With Mulkey's verbal, some thoughts on recruiting

atlantasooner

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This message board has had some spirited discusssion on recruiting.
I've been very critical of Sherri's past recruiting (2011/2012,2013 classes).

However, with the 2014/2015/2016/2017 classes, we can now see a class over class improvement in recruiting.
It appears the rehiring of Pam DeCosta is paying off. It just took some time to take hold which makes sense since women's hoops recruiting is about a 3 or 4 year cycle.
2014 Class - Sherri aggressively re recruited McKenna Treece to give that class two bigs. And Sherri signed her best HS player since Manning in Gabi Ortiz.
2015 Class - Limited ship situation but Sherri signs a top 60 national athletic big who can run with all quickness added at guard. The ideal player for that one spot.
2016 Class - Dungee = SG/big time scorer top 30 player,
Mulkey = true center, top 30 player. Might be the ultimate half court offense weapon to help OU's offense when the break is not there. She appears to have a excellent mid range jumper.
Think how effective Marc Gasol is in the NBA.
Still have one or two more ships to go
2017 Class = For now its just Llanusa, but it's early (McKenna's 6-5 sister is a 2017 player for instance)
big class at least 5.

In 2016/7, Sherri will have 4 talented bigs to main the PF/C spots. The best height/talent depth she's had since CP/AP,AT, and Abi Olajuwon were on campus.
In addition, in 2016 Sherri will have a deep and talented guard/wing lineup.

Mulkey also is a big name national name in recruiting and Sherri now gets to use that name in recruiting for 2016/2017 for the next 12 months at least. Let's face it
Mulkey is the kind of player that Baylor has been signing, not OU.
Lauren Cox for instance now knows she won't have to play center at OU. Lauren
plays a lot of summer ball with Mulkey. Other top players are competing against her.
Right now, she's a huge OU hoops billboard.
Other big time players in both classes will see OU has elite players coming in.
It's a reputation thing and it can increase in time.

So it's a GREAT job the last 18 months turning things around in recruiting by Sherri
and her assistants.
We know Sherri can develop talent and team chemistry. We know that with better
talent Sherri can take teams to the Final Four.

One last note, I do wish Sherri had a twitter account. Every time OU gets a football verbal, Bob tweets "Boomer, (area code of the player)". It's a nice legal way to broadcast success over social media. And the fan base on twitter goes crazy.
Would be nice to see Sherri adopt that practice. As you can see in the other thread, the OU players were all over twitter congratulating Mulkey.
Obviously the WBB twitter handle leaked the news effectively, it was the best job of using twitter
in recruiting by the WBB twitter handle to date.
Social media = massive deal in recruiting. And it's not changing.
 
Great post!

On the social media aspect, it's taken (taking) a while for codgers like myself to accept the fact that twitter, et al, can have a huge effect on recruiting. But I AM learning.
 
The more I read about Aaliyah Wilson the more I like, sounds like she's really athletic and could be used some as an undersized 4 in our 4 guard sets Sherri runs at times...

Also with the commit of Ijeoma Odimgbe there's a chance we can tap in to the Georgia pipeline.
 
I am impressed the most by Llanusa of all the Sooner recruits. Shooting guard or small forward, she will be a big time impact player.
 
The one thing that I want to see is a balance. When we got Courtney, it seemed that every guard that we had came up with an ACL tear, or other knee injury. What had been a guard-oriiented team couldn't provide an outside game to complement Courtney.

With Mulkey, Odimgbe, Treece, and Pierre-Louis, I hope to add to the guard recruits. Dungee and Llanusa are a beginning. But, we need a total point guard (Ortiz's replacement), and a pure shooting guard. Then, I'll be happy just to fill in with what we can get, as long as we get the best quality that we can. You would think that Mulkey and Llanusa would attract some good guards.
 
