2023 Men's Recruiting Thread

[HAPvsOA 287]

21 hours ago, blakem said:

I really like our odds with Holloway and Yates. I read on another board that they believe that Gardner wasn’t a take at this point for Auburn.

I was so focused on Yates and Collier (to continue our trend of getting the top guy in GA) that I hadn't followed Holloway. It sounds like he is a great shooter, which both fits a need with our current roster and makes him a great fit for Pearl's system. Also it sounded like he was down to 2, but 247's article from today listed AU, Miami, Tennessee & Wake Forest. He said 2 things in the interview that left me feeling confident that he'll be a Tiger.

The 1st was his connection to BP. 

Auburn: “First it is the connection that me and Bruce Pearl have. I just clicked right from the first visit, I felt that connection between us. The place Auburn is an amazing place with amazing people. (Pearl) said to me, he told me what my role is going to be is that he is going to put the ball in my hands and let me be me and just play. He said his plan is that however it goes is up to me. He’s putting the ball in my hands and giving me an opportunity to succeed.”

The second is the desire for honesty which would likely eliminate at least Tennessee: 

Now that he's less than a month from picking a school, what matters most to him has become pretty clear in his mind. “The program that is the most honest with me because I feel like for me I thrive in environments where there are good people and honest people. I feel like that’s going to be a separator for me because all of the programs create a lot of opportunity. A lot of the programs will let me star in my role so it really comes down to the smallest things for me."

In terms of Yates, it sounds like he has a family connection at Washington which could upend things a bit, but it sounds like AU still has a good chance. A recent ON3 article had these comments from him:  

“I’ve taken official visits to Washington, Auburn, and Stanford,” Yates said. “I’m going to visit Gonzaga, but we haven’t set a date yet, and I want to visit Arkansas.” “I’ll probably try to take visits to LSU and Baylor in the fall, which will probably wrap up my recruitment,” Yates said.

Auburn: “I liked the atmosphere a lot; it was crazy. And I loved how connected the team was; they didn’t care who scored. In the locker room, someone had a good could, and no one was mad; they were happy for each other. Auburn was a guard school, but they didn’t try to do too much. You can tell the team is not selfish at all.”

Edited June 28, 2022 by HAPvsOA

[Dunndone414 469]

Uh, this is big. Per Jamie Shaw (On3 national analyst) Auburn has emerged as a serious consider to sign Justin Edwards,  the #4 overall recruit in the composite for 2023.

Kentucky and Tennessee have been the leaders here.

 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,700]

5 hours ago, Dunndone414 said:

Uh, this is big. Per Jamie Shaw (On3 national analyst) Auburn has emerged as a serious consider to sign Justin Edwards,  the #4 overall recruit in the composite for 2023.

Kentucky and Tennessee have been the leaders here.

 

If you can get expected attrition from Arkansas, retain Westry (I don’t think Yohan is an option in that regard), lock down Aden, and split Yates/Edwards…2023 should be your year 

[Dunndone414 469]

I know this is the 2023 thread but wanted to mention for the future: 2024 #11 Jayden Williams (center from Loganville, GA) has Auburn among three teams he wants to visit. 

[Dunndone414 469]

On 6/30/2022 at 10:07 AM, Dunndone414 said:

Uh, this is big. Per Jamie Shaw (On3 national analyst) Auburn has emerged as a serious consider to sign Justin Edwards,  the #4 overall recruit in the composite for 2023.

Kentucky and Tennessee have been the leaders here.

 

Well, now Edwards is committing at the Peach Jam (7/17-7/24), so it’s highly unlikely he’s headed to Auburn. Looks like Tennessee. Will be their top recruit in program history. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,700]

Hopefully we punish those guys next game 

[AUwent 3,762]

So it sounds like Holloway is ours--but will we get anyone else noteworthy? Please don't strangle our athletics program (that's been doing so well in all but one sport) Rich...

Edited July 10, 2022 by AUwent

[Dunndone414 469]

10 hours ago, AUwent said:

So it sounds like Holloway is ours--but will we get anyone else noteworthy? Please don't strangle our athletics program (that's been doing so well in all but one sport) Rich...

We are a heavy favorite for Holloway. Even at #32 nationally I think he’s underrated, he would be a great get. 
 

Tough to tell where we stand otherwise. We are in it with several top recruits but don’t seem to be favored. It’s often hard to tell until close to commitment time where a recruit may be headed though. 
 

We are in a good spot with SG Wesley Yates, but we are competing with just about everyone - plus a reported G League offer. That would be the next most likely commit imo. We will lose a few guys after this season, so we need to bring in a big or two and a wing. Bruce has been very successful with the portal too, though.

[AUwent 3,762]

2 hours ago, Dunndone414 said:

We are a heavy favorite for Holloway. Even at #32 nationally I think he’s underrated, he would be a great get. 
 

Tough to tell where we stand otherwise. We are in it with several top recruits but don’t seem to be favored. It’s often hard to tell until close to commitment time where a recruit may be headed though. 
 

We are in a good spot with SG Wesley Yates, but we are competing with just about everyone - plus a reported G League offer. That would be the next most likely commit imo. We will lose a few guys after this season, so we need to bring in a big or two and a wing. Bruce has been very successful with the portal too, though.

Yeah, I’m trying to tell myself that if we were in fact hopeless in recruiting thanks to NIL, we wouldn’t have gotten Traore.

Edited July 10, 2022 by AUwent

[AuburnNTexas 7,167]

It is possible that we are getting better NIL support for basketball because of how well liked Bruce is and the results of his program. The problem is nobody knows for sure if we have a weak NIL. average NIL, or strong NIL and how that NIL is allocated by sport.  

