2007 Recruiting Update

Written by: UkFan215 of wildcatinsiders.com

As I do often as the recruiting landscape starts to change, I sit down and look at situations and re-evaluate where we are, what is available and what we need. I mainly do this for my own amusement but also my understanding of the situation. Sometimes while I am in the process, I just throw my thoughts and reflections together to form a post. So here that is. I may at times ramble and pass up and come back to points, but hopefully it will remain coherent enough to be readable.First, what scholarship players do we have returning after next season and at what positions?C Randolph Morris? (Sr)C Jared Carter (Jr)PF Perry Stevenson (So)SF Joe Crawford (Sr)SG Jodie Meeks (So)PG Ramel Bradley (Sr)PG/SG/SF Derrick Jasper (So)PG/SG Michael Porter (So)What players are we replacing and what positions did they play?C Shagari Alleyne (we never replaced him yet)PF Rekalin Sims (we never replaced him either)SF/PF Bobby PerryPF Sheray ThomasC Lukasz ObrzutPF/C Randolph Morris?Looking at who we'll have coming back and who will have to replace, it is very obvious the need lies with the front court. If Morris goes after this season, we'll only have two returning players in the entire front court (Carter and Stevenson), who yet are both unproven. We'll also be losing our only true SF in Bobby Perry, who out of necessity really hasn't played that spot much anyway. So what should UK do? It's obvious we are going to have to have a couple of studs who are capable of stepping in and providing major contributions to the team immediately in the front court. But we are also going to have to take as many as 5-6 guys overall, meaning we won't be able to sign an entire class full of McDonald's All American types either. We are going to have to take a couple of guys on the edge of or just outside the top 100 probably as well. I don't know what Tubby's strategy is for this class, but here's mine (keeping in mind I am just an amateur with no college coaching or recruiting experience) and my thoughts behind the strategy:We obviously need a stud PF and this is the most critical need on the team. We'll only have Stevenson coming back and we don't yet know how quickly he's going to be able to develop and gain weight/strength. So we need to land at least one PF capable of starting and playing well from Day 1 if need be. What group of players fit into this category of must get PF's?PF Group One (Top Priority) (we need at least 1 of these)-Patrick Patterson-J.J. Hickson-Anthony Randolph (may also be offered as a SF)I think you have to get one of those 3 guys if you want to have a really good class. But we are losing so many post players I think you also need a 2nd PF in the class also. If he (or one of the Group 1 PF's) can man the 5 spot as well, that would be a plus. Being that Gani Lawal, Gary Johnson, Andre Jordan and now Julian Vaughn are off the market, the current remaining options seem a bit low in numbers compared to our needs. So I think if I were Tubby, I would go hard and heavy after a number of other PF's now and try to get an early committment. It's time to extend offers to some new guys. We can't depend on basically 3 players (those mentioned above) to fill 2 needed spots with so much competition for their services. We're only likely to get one of those 3 guys at best. So we need to offer more PF's now and try to get one of them to verbal. Players who belong in this group include:PF Group 2 (one of the following)-Nayal Koshwal-Trevor Mbakwe-Teeng Akol-Markieff MorrisThe goal is to get a quality PF onboard now. All 4 of those guys are still quality recruits however, ranked solidly inside the Rival's Top 100 (minus Morris). All of them have excellent height for the position and two of them already have the body to play the 5 if need be in Tubby's system. So I'd love to see us go after, offer and land one of those 4 guys now. It's extremely unlikely that we'll be able to get 2 of Patterson, Hickson or Randolph. One from that group is about the best we can hope for. That said, we aren't likely going to find any guys better than Koshwal, Mbakwe or Akol for the other available PF spot. We should go get one of them if at all possible to assure we have a quality PF onboard and to make the fanbase relax a little, knowing that they aren't gonna head into the 07-08 season with one PF on the roster. In doing so, you'd still be reserving a spot for one of the stud PF's. IMHO, this would be a terrific and smart move. This player doesn't even have to be a major contributor his first season if we also get a stud, just good enough to play backup minutes as needed. I think all of those guys are actually capable of much more than that. So if we are taking 2 PF's, how can you go wrong by getting of those guys as your second option? Those are pretty good second options!Next come the SF/SG positions. We are actually in a little bit better shape at the SF spot than at PF, but not by much. Though Joe Crawford is really more of a 2G than a dedicated SF, he will be a senior by the time this class comes in with several years of playing that spot under his belt. He'll be anywhere from very solid to a superstar. And Jasper has the size to play the spot if need be in a backup role, though obviously I'd rather see him playing his natural position at PG. So, we'll need at least 1 quality SF in this class to back up Joe C. We seem good to go at SG with Meeks and Porter can back him up when needed. So recruiting a dedicated SG in this class is not a must, though we may ultimately end up with a tall SG playing the spot in this role. In today's game, that's actually very common though and I have no issue with it. Who are the current options at this position?SF/SG Group (we need 1 or 2 of these guys)-Marcus Morris (if we get his twin, he likely would come too)-Markieff Morris (same height/weight as his brother, so