By: Eric Fawcett -- July 17, 2024 As we speak, Nike’s Peach Jam is going on in Augusta, Georgia. For those of you who might not know, the Peach Jam is one of the biggest events on the high school recruiting calendar–a convergence of the best teams on the Nike grassroots circuit. This is a great opportunity for players to showcase their abilities against some of the best competition they will see all year, and a chance for coaches to be visual and put the full court press on the recruits they are hoping to land. It’s also an opportunity for people to talk, and for word about various recruitments to spread. Florida Staying In The Mix For ’25 Cameron and Cayden Boozer | GatorCountry.com
I'm not sure it's worth the effort and the price to go after the 5-stars any more. You pay them a ton of NIL $$, and maybe they shine and maybe they don't. And they all come in with the plan to leave after just one season. The ones that DO shine don't usually do so until late in the season. It might just be smarter to build with 3-and-4-star high-schoolers you can develop, and with good midmajor transfers who can play right away.
Or top International talent now that sport exploding globally. NBA draft the past two years is telling
Could be true but…this was the same for most 5 star one and dones prior to NIL. Schools were paying them huge sums (under the table) and some worked out and some didn’t. But to win an ncaa title you need legit nba ballers on the team and the #1 player in high school is often a legit nba talent. Worth the upside (of someone else’s money) to me. lol plus, you sign the #1 player - especially a known name like the Boozers- will get you in more prime tv matchups, bring the program extra pub, and will draw more elite talent in following classes.
Yeah for a young coach trying to establish credibility nationally, landing a guy like this changes the whole perception of him and the program. It’s worth the effort, even seeing our name in his last four or five helps.
Billy brought in Miller. Huge get and changed the perspective of BD and the whole program. Bringing in the Boozers will do the same for TG.
The actual huge get was Teddy Dupay, who committed very early on. That led to opening the door for the Gators to get Udonis, Miller and other top high school players.
Yeah But Teddy and Graham were Florida boys. Miller was that big out of state five star reach. BD was as the first one in the gym with Miller. Made him priority number 1.
I get your point, but I don’t believe that there was any chance that the Gators would have gotten Miller without the earlier commitment from Dupay.
I used to think recruiting in the 50-100 range was perfect for us, especially in the “one and done” era. But nowadays with the portal you can always plug holes in a roster, and lately we’ve done really well with multi-year transfers AND one and done transfers (not NBA one and done, just “remaining eligibility” one and done). With the portal, there’s really no downside to going after some legit NBA 1 and dones. At least the ones that have the right attitude. I wouldn’t make it the focus of recruiting or anything, but if you have a chance to get the projected #2 player in the class of course you go for it. The twin that is a smaller guard you would hope is more flexible about maybe sticking around more than 1 year.
Miller was the initial huge get that had all the blue bloods at KS and UNC putting our rumors of Billy cheating. Then came all the other highly regarded national recruits in Donnell Harvey, David Lee, James White, Kwame Brown, ….. when you can pull from outside the State, you have a chance to compete for titles
I am standing behind the big get being Teddy Dupay. I doubt that we would have signed Miller, Haslem and other big names without the earlier commitment from Teddy.
absolutely. It's not uncommon for half a roster to change each year, if he is an impact player and can help us win, then there's no difference between a one and done and a graduate transfer - which we've had great success with overall. Each season is its own campaign now more than ever. It's important to have development players that stick around but in this current mercenary NCAA environment you take anyone you can to help you win. Few of us if any were bothered with Tyrese or Pullin playing only one year for us (or Canyon Barry etc) - why should a one and done be any different
Hope We can close CJ Ingram early so the Boozers can be a sole focus. This could be the biggest class in his career as a coach. Future is bright either way.
Agreed! I actually wish he'd been a little more "selfish" in the way he played for us (and in the way he plays for the Suns now for that matter).
