If we sign 4 instate kids in 2016, who would you sign?

[nwahogfan1]

MONK   A given. On everyone's list.
Mitchell Smith.  I think on most of everyone's list.
Daryl Macon.  I think on most everyone's list also.

Who would be your 4th signee?
Moore?
Korita?
Willis?
Williams?

Or should we go national and not use it on an Arkansas kid?

[Seebs]

Shittu

[sickboy]

Is Arkansas deep enough to warrant signing four kids in state? I'm familiar with Monk and one or two others, but I'm not familiar with the others.

[orgkeith]

Korita will be it.

[yraciv]

Out of that list, I'd probably give it to Willis at the last minute.  Out of state, Deron Davis is ahead of everyone on that list but Monk.  Most here would take Fisher over anyone but Monk as well.  Here are a couple of other guys I'd like us to keep on the radar.
Curtis Jones 6'3 PG - Huntington Prep - work that Huntington angle, he is wide open
Miles Bridges 6'7 SF - Huntington - same deal, and Mizzou really likes him so it's always good to go into their area
Khalea Turner 6'9 PF - Findley Prep - I'm pretty high on this guy, although he is only getting 15 minutes a game this year.  Would be nice to get into the west coast prep power. If we go the Adrian Moore route they've played AAU together and he'd get us in the door.

[ricepig]

Korita will be it.

[The_Bionic_Pig]

Monk
Smith
Macon
Davis (His h.s. coach help start the AAU Arkansas Hawks)

[OnTheHillHogFan]

Shittu

He's in the 2017 class. If we offer a 4th in state guy my guess is it would be Korita

[JackJohnson]

Agim
Capps
Jones
Hammond

[presidenthog]

Agim
Capps
Jones
Hammond

I see what you did there. I like it.

[carolinahogger]

Too much focus on instate kids.  How much time do you think Krzyzewski, Calipari and Self spend worrying about whether an athlete is instate or out of state?

Sign the best players you can get.

[orgkeith]

Macon a JC recruit in MS and a LR Parkview High grad and Korita of LR Pulaski Academy are both averaging 25 pts a game and are shooters.  Monk and Smith are no brainers.  Smith will end up being highly recruited after AAU this summer.  With Macon it will come down to whether he takes care of his academics.  If he does he will be highly coveted.  We will have 5 or 6 scholarships to recruit to.  If it is 6 that extra one could very well go to Korita with two being brought in from outside the state.  None of these guys is a given for various reason, but if everything goes right and we sign the right two from say Colorado and somewhere else it could be one heck of a class.

[onebadrubi]

Too much focus on instate kids.  How much time do you think Krzyzewski, Calipari and Self spend worrying about whether an athlete is instate or out of state?

Sign the best players you can get.

Self's good teams have 2-3 one and done players.
Cal's good team has 5+ one and done's
Krzyzewski needs 1 if not 2-3 one and done's. 

Arkansas will need to have a very strong junior and sohpmore team to compete.  We have to recruit, build, and coach to compete. 

When we can get a Brewer, Johnson, Portis, and hopefully Monk, we need to have a good upperclass to support these guys. 

[carolinahogger]

Duke's last NC team (2010) was headlined by Jon Scheyer (Sr), Nolan Smith (Jr) and Kyle Singler (Jr).  There was not a one and done on the squad.  No great future NBA players on the team either.  So that is a fair model of the type of team that Arkansas can build.

There are different ways to approach having great teams.  One and done vs developing 4 year players?  I don't care, but you must have the best players.  And over reliance on instate talent is an artificial restraint to put on your team. 

Arkansas can recruit nationally if they are willing to do the work and build up to it.  Look no further than our football program to prove that.

[Huds_HawgTide]

Adding 4 to jones i would take agim, capps, hardwick, and thomas...all defense

[The_Bionic_Pig]

Duke's last NC team (2010) was headlined by Jon Scheyer (Sr), Nolan Smith (Jr) and Kyle Singler (Jr).  There was not a one and done on the squad.  No great future NBA players on the team either.  So that is a fair model of the type of team that Arkansas can build.

There are different ways to approach having great teams.  One and done vs developing 4 year players?  I don't care, but you must have the best players.  And over reliance on instate talent is an artificial restraint to put on your team. 