he could also be a 3)-James Anderson (seems a bit of a longshot)-Dante Jackson (we could have him now if we offered)-Steffphon Pettigrew (same for him)-Anthony RandolphNone of those guys are pure studs besides Randolph. But all are 6-5 or taller, all are athletic and all could develop into very good players. Again, with Crawford returning as the starter, whoever this person is would only need to be good enough to play backup minutes and be ready to start the following season. I think all of those guys have that ability. I hope Tubby stays in very close contact with Jackson and Pettigrew. Heck, maybe go ahead and make them a conditional offer to keep them very interested. That will give Tubby time to work on Randolph and Anderson, or someone new if he comes across such a player. I think Jackson and Pettigrew would both wait a while if they sense they have a good shot of us offering them, so that is very helpful. And while Pettigrew is not highly rated now, he's grabbing a lot of attention. I think he will be highly rated by Spring. A kid who can put up the type of numbers he does against good competition can play. I don't give a damn where he's ranked. I'd love to see him wearing the blue and white. As such, I would strongly considering making him an unconditional offer NOW, regardless of who else remains out there. At center, we're going to be trying to replace 2 maybe 3 guys. But I don't think we have to try to sign that many dedicated centers. To be honest and with all due respect to Shagari and Woo, we never really got much out of them anyway. With Carter returning for sure and possibly Morris, I think we can get by with one center in this class, provided he's pretty good. That's especially true if we can land two quality PF's. Having 4 guys manning the 2 front court spots seems adequate. So here are the center options:Centers we need 1 guy here-Josh Southern (gotta be the priority)-Ayodele Coker-Isaiah Rusher-one of the before mentioned PF's if he's willing to play the 5I think I'd wait as long as I could on Southern and take a chance with him, especially if we take care of our PF needs fairly early on. Coker and Rusher aren't quite as hot of a commodity, thus they'll probably still be options in late Winter should we need to take that route. Or I might just consider taking one of the other PF's if any are left over and would be willing to play at the 5 spot. A guy who's in the 6'9" range and weighs 230 or 240 could handle that duty. I'd rather have someone like this as opposed to a dedicated center with less ability, coordination and overall talent. So if I were Tubby, I'd go full tilt boogie after Southern and try to get him. I worry Tennessee may grab him if we don't work him hard. He seems impressed by them. And as far as a PG, I am not even going to say much. It appears Jai Lucas is the only PG we are even seriously looking at now. So at this position, it looks like it may be either him or nobody. And that's ok by me. We are really ok at PG and have much greater needs elsewhere. If we miss on Jai for some reason, I think I'd just offer his ride to another SF or whatever is most needed at that point in time and wait for a PG in the 08 class, unless Ty Proffitt comes on big this season and is proven worthy of an offer. That pretty much sums up all of my current feelings about our recruiting needs this year. I think we must wait on certain guys and leave room for a guy like Patterson, Hickson or Randolph, should they decide to come. But at the same time, I also feel like we should go ahead and take care of some other needs if we can. I'd love to see us get a center, one PF and a SF squared away quickly. Then if we have to wait on a couple of studs, we won't be totally putting all our eggs in just a couple of baskets and will already have quality players on our commit list. I'd rather be caught in late Winter or Spring scrambling to sign one or two guys as opposed to 3 or 4. With all the needs we have, such a scenario would prove disasterous. Thus, I'd love to be able to get some guys to commit within the next couple of months. If Patterson decides by Fall, that would be nice (especially if he picks us). As I said, we can save him a spot. But while we're waiting, let's go out there and get another top 100 PF if we can, as well as a SF/SG and a center. Let's try to get as many needs taken care of as possible with quality players. Then we'll only end up waiting one 1 or 2 studs at most, rather than see Christmas come and pass and still be with zero commits. That would be very worrisome.While we'd all obviously love to have a class of Patterson, Hickson, Randolph, Southern and Lucas, that seems pretty unlikely. But looking at who'll we'll be returning, I'd be very happy with a class featuring Patterson, Koshwal or Mbakwe, Southern, Marcus Morris, Steffphon Pettigrew or Dante Jackson and Jai Lucas. It would still be a very good class with a pure stud at PF and very good players at all other positions. The only player outside the Top 150 on that list would be Pettigrew and he won't be off that list much longer. Thus, I'd be very happy with that group. They would meet our needs and meet our needs nicely. It is not necessary to have multiple 5 star caliber recruits in this class in order to have a very good recruiting year. Therefore I suspect we may end up with one 5 star, several 4 stars and one or two 3 stars. That would be fine by me. Also, I am still not ready to panick or give up as some are doing. I am itching to get our first committment for sure, but I realize it will come sooner or later. And once that first committment rolls in, the others may start to fall like dominoes as things come together. I fully expect most of our class will be accounted for by Christmas. And if Tubby uses my strategy, I really expect 80% of the class to be complete by then. Now only time will tell me whether or not I am right.