Jordan Cyphers

[SpanglerFan316]

In Utah, Jordon will be a "nobody"

In my opinion, there is a good reason not to speculate on ShockerNet... Lots of people interested in WSU sports read ShockerNet. Players, parents, highly rated recruits & recruits in general, the media, etc.

Way to follow your own advice there...

Good Point (and I plead guilty). I am just feeling optimistic about the upcoming season and I think some of the issues that came up on SN will disappear (so I'm optimistic about SN too). I think Marshall will judge players more on their ability and contribution to the team than on their seniority. I think Marshall will be a better X's and O's coach than Turgeon. I think Marshall will communicate better with the players than did Turgeon. I was sorry that MT left because he was bringing in a nice group of recruits, he was a "class act" and he actually had a halfcourt offense but I'm really happy we got Gregg Marshall. While I'm guilty of speculating on ShockerNet, I can live with this guilt since I didn't intend to criticize anyone (see below) and I feel very optimistic about the future. :good:


BTW: I didn't really mean Jordan would be unimportant to Utah and he certainly is "somebody" in basketball terms. When I said he would be "nobody" in Utah, I meant this in a social sense; the people in Utah who watch him play will not have attended school with him, grown up with him, read about his high school games in the local paper, etc. Jordan will not have been a member of the SLC community who decided to attend the University of Utah but a talented basketball player who happened to decide to play at Utah. WSU has athletes from Southeast High (e.g. Jackie Richey, women's tennis, was valedictorian of her class at Southeast) while I suspect the University of Utah does not. My choice of words may not have been great but I was speaking of Jordan's social connection with SLC and this is minimal at the moment.

[SpanglerFan316]

The thread is susposed to be about Jordan Cyphers and I want to get back on-topic. The odds are stacked against Jordan making it to the NBA or making a lot of money playing in Europe. Eventually Jordan will probably need a "real" career and, by going to Utah, I think he is losing an opportunity.

In Utah, Jordan will be a "nobody" (other than a recruit they want). Suppose he had decided to come to WSU, he was successful and the Shocks had some good runs in the NCAA tourney while he was here. He would have been the local guy who helped WSU to success and I think his economic opportunities in this area would have been great. Of course, one might think of the Barry Sanders window commercials. I am thinking more of Cleo Littleton and Antoine Carr, for example. (Of course, Dave Stallworth is also widely respected locally even though he was from Dallas. http://www.wichita.edu/thisis/athletics/ ) I don't think this is important now and it may never be important ... but who knows?

If I think your bitter...............that where I'm right!

Geez relax man, he is just an 18 year old kid doing what he thinks would be best.

There are other fish in the sea, move on.

While I think it would be great to have a USD259 student come to WSU and have a successful athletic and academic career as a Shocker, I don't really care that much because I trust Gregg Marshall's (and, before that, Mark Turgeon's) evalution of talent over mine. There is nothing wrong with picking Utah. I have a friend at Utah and it is a nice school; I've even gone skiing near there.

I was not trying to criticize Jordan Cyphers and I don't think I did criticize him. When Antoine Carr, Henry Carr, Maurice Evans, etc. played for WSU, it was a great local story. There is no reason Cyphers would want to be part of such a local story and no one should expect him to have this wish. It just struck me that playing for WSU was an opportunity which Cyphers decided to miss and I was commenting on this. If anyone took this as criticism of Cyphers, then they misread my intent or I conveyed my intent poorly. I may be wrong about this but I thought Dave Stallworth and Cleo Littleton lived and worked in (or near) Wichita and were/are highly regarded by the community; I was thinking of these types of examples when I posted my comment. (I might also have been thinking of the car dealer who was (?) the original WuShock; a connection with WSU might be nice for someone in business.) Jordan Cyphers will probably have many opportunities in the future and this one does not matter. I hope he has a lot of success at Utah. As for making the NBA, I think it is fair to say that the odds are against anyone not named Gregg Oden. Oh, just so you know, I'm not bitter in the slightest and, while I'm not going to say that Gregg Marshall will bring in a player even better than Cyphers, I trust the coaches to make good recruiting decisions.

[notquiteBWing]

well said.

[Snapshot9]

Why are all the Wichita athletes so darn set on going somewhere else .... , only to find out later the grass is the same color of green there as here, but here is where their family and friends are.

You know what Utah reversed is, don't you? (sarcastic humor only)

[shocker856]

Its the same thing that happend to Brandon polj, Taj Gray and even Dupree Lucas, they all wanted to get away from there families and make a name of them selves elsewhere and plus a higher profile school means a better shot at the NBA.

