Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 12:37:52 06/18/24 Tue
Are you/we talking about Elsie Harrington? I thought he was a four-star recruit, not a marginal prospect.
I thought your earlier characterization of what might be Coach Amaker's "new" strategy was insightful. If you are correct, he is essentially trying to implement a second generation of the "One and Done" approach first sold to NBA-bound recruits by John Calipari, "I make no pretense about keeping you for more than a year. We are not starting a relationship; this will be a one-night stand. In return for your giving me what I want, I will surround you with other NBA-level talent, then make a lot of phone calls on your behalf and otherwise sell you to NBA general managers. You get what you want, I get what I want."
Your characterization of Coach Amaker's strategy basically takes the same approach but replaces the acronym "NBA" with the acronym "BCS" or Power Four or Top 25 program.
This strategy carries its own risks, BUT what I like about is, if the recruit turns out to be slightly worse than the fanfare suggests or he is a bit slower to develop, he will probably still be an all-Ivy level player. Indeed, Coach Amaker has two ways to win:
(1) The four-star prospect is as good as advertised or better, tears up the League for one or two years, and then transfers to Georgetown or Michigan.
(2) The four-star prospect ends up performing more like a three-star and is "merely" second-team all-Ivy, but sticks around for four years, beating up on Yale and Princeton for a full career. He never makes it to the big time or the NBA, but will go down in the record books as an outstanding Ivy League player.
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