Recruiting Discussion

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I'm gonna trust the coach that will be a hall of fame inductee knows what he's doing when he offers a kid a scholarship or makes a decision to not recruit a kid.

I haven't said much bc I do trust Barnes much more than our previous two coaches in ZO and CDT but I do long for the days when we are competing for players with other good teams and not the likes of Georgia, Clemson, Providence. I am tired of trying to talk ourselves into believing someone is going to be good instead of excited when they commit.
 
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"Said Barnes doesn't care about rankings at all obviously, and trust his evaluations as much as any coach he's seen"

Not exactly what these guys want to hear :no:

I hope that's BS from Barnes. The guy has recruited more 4 and 5 stars since 2002 than anyone outside UK, UNC, Duke and Kansas. He didn't identify those guys with unique evaluation skills. I hope he's just trying to defend the kids he signed this year because they are the best he could do under the circumstances. I'd rather hear him say, "my goal is the recruit the best basketball players in the country to play for Tennessee." That, obviously, was his strategy at Texas. Just because he's at Tennessee, he doesn't need to lower his sights.
 
Nothing wrong with that at all. I just hope he isn't out of his evaluation comfort zone as he hasn't made a living out of recruiting guys ignored by multiple services

What the hell is an evaluation comfort zone?

I'm sure Barnes is capable of looking at a kid who is not a highly rated recruit and telling whether he can play or not. You don't trust Barnes to evaluate properly and that's fine, but let's not play like he doesn't have an eye for talent and just relies on recruiting highly ranked players. There are multiple examples of players he's recruited that were 3 stars and they developed into good/great players.
 
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What the hell is an evaluation comfort zone?

I'm sure Barnes is capable of looking at a kid who is not a highly rated recruit and telling whether he can play or not. You don't trust Barnes to evaluate properly and that's fine, but let's not play like he doesn't have an eye for talent and just relies on recruiting highly ranked players. There are multiple examples of players he's recruited that were 3 stars and they developed into good/great players.

But there aren't multiple examples where he took an entire class of 3 stars or unranked kids and turned them into good/great players. His rosters at Texas always were half to two thirds 4 and 5 stars with a some 3 stars mixed in. The bulk of his starters were 4 and 5 stars.

If Barnes heads down a path of trying to become a developer vs a recruiter, it'll be a new one for him.
 
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But there aren't multiple examples where he took an entire class of 3 stars or unranked kids and turned them into good/great players. His rosters at Texas always were half to two thirds 4 and 5 stars with a some 3 stars mixed in. The bulk of his starters were 4 and 5 stars.

If Barnes heads down a path of trying to become a developer vs a recruiter, it'll be a new one for him.

That's all I am saying
 
What the hell is an evaluation comfort zone?

That is simple.

It's the level of recruit he is accustomed to being able to recruit successfully.



My thinking is I wouldn't trust calipari to evaluate recruits if you told him he couldn't recruit any top 100 players. Perhaps I am wrong but IMO there is a different evaluation process when the fish get a little underdeveloped and the pond gets bigger
 
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That is simple.

It's the level of recruit he is accustomed to being able to recruit successfully.



My thinking is I wouldn't trust calipari to evaluate recruits if you told him he couldn't recruit any top 100 players. Perhaps I am wrong but IMO there is a different evaluation process when the fish get a little underdeveloped and the pond gets bigger

If you want a coach to fish in that pond expertly, hire a guy like Rick Byrd.
 
That is simple.

It's the level of recruit he is accustomed to being able to recruit successfully.

My thinking is I wouldn't trust calipari to evaluate recruits if you told him he couldn't recruit any top 100 players. Perhaps I am wrong but IMO there is a different evaluation process when the fish get a little underdeveloped and the pond gets bigger

He's recruited multiple 3 star guys that were low rated that became quality players. I may be a high school basketball coach but I can go watch a 3rd grader and tell whether he's a good player or not. If you can evaluate talent, you can evaluate talent. I guarantee when Barnes watches a kid play he's not thinking "Well, I better go check out this 3 star and make sure he can play." No, he's watching the kid objectively and evaluating what he sees. He's not pulling up Rivals.com and checking his ranking. I promise you that.
 
He's recruited multiple 3 star guys that were low rated that became quality players. I may be a high school basketball coach but I can go watch a 3rd grader and tell whether he's a good player or not. If you can evaluate talent, you can evaluate talent. I guarantee when Barnes watches a kid play he's not thinking "Well, I better go check out this 3 star and make sure he can play." No, he's watching the kid objectively and evaluating what he sees. He's not pulling up Rivals.com and checking his ranking. I promise you that.

You're still missing the point CA.

4* and 5* kids don't require the same type of evaluation.
 
No, he's watching the kid objectively and evaluating what he sees. He's not pulling up Rivals.com and checking his ranking. I promise you that.

I believe the rankings do a pretty solid job of ranking the 4/5 star type players. Those players are easy to notice their skills. I am not suggesting he is using the rankings only saying at one point in his career he was showing up and seeing the obvious talent and being able to recruit that kid successfully. Now he has to wade past those big fish
 
You're still missing the point CA.

4* and 5* kids don't require the same type of evaluation.

Yep, Barnes has not been scrounging around remote high school gyms looking for kids off the beaten path. He's been at the same big-time camps as Cal, Self, K and Roy looking the same kids they've been scouting. If he has found some 3 stars, it's likely they were playing at those camps with higher rated guys.
 
You're still missing the point CA.

4* and 5* kids don't require the same type of evaluation.

