Diamond Stone (Committed to Maryland)

[sammydabiz]

 

[boog204]

I wish the best for the kid but this really smells fishy if it wasn't going to be us would rather he stayed home

So if he committed to us, that proves that his recruitment was totally legit. But the fact that he committed to Maryland, it's immediately fishy? Let's see. You are planning to play one year and want to maximize your exposure.

Do you play for team A who is coming off a thrilling NIT loss at home, who has been guard dominated for years, and plays in a joke of a conference?

Or team B who is coming off a 28 win year, who plays in arguably the most prestigious of the P5, and also is closely tied to one of the premier apparel companies in the country? Seems like a no brainer to me.

We all assume that players care about the past, but for most, it is all about that one year of exposure to expedite their pay check.

 

[caw]

So if he committed to us, that proves that his recruitment was totally legit. But the fact that he committed to Maryland, it's immediately fishy? Let's see. You are planning to play one year and want to maximize your exposure.

Do you play for team A who is coming off a thrilling NIT loss at home, who has been guard dominated for years, and plays in a joke of a conference?

Or team B who is coming off a 28 win year, who plays in arguably the most prestigious of the P5, and also is closely tied to one of the premier apparel companies in the country? Seems like a no brainer to me.

We all assume that players care about the past, but for most, it is all about that one year of exposure to expedite their pay check.

Well you are missing a few other things but the biggest:

Or team C who has been to a final four last year and at least an Elite Eight this year, in the same conference as team B. Not to mention its your hometown team with a very highly regarded coach who is a close friend of your fathers. Also, they have proven in their last two runs to feature one of the top bigs in college that they will get you the ball in the post.

 

[boog204]

Well you are missing a few other things but the biggest:

Or team C who has been to a final four last year and at least an Elite Eight this year, in the same conference as team B. Not to mention its your hometown team with a very highly regarded coach who is a close friend of your fathers. Also, they have proven in their last two runs to feature one of the top bigs in college that they will get you the ball in the post.

Agreed. Was trying to address the "it makes no sense to leave the state and not choose us crowd." I don't think anyone would have an issue if stone committed to Wisc. We have to face facts that we are just not a very appealing option right now. Mediocre season, hideous conference, perhaps poor recruiters in general. We went from seemingly clear cut faves to an afterthought. Did we stop recruiting all together or did our negatives simply reign supreme?

 

[Kitaman]

The bottom line after all the complaining, rumor making, player put downs, etc. is that we got out recruited again or a top recruit didn't pick us out of a final 3/5.

If recruiting was a paid position at UConn based on performance here that person would be given a "needs improvement" rating in multiple categories.

 

[Chief00]

I have always thought he wasn't going to WI. We were his other option then it became MD. He was always going to that other option.

 

[UCweCONN]

Let's face the facts. How many highly rated big men recruits have we gotten? Bynum (can't count because he never player here)?? Drummond?? And?? We are seen as a guard oriented program who develops decent centers who go on to fail in the NBA. Not very attractive to top talent.

 

[Hoophound]

Let's face the facts. How many highly rated big men recruits have we gotten? Bynum (can't count because he never player here)?? Drummond?? And?? We are seen as a guard oriented program who develops decent centers who go on to fail in the NBA. Not very attractive to top talent.

Decent centers that fail in the NBA? Huh?

How about projects that then make it to the NBA, get wealthy but don't have great pro careers?

 

[jibsey]

Well you are missing a few other things but the biggest:

Or team C who has been to a final four last year and at least an Elite Eight this year, in the same conference as team B. Not to mention its your hometown team with a very highly regarded coach who is a close friend of your fathers. Also, they have proven in their last two runs to feature one of the top bigs in college that they will get you the ball in the post.

D you remember when you went to college? Did you say "I want to stay as close to home as possible, so that mommy and daddy can drop in on me at any time?" To me it was a no brainier for him to go to Wisconsin but he can go to a place with a warmer climate and still get all the exposure he wants, which by the way was probably the reason we didn't get him! I bet with all things being equal with us in a P5, we get him 9 out of 10 even in cold Storrs. From what's been reported he liked KO that much. This is not a coaching staff recruiting failure.

 

[Hoophound]

The weather in MD isn't much of an advantage. That's a stretch.

