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Should The Buffs Go After 2013 5* Recruit Chris Thomas?

Should The Buffs Go After Chris Thomas?

  • Yes - We can't afford to turn down potential NBA players

    Votes: 26 53.1%
  • No - he's not worth the potential drama that could follow him

    Votes: 23 46.9%

  • Total voters
    49

Goose

Hoops Moderator
Club Member
Junta Member
News broke yesterday that 2013 5* recruit Chris Thomas will be going to his fourth school in four years as he has officially left South Kent in Connecticut and will be enrolling at Mack Academy in North Carolina. Thomas is originally from Denver, and has the prototypical NBA shooting guard’s size. Scout says that he’s probably the best pure scorer in the 2013 class and is always in attack mode. ESPN praises his first step and talks about how he excels in transition. EVERYONE raves about the kid’s on-court skills. Rivals has him as the #5 recruit in the nation for 2013. 247 has him at #7. Scout at #10. ESPN at #13. He’s a top tier recruit in every sense of the word.

And CU has a shot at him.

The problem? His maturity. Dave Telep took him to task today and even said that:

At this stage, it would be an upset if he were to become eligible to play as a freshman in 2013. His transcript must be riddled with so many questions one will need Albert Einstein to do the math regarding his core GPA.

Along with not even being sure he’ll be eligible, what happens if he decides he’s unhappy and decides to leave in the middle of the season in college? We already saw what happened to Oregon when Jabari Brown decided to bail right before the season, and to a lesser extent Jahii Carson at Arizona State when he was academically ineligible. 2013-14 could be a HUGE season for the Buffs, do they really want to risk putting so many eggs in a basket that could be ineligible?

But can the Buffs afford not to? If Thomas wants to come here (and that’s up to debate as there are a lot of rumors that he wasn’t exactly running with the best crowd here in Colorado and that’s why he left in the first place), can the Buffs turn down a player who will probably be an NBA lottery pick and who could bring the team tons of positive publicity and attention from future recruits? Currently, Adam Zagoria is saying that Thomas' top 3 is Xavier, Mizzou and Iowa State. But just two months earlier, his top three were Xavier, Kentucky and Florida. There is no real clear leader, so he's ripe for the signing if CU really puts in the effort.

So what would you do? Would you offer him the scholarship or walk away?
 
Voted yes. Not sure it'd be worth the risk, but I'd love to get a guard of that calibur to go witht he big guys we got in this class. Deep tourney run????
 
Although it would be awesome to have a talent like his, I wonder if it is worth the drama for a year or two. One of the things that everyone talked about this past off-season was that the team acted like a real family. They went everywhere together, and seemed to all get along. I worry that the potential drama surrounding the arrival of a prima donna could undermine that team chemistry. And, if he does end up being a head case, the negative publicity could derail the speeding train of Colorado basketball goodness. He could be awesome for a year or two, but I voted "no" - let him play his year at Kentucky and move on.
 
He is most likely only going to stay for one year and I don't think our program is stable enough to have guys like that. Look how much it hurt losing Burks after just 2 years. It is important to have some crafty veterans on your team.
 
No. He will be a rent a player at best. We are building a team and I don't think we can afford the distraction of having him for 1 year.
 
Yes.

But I would support Tad either way. I trust Tad and assume he has a better read on the situation than I do.
 
bring talent in if you can get them in. As long as he's not a criminal, it is worth it.
 
I said no, but only because of the talent of the other potential '13 recruits. I'd much rather have someone like Hamilton, who is close in talent, but doesn't come with the question marks. If we miss on the other top prospects though, Thomas becomes a lot more tempting.
 
I think the Family atmosphere of this team could change his attitude. As long as he accepts it.
 
I said no, but only because of the talent of the other potential '13 recruits. I'd much rather have someone like Hamilton, who is close in talent, but doesn't come with the question marks. If we miss on the other top prospects though, Thomas becomes a lot more tempting.

I also really like the teammates from Arizona. Names escape me and I'm too lazy to look it up.
 
I also really like the teammates from Arizona. Names escape me and I'm too lazy to look it up.

Agreed 100%. I don't think the staff needs to take a chance on Thomas to add significant talent to the program. If this was 2 years ago, I'd say absolutely yes!
 
I said no, but only because of the talent of the other potential '13 recruits. I'd much rather have someone like Hamilton, who is close in talent, but doesn't come with the question marks. If we miss on the other top prospects though, Thomas becomes a lot more tempting.

man, I'm with you on Hamilton, he's my favorite this cycle. However, Thomas in my opinion is the superior scorer.

I slow recruit him. I put my staff to work on other kids, but every now and then, say hi just to make sure he's doing okay. Let him know that there's a good, caring family up in Boulder. However, he has to WANT to come to CU in order for things to work out. I put my hard efforts elsewhere.
 
Probably a moot discussion anyway. Thomas isn't coming back to Colorado.
 
I talked with goose about this briefly tonight, don't really want to post my reasoning, but not a fan of this idea.
 
Spend the time on other possible recruits. If he's that highly rated, he's gonna have his choice of premier college hoops destinations. I don't see him choosing CU anyway, so spend your (recruiting) time wisely.
 
I think everyone would take Alec or Chauncey again, but Burks' story was quite different. He wasn't a 5* player in hs -- just a skinny 6'2" guard with great skills. He blossomed his senior year (MO POY) and began to grow. By then, the staff already had him locked up.

I still think Thomas is gonna be given the red-carpet tour of college basketball's "biggies". We might appear on his radar, but in the end, he's gonna sign with a Kentucky, a Kansas, a Duke, or the likes. I think our recruiting time would be better spent on other possibilities.
 
There is always competition for the best players. I thought the question was is this kid worth the effort. The answer is of course he is. Just as much as any other star player you would like to play for your team. I don't know who remembers Chauncey's recruitment, but it sure as hell wasn't automatic that he was coming to CU. Thank goodness he did. That made Chauncey a Colorado hero for life. That and his tremendous play.
 
will be going to his fourth school in four years

It's worse then that, 5th school in 5 years. Was in CO then MD then AZ then CT and now NC. The answer to the question though is an obvious yes. I'd take a team of serial killers if they had talent; just kidding, kind of.
 
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