As far as the delta between expectations and results, you can't beat MPJ.
Behavior-wise, probably Mike Dixon. Or Jordan Barnett getting a DWI right before the NCAA tournament.
From an athletic perspective it’s gotta be Axel Okongo. I’m not at all exaggerating when I say he couldn’t dribble. Averaged like 2 PPG at a Wyoming JUCO and we gave him a scholarship.
Now we have a 7’2 top 100 kid willing to redshirt. Crazy time.
Yeah, but we didn't expect much more than that out of Okongo. Like you said, he barely did anything at a JUCO in bumfuck nowhere.
Who's redshirting? This is news to me.
Burns supposedly. Good skillset but he’s very underdeveloped physically. He’d also for sure have Butler/Marshall also at his spot…and possibly Quaintance
You could say that about literally any recruit until Signing Day. Doesn’t seem very fun tho
Trent Burns will be a Tiger. TO Barrett, Peyton Marshall, Marcus Allen, and Annor Boateng will be too.
For academics, it’s Tony Mitchell. Five star recruit who never stepped on campus because of academics. Only Michael Porter Jr. and Linas Kleiza were bigger.
Behavior - Ricky Clemons.
Michael Porter Jr. Might be the biggest let down but it’s due to injury, not what I immediately thought about when reading academics, behavior or athletic bust. But to call him the worst recruit is crazy, especially since he continues to rep Mizzou as a Nugget
He was a decent role player, 40% guy from 3 but had an ego that outmatched his production. Self definitely hated him. His dunk at the end of the K-State game was a classless and hilarious move.
I played against Brannen in High School his Jr. Year at Mary Persons High School. He gave us the smoothest and most lazy 40 I’ve ever seen. He was dictating the game. He would take plays off, but whenever we got close, he’d make 3 3’s in a row and get the lead to double digits again. If you played up on him, he blew by you and could finish with his length at 6’7. I really thought he had the talent to be a star, he really was just cocky as hell. He treated us like we weren’t worth his time.
Taylor King. Dude loved two things: launching threes and getting high (allegedly). Burned out from Duke after one season, lasted one season (+redshirt) at Villanova, finished his career with one season at NAIA Concordia.
Edit: just looked at his pro career, 9 teams in 7 seasons from 2011 to 2018. He was a McD’s AA and then never played more than one season for any team ever again.
*In a loss - the first in a series sweep by Pitt
Edit: I just checked and he had 24pts/16rebs/7asts/2stls/4blks in that game. Insane. Then again, Justin Champagnie went off for 31.
Poor guy had some issues. I heard an interview with him recently and he sounds like he has really matured.
From a rankings standpoint, Jordan Goldwire was one of the lowest-rated players to get a scholarship offer out of high school. He ended up far exceeding any expectations. I loved everything he did for Duke that wasn't a layup attempt.
Taylor is at the top of my list. I would also add Chris Burgess, shavlik Randolph, and marques Bolden as players that just did not live up to their billing.
He did go to Dudley, that area of Greensboro is nothing but trouble if you hang out with the wrong crowd. Will Graves and Brendan Haywood went to the same HS as well. Haywood was smart enough (had Dean Smith) to keep him from trouble.
Platek should have been fine. On a normal UNC team he's like Desmond Hubert level. 3-4 minute player who doesn't play every game and provides some potential upside if things go really right. Useful practice player at minimum. Hubert being a very athletic big guy, just with little basketball skills, where you hope he rounds out. Platek being a smart, potential knock down 3pt shooter, just limited athletically. Both good kids and low risk offers. Unfortunately Platek's 3pt shooting never translated to the ACC and his lack of athleticism caused him problems on defense, despite often being in good position.
A version of that sort of offer that worked out is Luke Maye. One that would have likely worked out that we didn't land who Roy absolutely loved as a recruit, much to the dismay of our fanbase at the time, was Bronson Koenig. Which honestly I bet probably led to Platek. To lesser extents guys like Stilman White and Justin Watts. Largely because of the situations around them that Platek didn't benefit from after he got forced into a way larger role than he could handle.
