Alex Karaban Recruitment | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Alex Karaban Recruitment

There are certain industries where the top tier college and/or graduate school you attend will open doors that you'd have to forcibly push your way through with an extremely high GPA from a lesser known/regarded school. But if you are a star D1 athlete, those doors are going to be much wider open than they will be for some random Ivy League graduate.

Long story short: If you're an awesome basketball player, go to an awesome basketball school.
 
Leebo said:
In the article previously linked in this thread

Karaban is studying computer science, sports management and statistics.
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And he's taking 6 classes this semester. And playing D1 basketball. He has to be smart and well organized to do all this.
 
HooperScooper said:
And he's taking 6 classes this semester. And playing D1 basketball. He has to be smart and well organized to do all this.
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Last public announcement was he had a 3.5 GPA. Thought it was posted somewhere he's on track to complete his education in his third year. Probably the most compelling argument in the discussion about whether Karaban is coming back next season. The mother requirement is very strong for Alex.
 
ctchamps said:
Last public announcement was he had a 3.5 GPA. Thought it was posted somewhere he's on track to complete his education in his third year. Probably the most compelling argument in the discussion about whether Karaban is coming back next season. The mother requirement is very strong for Alex.
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He said he’ll come back and finish later if he decides to leave. Wants to maximize the financial upside of basketball as his first priority, which he claims his parents understand.

But considering he’s probably in the 25-45 range today, he’ll probably come back anyways.
 
HooperScooper said:
I guess the smart kid has really dumb parents. Someone needs to take them aside and slap them upside the head.
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Both are true, stats say on average it is more about where you apply (shows quality of student/aptitude) vs where you go. However if you want to end up a CEO/CFO of a major corporation or say Supreme Court justice then the Ivy league GREATLY influences a higher likelihood of the very top 1% of 1% outcomes.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
You're right about alumni/networking from the athletics side too. I went to Law school with a guy on the 1988 Kansas Championship Team. He was very sought after by law firms who knew their clients would be thrilled to be working with him.
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Very true, but the person who owned the company hiring the lawyer was probably from an Ivy....that network is hard to beat...maybe only outdone by West Point or Annapolis.
 
ctchamps said:
Last public announcement was he had a 3.5 GPA. Thought it was posted somewhere he's on track to complete his education in his third year. Probably the most compelling argument in the discussion about whether Karaban is coming back next season. The mother requirement is very strong for Alex.
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You're neglecting his semester RS....so he's been on campus for 5 semesters, technically in his 3rd year..plus summer school classes...My guess is he's probably very close to graduating after this semester.
 
NJHusky said:
Very true, but the person who owned the company hiring the lawyer was probably from an Ivy....that network is hard to beat...maybe only outdone by West Point or Annapolis.
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Sure, especially locally. But it isn't that way everywhere. Being a UT grad matters a lot in Austin. Being a Kansas grad matters a lot in KC. Being a Georgia grad matters a lot in Atlanta. They don't have the local competition UConn does.
 
ctchamps said:
Last public announcement was he had a 3.5 GPA. Thought it was posted somewhere he's on track to complete his education in his third year. Probably the most compelling argument in the discussion about whether Karaban is coming back next season. The mother requirement is very strong for Alex.
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Athletes can easily graduate in 2.5 years if they want to. I wouldn't be surprised if Alex is doing a Master's next year if the program he wants allows it. They're on campus all summer and UConn has summer classes that are basically made just for athletes to get their gen ed requirements out of the way. My wife taught some for extra $$ that were majority football and basketball players for years.

It's even easier to graduate early with basketball. Football players will take a super easy courseload in the fall during the season. Because basketball season split semesters about evenly, they can't get away with that so much.

I graduated with two degrees in 3 years at a crappy D2 school with barely any summer classes and a bad attitude. Advisors laid out my exact class schedule for underclassmen before I even stepped on campus.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
Sure, especially locally. But it isn't that way everywhere. Being a UT grad matters a lot in Austin. Being a Kansas grad matters a lot in KC. Being a Georgia grad matters a lot in Atlanta. They don't have the local competition UConn does.
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Kansas City is in Missouri.
 
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HooperScooper said:
There's one in Kansas too. :)

en.wikipedia.org

Kansas City, Kansas - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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I heard Kansas is working on a Missouri City to get back at Missouri for having the better Kansas City!

This thread is amazing in people bringing their own anecdotal experience + obvious self-interested basketball biases to opine on what is good for the Karabans. Especially given that the whole thing started with the Karaban's knowing damn well what was good for the Karabans, figuring that out and picking UConn. Luckily us experts are here two years later to further help them with their decisions.
 
SouthBayHusky said:
Go to the Ivy leagues when you have no legit NBA prospects. Alex made the correct choice. 1 Natty in hand (possibly more), scads of NIL and then professional NBA career
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If you can play they will find you and draft you. Santa Clara, Belmont, Furman, Eastern Michigan, Pepperdine all had kids drafted last year. If they can send scouts to the Congo they can send them to Princeton, NJ.
 
MuchoDogYears said:
Kansas City is in Missouri.
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I am aware. The metro spans both states. I worked downtown for a time. The metro area has more KU grads than Mizzou grads.

My point was, you don't need to go to an Ivy to leverage alumni influence as an athlete. However, that is somewhat localized. Applying for a job in Fairfield? Nobody cares that you played basketball for Colorado. But it would help in Denver. In those locations, that influence probably exceeds Ivy influence. Alex will be fine.
 
UConNick said:
I do wonder, given he’s been on campus a semester longer than a usual sophomore, and that he probably came into college with a bunch of credits from AP courses or other locations, how close he is to graduating, and if that will have any impact on an NBA decision.
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I believe he will actually have 2 degrees in May
 
Slick said:
I believe he will actually have 2 degrees in May
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@nomar - Maybe Glen Miller can present Alex’s second degree with a copy of the course catalog. On the other hand, the article said Alex’s mom indicated Hurley hadn’t mentioned academics even once during their first visit.
Maybe Danny should have had at least a passing reference to academics, but I love Danny’s basketball focus.
 
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HooperScooper said:
How would he get 2 degrees in May? You mean a BA and a BS? Or are you talking about a degree with 2-3 majors?
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I'm guessing comp sci and stats are BS's and sports management is a BA. So 2 degrees.

I don't know if one or two of those are minors though.
 
aceboon said:
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This feels misleading. Maybe I'm just being nitpicky though.

It has never been difficult to get NBA scouts in the room... those guys travel for a living. It's 2024--if you're good, the whole country will know about you. The issue is maximizing draft potential (and $$) in a league that is less competitive.

It will be interesting to see if Mack and Lee don't transfer what will happen with their draft prospects. If they put up even 2/3rds of their current numbers at a high major, they'd probably be a first-round draft pick (definitely Lee with his better size).
 
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