🏀 KuBuckets Archive

I have spent the evening on my super secret accounts getting ready for next years recruiting. I am getting to know some of the guys HCBS is after for 2016 and 2017. Its very interesting how these so called recruiting guys or web sites get their information? I have checked into it and for example one of the biggest recruiting sites known to man is composed of 4 guys to do recruiting and one talent evaluator. HOW can 5 guys evaluate and figure out where hundreds of kids are going to commit and where they rank amongst each other with ANY accuracy? How many times can one guy see hundreds of kids play individually?

I did get a better understanding of what these young men are all about and will continue to follow up on their recruitment daily and give you guys some actual information as it becomes available to me. I am only one guy and only follow who KU is after and a few guys climbing the boards like new guys and such. Guys that will most likely become household names by summers end. Now I'm getting tired but the evening was good and I made some new contacts. I did manage to get some new info on some of them and that was good. Nothing other than yeah I like Kansas, UK, Duke, and NC mixed with a few others. Nothing stands out EXCEPT UK is mentioned more times than all other schools combined. I will post all of my findings on this particular blog for the next few weeks unless I get some really good stuff on someone specific.

My Crystal ball starts now! !Penny-the-fortune-teller.jpg ↗

Appreciate your efforts on this, stat. I sure don't have the energy to filter through the noise, BS and hype on the recruiting stuff, but it's been fun following what you've been posting from a pro-KU perspective.

I believe I will start with the six players that visited Late Night last year.

Jayson Tatum (plays ball on the same team as Tyler Cook)

Malik Monk (Tons of Arkansas Razorbacks chatter out there)

Kobi Simmons (More Pictures of him posing with UK players and Cal than any other guy I have looked in to). His twitter handle is littered with UK paraphernalia and no KU stuff.

Marques Bolden (He is big on KU) I will do some more work with this guy later on this week.

Schnider Herard (up in the air on this guy atm)

Tyler Cook (cut KU from his final 6)

Yesterday, Jerry Meyer (director of basketball scouting for 247 sports) picked Kansas as the destination for De'Aaron Fox. I think we should definitely have him on the list here too. Most of the "experts" have it as a two horse race between KU and Texas. Would be a great pickup for KU if he came here.

@Statmachine Thanks for keeping your ear to the ground, I always enjoy reading your posts. Is KU in on any blue chip PGs?

It would seem unlikely, with Mason & Graham, but I'm always curious if Self will be able to lure the next Wall or Rose to KU. Those guys typically go to the other blue bloods, not so much Lawrence.

@ajvan De'Aaron Fox is a PG

Hello Crystal! And hello to your ball!

But seriously... thank you for doing all the digging. I don't have the discipline to do this. I think you have to be a big part paparazzi to seek out recruiting information because you have to filter through so much BS and propaganda. It is often the case of "follow the leader" so one guy generates a story and everyone jumps on board. When the info is wrong (like 75% of the time) it just dies down, no one is held accountable. I don't have the stomach to deal with it all, but like to read valid input from fans in here because we are all hobbyists, not trying to make a buck out of it all.

"HOW can 5 guys evaluate and figure out where hundreds of kids are going to commit and where they rank amongst each other with ANY accuracy?"

Just like in world news, they use their version of an AP wire. Pulling news off the wire and running it. Each guy has his sources of info and they run with it, and don't have a way to verify it. And in order to differentiate themselves from the pack they throw in twists or maybe an extra tidbit to substantiate or denounce some of the claims through their own sources.

And then you have the "creative writers" who can take one sentence out of a player interview and create an entire story off of it. Or even... stories. So they run with a hunch they created and start interviewing and developing off their hunches... all shear fabrication from thin air because a player said "I really like KU."

I think we all get frustrated with the big media circus, but there doesn't seem to be a better way. We will have to continue to deal with circus barkers and clowns and filter through it all to follow along.

@drgnslayr I think the info on these top recruits twitter and fb is pretty telling. For example the only pictures and videos on Marques Bolden personal web space is ALL KU stuff. He has been to late night and 2 KU games last year most of which is posted on his twitter account. I haven't sifted through the people he follows to see how many KU guys he follows but that's next.

Then you have guys like Kobi Simmons who you might as well mark off the KU list. After spending 10 minutes on his Twitter handle its easy to see who he is interested in. Unless UK signs a higher rated PG he is UK bound end of story.

I believe these kids also go where the fans are showing the most love. Cheick was getting love from KU the whole time and he could have went anywhere. I would have to think fans factor into where these guys land but I am not sure how much?

@ajvan There is an interesting PG on KU's radar. 2016 PG Jaylen Fisher Team Thad. He plays on the same team as Vick and has KU listed as a school he is considering BUT KU has not made an offer yet that I know of? He is not an OAD type so he might come in and play with Vick and learn the system behind Mason and Graham? Stranger things have happened so who knows?

@Statmachine

I'm curious of the impact of fan love during the recruiting process. And at what line in the sand the NCAA steps in because at a certain point fans are recruiting players. Didn't the NCAA stop fans from doing fan sites on recruits?

It would seem that items (like my crystal ball with Paschal photoshop'd in the center of the ball) could be viewed as "recruiting tools used by unauthorized people." But how could they police and stop it?

I always think we should be out recruiting a very capable PG that is around 6'. It's hard for a 6' player to go OAD or even sooner than 4 years into the draft. Mason is the perfect example. Same with VanVleet at WSU.

I don't mind having a few OADs or TADs... but I'd always like to have an experienced PG to run the show!

@drgnslayr the cb photo shopped pic you made is a common thing in the twitterverse.