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Trace Young

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Stairmaster said:
It read to me as if his point was that his ranking matched up with where we were ranked as a team last year. Being good enough to play on the worst UConn team since JC's first year should not be the baseline going forward.
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Well, then use my point. I have the best points. My points are so good... ;)
 
UConnDan97 said:
I think his point is the following (or at least my point is the following): the kid is ranked around the #50 - #55 SF in the country right now. What that means is that this kid can contribute at a high level.

The hope if course is that he can do more than just contribute with the right coaching or the right system, but at least one should feel comfortable with his ability to contribute, and you hope for the upside to show as an upperclassmen...
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Stairmaster said:
It read to me as if his point was that his ranking matched up with where we were ranked as a team last year. Being good enough to play on the worst UConn team since JC's first year should not be the baseline going forward.
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My point is that you recruit partly for upside (helping us win championships) but also to mitigate downside risks (providing depth so that we don't collapse when we have injuries, as last year). A #250 player overall, #50 at his position, is unlikely to help us win championships, but when the roster is depleted, can certainly mitigate downside risks. He's likely to be only a minor drop-off in talent from the guys we'll be recruiting in 2018, and he'll be able to come in a year earlier. With the extra year's experience he might be as good in 2018-19 as the 2018 kid we could recruit in his place, plus he'll have provided depth in 2017-18.

We are recovering from a bad situation. He might help us recover. It is a judgment call for the coaches, and I'm not arguing one way or the other -- but if the coaches think he's worth an offer, I hope we get him.
 
UConnDan97 said:
I think his point is the following (or at least my point is the following): the kid is ranked around the #50 - #55 SF in the country right now. What that means is that this kid can contribute at a high level.

The hope of course is that he can do more than just contribute with the right coaching or the right system, but at least one should feel comfortable with his ability to contribute, and you hope for the upside to show as an upperclassmen...
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To me, that indicates he's a mid major guy...
 
This number crunching is only valid if talent was distributed evenly among all the D1 programs by HS rank, which we all obviously know isn't the case. Kentucky is bringing in 5 top 35 kids or so alone.
 
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intlzncster said:
To me, that indicates he's a mid major guy...
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Or...that he's a tournament player, since there are 68 teams there.

Seriously though, if we are counting up schools in the major conferences + top 7 teams in the Big East + top 4 teams in the AAC, you are already safely over that number. Even without including schools from the A-10 or schools like Gonzaga. Top 50 in a position is the definition of "major", not mid-major...
 
Stairmaster said:
Fully ambivalent on whether or not taking this kid (whom we may never end up offering) would be more beneficial than banking the scholarship.

That said, I would love to see the meltdown him committing here would cause. I'd set the over/under on posters who would tweet at the kid asking him to immediately rescind because he isn't a UConn-caliber player at 3.
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You are an annoying little twit
 
BUConn10 said:
This number crunching is only valid if talent was distributed evenly among all the D1 programs by HS rank, which we all obviously know isn't the case. Kentucky is bringing in 5 top 35 kids or so alone.
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Actually, your statement makes the number crunching more valid, not less. If a school like Kentucky takes two top 50 SFs in one year, then that means that there are only 48 left for the other top 49 teams. If UNC does the same, there are 46 left for 48 teams, and so on.

That's essentially why people shouldn't be so sour on the #50 SF. Not to mention the fact that it is a talent assessment, and he may be just as good as the #30 SF...
 
While we are arguing about the potential of this one player, Syracuse is having to dig arguably deeper into the well to fill out their roster

 
pj said:
Last year UConn was #96 in kenpom. The top 96 schools in D1 take in 96*13/4 = 312 new players every year. The kid is in the top 312. Therefore his level of play is not likely to degrade our level of play. He would have been good to have last year.

Now, maybe we can do better leaving the roster spot unoccupied in 2017-18 and getting another class of 2018 player. But now is not the time to be sneering at competitive players who may be able to help us.
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intlzncster said:
To me, that indicates he's a mid major guy...
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pj said:
There's 65 P5 teams, and they recruit a small forward on average once per year. So he's a marginal P5 player.
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Guys, let's not overthink this. Rakim Lubin was a #300-level recruit.

Granted, different positions, but unless he's badly mis-ranked, this is not an impact player.
 
Storrs South said:
While we are arguing about the potential of this one player, Syracuse is having to dig arguably deeper into the well to fill out their roster

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2 star SF on one recruiting service, and unranked by most.

Still, Boeheim must think he can contribute...
 
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UConnDan97 said:
Actually, your statement makes the number crunching more valid, not less. If a school like Kentucky takes two top 50 SFs in one year, then that means that there are only 48 left for the other top 49 teams. If UNC does the same, there are 46 left for 48 teams, and so on.

That's essentially why people shouldn't be so sour on the #50 SF. Not to mention the fact that it is a talent assessment, and he may be just as good as the #30 SF...
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But these are the teams we are competing with for a title... all talent evaluation is relative.
 
Tenspro2002 said:
Guys, let's not overthink this. Rakim Lubin was a #300-level recruit.

Granted, different positions, but unless he's badly mis-ranked, this is not an impact player.
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Trace Young is ranked a bit better than Rakim:
Ratings this far down are based on relatively little information. Trace could be the 150th best player or the 400th. In retrospect Rakim was ranked better than he deserved. If we offer Trace, let's hope he's better than his rank.
 
Tenspro2002 said:
Guys, let's not overthink this. Rakim Lubin was a #300-level recruit.

