Yogi Bear said:
SFCityBear said:
SFCityBear said:
Yogi Bear said:
BB- everything. Recruiting vastly overrated.
Not bad on TV though.
Just curious: Why do you say B+ recruiter? How would you rate Cuonzo Martin's recruiting?
I meant to ask YogiBear why he felt Ben Braun was a B- recruiter, not B+
Circus King
Donte Smith (Section 7 BELIEVES in you)
Nick Vanderlaan
Gabe Hughes
Salius Kuzminskas
Erik Bond
David Paris
Jordi Geli (worst on this list - a Wyking level recruit)
Eric Vierneisel
Kevin Langford
Nikola Knezevic
Jordan Wilkes
Taylor Harrison
Um
Circus King was Todd Bozeman's last recruit, a transfer from San Diego State, came to Cal, sat out the 1997 season, and began playing for Ben Braun in the following season.
Nick Vanderlaan averaged 9 points and 7 rebounds at a freshman at Cal. That is a lot better than freshmen Kingsley Okoroh (2 pts, 2 rebs), Kam Rooks (1 pt, 2 rebs), Richard Solomon (6 pts, 4 rebs), or Solomon Hughes (3 pts, 2 rebs). Then there was Darrall Imhoff (ineligible as a freshman) who averaged 1 point and 1 rebound as a sophomore, and we all know what he became at Cal. Wyking Jones would probably love to have a center as good as Nick Vanderlaan show up as a Cal recruit.
David Paris may have been a miss, but he was a top 100 recruit, and turned down offers from Ohio State and Michigan to come to Cal.
Jordi Geli a Wyking level recruit? What is this, you aren't satisfied with bashing Ben Braun, but now you want to bash Wyking as well in the same thread. You didn't like 4* Darius McNeill? Or 4*Justice Sueing? WJ had bad misses on Winston and McCullogh, but the jury is still out on Anticevich. It was one helluva a better first time ever recruiting class for a Cal coach than say the all-star recruiter Cuonzo Martin had in his first season at Cal. Okoroh and Chauca? Give me a break. And you don't like 4* Jacobi Gordon, or 4* Matt Bradley, and 3* Andre Kelly and 3* Conor Vanover? Did you just get up on the wrong side of the bed? Go ahead, tell us what Cal coach was a good recruiter for you, or if you don't have one, tell us who is your dream recruiter who you want for Cal coach? Yanni Hufnagel? Since there is a vast difference between McNeill and Sueing vs Winston and McCullogh, I'd like to hear what your definition is of a "Wyking level recruit." I can hardly wait.
Taylor Harrison was ranked #89 in the country, and was a tough hard-nosed player, until his career was cut short by injury. Wyking and many of us would love to have someone like him at Cal right now.
And if you are going to use players like King who Braun never recruited and and injured players like Harrison to accuse Braun of being a B- recruiter, then you ought to add Braun's recruit, Sam Rayburn, #2 ranked player in Oregon in 2004, to the list as well. He got injured and his career ended before he could play one minute for Cal.
He are some recruiting positives for Braun:
Leon Powe, ranked #9 in the nation, injured, missed a year at Cal, 5 year NBA career
Jamal Sampson, #23 in the nation, 5 year NBA career
Ayinde Ubaka, #35, nice career at Cal
Patrick Christopher, #38, nice career at Cal, a PAC10 title, short time in the NBA
Brian Wethers, #50, nice career at Cal, G-League
Omar Wilkes, #55, good career at Cal
Jamal Boykin, #60, good Cal career, one PAC10 title
Jerome Randle, #85, excellent player for Cal, a PAC10 title, 3 year G-League career, still playing
Devon Hardin, #86, decent Cal career, injured much of one season
Marquise Kately, #89, decent Cal career
Taylor Harrison, #89, averaged 7 minutes as a frosh, injury ended his career.
Dennis Gates, #92
Richard Midgley, #93, had a fine career at Cal
Joe Shipp, #7 Small Forward, fine career at Cal
Ryan Anderson, unranked, fine player for Cal, 10 year NBA career
Dominic McGuire, unranked, decent player for Cal, 6 year NBA career
Francisco Elson, unranked, decent Cal player, 9 year NBA career
Amit Tamir, foreign recruit, unranked, had fine career at Cal
Rod Benson, #3 ranked center recruit on West Coast, good Cal career, D-league All-Star, still playing
Sean Lampley, #15 small forward in nation, great Cal career, 2 year NBA career
Geno Carlisle, unranked, decent career at Cal, one year in NBA
Ryan Forehan-Kelly, unranked, good career at Cal, 2 year G-league, still playing
Theo Robertson, unranked, good Cal career, a PAC10 title. Led nation in 3pt% for much of one season.
Harper Kamp, unranked, missed a year with injury, but good last 2 years at Cal,
Omondi Amoke, 3* recruit, decent player at Cal, kicked off team, one PAC10 title
Thomas Kilgore, unranked, decent player for Cal
Mike Gill, unranked, good player for Cal
Carl Boyd, unranked, decent player for Cal
Solomon Hughes, unranked, decent player for Cal
Shantay Legans, unranked, decent player for Cal
Martin Smith, unranked, decent player for Cal
Tashaan Forehan-Kelly, unranked, not very good at Cal, but transferred to Pepperdine, where he averaged 16 points per game
The hits far outweigh the misses, IMO.
I think Braun may have had a hand in the early recruiting of Max Zhang and DJ Seely. Seely was a flop, and Max was not very good but he did get crowds somewhat excited. Another player who was not so good, but entertained us was A.J. Diggs, who could steal a ball from just about anyone, any time he wanted to, or so it seemed.
Finally, I think credit should be given to Ben Braun: He was hired to take over a program at its lowest point, a program that was in the toilet, going on probation over bribes made by Todd Bozeman, clean the program up, make it squeaky clean, and bring us back to respectability. He did that. As for recruiting, can you imagine trying to recruit when your team has just been banned from the NCAA tournament for a year, and the NCAA took 2 scholarships away from your team for each of the following two years? So three tough recruiting years to start with for Ben Braun, and he did well to land the players he did, IMO.