Rivals' Corey Evans went one-on-one with five-star 2021 guard Max Christie to talk about his recruiting picture, Northwestern, Pat Badwin Jr. and much more.
Q&A with 5-star junior Max Christie
Q&A with 5-star junior Max Christie
Q&A with Max Christie
- Thread starter lou v
- Start date
Respectfully disagree.
Right now I'd say it's NU because he and the family are significantly focused on academics. With all due respect to MSU, if that is your focus and you have elite academic options, you choose elsewhere.
I qualify with "right now" but add that Virginia could be a threat.
Sounds like he isn't overwhelmed with Duke's effort, which is why Duke/coach K are not running neck and neck with NU. (Could write more about that, but let's see what the next few months bring).
Christie seems thoughtful and engaging, he would be a great addition. But he is significantly focused on academics to a point. He says in the article that he would like to get his degree "at some point." My take is that he wants to go to the league and is not planning on staying in school for more than a year or two and maybe finishes down the road. If we are being honest, I don't know if there is truly a difference between a year at MSU or a year at NU. I think this is going to be a basketball decision which hurts us in comparison to MSU and the "defending national champs."
Again, this is why I really hope we can build the program through Jeffress and recruits like him. All of the high character, great potential, will stay four years, and is wiling to consider NU without the family connections.
Oh, so would I and it would be amazing!!
It's just that these particular one and dones all have close family ties to Northwestern that will likely never be repeated. I'm not sure that getting PBJ or Christie would be transform the program long-term, like the way getting Dawkins did for Duke. But who knows, maybe a deep tourney run would do just that. I would be thrilled to land any of these guys
Getting these one and done guys and making a push into the Sweet 16 may be the boost we need. Having Kopp, Beran, Nance, Buie, Gaines, Berry, Young, Jones as a supporting roster with experience is solid along with a couple 5 star future pros. Might as well enjoy the dream!
Maybe. But you know we were a goaltending call away form getting to the Sweet 16 four years ago and we totally regressed after that. Again, I would love to get these guys. Just don't know if it's a program changer. What's the comparison? Whose the last truly elite NBA prospect who took a chance and went to a small school with terrible basketball tradition? Anyone come to mind? Maybe one of those UMASS guys with Coach Calipari?
Didn’t Stanford just get a top 10 guy. Might not be terrible, but they are nowhere near elite.
Anytime you can have your school associated with a NBA pick helps your program. The publicity around draft night alone is worth its weight in gold.
I don’t see Christie as a one in done. Star player you bet, but I am not buying one and done.
Definitely no guarantees but we did lose all of our Mojo the following year by having no real home court, which is huge in college basketball. Also CC does get very good recruits--ie 4 star or borderline 4 star--with some regularity. But in the big ten those guys are just above average recruits and most schools land those guys plus the 5 star or high 4 stars. Put another way, another tourney run should help and is frankly a pre-requisite to building a consistent top 25 program. Plus we now have much better facilities to recruit off a tourney run.
Disagree on this comparison. Stanford is not elite, but they have a really solid basketball history. There are five Stanford grads in the NBA right now! Brook Lopez (Bucks), Robin Lopez (Bulls), Dwight Powell (Mavericks) Chasson Randle (Wizards) and Marcus Allen (Lakers). And you factor-in Tiger Woods; John Elway; Andrew Luck; Richard Sherman etc and it's not hard to sell a recruit on Stanford's athletic success.
Yes, Stanford’s athletic history is better than NU’s. I guess it hinges on the word terrible. Unfortunately, there are only a few schools that fit the mode of “terrible” history. If we break it down to programs that are not historically top 25, there are a few outliers of top 20 prospects over the last half decade:
2018 Charles Bassey Western Kentucky #6
2018 Jordan Brown, Nevada #19
2017 Mitchell Robinson Western Kentucky has #9
2015 Jaylen Brown Cal #4
2015 Ivan Rabb Cal #7
2014 Emmanuel Mudiay SMU #2
I skipped over top 20 players that went to Seton Hall, Mississippi State, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Memphis and Arizona State. Heck Memphis got 3 top 50 recruits; including the number 1 recruit in 2019 once Hardaway became Coach. I don’t think they have been great since Penny was a player.
The top 3 players in 2021- Undecided, Minn, Undecided
The top 3 players in 2020- Ok St, USC,Pro
The top 3 players in 2019- Memphis, Georgia, Washington
The programs listed aren’t terrible, but they are not historic blue bloods.
The point I am trying to make is there has been a gradual subtle change in B Ball recruiting. The top players don’t automatically go to Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, UCLA, or Michigan State. That leaves a glimmer of hope for NU when it comes to landing the big fish.
There is a thread on Reddit, and one of the comments is (allegedly) from a classmate of Max’s sister. They claim that he really likes Northwestern, and that they have been the favorite for a while...I take this with an entire salt mine.
I'm sure he likes Northwestern.
Lots of good names on this list. Thanks for compiling. And seeing Western Kentucky (twice!) and SMU gives me hope about the chances of non-blue bloods.
Uh, SMU and WKU were both implicated in cheating scandals as a result of these recruiting battles. Two of the players associated never played in the NCAA because they were declared ineligible.
There is no magic sauce. In many, many cases, if a non-blue blood school lands a top 10 player, there are good reasons why it happened.
(There are certainly exceptions, such as family ties of course.)
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Of course, there are a boatload of shenanigans going on. If Miller and Wade are allowed to continue on as Head Coaches, what deterrent is there for other schools besides their own self imposed ethical standards?
it seems to me that the next tier of non blue bloods is just getting better at bending these rules. Why would too 3 players sign on to Oklahoma State, Washington, Minnesota, Georgia or Memphis?
it seems to me that the next tier of non blue bloods is just getting better at bending these rules. Why would too 3 players sign on to Oklahoma State, Washington, Minnesota, Georgia or Memphis?
David Robinson was famously 5 9" his junior year in high school and then grew to 6 11" by his junior year at Navy
That's a GREAT one. Maybe Steph Curry turning down Virginia Tech for Davidson?
Ultimately, recruits like Christie and PBJ want to win, and that includes playing at the highest level deep into the Tournament.
Jeffress committing would make the program that much more attractive to Christie and PBJ.
W/ Boo, Berry, Kopp, etc. - would have all the makings of a team capable of winning the B1G and making a very deep run in the Tourney, and Christie and PBJ get to stay closer to home (the coronavirus may make recruits more inclined to stay closer to home so their parents/family don't have to hop on a plane to see them play) and doing so at NU would leave a deeper mark in the annals of CBB history than doing so for a traditional power.