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Zeke Nnaji's Visit

The last time I spent significant time on campus, I was with my daughter looking over the campus for their aerospace program. Of course we were on the main engineering campus and we stopped by Mackey to talk with the volleyball coach. My daughter even noticed the sex discrepancy. It is pretty obvious on campus.
 
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There are only 30-40 schools capable of landing a 5* player not 330-340(Purdue is one of them).

I'm guessing you arent in sales as a profession are you? For a given product, good salesmen will outsell poor salesmen every time.

Imo, Purdue should be recruiting on the same level as schools like IU, OSU, Missouri, and Vanderbilt.
This is not particularly for you, but if you know...please answer. It is for anyone that actually knows so I can understand things a bit better.

In many threads over the years there exists player comparisons, recruiting class comparison and coaching comparisons. There appears to be some continuous composite number scheme that essentially reduces to a more discrete ranking or star power. I understand that although the error may be large the general direction of playing capabilities aligns with the stars and possibly less standard error the smaller the category of ranking maybe found in a 5 star versus 2 star? What I don't know and would like to know since this gets mentioned a lot, is what criteria is measured and the weighting of each criteria so I understand the numbers...or star power.

There are a lot of variables in play for player effectiveness and have never truly understood when I see a number or score what I was seeing? Is this understood by anyone...and if so I would like to understand the variables being measured and the weighting of the variables to see if one player with a lower score might be better in certain circumstances than higher scores for a better understanding that just knowing more star power typically means a better player than lower star power. Its kinda like sitting in teh stands and hearing someone say we need to score more or keep them from scoring so fast or why doesn't Jimmy shoot as many 3s as Joe and so on.
 
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Being an iu fan, and possibly an iu grad, I can understand your difficulty with translating those percentages into real world numbers.
For example, iu has 33,000 undergrads, Purdue 31,000
iu: 16,170 males/16,830 female
PU: 17,670 males/13,330 female
Put another way, in a large class with 100 students, do you think a recruit is going to notice there are 14 more males than females in the room?
Unless you're taking a recruit on a tour of the engineering departments, a recruit isn't going to notice the m/f ratios.

LOL - true that as an IU grad I am not a mathematician, though I've worked in the financial services industry.

True (I assume); the engineering department at Purdue skews the numbers and recruits aren't going to sit in an engineering classroom.

However, a recruit is going to notice the general campus dynamic and surroundings during a walking tour of the area, at restaurants, and at an attended sporting event. And that dynamic looks a little different at Purdue than at some schools. IU has 18% more women than Purdue.

Also, the reputation (earned or imagined) as a "fun" school, or as a school with attractive and a high percentage of women can contribute to confirmation bias that can reinforce perceptions during a campus visit.
 
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The mental gymnastics we are all going through in this thread to try and figure out what sways a recruit is a thing to behold.

Now imagine being a coach trying to figure that out while also competing against the "blue bloods" that hare pitching the same thing but have a few FFs to back them up. That thought alone is reason enough for me to be glad I'm not a coach.
 
The mental gymnastics we are all going through in this thread to try and figure out what sways a recruit is a thing to behold.

Now imagine being a coach trying to figure that out while also competing against the "blue bloods" that hare pitching the same thing but have a few FFs to back them up. That thought alone is reason enough for me to be glad I'm not a coach.

This thread now has very little to do with Purdue's recruitment of Zeke Nnaji, but it's a pretty good discussion in and of itself.
 
Not true. Being a starter at PU, playing in a great arena, on TV, with great fan support and facilities is 100 times better than sitting on the bench at UNC, Duke or Kentucky. And if our coaching staff can't sell a starting position over a bench position, then we've really got problems in recruiting.

With all due respect, I disagree with your assessment. If I won a National Championship, I would not have a problem with coming of the bench.

So you cannot say that another person's opinion is "not true" when that person's opinion is not the same as yours.

Neither opinion is wrong.......it is what it is...just two varying opinions.
 
The mental gymnastics we are all going through in this thread to try and figure out what sways a recruit is a thing to behold.

