Tevin Mack (Committed to Texas)

[Gurleyman]

We were lucky with Kemba. Most top 25 recruits aren't going to come with two seniors and a junior in the backcourt for their first year. Bazz didn't come to serve an apprenticeship for a year backing up Kemba so much as to play alongside him - we were recruiting all those guys (Knight, Selby, etc.) because we only had one guard coming back (assuming we already knew Darius Smith had no long term role). Going into his junior year, Kemba wasn't much of an NBA prospect either so recruits had to think he'd be around for two more years. But there was tons of PT to be had in the backcourt anyway. AJ was coming to fill Ben Gordon's role, not to study under Marcus (MW was just a freshman who hadn't even played yet when AJ signed).

I'm sure some of the Kentucky guys this year are miffed that the Harrison's and Cauley-Stein returned. They were probably working under the assumption that there would be heavy minutes to put them on the fast track to the NBA and not some platoon system. Difficult to sell guys on being an apprentice these days, and nobody knows right now how many years Hamilton will be here. As much as we hear "he can play four positions", he'll probably be almost exclusively a 3 in college - just too big for a 2 and too slight for a 4. He could be a point forward at times if his man can't check him, but that doesn't mean he's a point guard.

 

[tzznandrew]

Well..... KEA did have coach Moore playing beside him. Just saying .

He did...and Moore played next to Sheffer.

But, my real point is that I think KEA would have been just fine one way or another.

I think a year of understudy defenitely would've helped, but more than anything I think AJ needed a year of getting his legs back under him and actually playing ball again. He was very rusty and not in game shape.

I don't disagree with this. Game shape was a big problem. Having to learn the PG position on the fly, while not at full strength, was just too much for him in 06-07.

 

[Durks07]

Here's what I'm hearing about Mack:

Hey Chief!

 

[intlzncster]

Here's what I'm hearing about Mack:

Can you tell us a little more about that? What's the context?

 

[Durks07]

Can you tell us a little more about that? What's the context?

Quite frankly, no, he can't

 

[CallMeBruce]

You have to separate the two.

We have mounds of success. For some reason, that success has failed to translate to prestige -- hence our recruiting being more like a #20-40 program rather than #3-5.

When Stone commits, can we put this to bed?

 

[intlzncster]

We have mounds of success. For some reason, that success has failed to translate to prestige -- hence our recruiting being more like a #20-40 program rather than #3-5.

Given how early guys jump these days, I'm sure that's a part of our success.

 

[Thirty Three]

Can you tell us a little more about that? What's the context?

My sources tell me that he will DEFINITELY be making his decision within the next 28 weeks. You heard it here first. When this comes true you guys will obviously have to bow down to the power of my amazing sources.

 

[August_West]

My sources tell me that he will DEFINITELY be making his decision within the next 28 weeks. You heard it here first. When this comes true you guys will obviously have to bow down to the power of my amazing sources.

How many handles does chief have on this board?

 

[Durks07]

How many handles does chief have on this board?

Quite frankly, Tevin Mack is going to play college basketball in the future. My sources tell me that schools are recruiting him and he intends to commit to one if not more of them. You laughed at me when I predicted that UConn men would play a basketball schedule, but in the end, my sources and I were right.

 

[David 76]

My point was that all teams have basically the same number of players. There is built in competition at every position. At good schools that competition is tougher. At the "best" schools that competition is intense and that competition doesn't stop recruits from signing even though there is great competition at that position (see Duke, UK, KU)

They get more top recruits even for a position covered by an AA. Why is that?

We now know it is not because
1) we don't win enough
2) Our coach is old and may retire
3) Our program is on the verge/aftermath of sanctions that could really hurt the program
4) Ollie hasn't proven himself (some may say this hasn't happened yet, but I think most are feeling the Ollie buzz.

I think they leaves:
1) Because they are the blue-blood darlings of the media
2) They are in better conferences with all that goes with that.

We are doing a great job w/o being blue-bloods media darlings or in a P5 conference. But facts are facts. We still have to work harder than teams we are outperforming.

 

[David 76]

I think Jr should be.

I agree Jr. could be formidable. TSam too. But I don't think they are they players high school kids are trying to avoid.

