Latin American recruits anyone?
I heard Cal commenting on a 19 year old he had seen while at the tournament, any idea if Cal found any valid recruits while down there?
What I read said he had a conference call
With a recruit in South America. Kenny Payne was IN his home and Cal was on speakerphone.
Blue... there is no other color to Bleed !!!
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