2018 PF

[mikescherrer8]

Would be awesome to get some news today #HardnettWatch

At this point, I would be surprised and Hardnett chose Cincy over UB. He has the chance to start immediately with very thin forward depth on a probably very very good UB team next season. Him going to Cincy doesn't guarantee him playing time. Choosing here he'd have more of a chance at a lot of minutes.

C'monnnnn Bryan Hodgson, don't let us down.

[McBulls]

Hope we pull it out, but think it is unlikely. 247 is often pretty accurate in predicting where kids sign and 7/7 experts on the site call Hardnett to Cinci.

[Jeseph]

Cinci it is

[BasketBull]

I’m perfectly fine losing these recruiting battles against great power 5 teams. Good to see we were in it to the end. Good luck to Laquill in Cinci.

[ChubbyHubby]

That sucks.

[clodney]

Some Cinci fans aren't exactly pleased that this lightly recruited kid is going to be a Bearcat. They're even more embarrassed that they're in recruiting battles with schools like Buffalo and Lasalle. LaQuill might have a better shot at being seen at Cinci but personally I'd rather go to a school that was pumped about my commitment instead of being disappointed that I'm not a 5-star with offers from P5 schools. Good luck, buddy.

[Kevin]

I thought he gamed us a bit. His mom was at home with a cincy jersey already, while he visited here with his Dad on a free trip to Buffalo.

UB only gets 7 visits, sucks we had to waste it with a kid who wasn't ever serious about considering UB.

[McBulls]

Let's not lower ourselves to knocking a 17/18 year old kid for making a decision to attend a P5 school, traditionally top 25, headed to the tourney every year. We had a chance, and quite frankly, he may have told our staff that chance was slim. What's more, he made the decision one day after returning from our visit. He didn't game us- he came, saw what we had to offer, and made a decision right away, which gives us a chance to look for the next future Bull.

Let's face it- these kids get five opportunities to take an official visit, and he granted us one of only two he took. That weekend was his time as well. I doubt he came here having already made the decision. I love Buffalo, but most people from out of town aren't clamoring for late February visits.

[Dave S]

Let's not lower ourselves to knocking a 17/18 year old kid for making a decision to attend a P5 school, traditionally top 25, headed to the tourney every year. We had a chance, and quite frankly, he may have told our staff that chance was slim. What's more, he made the decision one day after returning from our visit. He didn't game us- he came, saw what we had to offer, and made a decision right away, which gives us a chance to look for the next future Bull.

Let's face it- these kids get five opportunities to take an official visit, and he granted us one of only two he took. That weekend was his time as well. I doubt he came here having already made the decision. I love Buffalo, but most people from out of town aren't clamoring for late February visits.

Agree with everything said above.

[ub2019]

Wonder who they'll look at now. Definitely need another big man for next year. 

[trueblue32]

Let's not lower ourselves to knocking a 17/18 year old kid for making a decision to attend a P5 school, traditionally top 25, headed to the tourney every year. We had a chance, and quite frankly, he may have told our staff that chance was slim. What's more, he made the decision one day after returning from our visit. He didn't game us- he came, saw what we had to offer, and made a decision right away, which gives us a chance to look for the next future Bull.

Let's face it- these kids get five opportunities to take an official visit, and he granted us one of only two he took. That weekend was his time as well. I doubt he came here having already made the decision. I love Buffalo, but most people from out of town aren't clamoring for late February visits.

Agree with all of this, even if we were a long shot he rewarded the staff for going hard after him by at least giving us a shot to wow him.  I'm assuming each of the commits took an official as well as Hardnett so that's 4 of our 7.  Meh, we have 3 visits for 1 spot if we even choose to use it, although I wouldn't be shocked if we just sat on it at this point in case a transfer or a Davonta Jordan type situation pops up at some point.

Wonder who they'll look at now. Definitely need another big man for next year. 

Personally I'd like to see us go after JUCO center Willesley Butler.  He's got offers from some of the top mid-majors (MTSU and ETSU) and he's originally from Troy, NY.  He's a physical true post Center which is something we lack other than Bertram.

We could also go for Joe Jones who's a 6'10" center originally from Buffalo playing prep ball for the #1 team in Canada, his most notable offers are Bona and UMass.  I'm not sure how ready he'll be to make an impact right away but he's got good size and DNA (brother of Greg Oden).

Of the two I hope we go after Butler because I think he'll make a bigger impact right away and I think next year is our shot at an at-large with all the juniors we have this year, so I'd like to see us go all in on that.

[McBulls]

I like Butler. Posts well, gets into his man and catches it deep. Can play back to the basket and go over either shoulder. Athletic, runs the floor well. Who knows (from this video) how well he rebounds and defends. No shots of him taking a jumper or driving to the bucket, so may be limited offensively (ie- no need to defend him more than 10 feet from the bucket). Given his athleticism, length, and strength he should have no excuse not to defend well, if he puts in the effort. Would be a very good addition as someone to spell Perk.

I wish McRae were here for one more year. If he put some time in the weight room (lower body and core especially) and wasn't pushed around so easily in the post he would have much more to offer this team. Gotta hope Bertram continues to progress as well.

[guru]

All good comments on recruiting possibilities. A number of years ago we probably would not even be in the running from some of these highly rated players. How times have changed. I am sure Cincy was able to sell Hardnett on more positives than playing in the MAC. Agree we need to go after some front court players with more athletic ability along with rebounding and defensive strength. Hopefully we can hit on another JUCO like Harris that has turned into our best player overall. Butler the JUCO center lookks like he could be a good fit. The jury is still out on Bertram but he has to get playing time next year to see if he can play at this level. McCrea does not look like he will help us in the front court next year at all. If we can hit on the recruits coming in next year it can be another exciting season. Go Bulls!!!!

[Kevin]

Let's not lower ourselves to knocking a 17/18 year old kid for making a decision to attend a P5 school, traditionally top 25, headed to the tourney every year. We had a chance, and quite frankly, he may have told our staff that chance was slim. What's more, he made the decision one day after returning from our visit. He didn't game us- he came, saw what we had to offer, and made a decision right away, which gives us a chance to look for the next future Bull.

Let's face it- these kids get five opportunities to take an official visit, and he granted us one of only two he took. That weekend was his time as well. I doubt he came here having already made the decision. I love Buffalo, but most people from out of town aren't clamoring for late February visits.

Not knocking his decision to go to a P5 school at all. Not in the slightest. Completely fine with that.

I just followed accounts close to his coach/team/scouts for a while, he had Cincinnati all but chosen prior to this weekend's visit. That's all, a more obvious version than normal. Also, VC had 7/7 on their prediction for a reason too. Follow it, you'll see. He was tweeting about getting "coveted so he took a trip".

Once again, i'm not the team or management, I can feel slighted by the process. It's sometimes not the kid, rather the parents too. By all accounts I was told UB has used 5 out of 7 campus visits, and they are struggling to figure out how to fit in their visits now with the 7 visit cap (according to someone who covers the team).

Carlton Bragg took a visit.

Grad transfer is a high option, a 1 year skilled player to add to the team at its best, next year. However, that bet could cost us the future of bigs and only leave Brock on the team.

[BrooklynBull]

Just out of curiosity when did the American Athletic Conference become a Power 5 conference?