No. 7 recruit commits to Kansas
Cheick Diallo told ESPN's Paul Biancardi that he felt Kansas was the best place for him: "I can earn playing time right away. I played against Joel Embiid in high school and watched his development. I need to work on a lot of things and feel Coach Self can help my game."
Cheick has been retweeting them so its gotta be true.
@BeddieKU23 On twitter, supposedly he told espn
YESSSSS!!!! Welcome aboard big boy!!
Theres a ton of buzz on twitter saying Cheick Diallo to KU. Too bad its all just heresay and guesswork. Hope it doesn't jinx us. I've pressed the refresh button so many times today I'm afraid I might break the internet..
@joeloveshawks Oh snap! I'm not local so I've never had them but they sound amazing. If anyone knows how to make them I would love to know how to mix some up for special occasions.
OMG the anticipation is killin me. I have some special drinks ready at home set aside for celebration if he commits to KU. Hoping its a night of fun and good times because the alternative is yard work. I really don't want to do yard work...
@DoubleDD I agree about Bragg, I think he is going to quickly become a fan favorite at KU. Really glad we have him as a part of the team.
My fingers are starting to hurt, they've been crossed for a long time waiting for Diallo's decision. With him, the team goes to the next level. Without him, it will be tougher but not impossible. I like what I see from Tevin Mack and supposedly there is strong mutual interest. He won't fill the void down low but would be a solid player here for multiple years if we were to land him.
I fully expect Self will fill all of his scholarships this year. In a perfect world it would be Diallo, Brown or Mack, and someone else out of the woodwork, maybe a developmental footer transfer (Withey type) or high energy guy (K-Yo) that may have to sit a year but could still be a big contributor down the road. I think once all of the top recruits are committed a few other guys will pop up on the market that we haven't heard of yet. It has a tendency to happen like that. Well... I'm still drinking the Kool-Aid here, hope you all are too!
@5541-james Mason and Ingram do not play the same position.
During his announcement, Ingram said he was a Duke fan growing up. Somehow that detail slipped through the cracks.
Too bad
@JhawkAlum mclemore?
Everyone always puts so much weight on the "close to home" factor. Sure it can be a huge factor for some kids, but for others it might not be. For me, I looked forward to getting away from home for my college choice. That was part of the attraction. Lets just say I didn't want mom and pop dropping by unexpectedly at inopportune times. I wish people would chill out a little bit with that because it isn't the most important thing to every kid out there.
Brandon said he will pick the school from his list that is best for HIM. We have no clue what that means. If that means:
Best supporting cast - its Kansas.
His favorite school, allegedly - its UNC.
Closest to home without pending NCAA issue - its Duke.
Best chance at a championship this year - its Kansas.
Biggest fan base - its Kentucky.
Biggest fan base that doesn't consist primarily of buck toothed, inbred, obnoxious fans - its Kansas, Duke, or UNC.
Most minutes - the minutes he wants seems to be available at all the schools on his list.
Tradition/History - its Kansas.
Most appearances in NIT in the last 3 years - its Kentucky.
Team with the most boob pics tweeted out over the past three years - its Kansas. (thanks @kuboobs!).
As you can see, there are several things that may be part of the equation but it would take all day to list them all. Keeping my fingers crossed he picks KU today!!
I have a feeling it will be KU and will be thrilled if it is. Brandon seems like a really good kid and I think would be a great addition to the Jayhawk family.
Like was mentioned above, his first choice is probably UNC being that he is a fan but its too risky of a choice with the pending NCAA issue. And if you're a UNC fan, could you really pick Duke? Roy may be the coach at UNC but his heart is still at KU and I think Brandon has seen why. The biggest clue for me is looking at his twitter feed and seeing all of the current Kansas players that he follows. Many more than any other program. I think he bonded well with the team on his visit and is his next best choice.
Declared for Miss. State.
@BeddieKU23 I just don't consider their guy a PG. I mean, sure that is his position but what are the odds he is actually effective? The guy should be a HS senior and is going to run a college offense well? I highly doubt it. Mason has proven to be a stud at the position, hoping Ingram sees it the same way as I do and goes with the team with the proven guy over the team with the unproven and highly questionable high school kid running their team.
Also, just saw on twitter:
"Jeff Goodman
@GoodmanESPN
St. John’s freshman center Adonis De La Rosa is transferring -- per school."
He is a 7'-0" 322-lb three star center. Does it seem like to anyone else too like the storm may be trying to carve out some more minutes for Diallo???
So i'm doing a little reading between the lines here but I think Ingram told K in his first in-home visit that his team was looking a bit thin, especially at point, and was his reason for not committing there. K says let me see what I can do and lets meet again before you decide. Then K convinces a HS junior PG to reclassify and join the team and is hoping that will fix the problem.
