I think we all are ready for commitments because I didn't realize this until I looked, all 4 of the current freshmen had committed by this time last year. Baptiste was the last on Sept 15th or 16th.
The prior yr wasn't too shabby with both Baldwin and MFD committed by now, and Lachance 10/1. Roberson and Mitchell were both Spring commits.
So the staff has been doing work and getting it done early recently. Another reason I think this yr is making some of us more anxious.
I've thought for a long time that Kedren Johnson was the biggest hoop recruit this staff may have gotten in terms of how bad other teams and which teams those were that wanted him. I've recently changed my mind to think Damian Jones is the biggest get. The reason is while KJ was a huge get, he still was a guard. There just are more guards to go around. DJ was an athletic big. Just not that many of those and they are at such a premium it's just so hard to get those. And while DJ hadn't gotten official offers yet from the blue bloods, both KS and Duke were starting to sniff around, and VU getting DJ to commit early (9/2) and not wait to see what those teams and others were going to do was just huge. And I shudder to think what this team would look like without DJ. Not only was DJ and LK the only recruits that yr, but DJ came in and virtually everyone else left during that summer to forget. When recruiting players like WB, MFD and RL it was easy to sell them on building a team around DJ which would open up shots for those guards. Without DJ you really had less to sell to recruits in terms of the team and their success.
On comparing BB to Alex Poythress. While Kansas is still on BB, there is a difference between the two. AP shot up the recruiting boards as the yr went on. And more and more big name teams came after him, including of course KY. And while you want guys like that, it's not really advantageous to VU. Just look at JMD this yr. VU seemed to be one of the top teams for him early on. But he just kept shooting up the charts, and you had Louisville and now Duke and UNC coming after him late in the game. And not coincidently VU falling completely out of it with him (personally I've got to believe VU saw at best they would finish 2nd or 3rd and decided not to waste the efforts and pulled out of it for him). BB, while still considered a great recruit, actually has slowly been dropping the last 6 months in the rankings, and you haven't seen the Dukes, UNCs and KYs increase their interest in him, they've shifted and focused on other targets. Which ultimately gives VU a much better chance to land him than what happened with AP. Hopefully it also has a different result, too.
The prior yr wasn't too shabby with both Baldwin and MFD committed by now, and Lachance 10/1. Roberson and Mitchell were both Spring commits.
So the staff has been doing work and getting it done early recently. Another reason I think this yr is making some of us more anxious.
I've thought for a long time that Kedren Johnson was the biggest hoop recruit this staff may have gotten in terms of how bad other teams and which teams those were that wanted him. I've recently changed my mind to think Damian Jones is the biggest get. The reason is while KJ was a huge get, he still was a guard. There just are more guards to go around. DJ was an athletic big. Just not that many of those and they are at such a premium it's just so hard to get those. And while DJ hadn't gotten official offers yet from the blue bloods, both KS and Duke were starting to sniff around, and VU getting DJ to commit early (9/2) and not wait to see what those teams and others were going to do was just huge. And I shudder to think what this team would look like without DJ. Not only was DJ and LK the only recruits that yr, but DJ came in and virtually everyone else left during that summer to forget. When recruiting players like WB, MFD and RL it was easy to sell them on building a team around DJ which would open up shots for those guards. Without DJ you really had less to sell to recruits in terms of the team and their success.
On comparing BB to Alex Poythress. While Kansas is still on BB, there is a difference between the two. AP shot up the recruiting boards as the yr went on. And more and more big name teams came after him, including of course KY. And while you want guys like that, it's not really advantageous to VU. Just look at JMD this yr. VU seemed to be one of the top teams for him early on. But he just kept shooting up the charts, and you had Louisville and now Duke and UNC coming after him late in the game. And not coincidently VU falling completely out of it with him (personally I've got to believe VU saw at best they would finish 2nd or 3rd and decided not to waste the efforts and pulled out of it for him). BB, while still considered a great recruit, actually has slowly been dropping the last 6 months in the rankings, and you haven't seen the Dukes, UNCs and KYs increase their interest in him, they've shifted and focused on other targets. Which ultimately gives VU a much better chance to land him than what happened with AP. Hopefully it also has a different result, too.
