The unofficial online home for fans of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

How does UC Bearcats basketball coach Mick Cronin approach recruiting? He never stops.

Pretty fun read as Mick lets his hair down a bit (figuratively speaking of course) on the highs and lows and ins and outs of his recruiting for UC all the way back to the Huggs years.

Add another "what might have been.." had they landed Kemba Walker? Not only for UC, but it would have in all likelihood taken away a Nat'l C'ship from UConn.

(02-01-2019 02:01 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  How does UC Bearcats basketball coach Mick Cronin approach recruiting? He never stops.

Pretty fun read as Mick lets his hair down a bit (figuratively speaking of course) on the highs and lows and ins and outs of his recruiting for UC all the way back to the Huggs years.

Good article, thanks for sharing

Cronin's approach is clearheaded and realistic. Is it too cynical, though? If you compare recruiting rankings to results, he gets more out of less than just about any coach in the country. Can he get Cumberlands without losing out on the underrecruited guys he's built this program with?

(02-01-2019 02:01 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  How does UC Bearcats basketball coach Mick Cronin approach recruiting? He never stops.

Pretty fun read as Mick lets his hair down a bit (figuratively speaking of course) on the highs and lows and ins and outs of his recruiting for UC all the way back to the Huggs years.

No sense torturing yourself looking back at what could have been. But I know that feeling all too well. It is neat to hear his thought process. We sit here trying to nitpick, it sounds like he's just looking for brawlers/people who really want to win. Neat article.

(02-01-2019 02:30 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  Add another "what might have been.." had they landed Kemba Walker? Not only for UC, but it would have in all likelihood taken away a Nat'l C'ship from UConn.

All the might have beens over the years...Lew Alcindor, Cazzie Russell, Mike Pratt, LaSalle Thompson, Dennis Hopson, and I'm sure many more.

(02-01-2019 04:26 PM)cmhcat Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 02:30 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  Add another "what might have been.." had they landed Kemba Walker? Not only for UC, but it would have in all likelihood taken away a Nat'l C'ship from UConn.

All the might have beens over the years...Lew Alcindor, Cazzie Russell, Mike Pratt, LaSalle Thompson, Dennis Hopson, and I'm sure many more.

Surprised Mick didn't mention Mateen Cleaves along with Kemba. Might have to check the timing on that - maybe Mick wasn't the coach recruiting him at that point.

(02-01-2019 04:19 PM)levydl Wrote:  Cronin's approach is clearheaded and realistic. Is it too cynical, though? If you compare recruiting rankings to results, he gets more out of less than just about any coach in the country. Can he get Cumberlands without losing out on the underrecruited guys he's built this program with?

He stayed on Jarron because he knew he was in position to get him. Same with Gary and Jake when P5 programs started to push. What he doesn't do is hang around once he knows it is heading in a different direction. I can really only think of one highly ranked guy he backed off on who he probably would have had a great shot at if he stayed involved...

A really neat stat is the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th all time scorers at UC have Cronin ties...

But he don’t know offense.

And he can’t get talent.

(02-02-2019 12:43 AM)Bearcatbdub Wrote:  A really neat stat is the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th all time scorers at UC have Cronin ties...

But he don’t know offense.

And he can’t get talent.

True( Kilpatrick,Logan and Vaughn) but that is a function of amount of games played and the three point shot. All time leading scorers by average are Oscar, Batts , Bonham and Fortson. Many others like Twyman, Cummings, Dickey and McClendon all had much higher career averages than anyone with Cronin ties.

In addition to Kemba, Mick was going to pull in a Trey Burke before a late Michigan offer....

(02-01-2019 05:22 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 04:26 PM)cmhcat Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 02:30 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  Add another "what might have been.." had they landed Kemba Walker? Not only for UC, but it would have in all likelihood taken away a Nat'l C'ship from UConn.

All the might have beens over the years...Lew Alcindor, Cazzie Russell, Mike Pratt, LaSalle Thompson, Dennis Hopson, and I'm sure many more.

Surprised Mick didn't mention Mateen Cleaves along with Kemba. Might have to check the timing on that - maybe Mick wasn't the coach recruiting him at that point.

According to legend (and it may be just a legend) Ed Badger was about to pull in both Danny Manning and Dennis Hopson before he was fired.

(02-01-2019 04:26 PM)cmhcat Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 02:30 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  Add another "what might have been.." had they landed Kemba Walker? Not only for UC, but it would have in all likelihood taken away a Nat'l C'ship from UConn.

All the might have beens over the years...Lew Alcindor, Cazzie Russell, Mike Pratt, LaSalle Thompson, Dennis Hopson, and I'm sure many more.

Went to Walnut Hills with LaSalle Thompson...he was in my gym class (swimming). He couldn't swim very well. Skeeter Barnes was in my art class. I transferred to IHHS after 8th grade.

