Recruiting Classes Throughout The Years (1986-2010)

Cooney, Christmas, and MCW will be one of the best recruiting classes to ever come out of Cuse.

PS I dont think people realize how good Cooney is going to be (hes the least talked about player out of the 3 and he was the youngest player on the USA team this summer and did pretty well). Analysts say he may be the best pure shooter in the country his age. Also, MCW may be the next Evan Turner (big PG or a SG)…and Christmas is one of the only very athletic centers that have committed to the Orange that is ready to go (not a project at all)

For all his flaws, Devendorf was a very talented player and brought a lot to the team. Rautins goes without saying and Arinze turned into a force down low (and his absence most likely cost us a Final Four appearance last year).

I voted ’02 because a player like Melo is so rare they make a class stellar by themselves. Throw G-Mac in there plus an overachieving Gorman and you have an excellent recruiting class.

Remember when the ’03 class was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread? Kind of funny to think that was a highly ranked class at the time.

’07 is up there because while Greene was frustrating he was still talented. Flynn was amazing, Scoop has become a great player and Rick is now the man.

Yes! I remeber going to the first pre-season game that season and seeing them on the court all at once and I even said this could be the best class we ever had! Remember, we lost to Charlotte that year, the first game of the season when that dude hit like 11 3’s?. We were ranked #7 coming in…. ended up going to the Sweet 16 and D-Nichols had a pretty good freshman season.

I would say the ‘07 Class has/had the most talent but I was actually glad when Donte Green left so it’s hard for me to rationalize that as being my choice.

oh, and that title too.

Choice is clear folks.

You’re Absolutely right… Extremely hard to argue Melo (with apologies to Dave Bing) will be the best player we have every had here and the NBA , G-Mac, a local legend in his own right and arguably the best shooter the hill has ever seen, and the over-acheiving Matt Gorman.

I voted for this years class (I know, I know, I will catch some major flack) but I really like this class and what it could possibly offer. The future is bright with Orange.

Looking back I probably should have included the class with the Pearl or the class with Roosevelt Bouie and Louis Orr….

Loved every one of them.

I mean E, A.O. and Faux Hawk is a pretty good class considering how big they were for us at the end. Early developmental guys, contributors and later stars. Perfect college careers [maybe not for E, but still.

Also I saw these guys frosh-through-senior years so am a bit partial there.

It’s clearly a “hindsight” pick, but it’s hard to argue with the class that yielded you the freshman stars on the 2003 national title team.

Because his name is a glaring omission. I mean, how can you mention Elvir Ovcina and Ethan Cole with good ol Billy?

He was a big time recruit in ’96. That was a great class with Rock Lloyd. With Walton it was a fab 5. Anyone remember that name or know what happened to him?

Thanks for the ones I missed… HOW in the world did I miss Shumpert AND Celek… edited original post with updates. Shumpert was in the ’97 class

However, I highly value the Class of ’05 because of the countless moments they provided us despite how unheralded they were.

Regardless, this was a great post. Very nice work, mikecollinsjr.

Included KRISTOF! The original #SHAMARKO

Was a JUCO Transfer

Will we edge out NC State by 4 points?

I guess not, because Wes would be on there

That gives me an idea for my next big post…hmmm… Yeah, I was strictly looking at our original recruiting classes through the years

good memory and my bad… I thought he transfered to New Hampshire…other way around

for the 95 class?

1993- Otis Hill, Charles Gelatt (who?)

chuck only played one year, ended up going to a juco and then transfered to depaul. he actually hit the game winning basket vs (i think) indiana.

/graduated 4 years after him from same high school in binghamton

Just made me laugh by looking at them…

My first really solid memory of SU ball comes from the mid-90s, and the first really exciting NBA calibre player was John Wallace. I think I have to vote for ‘96, because I correctly predicted the Final Four outcome as a 10 year old (if only I could do that now that I’m old enough to bet money on things), and the Wallace-Hart-Thomas team is still my measure for SU Basketball teams of present day.