Recruiting 2024 Offers

I think t will be a good mix of International and transfer portal augmented by a couple traditional recruits. I’m not as concerned as some but its not like he is not still recruiting. The staff made an offer just the other day and i am surprised it hadn’t been posted here or I hadn’t seen it on here.
 

Brandon Jennings lists offers from Louisville and us recently but has no recruiting profile on any of the major crooting sites that I can see. Louisville offered him 2 days ago and we offered him 3 days ago, has a bunch of low major offers too. St. Chris PG, Team Loaded.
 
Ramdog said:
It’s portal or bust for VCU going forward
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It's not a bad way to go, but there's a little voice in the back of my head that says (perhaps illogically, but certainly displaying a lot of paranoia) that it's the way a coach does things when they don't plan to stick around.
 
Ramdog said:
It’s portal or bust for VCU going forward
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There are teams out there that have been doing this for the last 5-10 years. Baylor, Texas Tech are a couple that come to mind.

Portal works both ways, although part of me is going to miss, Kern, Nunn Watkins, De Loach.
 
No one is saying RO and staff are not recruiting. They are in fact recruiting and I believe recruiting pretty hard. Most of the conversation has been with respect to top 150 and other elite recruits. This is the life blood of any program at our level. There is no question that it's "getting on" somewhat in terms of securing visits from top prospects leading up to the early signing period. My best guess is that we are probably looking at International prospects, prep prospects, and hitting the portal. In spite of NIL I still think there is an opportunity to recruit quality high school players. I think that option is still there. Going to have to work it hard but I think it's still there. I am still hopeful that we can come out of the early period with a couple of high quality recruits. It's just been very quiet.
 
As an incoming new basketball coach at VCU, Ryan Odom has probably faced more hurdles/challenges than any other new incoming head coach at VCU. He has had to fill 7 out of 9 open spots on the roster due to 7 players transferring out and also losing two others to graduation. And make no mistake about it, the "no sit" rule for first time players entering the transfer portal and NIL definitely were major factors in most, if not all, of those players transferring (McAllister being the exception). Yes, he brought two of his Utah State players with him (plus Conner Odom as a walk-on), but he had to hit the transfer portal hard in order to field a team for the upcoming year. And yet, he found the time to recruit Belle and the German kid from Europe. And both would have been first year freshmen this year. Coach Odom had to get his shop in order before he could begin focusing on VCU basketball long term, and he has done a remarkable job doing that in less than 6 months on the job. And still, VCU is being projected as a top 4 team in the A-10 this year with so many new moving parts.

Personally, I think some posters on these boards need to cut Coach Odom some slack. He has had to replace the top 7 scorers from last year's team and the bulk of the minutes played from last year's team. That's a pretty tall order to accomplish. Outside of Zeb Jackson starting 5 games last year, the only other returning VCU player to start a game last year is Tobi Lawal, and he only started one game. Yet, Coach Odom has put together a competitive roster on paper for the upcoming season. My hat is off to the man! He hasn't even been here for a full recruiting cycle and posters are questioning his recruiting ability. Seriously?????????????? :roll: :roll: :roll:
 
Wolfpack Ram said:
As an incoming new basketball coach at VCU, Ryan Odom has probably faced more hurdles/challenges than any other new incoming head coach at VCU. He has had to fill 7 out of 9 open spots on the roster due to 7 players transferring out and also losing two others to graduation. And make no mistake about it, the "no sit" rule for first time players entering the transfer portal and NIL definitely were major factors in most, if not all, of those players transferring (McAllister being the exception). Yes, he brought two of his Utah State players with him (plus Conner Odom as a walk-on), but he had to hit the transfer portal hard in order to field a team for the upcoming year. And yet, he found the time to recruit Belle and the German kid from Europe. And both would have been first year freshmen this year. Coach Odom had to get his shop in order before he could begin focusing on VCU basketball long term, and he has done a remarkable job doing that in less than 6 months on the job. And still, VCU is being projected as a top 4 team in the A-10 this year with so many new moving parts.