Now imagine being a coach trying to figure that out while also competing against the "blue bloods" that hare pitching the same thing but have a few FFs to back them up. That thought alone is reason enough for me to be glad I'm not a coach.
yeah, it would be much easier determining the prettiest lady in Indiana. Now, once you get your recruits...find the button of each to get them to a level higher than they imagined.
 
You realize we are talking about 17 year old high school kids, right? You talk like these 5 star kids are arrow straight and only focused on the game. They are not. Two coaches make almost equally attractive offers. So what then do they use to decide where to play?

Why would they not notice how the campus looks, or the urban decay in downtown Lafayette? You say they don't care. Well if all things are equal, you might find making a choice starts to hinge on the little things like how isolated and insular the Purdue campus is compared to some of these other schools.

You are right, Chicago is 2 hours away, and it takes an hour and a half to get to Indianapolis. That is not like Villanova in Philly, or UM actually in Ann Arbor. That is exactly what I mean. That disadvantage is real. It almost stopped me from going to the school. I happen to enjoy the urban environment, and there is damned little of it in west Lafayette. Your dismissive approach to this particular issue is a pretty weak argument.

I can also guarantee that Purdue kids must attend tougher classes than athletes at North Carolina or Ohio State. Look back some time on what Oden took at OSU. What a joke! Even if leaving after the first year, the classes are still tougher.

Like I said, other schools who apparently land these mighty 5 star recruits may share some of the disadvantages but none of them share all of them.


I understand your post and appreciate your opinion. BUT........I hate Ann Arbor!!!
 
LOL - true that as an IU grad I am not a mathematician, though I've worked in the financial services industry.

True (I assume); the engineering department at Purdue skews the numbers and recruits aren't going to sit in an engineering classroom.

However, a recruit is going to notice the general campus dynamic and surroundings during a walking tour of the area, at restaurants, and at an attended sporting event. And that dynamic looks a little different at Purdue than at some schools. IU has 18% more women than Purdue.

Also, the reputation (earned or imagined) as a "fun" school, or as a school with attractive and a high percentage of women can contribute to confirmation bias that can reinforce perceptions during a campus visit.

What's more fun than cheering "IU SUCKS" at both football and basketball games?
 
With all due respect, I disagree with your assessment. If I won a National Championship, I would not have a problem with coming of the bench.

So you cannot say that another person's opinion is "not true" when that person's opinion is not the same as yours.

Neither opinion is wrong.......it is what it is...just two varying opinions.
You're right, and I agree. And as others have said, trying to figure out what's going on in the mind of a 17/18 year old who is being pursued by the best programs in the country is mind numbing.
I wonder if Painter ever has a heart/heart conversation with a recruit after he loses him to another program and asks what he did/didn't do that convinced the recruit that the other opportunity was better. And even if he did, would the kid be brutally honest?
 
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There are only 30-40 schools capable of landing a 5* player not 330-340(Purdue is one of them).

I'm guessing you arent in sales as a profession are you? For a given product, good salesmen will outsell poor salesmen every time.

Imo, Purdue should be recruiting on the same level as schools like IU, OSU, Missouri, and Vanderbilt.

Let's say there are 30-40 5-star recruits every year. That doesn't mean 30-40 schools get one each. No top 10 school get a 5-star recruit and then go, "we got our quota, so we are gonna stop." Ideally, a school would like 5 5-star recruits every year, one for each position. Teams like UK get multiple 5-stars. In effect, only 10-20 schools get at least one 5-star, who comes right back next year because those 5-stars are usually one-and-dones.

Other than the winning tradition and coach, Purdue really doesn't have something to offer those recruits over other schools. It's tough to get in AND stay in, weather is hard to endure, never known to be a party school, coach is fair but tough... I love Purdue but it's hard to imagine what Purdue can offer to a 17-18 years old boy, who by then would think the world of himself. The cases like the Adidas incident reduce Purdue's chance of getting one even more. We have some chance at 4-stars, but only with some luck.
 