The one thing that I want to see is a balance. When we got Courtney, it seemed that every guard that we had came up with an ACL tear, or other knee injury. What had been a guard-oriiented team couldn't provide an outside game to complement Courtney.

With Mulkey, Odimgbe, Treece, and Pierre-Louis, I hope to add to the guard recruits. Dungee and Llanusa are a beginning. But, we need a total point guard (Ortiz's replacement), and a pure shooting guard. Then, I'll be happy just to fill in with what we can get, as long as we get the best quality that we can. You would think that Mulkey and Llanusa would attract some good guards.

I want to add Lauren Cox!!!!!
 
S Ionescu(2016) played with Dungee, Mulkey, and Cox at FIBA. I know OU follows her on twitter. Maybe this might help OU's chances. Also maybe get N Hollie(2016) and J Johnson(2017).
 
S Ionescu(2016) played with Dungee, Mulkey, and Cox at FIBA. I know OU follows her on twitter. Maybe this might help OU's chances. Also maybe get N Hollie(2016) and J Johnson(2017).

I agree with you on Ionescu, she is a great player! I like Chou as well.
 
The footage online of Mulkey is still from late in her sophomore year.
Here's ESPN's summer league scouting comment.

USA Trials-May 2014: Agile low-post prospect with superb shot-blocking skills, timing, presence; mobility in uptempo; zone defender in the key, alters shots; emerging offensive game utilizes either hand to finish in traffic; among the elite true centers in the 2016 class. (Olson)
 
The footage online of Mulkey is still from late in her sophomore year.
Here's ESPN's summer league scouting comment.

USA Trials-May 2014: Agile low-post prospect with superb shot-blocking skills, timing, presence; mobility in uptempo; zone defender in the key, alters shots; emerging offensive game utilizes either hand to finish in traffic; among the elite true centers in the 2016 class. (Olson)

If/when she gets stronger and tougher, she will be just what we need in the middle.
 
The footage online of Mulkey is still from late in her sophomore year.
Here's ESPN's summer league scouting comment.

USA Trials-May 2014: Agile low-post prospect with superb shot-blocking skills, timing, presence; mobility in uptempo; zone defender in the key, alters shots; emerging offensive game utilizes either hand to finish in traffic; among the elite true centers in the 2016 class. (Olson)
If Mulkey is that mobile and agile, I'm surprised that she is only rated #21. I think there is still uncertainty that she is strong enough and mobile enough for D-1 ball, sufficient to be as dominant as her size might predict. If she becomes that strong and mobile, I don't see how she can be less than #1.
 
Can someone post a list of when these various committed players will be freshmen? I can't keep track of them. Feel free to pencil in Lauren Cox...:ez-roll:
 
Can someone post a list of when these various committed players will be freshmen? I can't keep track of them. Feel free to pencil in Lauren Cox...:ez-roll:

The first post in the thread, "Updated Roster", has this info. Lauren Cox is not in it but believe she would be 2016 freshman, the same as Mulkey.....just inferred that so could be wrong. Hope this helps.
 
Just to compare, Mulkey is already much further along than N. Griffin was. She doesn't have problems running the floor, and she does appear to be quite mobile (based on YouTube clips I've seen).
 
euphguy, watching Mulkey it's clear that she's a tall basketball player adjusting to the growth spurt. she has a very nice mid range jumper. her bball fundamentals seem very solid.
Rather than a very tall girl learning to play hoops after she grew 9 inches.
 
She has got two years to gain weight and strength before she sees our floor. Lots of time to gain both.
 
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What impresses me about Nancy at such a young age, she has excellent form and smoothness on her free throws. She doesn't take the ball to the floor on offensive rebounds, but takes it right back up to the rim and she looks for some one to block out when the shot goes up. With two more seasons to improve and having a mother who understands the game, she is just going to get better. Her biggest weakness will be her strength, but that will come. She is going to be a good one.
 
Nice post Atlanta. It looks like our recruiting is picking up and I'm sure happy to see it.
 
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