OU now recruiting 6'8'' 238 juco power forward

thebigabd

thebigabd

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Ricardo Ratliffe (6'8'' 238) is now hearing from OU, OSU, and Missouri from the Big 12 after a huge freshman year.

He was the MVP of the Boo Williams AAU Tournament in high school, got great reviews at the Peach Jam, and led all scorers at the AAU Nationals.. He averaged 28 points and 12 rebounds per game in high school. He was his regions player of the year...

During his freshman year in juco he averaged 27 points and 11 rebounds per game.. He has Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Missouri, Rutgers, and LSU after him now...
 
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I still like going hard after these JUCO's. If you miss out on the Blake's and Tiny's, they are a great back up plan if you need an immediate contribution inside, which we will.
 
Not a good sign at all. 2010 is a very weak year for big men and if this guy has an offer, it is a strong indicator of how we are doing with post players.
 
DirtyMess said:
Not a good sign at all. 2010 is a very weak year for big men and if this guy has an offer, it is a strong indicator of how we are doing with post players.
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Why? This guy was a big time high school player, and appears to be a big time juco player... Why is it a bad sign that OU is contacting him?
 
DirtyMess said:
Not a good sign at all. 2010 is a very weak year for big men and if this guy has an offer, it is a strong indicator of how we are doing with post players.
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Why would that be a bad sign if 2010 is a weak year for bigs? Wouldn't that mean there are only a couple of bigs worth going after.....and since the entire country will be looking at them, they are going to be difficult to get? Thus making a good JUCO even more important in 2010, then maybe he would be in other years?
 
capelfan52 said:
Isn't big time juco player an oxymoron?

But even if it weren't, he's not a big time juco player. If he were he would be at least a 4-star guy, not a guy who's only offers are George Mason and LaSalle.
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Don't have it in front of me, but I'm fairly certain Ace, Ere, and White were all less than 4 stars. JUCO's typically don't get anything above about a 3* ranking. That is why I've argued that you can't really compare recruiting rankings fairly, b/c JUCO's don't get ranked properly.
 
Isn't big time juco player an oxymoron?
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No... not at all.

But even if it weren't, he's not a big time juco player. If he were he would be at least a 4-star guy, not a guy who's only offers are George Mason and LaSalle.
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Jucos rarely get more than a 3-star ranking.. And this guy will end up in the SEC, ACC, or Big 12.
 
Played with Steven Pledger on Boo's 17u team last yr...
 
thebigabd said:
No... not at all.



Jucos rarely get more than a 3-star ranking.. And this guy will end up in the SEC, ACC, or Big 12.
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Is is an oxymoron because guys like Omar Leary and Kyle Cannon were some of the best juco's available and they are not/were not bigtime players. Omar was a 1st team juco all-american and Kyle Cannon was preseason 1st team juco all-american and they each averaged about 2 ppg last year. I wouldn't call them big time players. Compared to other junior college players they were, but that goes to show how weak the juco ranks are RIGHT NOW.

you guys gotta stop comparing recruits like this to Ace McGhee or Taj Gray...who was a 4-star BTW. 2010 jucos < 2000-2002 Jucos

As for juco's rarely getting more than a 3-star rating, that is partially true. It happens less and less because there is less talent in the juco ranks.

But there have been plenty of 4-star jucos. For example, last years incoming class included 6 guys who were 4-stars from the juco ranks: Tyrone Appleton, Mario Little (both role players at KU), Tyree Evans, Joey Shaw, Daniel Payne, Derwin Kitchen, and Robert Sallie.

These were the best of the best in the juco ranks last year, in case you haven't heard of some of them, which you probably haven't unless you follow Kent State, Nevada or wherever Daniel Payne ended up.
 
I have no problem with signing a JUCO player to fill specific needs, providing he's a good one, as this kid appears to be. I liked what I saw of Ratliffe in a short video on Scout. He seems to have a variety of post moves and a good touch to 12-15 feet.

