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re: #BasketballSchool lands Chuma Okeke and now has #1 2017 class
Posted on 7/26/16 at 11:33 am to Rhymenoceros
Posted on 7/26/16 at 11:33 am to Rhymenoceros
That's simplifying it way too much. That's a part of his sales pitch, for sure, but you are selling him way short. Alabama is a tough sale for kids, considering it's been a very middling program throughout their lifetime. Auburn has been one of, if not the worst program in the SEC during their lifetime. And during his first 2 seasons, that hasn't changed (not that it's his fault). That's a very tough sale, but he seems to be doing a tremendous job of selling high-caliber recruits on turning around their program.
This post was edited on 7/26/16 at 11:37 am
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Posted on 7/26/16 at 12:37 pm to WG_Dawg
quote:
I'm not talking crap here at all...but I really wonder what bruce is telling these kids in the living rooms to get them to play basketball at auburn. I'm not claiming ANYTHING bad like cheating or anythign like that, I'm just genuinely curious the sales pitch. He has done an indescribably good job recruiting at AU, a place that has extremely little basketball tradition to speak of. A crazy good job.
He has a solid record he can point to which has helped AU. He was on ESPN a bunch as a commentator as well so everyone knows him before he even steps into player's living room. Auburn's basketball facilities are very new & super nice so he can sell commitment to program. Also don't short change Chuck Person. A few kids have talked about him being the main impact on their decisions. He "coached" Kobe Bryant & has NBA championship rings which has an impact on some of these kids as well
Austin Wiley is a legacy so he has also had some good fortune. I think at end of day a mix of good luck, popularity & past of success has helped them. It's taken 2 seasons to really start landing these kids though so a lot of work went rebuilding relationships with high school & AAU programs
Also this class won't finish #1 but is definitely one of the best AU's had in some time & it's cool to see us first at something in basketball even if it's for a short period of time
Posted on 7/26/16 at 2:01 pm to WG_Dawg
- play immediately
- I'm a proven coach with a history of winning
- give this school any reason for hope and the fan support is insane
- this school has only one basketball legend, Charles Barkley, from 30+ years ago. Help us turn this program around and you'll be an immortal God to these fans OR go to Duke/ Kansas and the likes and be just another in a long of very good players.
And honestly Austin Wiley has been a catalyst for a lot of these guys commiting. He's a 5* Center that's a legacy. Good players want to play with other good players and once the first domino falls it's immensely easier to get the rest to fall. With Bruce Pearl and the players coming into the program the light at the end of the winning tunnel is within sight and the players see it too. Next step is to turn in a winning season this year and you'll start to see even more guys looking our way.
Some cherries on top to help sell it all would be:
- nice shiny new state of the art facilities
- white womenz
- I'm a proven coach with a history of winning
- give this school any reason for hope and the fan support is insane
- this school has only one basketball legend, Charles Barkley, from 30+ years ago. Help us turn this program around and you'll be an immortal God to these fans OR go to Duke/ Kansas and the likes and be just another in a long of very good players.
And honestly Austin Wiley has been a catalyst for a lot of these guys commiting. He's a 5* Center that's a legacy. Good players want to play with other good players and once the first domino falls it's immensely easier to get the rest to fall. With Bruce Pearl and the players coming into the program the light at the end of the winning tunnel is within sight and the players see it too. Next step is to turn in a winning season this year and you'll start to see even more guys looking our way.
Some cherries on top to help sell it all would be:
- nice shiny new state of the art facilities
- white womenz
Posted on 7/26/16 at 6:04 pm to WG_Dawg
quote:
I'm not talking crap here at all...but I really wonder what bruce is telling these kids in the living rooms to get them to play basketball at auburn. I'm not claiming ANYTHING bad like cheating or anythign like that, I'm just genuinely curious the sales pitch. He has done an indescribably good job recruiting at AU, a place that has extremely little basketball tradition to speak of. A crazy good job.
Well if there from Georgia like Mitchell and Okeke, we tell them they could always play ball at UGA and it usually peaks their interest in us fairly quickly..
Posted on 7/26/16 at 6:10 pm to TigerProwl24
Posted on 7/26/16 at 6:47 pm to The Nino
I know, right.. kind of disappointed in myself. That was terrible.
Posted on 7/26/16 at 7:40 pm to WG_Dawg
Pearl is a pretty charismatic guy and I know his players at UT were crazy about him. This is where someone like Ben Simmons helps an Auburn, in that Pearl can point to that and show that you can still get plenty of publicity as "the man" not playing with a bunch of other 5* kids.
That all said, most of the top guys will remain uncommitted until late in the process when they see who is leaving programs and the like. I think most of Cal's targets are uncommitted at this point and both him and Coach K are usually down to the wire with 5* guys. They should still hang out in the Top 25 if they hold on to what they have.
That all said, most of the top guys will remain uncommitted until late in the process when they see who is leaving programs and the like. I think most of Cal's targets are uncommitted at this point and both him and Coach K are usually down to the wire with 5* guys. They should still hang out in the Top 25 if they hold on to what they have.
Posted on 7/28/16 at 11:33 am to BowlJackson
quote:
Some cherries on top to help sell it all would be:
- nice shiny new state of the art facilities
This is bigger than people realize. Unless you have an older historic place like Cameron Indoor, Rupp or something like that, if it's not new and shiny, they don't want it. An investment like that shows these kids that the school is serious about improving the program. Then add someone like Pearl on top of that and it starts to really snowball.
All it takes is a couple players to make any team in the SEC one of the best 2 or 3 teams in the conference. You'll always have Kentucky at the top and then there are some like Florida and Ark that rise up every now and then, but there's really no others teams that are consistently up there other than Kentucky. And you can see how important a coach is in this league when you look at the drop off of Florida after Donovan left. They just don't have the same type of players they were getting under him.
Posted on 7/28/16 at 12:25 pm to TTsTowel
quote:
Bruce Caboose doing work, baws.
Does Okeke like BBQ?
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