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There are some really high-level local basketball prospects Cincinnati is targeting which we've talked about in other threads. Thought I'd start an official thread though since I didn't see one.

Top 2022 targets as of now

PG - Paul McMillan (4 stars, #48 nationally): https://247sports.com/player/paul-mcmillan-46080322/

SG - Bowen Hardman (3 stars, NR nationally): https://247sports.com/player/bowen-hardman-46086602/

C - Shawn Phillips (4 stars, #46 nationally): https://247sports.com/player/shawn-phillips-46086323/

I would love to see Cincinnati land at least two of these kids, I think we might be the team to beat for McMillan and Hardman.

Hardman with the between the legs dunk as a sophomore, kid looks like he has more potential besides being just an elite shooter. #hometownhero?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B14MOKOngyG/

Who is the dude from Newport who is balling in this class?

Brannen can build a winner without any of these three but I really believe he needs to land one or two of them to energize our own fanbase, put the spotlight back on the Bearcats and engage a next generation among whom a Sweet Sixteen was the pinnacle of UC hoops success--while they were still in elementary school by the way.

sux. hopefully because he didn't think he was good enough to play here and jb's got something better cooking anyways. all coach has to do is win and we'll get these players. jb comes to the cincinnati program when the region is terribly fertile and there's nothing he can do about it. when the entire big ten coalesces around your talent you at least get to see the writing on the wall early. bowen's a 22. i already forget the moeller kid's name is 21. plenty of time to make the championship go thru cincinnati

(05-13-2020 08:08 PM)Tymanh99 Wrote:  Bowen Hardman just committee to O$U.. wow

That combined with the Kiner news stings, no matter how we want to spin it. I really believe in our current situation for both programs, our best chance to take the next step is to first be able to secure the high end local talent. I thikk JB is going to have to show more than what was presented this previous year to start attracting a bunch of top 100 guys, local or not.

(05-13-2020 10:35 PM)Lush Wrote:  sux. hopefully because he didn't think he was good enough to play here and jb's got something better cooking anyways. all coach has to do is win and we'll get these players. jb comes to the cincinnati program when the region is terribly fertile and there's nothing he can do about it. when the entire big ten coalesces around your talent you at least get to see the writing on the wall early. bowen's a 22. i already forget the moeller kid's name is 21. plenty of time to make the championship go thru cincinnati

Logan Duncomb

If we manage to pull Paul MacMillan, nothing else will matter. Kid is special.

(05-14-2020 08:11 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(05-13-2020 10:35 PM)Lush Wrote:  sux. hopefully because he didn't think he was good enough to play here and jb's got something better cooking anyways. all coach has to do is win and we'll get these players. jb comes to the cincinnati program when the region is terribly fertile and there's nothing he can do about it. when the entire big ten coalesces around your talent you at least get to see the writing on the wall early. bowen's a 22. i already forget the moeller kid's name is 21. plenty of time to make the championship go thru cincinnati

Logan Duncomb

If we manage to pull Paul MacMillan, nothing else will matter. Kid is special.

Duncomb was particularly head scratching to me because 1) UC had a massive void at his position such that he could have come in and played 20 minutes from day one, 2) Brannen put in the effort recruiting him, and 3) he went to go play for Archie Miller of all coaches. Who knows how their careers work out but adding McMillan would surely open the doors for more local kids in the future.

Not gonna lie, it's hard to recruit to the AAC. UConn leaving for the Big East does us no favors and we are an Under Armour school. We need to get used to making more out of less. Top 80 - 200 prospects is where we are going to make our mark. Plenty of talent left in the 2021 and 2022 classes.

(05-14-2020 08:11 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(05-13-2020 10:35 PM)Lush Wrote:  sux. hopefully because he didn't think he was good enough to play here and jb's got something better cooking anyways. all coach has to do is win and we'll get these players. jb comes to the cincinnati program when the region is terribly fertile and there's nothing he can do about it. when the entire big ten coalesces around your talent you at least get to see the writing on the wall early. bowen's a 22. i already forget the moeller kid's name is 21. plenty of time to make the championship go thru cincinnati

Logan Duncomb

If we manage to pull Paul MacMillan, nothing else will matter. Kid is special.

I feel the same way. If (and when) Brannen gets that signature recruit locally, it will be a tipping point for some other top talent in the metro and the tri-state area.

(05-14-2020 09:53 AM)UCbball21 Wrote:  Not gonna lie, it's hard to recruit to the AAC. UConn leaving for the Big East does us no favors and we are an Under Armour school. We need to get used to making more out of less. Top 80 - 200 prospects is where we are going to make our mark. Plenty of talent left in the 2021 and 2022 classes.