 

[UConnSwag11]

wonder how long before someone gets a job out of this

"Funkhouser, post: 1129146, member: 5400"]Just posted to a UW message board from a guy who's pretty connected to the upper midwest recruiting scene:
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A respected east coast recruiting analyst told me this weekend that Maryland is offering Diamond Stone's dad a job at Under Armour if Diamond commits.
-----

 

[jibsey]

I think in Storrs we could have signed his father up as a snowstorm analyst.

 

[jibsey]

The weather in MD isn't much of an advantage. That's a stretch.

8 degrees or more makes a difference in winter, they don't get much snow. What about the rest?

 

[Jaker]

we are a mid major

 

[Hoophound]

8 degrees or more makes a difference in winter, they don't get much snow. What about the rest?

Madison, Wisconsin is an amazing college town. The kid is from Wisconsin and is coveted by their fans. Yet, he chose Maryland, which is a decent basketball school in an ok environment. Yes, it is warmer in Maryland, but nicer? No.

This isn't Arizona or Florida weather, this is Maryland weather. Maryland is cold, gray and damp or hot, hazy and sticky most of the time. This is an UnderArmor/AAU related deal. It has nothing to do with weather or Wisconsin. I've lived in Florida for years and I'd choose Wisconsin over Maryland 8 days per week unless there was obvious reason not to. However, Maryland doesn't have a great history, great weather or a legendary coach.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Well he certainly wore out his welcome with random precision.

Are you claiming he's a painter, a piper, a prisoner?

 

[boog204]

From what's been reported he liked KO that much. This is not a coaching staff recruiting failure.

All the recruits love KO and for almost all of them that is not enough...

 

[Leebo]

Why?

In your life, do you believe every empty claim that someone makes until it's proven wrong?

There's a word for that...

 

[CTBasketball]

Love seeing these overreactions. We knew he wasn't coming here when he didn't commit on his visit. Although I love you, you guys are insufferable.

 

[HooperScooper]

A little bit.

My boss is on the Wisco Boosters board. Stone scored a 7 on his first round of ACT's. He took the test three times, finally scored a 17 and they shoe-horned him in. Not sure he was thrilled with the process. Mother wanted him to go to Wisco. Dad wanted him to go to Maryland. I'd imagine the money chose Maryland for him.

A 7? That's almost impossible. You could fill out the bubbles randomly and I think you'd get more than a 7. Even 17 is pretty bad. But I'm sure he'll be able to get through his one year at Maryland.

 

[jibsey]

Madison, Wisconsin is an amazing college town. The kid is from Wisconsin and is coveted by their fans. Yet, he chose Maryland, which is a decent basketball school in an ok environment. Yes, it is warmer in Maryland, but nicer? No.

This isn't Arizona or Florida weather, this is Maryland weather. Maryland is cold, gray and damp or hot, hazy and sticky most of the time. This is an UnderArmor/AAU related deal. It has nothing to do with weather or Wisconsin. I've lived in Florida for years and I'd choose Wisconsin over Maryland 8 days per week unless there was obvious reason not to. However, Maryland doesn't have a great history, great weather or a legendary coach.

The kid didn't want to live near home and went to a B1G school. Don't think it's more complicated than that. He's gonna be rich in 1 year no matter where he goes.

 

[Danzz]

Our recruiting has had us in the running with quite a few top recruits. Think about it from a recruit's point of view. You have 3 schools you like very much and could see yourself playing for any of them. One choice gets you games against Duke and UNC. The second choice gets you games against Michigan State and Indiana. The third choice gets you games against SMU and East Carolina. I'd say UConn is a tough sell, not impossible but tough.
Our recruiting has probably been very good but our conference kills us on commitment day.

 

[jibsey]

Our recruiting has had us in the running with quite a few top recruits. Think about it from a recruit's point of view. You have 3 schools you like very much and could see yourself playing for any of them. One choice gets you games against Duke and UNC. The second choice gets you games against Michigan State and Indiana. The third choice gets you games against SMU and East Carolina. I'd say UConn is a tough sell, not impossible but tough.
Our recruiting has probably been very good but our conference kills us on commitment day.

Bingo.

