Four Sign National-Letters-of-Intent with Wichita State Men’s Basketball

[SHOXAAC]

The word is caliber, SHOXMVC. Nice of you to allow a few hours of celebration to occur before you start the next silly, reflexively negative "what can we worry about now?" discussion.

Here's my prediction. Mitchell will be a walk-on, will play however much time is available, and will be happy to be back eating his Mom's cooking. One of the other 14 will be covered by something other than an athletic scholarship -- maybe his or his parents' money, maybe an academic scholarship; who knows? Of the new guys, Uwadiae and Green will redshirt, bringing the number of active players down to 13 including Mitchell, and that's assuming Hawkins qualifies and nobody gets hurt.

We know Marshall believes he can keep 12 adequately occupied, because that's apparently what he's planning to do this year. He's probably counting on a lot of winning, which is a great source of consolation, to help him out. So to quote a familiar source, I'm not worried. The one guy who decided he didn't want to be here has already stepped foward this year; next year that won't happen.

Please don't take offense to this WSUwatcher, but I got a good laugh from your response. On one hand you were chastising me for not allow a few hours of celebration to occur before I start the next silly, reflexively negative "what can we worry about now?" discussion; then you spend two paragraphs discussing it.

Trust me, this situation is positive because we have, on paper at this point, arguably the strongest roster for next year from top-to-bottom this University has ever had. Many great, great college basketball programs have 9 or 10 players that make a rotation. The balance of many of those rosters are made up of players that probably will never be startable players. My take is that every one of our top 15 could conceivably start within a couple of years. What a great position to be in for HCGM. The reality of keeping all of those 15 happy is very slim IMO, therefore it is conceivable one or two of these players that have been raved about by this fan base will probably not be here next October.

[wufan]

Ok of all of our recruits which one will make us say OMG amazing!

Early will first...Then Hawkins with the athleticism. Come game time it will be all about FVV. A few years later and Green and Henry will be jaw dropping!

Definately best recruiting class (based on potential) we've had since before Fogler. Top 150 HS players usually only come around once every 4-5 years at WSU. We've got two in the same class. Early is another top 10 juco. Not quite Carl Hall respect, but higher regarded than Smith and Rags. I think Henry comes in somewhere around #250 and he and Green have the highest ceiling of any of the players we got this year!

[SHOXAAC]

Ok of all of our recruits which one will make us say OMG amazing!

One is Early...one is Green...one is Van Vleet...one is Hawkins...one is Uwadiae!!!

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Ok of all of our recruits which one will make us say OMG amazing!

IIRC, Early is touted as an NBA prospect, so if he lives up to the rep, he could be Mr. Amazing. At any rate, the whole dang class could knock our socks off. Boys and girls, hold on because the next few years could be a hell of a ride!

[wusphlash]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/school/_/id/2724

Interesting that Henry has become a 2-star on ESPN.

[ShockTalk]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/ba...hool/_/id/2724

Interesting that Henry has become a 2-star on ESPN.

Not trying to be smart here, but in what way do you find this "interesting"?

[wusphlash]

Interesting in a good way. I had not seen any stars besides his name previously.

[ShockTalk]

Interesting in a good way. I had not seen any stars besides his name previously.

:good:

I asked because I thought someone once said he was an 87 on ESPN and now he's an 85, not that there's any real difference there.

[wusphlash]

I usually look at Rivals and they still don't give him any. I don't understand why it's so hard to rate the 69,724 high school basketball players in the correct order.

[shockmonster]

IIRC, Early is touted as an NBA prospect, so if he lives up to the rep, he could be Mr. Amazing. At any rate, the whole dang class could knock our socks off. Boys and girls, hold on because the next few years could be a hell of a ride!

Heard Coach Heier on the post game show talking about the recruiting class. He said that Alabama HC Grant and staff compared Early to Tony Mitchell and that they wanted him very badly. Also Vanvleet and Hawkins sound like studs.

[forevershockerfan]

This may very well prove to be our very best recruiting class in the Marshall Plan Era. However, it needs to be. We lost 5 solid players to graduation last Season, and still another 5 next Season. However, not to worry (the Sub rarely worries) because this recruiting class blueprint is most likely not complete as of yet and THAT is scary in a very positive way. Next, we can add Mr. Baker to that Class and here is some more fun scary Christmas stuffing for yourn Shocker stocking? Remember Mr. Armstead, the guard transfer from Oregon? He impressed me more than even Cotton in the 2-3 summer pick up games I witnessed. I still say that this overall Coaching Staff we have right now, will prove to be the very best group of recruiters in Shocker coaching history. Just an opinion I threw in for free, because that is what I do and dig on.

[CARMAX]

true on on the great class for next year, and Coach has an excellent staff, but if the are going to be the best ever at recruiting, then they are going to have to put 3 1st round lotto picks plus a couple of 7'ers and then some in the LEAGUE. How awesome would that be! Phenominal and we would be in the top 10 for an extended period with all the TV love you could handle. Get'r done.

[forevershockerfan]

true on on the great class for next year, and Coach has an excellent staff, but if the are going to be the best ever at recruiting, then they are going to have to put 3 1st round lotto picks plus a couple of 7'ers and then some in the LEAGUE. How awesome would that be! Phenominal and we would be in the top 10 for an extended period with all the TV love you could handle. Get'r done.

For us, we must bring in 10-13 very solid players that can play together without a superstar or stars, and collectively get us to at least the Sweet 16 as accomplished in 2006. The days of us bringing in a Carr, Good News, Aubrey, Dreiling etc. in 2 Seasons became extinct with cable TV and Big Conferences. Considering that, I like what I see on the types of recruits we are signing and hope we are heading in the right direction with the obstacles we face. Butler did it and I hope we can too some fine day.

[im4wsu]

For us, we must bring in 10-13 very solid players that can play together without a superstar or stars, and collectively get us to at least the Sweet 16 as accomplished in 2006. The days of us bringing in a Carr, Good News, Aubrey, Dreiling etc. in 2 Seasons became extinct with cable TV and Big Conferences. Considering that, I like what I see on the types of recruits we are signing and hope we are heading in the right direction with the obstacles we face. Butler did it and I hope we can too some fine day.

If, and I repeat, IF WSU can get to the Sweet 16 and remain at/near the Top 25 for 2-3 yearsin a row, why can't the Shockers recruit some of the superstars? If one is homegrown, it enhances the chances. But if we're in top 25 rankings, and each team recruits an average of 3 players (13 ships /4= 12 OR 13/5=2.6), then WSU should have the opportunity to sign 3 of the top 75 players. The numbers work, the task is to get to that position.

[KC Shox]

If, and I repeat, IF WSU can get to the Sweet 16 and remain at/near the Top 25 for 2-3 yearsin a row, why can't the Shockers recruit some of the superstars? If one is homegrown, it enhances the chances. But if we're in top 25 rankings, and each team recruits an average of 3 players (13 ships /4= 12 OR 13/5=2.6), then WSU should have the opportunity to sign 3 of the top 75 players. The numbers work, the task is to get to that position.

I think if WSU would demonstrate SUSTAINED success, then I have no doubt we could be the 'Gonzaga' of the midwest. Our recruiting would be a whole lot easier. But as you said, that is a huge IF and has not been done since the 60's.