Well, unfortunately I am 1 for 1.
When Cook goes elsewhere it will be 2 for 2.
Then a Bohannon commitment which I am adding now will make me 3 for 3.
I found an interesting article from Tom Kirkendall back in 1996 regarding recruiting basketball players to Iowa. Here is what he said regarding Tom Davis and recruiting:
"Here are my recommendations for upgrading the quality of Coach Davis' recruiting at Iowa:
1. Concentrate on recruiting the grade B prospects. As Miller and Olsen proved, these are the heart and soul of good Iowa teams. There are more of them than grade A prospects, and they generally do not take as much time to recruit as the grade A guys, so you can hedge your risk of losing one better than you can with a grade A prospect. No grade B prospect produced by an Iowa high school should be allowed to get away from Iowa.
2. Don't ever lose a grade A prospect produced by an Iowa high school. This type of player is so rare that it is pretty inexcusable to allow one to get away. The loss of LaFrenz was a big blow to Davis' program. If Davis loses Oliver, I may become a convert to the Herky Davis-basher group.
3. The only grade C and D prospects that Iowa should recruit are "project" big men. Forget wasting scholarships on grade C guard prospects like McCausland. Iowa's program has reached a status that all of its "open court" prospects (i.e., point and big guards, and small forward) should be at least of grade B quality."
Here is what he is referring to as to the grading system.
"Grade A prospect: This means that the balance of information known about the player is overwhelmingly positive. This does not mean that the player is going to be a superstar or even a star player. Some will and some won't. What this term means is that there is no apparent reason why this player should not become a star. Looking at his future, there is no limit. A grade A prospect has roughly a 40% chance of becoming a star in Division I, a 65% chance of being good, and an 85% chance of being a starter for at least a part of his career. A grade A prospect is usually either a very good or dominating player by his sophomore year in high school.
Grade B prospect: This means that what we know about the prospect is mostly good, but that there is something about him that bothers you. For example, an exciting player with good physical skills who has lousy fundamentals. Or an athlete that was a "late bloomer" physically and has not played at a high level throughout his high school career. Many grade B prospects will go on to be Division I stars, so this category does not mean that they won't be a star--only that there is something to worry about. A grade B prospect has roughly a 10-15% chance of becoming a star in Division I, a 40-50% chance of being a good player, and a 70% chance of being at least a marginal regular for at least a part of his career. Virtually all grade A and B prospects will play in Division I. A grade B prospect is usually either a very good or dominating player by his junior year in high school.
Grade C prospect: This means that there is an even mix of information about the prospect that makes you think that he will (i) be a good Division I player, and (ii) won't make it at the Division I level. Occasionally, a Class C prospect will become a star at the Division I level. But not very often. For every Class C prospect that becomes a star, dozens of prospects in this category sink into oblivion without a trace. A grade C prospect has only a slight chance of being a Division I star, and about a 50-50 chance of playing regularly for a part of his career. A grade C prospect is usually a very good player by his senior year in high school.
Grade D prospect: This means that there the indications about the player are predominantly, but not overwhelmingly, negative. The term Grade D prospect means that there is something here that you have to like. It is extremely rare for a Grade D prospect to become a Division I star. Guy V. Lewis, the legendary former Houston coach, once told me that Hakeem Olajuwon was the only Grade D prospect that he had ever heard of who had become a Division I star.
For a variety of reasons that I will address in a future post, Iowa has never been able to attract many Grade A prospects to either its football or basketball program. As a result, Iowa has traditionally relied upon attracting an occasional grade A prospect, a few grade B prospects, a whole host of Grade C and D prospects, and then attempted to "coach the hell out of" the C's and D's to remain competitive with other Division I programs which are able to choose primarily from grade A and B prospects."
In his article, Tom refers to Greg Stokes being the 1st grade A player that Lute Olson was able to recruit. Ronnie Lester was listed as a grade B player as was Armstrong, Horton, Wright, and Lorenzen. Previous players that were listed as grade A according to Tom Kirkendall (through 1996) were Don Nelson, Carl Cain, Ben McGilmer, John Johnson, Fred Brown, James Speed, Clay Hargrave, Roy Marble, Kenyon Murray, and Dean Oliver.
Perhaps with AAU players a lot has changed in identifying talent. I think however that Cook would be a grade A and Charlie Moore would be a grade B from the definitions above if you agree with them. Jordan Bohannon I believe would also be a grade B player if you agree with Tom's definitions.
