with experienced talent. I understand frustrations with turnovers, poor free throw shooting, not playing freshman enough, etc, but our team does fight and defend at a very high level, and that's a representation of their head coach. Let's look at our past recruiting classes:
2012
*** Kenny Gaines
*** Charles Mann
*** Brandon Morris
N/A Houston Kessler
Gaines & Mann have obviously had very productive careers (this is not the thread to discuss Mann's difficulty with FT's & TO's, just speaking at a high level). Brandon Morris, IMO, could have developed into a really good player at the 4, similar to Robert Dozier at Memphis a few years back. How does our team look with him and Yante down low? Think we might have a few more wins? All in all, from a talent perspective, that's 3 very good 3-star players. Kessler is a wasted scholly, we know that.
2013
*** JJ Frazier
*** Juwan Parker
N/A Cameron Forte (Juco)
N/A Kenny Paul Geno
This class overall is really hurting us, for the obvious jewel that is JJ Frazier. What a player. Juwan Parker is an incomplete with his injuries, although he most likely would not have developed past a nice role player, we'll never know unfortunately. Forte & Geno are wasted schollies.
2014
*** Yante Maten
*** Fred Iduwe
Outstanding job with Maten, another 3-star jewel. Iduwe gets an incomplete; maybe he'll be able to contribute next year. For now I'm going to say wasted scholly.
2015
**** Derek Ogbeide
*** William Jackson
*** Mike Edwards
*** E'Torrion Wilridge
Recruiting took a big step up last year. No more wasted schollies, as we had seen the previous 3 years. All four of these players should have very good careers in Athens.
2016
**** Tyree Crump
**** Jordan Harris
The best talent we've brought in - two dynamic guards. No wasted schollies (as of now, and I hope it remains this way). 2015 & 2016 classes with a Senior Yante Maten could be a special team.
If we subract:
- Kessler offer
- Forte offer (who's gone obviously)
- KPG offer
- Iduwe offer
- walk-on offer
and instead offered a quality 3-star player, our roster would be much more complete right now and I think it'd be the difference in winning a few of our close games. One or two more shooters or a big man (Brandon Morris, sigh) would have gone a long way.
With Jonas & Yasir as lead recruiters, no one can argue our recruiting is trending up. And for all the flack we give Fox, let's give credit where it is due: he has identified and developed some diamonds (Yante & JJ) along with some other dependable 3-year players. I believe with a full roster of 3-star talent at a minimum and no wasted schollies, we would be a perennial tourney team and then some. The key is maximizing every scholarship, and with Jonas & Yasir, I think we'll do just that from here on out.
2012
*** Kenny Gaines
*** Charles Mann
*** Brandon Morris
N/A Houston Kessler
Gaines & Mann have obviously had very productive careers (this is not the thread to discuss Mann's difficulty with FT's & TO's, just speaking at a high level). Brandon Morris, IMO, could have developed into a really good player at the 4, similar to Robert Dozier at Memphis a few years back. How does our team look with him and Yante down low? Think we might have a few more wins? All in all, from a talent perspective, that's 3 very good 3-star players. Kessler is a wasted scholly, we know that.
2013
*** JJ Frazier
*** Juwan Parker
N/A Cameron Forte (Juco)
N/A Kenny Paul Geno
This class overall is really hurting us, for the obvious jewel that is JJ Frazier. What a player. Juwan Parker is an incomplete with his injuries, although he most likely would not have developed past a nice role player, we'll never know unfortunately. Forte & Geno are wasted schollies.
2014
*** Yante Maten
*** Fred Iduwe
Outstanding job with Maten, another 3-star jewel. Iduwe gets an incomplete; maybe he'll be able to contribute next year. For now I'm going to say wasted scholly.
2015
**** Derek Ogbeide
*** William Jackson
*** Mike Edwards
*** E'Torrion Wilridge
Recruiting took a big step up last year. No more wasted schollies, as we had seen the previous 3 years. All four of these players should have very good careers in Athens.
2016
**** Tyree Crump
**** Jordan Harris
The best talent we've brought in - two dynamic guards. No wasted schollies (as of now, and I hope it remains this way). 2015 & 2016 classes with a Senior Yante Maten could be a special team.
If we subract:
- Kessler offer
- Forte offer (who's gone obviously)
- KPG offer
- Iduwe offer
- walk-on offer
and instead offered a quality 3-star player, our roster would be much more complete right now and I think it'd be the difference in winning a few of our close games. One or two more shooters or a big man (Brandon Morris, sigh) would have gone a long way.
With Jonas & Yasir as lead recruiters, no one can argue our recruiting is trending up. And for all the flack we give Fox, let's give credit where it is due: he has identified and developed some diamonds (Yante & JJ) along with some other dependable 3-year players. I believe with a full roster of 3-star talent at a minimum and no wasted schollies, we would be a perennial tourney team and then some. The key is maximizing every scholarship, and with Jonas & Yasir, I think we'll do just that from here on out.
