2024 Recruiting

Pikapppatri8

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You’re right in the whole “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” part of the thinking, but I think there’s a level of P5 programs that we could occasionally snag a recruit from, and then programs like Duke, UNC, and Kentucky where once someone gets an offer to one of them it’s a done deal.

Yes, we are getting kids to come here from P5 schools, but we aren’t beating P5 schools to them. They’ve gone and either done four years and want a change or have done a year or so and realize the playing time isn’t there. Offering first may help us beat out a say, VA Tech, but I don’t see a scenario where it helps us beat out a consistent Final Four program.

Agree with your assessment in logic and principle. But I do think there is value in getting your name out there with recruits who are being pursued by the P5. It creates visibility, it communicates a vision of where we see ourselves in the future, and it may occasionally pay-off.

This is a low risk high upside maneuver.
 

mkaufman1

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Yeah - at the end of the day, all you can do is offer and pursue and see what happens. Many of the guys that are offered 3-4 years out have situations change. They get hurt, their academics fail, their projections fall. Sometimes they end up blowing up and they are recruited by the power 5s and then they end up deciding where they fit best.

Either way, its something every school has to do and certainly something that can't hurt. Generally, it appears realistic targets start about 2 years out from what I have seen but that's only based on when we start hearing names.

Obviously, our hope is that English and company continue to recruit high talent, and even if they get 2 of 25 high end prospects offered, thats pretty decent and better than we have grown to expect at Mason. Obviously the transfer market is a big piece for various obvious reasons too.
 

He15man

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Yeah, I don't think we'll be seeing the day where a kid is truly debating between offers like Kentucky, Duke and George Mason. :) Those ESPN Top 50, 5-star one-and-doners are going high major every time for a variety of reasons. All i meant with regards to getting in early was with the kids who are high 3-star, low-four prospects who will get some P5 offers like Iowa St, Minnesota, Penn State, TCU, etc... but it becomes a question as to whether they want to go there and lose all the time (but they played P5), or they can play here and win. ... Honestly, it comes down to whether or not they're a competitor at heart, or all about the flash.
 

GMU79

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Yet you might get an exception here and there
That's all I'm saying. Someday...you just never know. UK, Duke, UNC became those programs because players came and they hired great coaches. They we're'nt born blue bloods.
 

tblack33

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That's all I'm saying. Someday...you just never know. UK, Duke, UNC became those programs because players came and they hired great coaches. They we're'nt born blue bloods.
LOL.

The programs you are talking about have been blue bloods for literally 100 years.

I get the point you are trying to make, but I'm going to burst y'all's bubble, anyone with a legit offer from Duke, UNC, or Kentucky is never committing to Mason, or any other A10 program for that matter, out of highschool.
 

gmutom

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I agree some of these kids we are offering will NEVER choose Mason over a blue blood program, but there is still some value nowadays on social media of a 5-star kid saying "Honored to receive an offer from George Mason" with images of our sold-out arena and logo. We might not land the kid posting it, but it could sway the 4-star recruit who follows that kid when we offer him.
 

Pikapppatri8

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I agree some of these kids we are offering will NEVER choose Mason over a blue blood program, but there is still some value nowadays on social media of a 5-star kid saying "Honored to receive an offer from George Mason" with images of our sold-out arena and logo. We might not land the kid posting it, but it could sway the 4-star recruit who follows that kid when we offer him.
Exactly - point I am trying to make. And after some exposure they won't call us James Mason or George Madison anymore.
 

GMU79

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LOL.

The programs you are talking about have been blue bloods for literally 100 years.

I get the point you are trying to make, but I'm going to burst y'all's bubble, anyone with a legit offer from Duke, UNC, or Kentucky is never committing to Mason, or any other A10 program for that matter, out of highschool.
As I said. Noone knows the future, or the heart and mind of any young man or his family. And fwiw, the programs I mentioned were merely for illustrative purposes. There are plenty of high caliber schools not named Kansas, UK, UNC, or Duke that would qualify as huge wins for Mason. UCONN, Baylor, Gonzaga, etc. along with loads of P5 schools that are perennially in the tourney. And fwiw, Duke was pretty mediocre with zero titles before coach K went there, and Dean Smith inherited an average program with one championship in '57 when the NIT was actually the bigger deal. And none of these schools had won a title or was considered a blue blood "literally 100 years" ago. The first tourney was in 1939.
 