Arkansas can recruit nationally if they are willing to do the work and build up to it.  Look no further than our football program to prove that.

When Arkansas can seperate loyalty to asst. Coaches vs getting a strong recruiter to be very aggressive on the AAU circuit ....only then can we as a program stop being reliant upon family connections + JUCO's/Transfers to fill in where the instate crop isn't sufficient enough.

[nwahogfan1]

Out of that list, I'd probably give it to Willis at the last minute.  Out of state, Deron Davis is ahead of everyone on that list but Monk.  Most here would take Fisher over anyone but Monk as well.  Here are a couple of other guys I'd like us to keep on the radar.
Curtis Jones 6'3 PG - Huntington Prep - work that Huntington angle, he is wide open
Miles Bridges 6'7 SF - Huntington - same deal, and Mizzou really likes him so it's always good to go into their area
Khalea Turner 6'9 PF - Findley Prep - I'm pretty high on this guy, although he is only getting 15 minutes a game this year.  Would be nice to get into the west coast prep power. If we go the Adrian Moore route they've played AAU together and he'd get us in the door.

Those names are sweet.  I would love to sign a 6'7 long armed athletic shooter in 2016 class.  Thanks.   Do you think we are recruiting any of those guys and what chances do you give us???

[nwahogfan1]

Too much focus on instate kids.  How much time do you think Krzyzewski, Calipari and Self spend worrying about whether an athlete is instate or out of state?

Sign the best players you can get.

I agree but the top 3 guys from Arkansas are very good.  The 4-6 should come from out  of state but I am not sure who yet.

[nwahogfan1]

Monk
Smith
Macon
Davis (His h.s. coach help start the AAU Arkansas Hawks)

Would love Davis but do we really have a great shot here??  Davis will be widely recruited.

[The_Bionic_Pig]

Would love Davis but do we really have a great shot here??  Davis will be widely recruited.

If Arkansas can involve Mike Conley in his recruitment it would be a major coupe

[yraciv]

Would love Davis but do we really have a great shot here??  Davis will be widely recruited.

We've been in the conversation since day 1. He has come to our elite camps and has the Arkansas Hawks ties.  I can't assure you he'll come, but I'm pretty sure we'll be on the table when he makes his decision.  If Monk is already on board, the program keeps moving forward, and Bobby Portis is off to the NBA I like our chances.

[mhuff]

Too much focus on instate kids.  How much time do you think Krzyzewski, Calipari and Self spend worrying about whether an athlete is instate or out of state?

Sign the best players you can get.

[mhuff]

Those names are sweet.  I would love to sign a 6'7 long armed athletic shooter in 2016 class.  Thanks.   Do you think we are recruiting any of those guys and what chances do you give us???

My thoughts exactly..... however, more succinctly, asap.

[Grizzlyfan]

Too much focus on instate kids.  How much time do you think Krzyzewski, Calipari and Self spend worrying about whether an athlete is instate or out of state?

Sign the best players you can get.

But we aren't Duke, Kentucky or Kansas.  If there are players in-state that are good enough to play at Duke, Kentucky or Kansas the Hogs really, really need to sign them.

[Hawg Red]

I'd take Lawson Korita as a 4th Arkansas signee.

We're looking at 5-6 open spots for the 2016 class. We have 5 players right now that will be seniors next year. If Portis does come back, I'd imagine it would be his last year. We'd be very lucky to get 3 years out of him. That bumps it up to 6 spots. There's definitely room for 3 Arkansas kids in Monk, Smith, and Macon. There's probably room for one more in Korita, but I don't see an all-Arkansas signing class, so Korita is probably a fall-back for an out-of-state player. But I think Monk, Smith, and Macon have spots available to them (well, I'm not sure Macon has an offer yet but that's normal for a JUCO freshman).

[Hawg Red]

I agree but the top 3 guys from Arkansas are very good.  The 4-6 should come from out  of state but I am not sure who yet.

Agreed. The top 3 Arkansas prospects in that class are totally worthy of a scholarship. A couple of the remaining kids wouldn't be bad if we missed out on higher targets. Also, let's not forget about Kahron Ross at Lehigh. Was just named 3rd team All-Patriot League as a freshman. We've seen Alandise Harris and Dusty Hannahs both transfer back home and into the program after proving themselves for a couple of seasons at D1 programs. Ross is certainly proving himself and maybe Anderson would take him on as a transfer after next year if he an extra spot. Not saying this is something I've heard because it's not. Just speculation and some hopefulness on my part. I think Ross would help the program as a reserve guard.