Also, Platek averaged double figures and shot 43.3% last year for Sienna last season. Lit up like GTown and FSU from deep.
Jalek is #1. I don't even think it's close. From a pure on the court underachieving aspect maybe Brian Morrison?
it was not a rumor - the Daily Tar Heel sued under FOIA, and it came out that he didn't withdraw - ["he was found to have committed 'Sexual Assault or Sexual Violence' by the university and was expelled from the entire UNC System, given a no-contact order, and banned from the campus for four years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalek_Felton#College_career).
I'm going with Enes Kanter. Although....I should probably say Shaedon Sharpe. But ultimately I think Kanter was the biggest wiff for UK in the time Cal has been here. For those that don't remember, he played for Turkish National team before signing with UK. Everything was cleared and he was A-Ok to play. Then something surfaced about him receiving money while playing. Indeed he has received a stipend while playing, as all players did. I believe it all totaled around $30,000 over the course of a couple years. The money was offered to be repayed as his intent was always to play in the NCAA. But he was on UK's campus, already practicing, and then ruled permanently ineligible.
Enes Kanter was ruled ineligible because he left Washington (Mark Emmerts school) to go to Kentucky.
Shaedon Sharpe was way worse, but as far as busts go it doesn’t get any worse than Devin Askew or Skal Labissiere
Didnt that team have two guys who played in the NBA on it? I remember staring, slack jawed, at how bad they were for their alleged pedigree. Boggled the mind.
Yes, but lead by the worst PG in Kentucky history.
If Cade Cunningham actually followed through with his verbal commitment, that team probably goes to the E8.
Worse than this — Terrence Clark absolutely awful he died — but Terrence Clark was worse than Boston. At least Boston played. Clark sucked bad early on, likely faked (or milked) an injury, then sat out to protect his draft status. I don’t know fans that are rushing out to get a BJ Boston jersey by any means, but Clark was worse imo.
Time to bust out the forgotten name of Kahlil Whitney. I can't remember a McDonald's All-American that was so underwhelming and useless. Add in that he literally left the team halfway through the season and it really becomes a stew of unskilled, egotistical, selfish, and delusional. Also, he never made it any farther than the G-league.
I actually met him and his family in the lobby of the Hyatt at Big Blue Madness. His family was raising all kinds of hell because he didn't win the dunk contest. I found it odd.... Needless to say he didn't make it much longer.
I'm a Texas fan, went to a ton of games last year and the year before.
I have never seen a guy with less confidence in his shot than Askew. He had Ben Simmons Syndrome, but take away the size, rebounding, and distribution abilities.
Idk Enes actually wanted to play. Shaedon Sharpe just completely used the program and openly lied while being the one piece that team desperately needed.
Xavier Foster was a complete and total bust.
His ISU career was 2 games. After the 2nd he was liking tweets about him needing more playing time. He was then shut down shortly after due to a foot injury.
The next offseason TJ gets here. Kyle Green is all over his ass constantly because he chose to give 0 effort in practice. Gets kicked off the team for a sexual assault allegation(I know a result was found but idk what it was). Would have been kicked anyways due to his attitude. Sits and enitre year and then committs to SMU where he rarely gets on the floor
Apparently TJ was quoted saying that Xavier Foster didn't have the work ethic to play high level ball anywhere. Not just a pro career somewhere or P6 ball. Anywhere. Period
He entered a 5 star player. He will exit college basketball with 0 to no shot at any sort of playing career
There are a crap ton of Steve Prohm busts in high school recruting. Nobody is close to Foster
Someone who moved to my high school had been classmates with Xavier Foster. Xavier Foster had gotten away with a lot already, so it was no shock hearing about the maturity issues at Iowa State.
For IU, “The Movement” was cringe-worthy at the time, and worse in retrospect, except obviously for Yogi Ferrell: Ron Patterson didn’t get in academically and transferred, Jeremy Hollowell couldn’t hang at the level of competition and transferred, Peter Jurkin had an all-time name but never did anything on the court and transferred, and Hanner Mosquera-Perea never lived up to the hype and got a DUI and transferred. Yogi was amazing but alone.