What scares me is that Ingram said in the special on ESPNU tonight that the move does make a big difference. But for real, how often does a true freshmen run a team well at PG? Its very rare. Now Duke thinks they will have what should be a HS-senior running their team? Lol, come on man. I'm hoping he is smart enough to see how desperate of a move this is. Would he rather go to Duke where they have a HS-senior running their team or KU where they have an experienced collegiate Junior running the point?
Crossing my fingers and hoping Ingram doesn't fall victim to the smoke and mirror show by K. Him and Cheick would make KU a definite championship contender next year if they commit.
I'm loving the recent vibes i'm reading on here. I will do some celebrating if/when he commits to KU thats for sure. The guy is going to be a difference maker next year, i have no doubt about it.
I've been sharing info with my wife about everything. She isn't great with remembering names but has coined him "Diablo." I'm kinda digging the nickname actually, haha.
Per Paul Biancardi twitter "Just spoke with Espn # 12 Brandon Ingram he has home visits with #NCState (Mon) , #Duke (Tues ) #UNC (Wed) and plans to decide on April 27"
All the NC schools are getting the last words. Either way, one week from tomorrow it will be official and hopefully its good news for Jayhawk nation.
@RockChalkinTexas Do you know the proper pronunciation of Diallo's first name? Is it like "check" book or "cheek" bone?"
Great question. I believe it is "Check." I remember during one of his interviews I think he said that a lot of people pronounce his name wrong and he actually stopped trying to correct them but it might have been his last name that was the tough part. I would certainly feel better knowing that I'm saying it right though. Maybe someone with more time on their hands than I can try to dig up that interview where he tells us how it is supposed to be pronounced.
Good, really didn't want this guy. Not interested in the players that think they are above the program.
Bragg, Diallo, and Ingram would be a fantastic class.
No surprise here but one would think these guys want to go somewhere that they can have a legit chance at a championship. Making the tournament will be a challenge in itself at Cal. Seems like a bit of a waste to me but to each his own.
@BeddieKU23 the thing is, it wasn't a rumor.. it was a direct quote from words that came right out of his mouth. I think this may be some backpedaling to rebuild confidence into the non-adidas schools that they haven't been wasting their time recruiting him. I can imagine that any non-adidas school would have been upset to hear that and questioned him about the comment. To do some damage control, it makes sense to retract the statement publicly.
A big thing for these elite level athletes is building their brand. It seems like a good way to do that is to keep as many big name schools interested in you as possible, for as long as possible, even if you already have your decision made in your mind. That keeps the big fan bases for each of these big schools talking about you, reading about you, awaiting news, etc. It builds popularity. I appreciate Brown's honesty in his first interview and I'm not buying that he has since changed his mind about that. It also ties back into Rick Pitino's comments about recruiting the right kids. You could save yourself a lot of effort if you aren't an adidas school and knew that Brown had very strong ties to adidas already that would be hard to break.
Quasi Hypothetical Example: KU and Duke share two common bigtime recruiting targets, say Jones and Okafor. KU thinks they still have a chance at both so they divide their efforts 50/50 towards trying to get them. Jones already knows he is going to Duke and so does Coach K so Duke can focus 100% of their effort towards Okafor. In addition, Jones can accompany Okafor on his official visit to KU and be in his ear the whole time about everything. Maybe downplay some of the positives but making sure to point out things Duke has that are better, maybe try to massage the visit so it isn't as good as it could be, who knows how far it could go. The difference in recruiting efforts alone between KU and Duke could have been the difference needed to get his commitment. Not only does Duke win the recruit over KU, but Jones builds his brand by staying in the news as long as possible. We all know how this story ends.
@HighEliteMajor due to his weakness on the offensive side i actually think he will be a TAD player. I think he made reference to this in one of his interviews at one point. Anyway, if Ellis comes back, don't think we need Diallo to be a scorer next year in set half court offense. I'd love to see the team get back into running the floor and fast break like they did several years ago. Diallo makes that easier because when you have Mason/Graham/Selden taking the ball to the rim with their head down they just need to get it up on the glass and Diallo will be there for the put back. Its the K-Yo element to the '12 team and the McKay piece to ISU and I think can be good for 5 more buckets a game. I really think its the key to changing the often 3-4 point wins we've seen the past couple of years to 13-14 point wins.
Seriously, KU used to beat the other team down the court for a layup even after a made bucket! If we're going to embrace the OADs then we should be using these superior athletes as an advantage and i think the fast break is the best way. Going toe to toe in set offense against experienced teams makes having superior athletes less of a factor and can be recipe for an upset.
I LOL-ed hard at the "N Word" segment, haha. Good stuff. Hopefully coach is done with interviews now and is busy putting the full court blitz on Diallo. We neeeed that guy!
Agreed! I think he is going to improve greatly next year and be a leader on the team.
