Class of 2018 - General Discussion

[catfaninin]

Johnson cancelled his scheduled visit to Fla. St. and will instead be at UK along with Quickley this weekend. That sounds promising but I'm not sure what it might mean in regard to Williamson or Barrett.

http://kentuckysportsradio.com/main/keldon-johnson-to-take-official-visit-to-kentucky-this-weekend/

[J.Jennings]

Coach K might be the greatest coach to ever coach the game of basketball.

They have an incredible product to sell. But Kentucky has been right with or better than Duke in every one of Cal's years here w/r/t recruiting classes. There's no reason to believe that next year won't be the same.

It would be a highly unusual turn of events for it not to be. And if it isn't--if Cal drops below Duke to the point where we have to settle recruiting-wise--Cal will promptly resign and hand it to the next guy. He isn't in the game of getting scrappy, under-ranked players and coaching them up. He's already past that part of his career.

I pretty much agree.....

[Joneslab]

Kentucky will meet with Zion Williamson tomorrow.

https://kentucky.rivals.com/news/res...ion-williamson

[Joneslab]

Quentin Grimes will visit in late September:

http://kentucky.247sports.com/Bolt/Quentin-Grimes-sets-official-visit-to-Kentucky-107358785

[Joneslab]

Ben Roberts talks to Evan Daniels. Daniels says he has no idea about Barrett, says UK has a lot of ground to make up with Johnson, doesn't think we get Grimes, and believes we eventually land Quickley.

http://www.kentucky.com/sports/college/kentucky-sports/uk-basketball-men/article173020371.html

[Joneslab]

Bol Bol will attend Big Blue Madness.

Finally, some movement.

[lilproUK98]

Bol Bol will attend Big Blue Madness.

Finally, some movement.

Yes, things are moving quickley on many fronts, in-home and official visits are being announced left and right. Bol Bol coming to madness is big. I don't think he's totally ruled out UK as many have said. He may just want to see Drake though, who knows lol.

Zion coming the weekend John Wall is here for his hall of fame induction is a nice development. I think Zion, Quickley, and Shittu are very likely at this point....not having a strong sense on anyone else yet really. MJ says until he gets info to the contrary, he feels very good about Barrett as well.

[Joneslab]

Yes, things are moving quickley on many fronts

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE

[Catsrock]

^^Ha! I had to read it twice to see what you thought he did there😉

[wildcatdon]

And Daniels being the guru that he is, is just guessing along with everyone else that follows college basketball, and that includes us poor fans on these boards...these people dont know anymore than my wife and she knows absolutely nothing about recruiting.

[Joneslab]

And Daniels being the guru that he is, is just guessing along with everyone else that follows college basketball, and that includes us poor fans on these boards...these people dont know anymore than my wife and she knows absolutely nothing about recruiting.

This isn't true.

Evan Daniels spends his entire summer in gyms watching these kids play. If you're in gyms and around families, shoe reps, coaches, and other handlers then you can get a feel for what might happen. That feel is way more substantial than just a random guess.

I've seen Daniels call a ton of recruiting battles long before the kids announce. Over the years he's earned a considerable amount of clout, which is why he's the one you see quoted more often than any other recruiting expert. (Eric Bossi is another very good one.)

If your wife hit the AAU circuit beginning in May and worked it until August then she might have a feel for it the way these guys do. But this isn't some hobby. It's a job. When he doesn't know he'll tell you he doesn't know.

[Joneslab]

If you have a Twitter account follow some of these recruiting guys. They're gone all the time. Constantly in the summer and again during the Christmas/New Years showcase season.

That's a lot of opportunities to get hints of what players are thinking. Sometimes they put things together based on possibilities; you see this a lot of time with shoe companies. I.e. they'll make a prediction because a kid played for a certain shoe AAU team that he's going to go to college to play for a school repped by that same company. Or they'll read into a friendship between players and talk about "package deals."

But a lot of times I think they're flat-out told what's going to happen. With probably about half of these kids there's no real mystery at all where they're going to go. They'll draw it out and take their visits to make it look like it's up in the air, but they know, their families know, and their coaches know.

It's the other half of players that are riddles and you won't see guys like Daniels making wagers about those kids very often. They have reputations to uphold and aren't just some random guy with a Twitter account.

[lilproUK98]

If you have a Twitter account follow some of these recruiting guys. They're gone all the time. Constantly in the summer and again during the Christmas/New Years showcase season.

That's a lot of opportunities to get hints of what players are thinking. Sometimes they put things together based on possibilities; you see this a lot of time with shoe companies. I.e. they'll make a prediction because a kid played for a certain shoe AAU team that he's going to go to college to play for a school repped by that same company. Or they'll read into a friendship between players and talk about "package deals."

But a lot of times I think they're flat-out told what's going to happen. With probably about half of these kids there's no real mystery at all where they're going to go. They'll draw it out and take their visits to make it look like it's up in the air, but they know, their families know, and their coaches know.

It's the other half of players that are riddles and you won't see guys like Daniels making wagers about those kids very often. They have reputations to uphold and aren't just some random guy with a Twitter account.

Speaking of Twitter accounts, has anyone brought up all of us on here giving out our Twitter handles? I think it'd be cool to follow each other there...unless that takes away from this site...which I understand.

[Joneslab]

Speaking of Twitter accounts, has anyone brought up all of us on here giving out our Twitter handles? I think it'd be cool to follow each other there...unless that takes away from this site...which I understand.

Feel free to do this. I'll follow everyone.

I'm @WillLavender. I'm a terrible follow and never post about basketball. In fact I don't post anything period. Mostly because I'm always here.

I do love reading Twitter and find it the best social media platform. Instant access to news...but I've had to really tailor my followers list to not get Facebook-y sort of things on my timeline.

On edit: recruiting, like politics, is an area where you have to be really careful who you follow. Some guys don't know s___t about s___t. But they will have convinced other people that they do, and they'll tweet with such definite certainty that they can be highly deceiving.

There are some guys over on Rivals who are seen as insiders who, frankly, are not. I followed some of these guys for a time on Twitter. They're morons.

[Matt Dillon]

I very rarely post on Twitter. Like Will, I go there to obtain info, not to disseminate it.