You're right, and I agree. And as others have said, trying to figure out what's going on in the mind of a 17/18 year old who is being pursued by the best programs in the country is mind numbing.
I wonder if Painter ever has a heart/heart conversation with a recruit after he loses him to another program and asks what he did/didn't do that convinced the recruit that the other opportunity was better. And even if he did, would the kid be brutally honest?

He has had those conversations with the parents, ie Gary Harris and Malick Hall. Harris' father went to speak with him about the recruitment a few days before the announcement and Painter went to the Hall home to attempt a reversal of the decision before it was announced.
 
Let's say there are 30-40 5-star recruits every year. That doesn't mean 30-40 schools get one each. No top 10 school get a 5-star recruit and then go, "we got our quota, so we are gonna stop." Ideally, a school would like 5 5-star recruits every year, one for each position. Teams like UK get multiple 5-stars. In effect, only 10-20 schools get at least one 5-star, who comes right back next year because those 5-stars are usually one-and-dones.

Other than the winning tradition and coach, Purdue really doesn't have something to offer those recruits over other schools. It's tough to get in AND stay in, weather is hard to endure, never known to be a party school, coach is fair but tough... I love Purdue but it's hard to imagine what Purdue can offer to a 17-18 years old boy, who by then would think the world of himself. The cases like the Adidas incident reduce Purdue's chance of getting one even more. We have some chance at 4-stars, but only with some luck.
I understand that 30-40 dont get one every year haha. I'm saying there are 30-40 schools capable of landing one of the top 25 players in a recruiting class. My point was that teams like Chicago State have no chance of landing a 5* (although I believe Biggie had them in his final 5 ???).
 
I understand that 30-40 dont get one every year haha. I'm saying there are 30-40 schools capable of landing one of the top 25 players in a recruiting class. My point was that teams like Chicago State have no chance of landing a 5* (although I believe Biggie had them in his final 5 ???).
Kinda like Cleveland State was in Anthony Davis's final 5 (because they were the only ones that offered before he grew from 6'2 to 6'11).
 
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I understand that 30-40 dont get one every year haha. I'm saying there are 30-40 schools capable of landing one of the top 25 players in a recruiting class. My point was that teams like Chicago State have no chance of landing a 5* (although I believe Biggie had them in his final 5 ???).
When 6 or 7 schools regularly nab 15 of the top 25 players, no way can the remaining 33 or 34 school get one of the remaining 10 players.
 
Unprovoked snarky remarks are the best response I can expect from a math-challenged hoosier.
You should probably read the post you responded to. I clearly said 30-40 schools wont get a 5* every year, but there are 30-40 schools capable of getting a 5*(hint: not in the same year).

*I hope that was spelled out enough for you to understand*
 
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You should probably read the post you responded to. I clearly said 30-40 schools wont get a 5* every year, but there are 30-40 schools capable of getting a 5*(hint: not in the same year).

*I hope that was spelled out enough for you to understand*
Since you repeated it multiple times, list the 40 schools "capable of getting a 5*." Then we can see how often it actually happened. OK?
 
Since you repeated it multiple times, list the 40 schools "capable of getting a 5*." Then we can see how often it actually happened. OK?
You're telling me that you dont think there are 30-40 schools that have gotten a 5* in the last 5 years?
 
You're telling me that you dont think there are 30-40 schools that have gotten a 5* in the last 5 years?
You keep making the claim and calling out those who tell you the math doesn't work. So show us you aren't just here to make up numbers for absolutely no good reason. Provide the list that you are so certain exists that you feel you can be an arrogant ass about it.
 
You keep making the claim and calling out those who tell you the math doesn't work. So show us you aren't just here to make up numbers for absolutely no good reason. Provide the list that you are so certain exists that you feel you can be an arrogant ass about it.
From the 2014-2018 classes the following schools have landed a 5* player:

Duke
UNC
Oregon
UK
Kansas
IU
Western Kentucky
Vandy
Maryland
LSU
Nevada
Missouri
Illinois
Florida
Wake Forest
UCLA
Nova
Texas
Arizona
Alabama
Michigan St
UNLV
Miami
Louisville
Oklahoma
Washington
NC State
Fla State
Auburn
UNC
Gonzaga
California
Miss St
UNLV
Marquette
Purdue
Uconn
South Carolina
SMU
Seton Hall
Ohio State
Syracuse
Georgetown

That's 43 schools. Apparently I underestimated when I said 30-40.
 
