CMA's recruiting class is AMAZING. Are we on our way back?

[thenotoriouspig]

should b good enough to make NCAA tourney this year and if we get hot could win 1 or 2. thats putting alot of faith in the juco guys though, its paramount these 3 are as good as advertised. Kingsley and Hannahs are the only real known commodities. i think Beard has a bounce back year though. the next season will hinge on if Barford and Macon return to school. i do admit the class for next year is loaded so far, but im not sure Gafford is as polished as Portis was coming into school. he is a better athlete though so rebounding and defense should b solid. with no real post scorers unless Thompson develops its imperative the the juco guys return for sr seasons. if they do we should be pretty salty.

Why is that putting a lot of faith in JUCOs? Razorback basketball history is chock full of JUCOs who have thrived, here. And, not many of them were ranked as highly as the ones we have coming.

For whatever reason, people really notice the JUCOs that don’t succeed, but think little of the HS prospects who flame out or underperform. It’s odd to me.

I know we have cussed and discussed this before, and I SURE hope you are saying “I told you so” here in a few months. But I am very nervous about depending upon so many JC guys. Yes, we have had some success with JC guys, had some failures too. I just don’t recall (not saying it hasn’t happened) having so many eggs in the JC basket before. Further, even if they were all high school kids, NEW COMERS are hard to rely on. I will never forget the 1991 season when our new comers all jelled and we had a great year. An unexpected year. But it seems like most of the time if you are counting on new comers to save your bacon (JC or high school) it isn’t as great as you would hope.

So, in thinking about this over the last few months, I have realized my concern with all the JC guys actually isn’t this year (my worries would be the same if we were planning on a bunch of high school guys to save us) as it is the fact that with high school guys, they have more years left. If this year isn’t great, well, all these guys are only going to have one more year. Hard to build on that type of thing. If they were high school guys, you hopefully have 3 more years with them. You can build a PROGRAM. You can see what single piece is missing and try to bring it in. With JC guys, you don’t have time to build off them. (And yes I realize that has changed since our glory days, I HATE HATE HATE that the NBA can take them so early. I don’t think that has been good for the NBA and I know it hasn’t been good for college basketball, but that is the subject of a different thread. )

Balancing the classes is a legit concern. I think it is too early to tell how big of an issue that will be, though.

We don’t know how good the current freshmen will be when this year’s group of JUCOs leave and the current freshmen are juniors.

Michael Qualls didn’t look like an All-SEC caliber player as a freshman. He did as a junior.

Comparisons between he and Adrio Bailey are already being made. And, you never know if someone like Hazen or Jones will be a lot better than the recruiting services suggest (ala Hannahs). During the golden era, we had lots of players like that.

The good news is that the classes coming in when the current group (mostly) leaves are (on paper) going to be some of the best we have had back-to-back (to back) in a long time.

[bigrob2945]

i agree that the loss of Bell is being downplayed, but the only thing better than having 1 good three point shooter is having 2. my hope is Macon can fill that role, or maybe it’ll be more of a committee thing. if Hannahs shoots as good or better than last year and we have 3-4 guys who can shoot 35% or so from three we should be dangerous. im hoping Hazen can give us a big who can shoot, though also been hearing Thomas can knock it down at decent clip. i have question, is Macon akin to Clint Mcdaniel? was trying to think of comparables and he is all i could think of?

 the 2017 class is looking to be a very good one, especiall if we could find a lead guard to add to mix.  the 3 we've already signed may not be perfect but they all fit the system plus some.  i know this is biased but i think it helps that all 3 are from Arkansas and wanted to be hogs.  in the past, basketball or football, we've always been at our best when we had transcendent players from the state.  whether it be Sidney or Corliss in basketball or Mcfadden in football.    i just know when we have those 1 or 2 players from the state it seems to work out better, whether it b pride or whatever.

 "An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty, a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity"  Churchill

[hogtreat]

[quote=“TheNotoriousPIG”]

Why is that putting a lot of faith in JUCOs? Razorback basketball history is chock full of JUCOs who have thrived, here. And, not many of them were ranked as highly as the ones we have coming.

For whatever reason, people really notice the JUCOs that don’t succeed, but think little of the HS prospects who flame out or underperform. It’s odd to me.

I know we have cussed and discussed this before, and I SURE hope you are saying “I told you so” here in a few months. But I am very nervous about depending upon so many JC guys. Yes, we have had some success with JC guys, had some failures too. I just don’t recall (not saying it hasn’t happened) having so many eggs in the JC basket before. Further, even if they were all high school kids, NEW COMERS are hard to rely on. I will never forget the 1991 season when our new comers all jelled and we had a great year. An unexpected year. But it seems like most of the time if you are counting on new comers to save your bacon (JC or high school) it isn’t as great as you would hope.

So, in thinking about this over the last few months, I have realized my concern with all the JC guys actually isn’t this year (my worries would be the same if we were planning on a bunch of high school guys to save us) as it is the fact that with high school guys, they have more years left. If this year isn’t great, well, all these guys are only going to have one more year. Hard to build on that type of thing. If they were high school guys, you hopefully have 3 more years with them. You can build a PROGRAM. You can see what single piece is missing and try to bring it in. With JC guys, you don’t have time to build off them. (And yes I realize that has changed since our glory days, I HATE HATE HATE that the NBA can take them so early. I don’t think that has been good for the NBA and I know it hasn’t been good for college basketball, but that is the subject of a different thread. )

Balancing the classes is a legit concern. I think it is too early to tell how big of an issue that will be, though.

We don’t know how good the current freshmen will be when this year’s group of JUCOs leave and the current freshmen are juniors.

Michael Qualls didn’t look like an All-SEC caliber player as a freshman. He did as a junior.

Comparisons between he and Adrio Bailey are already being made. And, you never know if someone like Hazen or Jones will be a lot better than the recruiting services suggest (ala Hannahs). During the golden era, we had lots of players like that.

The good news is that the classes coming in when the current group (mostly) leaves are (on paper) going to be some of the best we have had back-to-back (to back) in a long time.
[/quote]

AMEN Brutha and these back to back classes are what have me excited.