I'm not missing the point. Yes, 4* and 5* kids are easy to spot. However, I'm not taking the opposite stance and saying that Barnes is only capable of recruiting and evaluating that type of player. There are multiple examples of him evaluating and landing a 3* that wasn't highly ranked and developing him into a quality player. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for Fulkerson or whoever to be one of those guys as well.
 
I'm not missing the point. Yes, 4* and 5* kids are easy to spot. However, I'm not taking the opposite stance and saying that Barnes is only capable of recruiting and evaluating that type of player. There are multiple examples of him evaluating and landing a 3* that wasn't highly ranked and developing him into a quality player. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for Fulkerson or whoever to be one of those guys as well.

Taylor is the only example I have seen where he out evaluated the rest. I can't seem to find his offer list but would like to know
 
I'm not missing the point. Yes, 4* and 5* kids are easy to spot. However, I'm not taking the opposite stance and saying that Barnes is only capable of recruiting and evaluating that type of player. There are multiple examples of him evaluating and landing a 3* that wasn't highly ranked and developing him into a quality player. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for Fulkerson or whoever to be one of those guys as well.

There's not that many, though. The kid who is the current Texas PG is one, but almost all the other guys he's put in the pros have been top 100 type kids.
 
He's recruited multiple 3 star guys that were low rated that became quality players. I may be a high school basketball coach but I can go watch a 3rd grader and tell whether he's a good player or not. If you can evaluate talent, you can evaluate talent. I guarantee when Barnes watches a kid play he's not thinking "Well, I better go check out this 3 star and make sure he can play." No, he's watching the kid objectively and evaluating what he sees. He's not pulling up Rivals.com and checking his ranking. I promise you that.

Nobody wants him to look up rivals and recruit but he is going after guys that the cream of the crop is not interested in....do you honestly think that Barnes and the marginal teams are the only ones that noticed these guys.... I hope he hits on these guys but I hope he is able to establish himself at Tennessee and compete with the big boys next year.
 
Nobody wants him to look up rivals and recruit but he is going after guys that the cream of the crop is not interested in....do you honestly think that Barnes and the marginal teams are the only ones that noticed these guys.... I hope he hits on these guys but I hope he is able to establish himself at Tennessee and compete with the big boys next year.

That's close to what Rob Lewis said (paraphrase) he gets a pass this year, but if he isn't getting multiple top 100 and top 50s to at least visit next year, he would consider Barnes to be "majorly underperforming" in recruiting.
 
I don't know, but I'm already looking at other coaches that I'd love to have... I hate that I'm doing that, but I am. I'll always support Rick, and hope he brings us "back." In some way, but I'm not feeling as confident as I was when he was hired.
 
Taylor is the only example I have seen where he out evaluated the rest. I can't seem to find his offer list but would like to know

Penn State, Nebraska, Northeastern, San Jose State, Lehigh are schools listed in an article about him during his recruitment I found.
 
Nobody wants him to look up rivals and recruit but he is going after guys that the cream of the crop is not interested in....do you honestly think that Barnes and the marginal teams are the only ones that noticed these guys.... I hope he hits on these guys but I hope he is able to establish himself at Tennessee and compete with the big boys next year.

I know I don't need to explain it to you, but you have to build relationships with these kids early on. Especially in basketball recruiting. Going to a new school that has been in NCAA turmoil and recruiting top flight talent is not easy. We may think our program is a great program, but our perception with kids sucks right now. That has to be corrected before the big time guys start giving us hard looks. Right now, Barnes needs to lock up guys that he thinks he can develop. Jalen Johnson is an elite athlete that looks like he has some promise. Fulkerson looks like a decent stretch four that probably needs a red shirt year but looks like he has some promise if he can bulk up. Josh Bone is a very capable point guard who may not be all conference but can hold his own in this league for sure.

People on here are crucifying Barnes when we haven't even seen what kind of product he's putting on the court. We're also bashing kids he's recruiting before they've even played their senior year of high school. I'm not saying Fulkerson is gonna be great, but Barnes track record of putting players in the NBA and developing talent IMO means he deserves some sort of benefit of the doubt. He's a hall of fame coach and the best coach we've had since Pearl.

The recruiting class will not be top 15 this year. Right now, we need to recruit 3 and 4 year players who can develop in the system and give us some quality stability. I see that in our class right now. The elite talent will come in the next few classes I believe.
 
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I know I don't need to explain it to you, but you have to build relationships with these kids early on. Especially in basketball recruiting. Going to a new school that has been in NCAA turmoil and recruiting top flight talent is not easy.

If Bama And miss state both weren't proving this excuse wrong it would be valid and not just an excuse.

Sidebar:
How is white doing with recruiting at florida?
 
The recruiting class will not be top 15 this year. Right now, we need to recruit 3 and 4 year players who can develop in the system and give us some quality stability. I see that in our class right now. The elite talent will come in the next few classes I believe.

Relationship argument works for a guy who never has recruited at this level before. Barnes and Lanier should bring relationships with kids they've been recruiting for four years. But, I'll say, okay - there is the turmoil deal and somewhat new territory.

Class probably won't be top 50, much less top 15 and that's the same territory Tennessee has been in since 2010. We have a whole roster of bottom third of the league talent. This class, on the surface, is adding to that.

As for having 3 and 4 year players, already have a whole roster full of those.

Last point, yep, we both hope to see elite talent in the next few classes, especially starting in 17. Looks like some good players have early interest. Need to make sure there's room on the roster to lock a few down. That gets back to your stability point, though, in that a few guys will have to leave to make room for the elite guys.
 

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