Recruiting Freshmen

[Huskerpapa]

In Tim Miles last season, he recruited Donavan Williams to Nebraska.  Tim was let go and Fred came in.  Williams then backed out of the scholarship offer, and headed to Okie State.  He leveled a parting shot stating that the new coaching staff would rather bring in transfers rather than recruit freshmen; or verbiage close to that.

Fred has continued to recruit high school; but as Williams stated, is relying heavily (almost exclusively) on transfers.

No recruited freshman, by this staff, will graduate from Nebraska.  Perhaps Sam (as a walk on) may be the first.

Now, ask if I care, and my response is, not really.  I want high character players, that are great basketball players, who win, and eventually do graduate.  We are starting to see all of those boxes checked.

But here is the question, unless they are a local player, why bother recruiting freshmen?  Why invest in players that are only using us as a pit stop prior to moving on.  Yes, secure that top level Nebraska high school senior.  Ahem, or wait until they transfer and get him on the flip-flop 

Convince me that we should go after the primadonna's that come out of high schools and AAU programs that are misguided by handlers...rather then transfers that are a year or two more mature, perhaps have eaten a bit of humble pie and who we have film on, playing at a higher level.  Sort of what we are doing right now.

What are your thoughts?

Edited April 22 by Huskerpapa

[hskr4life]

So a couple of things.  1st, there has been a ton that has happened since DW made that comment and Fred is more in the majority than minority now when it comes to using transfers.  
 

As you noted, it almost makes you wonder why you should even recruit freshman.  And I have a few

reasons.

 

1. 13 scholarships. 13 guys aren’t going to play and if you have 3-5 transfers sitting on your bench, you’re going to have some chemistry issues.  Freshman are more willing to take the experience even though they might transfer.

 

2 Though it’ll be rare, you’re still going to have a guy here or there that sticks around for multiple years.  
 

3. The grass isn’t always greener.  We’ve seen guys go back to the school they started at.  If you have a freshman come, transfer out, and hit the portal again… you’ve develop that relationship already.

 

Just a few quick thoughts I’ve had.

[hhcmatt]

This is easy. You recruit HS kids so that you have a better chance to land them on their 2nd-5th stop.

[Cazzie22]

I think you still need to develop players from the ground floor.  There can be a danger in a roster having imbalance in classes.  However Fred chooses to construct his roster is fine with me.  I want to win.

[Huskerpapa]

From Coach Hurley.   Has some relevance to the subject...

 

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRw2FLeP/

 

The disease of me...

Edited April 22 by Huskerpapa

[49r]

Why recruit pre-Madonnas when you can instead get post-Madonnas.

[huskercabby]

Patience, loyalty, waiting your turn.  Those are concepts that do not exist anymore. Not just basketball, but everything. I blame Covid.

[jayschool]

1 hour ago, 49r said:

Why recruit pre-Madonnas when you can instead get post-Madonnas.

Exactly. I've heard she's developed some pretty good moves down low.

[HuskerFever]

53 minutes ago, huskercabby said:

Patience, loyalty, waiting your turn.  Those are concepts that do not exist anymore. Not just basketball, but everything. I blame Covid.

 

I think this has less to do about a period in time and more about money. This is a byproduct of many things that transpired before COVID. AAU probably soiled the quality of loyalty, team, and athlete more than anything. Our sports and federal government entities have made these activities legal since circa 2021.

 

Until some type of regulation (of league or legal action) comes into play, or until the market for NIL stabilizes (whether corporations determine they aren't getting an ROI, or universities/boosters can no longer shell out that level of money) I don't see this going anywhere any time soon.

[bobcat402]

I think you recruit freshman that will

come in a fit a role and might develop into an all conference type, and when available and within reason take the swings at those top 50 players (Bryce McGowen) especially when they have connections to the university. I tend to like Hoiberg strategy right now, frager/nano fit my expectations, as did Rice last year was also that type. Transfer/grad are more reliable you know there production level

[hskr4life]

You also only have to pay a rookie contract instead of a veteran contract when you pay freshman.

[Vinny]

Coaches get older, they stay the same age.

[cipsucks]

You recruit freshmen, because in this next cycle, 2-4 years, this NIL lunacy will end.  Just watch.  I guarantee it.  

 

 

[AuroranHusker]

This ostensibly will be the final COVID 'extra' season of eligibility, so recruiting freshmen will be needed to fill out a roster going forward. You can't just solely recruit in the portal anyway, so a coaching staff recruits kids from an early age to make sure they know one another for future considerations. it's basically mass free agency in the minor leagues of basketball....

 

[Fullbacksympathy]

Rhule absolutely nails it—you recruit kids that want to be there, period.   
 

This philosophy doesn’t really matter when you get the kid, but it certainly helps for continuity.  
 

Keisei wasn’t a freshman, but he wanted to be here and stay here.  Gary, BW, Mast, Griesel, etc. all wanted to be here and it showed in how hard they play.  

[HuskerFever]

25 minutes ago, AuroranHusker said:

This ostensibly will be the final COVID 'extra' season of eligibility, so recruiting freshmen will be needed to fill out a roster going forward. You can't just solely recruit in the portal anyway, so a coaching staff recruits kids from an early age to make sure they know one another for future considerations. it's basically mass free agency in the minor leagues of basketball....

 

I thought we were this and next season away from being over COVID extra seasons. But nonetheless.

 

It will be interesting. Deion Sanders has made zero visits to high schools and hits the transfer portal heavily. I'd imagine he'll lose out on some players who transfer to schools where those coaches visited them in their early years.

 

As for basketball, you can probably get by with it a little more than you can in football. But in order to have depth, you either need deep pockets for solid bench guys or some continuity from high school or JUCO recruits.

[AuroranHusker]

2 hours ago, HuskerFever said:

 

I thought we were this and next season away from being over COVID extra seasons. But nonetheless.

 

It will be interesting. Deion Sanders has made zero visits to high schools and hits the transfer portal heavily. I'd imagine he'll lose out on some players who transfer to schools where those coaches visited them in their early years.

 

As for basketball, you can probably get by with it a little more than you can in football. But in order to have depth, you either need deep pockets for solid bench guys or some continuity from high school or JUCO recruits.

 

I'm tired of the extra seasons, but it has helped Nebrasketball, nevertheless... it's time to be done with it.

 

Deion is a dipstick. This schtick will end horribly, I'd imagine, once his son is a QB in the league.

 

Basketball is in a unique position in that a team basically only needs about 5-8 good enough players to go with 1 (or 2) star player(s) to be more than competitive. That's the point of development, a team can't just re-load every single year unless it's KU or Calipari at UK... I suppose now that opportunity is there for everybody, but I don't believe it is sustainable long-term. Time will tell...

 

[B-town hoopsfan]

Only recruit high school kids that are within 500 miles of Lincoln is my thought. 
 

hopefully at some point NIL contracts become 2 year deals between players and universities