 

[7774]

My point was that all teams have basically the same number of players. There is built in competition at every position. At good schools that competition is tougher. At the "best" schools that competition is intense and that competition doesn't stop recruits from signing even though there is great competition at that position (see Duke, UK, KU)

They get more top recruits even for a position covered by an AA. Why is that?

We now know it is not because
1) we don't win enough
2) Our coach is old and may retire
3) Our program is on the verge/aftermath of sanctions that could really hurt the program
4) Ollie hasn't proven himself (some may say this hasn't happened yet, but I think most are feeling the Ollie buzz.

I think they leaves:
1) Because they are the blue-blood darlings of the media
2) They are in better conferences with all that goes with that.

We are doing a great job w/o being blue-bloods media darlings or in a P5 conference. But facts are facts. We still have to work harder than teams we are outperforming.

I don't agree with your premise that Duke, KU, etc don't have their recruiting impacted by the makeup of their current roster. I have watched those schools miss on high level recruits in years where they had veteran players entrenched at positions the recruit expected to play.

I also don't agree that we are outperforming those schools in the eyes of recruits. Kids care way more about getting to the league than winning college championships imo.

But yes, out of 300+ schools, the ones you listed are part of a small handful that recruit better than us. They are great, tradition rich college basketball schools.

 

[7774]

I agree Jr. could be formidable. TSam too. But I don't think they are they players high school kids are trying to avoid.

So how do you differentiate between the players other recruits are trying to avoid and those they are not?

 

[BFieldHusky]

6-5 Tevin Mack of Dreher had talked of making his decision not too long after his official visit to USC. That was two weeks ago and still Mack has not made his decision. And his mother said Thursday night a decision is not in sight.

Mack did not have any visits from coaches Thursday. Wednesday Georgia coach Mark Fox and his entire staff met with Mack. Tuesday assistants from Connecticut came down for a visit. Head coach Kevin Ollie did not come down this week. And Monday VCU coach Shaka Smart and his assistants met with the Macks.

USC and Clemson did not visit with Mack this week but his mother is expecting Frank Martin and Brad Brownell to be in to see them Monday.
Mack's mother said he still does not have a favorite. And she's not sure if he will go over to USC Saturday for the football game

http://www.thestate.com/2014/10/31/3780205_tigers-to-see-mack-next-week.html?rh=1

 

[DreamSeason]

Here we go again. We landed 2 top 50 recruits and are having trouble closing on guys who are strongly favored to stay local. Time for the BYders to start arguing about our conference. Really? With the exception of Stone (maybe) were not exactly competing with the top conferences for these guys. Please let's put these sour grapes away.

 

[ctchamps]

3) Our program is on the verge/aftermath of sanctions that could really hurt the program (SEE BELOW)
4) Ollie hasn't proven himself (some may say this hasn't happened yet, but I think most are feeling the Ollie buzz.

I think they leaves:
1) Because they are the blue-blood darlings of the media (I do think there is some relevance with this point)
2) They are in better conferences with all that goes with that. (I'd remove this because the BE was the best bb conference ever)

We are doing a great job w/o being blue-bloods media darlings or in a P5 conference. But facts are facts. We still have to work harder than teams we are outperforming.

I don't agree with your premise that Duke, KU, etc don't have their recruiting impacted by the makeup of their current roster. I have watched those schools miss on high level recruits in years where they had veteran players entrenched at positions the recruit expected to play.

I also don't agree that we are outperforming those schools in the eyes of recruits. Kids care way more about getting to the league than winning college championships imo.

But yes, out of 300+ schools, the ones you listed are part of a small handful that recruit better than us. They are great, tradition rich college basketball schools.

Great analysis by both of you! I'm in 7774's camp.

JC was arguably the most successful coach in the best conference of all time. And yet he struggled beating out a handful of programs when there were head to head battles. IMM that eliminates the conference argument.

UConn frequently had top ten or top fifteen classes. So we're criticizing or focusing on something that most programs would love to complain about. I think recruiting under JC "suffered" because of JC's personality. A lot of the top recruits wanted to improve, but their preference was to do so under a less demanding coach. IMO they must have felt getting to a 10 was not worth going through the demands required by JC. They already had a decent shot to make the NBA. The next tier of recruits weren't quite as confident. Putting up with JC was worth it.