To those of us that are Purdue fans, that may be true, but you're not a recruit so there is no way you can know how Hall, as an example, viewed it. IMO Boilerscuz is probably closer to the truth about it all than not. I mean the evidence is in schools that are picked over us.

I think equating recruiting to sales is a bad analogy and it's more likely in line with selling your house. Assuming the "house" is the recruit, you take the best offer on the table. I would bet that every pitch he got told him he could play immediately for the school recruiting him. So basically everyone is giving the same "offer", from there it is up to the recruit to pick what he feels is the best one. Just like when you put your house up for sale.

I do have to ask, with as much certainty of the recruiting process that you seem to think you have, I ask have you ever gone through it? Or rather since going through it today I imagine is different than 30 years ago, have you had kids go through it? I'm not asking to be snarky, I am genuinely curious.


My son went through it. and like a lot of recruits we chose the school that offered us the most money and an opportunity for him to start immediately.

he had a bunch of division 2 basketball offers. but they basically came with a financial package of about $10,000 and a school cost over $40,000. Rather than paying out $30,000 a year just to play college basketball, we took the offers that offered an academic scholarship to pay his entire tuition and fees which saved me a lot of money. he narrowed it down to U of Illinois, and SIU. SIU also offered him an opportunity to start as a freshman on their track team. So he took their offer over of Illinois.

our decision was based first on money, and then a chance to play immediately. He may not play for a BIG 10 team, but he competes and fairs well against them. The indoor track season is about to start !
 
As for education and harder classes, I would add, I changed majors and schools at Purdue several times. I was never an engineering major, but I was in the school of Science as a math /computer science major and took the basic chemistry 2 semesters and calculus 4 semesters. Those were very tough courses. I switched to become an education major. and some of those courses were easier than my senior high classes. As a freshmen, you can take a foreign language, math for education majors, English, psychology, music appreciation, and a swimming class and bowling and be considered a full time student working toward your degree. and if you had a foreign language in high school and didn't test out, the first three semesters at Purdue are a piece of cake as are the math courses for education majors. Rather than trying to test out, I took the classes for the easy A's. music theory and philosophy are also very nice, easy courses to take as are all of the swimming classes.

if you are an elite athlete, and only plan to be a one and done, you can find a very easy academic workload in many of the majors at Purdue that are not part of the Science, Pharmacy, Management and Engineering schools. Eugene Parker was in several of my classes. He'd show up the first day and for the final. Double standard ?
 
On another topic, has anyone heard of Zeke is going to be making a UNC trip? Heard they were supposed to be deciding early this week. If he does, I’d say that really hurts our chances, but if he doesn’t, then something hopefully resonated with him and his dad from the Purdue visit. Ol’ Roy was trying to take the weekend away from purdue by coming when they returned home from WL.
 
On another topic, has anyone heard of Zeke is going to be making a UNC trip? Heard they were supposed to be deciding early this week. If he does, I’d say that really hurts our chances, but if he doesn’t, then something hopefully resonated with him and his dad from the Purdue visit. Ol’ Roy was trying to take the weekend away from purdue by coming when they returned home from WL.

Haven’t seen anything. I’ve been refreshing Twitter pretty unhealthily looking for any sort of update and still there’s nothing.
 
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As for education and harder classes, I would add, I changed majors and schools at Purdue several times. I was never an engineering major, but I was in the school of Science as a math /computer science major and took the basic chemistry 2 semesters and calculus 4 semesters. Those were very tough courses. I switched to become an education major. and some of those courses were easier than my senior high classes. As a freshmen, you can take a foreign language, math for education majors, English, psychology, music appreciation, and a swimming class and bowling and be considered a full time student working toward your degree. and if you had a foreign language in high school and didn't test out, the first three semesters at Purdue are a piece of cake as are the math courses for education majors. Rather than trying to test out, I took the classes for the easy A's. music theory and philosophy are also very nice, easy courses to take as are all of the swimming classes.

if you are an elite athlete, and only plan to be a one and done, you can find a very easy academic workload in many of the majors at Purdue that are not part of the Science, Pharmacy, Management and Engineering schools. Eugene Parker was in several of my classes. He'd show up the first day and for the final. Double standard ?

