Recruiting Prognostications

[Medill90]

A preamble is necessary. I think the job Chris Emma and his team do is great. I enjoy everything they post and think they are professionals. 247 is a quality site.

Preamble over.

Maybe you've noticed that some of the regular NU BBall followers in our universe have started to shit the bed on the 2017 class.

None of the targets are realistic, they indicate, because larger schools and traditional basketball powers have also offered. That may be correct, but doesn't strike me as the most in-depth analysis.

Recently I've seen the 247 site invoked as experts, but their argument for "not Northwestern" is similar....if MSU offers NU has no chance.

So, I decided to look more deeply at the 247 experts who analyze NU BBall recruits.

There's a Jerry Meyer, director of 247 recruiting, who has no NU targets ending up at NU. This would make me feel a little depressed until I look at Jerry's NU track record. Jerry had Benson at U of I and Falzon at Harvard. And the two in recent years that he was correct on (Ash and BMac) he jumped on board after it was clear where the recruit was headed and the day of the commitment respectively.

Similarly, Drew Messmer is assiduous at tracking NU targets and has none of the current crop selecting NU. Mr. Messmer was wrong on Benson, Isiah Brown, Pardon and Falzon. As The Donald would tweet, Not Good.

All the experts seem to bat below their average when it comes to NU. And there are fairly large signs that none get red-faced about jumping on the band wagon after its left the barn if doing so helps their average.

To give credit where it's due, they were all right about Rap. Which is like saying Christmas will come in December.

Collins and crew have closed the vault on recruiting info. It doesn't benefit them to feed the rumor mill so why do it. Pretty much every thing out there is conjecture. ECats' prognostication is about as solid as you're going to find in public channels.

 

[Sec.112]

I agree with your direction, Medill. Most of these guys don't know what the f they're talking about - especially on a national level.

Nojel Eastern is the guy I'm most interested to see what school he chooses beyond the NU aspect. For months, the experts have said he's an automatic for MSU. And when you look at his list, I don't blame them. MSU stands out. However, I saw a video interview w/ him a couple months ago, and it was pretty obvious, he was most enthusiastic about Purdue and NU. After these mentions, his body language changed and MSU was the third or fourth school mentioned. To me, that says MSU was nowhere near top of mind.

Once a top 50 gets down to those final two or three schools, I think the decision can go in any direction and nobody but the inner, inner circle has a clue.

As for how the info comes from CC and staff, it's pretty obvious they pick a local guy and feed the info they want to that person. There isn't much beyond that.

 

[catstime16]

Nice work Medill90 and thanks. I am merely interested in getting ONE "yes" from Eastern,
Goodwin, Flagg, Smith or Garza...no particular order....just one lousy yes would do!

 

[EvanstonCat]

I agree with your direction, Medill. Most of these guys don't know what the f they're talking about - especially on a national level.

Nojel Eastern is the guy I'm most interested to see what school he chooses beyond the NU aspect. For months, the experts have said he's an automatic for MSU. And when you look at his list, I don't blame them. MSU stands out. However, I saw a video interview w/ him a couple months ago, and it was pretty obvious, he was most enthusiastic about Purdue and NU. After these mentions, his body language changed and MSU was the third or fourth school mentioned. To me, that says MSU was nowhere near top of mind.

Once a top 50 gets down to those final two or three schools, I think the decision can go in any direction and nobody but the inner, inner circle has a clue.

As for how the info comes from CC and staff, it's pretty obvious they pick a local guy and feed the info they want to that person. There isn't much beyond that.

Good observations, hopefully more prescient than any of us would guess.

 

[Walker Fan]

Great post by Medill90. These so called experts are throwing out darts and their success rate are questionable. If all of the players picked to go to the traditional powers were correct, schools like MSU would have 30 players on their roster.

 

[pawildcat]

Great post by Medill90. These so called experts are throwing out darts and their success rate are questionable. If all of the players picked to go to the traditional powers were correct, schools like MSU would have 30 players on their roster.

Interesting you mention MSU, because I seem to recall that Izzo was going for some four- and five-star recruits a couple of years back and basically landed none of them. He did better the past year. If Michigan State, one of the finest BB programs in the B1G and the nation for the past 20 years, can have fallow years, it isn't much wonder that NU might hit an occasional stumbling block. Collins seems to have done pretty well so far. We'll see how this year's recruiting plays out.

 

[Katatonic]

Even if CC and staff miss out on all their top targets (which wouldn't surprise me since they tend to want something more certain when it comes to post-season appearances), I'm not going to worry too much as think the 'Cats have a group of players where they can contend for a Tourney bid (probably not this season, but next).

But getting a least an NIT bid this season is crucial and being at least in contention for an NCAA bid next season will go a long way into convincing a couple of upper-tier recruits that playing for the 'Cats doesn't mean an automatic no-show for post-season/Tourney play.