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,700]

18 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

It is possible that we are getting better NIL support for basketball because of how well liked Bruce is and the results of his program. The problem is nobody knows for sure if we have a weak NIL. average NIL, or strong NIL and how that NIL is allocated by sport.  

I feel like we’re getting a better one proportionally to what you’d expect for an Aub football regime and an Aub basketball regime. I don’t think we’re even in the JP sweepstakes after getting Traore if we didn’t have a good bit in the coffers. We just didn’t have enough to afford a top ~20 transfer, a top 50 recruit and multiple top 20 recruits. I think that’s above avg at least 

[Dunndone414 469]

Money goes further in basketball than football. It’s a numbers game. A handful of interested boosters could keep our NIL competitive in a way that might not be possible for football. Really a mystery to me where we stand on that front though. 
 

Not saying Auburn should do this, but schools with more limited resources to call on should focus on basketball for the biggest impact, imo. 

[Dunndone414 469]

5 hours ago, AUwent said:

Yeah, I’m trying to tell myself that if we were in fact hopeless in recruiting thanks to NIL, we wouldn’t have gotten Traore.

I doubt any money was needed to secure a guy that previously committed to Will Wade. 🙃

[SumterAubie 3,031]

7 hours ago, AUwent said:

Yeah, I’m trying to tell myself that if we were in fact hopeless in recruiting thanks to NIL, we wouldn’t have gotten Traore.

 

1 hour ago, Dunndone414 said:

I doubt any money was needed to secure a guy that previously committed to Will Wade. 🙃

Auburn made Traore a stronger asser offer!

[AUwent 3,762]

3 hours ago, AuburnNTexas said:

It is possible that we are getting better NIL support for basketball because of how well liked Bruce is and the results of his program. The problem is nobody knows for sure if we have a weak NIL. average NIL, or strong NIL and how that NIL is allocated by sport.  

So it’s possible that who the coach is CAN matter with NIL.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,700]

4 hours ago, Dunndone414 said:

Money goes further in basketball than football. It’s a numbers game. A handful of interested boosters could keep our NIL competitive in a way that might not be possible for football. Really a mystery to me where we stand on that front though. 
 

Not saying Auburn should do this, but schools with more limited resources to call on should focus on basketball for the biggest impact, imo. 

Yeah we could be good at basketball as long as CBP isn’t senile with the head start we’ve gotten, as long as competitive funds are being divvied up. I don’t even think it’s possible for us to be competitive with respect to football NIL after UTa and OU join. 
 

would not be mad if we made a full transition into trying to be an elite CBB program for the next century…I can honestly see this sport “surviving” (remaining similar to what our current idea of competing is) longer than CFB will 

[PointGuardEyes 11]

Tigers just extended 2023 F Amani Hansberry this evening. He is a 6'7" forward out of Mount St. Joseph High School in Baltimore. He’s a bear in the paint, versatile on both ends, and has a 7'1" wingspan. Winner of the Baltimore Sun Player of the Year. Had a really nice EYBL session this weekend in Kansas City.

 You can check out everything you need to know about his game in this in-depth evaluation that was just published: Player Evaluation.

[HAPvsOA 287]

On 7/8/2022 at 8:59 AM, Dunndone414 said:

Well, now Edwards is committing at the Peach Jam (7/17-7/24), so it’s highly unlikely he’s headed to Auburn. Looks like Tennessee. Will be their top recruit in program history. 

My 1st thought on this is that Edwards will have to compete with Julian Phillips there (unless he is 1 and done) and I think he would have less competition at AU, but we'll see. If Barnes is really telling him that he can be his next "KD" then I would assume that would come with a guarantee of playing time.

It definitely feels like there is going to be a consistent "top 5" in the SEC in the near future with Arkansas, Tenn, UA, and AU recruiting as well as they are in addition to Kentucky. I knew Muss & Barnes were great coaches, but tbh I wasn't expecting both to recruit as well as they have been. 

[HAPvsOA 287]

On 7/10/2022 at 6:54 AM, Dunndone414 said:

We are a heavy favorite for Holloway. Even at #32 nationally I think he’s underrated, he would be a great get. 

We are in a good spot with SG Wesley Yates, but we are competing with just about everyone - plus a reported G League offer. That would be the next most likely commit imo. We will lose a few guys after this season, so we need to bring in a big or two and a wing. Bruce has been very successful with the portal too, though.

Both Holloway and Yates would be incredible. I was also hoping we'd get a visit and more of a chance with Collier given our recent success in Georgia, but we can't get them all I suppose.

And it's crazy, I would have been thrilled just a couple of years ago to make the top 10 list of some of these 5 stars, but post Okoro going 5 and Jabari going to no. 3, it hurts to lose out on some of these top guys (e.g. likely KJ Evans, Edwards, Collier) bc it seems like they'd do so well in Bruce's system. 

Edited July 11, 2022 by HAPvsOA

[toddc 13,194]

 

[HAPvsOA 287]

Chance Westry (no. 12; 2022 commit) vs. Justin Edwards (no. 3; 2023 target). Both lit it up. 

 

Edited July 11, 2022 by HAPvsOA

[Rednilla 5,396]

19 hours ago, HAPvsOA said:

Chance Westry (no. 12; 2022 commit) vs. Justin Edwards (no. 3; 2023 target). Both lit it up. 

 

Can't wait to see Chance in orange and blue!

[toddc 13,194]

Not 2023 but yes please 

 

[War to the Eagle 364]

19 hours ago, toddc said:

Not 2023 but yes please 

 

Reclass?

[toddc 13,194]

22 minutes ago, War to the Eagle said:

Reclass?

Haven’t heard anything. You know something?