Basketball Recruiting: 2004-09: Part 2

for the wearyIn yesterday’s post, I attempted to explain exactly what went into the ratings by, among other things, explaining the point system. Hopefully, it all made sense. Like anything else, S*it in S*it out. Because of that, I try very hard to make sure that the information is relevant and properly weighted. Sometimes those are subjective issues and that’s why I explain them. If someone wants to debate the basis, I’m happy to do so. Anyway, here some final results of the Self recruiting era at KU.

I also want to say that I am in love with this study – for one reason. It scratches a major itch! Of the hundreds of posts I have done on this blog – virtually all of them requiring research and analysis, some are much more meaningful to me than others simply because of the amount of time I’ve been waiting to find the answer. I love a post more for the time I had to wait to do it, than the time it took to do it. Many posts are done the day I start itching. But, some – like this one – have been bugging me for years. I knew it was going to take a lot of work to do, so I kept delaying it. Nevertheless… it itcheth no more!

2010 RECRUITING

Before I get to the 2004-2009 results, I want to comment on one other thing. KU’s recruiting for 2010 is, so far, extremely weak. The only player they have locked up for next season is Royce Woolridge (son of former NBA star – Orlando Woolridge). Obviously, he may end up being considerably better than his Rival’s rank, but at the moment, he is #93 – your basic [(Jeremy Case + Tyrel Reed) / 2] player.

Lots of people already have commitments for next season. Even Baylor has the #9 player. Texas has #11 and #29 so far. Ohio State has #3, #17 and #32. Discredited Memphis has #10. And, of course, NC has a good jump with the #8 and #33.

The point is it looks like Self has taken a seventh-year sabbatical. Not on my time, mister!

THE TOP 10 PLAYERS

Furthermore, the highest ranked players KU has ever successfully recruited in the Self era are Xavier Henry (#6) and Julian Wright (#8) that Self managed to get through the back door. Clearly, our beloved coach hasn’t been doing a very good job early in the recruiting process at the upper end. When you consider there have been 60 players in the top-10 in the past six seasons, KU has done a poor job only managing to grab two of them – and being lucky at that. Doing the math, that’s 58 that went somewhere other than Kansas.

Here is the list of where those 60 have gone.

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What is KU doing tied with K-State?... USC?... Georgia Tech?...

What is KU doing behind Texas?

What is KU doing lagging NC so much?

It’s time for Bill Self to start really taking recruiting at Kansas seriously. If we expect to play with the big boys, we have to recruit with the big boys. If you want to register your disapproval for the job Self has done, you can do so at SelfReportCard.com I strongly encourage you to click on it and follow the instructions!

One other thing. There will be a Part III tomorrow (duh). But, it would be unfair not to let you know at least this much. Over the last six seasons…

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Again, here is the remainder of the top-25.

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That still leaves Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA. Some things (post Ted Owens) never seem to change.

Finally, the remaining Big 12 schools are below.

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