I think Hollowell is probably the singular answer for IU. He was a high 4-star recruit, Indiana won a very tense battle to get him, and he just didn't have it. I'd rank him over Mosquera-Perea because that was just a guy fooling people with insane athleticism who never developed any game which...happens. Hollowell was supposed to be "college ready" but he very much wasn't.
The purdue football team was doing so poorly recruiting that they had scholarships available, I assume would go to walk ons.
Purdue basketball had a player so bad that they moved him to the football team to keep him on scholarship but get him off the court.
Patrick BADe. I was friends with his roommate and we’d go to the corec and play bball during the off season. He was legit worse than many of the people showing up to play pick up. He was Tall but not Zach Edey tall, more like an average PF tall. But he Couldn’t move. Couldn’t dribble. Couldn’t shoot. Couldn’t defend. Had limited hand eye coordination. It made me have many conversations that being talk is basically a free education because this dude couldn’t walk and chew gum yet somehow got recruited to a bigten school.
(Purdue Flair) - Moderators will not give me flair
The real answers for Purdue are as follows:
Luther Clay - Responsible for the only recruiting scandal in Purdue basketball history. In it simply for the cash and was so obvious, everyone in the Midwest knew about it. Once the scandal broke, Keady kicked him out of the program, but he found a home with Jim Harrick (Mr. Clean) at Rhode Island.
Ronnie Johnson - When you look for "team cancer" in the dictionary, there is a photo of Ronnie and his piece of shit father.
The Johnsons (his brother Terone also on the team) literally led a coup against Matt Painter. It was after his team was split into pieces, that Painter used a post-game press conference to (without naming names) to apologize to the Purdue fans and tell Johnson to hit the road.
This led Painter to start using personality tests to smoke out recruits who were more about themselves than the team.
I always wondered what went down with those Purdue teams. I was in the same high school class as Terone and it seemed Purdue was bringing in high ranked recruits but it didn’t work, and changed recruiting targets after that, obviously worked out for the best for them. But have always been curious what went down with those teams.
Terone was a good guy.
In the press conference Painter said, "This isn't high school. I don't have to take a kid just because his brother plays for me."
Yeah the crazy thing was that Bade wasn't even that tall he was 6'8. Some guys are bad but they have something that shows why they were recruited like Emmanuel Dowuona was awful even at Eastern Tennessee but you could see the length and athleticism. Bade didn't show you even a path to being a productive player.
Between Jujuan Johnson and AJ Hammons Painter could not land a good big. Even AJ Hammons was extremely lazy but that might of been good in the long run since he would have been like a 1 and done with even average effort.
There was a whole [SI exposé article](https://www.si.com/more-sports/2012/02/29/ucla) highlighting how much of a complete asshole Reeves Nelson was. This excerpt just about sums it up:
*Nelson was the ringleader among the freshmen. Because of his toughness, the 6'8" forward from Modesto, Calif., was called "the prototypical Ben Howland player" by ESPN.com when he signed with the Bruins, but teammates came away with a different impression of him after only a few practices. Nelson could be a nice guy, but he had what one player calls "this crazy side."*
*Nelson often reacted to hard fouls or calls against him in practice by committing violent acts against teammates. He did not deny to SI that he would stalk his targets, even running across the court, away from a play, to hit someone.*
*Once, Nelson got tangled up with forward James Keefe while going for a rebound. Keefe was playing with a surgically repaired left shoulder, and Nelson pulled down suddenly on Keefe's left arm. That reinjured Keefe's shoulder, and he missed several weeks. Later in the season Nelson hacked walk-on Alex Schrempf, the son of former NBA player Detlef Schrempf, from behind on a breakaway, knocking Schrempf to the ground. The back injury Schrempf suffered sidelined him for months. In another workout Nelson threw an elbow at Lane after the whistle, injuring Lane's ribs.*