There's simply too much money involved to have your top recruits not making it academically. I realize it does happen now and then, but it's rare. The coaches, athletic admin and athletic counselors are going to design a class schedule that a kid can handle, whether he plans on being there 4 years or 1.
 
There's simply too much money involved to have your top recruits not making it academically. I realize it does happen now and then, but it's rare. The coaches, athletic admin and athletic counselors are going to design a class schedule that a kid can handle, whether he plans on being there 4 years or 1.
Of course. We've never lost a player to academic issues, right? (sarcasm)
 
Haven’t seen anything. I’ve been refreshing Twitter pretty unhealthily looking for any sort of update and still there’s nothing.
Keeps his recruitment close to his vest. Also gives zero indication by his twitter account. CB's haven't been updated on his profile for a while. Crazy how quiet his recruitment given how soon his commitment is.
 
Keeps his recruitment close to his vest. Also gives zero indication by his twitter account. CB's haven't been updated on his profile for a while. Crazy how quiet his recruitment given how soon his commitment is.

Agreed. His social media is hard to get anything off of. I just search “Zeke Nnaji” and refresh the results for that.
 
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I might add to your one statement. North Western kids generally hang out in Evanston, which is a beautiful city on the lake with lots of interesting stores in a vibrant downtown. However, we don't often compete with NW for 5 star r ecruits.

I have lived in Evanston just a 10 minute walk from the NW campus. I used to walk through the campus and the adjoining lakefront park regularly and catch the CTA to the Loop (45 mins in non-rush hour.) The town has improved in the last 20 years but it is not a great town. Parts of it can be dangerous. The downtown is better than it was due to high-rise construction of condos - more shops and restaurants.

There are not a lot of bars and clubs in Evanston. It used to be a dry town as it was the headquarters of the Womens' Christian Temperance Union. There are some now but it is hardly party city.
 
From the 2014-2018 classes the following schools have landed a 5* player:

Duke
UNC
Oregon
UK
Kansas
IU
Western Kentucky
Vandy
Maryland
LSU
Nevada
Missouri
Illinois
Florida
Wake Forest
UCLA
Nova
Texas
Arizona
Alabama
Michigan St
UNLV
Miami
Louisville
Oklahoma
Washington
NC State
Fla State
Auburn
UNC
Gonzaga
California
Miss St
UNLV
Marquette
Purdue
Uconn
South Carolina
SMU
Seton Hall
Ohio State
Syracuse
Georgetown

That's 43 schools. Apparently I underestimated when I said 30-40.
Good job. I'm assuming you also stayed with your definition of 5* players being the Top 25.

Now the follow-up question was, what is the probability that any of the schools outside of the "short list" that dominate recruiting can get a 5* any given year.
 
Good job. I'm assuming you also stayed with your definition of 5* players being the Top 25.

Now the follow-up question was, what is the probability that any of the schools outside of the "short list" that dominate recruiting can get a 5* any given year.
That's not a probability that can be figured. All of those teams have had a 5* in the last 4 years, and surely have been heavily involved with others.
 
Being an iu fan, and possibly an iu grad, I can understand your difficulty with translating those percentages into real world numbers.
For example, iu has 33,000 undergrads, Purdue 31,000
iu: 16,170 males/16,830 female
PU: 17,670 males/13,330 female
Put another way, in a large class with 100 students, do you think a recruit is going to notice there are 14 more males than females in the room?
Unless you're taking a recruit on a tour of the engineering departments, a recruit isn't going to notice the m/f ratios.

I've argued the exact same thing elsewhere.

