I think it was O'Shea's natural charm that won him over.

Not to re-beat a dead horse, but the following was posted on the OU board which I thought was interesting in light of the discussion above:

Quote:We spoke with Coach Tom Coleman of East Cleveland (OH) Shaw High earlier today, and he had high praises for his 6-5 senior point guard William Thomas. We haven't seen Thomas play yet, but he has made a name for himself in this area and now with the departure of OJ Mayo to West Virginia, he is considered by many to be the top point guard in Ohio. Coleman had an outstanding summer and capped it off with an MVP award at Five Star Camp (July 24-July 30). Coach Coleman compared his star guard to a high school version of Magic Johnson and said that he is the top passer in Ohio, knows how to get to the hoop, rebounds well, and has an improving shot (although that is the area of his game that has the most room for improvement). Thomas already has 23 scholarship offers--mostly from mid majors-- but Louisville and Pitt have took notice and will be evaluating him this season. Of the schools that have already offered, Kent St. and Ohio are his favorites at this time along with Louisville and Pitt. We will be recieving Shaw High School's schedule later this week and will be planning some trips to watch their big games, so expect more updates in the future about this big time player that won't be under the radar for long.POSTED: 9-12-2006

http://www.hoopsreport.com/news_view.php...%20Reports

BobcatFan Wrote:We spoke with Coach Tom Coleman of East Cleveland (OH) Shaw High earlier today...Coleman had an outstanding summer and capped it off with an MVP award at Five Star Camp (July 24-July 30).

So the coach had an outstanding summer and was named MVP?

Congrats OU. I'm sure he's a good get and i really did want this guy but the bigger and ultimate question is whether O'Shea can actually coach these players he has, as he hasn't proven squat to me.

I watch him and all he does is clap his damn hands and the appearance is an undiscplined team where the players run the team and run all over the coach.

Quote:I watch him and all he does is clap his damn hands

In fairness, that's not all he does.

O'Shea also jumps up and down while clapping his hands, in his best imitation of an junior high girl who just got a Justin Timberlake CD.

bopol Wrote:

flashgrad03 Wrote:With all the points being made on this topic lets remember the title of the post. #1 ranked PG chooses Ohio over Kent. It was a nice self pat on the back for the kittie cats, but bottom line, whether he "choose" OU over Kent, He wouldn't sniff playing time on the team that we have. Those of you that haven't seen Mincy, Singletary, and Sherman this year, will know why when you see them.

one more point. Why is it ok for OU fans to post inflated ratings of a player and imbelish the amount of interest we may have had, but its not ok for us to list rankings of our incoming recruits?

I don't know, if Thomas had come to Kent, JC might have gone with an all-guard lineup.

think about it..we are almost there..scott is really a 6'7' shooting guard,,knight and q are legit farwards (in the small side} sullinger we will see what he does later....look at all the farwards at the top 20 level most of them are 6'8" to 6'10" 230 +... to move to the next level you got to find some of these peaple somewhere ,somehow... lots of good players in grece ..argentina...etc...ect..this will be a great mac team but outside of that , well,you cant get pounded by 20 points from a legit top 20 team and say your making progress. when we start hanging in single digits {under 10}against osu and duke ,michigan state etc. than we can call it progress ..i know ill get lots of flack for this staments but as much as i love kent i got to be realistic we got guards ..next year is critical to get another big man from a jr, college to go with the brazilian kid..unfortunaly i dont know if there would be any scholarship available for next year..

OUBOBCATJOHN Wrote:pg William Thomas to Ohio according to Bobcatattack.com

This is a big win for Tim O'Shea. Thomas was down to Ohio and Kent State and he'll be the the 5th member of the recruiting class. Getting Thomas fills a huge need for Ohio. O'Shea pretty much landed his best recruiting class and this could be among the best school history. Bobcats found what they wanted. O'Shea has always been known as a top recruiter while at Boston College. Bobcats are now enjoying some recruiting sucess. Thomas was the #1 rated point guard in Ohio. Bobcats might be just ok this year, but the future looks much better. Thomas will sign in the late signing period. Only question is if some BCS schools try to steal him away.

You still sure he chose Ohio over Kent State?

Thomas signs with Huggins and West Virginia.

He was too good and Big East schools were loving 19 ppg and 11 rpg as a point guard with great passing skills. This kid is 6 foot 5 and would have been the answer in Athens.

Never count your chickens until they have hatched... especially when your team is in the MAC.

FlashFan Wrote:Thomas may do well. Our best player ever, Trevor Huffman, was not recruited at all.

You think Huffman was better than McGhee? He played with a whole bunch of nobodies and was awfully good. If he had the talent Huffman had around him he would have had less defensive pressure and scored even more. And how can you not mention Bruce Burden or Rick Quinn? ;-)

mlb Wrote:Never count your chickens until they have hatched... especially when your team is in the MAC.

This is also life in the MAC.....

Sat., Dec 30 2006
Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH

Bobcats: 79
Bearcats: 66

Cincinnati is not better than a MAC team. They are way over their heads in the BE. They got atleast 10 programs better than them in that conference. Football is gonna be even tougher. Their best hope is a split and BE adds 4 more teams that puts UC in the middle in football and perhaps in top half in hoops at that point. With Huggins at WV, UC will be at a disadvantage.

OUBOBCATJOHN Wrote:Cincinnati is not better than a MAC team. They are way over their heads in the BE. They got atleast 10 programs better than them in that conference. Football is gonna be even tougher. Their best hope is a split and BE adds 4 more teams that puts UC in the middle in football and perhaps in top half in hoops at that point. With Huggins at WV, UC will be at a disadvantage.

10 basketball programs better than UC in the Big East? Are you joking?

Unless Duke, UNC, UK, UCLA, etc., have joined the conference UC will be just fine. UC is a top 10 program historically, and Cronin already has UC working its way back with his 2007 recruiting class and his addition of a 5* player for 2008 already.

UC got beat by Ohio in its worst season in almost 20 years. I'm happy for you guys, it gives you something to bang your chests about. However, your team that was supposed to be the best team Ohio has had in 20 years (2005) got beat by 28 points against the 2nd worst team UC has had in damn near 20 years. UC and Ohio play again for hte next 10 UC will win 9 of those games.

UC football has its work cut out, no doubt, but UC did steal the best coach in the MAC and even if he is only around for a few years he has the chance to really make UC a Big East title competitor. He has many of the pieces in place, now he just needs a QB and a few more offensive linemen. The defense will be one of the best in college football this year, and that is a credit to Mark Dantonio.

BTW, UC was 3-0 against the MAC last season in football. Once again, who wants to be in the Big East? Maybe after you start averaging more than 4K to basketball games you can come calling. Maybe when you pass Cincinnati in football attendance (which is nothing to write home about) then you can come calling. Until then, shut your mouth and stay off the Big East board.

Edit: Explain to me why UC will be at a disadvantage with Huggins at WVU? Huggins hasn't recruited Ohio for sh!t since Cronin left for Louisville. Cronin is already locking up the top players in SW Ohio, something Huggins hasn't done for almost 10 years. I think Huggins is great, but I don't think him being at WVU will have any effect on Cronin or UC except for the cheer he gets when he returns for the first time to the Shoe.