Brice Was the Best PF Recruit We Offered in 2012

[What Would Jesus Do?]

It may have taken him 4 years to break out but he was pretty darn good as a junior and helped the team earlier.

Look at who we might have gotten instead! We offered:

Nerlens Noel - picked Kentucky - good as a frosh but not great; injured and missed the stretch run; jumped to the NBA as a frosh.

Mitch McGary - picked Michigan - good as a frosh; injured as a soph; jumped to the NBA as a soph.

Tony Parker - picked UCLA - disappointed for 2 years; started to improve as a junior; good as a senior - but not as good as Brice.

So . . . Brice may have been the lowest-ranked of the PFs we offered, but he was the best of the bunch. I'm glad he came to UNC.

 

[RoseHeel]

Brice was my favorite recruit of the 2012 class. All his hard work flourished in his Senior season. He'll become a recruiting asset for many years to come when talking about Roy's development of big men. Glad he was a Heel.

On a similar note, I Wonder how good Tarczewski may have been had he went to UNC instead of Arizona with the 2012 class.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

I bet a lot of peeps wish they had that decision to make again!

 

[dadika13]

It's great that Brice worked out and became the UNC legend that he is.

Just don't use him as an example to say every lower ranked big man we sign is going to be an All-American. Doesn't work that way.

 

[Calabrias Inferno]

Did Noel, McGary, or Parker actually play the 4 in college? I would take any of those guys over Joel James, someone who actually played the 5. But overall, I'm very pleased with the output of our 2012 class - especially Brice.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Noel certainly played some for us and I believe McGary did as well. Parker was a 5 iirc. I wouldn't trade Joel James for those guys who didn't play for us. They were attitudes waiting to happen and what payoff did they actually provide to their teams?

 

[Butterbutt44]

And its not like Brice was a kid ranked outside the top 100s. He was a pretty well known player and very solidly in the top 50 if I remember correctly.

 

[Calabrias Inferno]

Noel certainly played some for us and I believe McGary did as well. Parker was a 5 iirc. I wouldn't trade Joel James for those guys who didn't play for us. They were attitudes waiting to happen and what payoff did they actually provide to their teams?

Nerlens Noel led the nation in blocked shots - their season went down the tubes when he tore his ACL. Mitch McGary blew up during the latter part of the season and was a key cog in Michigan's run to the title game. But sure, take 2 pts and 2 rebounds over those guys, especially in year's where we didn't advance out of the first weekend.

 

[trestyles]

It may have taken him 4 years to break out but he was pretty darn good as a junior and helped the team earlier.

Look at who we might have gotten instead! We offered:

Nerlens Noel - picked Kentucky - good as a frosh but not great; injured and missed the stretch run; jumped to the NBA as a frosh.

Mitch McGary - picked Michigan - good as a frosh; injured as a soph; jumped to the NBA as a soph.

Tony Parker - picked UCLA - disappointed for 2 years; started to improve as a junior; good as a senior - but not as good as Brice.

So . . . Brice may have been the lowest-ranked of the PFs we offered, but he was the best of the bunch. I'm glad he came to UNC.

Add Tarczewski that went to Arizona and Ridley that went to Texas

 

[UNC Blue Hup]

Brice is a better player than Noel today--I'd like to see them match up-classy young man that overcame the loss of his mother--one of my all time favorites to put on our Blue..Brice turned out better than Mitch as a player and I hope Mitch gets his personal life straight-ol Roy thank you

 

[DSouthr]

Brice was my favorite recruit of the 2012 class. All his hard work flourished in his Senior season. He'll become a recruiting asset for many years to come when talking about Roy's development of big men. Glad he was a Heel.

On a similar note, I Wonder how good Tarczewski may have been had he went to UNC instead of Arizona with the 2012 class.

Personally, I think Tarc would have been OUTSTANDING in our system and playing for our coaching. I was very underwhelmed with his development at Arizona, IMO he was basically the same player coming out that he was going in. McGary was a head and a head case, kinda glad we didn't have to deal with that, Noel didn't really develop IMO but in g-fairness his injury slowed any chance of that, would have loved to have seen what Roy could have done with him. I was never really all that high on Tony Parker.

With Brice, at times I wonder, was it being in our system and the intense work Roy put in to Brice that resulted in the player we got ;last season or was that just going to be the player Brice was? I honestly do not think he would have developed as solid as he did without Roy right up in his butt for his time with us, I think it may have been the perfect union of coach to player that pushed brice to the level we enjoyed last season.