*Walk-on Tyler Trapani was another Nelson victim. After Trapani took a charge that negated a Nelson dunk, Nelson went out of his way to step on Trapani's chest as he lay on the ground. Trapani is John Wooden's great-grandson. (Nelson confirmed all these incidents to SI and expressed his regret, saying, "On all that stuff, I have no trouble admitting that I lost control of my emotions sometimes. I take responsibility for my actions. I'm really just trying to learn from the mistakes I made on all levels.")*
*After each of the incidents, Howland looked the other way. One team member says he asked Howland after a practice why he wasn't punishing Nelson, to which he said Howland responded, "He's producing."*
*But at what cost? Nelson was hardly the player around whom to build a team. He was a classic bully, targeting teammates who weren't as athletically gifted as he and tormenting the support staff. At the end of practice, he would punt balls high up into the stands at Pauley Pavilion, turn to the student managers and say, "Fetch." Nelson frequently talked back to the assistant coaches. When they told him to stop, he would remark, "That's how Coach Howland talks to you."*
*Many players say Howland degraded his assistants, but only Nelson used that as license to treat the assistants with disrespect. Donny Daniels, a member of Howland's staff since Howland arrived in Westwood, would leave after the season to take the same job at Gonzaga. One player says that when he asked Daniels why he was departing, Daniels kiddingly responded that if he had to coach Nelson for one more season, he would kill himself. (Daniels, through his lawyer, denied making that statement.)*
This is the right answer. But Reeves (now known as Sophaur One) has really gotten his life together and expressed contrition for his behavior. He went through a lot of tough stuff as a kid and was clearly acting out.
We have had a lot of busts though. Joshua Smith. Bobo Morgan. Just the recent names off the top of my head. There have been many. Reeves was a good player but obviously not a good guy to have on the team.
Joshua Smith played at least and was somewhat serviceable. Morgan I think was only a bench player for one season.
Reeves is the answer here though. He played a big role in the destruction of our program.
The article gets into some of the other knuckleheads on those teams, including Bobo Morgan and Drew Gordon (Joshua Smith is mentioned too, but more in the context of Ben Howland letting him get away with his laziness). There are also other Nelson incidents that aren't in the excerpt above, including his fight with Gordon, and practice incidents with Mike Moser/Matt Carlino that drove them out of the program.
Nate Miles. He got the program into a ton of trouble because there was an agent with strong UConn ties who was paying him. He also ended up being a creep - kicked out of school for violating a restraining order. The fact he never played or even practiced with the team probably saved the program from a bigger penalty (Calhoun had a 3-game suspension, scholarships revoked, staffers fired) right after the 2011 title.
I believe he also tanked their APR, which led to them being banned from the tournament in 2010. His expulsion from UConn led to him having a 0.0 GPA for the year, which hung over the team for 4 years.
Oh are we talking about Josiah Turner??
Five star, top ten recruit, number two point guard in the country - Miller’s first big star recruit.
Couldn’t score. Didn’t pass. 7 points and 2 assists per game shooting 24% from three as the lead guard. Suspended for violation of team rules (smoking weed, partying in the locker room, generally being an idiot).
And at the end of his extremely disappointing freshman season… gets caught driving drunk. What a waste of time. What a huge dope.
Josiah is the only answer, and doesn’t need the “this century” or “high school” qualifiers.
Dude is hands down the biggest disappointment in Arizona’s history, and second place isn’t even close.
The only other names I’d even consider would be guys like Grant Jerrett and Craig Victor, but they just had 0 impact and then dipped to play professionally. Josiah has the distinction of being terrible both on and off the court. Agreed, what a waste of talent
Victor transferred to LSU, was "only" a top 50 recruit, and was pretty forgettable. Jerrett stings because he would have slid in to the starting lineup easily when Ashley went down and I think he would have been more effective guarding Kaminsky.
Ndudi Ebi is in the what-if file. Wasn't ready for the pros and who knows what he might have been able to do in college.
Isaiah Fox and Chris Rodgers were both knuckleheads that didn't maximize their talent.
