Our lack of success in recruiting a strong senior class (only Mart; Hunger gone) and a strong junior class (only Clayton; Barkley and Strauss gone) are really what’s hurting us the most, given we are known to be a developmental team. (Gragg killed the junior class; presume the Hunger class was impacted by the lack of success of the team the year before). To me, portal basketball is a lot different than developmental basketball. We’re not set up well (especially on defense) for this many portal guys and this few experienced recruits.
Lack of Successful Recruiting Classes
- Thread starter SDakaGordie
- Start date
Yep. Frosh class looks like it could be a good one, but you aren’t going to win in the Big 10 with freshmen playing lots of minutes. Had hopes for Angelo and KJ to make leaps this year, but KJ is glued to the bench most games.
We didn’t miss on the Mart class. We got Mart! It was a class of two and Hunger at least contributed something every once in awhile before he got recruited over. The Gregg class is what killed us.
We have Jordan Clayton as our only junior class member. Every one of MN’s (and likely every other BIG team’s) guards is better than him. We have one returning average sophomore playing and one returning excellent senior playing. No foreign professionals. No highly ranked transfers. Does that help it sink in?
Grag was a dogshit AD and terrible for NU.
His still being employed at NU - and a VP, no less- is another sign of its lack of leadership and spine.
While there is some merit to that, who recruited him? Who recruited the sophomores? You can't just give him credit for the successes and look the other way or make a bunch of excuses when the team underperforms (which they totally are this season). He makes millions of dollars for what he does and was out shopping around last year so it's only fair we as fans call him out when warranted.
Did you forget the part about Gragg’s ultimatum? That’s why the junior class stunk.
And if you think BB recruiting at NU is all peaches and cream, then we can’t really see eye to eye on this.
Well... if we remember where we were almost 4 years ago - our team was really bad, our recruiting was pretty mediocre, and there was a lot of debate on here about whether it was time for Collins to go. Then that magical Boo/Audige team happened and things started turning around. It led to an ok recruiting class the first year after and, what we think, is a really good recruiting class the next year (one starter and one regular rotation piece so far among the frosh). We also seem to have a couple really strong recruits coming in for next year. However, the current team is still the product of those rough years, so it probably shouldn't be a surprise that there is a lack of ready-to-play talent right now. We hit a home run with Audige, but usually our transfer pool pickups have been rotational pieces that are ok, but not great. Page shows some promise, but he is far from a complete player yet.
The point of this is that I think we all knew this down year was probably coming. The hope is that the recruiting classes are picking up again and that NU will get more active in the transfer portal in actually getting established players who are ready to lead from day one. Hopefully, the NU administration understands how different things work in athletics now and support Collins in landing some of these kids. If that happens, I think this team could be a tournament ready team in 2027-2028 (assuming we don't lose our own guys to the portal along the way).
The point of this is that I think we all knew this down year was probably coming. The hope is that the recruiting classes are picking up again and that NU will get more active in the transfer portal in actually getting established players who are ready to lead from day one. Hopefully, the NU administration understands how different things work in athletics now and support Collins in landing some of these kids. If that happens, I think this team could be a tournament ready team in 2027-2028 (assuming we don't lose our own guys to the portal along the way).
Thankfully teams are no longer doomed by a bad recruiting class, certainly not for three or four years, because of NIL and the portal. That is, unless NU is limited to paying returning players, or misses on limited portal entries. That junior class is a drag for sure, but I think this year's problems have more to do with two transfer starters who aren't cohering with the rest of the team. Reid would have to score a lot more points to justify what he's giving up on the defensive end. And I think we know why a player as incredibly talented as Page was available. It's not like Mart is an elite defender, and there are too many guys right now who are good on one end but not the other. I'll be surprised in the NIL/transfer era if Collins can build a program that depends on HS recruits getting four years in his system before they blossom together.
And MN is a trash team, overmatched and even injured. And we still lost. So what’s that say?