 

[Wise2]

Our recruiting has had us in the running with quite a few top recruits. Think about it from a recruit's point of view. You have 3 schools you like very much and could see yourself playing for any of them. One choice gets you games against Duke and UNC. The second choice gets you games against Michigan State and Indiana. The third choice gets you games against SMU and East Carolina. I'd say UConn is a tough sell, not impossible but tough.
Our recruiting has probably been very good but our conference kills us on commitment day.

which school gets you games against Duke and UNC?

 

[James]

Our recruiting has had us in the running with quite a few top recruits. Think about it from a recruit's point of view. You have 3 schools you like very much and could see yourself playing for any of them. One choice gets you games against Duke and UNC. The second choice gets you games against Michigan State and Indiana. The third choice gets you games against SMU and East Carolina. I'd say UConn is a tough sell, not impossible but tough.
Our recruiting has probably been very good but our conference kills us on commitment day.

I'm of the opinion none of that matters to the highest level talent. Thats why dham and adams dgaf. If youre a prospect and have the hopes to become an elite nba player, the process starts with you not 'who you play against'. nobody ever discusses which conference produces the best pros, thats hard to do. Rashad Vaughn went to unlv and is hittin the league this year. Nobody is going to care who he played against in workouts

 

[CL82]

8 degrees or more makes a difference in winter, they don't get much snow. What about the rest?

Yeah that's the reason. Good analysis.

 

[8893]

Lots of talk on the Wisconsin board, as well as tweets from Bo Ryan's daughter and a fairly extensive article that claims to detail facts related by her, suggest very strongly that his ACT score was an issue for Wisconsin. The claim is that he had verbally committed to Wisconsin in November but had yet to be accepted, and it was a bit of a process trying to get him admitted there academically. During the intervening period, he apparently was persuaded by MD.

Obviously no idea where the truth lies--and it's interesting to see recruiting guys like Meyer and ESPN guys like Goodman referencing staying in the UA pipeline. But it clearly looks like we've been a distant third (at best) for a while with him.

I'm not heartbroken over the miss, especially if he is truly a one-and-done, but I'm obviously concerned about the trend.

Here is my question: does anyone even remotely "in the know" have any inkling whether his ACT scores or other academic issues played any part in at all in the picture with us? Did we even get that far with him?

I don't mean to suggest that it had anything to do with him not choosing us; I'm actually surprised we were still in the picture with him at all. I'm just curious where we sit on the academic rigor scale these days as compared to MD and Wisconsin when it comes to admission of athletes.

On a somewhat related note, anyone heard anything about some Turkish big in whom we are interested?

 

[UConnSwag11]

Lots of talk on the Wisconsin board, as well as tweets from Bo Ryan's daughter and a fairly extensive article that claims to detail facts related by her, suggest very strongly that his ACT score was an issue for Wisconsin. The claim is that he had verbally committed to Wisconsin in November but had yet to be accepted, and it was a bit of a process trying to get him admitted there academically. During the intervening period, he apparently was persuaded by MD.

Obviously no idea where the truth lies--and it's interesting to see recruiting guys like Meyer and ESPN guys like Goodman referencing staying in the UA pipeline. But it clearly looks like we've been a distant third (at best) for a while with him.

I'm not heartbroken over the miss, especially if he is truly a one-and-done, but I'm obviously concerned about the trend.

Here is my question: does anyone even remotely "in the know" have any inkling whether his ACT scores or other academic issues played any part in at all in the picture with us? Did we even get that far with him?

I don't mean to suggest that it had anything to do with him not choosing us; I'm actually surprised we were still in the picture with him at all. I'm just curious where we sit on the academic rigor scale these days as compared to MD and Wisconsin when it comes to admission of athletes.

On a somewhat related note, anyone heard anything about some Turkish big in whom we are interested?

i dont follow the recruiting nearly as much as posters here, but it seems that almost every recruit that we've been in contact with, if there is any indication of a problem with grades or anything similar the staff backs off... which makes sense due to the magnifying glass that has been on us for years

 

[CallMeBruce]

If Bo Ryan's daughter is tweeting about a recruit's academics, that's pretty messed up.

 

[Chief00]

Let's face the facts. How many highly rated big men recruits have we gotten? Bynum (can't count because he never player here)?? Drummond?? And?? We are seen as a guard oriented program who develops decent centers who go on to fail in the NBA. Not very attractive to top talent.

That may be true with this staff and Warde. I suggest that needs to change quickly. We have to take some academic chances - we will win some and lose some.