I was in engineering, so of course it was filled with guys. But that means that everything besides engineering is pretty close to being even.

Regardless though, the M/F discrepancy never entered my head when I was looking at schools. I was pretty focused on finding the best program for me. I was pretty sure that in a school of 40k, I could find enough girls.

I would imagine athletes think the same way. They should be looking at what is the most successful program and who can develop them the best. They're there to play basketball. And when they're not playing, I don't think players would have a hard time getting women no matter what school they go to.

The only people I've ever heard that talk about this issue are IU fans.
 
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Agreed. His social media is hard to get anything off of. I just search “Zeke Nnaji” and refresh the results for that.
I have a hunch UNC probably won’t get much consideration. But I do really worry about Kansas and possibly Arizona. Both have had premier F/C ‘s as of late. But would he be premier there? We will see.
 
There's simply too much money involved to have your top recruits not making it academically. I realize it does happen now and then, but it's rare. The coaches, athletic admin and athletic counselors are going to design a class schedule that a kid can handle, whether he plans on being there 4 years or 1.
There is only one person with that responsibility for basketball players ... Todd Foster.
 
As for education and harder classes, I would add, I changed majors and schools at Purdue several times. I was never an engineering major, but I was in the school of Science as a math /computer science major and took the basic chemistry 2 semesters and calculus 4 semesters. Those were very tough courses. I switched to become an education major. and some of those courses were easier than my senior high classes. As a freshmen, you can take a foreign language, math for education majors, English, psychology, music appreciation, and a swimming class and bowling and be considered a full time student working toward your degree. and if you had a foreign language in high school and didn't test out, the first three semesters at Purdue are a piece of cake as are the math courses for education majors. Rather than trying to test out, I took the classes for the easy A's. music theory and philosophy are also very nice, easy courses to take as are all of the swimming classes.

if you are an elite athlete, and only plan to be a one and done, you can find a very easy academic workload in many of the majors at Purdue that are not part of the Science, Pharmacy, Management and Engineering schools. Eugene Parker was in several of my classes. He'd show up the first day and for the final. Double standard ?
Have you been responsible for creating a class schedule for a freshman athlete at Purdue in the past two years? If not, everything you just typed does not apply. And yes, I have been . . . not a basketball player. Most of the classes you mention no longer apply. Many of the classes you mention will not ever be assigned to a current athlete.
 
I've argued the exact same thing elsewhere.

I was in engineering, so of course it was filled with guys. But that means that everything besides engineering is pretty close to being even.

Regardless though, the M/F discrepancy never entered my head when I was looking at schools. I was pretty focused on finding the best program for me. I was pretty sure that in a school of 40k, I could find enough girls.

I would imagine athletes think the same way. They should be looking at what is the most successful program and who can develop them the best. They're there to play basketball. And when they're not playing, I don't think players would have a hard time getting women no matter what school they go to.

The only people I've ever heard that talk about this issue are IU fans.

Athletes don’t fish in the same pond as the rest of us plebes. If that is indeed a deciding factor, they can go elsewhere. Want somebody focused on the team and the grind (but not the kind previously discussed).

When Painter really struggled (the dark years) it was because he strayed from the thpe if plyeds that made Purdue successful (as well as some health stuff of players). Scott and Ronnie were the biggest examples. They weren’t about the team. Me first guts have caused issues l. Biggie and Boogie are big time scorers but they were about the team. So you can have a big time scorer so long as they buy in.
 
Athletes don’t fish in the same pond as the rest of us plebes. If that is indeed a deciding factor, they can go elsewhere. Want somebody focused on the team and the grind (but not the kind previously discussed).

When Painter really struggled (the dark years) it was because he strayed from the thpe if plyeds that made Purdue successful (as well as some health stuff of players). Scott and Ronnie were the biggest examples. They weren’t about the team. Me first guts have caused issues l. Biggie and Boogie are big time scorers but they were about the team. So you can have a big time scorer so long as they buy in.
Painter also had to take what he could get on a recruiting budget that would embarrass Ohio Wesleyan or Western Dakota Community College.
 
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