So where does that leave us with KO. I think it's too early to know. Is he an inadequate recruiter? Or is he still developing relationships? Is it the conference? Is the current roster composed of better players than we think and that's making recruits hesitate? Did KO and staff get a late start with this years recruits because of sanctions and therefore have too much ground to make up?

I don't know how anyone can really know at this point in his career. He certainly has a top twenty or twenty five class already. So I'm not overly concerned. If he has continued success on the court this year two things will happen. UConn's recruiting will get better and there will be more rumors by the media, ESPN in particular, that KO is going to coach in the NBA. The media wants to reduce UConn's value slightly so that in the next round of AAC contracts they can buy the conference for a song.

 

[mauconnfan]

Can you tell us a little more about that? What's the context?

Yes

 

[David 76]

I don't agree with your premise that Duke, KU, etc don't have their recruiting impacted by the makeup of their current roster. I have watched those schools miss on high level recruits in years where they had veteran players entrenched at positions the recruit expected to play.

I also don't agree that we are outperforming those schools in the eyes of recruits. Kids care way more about getting to the league than winning college championships imo.

But yes, out of 300+ schools, the ones you listed are part of a small handful that recruit better than us. They are great, tradition rich college basketball schools.

Fine that you disagree, UK has 9 McDonald's All Americans. Duke usually does about the same. That means kids went there with tougher competition than we have to offer. That some kids didn't go there because of competition doesn't disprove that they have more AAs than positions.
I meant we are outperforming them in basketball championships. Getting people to the NBA is tough to evaluate if you are comparing AAs with a 3 or 4 star. Still we have come in 2nd or third in every look at who has players in the NBA that I have come across.

Finally, yes. They are blue-bloods. That is 1 of the 2 reasons I listed for their success over us. The other is our conference.

 

[David 76]

So how do you differentiate between the players other recruits are trying to avoid and those they are not?

I think it is relative to you place in the food chain. Briscoe may want to avoid Newmann. At the 4 star level, Clarke and Mack may want to avoid each other. I don't think people we are after are worried a 3 star player (TSam) or a Juco transfer (Sam Jr).
Please understand that I think those players may turn out very well. But I don't think they are on the radar of a lot of high school students.

 

[7774]

I think it is relative to you place in the food chain. Briscoe may want to avoid Newmann. At the 4 star level, Clarke and Mack may want to avoid each other. I don't think people we are after are worried a 3 star player (TSam) or a Juco transfer (Sam Jr).
Please understand that I think those players may turn out very well. But I don't think they are on the radar of a lot of high school students.

LOL. We've seen him play a year in college and he's played well in the biggest games possible. What in the world does him being a 3 star player coming out of high school matter at this point.

 

[David 76]

TSam having been a 3 star means nothing to me. I was referring to high school senior recruits worried about competing for playing time.. Did you read my posts? The idea I was responding was that Clarke and or others didn't commit here because of, among others, TSam, Sam Jr and Omar. I don't think those three keep recruits away. It seems you disagree, fine. I went out of my way to say I think those guys can be very valuable but are not on kids radar.
I don't understand why you came back with the attitude. I don't get it.

 

[7774]

TSam having been a 3 star means nothing to me. I was referring to high school senior recruits worried about competing for playing time.. Did you read my posts? The idea I was responding was that Clarke and or others didn't commit here because of, among others, TSam, Sam Jr and Omar. I don't think those three keep recruits away. It seems you disagree, fine. I went out of my way to say I think those guys can be very valuable but are not on kids radar.
I don't understand why you came back with the attitude. I don't get it.

Because the things you're saying make zero sense. At all.

But I'm just going to move on because this seems like a situation where we will continue to go back and forth with nothing getting accomplished. Sorry for the attitude.

 

[tcf15]

“@InsideBBRecruit: 2015 G/F Tevin Mack (@30piecemack) on UConn, "They win big. Big Stage! Great coach and great program. I can go there and make an impact."”

 

[huskiesnyc]

Just picked up another crystal ball pick for Mack..