Personally, I think some posters on these boards need to cut Coach Odom some slack. He has had to replace the top 7 scorers from last year's team and the bulk of the minutes played from last year's team. That's a pretty tall order to accomplish. Outside of Zeb Jackson starting 5 games last year, the only other returning VCU player to start a game last year is Tobi Lawal, and he only started one game. Yet, Coach Odom has put together a competitive roster on paper for the upcoming season. My hat is off to the man! He hasn't even been here for a full recruiting cycle and posters are questioning his recruiting ability. Seriously?????????????? :roll: :roll: :roll:
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I don't think (or at least I hope not) anyone is questioning Odom's recruiting quality and the monumental job he had when he was hired. I think they're just wondering why there hasn't been more activity on the recruiting front for next year.
 
RAMification said:
No one is saying RO and staff are not recruiting. They are in fact recruiting and I believe recruiting pretty hard. Most of the conversation has been with respect to top 150 and other elite recruits. This is the life blood of any program at our level. There is no question that it's "getting on" somewhat in terms of securing visits from top prospects leading up to the early signing period. My best guess is that we are probably looking at International prospects, prep prospects, and hitting the portal. In spite of NIL I still think there is an opportunity to recruit quality high school players. I think that option is still there. Going to have to work it hard but I think it's still there. I am still hopeful that we can come out of the early period with a couple of high quality recruits. It's just been very quiet.
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I am probably closest to saying that.

When was the last time you saw any of our coaches at one of the AAU events? When was the last time we saw our coaches on a home visit? Was there any effort to fill out the 2023 roster, even knowing that JBam was unlikely to play? How many HS kids have we offered for 2024 (which as you have said is just about done) or 2025? How many official visits for 2024 have we had? (None, I believe is the correct answer). How many visits have we scheduled for 2025? (None, again, is the number you are looking for). Look at our 247 recruiting page; if our peers' pages are a collection of novels, ours is a haiku.

Reporting on international kids is sparse, but when was the last time we had a visit or any discernible interest reported? That would be Belle. In fact, since we got a public commitment from Belle in May, we have done next to nothing visible in the recruiting world.

Odom may have this all figured out. I mean that; he's the expert and I know nothing about what he is doing that isn't visible. He may be playing 3-D chess. He will be judged on his results, not on how many tweets show the staff out and about, and you get no gold stars for activity.

But all of the schools we used to compete head to head against? All the schools we considered to be our peers. and the ones we aspired to treat as peers? They are all visibly recruiting. We are not. It is clear that VCU recruiting as we have always known it is over. We aren't doing what our peers are doing. At all.

As for the job Odom did last spring, it was very impressive as I said at the time. Circumstances and hard work combined to cobble together a strong roster. But that is yesterday's news. Recruiting doesn't stop. You can't reap what you do not sew and sitting on the porch and saying "the lord will provide" is not a strategy.
 
N Mollen said:
I am probably closest to saying that.

When was the last time you saw any of our coaches at one of the AAU events? When was the last time we saw our coaches on a home visit? Was there any effort to fill out the 2023 roster, even knowing that JBam was unlikely to play? How many HS kids have we offered for 2024 (which as you have said is just about done) or 2025? How many official visits for 2024 have we had? (None, I believe is the correct answer). How many visits have we scheduled for 2025? (None, again, is the number you are looking for). Look at our 247 recruiting page; if our peers' pages are a collection of novels, ours is a haiku.

Reporting on international kids is sparse, but when was the last time we had a visit or any discernible interest reported? That would be Belle. In fact, since we got a public commitment from Belle in May, we have done next to nothing visible in the recruiting world.

Odom may have this all figured out. I mean that; he's the expert and I know nothing about what he is doing that isn't visible. He may be playing 3-D chess. He will be judged on his results, not on how many tweets show the staff out and about, and you get no gold stars for activity.

But all of the schools we used to compete head to head against? All the schools we considered to be our peers. and the ones we aspired to treat as peers? They are all visibly recruiting. We are not. It is clear that VCU recruiting as we have always known it is over. We aren't doing what our peers are doing. At all.

