Do
We
Try again?
Every recruitment is it’s own thing. Dont think Duke will offer in this one since they already have the table set with most of the 2025s (at least their front court pieces).
The school I fear is Alabama.
We should absolutely try to get him. We can recruit multiple kids at once (like any staff in the country) and it’s super early for 2025s so it would otherwise just be waiting to see who emerges in the spring and who falls out of favor.
My personal preference is London Jemison reclassed to 2024 and redshirted to 2025 (I think he’s the typical sleeper that will be way better than what he’s ranked and Im also a sucker for wings)
Time stamped where he says he wants to be a one and done.
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Lol im going to bed. Recruiting starts back up October 13th/14th. Time hibernate
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Nate Ament is already on the road to Brotherhood so yeah might as well get this one rolling too
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He literally said he wants to go to UNC.
Despite the obvious familial connection, we have less of a shot with Wilkins than we did with Kon, as Dave said, he’s already expressed clear intent toward one of the Blue Bloods. Staff should try, but I wouldn’t hold my breath or devote personal time to following his recruitment with a microscope like I did with Kon.
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When we didn’t get Jarin, I just thought well Wilkins is just a better version of him anyways … but now you’re telling me they’re both going to bama!?
Tony should not waste his resources recruiting Jacob. No chance in hell we actually get him to sign. Can’t close Kon, won’t close Jacob. Harsh but real.
Our sweet spot is top 75-125, top 40 is our ceiling. I’ve seen enough of this BS. I love Tony, but I think he’s very confused sometimes… suffering from imposter syndrome. You want to play with the big boys and recruit the Kon’s of the world? Slug it out with Duke? Then start dropping real [NIL] bags or else don’t bother.
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Do what we’ve done with other fast risers, make an early junior-year pitch, and if/when they make it to their 17U AAU summer, move on.
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Duke won’t offer Wilkins. Not sure about UNC, dont know that they’ve entered the Atlanta recruiting circles. I think Alabama Georgia and Indiana are the biggest threats and they have already offered. And I could see him being receptive to Alabama’s pitch if he truly wants to be a one and done.
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Ugh, didn’t even consider Woodson. Eamonn was just talking him up on Tate Frazier’s show…
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The key more than anything I think is ID’ing guys that haven’t gotten too ambitious about being a 1/2-and-done. Not that I think there’s anything necessarily wrong with that; if you’re good enough to be a pro by age 20, go for it, get paid before you get hurt or too old. But those guys are never going to come play for Tony. I mean never. If you recognize you need development and your path to the NBA is 3+ years, we’re gravy. But with neither any history of drafted underclassmen and no willingness to promise an immediate feature role, to say nothing of competing with the up-front NIL guarantees they command, we’re just fighting unwinnable battles.
The nice thing with Wilkins hopefully will be that, because he’s staff family, it’ll get back to UVA coaches right away once he reaches that tipping point and we can wish him well and move on to more realistic targets.
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They will offer Wilkins for the same reason they offered Kon. To blackball us.
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I think we should spend the time looking for RD’s rather than chasing Wilkins
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I agree with that. In the same sense Im okay with pursuing Jacob Wilkins in the early 2025 round (pre spring) because the targets that most align with Tony will probably emerge during spring and summer aau. They aren’t know entities at this current time or they are just some random player on an assistant coach’s periphery.
I’ve discussed with someone before, but I think the context of RD was pretty unique (Covid, mostly cancelled season, not much AAU, followed by growth spurt). But him or Bobi, and maybe you got something.
But it’s all about which lottery ticket you think you can cash – do you have a Bobi/RD or do you have a Tafare Gapare? You’ll know in a few years… Do you have a shot of pulling a Power or a Kon? Or will Kansas or Duke or Kentucky come calling? (My view is – let’s try both)
I don’t follow recruiting as much as most on here as evidenced by my lack of recruiting posts (also I’ve got a very time-consuming job). But my impression of both Powers and Kon is that they are not definite 1/2 and done prospects because of potential flaws either in their current skills or athletically. Still think we are at a huge disadvantage relative to Duke for the Powers/Kon-type players when Duke goes after them hard. But I also think they are the type of player that could really benefit from being coached by Tony. Not sure what more Tony can do to convince them to resist the Duke allure. Maybe it will take a couple of under-achieving seasons by Scheyer and/or disappointing careers by Powers/Kon to change the narrative rather than anything Tony does.
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Quit that job. Move to a place that’s cheap like Indonesia. Live off the savings for the rest of your life and devote your life to following UVA basketball recruiting… and also exploring the country and what not…
Has crossed my mind several times
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As attractive as that seems, I’ve got kids in college and have grown accustomed to my upper crust lifestyle.
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