Well, that one’s yellow
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Was hoping it was just my monitor.
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Stanford led for much of spring and early summer. Then UCLA for last month or so. Duke offer this week makes the picture less clear.
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Andrej Stojakovic said. “Most of my family is overseas and would love to come to watch me play. I want to go somewhere that would be easy for my family to get to. A good ratio of academics and basketball.
Suddenly that quote puts UVA in the running … not easy to get all the way to west coast from Europe for games…. Now the Hoos are in the lead.
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Pretty sure dad wants him at UCLA or Stanford and he was about to commit to UCLA until Duke started showing interest.
In an interview little peja said something like “My dad wants me close to home (California) but he also said I get to decide where”.
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So as the resident European here… this isn’t entirely true. Due to the Great Circle Route, direct flights from my home airport to:
Frankfurt to San Francisco - 11.5 Hrs
Frankfurt to Denver - 10.5 Hrs
Frankfurt to Washington, DC - 9 Hrs
If you are already in the air… the 2.5 Hrs is ephemeral in my opinion.
I think the reason UVa will be more appealing is game times over here… I spend a ridiculous amount of time not sleeping during the basketball season. 7 PM East Coast tip-offs start at 1 AM Central European Time… so if he went to a California school all those games start at 4 AM in the morning.
The National Championship Game started at 8:20 PM Central Time… I woke up at 3 AM Central European Time and we entered OT around 5:30 AM. My wife woke up to get to work because she leaves the house around 6:30 AM and she sat down next to me asking how the game was going. I kicked her out of the room since she had slept through all the earlier games, so it would be bad luck for her to watch any of OT! It had to be done.
Okay… after rereading what I just wrote… I’m not sure it matters where he plays as long as there is a US airport that has direct flights from Europe close by… game times for his family to watch in Europe are all going to be ridiculous (except for those 2 or 3 that are noon tip-offs in the out of conference schedule and when we play BC) so that shouldn’t be a determining factor either.
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Too funny but also the cagey veteran move. Last year when we played at Duke, my wife was watching downstairs while I was watching upstairs. She desperately wanted to come upstairs and watch the final possessions with me but knew if she did, and the Hoos lost, she ran the risk of being the the breaker of mojo. So she watched alone and Reece!! knocked down the game winner. I married well.
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Interesting, those flight times. I wonder how many realize that. Most add up individual stops. I do (did).
Continuing the trend that he’s probably going to pop for Tennessee soon unless he takes a visit to Louisville.
I do remember bugging HGN about Freddie Dilione last fall when I saw all the assistants followinghim and he was like “probably a longshot for us. Kid will explode in the spring and summer”. And here we are.
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I mean exploding enough to end up at tennessee shouldn’t be a longshot for us.
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It’s a good reminder. He’s a Tenn lean and yet reading that article you’d think he was heading to Bama. Recruiting articles on 247/On3/rivals etc. are rarely holistic and often clickbait.
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Their experience with one and done guards recently, their North Carolina connection with the respected assistant coach from the area, and their HUGE NIL deals and bag dropping (Julian Phillips is getting close to 2 million is what is reported. Of course that’s not for every recruit but the opportunity is there for some money, especially with their rabid fanbase).
To spare the re-emergence of the debate of whether kids care about winning a national title or money/going pro asap, I think the answer is “It depends on the kid”. As simple as that. And in Dilione’s case it’s the “go pro ASAP” preference.
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Fine with a specific kid having a specific reason for being a longshot for us (like a west coast kid who wants to be close to home, playing style, etc.). But just exploding shouldn’t be the reason unless he hits elite blue blood level of exploding. And even then we’re often in the running still (Keels, Power).
We should be competitive with UT (at the very least) for a kid all else being equal.
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Also, Dilione seems like a kid who’s going to explode and wind up in the top 40-50 or so. That should be our wheelhouse. Not that we will get every kid or even the majority of kids, but that if we’ve laid some groundwork and done our homework, we should be competitive.
I sometimes infer this (to be fair, partially or mostly joking) fear that our recruits will do really well and wouldn’t it be safer to be Mike Young and only recruit 100-150 guards who are undersized.
I guess what I’m saying is this: when we are recruiting a top 100 guard who blows up and becomes top 50, my reaction is “that’s awesome!” If the kid blows up and becomes top 10? Maybe even top 20? Yeah, I get the reaction.
Dilione is not Keon Johnson or Jaden Springer or even Kennedy Chandler. Which is also why I’m a bit confused. Maybe Barnes is telling him he is (or probably letting a misperception linger).
(Focusing on Dilione as an example here, and realize there may be factors that have pushed us away too)
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I’m pretty sure Dilione is a top 30 player and most blue bloods already have their pg
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Interesting. Higher than I would’ve guessed. If so, then yeah, I get you…
Some kids seem like talented “finds” early on, but then maybe less of a fit as time goes on. Generally speaking, I think kids who are into collecting offers in volume - with the ultimate feather of getting a Kentucky or Duke offer - are less the kids who seem to buy into the Bennett plan. Nothing wrong with it, but I felt this one going a different direction a while back. Also, stylistically always seemed a bit of a stretch to me with his wide-open and turnover prone style of play.
We offered Edwards early but that clearly has gone a way different direction.
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Who actually knows?
To paraphrase HGN, Tony’s pitch doesn’t work for kids who already think of themselves as a finished product just needing an opportunity to show out. Dilione retweeting tweets comparing himself to Shaedon Sharpe who didn’t play a minute of college ball ain’t promising. Regardless of ranking
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Here’s a question for anyone who knows, while HGN is away… when the coaches are evaluating lots of players at a series of events and see some they may want to pursue or perhaps even soon offer, at what point do they request/check transcripts to see if they are even remotely qualified to gain entry into UVa? I’m sure there are other due diligence questions they must ask to make sure of a fit before they go after someone one.
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My guess is quick conversation with coach(es) of the kids to get the feel pretty quickly.
Edit: this is one place I think grassroots basketball (whatever that means) has vastly improved on. Consorted effort to make sure kids need their grades. Also high schools have done a great job keeping kids on thaf path. Compared to when I played I think this is one thing that gets looked over now
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