Here's what ESPN had to say about him coming out of high school:

Evaluation from Class of 2008: This young man is a scoring machine in the paint. He is a big time athlete who runs the floor with terrific speed, jumps a second time quickly or jumps over you to score. What makes him special is that he has great physical attributes along with a soft scoring touch. He does a good job of posting up in the paint trying to make and maintain contact so all he has to do is turn and score. With a defender on his back Ricardo likes to go to his jump hook with his right hand over his left shoulder. He does an excellent job of going to the offensive glass scoring on second chance points. He can and will tip dunk the ball on missed shots. In offensive transition he can out run his opponent down the floor for easy baskets. From of his teammates penetration he catches the dump down pass well with his soft hands. When he gets near the basket with his explosiveness he can earn many 3-point plays the old fashion way. He is a willing rebounder on both ends of the floor. He blocks shots but needs to play defense with a greater understanding of how to use his body and not foul. Defensively he is very agile and could guard a 3, 4 or 5. He needs to improve from a defensive stand point of his game to be truly great. He will be heading to Junior College or prep school.
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capelfan52 said:
Is is an oxymoron because guys like Omar Leary and Kyle Cannon were some of the best juco's available and they are not/were not bigtime players. Omar was a 1st team juco all-american and Kyle Cannon was preseason 1st team juco all-american and they each averaged about 2 ppg last year. I wouldn't call them big time players. Compared to other junior college players they were, but that goes to show how weak the juco ranks are RIGHT NOW.

you guys gotta stop comparing recruits like this to Ace McGhee or Taj Gray...who was a 4-star BTW. 2010 jucos < 2000-2002 Jucos

As for juco's rarely getting more than a 3-star rating, that is partially true. It happens less and less because there is less talent in the juco ranks.

But there have been plenty of 4-star jucos. For example, last years incoming class included 6 guys who were 4-stars from the juco ranks: Tyrone Appleton, Mario Little (both role players at KU), Tyree Evans, Joey Shaw, Daniel Payne, Derwin Kitchen, and Robert Sallie.

These were the best of the best in the juco ranks last year, in case you haven't heard of some of them, which you probably haven't unless you follow Kent State, Nevada or wherever Daniel Payne ended up.
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Capelfan, I can't put it any better. I don't want to seem like some anti Juco crusade, but I can't get over the excitement about some of these juco prospects. Alot of us have followed recruiting for a long time and these juco guys that get mentioned were unknowns in the prep ranks. Tyree Evans, Robert Sallie, and Mario Litttle turned out contributors, but two of those guys were bigtime players in the preps who just ended up in JUCO. Maryland recruited Evans for about 5 years. In Sallie and Litttles case, they weren't even starters.


Right now I need a recruiting pick me up and it's not going to come in the form of these Juco rosects. It's discouraging that we have missed out on every prospect that we've been involved in this years with the exception of Peters and Taylor.
 
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Or better yet Steven, get Luke Cothron.
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Still just throwing darts at the rivals top 25, hoping they come to OU?

Apparently so...

you guys gotta stop comparing recruits like this to Ace McGhee or Taj Gray...who was a 4-star BTW. 2010 jucos < 2000-2002 Jucos
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Why? There are still Taj Grays and Aaron Mcghees in juco. The SEC player of the year last year was a juco.. a few other conferences had MVPS out of the juco ranks.

But there have been plenty of 4-star jucos. For example, last years incoming class included 6 guys who were 4-stars from the juco ranks: Tyrone Appleton, Mario Little (both role players at KU), Tyree Evans, Joey Shaw, Daniel Payne, Derwin Kitchen, and Robert Sallie.
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Look out for Darnell Dodson (Kentucky), Casey Mitchell (West Virginia), Gary Flowers (Southern Miss), Jarrid Famous (USF), Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota), and a bunch of others to have a big impact out of juco this year... This years juco class should be pretty good.

Hell, even the Big 12 will have a bunch of starters and major impact guys coming from junior colleges this year. Lets just track them and see who is right, shall we?
 
Here is a "where are they now" look back at some of the junior college players that OU was interested in the past few years. Some of these guys were hyped as an answer to our problems on message boards just like some of these guys are today.

2006 - Jerome Habel. Played one year at San Diego St before being dismissed.
2007 - Rodney Alexander - avereged 4 ppg at Illinois for 1 season before transfering
2007 - Marcus Walker - The leading scorer for a 9-22 Colorado State team last year.
2008 - Donte Smith - once thought to be the answer for our PG/3-pt shooting, averaged 2 ppg at USC last year, shot 24% from the 3-pt line

2008 - Dee Proby - former OSU commit averaged 1 ppg last year off the bench at West Virginia


# of Juco players rated 4-stars on rivals.com.

2003 - 13
2004 - 10
2006 - 3
2007 - 0
 
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