Has Self shot himSElf in the foot with Diello?

[DSouthr]

I mean hey, he got this one & done talent and played him very little. That much is fine because we have seen one & done hyped guys come to college not ready to play at this level. But the kid goes to the NBA combine and looks like a player that deserved huge PT in college, pretty much done deal that he is staying in the draft and getting very likely a 1st round spot?

This isn't a JMM kind of thing because JMM as we all know was way over hyped coming out of high school, he was not close to being ready to play in the NBA after that freshman season but Diello is showing that he not only was ready for the NBA but should have received huge PT for kansas last season once his eligibility was cleared up. This is the kind of thing that gives those looking to recruit against you real ammo to fire at ya.

Now in this 2016 class he gets the kid we as well wanted but that kid thinks he is one & done quality as well, I didn't see him as that when we were chasing for him, he is really raw. But if that kid does not blow up and show off a one & done level of play can Self have 2 shots in the foot in successive classes? He was kinda that 3rd in line for the one & done coach after Kalipari and K, could this demote him?

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

I definitely think it will be a knock on Self. Unfortunately that's how it is these days. If someone is OAD talent, and doesn't get played like a OAD - the coach gets a negative tick mark as a result. I think this with Diallo is a pretty good example. An even better example is Marvin Williams. He didn't start, and got less minutes than Jawad Williams. Yes, this seemed to be what was best for the TEAM as they won the National Championship - but having Marvin go #2 overall may have indicated similar things to potential recruits as well. How was this guy good enough to go #2 overall in the NBA draft but couldn't start, or get majority PF minutes, on his college team?

I think you're correct that the recruits look at situations like that and are more concerned with PT than with success of the team.

 

[aah555]

While I don't think it's a killer (as he still can point to Wiggins and Embiid as OAD success stories) as compared to 99% of college b-ball program, I think part of Self's problem is that Diello is not the first perceived OAD-type recruit to see his stock plummet at KU. Before Diello, both Josh Selby and Cliff Alexander also took precipitous falls from top 3 recruits to outside the first round. KU is still an elite recruiting program. But, on the margins, I do think a few of these flops certainly hurt them. And that's frankly how it's been for a long time. While Coach K clearly has rebuilt his recruiting profile over the last few years, it wasn't so long ago that guys like Shavlik Randolph, Josh McRoberts, and Greg Paulus were being used against him to suggest that he couldn't develop players. Now, as with Self, the relative lack of success of those players had far more to do with them than anything K did -- but that's just how it is. Even the best of the best are only a year or two away from being accused of being behind the times.

With regard to Roy, I don't think Marvin Williams is the problem -- considering that he did go #2. Instead, beyond the NCAA stuff, I think he's being weighed down by the fact that he doesn't have any current marquee NBA players and/or sufficiently recent high-lottery success stories that can grab the attention of the highest-end recruits (i.e., the top 3-5 caliber recruits) -- i.e., no top 5 pick in a decade and only 1 top 10 pick (Barnes) in the last 8 years. Further, while he's certainly produced a few good NBA players in recent years (Barnes, Lawson, Green), none of these guys are at the level you need to really turn the heads of high-end recruits who (often wrongly) want to hear how you can develop them into star NBA players.

For Coach K, as much as Team USA helped, I think the most important turning point for him was lucking out with Kyrie Irving -- who went from being the #3 PG in his own class at the time of his commitment to the #1 pick, winning ROY, and exploding into a perennial all-star caliber player. IMO, Irving was critical to getting Jabari, which in turn was critical to getting Tyus (a PG), and Jahlil (close friends with Jabari), etc. etc. None of this recent recruiting success would have happened were it not for Kyrie breaking through and reaffirming that Duke could be a good home for a OAD-type player. While a program like UNC can certainly go out and get anyone on a one-off basis if there is the right relationship, to really get things going again, I think they need their own Irving-type recruit to develop into a star prospect and/or have one of their draft picks emerge into a star NBA player (ala Izzo -- who is enjoying a bit of a recruiting renaissance b/c of Draymond Green's emergence as a star player).