James Johnson to Virginia

[Seymore Cox]

What is the deal with this silly flame war? It seems like abd is being reasonable and making his case. You can disagree with him without being so dramatic about it DM and Sam.

Yeah it is silly. And yeah, I can be an a__hole about it, but I'm not going to agree with anyone who wants to subconsciously or quite frankly, consciously set the bar low as far as expectations of recruiting for this program. Last year we had huge success. Arguably one of the best teams in OU history. We had a starting lineup with 5 top 150 high school recruits. Now it helped that two of those guys were ten nationally, but it was something that we haven't saw at OU in my lifetime. I'm not going to apologize for wanting that trend to continue.

They will agree with me in a few weeks now that all their top prospects arent coming to OU like I said weeks ago and got blasted for. I mean, DM rips on me for talking about jucos but its Capel that continues to recruit them.

Unbelievable. I have never seen a supposed fan of a school want that school to miss out on top recruits. Not only that, he's painting me and Sam as guys who aren't realistic about recruitng. Now undoubtedly, Sam and I know that OU is going to get a Juco post probably. Maybe to take another guy on the teams scholly or maybe because we will miss out on the recruits that we have been chasing. But in actuality we aren't being realistic. As I stated before, we started 5 prep players last year. Now I'll take Tony Crocker, A.J, and TG over a Juco player any day of the week. I was unbelievably happy when Kelvin changed his recruiting trends adn offered a guy like David Godbold and TG when in the past he would sign a Juco guy and take his chances. Kelvin, a guy who was invested in the Juco process even saw the trend of talent in juco shading down. Also OU signed 4 guys last year that everyone is expecting to have great careers at OU and another guy who quite frankly is a gamble. I'd rather take a gamble on the one guy, then take a gamble on a Patillo or Cannon, guys who gave OU a semester of play, but gave OU a year of chaos.

Right now, OU is in on Josh Smith, the best center in the country. If he commits to another school, we will have this post again and we will have another celebratory projection of average skilled juco players. I think that is sad and discouraging for OU fans that want more.

Pope will just be one of those guys that down the road everyone will be like "why didnt OU recruit him?"... Lots of TU players have been that way, and Pope will just be the next local player that has OU and OSU fans wondering why they didnt recruit him. At least thats what im hoping for Tulsa.

Quite frankly ABD, you've never saw Pope play. However, I have and he's a terrific player. I agree with you, he is a better player than Hardrick, however he can't play the post and OU has wings that they consider better. I would love to have a guy like Pope at OU. He did an outstanding job defensively on X Henry for a short time in the championship game and I wouldn' have been suprised if Capel would have offered him if he weren't in on a better shooter. The lack of signing guys like Pope is why TU has sucked. TU use to sign alot of 3 star guys from around the state. Now with Wojdick they get half azz transfers and jucos and have abandoned the instate talent. ABD, tell me who TU's best players are? And tell me how many years of production they have given TU, 4 or 2?

Don't get me wrong I am certainly more optimistic about this class than you seem to be, but it isn't like what you are saying is totally insane the way sam and DM make it out to be.

Wanting a class with two guys that OU hasn't even offered is a little insane to me. It strikes me as odd that someone would throw out guys that don't have an offer as a "great class" over guys that OU is offering now that have the potential of giving us four years of play and help us compete with the best. Now Robert Goff may be very talented, but I think the coaches think they can get better than Goff. That's why they didn't offer. ABD points out the Kendall Durant was recruited by VT. Well, I don't want OU to compete wit VT, Colorado, TT, TU, or any other school that has had minimal success.

This thread is lame.

Not really. It's about OU missing out on maybe it's top target at the Post postion. A depressing fact that was made worse when we start celebrating missing out on top recruits and start promoting a juco agenda. Anyone that would promote the signing of Robert Goff over James Johnson and Michael Cobbins aint a Sooner fan in my book.

It isn't "sign 5 top-100 guys or else" mentality either. Its great that we are in on so many talented players, and while I disagree with abd that it is unrealistic or naive to think OU could land multiple high-level recruits, just because they all like you and list you till the end doesn't mean you are guaranteed to sign even one of them.

That's a gross mischaracterization. Quite frankly, last year was the first year OU has ever signed 5 top 150 guys and I've celebrated their recruiting success before that. However, recruiting is how Coach Capel will define himself as a coach and I certainly support him in doing that. But I challenge anyone to find a thread to where I guaranteed OU as a lock or favorite of. I've only locked 4 recruits ever in the Capel era, Blake Griffin, Willie Warren, TJ Taylor, and Clark. The only reason I locked them is because of personal sources. Also, I haven't been overly optimistic on alot of the recruits were in on because they have huge lists. Harris still has a 10 school list. Jones has an 8 school list, and Lamb's list has grown over the last two weeks. But those guys are the best of the best. Realistically, i would like OU to get 1 or 2 of the best of the best, and support them with 3 building block players like Crocker, AJ, Cade Davis, David Godbold, and TG have been for us. I'll take a Cade Davis and David Godbold a hundred times over before a Kyle Cannon or Juan Patillo.

I just think we should all take a deep breath and realize that just because the #99 ranked kid in the country chose Virginia doesn't mean the sky is falling or that anything has even changed at all. Capel has brought some pretty good players in the last three seasons and I'm sure he'll do just fine this year too.

.

The problem is the #99 kid in the country was one of the best left at his position and quite frankly the most obtainable. Cobbins and Johnson were never going to be day one guys lie Blake or Tiny, but they will be guys like Taylor, guys who will contribute every way possible to winning.

I think Capel may be of the opinion that it is better to have a few really good players than a lot of average ones. If so, I tend to agree with him.