Had no idea they would each develop into professional athletes.

That was a LONG time ago...

(02-01-2019 02:30 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  Add another "what might have been.." had they landed Kemba Walker? Not only for UC, but it would have in all likelihood taken away a Nat'l C'ship from UConn.

Wish they'd held onto Devin Downey...

Almost had Mayo and Walker as well...

(02-02-2019 11:26 AM)chatcat Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 05:22 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 04:26 PM)cmhcat Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 02:30 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  Add another "what might have been.." had they landed Kemba Walker? Not only for UC, but it would have in all likelihood taken away a Nat'l C'ship from UConn.

All the might have beens over the years...Lew Alcindor, Cazzie Russell, Mike Pratt, LaSalle Thompson, Dennis Hopson, and I'm sure many more.

Surprised Mick didn't mention Mateen Cleaves along with Kemba. Might have to check the timing on that - maybe Mick wasn't the coach recruiting him at that point.

According to legend (and it may be just a legend) Ed Badger was about to pull in both Danny Manning and Dennis Hopson before he was fired.

I remember all the rumors on these; NCAA prevented Lasalle Thompson but the one I think we were really close to and wonder "what if" was Cazzie Russell. We were a blue blood in college basketball for about a decade then pulling in top five ,top ten national players and I think it came down to us , UCLA and Michigan at last minute for Russell. I have read that if we had won the 3rd National Championship game in a row he would have come and maybe we could have had the long run instead of the Bruins.

(02-02-2019 10:26 AM)JFlight21 Wrote:  In addition to Kemba, Mick was going to pull in a Trey Burke before a late Michigan offer....

I have heard of all these, including Kareem.
Hashem Thabeet was another recent one.

Let’s make things happen now! We have the arena, we have an identity, we have a coach who gets the tournament every year. We just need a couple top 50-75 players / yr.

(02-02-2019 11:26 AM)chatcat Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 05:22 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 04:26 PM)cmhcat Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 02:30 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  Add another "what might have been.." had they landed Kemba Walker? Not only for UC, but it would have in all likelihood taken away a Nat'l C'ship from UConn.

All the might have beens over the years...Lew Alcindor, Cazzie Russell, Mike Pratt, LaSalle Thompson, Dennis Hopson, and I'm sure many more.

Surprised Mick didn't mention Mateen Cleaves along with Kemba. Might have to check the timing on that - maybe Mick wasn't the coach recruiting him at that point.

According to legend (and it may be just a legend) Ed Badger was about to pull in both Danny Manning and Dennis Hopson before he was fired.

Badger was very tight with Manning and his father Ed, but iirc Kansas pulled the Ol' Hire the Dad trick not long before signing day. So I don't think we'd have gotten him in the end unless maybe Badger would have hired Ed first. But otherwise yeah we were the leader for Manning when Badger was fired.

My Hopson recollection is a little hazier, but I think we were the long time leader for him as well (perhaps even getting a commitment) before OSU came in with a late offer and he switched.

Those are just my recollections, maybe others have more details on both situations.

(02-02-2019 11:58 AM)ZCat Wrote:  

(02-02-2019 10:26 AM)JFlight21 Wrote:  In addition to Kemba, Mick was going to pull in a Trey Burke before a late Michigan offer....

I have heard of all these, including Kareem.
Hashem Thabeet was another recent one.

Let’s make things happen now! We have the arena, we have an identity, we have a coach who gets the tournament every year. We just need a couple top 50-75 players / yr.

Lew Alcindor, from Power Memorial in NYC was down to UC and UCLA...……..what if.

(02-02-2019 12:09 PM)chatcat Wrote:  

(02-02-2019 11:58 AM)ZCat Wrote:  

(02-02-2019 10:26 AM)JFlight21 Wrote:  In addition to Kemba, Mick was going to pull in a Trey Burke before a late Michigan offer....

I have heard of all these, including Kareem.
Hashem Thabeet was another recent one.

Let’s make things happen now! We have the arena, we have an identity, we have a coach who gets the tournament every year. We just need a couple top 50-75 players / yr.

Lew Alcindor, from Power Memorial in NYC was down to UC and UCLA...……..what if.

UCLA was paying large amounts of cash to players in those days. Might have been the difference maker.

(02-01-2019 07:13 PM)GameTime_21 Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 04:19 PM)levydl Wrote:  Cronin's approach is clearheaded and realistic. Is it too cynical, though? If you compare recruiting rankings to results, he gets more out of less than just about any coach in the country. Can he get Cumberlands without losing out on the underrecruited guys he's built this program with?

He stayed on Jarron because he knew he was in position to get him. Same with Gary and Jake when P5 programs started to push. What he doesn't do is hang around once he knows it is heading in a different direction. I can really only think of one highly ranked guy he backed off on who he probably would have had a great shot at if he stayed involved...

Can anyone fill in who Chad is hinting at?