 

[RoseHeel]

Personally, I think Tarc would have been OUTSTANDING in our system and playing for our coaching. I was very underwhelmed with his development at Arizona, IMO he was basically the same player coming out that he was going in. McGary was a head and a head case, kinda glad we didn't have to deal with that, Noel didn't really develop IMO but in g-fairness his injury slowed any chance of that, would have loved to have seen what Roy could have done with him. I was never really all that high on Tony Parker.

With Brice, at times I wonder, was it being in our system and the intense work Roy put in to Brice that resulted in the player we got ;last season or was that just going to be the player Brice was? I honestly do not think he would have developed as solid as he did without Roy right up in his butt for his time with us, I think it may have been the perfect union of coach to player that pushed brice to the level we enjoyed last season.

Agreed 100%. Tarc did great for his first year, but seem to just stagnate as far as progress over the next 3 years. I think some of that was due to over recruiting and the fact that Sean Miller seems to be more of a recruiter than a developer. I don't think that would have been the case at UNC. I was never super excited about Parker or McGary for those same reasons. Parker especially. IIRC, he had a weight problem in high school.

IMO, Noel would probably end up being used against us. If he had the same thing had happened to him at UNC, all those negative recruiters would have had a field day over the next few years.

Roy was well noted to be hard on Brice, but I think that more than payed off in the end. It resulted in a Final Four, 1st Team All American, and him going from a 2nd Rounder to a Top 25 pick!

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

Brice is a better player than Noel today

While I agree that Brice is an outstanding young man and great for the program - Noel averaged 29mins, 11pts, 8rebs, 1.5blks, 1.8stls per game in the NBA last year (and I'd assume will improve on that this year). I'd be surprised if Brice topped any one of those averages this year.

 

[HeelFan58]

While I agree that Brice is an outstanding young man and great for the program - Noel averaged 29mins, 11pts, 8rebs, 1.5blks, 1.8stls per game in the NBA last year (and I'd assume will improve on that this year). I'd be surprised if Brice topped any one of those averages this year.

In all fairness Brice is going to a contender with a strong lineup already. Noel went to the 76ers.

 

[trestyles]

In all fairness Brice is going to a contender with a strong lineup already. Noel went to the 76ers.

Still doesn't take away from Noel stat line. Those are solid numbers for a rookie.

 

[DSouthr]

While I agree that Brice is an outstanding young man and great for the program - Noel averaged 29mins, 11pts, 8rebs, 1.5blks, 1.8stls per game in the NBA last year (and I'd assume will improve on that this year). I'd be surprised if Brice topped any one of those averages this year.

Well with a healthy Embied now Noel is screaming to get out of Philly but so far no takers. He and Ochafor have been on the trade block since before the draft with little interest.

 

[trestyles]

Well with a healthy Embied now Noel is screaming to get out of Philly but so far no takers. He and Ochafor have been on the trade block since before the draft with little interest.

I wouldn't say he was screaming....more like the team put him, along with Okafor on the trading block....they got simmons and dont have a need for all 3 big men. However, Philly was trying to land a star guard and no team is giving them that as of now. They don't care who gets traded out the 3.

 

[Archer2]

It's great that Brice worked out and became the UNC legend that he is.

Just don't use him as an example to say every lower ranked big man we sign is going to be an All-American. Doesn't work that way.

In all fairness, I don't see a single poster doing that.

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

Well with a healthy Embied now Noel is screaming to get out of Philly but so far no takers. He and Ochafor have been on the trade block since before the draft with little interest.

The Celtics were in talks with Philly - and of the 3 (Embiid, Okafor, and Noel) their preference was Noel. They were definitely interested, but didn't want to give up the #3 pick (which ended up being Jaylen Brown) or Marcus Smart. Whereas I think giving up either would have been a decent trade (although clearly I'm not a GM so my opinion there is worth what you paid for it).

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

It's great that Brice worked out and became the UNC legend that he is.

Just don't use him as an example to say every lower ranked big man we sign is going to be an All-American. Doesn't work that way.

You're right, of course, and I wasn't trying to suggest that. Just pointing out that it worked out well for us.

I've thought for a while that UNC is pretty much the poster school for top talent that is smart enough to realize they are not OAD.

That's one of the reasons why I'm a bit baffled that Roy seems to have ignored the 40-100 recruits in this class.

While I'm hoping that Huffman and whoever else we get from our offers to 100+ recruits turn out to have been underrated, I think you have a better chance of getting a legit #50 or #60 if you actually offer people in that range.

I also realize that avoiding the 40-100 players may have been Roy's way of signalling to guys like Bamba, PJ and Knox that he is really serious about them. Needless to say, if that's true, I sure hope it works out.