As for the job Odom did last spring, it was very impressive as I said at the time. Circumstances and hard work combined to cobble together a strong roster. But that is yesterday's news. Recruiting doesn't stop. You can't reap what you do not sew and sitting on the porch and saying "the lord will provide" is
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I hear you. I too am concerned with respect to the seemingly lack of connectivity to high-quality recruits. While it's "getting on", I still have faith that we can pull off a good recruiting year in terms of quantity and quality. That said, when you have at least 4 and likely more scholarships to fill you really need to nail at least 2 elite recruits in the early signing period. It's difficult at best to fill that number of scholarships in the late period with elite recruits in terms of prep players. That would likely mean you have to harvest the portal heavily once again. Perhaps that is the strategy. Perhaps the coaches feel like they need to rely on the portal once again for 2024 and will focus on prep players for 2025 and beyond. Time will tell. I have great faith in Ryan and know he must have a plan.
 
RAMification said:
Perhaps the coaches feel like they need to rely on the portal once again for 2024 and will focus on prep players for 2025 and beyond.
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This is what I'm assuming. It may be that, in general, Odom and his staff think that they're better off hitting the portal than developing freshman who may leave after two years for a P5 conference.
 
t23e3 said:


He's also visiting L
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t23e3 said:


He's also visiting Louisville.
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Brandon is a very intriguing prospect. He was one of the notable "stock risers" this summer and his recruitment is really taking off. He is a 6'4" PG with great length, exceptional athleticism, can score on all 3 levels, is tough and has a high basketball IQ. He is also a very good defender. On the academic side he boasts a GPA well over 4.00. Last year at St. Christopher's he averaged 18ppg., 7 boards, 5 assists, and 2 steals. He and his brother Willie are 2 sport stars(BB and FB) having transferred from Prince George High a couple of years ago to St. Christophers. Willie is a star defensive back and has committed to Christopher Newport. While Brandon plays WR and DB in football his future is on the hardwood. Brandon was MVP of the Henrico Holiday Hoops Tournament last year. So far his offers include VCU, Louisville, Richmond, W&M, Radford, Penn., Navy, Colorado State, and Harvard among others. Brandon is just turning 18 and it looks like he is really coming into his own. He has a lot of upside.

Of interest, Brandon's mother has both an undergraduate degree and Master's from VCU. This is a very hard working and outstanding family.
 
RAMification said:
I hear you. I too am concerned with respect to the seemingly lack of connectivity to high-quality recruits. While it's "getting on", I still have faith that we can pull off a good recruiting year in terms of quantity and quality. That said, when you have at least 4 and likely more scholarships to fill you really need to nail at least 2 elite recruits in the early signing period. It's difficult at best to fill that number of scholarships in the late period with elite recruits in terms of prep players. That would likely mean you have to harvest the portal heavily once again. Perhaps that is the strategy. Perhaps the coaches feel like they need to rely on the portal once again for 2024 and will focus on prep players for 2025 and beyond. Time will tell. I have great faith in Ryan and know he must have a plan.
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Replying to the thread here, not just RAMification. I'm going to say the jury is not still out, but really hasn't even convened yet. We are too early in to have gathered enough evidence.
We know how recruiting has worked here for a long time, but the whole scene has changed and our coaching staff has changed.
Recruiting may be very different now, but could still be fruitful.
We know that Odom has done well with recruits from over seas, our one freshman this year is from England and played in France and appears to be very good, maybe even impactful this year.
The Jennings guy above looks like he could be really good and is just starting to blow up.
I'm thinking this year we will see two portal guys and two high school guys (who may not be playing a lot right away).
Next year we will still have Max, Zeb, Wheeler, Tobi, Fermin, Fats, Nelson, Belle, Bam and Obi, without the always now expected transfers.
We can win a lot of games with that line up.
Maybe those who say there is no longer any future for recruiting guys out of high school for a program like VCU are right and that's the direction VCU is headed. If so, we will be waiting until spring to get an idea of the guys staying, and the new guys coming in.
It's a new world.
 
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