[forevershockerfan]

I sort of stuggle with the idea that players that go to higher profile schools have a better shot at the NBA. For years, our bigger competitors have wore that opinion to the bone in recruiting battles. Any more, if you have an NBA type game, they WILL find you.

It seems that Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen played at Small Colleges even years ago, and the NBA found them? The NBA is also extending their search for quality players all over the world. If you are an awesome College player, the NBA will come knocking.

I think Taj Gray almost came to WSU but he may have wanted to play at a bigger school and maybe he wanted to get away from home. However, his Senior year at Oklahoma, we made it to the Sweet 16 and Oklahoma did not. Can you imagine Taj and Miller both playing at the same time for us that year as Center and Power Forward? WOW!!!

If a player such as Noel Johnson played at WSU or Kentucky in College, he still would have a great shot at playing in the NBA in my opinion no matter where he landed.

Each year players like X, Carr, Ciff L., and Cheese played at WSU, they worked hard on their game and improved every year as a Shocker. Later, they each played in the NBA.

[rjl]

The BCS/NBA effect is more for people who don't quite have an NBA game. That balance weighs towards the BCS schools. Had P-Mil played at Oklahoma State, for example, he may have been drafted in a later round.

If you are NBA calibre, though, you're found wherever you go.

That said, if P O'Bryant had played like he did in the NCAA tournament throughout the regular season, then played average or less in the tournament, you think he would have been drafted nearly as high? Playing well on national TV did him a world of good, and you just get more opportunity to do that at a BCS school.

I don't know either way. Just topic for discussion.

[The Mad Hatter]

The BCS/NBA effect is more for people who don't quite have an NBA game. That balance weighs towards the BCS schools. Had P-Mil played at Oklahoma State, for example, he may have been drafted in a later round.

If you are NBA calibre, though, you're found wherever you go.

That said, if P O'Bryant had played like he did in the NCAA tournament throughout the regular season, then played average or less in the tournament, you think he would have been drafted nearly as high? Playing well on national TV did him a world of good, and you just get more opportunity to do that at a BCS school.

I don't know either way. Just topic for discussion.

On the other hand, Morris Almond of Rice was the 25th pick in the NBA draft without much television exposure. I think scouting is extensive enough at this point that people making drafting decisions know about what guys have to offer even if the general public doesn't.

I think that you do make an interesting point about guys with borderline NBA talent though. Even Paul got his shot to try out for an NBA team largely on the strength of MT's ties to the Larry Brown coaching tree, and, in general, guys in those coaching trees are more often found at BCS schools than elsewhere. One can even argue that the reason Marshall hasn't gotten lots of BCS coaching offers is that, in spite of outperforming most coaches in the country, he wasn't in the coaching tree of a famous coach.

[lawmaker]

I still cannot believe this kid signed with UTAH. I am predicting a transfer, but everything I have heard about him is he is the REAL DEAL. Top 2 or 3 in the state.....

[wsu789]

Lawmaker, I understand you consider yourself a WSU supporter and not a Baylor troll, and I have every reason to know that you are a supporter. But why in the world would you track down a thread about a recruit that WSU missed on, where the last activity on the thread was two and a half months ago, and bump it to the top of the recruiting forum?

Some objective observers might think you're just trying to rub the collective nose of WSU fans in the fact that Cyphers signed elsewhere.

[lawmaker]

Not rubbing it in at all. This is one of the best guards the city league has seen. I am baffled that he signs with UTAH.
Nothing against WSU at all. Hell I have heard that he was on KUs radar as well.

I have not seen him play this year, but will catch a game over christmas, but from what I have heard this past summer and fall this dude has all of the tools.

[pinstripers]

I really find this thread interesting, and I'm not at all offended by the bump. The "get tired of Utah and transfer" idea, is not a new one, either. Stranger things have happened, that's for sure.

[ShockerKhan]

I just don't think Jordan wanted to be here at WSU. What ever the reason, he is the only one that knows why. I will go a step further and say he played us until HCGM finally accepted the commitment from Toure Murry. I think HCGM feels Toure has more upside and potential than Jordan.

[RoyalShock]

I think lawmaker may not be far off. How many times has a local kid (not Wichita, but anywhere) gone away from home and transferred back within a year or two? I don't know what the particular area is like, but I suspect Utah could present a degree of culture shock.

The only question is, would there even be a spot available if we're already so loaded with guards and commitments from guards that we can afford to accept a transfer?

[wsu789]

Shockerkhan, I expect that you are not far off on that perspective.

Lawmaker, thanks for the clarification. I can't explain Utah either. Maybe he thinks a make big splash there. You may certainly be right about transferring.

Question: If a big splash happens in Utah, does anyone get wet?