Rakease Passmore - 6'6" SF/SG Class of 2024 Offered

[Shockm]

Great, tell me where we will find another Ron Baker and I'm all in.

Well Tekele is closely in that category, Toure was a 2* who got a cup of NBA coffee. Fred was borderline 3*. Cle might have been close to a 4*, but not out of high school. Carter wasn’t a 4*. During our back to back to back, F4 , 34-0, and Sweet 16 run, and even our great year prior to the F4 run, name the 4 and 5* players on those teams. There were maybe Cle and Fred at the most, and neither were bonafide 5 and 5* players. We didn’t have any.

[SubGod22]

Fred was borderline 3?

ESPN 4* and number 83 in the class

Rivals 3* and number 138 in the class

Scout 4*. Can't find more as old Scout data doesn't seem to exist after it became 247. I want to say Scout had the highest ranking for him of the three, but I can't be entirely sure about that.

And I know at the time, Rivals was getting hammered by a lot of people for dragging their feet on Fred. Bossi stated many times it was because he wasn't on a premier team so he didn't get seen as much as others who were on teams loaded with high level D1 talent and therefore got seen more. But they eventually watched him more and finally put him in the top 150, and even then, many criticized them for ranking him too low.

He was being recruited by a lot of teams, but most of the power schools were waiting to see what he did in the July period and hoped he'd stay uncommitted during it. Marshall and company swooped in and got the commitment in early July I believe. Had we waited, or Fred waited, who knows what would have happened. There were SEC, ACC, B1G and XII schools looking at him and waiting to see how that summer went for him.

He wasn't as under-recruited as many have said in the past, but he was under-offered. And again, that's because he wasn't on an elite team and these schools wanted to see him go against those other top talents before pulling the trigger. Had Fred waited two or three weeks, he'd have had a lot more offers.

As to that Final Four team as a whole, you're right in that most weren't rated as 4*s in HS, though the bulk of that team were considered top JUCO guys when we brought them in. JUCO players don't generally get star ratings like HS kids do, and most of those guys were 3* types out of HS that if given star rankings out of JUCO some may have been 4* or borderline 4*. That team was made up of a couple of 4* guys and a lot of solid 3* guys. Ron Baker is an anomaly mostly because he didn't really play AAU ball and was a late bloomer. We were lucky he chose to stay closer to home and spend a walk-on year rather than take a scholarship offer from one of the three others known to have offered. Not sure if there were more than that.

I can't explain Tekele. I remember wondering what the hell we were doing when his name popped up because there had been zero news about him and digging up info on him wasn't the easiest.

I don't think Toure' was highly rated, but he was a top player for one of the best HS teams in the country. I believe one of the scouting services, maybe Scout, was fairly high on the kid. Not top 100 high on him, but gave him some love and had him rated higher than some good players that went to "bigger" schools.

The problem with 3* ratings is it covers a lot of ground. That rating has a tendency to cover some 600 players or so. Almost anyone with any sort of evaluation ends up with a 3* rating and generally those that aren't evaluated are given a 2*.

We've had a lot of higher end 3* and some 4* talents under Marshall. It still remains to be seen what IB can really do. The difference is, with 3G I think a lot of us felt he could take those solid 3* guys and make them better. I don't think many of us feel that way about IB right now. He seems to have a lot less structure and discipline which you can get away with a little more with higher talent players, but less so when you have a little lesser talent.

I've gotten so distracted at work that I'm not entirely sure where this post began and how it got to what it ended at. Pretty sure this message has been up for at least an hour. This is what I get for posting on the job lol. I'm not going to go back and double check this so it is what it is.

[Shockm]

Fred was borderline 3?

ESPN 4* and number 83 in the class

Rivals 3* and number 138 in the class

Scout 4*. Can't find more as old Scout data doesn't seem to exist after it became 247. I want to say Scout had the highest ranking for him of the three, but I can't be entirely sure about that.

And I know at the time, Rivals was getting hammered by a lot of people for dragging their feet on Fred. Bossi stated many times it was because he wasn't on a premier team so he didn't get seen as much as others who were on teams loaded with high level D1 talent and therefore got seen more. But they eventually watched him more and finally put him in the top 150, and even then, many criticized them for ranking him too low.

He was being recruited by a lot of teams, but most of the power schools were waiting to see what he did in the July period and hoped he'd stay uncommitted during it. Marshall and company swooped in and got the commitment in early July I believe. Had we waited, or Fred waited, who knows what would have happened. There were SEC, ACC, B1G and XII schools looking at him and waiting to see how that summer went for him.

He wasn't as under-recruited as many have said in the past, but he was under-offered. And again, that's because he wasn't on an elite team and these schools wanted to see him go against those other top talents before pulling the trigger. Had Fred waited two or three weeks, he'd have had a lot more offers.

