NC State’s 2012 Recruiting Class Might Be Overrated, But It Doesn’t Matter…
Posted by KCarpenter on November 16th, 2011Last week, we talked about a survey of one hundred Division I coaches, where each was asked a variety of questions about their peers, specifically about their aptitude for recruiting. While it was an interesting glimpse into the world of reputations, the most intriguing tidbit had to do with NC State’s new head coach, Mark Gottfried. In many quarters, Gottfried was being hailed for already lining up one of the best recruiting classes in the nation, a remarkable feat for a new coach. With Rodney Purvis, T.J. Warren, and Tyler Lewis all lined up for the coming year, all seemed well in Raleigh.
Then of course, came the results of the survey in question, where Gottfried was named the third-most overrated recruiter in college basketball. This was interesting news, and I began to wonder what the coaches knew about Gottfried that the general public didn’t. It turns out that Gottfried might not actually be the issue, but rather the class that he has assembled. Buried in CBS Sports signing day coverage was an article where Goodman and Jeff Borzello answer a number of questions about next year’s incoming class. In a few separate instances, the two raised doubts and landed a few backhanded blows when talking about the Wolfpack’s recruits.
Is Rodney Purvis Overrated?
Borzello named Purvis the most overrated player in the class, despite later lauding him as the “best first recruit.” Goodman named NC State as having the best incoming backcourt, but threw in the tidbit that it was mainly because he felt no particular group of players stood out. He also added that he felt that all three of the Wolfpack’s incoming class were potentially overrated. These comments seem to indicate that perhaps the reason the coaches felt Gottfried was overrated as a recruiter was simply because the players he landed weren’t actually as good as had been reported.
Checking on the Recruiting Services Consensus Index(RSCI) ratings posted in September, it seemed that there were a number of outlier opinions with respect to each of these players. For Purvis, five out of six services rated him as somewhere between the #15 and #18 recruit in his class, while Rivals had Purvis ranked as #7. Similarly, for Warren five out of six services slotted him between #20 and #24, while MaxPreps placed him as #30. For Lewis, there was less consensus, with PrepStars ranking him #51 and MaxPreps ranking him #76. Seeing the variety of opinions for each of the players and assuming the worst, it seems possible NC State’s class may be somewhat overrated. It appears next to certain that Rivals has overrated Purvis, although no one seems to doubt that he’s a top twenty player.
That’s the crux of the issue for me: While the class that Gottfried assembled may not be as good as advertised, it still looks like he snagged three of the best hundred players in the country. If Purvis is the fifteenth-best instead of the seventh-best, does that really mean all that much for the long-term fortunes of the Wolfpack? Heck, it might even mean that he sticks around a little longer.
As a State fan, I honestly could care less whether or class is a touch overrated. As was stated in this article, is there a HUGE disparity between guys a few rungs on the ladders of varying recruiting services? Probably not.
My larger issue, that you’ve touched on here, is that we constantly see folks like Goodman, Parrish and his ilk take subtle or sometimes not-so-subtle digs at our program. Their narrative has always been that State fan is unreasonable; they ran off Herb Sendek after 5-straight NCAA trips and should know their role in their neighborhood.
During the coaching search this offseason, they made no bones about their stance, even joking at one point–after several candidates passed on the job–that Debbie Yow should see if Herb wants his old job back.
Parrish wrote his infamous column about how State is the third Kardashian sister (again…know your role; State fans are unreasonable) and how the State job was “the worst best paying job in America.” His contention, and most national pundits, hinges in large part on State’s supposed inability to compete on the recruiting trails with Duke and North Carolina right up the road.
Flash forward six months. In a short time, Gottfried has worked wonders on the recruiting trail in landing three fantastic recruits and are solidly in the mix for a fourth, Amile Jefferson. This, of course, flies directly in the face of their theory that proximity to Duke and UNC will hinder State’s ability to recruit at a high level, so what do they do? They downplay the strength of the class to the best of their ability.
Naturally, they can’t outright claim that all of State’s signees SUCK. However, Goodman made the amazing claim that ALL THREE of State’s signees were overrated. Wow! Imagine that! Among a collection of the top 100 players in the class, State found a way to pick three who were ALL overrated. That’s got to be some kind of record.
I would ask Goodman if he’s ever made similar comments about another recruiting class…where the ENTIRE class is overrated. My guess is he wouldn’t be able to find another instance in the annals of his writing.
Goodman and Parrish are obviously good at what they do covering the sport, but at some point–particularly for Parrish–things got personal with regards to how they cover State. My guess is it started with the treatment of Herb–a good man who was very giving to the media (nothing wrong with that, btw). State fans, God love us, will respond passionately to any perceived slight (hence this diatribe) and from there, it was on. They had found their “bear” and were bound to poke it with a stick any at turn.
And that’s fine when you’re a random blogger, but Parrish and Goodman purport to be “journalists.” Maybe I’m old school, but I was taught that emotional involvement with your subject leads to bad journalism, and clearly Parrish and Goodman cannot report on things relating to NC State devoid of their emotions. Consequently, it leads to poor and questionable writing on their parts.
I’m just happy someone outside the walls of our “asylum” took note of it.
Best comment I have ever seen in a comment box. And true. Hope either one of those no talent hacks read.
I will never understand the sports media’s fascination with Herbert Sendek. ??? I mean, what gives with that? Oh too, I meant to say, while he was at NC State, of course. Strange, but since Herb’s exit to the desert, things seemed to have chilled drastically with respects to the reporting of how Herb possesses such a great mastery of all things coaching. Herb is a decent man, and that’s all well and good, but so is my neighbor, and he works in a hardware store.
The sports media, or at least the ones like Goodman here, seem to have this ongoing storyline imprinted into their cerebral cortex that keeps telling them that not only is NC State unworthy of someone like Herb Sendek, but their fans are a bunch of morons who cannot come to grips with the convenient cubbyhole that some of the media’s handywork was instrumental in creating to begin with. Now they cannot seem to turn off that switch in their brains, and they are apparently deadset on perpetuating their own line of pure BS.
Eh well, maybe they’ll come to a game some day, or maybe they’ll even go so far as to read what the NCAA’s lead investgator REALLY said after all of the smoke cleared many moons ago. Then maybe, just maybe, they’ll begin to gain some true understanding of why NC State is, was, and always has been, capable and worthy of all those banners, including TWO of the National Championship variety, as well as worthy of our undying loyalty as college sports fans.