re: Naz Reid 6'10 240 #2 PF/#7 overall down to final two

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Smart is a 4* but still consensus top ~30 which is a huge pull. The thing though is he is an instate LA kid.

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Smart is #19 overall, they just havent expanded the 5-stars yet, he will be a 5-star when they do. Every Top 25 player or so is. Why does Wade ge tno credit for pulling Smart? Smart isnt coming here under the previous coach and we've lost countless Louisiana players to other schools. Smart had offers from just about everywhere.

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This is similar to how Auburn lucked into Mustapha Heron. By the time Jamie Dixon left Pitt, Heron had limited options available as teams filled up their classes already

Credit for getting him, but beating out a down for the count UConn program + GTown who already lost him isn't that big

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Wade was is in a situation where these are the types of guys you can go after in April, May...well after the 2nd national signing day. Not like there's much on the board but Waters had other options he could have chose and still chose us because Wade jumped on him immediately. Dude is a legit prospect.

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A 3* who Wade already had committed to VCU?

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Is a 4-star on 247 sports rankings, but yes 3-star in composite. We have no big man depth, Wade went out and convinced Kiir to follow him, it filled a huge area of need.

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Did he even have any other major offers? Obviously a huge talent addition but Wade won by showing up

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He was the former JUCO national player of the year, obviously the investigation mired his re-recruitment up a bit but again Wade went out and got him very early on. He's been very consistent on getting on these guys before anyone else can even really talk to them.

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None of these guys had legit offers from big time programs. Solid additions for sure but not huge pulls

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Edwards was a top 25 JUCO player who shot 46.6% from the line last season. He had offers from UNLV, Utah and ISU. Combs and Onwuasor were all conference players. Onwuasor most recently was visiting Gonzaga and (Was going to visit) South Carolina but chose us. Combs immediately decided to transfer here because his former coach got hired by Wade, so he explored no options. Rest assurd, both thos guys could have ended up in desirable destinations.

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A 5* player has a GF at LSU?

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He was not interested in coming here till Wade recruited him. That had an impact. Wade's 2018 class will be pretty ridiculous, expect 4 Top 100 overall type players.

In conclusion, Wade has done a ridiculous off-season job in the 4 months he's been here. You're talking about adding 7 players to the program in that short amount of time.