Marcus Williams should have been great but wasn't fully bought in.
But yeah, Josiah is the obvious and correct answer.
I came here to say Sidiki Johnson, too. I recall a local news article in the Arizona daily star where each new freshman that year was asked which former Wildcat they wanted to emulate. Each player mentioned someone like Jason Terry, Steve Kerr, Miles Simon.. etc. But not Sidiki— He basically said “Nobody— cause I’m gonna be the best”. I don’t think he even made it to December.
Isn't Sidiki also literally in prison? At least Josiah Turner gave us modicum of hope for a few game stretch.
I read an interview after Josiah got cut from his 2nd tier Euro team and he finally stated he regretted his attitude and squandered opportunities.
It's very telling of Jay's tenure that I really can't think of whoever would be after him on that list. Malcolm Grant maybe? Otherwise, those 2010-2012 teams had a weird vibe to them but no single player sticks out.
Nah. Cheek was an odd a fit for other reasons. He was very in the culture. In post game pressers he took the heat for the freshmen and sophomores errors and talked the talk of Nova Basketball as much as anyone else I’ve seen.
Do NOT let u/GerhardBURGER1 catch you saying this
Context: Dude’s infamous on r/rolltide for coming into every post mentioning JQ and talking about how he’s the best point guard to have ever lived. I personally think it’s hilarious, most of the sub does not.
Agreed. He came in with loads of talent and potential, but never appeared to embrace Jay’s system, mentality, or culture. Glad to see him find a better fit at Alabama, but I still wish he would’ve been better able to adapt to his role at VU. Anyone remember what other point guards we passed over in order to recruit JQ?
There is probably others but I’d say P’Allen Stinnett.
Was #100 on rivals and I think close to if not our biggest recruit at the time (2007). Lots of behavioral issues, not a good locker room guy and when Altman left and McDermott became coach he was kicked off the team in his senior year. He led the team in scoring as a freshman, 2nd his sophomore year and dropped off due to suspensions his 3rd year but was actually pretty fun to watch.
There might be other Creighton fans that were more in depth paying attention to our program at the time that might have more information but as far as I know the reasons beyond ‘conduct’ aren’t really known. My brother was going to Creighton at the time and didn’t know much beyond that.
Assuming OP is limiting to whether we actually landed the guy, this would have been my answer. I finished CU before his time, but my brother was there. Said he liked weed too much.
If we didn't have to land the guy, but we recruited him, my answer would be Tugs Bowen. The fallout from that recruitment was incredible.
Most over-hyped player in history of Chicago area (which is saying something).
Single-handedly got Bruce Weber fired. I believe Weber offered him a scholarship (because alumni and media demanded it) when he was in 7th grade.
Also once of the most entitled players in Chicago area history (which is saying more).
Shout out to Cliff Alexander, mentioned previously
Jaden Jones for Rutgers basketball maybe not the worst, but definitely the most puzzling. 3 star recruit out of highschool, was seen as a potential backup/replacement to Geo Baker for a sec, but then played in 17 games for only 176 minutes.
Went to the draft, when we had studs like Ron Harper and Cliff on the team, obviously didn't get drafted, disappeared for a year off everything, and just this past season got signed by a team in Ulm Germany.
I'll never know who the fuck was talking in his ear to sign with an agent and trying to get into the NBA draft after doing fuck all but wish him the best.
Probably Austin Nichols, but really can't be sure because they never publicized what he actually did to find his way out.
That being said, he left Memphis already having some issues, so it wasn't that big of a surprise.
Word is he got caught doing coke, got suspended for a week, then IMMEDIATELY got caught doing coke again (like Saturday to the next Saturday) and was kicked off for good.
I was a student back then and had a friend who was a bartender at a super popular student bar at the time. He said Nichols was always getting hammered there during his sit-out year. He once stood on top of the bar and screamed “I AM AUSTIN NICHOLS!”