[ricepig]

Agreed. The top 3 Arkansas prospects in that class are totally worthy of a scholarship. A couple of the remaining kids wouldn't be bad if we missed out on higher targets. Also, let's not forget about Kahron Ross at Lehigh. Was just named 3rd team All-Patriot League as a freshman. We've seen Alandise Harris and Dusty Hannahs both transfer back home and into the program after proving themselves for a couple of seasons at D1 programs. Ross is certainly proving himself and maybe Anderson would take him on as a transfer after next year if he an extra spot. Not saying this is something I've heard because it's not. Just speculation and some hopefulness on my part. I think Ross would help the program as a reserve guard.

As a Hog fan and Jonesboro fan, I'd love nothing better, but I don't see Kahron transferring back. I think Korita gets an offer after this summer if he has a good one.

[JackJohnson]

Duke's last NC team (2010) was headlined by Jon Scheyer (Sr), Nolan Smith (Jr) and Kyle Singler (Jr).  There was not a one and done on the squad.  No great future NBA players on the team either.  So that is a fair model of the type of team that Arkansas can build.

There are different ways to approach having great teams.  One and done vs developing 4 year players?  I don't care, but you must have the best players.  And over reliance on instate talent is an artificial restraint to put on your team. 

Arkansas can recruit nationally if they are willing to do the work and build up to it.  Look no further than our football program to prove that.

That's not really a good model to use.  That Duke team was flat out loaded as they had 6 McDonald's AA's, 5 5*'s and 5 4*'s.  All but 1 were top 40 overall players in their respective classes

Top 10 scorers from that team.  Rankings according to Scout.  * denotes McDonald's All American

*Jon Scheyer 5* #20 Overall player in 2006
*Kyle Singler 5* #6 overall player in 2007
*Nolan Smith 4* #26 overall player in 2007
Brian Zoubek 4* #38 overall player in 2006
Miles Plumlee 4* #40 overall player in 2008
*Lance Thomas  5* #18 overall player in 2006
Andre Dawkins 4* #40 overall player in 2009
*Mason Plumlee 5* #18 overall player in 2009
Olek Czyz  4* #93 overall player in 2008
*Ryan Kelly 5* #12 overall player in 2009

[carolinahogger]

That's not really a good model to use.  That Duke team was flat out loaded as they had 6 McDonald's AA's, 5 5*'s and 5 4*'s.  All but 1 were top 40 overall players in their respective classes

Top 10 scorers from that team.  Rankings according to Scout.  * denotes McDonald's All American

*Jon Scheyer 5* #20 Overall player in 2006
*Kyle Singler 5* #6 overall player in 2007
*Nolan Smith 4* #26 overall player in 2007
Brian Zoubek 4* #38 overall player in 2006
Miles Plumlee 4* #40 overall player in 2008
*Lance Thomas  5* #18 overall player in 2006
Andre Dawkins 4* #40 overall player in 2009
*Mason Plumlee 5* #18 overall player in 2009
Olek Czyz  4* #93 overall player in 2008
*Ryan Kelly 5* #12 overall player in 2009

Depends on how you look at it.  Players are not allowed to take their recruiting service stars onto the court. 

The fact is that Duke team did not have one player who was as good as Portis.  Not a single one.  I followed that team closely because one of my daughters was a Junior at Duke that year.  What they put on the court was a solid group of well-coached veterans who knew how to play as a team.  In that respect, it is a perfect model of what we can strive for.

[Hawg Red]

Rice, why don't you see the possibility of Ross transferring back?

[ricepig]

Rice, why don't you see the possibility of Ross transferring back?

I just figure that after a couple of years up there he'll be too entrenched to transfer back. I know he wanted to play for the Hogs, but there never was much, if any interest from Mike. Truthfully, I could see him coming back to ASU if Swift replaced Brady, not that that's ever going to happen.

[Dominicanhog]

Monk
Smith
Macon
Davis (His h.s. coach help start the AAU Arkansas Hawks)

Quite the list.. anyway you find a spot for Fisher?  would be a program changing haul.