Granted, different positions, but unless he's badly mis-ranked, this is not an impact player.
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I don't know how I feel about this comparison, given that a) we were Lubin's only offer, b) after transferring, the Big West was his next best option, and c) it looks like he's washed out of there. Young may be ranked similarly, but his offer list is objectively better than a guy like Mamadou Diarra's, despite Diarra being a Top 100 guy according to ESPN. Vital's too, I think -- wasn't he just Louisville, BC, and a bunch of A10 schools.

Buzz Williams and Bruce Weber both got at-large bids to the tournament this past year while contending with far tougher conference schedules (ACC and B12 respectively) than ours. When it's late May and we still have 3 scholarships to fill, I would feel much more comfortable taking a flyer on a prospect both of them have determined is good enough to help their programs than any random unranked kid like Lubin.
 
BUConn10 said:
But these are the teams we are competing with for a title... all talent evaluation is relative.
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I understand that. But historically, we are competing against Kentucky's super 1-and-dones with less highly ranked but polished juniors and seniors. And in the big games, our juniors and seniors win... ;)
 
Stairmaster said:
I don't know how I feel about this comparison, given that a) we were Lubin's only offer, b) after transferring, the Big West was his next best option, and c) it looks like he's washed out of there. Young may be ranked similarly, but his offer list is objectively better than a guy like Mamadou Diarra's, despite Diarra being a Top 100 guy according to ESPN. Vital's too, I think -- wasn't he just Louisville, BC, and a bunch of A10 schools.

Buzz Williams and Bruce Weber both got at-large bids to the tournament this past year while contending with far tougher conference schedules (ACC and B12 respectively) than ours. When it's late May and we still have 3 scholarships to fill, I would feel much more comfortable taking a flyer on a prospect both of them have determined is good enough to help their programs than any random unranked kid like Lubin.
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This is a good point -- rankings are not the whole story and other offers paint a picture as well. Arguably, they may be even more instructive.

I would certainly expect more of this kid than Lubin.
 
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UConnDan97 said:
I understand that. But historically, we are competing against Kentucky's super 1-and-dones with less highly ranked but polished juniors and seniors. And in the big games, our juniors and seniors win... ;)
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We need the right guys first to be able for them to turn into those juniors and seniors you speak of, lately we haven't even been retaining our freshman, but I get your point though.
 
He played at a top prep school which should help him at the next level and he is 17 years old. Unlike a number of those who play at Huntington Prep, he is young, has upside and a very good basketball IQ.

I will add this since UConn is out of the Waters race, this would be the last player I would want UConn to take.
 
He was an unexceptional player at Huntington - he scored about eight a game.

He wasn't considered one of the top ten players in Kentucky before the season and looking at their Kentucky/Indiana all-star game, he wasn't at the end of it either. (He was the alternate - 12th man.)

I'm sure he has a place in college hoop, but it just isn't here.

Preseason rankings | Top 25 players in Kentucky
 
Fishy said:
He was an unexceptional player at Huntington - he scored about eight a game.

He wasn't considered one of the top ten players in Kentucky before the season and looking at their Kentucky/Indiana all-star game, he wasn't at the end of it either. (He was the alternate - 12th man.)

I'm sure he has a place in college hoop, but it just isn't here.

Preseason rankings | Top 25 players in Kentucky
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And Kentucky is a state that puts out little D1 talent. People are doing all sorts of intellectual gymnastics trying to make players something they're not. Guess that's what happens when you miss out on your A,B,C,D recruits and get down to the end of the alphabet.
 
superjohn said:
And Kentucky is a state that puts out little D1 talent. People are doing all sorts of intellectual gymnastics trying to make players something they're not. Guess that's what happens when you miss out on your A,B,C,D recruits and get down to the end of the alphabet.
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I doubt UConn is even that interested.

All this was started by Twitter account that seems to spend most of its recent efforts on promoting the kid.

Troy State and whoever else will battle this out.
 
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David 76 said:
Holding onto 3 scholarships would be crazy.
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Agreed we'd have 6-7 schollies next yr assuming jalen ans terry leave, and banking on 1 transfer. Thats a lot of pressure on 1 reccruiting cycle
 
BUConn10 said:
We need the right guys first to be able for them to turn into those juniors and seniors you speak of, lately we haven't even been retaining our freshman, but I get your point though.
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Well, those guys are Jalen, Christian, Alterique, and Terry, but I get your point also...
 
AntG168 said:
Agreed we'd have 6-7 schollies next yr assuming jalen ans terry leave, and banking on 1 transfer. Thats a lot of pressure on 1 reccruiting cycle
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That's not pressure. That is more of a death sentence.
 
We have 3 open scholarships and have plenty open scholarships for 2018 recruiting cycle.

Taking a risk on an elite athlete with good basketball IQ who is 6'8 is worth taking because he doesn't hurt your team. He also provides solid insurance for Terry.

PS: This kid has an offer from Southern Cal whose roster is full of NBA level talent. He is good enough to play for us. Comparing Trace to Rock is laughable as the differences in athleticism between the 2 is like the distance between the Earth and Pluto.
 
superjohn said:
And Kentucky is a state that puts out little D1 talent. People are doing all sorts of intellectual gymnastics trying to make players something they're not. Guess that's what happens when you miss out on your A,B,C,D recruits and get down to the end of the alphabet.
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Nobody is doing "intellectual gymnastics" to make anyone into something they are not.

Some of us are just being calm enough to wonder if a kid that holds scholarship offers from K-State, USC, UMASS, and DePaul might be worth 3 minutes per game for us. Nothing more than that is going on here, except for those few who think we are making him into little LeBron...
 
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