With Zion's decision looming and most people seeming to believe we are probably out of it, it got me thinking about big recruiting surprises. Ones that all but look like a lock and it's taken away from us. Notably Barnes and last year Knox come to mind. I was wondering have we ever been on the other side of that? I feel like most of the guys we get, we have pretty good chances and feel good about it. So I guess my question is, do any of you ever remember recruits that we "stole" from other programs or were surprised or shocked we got them?
Positive recruiting surprise
- Thread starter Clay Clay 4
- Start date
We got Bobby Hurley because UNC never offered, waiting on Kenny Anderson to commit to UNC...
There's a story about Grant Hill but I don't recall all of it at this moment, but the last part of it is once he stepped on campus he was ours.
Theres several more....
There's a story about Grant Hill but I don't recall all of it at this moment, but the last part of it is once he stepped on campus he was ours.
Theres several more....
Bagley deciding to reclassify and commit here came as a big shock late in the process!
Most of us who pay close attention and who know somebody who knows somebody get a little inkling of advance notice much of the time. Being optimistic tends to make the disappointments more of a jolt than the unexpected wins.
All of the reclassification commits have been a bit surprising just b/c it's that much further off the radar.
Nolan was supposed to be a Louisville lean, iirc. Miles Plumlee was already committed to Stanford and then got released from his LoI when the coach before Dawkins went to LSU. Taylor King had verballed to UCLA way early. Alex Murphy was supposed to be a Florida lean.
All of the reclassification commits have been a bit surprising just b/c it's that much further off the radar.
Nolan was supposed to be a Louisville lean, iirc. Miles Plumlee was already committed to Stanford and then got released from his LoI when the coach before Dawkins went to LSU. Taylor King had verballed to UCLA way early. Alex Murphy was supposed to be a Florida lean.
Grant Hill's mother was enamored with Dean Smith.
Someone else mentioned Jason Williams....which is a good one. He wanted to go to UNC, but they recruited Ronald Curry the year prior, which kind of ended their chances. He was content attending Rutgers, with his good friend Dahntay Jones (who did go there), but his mom basically made him visit Duke. In turn, he wanted to commit on the visit and she had to talk him out of it....basically wanted him to go home and let the initial feeling wear off. Luckily, it never did.
It's funny how recruiting has changed, because then you hear a story like the one of Jay Bilas in the early 80s. He committed and signed without ever stepping foot on campus. The first time he was on campus was during freshman orientation.
Duke made up a lot of ground on Kyrie right from the beginning. We were certainly in play before that in-home with IU and Crean, but something happened that firmly eliminated IU and made us the favorite.
Another one, but this went firmly against Duke, was Brandan Wright. Duke and UK were considered the clear front-runners. He visited UNC, but all the reports from that visit seemed to suggest he wasn't much interested in them. Ty Lawson even gave an interview, and in it alluded to Brandan being quiet and uninterested. Two days later he popped for UNC. Duke fans, and this board, were completely stunned.
Speaking of Grant Hill, this was discussed in one of the other threads a while back, but he wanted to go to Georgetown. The academic advisor had him read out loud and then describe what he had just read. He was rightfully offended, and we know how it ended.
I was pretty surprised that Bradley Beal never got an offer from duke 
Wasn't Justise Winslow a surprise commitment? I know, he committed late, but I don't believe we were really on him until late.
Also, I wouldn't call Brandon Ingram a surprise, but us just winning a national title combined with UNC players not going to class led to him committing to Duke.
Also, I wouldn't call Brandon Ingram a surprise, but us just winning a national title combined with UNC players not going to class led to him committing to Duke.
Things changed when Wright found out he didn't have to attend classes at UNC. Big game changer there, plu$ Roy and company i$$ue $ome really nice check$.
We were never viewed as a 'favorite' for Justise until early in his senior year of high school. He bonded with Tyus and Jahlil, which really swung him in our favor. He committed less than a week after those two.
Ingram was kind of a strange recruitment. Because he grew up in Kingston (home of Jerry Stackhouse), played for Stackhouse's AAU team and was close with Jerry, a lot of people assumed, and put pressure on him, to attend UNC. The problem is, Brandon was a pretty big Duke fan growing up and preferred us over the Heels. I think the academic scandal made it a lot easier for Brandon to use that as an excuse.
Been following recruiting for a while now and this is the biggest surprise to me. Even though it wasn’t much of a secret towards the end.
Zion would be a much bigger surprise.
I thought Hurley was expected to go to Seton Hall not UNC and he came to his Duke visit and committed. At home he didn't tell anyone and at school Monday they announced congratulations over the intercom. That's what the book "the last great game" said anyway
I'll just sum this whole thread up by saying all of positive recruiting surprises we have been blessed with is because unc did not want them. Every one of them especially during the dean smith through the hof coach roy williams tenure. Every danged one of them. They all wanted to go to unc but were turned down . OFC
There’s still some debate about whether Ingram was actually a UNC lean or whether he was a duke lean the whole way. But I’m inclined to believe you. It was definitely one of those recruiting situations most UNC fans thought would be highly favorable for us due to the Kinston/Stackhouse connection, but ultimately ended up being another recent miss on high profile prospects.
I might be wrong but weren’t we considered a heavy favorite for John Wall when he picked Kentucky
Memphis was always the heavy favorite until Cal moved to UK. I remember us being in the mix, but never recall being the favorites. Thought there was an issue with him qualifying academically and also a questionable police incident his JR or SR year of High School.
Read up on Ed Koffenberger some time. He started his career in football at UNC as a freshman thanks to the Navy officer program, but switched his field of study which in turn switched his enrollment, per the Navy, to Duke. Went on to be Duke’s first truly great player. I believe he had Duke’s scoring record at the time (late 1940’s).
Not a “traditional” recruiting surprise, but a surprise nonetheless.
Not a “traditional” recruiting surprise, but a surprise nonetheless.