As to that Final Four team as a whole, you're right in that most weren't rated as 4*s in HS, though the bulk of that team were considered top JUCO guys when we brought them in. JUCO players don't generally get star ratings like HS kids do, and most of those guys were 3* types out of HS that if given star rankings out of JUCO some may have been 4* or borderline 4*. That team was made up of a couple of 4* guys and a lot of solid 3* guys. Ron Baker is an anomaly mostly because he didn't really play AAU ball and was a late bloomer. We were lucky he chose to stay closer to home and spend a walk-on year rather than take a scholarship offer from one of the three others known to have offered. Not sure if there were more than that.

I can't explain Tekele. I remember wondering what the hell we were doing when his name popped up because there had been zero news about him and digging up info on him wasn't the easiest.

I don't think Toure' was highly rated, but he was a top player for one of the best HS teams in the country. I believe one of the scouting services, maybe Scout, was fairly high on the kid. Not top 100 high on him, but gave him some love and had him rated higher than some good players that went to "bigger" schools.

The problem with 3* ratings is it covers a lot of ground. That rating has a tendency to cover some 600 players or so. Almost anyone with any sort of evaluation ends up with a 3* rating and generally those that aren't evaluated are given a 2*.

We've had a lot of higher end 3* and some 4* talents under Marshall. It still remains to be seen what IB can really do. The difference is, with 3G I think a lot of us felt he could take those solid 3* guys and make them better. I don't think many of us feel that way about IB right now. He seems to have a lot less structure and discipline which you can get away with a little more with higher talent players, but less so when you have a little lesser talent.

I've gotten so distracted at work that I'm not entirely sure where this post began and how it got to what it ended at. Pretty sure this message has been up for at least an hour. This is what I get for posting on the job lol. I'm not going to go back and double check this so it is what it is.

This 3* #138 rating is what I remember. I know you think others are idiots, but my memory is that Tekele and Toure were 2*
Players which shows a lot of positive rating abilities by Marshall’s staff.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospec..._hWpTxao6EmUS9

[SubGod22]

I love how you enjoy speaking for me and others.

You're always wrong when you do, but I do find it rather amusing.

Though it is also getting old and I'm sure the amusement will wear off soon.

[wufan]

This 3* #138 rating is what I remember. I know you think others are idiots, but my memory is that Tekele and Toure were 2*
Players which shows a lot of positive rating abilities by Marshall’s staff.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospec..._hWpTxao6EmUS9

138 nationally and #19 at his position is not borderline 3*

[Ta Town Shocker]

It was mentioned many times on this board that Fred was an ESPN top 100 prospect. Many thought the only reason that didn't improve his senior year was due to his early commitment. I remember watching a couple of his games streaming online and everyone who watched knew he was special. Saying he was a borderline 3* is absurd.

[Kel Varnsen]

It was mentioned many times on this board that Fred was an ESPN top 100 prospect. Many thought the only reason that didn't improve his senior year was due to his early commitment. I remember watching a couple of his games streaming online and everyone who watched knew he was special. Saying he was a borderline 3* is absurd.

Yes, while his ranking was not commensurate with his talent, he was still rated as a 3 or 4 star by most publications.

The more highly-rated a player is, the more likely they are to be a good college player. While there are exceptions that we have benefitted from, it's the truth.

Give me 4 and 5 star players any day. Those players, on the whole, are generally more likely to help me win college basketball games than zero or 2 or 3 star players. And that's especially true as finding diamonds in the rough is becoming more difficult.

[WuShock16]

Paul Lusk, the former Missouri State coach, knew that Fred was special. PL was in a gathering of coaches in the summer of 2011 and said that “Fred is too good to play at WSU, and so we need to get every BCS program to try to get Fred to break his commitment.”

What Paul failed to realize was that in this group of coaches was Charleston Southern head coach Barclay Radebaugh, who used to be an assistant for Gregg at Winthrop.

It wasn’t a coincidence that 3G beat Lusk’s ass pretty much every time that their teams played.

[shock]

Paul Lusk, the former Missouri State coach, knew that Fred was special. PL was in a gathering of coaches in the summer of 2011 and said that “Fred is too good to play at WSU, and so we need to get every BCS program to try to get Fred to break his commitment.”

What Paul failed to realize was that in this group of coaches was Charleston Southern head coach Barclay Radebaugh, who used to be an assistant for Gregg at Winthrop.

It wasn’t a coincidence that 3G beat Lusk’s ass pretty much every time that their teams played.

I need more stories like this

[shoxlax]

I need more stories like this

Me three.

[WuShock16]

I need more stories like this

I might have to start a PM group and randomly throw out some of these stories as I remember them.

[Shockm]

138 nationally and #19 at his position is not borderline 3*

Look again at the Rivals reference. It literally lists his rating as 138, 19, and 3*. This is not an opinion of mine. It is a Rivals fact. Disagree with them if you like.

[wufan]

Look again at the Rivals reference. It literally lists his rating as 138, 19, and 3*. This is not an opinion of mine. It is a Rivals fact. Disagree with them if you like.

I disagree with you, not them.

[Shockm]

IWhen you said Fred’s not a borderline 3* at 138, and 19, Maybe you lost your mind.

[wufan]

IWhen you said Fred’s not a borderline 3* at 138, and 19, Maybe you lost your mind.

He’s a borderline 4*