@dylans I'm not sure he is a true 5 but can see him as more of a 4b with Ellis. He looked like a better rebounder than Perry and had a pretty sweet block in the game last night. Tried to find a good pic or video of it to post but don't think its out there yet. Maybe someone else will have better luck finding it.
Cheick looked really really good last night. He was always around the ball and his energy proved to be a valuable asset. With all the extra practices and games before the season this year, its realistic to think he could start from day 1.
Sorry, I can't get the link to work. Anyway - congrats to Kelly and good luck on the next stage. He will be missed.
[Story Link Here](http://www2.kusports.com/news/2015/apr/01/kansas-freshman-kelly-oubre-jr-decides-enter-nba-d/?mens_basketball ↗
So it sounds like players from UT can't enter free agency with Barnes leaving but if they graduate early they still can. Its probably be a looong shot but I wouldn't mind seeing Cam Ridley in the paint wearing a Kansas uniform next year. Wonder if he has any intentions of graduating early.
@Hawk8086 yeah like Crimson just said, they have McKay who will be a senior. For a team that really only plays with one big at a time, i wouldn't think he would find huge minutes on that team.
New article with some interesting quotes from Diallo. Link and article posted below: <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/story/recruiting/2015/03/31/cheick-diallo-prediction-kentucky/70737714/)
The quote about wanting playing time and wanting more than 20 minutes makes me think he is looking beyond Kentucky and the platoon. I really like this guy and think his energy can be contagious. I think back to Kevin Young and how he used to be able to get up and down the court like a gazelle, flying around, dunking, etc. and miss seeing that on this team. Diallo can be that guy, can start from day one, and could be here multiple years. All great things for the program.
CHICAGO – New York power forward Cheick Diallo filled out his NCAA Tournament bracket with two of the teams on his recruiting list meeting in the final. Diallo is looking good with one of those picks, and not so good with another.
"I had Kentucky and Iowa State, but Iowa State lost, so I was kind of sad about it," Diallo said at McDonald's All American Games media day, one of the few times Diallo has done interviews. "
Diallo predicts UK will complete an undefeated season in Indianapolis this weekend.
"They're going to be the champions, I know for sure," Diallo said. "They are not going to lose because they have good bigs, good point guards, too."
But can Kentucky, generally seen as trailing for Diallo, prevail in his recruitment? He said he's getting close to a college decision and expects to make one around or soon after the Jordan Brand Classic game on April 17.
Diallo, a native of Mali who attends Our Savior New American School, continues to consider the same five schools that he has for months: UK, Kansas, Iowa State, St. John's and Pittsburgh.
He's had the coaches of all of those teams but Kentucky visit him in the past two weeks, and he doesn't expect he'll be able to have a meeting with the Wildcats because they're still playing in the Final Four and his month is packed with all-star games leading up to the Jordan game.
But he said UK is equal with all the others, and he has received a text message from coach John Calipari within the past two week.
St. John's made waves by hiring alum Chris Mullin as its coach this week. Diallo, however, said, "I don't even know him," so he had no opinion on the hire.
Playing time could be a key factor for Diallo.
"I'm looking for time," he said. "I don't want to go some school where I play five minutes or 20 minutes. I want to play more."**
I thought something was suspicious with the KU game before it even started. Once the matchup was set, KU was a 2pt favorite. Then I checked again a few hours before the game and it had dropped to KU 1pt favorite. THEN, right before the game started, the line changed to WSU as a 1pt favorite! That's a big swing right before the game starts. Something smelled fishy and it wasn't the low tide.
@samperkins hahaha
@jaybate-1.0 Nice analysis. I was thinking about doing something similar but for a different purpose, that is to try and guess where the next Jeff Withey or Tarik Black could possibly come from in the event we miss out on Zim/Maker this year. The days keep going by and I never seem to have the time though.
I have also been a long time proponent of changing our gameplay to cater to the terrific three point shooting we have on our team. I've been saying this since the UK game on that 'other' site. Anyway, really hoping the light goes on for Self soon and we unleash our sharpshooters and play to our strengths.
Its pretty obvious to me that in games where its tightly called, the odds get heavier in KU's favor. KU has more depth than almost anyone we'll play this year and that becomes the difference. Games that aren't called tightly KU will struggle more. The opposing team doesn't have to go far into their bench and frankly, the team isn't tough enough inside to consistently finish through contact. Luckily for KU this was a whistle heavy game tonight. Also, in a game called like this, it seems Self plays the guys that are more apt to get into the lane, draw that contact, etc. vs. the finesse guys that are typically spot-up and shoot guys (Greene, Svi). I don't think its planned to play those two as little as he did but moreso a product of how the game is being called.
@jaybate-1.0 LOL you're post was hysterical, got a great laugh out of it because its so true. Haha.
Thanks to the creator of the site, hoping one of the new places grows to fill the void that kusports has left behind.
PS, how do we know that the HEM above is not an imposter??? haha.