From his HS videos, Jermaine Lawrence projected to be a Josh Jackson type of player. He looked really really good on tape. He got here and he sucked. Sometimes guys don't pan out. Jermaine Lawrence exhibit 1a. Shaq Thomas (albeit a contributor to some extent) exhibit 1b.

The other side of the coin is a guy like Jarron Cumberland. Kid was nails this year and there is no reason to believe he won't get better.

(03-21-2017 04:21 PM)JFlight21 Wrote:  Literally the only impressive play Lawrence had his entire freshman year was the pump fake, drive and dunk against New Mexico. Nothing else he did suggested he would develop into anything more than a Darnell Wilks type. He was vastly overrated...

Looking at his stats at Manhattan seems to confirm just how overrated he was.

Dude looks like a lost case.

Assuming he was, then isn't that a knock on Cronin's recruiting ability? Rather than ability, maybe the better way to put it would be his eye for talent.



mc

Starting lineup when Troy and Kevin were Freshmen was:

Guyn JR
Kilpatrick SR
Thomas SO
Rubles SR
Jackson SR

That team won because SK was a First Team AA and was elite defensive team.

The starting lineup the year after Troy and Kevin graduate:

Broome R-JR
Cumberland SO
Evans JR
Clark SR
Washington R-SR

The offensive (and overall) talent has gone way up in four years.

Next year UC has a 4 star wing coming in who just won MVP of one of the best high school leagues in the country in NYC. One of the best shooters in the class, and an athletic center who no one has really seen play (hence not being ranked).

I wouldn't pay too much attention to recruiting rankings...Caupain was the third highest rated recruit in his class (behind Johnson, and Lawrence), Quadri Moore was rated higher than Gary Clark when both committed, Evans was only rated as the 99th overall player in this class, Shaq Thomas, Darnell Wilks, Anthony McClain were all 4 stars while guys like Sean Kilpatrick, Jaquon Parker, and Dion Dixon were three stars.

Hell if memory serves me correctly this year's POY Frank Mason wasn't a very highly rated recruit either.

(03-21-2017 04:40 PM)marcuscan Wrote:  

(03-21-2017 04:21 PM)JFlight21 Wrote:  Literally the only impressive play Lawrence had his entire freshman year was the pump fake, drive and dunk against New Mexico. Nothing else he did suggested he would develop into anything more than a Darnell Wilks type. He was vastly overrated...

Looking at his stats at Manhattan seems to confirm just how overrated he was.

Dude looks like a lost case.

Assuming he was, then isn't that a knock on Cronin's recruiting ability? Rather than ability, maybe the better way to put it would be his eye for talent.



mc

Not necessarily. What Jermaine had going for him, was his explosiveness and his length. The staff probably thought he would be a very gifted power forward. The problem, is that he wouldn't have projected at the NBA level as such, because he's only like 6'8.
Once the kid is on campus, you have people in his ear, you have his father coming down with whatever it was and he feels like he's out of position... That's not something you can really calculate, just by watching him play in high school. Everybody has an occasional miss. These past few years, Cronin has landed some very nice talent. Although Nysier Brooks is a project, he has a ridiculous ceiling. Cumberland is probably the second best player from Ohio in his class and arguably, one of the best freshmen in the country. No, he's not one and done, but to play with that poise and that ability? It's unusual. Likewise, Evans was and still is very gifted. He's on par with the best of 3's in the country and Clark has been a very, very good PF.

The issue is, unless we're seeded favorably(which looking at our part of the bracket, it's LOADED. UK, UNC and UCLA) it's going to be hard to go on a run. We were deep we were talented and we hit a team with 2-3 NBA picks including a probable all-star on it. I don't think recruiting is the issue. As far as recruiting is to be concerned, compare those I just mentioned to Sanders, Guyn, Thomas and Ellis. Not knocking them, but between the typical recruits and the transfers(Washington and Broome) we're on the uptick. I know people don't want to hear it, but there's only so much you can do.

(03-21-2017 04:40 PM)marcuscan Wrote:  

(03-21-2017 04:21 PM)JFlight21 Wrote:  Literally the only impressive play Lawrence had his entire freshman year was the pump fake, drive and dunk against New Mexico. Nothing else he did suggested he would develop into anything more than a Darnell Wilks type. He was vastly overrated...

Looking at his stats at Manhattan seems to confirm just how overrated he was.

Dude looks like a lost case.

Assuming he was, then isn't that a knock on Cronin's recruiting ability? Rather than ability, maybe the better way to put it would be his eye for talent.



mc

Misses happen and considering at one time he had an offer or look from the elite programs and was a can't miss according to the recruiting gurus, you can't blame mick. He likely had the tools to mold but maybe refused to work hard and didn't have the drive to improve. You can try to push, but if someone doesn't have the drive, nothing you can do.

Remember Lawrence missed most of his senior year. Had he played his recruiting ranking probably would have dropped before he got here.

(03-21-2017 05:14 PM)BcatMatt13 Wrote:  Starting lineup when Troy and Kevin were Freshmen was:

Guyn JR
Kilpatrick SR
Thomas SO
Rubles SR
Jackson SR

That team won because SK was a First Team AA and was elite defensive team.

The starting lineup the year after Troy and Kevin graduate:

Broome R-JR
Cumberland SO
Evans JR
Clark SR
Washington R-SR

The offensive (and overall) talent has gone way up in four years.

Next year UC has a 4 star wing coming in who just won MVP of one of the best high school leagues in the country in NYC. One of the best shooters in the class, and an athletic center who no one has really seen play (hence not being ranked).

I wouldn't pay too much attention to recruiting rankings...Caupain was the third highest rated recruit in his class (behind Johnson, and Lawrence), Quadri Moore was rated higher than Gary Clark when both committed, Evans was only rated as the 99th overall player in this class, Shaq Thomas, Darnell Wilks, Anthony McClain were all 4 stars while guys like Sean Kilpatrick, Jaquon Parker, and Dion Dixon were three stars.

Hell if memory serves me correctly this year's POY Frank Mason wasn't a very highly rated recruit either.

Completely agree.

(03-21-2017 04:40 PM)marcuscan Wrote:  

(03-21-2017 04:21 PM)JFlight21 Wrote:  Literally the only impressive play Lawrence had his entire freshman year was the pump fake, drive and dunk against New Mexico. Nothing else he did suggested he would develop into anything more than a Darnell Wilks type. He was vastly overrated...

Looking at his stats at Manhattan seems to confirm just how overrated he was.

Dude looks like a lost case.

Assuming he was, then isn't that a knock on Cronin's recruiting ability? Rather than ability, maybe the better way to put it would be his eye for talent.



mc

According to 247 Lawrence was a top 25 player out of highschool. There were a lot of people giving high marks to this kid. Sometimes, for a multitude of reasons it just does not work out. I think Mick still has a very good eye for talent.

Jermaine Lawrence was an extremely talented oddity with a big head and a group of handlers that wouldn't get out of his way. He wanted to be the only 6'9" shooting guard in college basketball who couldn't shoot the three ball and, as pretty much everyone with any sense of reason knew, was a forward in every sense of the word.

I don't fault Mick for bringing Lawrence in, the raw talent spoke for itself and he could have been a great forward at UC. But when you have someone so resistant to playing the position that everything pointed to him playing, when the square peg refuses to fit in the square hole, what can Mick really do?

With the uncertainty at the OSU program, I wonder of there is has been any discussions with Darius Bazley about changing his commitment. We definately owe the suckeyes for stealing Jamar Butler.

They'd just throw Damon Flint back at us.