I think this sums it up. The reason why is because guys like me, Sam and BT believe that Cobbins and Johnson are a few really good players and Durant and Goff are average ones. I'm not going to co-sign getting average players and celebrate losing good ones. That's not what OU basketball and Jeff Capel have been about.

 

[elmocarp]

Dirty, I appreciate your posts but sometimes I think you draw conclusions that are misguided. In the entire previous post, you list quotes from other threads then reply to them, only you don't really seem to be replying to them. The thread you claim is a "gross mischaracterization" isn't even a characterization...its just a statement. Your response is to something that hasn't even been said.

As far as Johnson goes, what made him the "most obtainable"? Your perception of his recruiting? He committed to Virginia, a team that almost no one thought he would go to (at least around here). He committed to another school, so at this point I would say he is less "obtainable" than Josh Smith, Terrance Jones or Tobias Harris.

Also, this obsession with getting a "post" is wearing me thin. What happens if Capel (gasp) doesn't sign a "post"? Whatever will we do? We will almost certainly have Gallon, Fitzgerald and Allen returning after next season and Richard Peters is coming in the year after that. We are still in on three big time frontcourt players (that we know of) and have all next year too. Lets get all the good players we can...who cares what position they play?

And if Capel does sign a juco big, so what? Everyone seems to be on board with Orlando Allen now and I know everyone loved Pattillo...so what's the problem with those guys? Why are they less likely to be, how did you put it..."guys who will contribute every way possible to winning."? I just don't get the point of view...I'm trying, but I don't get it...

 

[thebigabd]

And yeah, I can be an a__hole about it

I hadn't noticed.

but I'm not going to agree with anyone who wants to subconsciously or quite frankly, consciously set the bar low as far as expectations of recruiting for this program.

Im just talking about the guys I know OU is recruiting (Olukemi and Goff)... Im not setting the recruiting bar low, these are just known targets that OU is actively recruiting.

Wanting a class with two guys that OU hasn't even offered is a little insane to me.

Of course Goff isnt going to get an offer until later, and it has nothing to do with the quality of player he is. Capel is going to try and get a good player with 4 years to play instead of a good player with 2 years to play first. This time of year is not juco recruiting season, not because they cant play but because they generally only have 2 years so coaches at bigger schools want to try and find the 4 year guys.

Unbelievable. I have never seen a supposed fan of a school want that school to miss out on top recruits.

I want all the top recruits, im just not going to discuss it because its not going to happen. All of the guys you were talking about a month ago are gone. If OU got them, great, lets talk about it and dance and be merry. But it didnt happen and now we are talking about secondary targets.

Quite frankly ABD, you've never saw Pope play. However, I have and he's a terrific player. I agree with you, he is a better player than Hardrick

I dont live in Tulsa anymore, so im sorry for not making the trip out to watch Jenks play. However, a coaching friend of mine saw him several times and thats where I get my info.

The problem is the #99 kid in the country was one of the best left at his position and quite frankly the most obtainable. Cobbins and Johnson were never going to be day one guys lie Blake or Tiny, but they will be guys like Taylor, guys who will contribute every way possible to winning.

I think Cobbins is a much better prospect than Taylor Griffin.

ABD points out the Kendall Durant was recruited by VT. Well, I don't want OU to compete wit VT, Colorado, TT, TU, or any other school that has had minimal success.

You just dont understand juco recruiting. If you have offers from ACC, Big 12, and top mid-major schools this early as a juco player you can play, period. Like I said above, its not juco recruiting season because the big schools generally want guys who can play 4 years instead of 2.

 

[AdaSooner]

Solid posts, Elmo! :clap

Recruiting projections can be fun, as long as we don't allow ourselves to get so caught up in our own notion of an "ideal class" we're disappointed when things don't pan out.

For my part, I'd rather let a coaching staff that has already proven themselves as recruiters make those calls. Coach Capel and his assistants are in a much better position than any of us to predict OU's needs from one year to the next, and then sign the best players available to fill the available slots. If that means bringing in an occasional JUCO, so be it. Would I choose a junior college player over a top rated high school recruit? Of course not. But no more than three to five programs in the entire country are capable of loading up on top 50 (or even top 100) recruits every year. OU is not one of them.

I'll add that this time last year Tiny was not a certainty by any means. I don't recall the date, but he didn't announce his decision to attend OU until a few days before the November signing period. Andrew Fitzgerald wasn't even a blip on our radar.

The point is, it's way too early to assume that our coaches don't have a back up plan to Johnson, Jones or any other recruit on our list. If you look back on our discussions around this time last year, I'll bet you will find there are a lot of similarities.

 

[Malcolm X]

So how bout that James Johnson guy eh

 

[elmocarp]

So how bout that James Johnson guy eh

He's a hoser...

 

[Krugerfan52]

I hope Johnson changes his mind. It has happened before.

Ohh, and to address the ongoing fued between ABD and Dirty, the reason Dirty has been attacking ABD/Jucos so much lately is because we were all beaten over the head with all the posts by ABD the last few weeks/months about how great jucos are and how we should be happy to get them.

Some of us just believe that Capel can and will get the Terrance Jones of the world and that we have the right to be dissapointed if we have to settle for the Goffs off the world. Thats all.

 

[Cheno]

Elmo dropped the wood on some people in this thread.
Great post Elmo!

 

[FaithfulSooner]

abd I wouldn't count us out on some of these top notch highschool recruits just yet. You might just be surprised pretty soon. BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!

 

[Seymore Cox]

abd I wouldn't count us out on some of these top notch highschool recruits just yet. You might just be surprised pretty soon. BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!

Amen Brotha. That's why they call you Faithful Sooner. The days of expecting less are over.

 

[thebigabd]

Amen Brotha. That's why they call you Faithful Sooner. The days of expecting less are over.

I am expecting Cameron Clark, who is a possible MCDAA.