(05-17-2023 03:56 AM)PrettyGoodRocket Wrote:  Washington State transfer Dominican wing Carlos Rosario, will make his decision May 19th. He has visited Drake and Toledo and will visit Oral Roberts.

Per a drake twitter account.

(05-17-2023 09:32 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  

(05-17-2023 03:56 AM)PrettyGoodRocket Wrote:  Washington State transfer Dominican wing Carlos Rosario, will make his decision May 19th. He has visited Drake and Toledo and will visit Oral Roberts.

Per a drake twitter account.

(05-18-2023 02:21 AM)pono Wrote:  agree with the above, although will add that Auburn and Bruce Pearl are making a late push for Baker Mazara and hosted him for an official visit today. Would probably be more utilized as a spot up shooter there and have less freedom to play his game but Pearl is an ace recruiter and Auburn, like Texas A&M, plays in the hottest league right now. TK's pitch is likely centered around him being a go to guy here vs a role player at a top 25 school, depends on what the kid wants at this point in his career. Rockets certainly in the ring w the heavyweights on this recruiting battle. We just won a fight kinda like that w Grgur, so there's reason to hope.

(05-17-2023 04:09 PM)pono Wrote:  Well, at least we (and the staff) will have more roster clarity on Friday. Baker-Mazara is the big prize but Rosario would be a nice addition. Not nearly as dynamic one on one or as physically active as Baker Mazara but has a pretty Shumate like high arching jump shot and good length and speed. Seems like he's finally over his injury issues and could be a breakout player at whichever mid major he picks.

I imagine there's another taller wing being recruited more quietly in case neither of those guys chooses UT. I really like the curiously unsigned JUCO from Toronto Hassan Abdul Hakim (was considered a top 10 JUCO before injuries derailed the latter part of his 22-23 season) an excellent passer and ballhandler at 6-8 and little stronger than those other 2 guys, although he's not as talented of a scorer. No insight on UT recruiting him other than fits the profile TK says is our priority, plays unselfish, UT is relatively close to home and he previously had committed to nearby IUPUI in 2022.

Jaylen Bates is a strong stretch 4 late portal entry grad transfer who has gotten plenty of recent mid major interest and visited a lower profile Midwest school. If we want a 1 yr rental he's a proven player (in the MEAC 40% from 3, 7 rbs per game) and good student who doesn't have any better offers than UT.

(05-19-2023 09:00 PM)Springboromark Wrote:  Drake is a solid mid major, but these are the teams UT must beat out in the recruiting wars going forward.

(05-19-2023 09:07 PM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  

(05-19-2023 09:00 PM)Springboromark Wrote:  Drake is a solid mid major, but these are the teams UT must beat out in the recruiting wars going forward.

Drake was just in the Dance this year, and again in 2021. Us? We crap the bed in the NIT. Guys want to play where they will make the NCAA tournament, and our inability to get there is starting to cost us. Bottom line.

(05-19-2023 11:50 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  

(05-19-2023 09:07 PM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  

(05-19-2023 09:00 PM)Springboromark Wrote:  Drake is a solid mid major, but these are the teams UT must beat out in the recruiting wars going forward.

Drake was just in the Dance this year, and again in 2021. Us? We crap the bed in the NIT. Guys want to play where they will make the NCAA tournament, and our inability to get there is starting to cost us. Bottom line.

Some of us have been hinting at this for a few years. TK still manages to recruit well even in the transfer portal but I think after being a HC for 20 years and never going to the NCAA tournament and winning 1 Nit game perhaps is starting to influence young men’s decision making

(05-20-2023 12:31 AM)pono Wrote:  it sucks to just miss on these two high level recruits. and as a Rockets hoops fan for 46 years I get the glass half empty response. weʻre tired of gut punches. however, i see this recruiting season very differently. this year we went after some really talented guys that we knew would be recruited by higher ranked/profile programs. Grgur, Rosales, and Baker-Marzara had a final three of 2 NCAA tourney teams and Toledo. 4 P6 tourney teams and 2 High level mid majors coming off multiple NCAA tourney years. These are the kind of recruiting battles many on this board have long been saying they want UT and TK to engage in. Odds were decent that weʻd sign 1 and low weʻd sign 2. We got 1 and just missed on a kid who had Bruce Pearl (Auburn) pouring on the charm, Buzz Williams (Tex AM) pushing hard and John Calipari on the phone. We came in 2nd or 3rd out of that group. Of course, 2nd sucks in recruiting and MAC tournaments, but Iʻd rather we go hard after a few high level recruits and lose our share, than fill out the final roster slots with low profile guys unlikely to ever make an impact. The fact that these guys went around the country to these other programs (and more) and still either chose UT or put us in their top 3 options was a great sign.

TBH the portal is getting thin. Our HS class is plenty big. Makes sense to still sign a SF type. Thereʻs a couple good portal SFs looking at the draft who could return to high level options-unlikely for us at this point. Thereʻs a couple good mid major type mid sized guys in there still but neither has the perimeter game we seek. Graduates can still transfer at any time, so the portal will get an occasional late addition of a veteran player. Thereʻs still 1 highly ranked juco SF unsigned whom Iʻve mentioned previously as he went to the Toronto area prep school we recruited Keshaun Saunders from and TK has a relationship w that program. Not the shooter of Rosales or Baker-Mazara but his overall game is comparable. A few good foreign players commit around now, and maybe thereʻs a slightly older quality player like that out there which we got an angle on. A college staff has limited recruiting resources and only a few guys at a time can be true priority recruits. I assume we got another option in the works but maybe no more than that right now.

Long term remember that TK recruits some guys largely on personality. He said he expects future top recruits to come here because of Sonny Wilson. If he has a good rookie year on the court with his off court personality heʻll be a big recruiting asset. Next portal season weʻll likely have big personality likeable guys like him, Moss, Cochran, Simmons around and weʻll win our share of the battles. Keep up-recruiting with this group, IMO.

(05-20-2023 10:49 AM)Basketball Jones Wrote:  With UT missing out on both Mazara and Rosario, and nothing we know of currently in the recruiting pipeline, that puts the “Stretch 4” position spotlight firmly on Andre Lorentson. With incremental improvement during this offseason, is that going to be good enough to help compensate for some of three-point shooting firepower that Shumate and Milner Jr. provided The Rockets the past 3 seasons. The jury is still out on rendering that verdict!