Yeah, I'm not going to sweat it if we swing and miss on 5-star guys. If we pull multiple top 200 recruits each class with some guys in the 50-100 range sprinkled in, we'll have plenty of talent. One-and-done type players aren't really in our wheel house, although I certainly would never turn one down.

(05-13-2020 10:35 PM)Lush Wrote:  sux. hopefully because he didn't think he was good enough to play here and jb's got something better cooking anyways. all coach has to do is win and we'll get these players. jb comes to the cincinnati program when the region is terribly fertile and there's nothing he can do about it. when the entire big ten coalesces around your talent you at least get to see the writing on the wall early. bowen's a 22. i already forget the moeller kid's name is 21. plenty of time to make the championship go thru cincinnati

I'm satisfied with Brannen's recruiting so far, but he's going to have to make some waves with the players he has before the recruiting can take the next step forward.

(05-14-2020 11:26 AM)Former Lurker Wrote:  

(05-13-2020 10:35 PM)Lush Wrote:  sux. hopefully because he didn't think he was good enough to play here and jb's got something better cooking anyways. all coach has to do is win and we'll get these players. jb comes to the cincinnati program when the region is terribly fertile and there's nothing he can do about it. when the entire big ten coalesces around your talent you at least get to see the writing on the wall early. bowen's a 22. i already forget the moeller kid's name is 21. plenty of time to make the championship go thru cincinnati

I'm satisfied with Brannen's recruiting so far, but he's going to have to make some waves with the players he has before the recruiting can take the next step forward.

Agree. And as much as people don't like to hear it, we've taken second class status in our own city, much less our own state. Much of that is the conference piece, but it's also a function of only having made two sweet sixteens in this century. Ohio State has had four in the last decade, and X has had four. Relationships matter. Conferences matter. Scheme matters. But the one thing we haven't had in a while is relevance in the NCAA tournament. Just making it there won't cut it.

(05-14-2020 08:19 AM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote:  

(05-14-2020 08:11 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(05-13-2020 10:35 PM)Lush Wrote:  sux. hopefully because he didn't think he was good enough to play here and jb's got something better cooking anyways. all coach has to do is win and we'll get these players. jb comes to the cincinnati program when the region is terribly fertile and there's nothing he can do about it. when the entire big ten coalesces around your talent you at least get to see the writing on the wall early. bowen's a 22. i already forget the moeller kid's name is 21. plenty of time to make the championship go thru cincinnati

Logan Duncomb

If we manage to pull Paul MacMillan, nothing else will matter. Kid is special.

Duncomb was particularly head scratching to me because 1) UC had a massive void at his position such that he could have come in and played 20 minutes from day one, 2) Brannen put in the effort recruiting him, and 3) he went to go play for Archie Miller of all coaches. Who knows how their careers work out but adding McMillan would surely open the doors for more local kids in the future.

Kelley is a WAY better Business School than Lindner...I feel like that may have played a factor in his recruitment. Plus, despite recent changes, there is a stigma, right or not, to UC Basketball that has show some difficulty getting over for local recruits in the past (specifically Kennard).

Way too much teeth gnashing for a guy who played third fiddle on a middle of the road GMC team

this isn't the forum for you. Remember when everybody was "why would Cronin offer Jaxon Hayes, who averaged 1.4 ppg and 1 rpg?"

CJB needs a string of Sweet 16's OR a Elite 8 or deeper run to take the next step in recruiting.
The Athletic article about Dejulius tells me he knows how to recruit and lay everything out for the player. That can only go so far without on court results. Unfortunately he hasn't had a chance to prove himself in the Tourney yet at UC.

Posts 12-15 all share some very cogent points in this discussion. Winning isn't everything but it overcomes lots of other challenges. If this truly becomes Brannen's team this season we'll see lots of wins, exciting play and a postseason. Nine straight NCAA appearances was great but teams advancing to the Sweet Sixteen with some frequency definitely earn a higher profile.

Honestly, as much turnover as Osu has ad the past several years the likelihood of a guy going there and playing 4 years is low. He's had a heck of a lot of turnover.

Here's an OSU article about Bowen Hardman's commitment: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-stat...t#comments

Sounds like we were neck and neck with OSU, but Hardman made a connection with Chris Holtmann that reminded him of his late father. That's tough to compete against, but I wish him all the best. Living in Columbus, I hear a lot of Holtmann interviews/press conferences on the radio, and he seems like a quality person.