Stainmaster
Occasionally Constructive
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2014
- Messages
- 21,997
- Reaction Score
- 41,475
Amidst today's excitement, I thought I would take a look at where this current class stands, both compared to the program historically and contemporary programs today.
Perusing ESPN's Top 100, there are only two other programs in the entire country with three commits rated that highly: Florida State and Virginia. Granted we are 2 months before the early signing period and the Duke/UK/Arizonas of the world will inevitably pull in their usual monster classes, but this does speak volumes to the amount of talent we are pulling in, not just compared to the conference but to most of the P5 as well.
As we all know, much has been made of KO's inability to put together a truly dynamite class of incoming freshmen. Looking at his first two classes of Facey/Samuel/Brimah and Hamilton/Lubin, he was only able to bring in one bona fide star and one four-star guy capable of making noise as an underclassman. Last year's class of Adams and Enoch was seen by some as a step in the right direction for a) bringing in multiple four-stars and b) not bringing in low-ranked guys who didn't have much of a future, while others focused on the misses of Mack, Jones, Clarke, Briscoe, and others. However, I think that what we've seen from KO during this cycle is that he is capable of putting together a Calhoun-level recruiting class. This is the first time we've had three 4/5 stars since the '11 class of Drummond/Daniels/Boat, and it falls in nicely with the top half of the hauls we were getting the last four years of Calhoun's tenure, as well as those around our prior championships. That being said, if we are able to get a couple of guys to come in on the wing (think V. Jackson, Diallo, Powell), then there's a chance that this could end up being the best class the program has ever taken in. I know that's a lofty term to be throwing around, but the most Top 100 guys JC ever got was 4 in 2006 (Dyson, Robinson, Kelly, Wiggins). And the possibility that we top that has me awfully excited.
Perusing ESPN's Top 100, there are only two other programs in the entire country with three commits rated that highly: Florida State and Virginia. Granted we are 2 months before the early signing period and the Duke/UK/Arizonas of the world will inevitably pull in their usual monster classes, but this does speak volumes to the amount of talent we are pulling in, not just compared to the conference but to most of the P5 as well.
As we all know, much has been made of KO's inability to put together a truly dynamite class of incoming freshmen. Looking at his first two classes of Facey/Samuel/Brimah and Hamilton/Lubin, he was only able to bring in one bona fide star and one four-star guy capable of making noise as an underclassman. Last year's class of Adams and Enoch was seen by some as a step in the right direction for a) bringing in multiple four-stars and b) not bringing in low-ranked guys who didn't have much of a future, while others focused on the misses of Mack, Jones, Clarke, Briscoe, and others. However, I think that what we've seen from KO during this cycle is that he is capable of putting together a Calhoun-level recruiting class. This is the first time we've had three 4/5 stars since the '11 class of Drummond/Daniels/Boat, and it falls in nicely with the top half of the hauls we were getting the last four years of Calhoun's tenure, as well as those around our prior championships. That being said, if we are able to get a couple of guys to come in on the wing (think V. Jackson, Diallo, Powell), then there's a chance that this could end up being the best class the program has ever taken in. I know that's a lofty term to be throwing around, but the most Top 100 guys JC ever got was 4 in 2006 (Dyson, Robinson, Kelly, Wiggins). And the possibility that we top that has me awfully excited.
