Musketeer Madness

Mario Mercurio‏@MarioMercurio2m

Congratulations to incoming Xavier freshman @BRandolph3 on coming in at #81 on Scout's Final Top 100 for 2013. http://tinyurl.com/3yjdap4

I think this is awesome for Brandon, but we'll need this kind of recruit(s) every year to be competitive in the BE.

This is not a feather in the cap, it should be expected

Calipari has all 5 positions covered in the top 17.

bleedXblue wrote:I think this is awesome for Brandon, but we'll need this kind of recruit(s) every year to be competitive in the BE.

This is not a feather in the cap, it should be expected

Frankly, I think he is better than #81 and will prove it.
Also, I bet when its all said and done that Melvin Swift is ranked higher than #81 for the '14 class.

bleedXblue, while I agree with you general premise, we all need to look at the big & historical picture. While I am not an old timer, I am definitely far from the younger X-fan generation which has only known relative success. I am an '80 grad and recall the days of Bob "Sky" King. To me, our progress has been astounding and the bar graph trend line is up from lower left to upper right. We have had some surges and dips along the way but the twenty year moving average is solidly positive. I am excited about Randolph and agree he may pan out more like a top 50 recruit, only time will tell. Jordan Crawford was a fluke for us, a transfer from IU. David "freaking" West was a late bloomer. So our best two recent players were not the traditional top 50 recruit right out of high school. That said, they served us very well and helped X maintain that upward trend to land now in BE. In short, just silly to comapre us yet to Kentucky's recruiting prowess, or even U-Conn at this point. But the trend is our friend.....

A top 25 program should get 2-3 top 100 recruits a year. I really hope X would never become an NBA, 1 yr. combine, like KY.

Clarifying my post, I was not condoning Calipari's actions. Just indirectly referring to his "freshman" team.
My opinion on him and UK is that it is a blot on the sport. Mind you, that is MY opinion and if you disagree, I will not change my mind so save the remarks.

RaiderX wrote:A top 25 program should get 2-3 top 100 recruits a year. I really hope X would never become an NBA, 1 yr. combine, like KY.

yes and definitely yes

Shadow wrote:Calipari has all 5 positions covered in the top 17.

while he might have success, how does a fanbase come to know a player if they are in an out the door in a year?

muskieman wrote:

Shadow wrote:Calipari has all 5 positions covered in the top 17.

while he might have success, but how does a fanbase come to know a player if they are in an out the door in a year?

It was just an observation, not a critique It was made with a remembrance of an anecdote posted by ChitownSteve. In case you missed it;

Last Fall, Coach Calipari was the Ray Meyer College Coach of the Year award recipient from the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. Many of those of us in attendance were struck by the irony of Coach Cal receiving an award named after Ray Meyer, a class act.

Later in the Program, a grizzled HS wrestling coach was being inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame (headliner names also being inducted were Bo Jackson and Paul Hornung), along with many other local sports luminaries.

This HS coach, who has also been an Olympic Coach, began by expressing "sorrow for Coach Calipari, because apparently, Kentucky has done away with a Varsity Basketball Team and Coach Calipari now only coaches Kentucky's Freshman Basketball team."