A recruiting update

Tennessee is the favorite to land Austin Nichols according to one poster on VolQuest who was reliable throughout the Stokes recruitment. Rob Lewis says Tennessee is in "very good shape" right now. He plans to sign in the spring. He will officially visit Tennessee in the fall.

Robert Hubbs listed a top 2 of Tennessee and Duke this week. He will also officially visit in the fall.

Tennessee is still right in the thick of things with JW3 and will get an official visit according to Rob Lewis.

Nick King surprised many by listing a final 4 of Vandy, Tennessee, Memphis, and Texas this evening. He had not mentioned the Vols in the last 3 or 4 months prior to trimming his list. He will officially visit Knoxville in the fall as well.

 

Wow. All things considered, this is amazing.

 

Holy crap. I hope/think a lot of these kids are going to be able to relate to Coach Martin and his background. Grew up in a tough city and has beaten a lot of odds in his life.

 

Now comes the hard part. Wade Houston used to talk about how close he came to signing guys like Corliss Williamson, Glenn Robinson, Alan Henderson, and Lawrence Funderburke. All getting close gets you is fired. Coach Martin and his staff have done a magnificent job of getting themselves in position. It's now all about closing.

 

Stokes a precursor to the closing abilities?

 

Hope he is the player that gets everything rolling. Recruiting and on-court play.

 

Getting the state's top 4 players on campus officially is an exceptional job. Landing Hubbs and Nichols would be a success, adding one of the other two would blow any expectation I had for him as a recruiter out of the water.

 

I really want Counzo to win big here. Hopefully this is a sign of how he's going to recruit here

 

As do I.

 

Only if you sign at least one of them. Otherwise, it's no different than if they cut us from their list today.

 

He had some advantages in roster space and timing with Stokes. These are head to head fights on even footing. We'll know a great deal about where this program is headed when this signing class is complete.

 

I expect Cuonzo's character and person will continue to get him in doors. I am just afraid we'll be bridesmaid too often. Hopefully he'll get his share of them to sign on the dotted line.

 

Not to be negative but I can't help but think of all the times I've heard guys say things like "the class is setting up nicely" or "in on some big time recruits" in regards to [ddiapos]. Having already signed Stokes last year makes me feel better about our chances, but I feel like it's too early to be too excited.

 

Any predictions about how this plays out?

 

I am not expecting JW3. I do think we've got a great chance to get 1 of the other 3 and a decent chance to get 2 of 3.

 

I just don't get the same vibe from Cuonzo I get from Dooley. Time will tell of course.

 

Counzo is the polar opposite of [ddiapos] in regards to how he goes about his business.

 

I wasn't trying to compare Martin to Dooley. I just think you have to be careful about getting excited about recruiting before anyone actually makes their decision.

 

I know, I just have a lot more faith in Counzo than I do Dooley to do anything correctly.

 

Including coaching the game of football.