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GSII

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We have kids running up the stock price of heavily shorted stocks by huge hedge funds (blue bloods) One day I predict you will see a blue chip guy says hey, why not go to Mason for a year? If we are up 20 every game I don't have to play that much in the reg season. Show out for two weeks in the dance, get drafted, all while playing less mins vs at a blue blood and thus reducing chance is injury.

btw, this Don Q rum is amazing.
 

GMU79

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We have kids running up the stock price of heavily shorted stocks by huge hedge funds (blue bloods) One day I predict you will see a blue chip guy says hey, why not go to Mason for a year? If we are up 20 every game I don't have to play that much in the reg season. Show out for two weeks in the dance, get drafted, all while playing less mins vs at a blue blood and thus reducing chance is injury.

btw, this Don Q rum is amazing.
Not sure I agree with your reasoning, but yes, one day a blue chipper may just decide to do it. Never say never. Lots of nevers have, in fact, happened.
 

Pikapppatri8

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We have kids running up the stock price of heavily shorted stocks by huge hedge funds (blue bloods) One day I predict you will see a blue chip guy says hey, why not go to Mason for a year? If we are up 20 every game I don't have to play that much in the reg season. Show out for two weeks in the dance, get drafted, all while playing less mins vs at a blue blood and thus reducing chance is injury.

btw, this Don Q rum is amazing.

Most Puerto Ricans prefer DonQ to Bacardi. I have been to both distilleries on the island. I have a couple of DonQ Cristal in the Bar.
 

GMUgemini

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Most Puerto Ricans prefer DonQ to Bacardi. I have been to both distilleries on the island. I have a couple of DonQ Cristal in the Bar.

There are rums you drink on the rocks and then there are rums used to make Miami Vices on the beach.

By the way, I used to work at the old Bacardi Headquarters in Miami. Cool campus:

BACARDI20081204007a.jpg
 

GMUgemini

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To get this semi-back on track: Gonzaga has 2 5 star recruits coming in.

Hunter Sallis had offers from Kansas, UNC, Kentucky, and UCLA

Chet Holmgren is the number 1 ranked player in the 2021 class (at 7'1, he probably could have gone anywhere he wanted in the country).

So, it is possible.

(caveat: Obviously, Gonzaga is basically a unicorn. They went from literally 0 to 100 -- and I mean that literally: Elite 8 in their second ever tournament appearance -- and never looked back)

But, hey, Mason was also the first mid-major to ever make the Final Four in the modern, expanded tournament, so anything is possible. And if English is serious about "Gonzaga of the East" talk, then the ambition needs to be there.
 

He15man

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To get this semi-back on track: Gonzaga has 2 5 star recruits coming in.

Hunter Sallis had offers from Kansas, UNC, Kentucky, and UCLA

Chet Holmgren is the number 1 ranked player in the 2021 class (at 7'1, he probably could have gone anywhere he wanted in the country).

So, it is possible.

(caveat: Obviously, Gonzaga is basically a unicorn. They went from literally 0 to 100 -- and I mean that literally: Elite 8 in their second ever tournament appearance -- and never looked back)

But, hey, Mason was also the first mid-major to ever make the Final Four in the modern, expanded tournament, so anything is possible. And if English is serious about "Gonzaga of the East" talk, then the ambition needs to be there.
The key difference there is they caught lightning in a bottle with Mark Few. Pretty much every Power 5 team has courted that guy to no avail. He simply will not uproot his family and chase opportunity; he's creating his own destination job. So not saying it's been easy, but it certainly makes ongoing success more feasible and inspires the 5-stars to keep coming when you have the same captain at the helm vs. having another guy come in and pray he maintains.
 

GMUgemini

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The key difference there is they caught lightning in a bottle with Mark Few. Pretty much every Power 5 team has courted that guy to no avail. He simply will not uproot his family and chase opportunity; he's creating his own destination job. So not saying it's been easy, but it certainly makes ongoing success more feasible and inspires the 5-stars to keep coming when you have the same captain at the helm vs. having another guy come in and pray he maintains.

True. Mark Few took over for Monson who was the coach who took them to the Elite 8. Monson left for Minnesota right after the season and Few built that program into national prominence.
 

patriotchild

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True. Mark Few took over for Monson who was the coach who took them to the Elite 8. Monson left for Minnesota right after the season and Few built that program into national prominence.
Glad someone brought this up. How many successful MM coaches have wee seen leave their program to go to a “blue blood” or level up and not have the same success? I really think Few’s example should change the model for wanting to jump. it proves you can attain prominence anywhere. Isn’t that how blue bloods are built?

Shaka or any of the recent vcu coaches are great examples and even coach L. Could have stayed at vcu and built the Gonzaga of the east. Instead they’ve floated around.
 
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