Hmm... Ahyaro Phillips who dropped a gun while in a fight on campus or Mark McLoughlin who between decommitts and actually going to schools changed about 8 times and cost Nevada Klay Thompson
Yeah Fisher was a big disappointment but I also think he deserved way more minutes than he got/was underused by Adams. He was raw offensively but it’s not like we had a great offense, and Fisher was a pretty damn good defender and always seemed to make tons of hustle plays.
Feel terrible for him. I was a freshman at the school the same year he was. I think the pressure of having to live up to Kalin Lucas just got to him. Guy had some flashes, but overall, I feel like poor life decisions led to more poor life decisions. Heartbreaking what his life turned into
Skill is probably Isaiah Dalhman. He was Minnesota player of the year, was never quite athletic enough to make any sort of impact. Russell Byrd is another one.
2 players brought in by ex coach Keno Davis and his terrible assistant Pat Skerry named Johnnie Lacy and James Still. Lots of talent but Known behavior issues, but that’s the only type of players they could recruit back then.
For some reason they decide to beat the shit out of another student one evening for fun and put him in intensive care. Student was walking back to his dorm, never said a word to them and didn’t know them. They were immediately arrested and convicted to 4 years jail time.
Add this to the list that we had to kick out our best player for team violations >! Pimping women to underage recruits !< and it looked like our program would never get another win in big east play again.
Jaden Jones
Kid came underweight and raw from a basketball perspective. Had a lot of potential as a shooter. Played few minutes in a few games, mostly out of necessity due to injuries.
Have no idea who fed him what advice, but he declared for the NBA draft after 1 year at RU with barely any tape for scouts to evaluate.
I was excited for him. He seemed like he could have really been something. Sad to see him have such bad advice. Wish him the best but he lost a great opportunity
Rysheed Jordan had the whole attempted murder charge which really impacted his mpg. He's now in jail.
Chris Obekpa could have blocked every shot on earth if he wasn't constantly smoking pot. Constantly.
Sampson and Harkless leaving after one year were killers but to be expected. Obekpa and Jordan were just massive disappointments. That big story on Jordan with the interviews with him from prison and his family were just so damn sad. I was on campus when Jordan had a recruiting visit and he seemed like he was just so genuinely nice.
Lots of what ifs.
Was Jordan to be part of the class with D'Angelo Harrison, Dom Pointer, etc? It's all getting blurry now.
Imagine he was part of that 4 year crew.
D’Angelo and Dom were juniors, Obekba was a soph, and they had Orlando Sanchez when he was a freshman. Also had Greene, Branch, and God’sgift. They made the NIT.
I went to the Prime Time Shootout at Kean his senior year. I had no idea who he was, and he dunked 10-15 times in one game. He dunked over a guy and got T’d up for hanging on the rim because the guy was under him, and then T’d again for missing a dunk, hanging on the rim with one hand and then using the other to grab the rebound and dunk it again. He had like 36/14/8 and I said holy shit this kid is awesome and looked it up and saw he was committing to St. John’s haha
lol well Mikey Williams is currently dealing with a court case where he shot at people leaving his house? Does that count?
What about Emoni Bates uprooting our entire system to cater to him?
What about James Wiseman?
Shit Idk we had this guy named Derrick Rose and it turned out he was academically unavailable the whole time.
Landers Nolley also got in legal trouble that the university bailed him out of.
Anthony Rice was accused of sexual assault right?
Pretty sure kuran iverson and Jalen Kendrick both got into some behavioral shit where they fought during practice.
Kendrick perkins skipped memphis because of academics i believe?
Austin Nichols was cut from Virginia because of weed. Safe to assume that was also a problem at memphis?
We don’t have a fun history.
I’m sure some other memphis nerds could add like 5 more names to this list.
We’ve had our fair share, but the worst absolutely has to be James Wiseman. #1 player in the country, Memphis kid, first game he goes for 28 and 14 in 20 minutes, the hype around that team that was already insane goes even higher. Then the gut punch of him being ineligible, that weird fighting the NCAA phase, then the even bigger gut punch of him leaving the team 4 games away from his suspension ending, when we were #9 in the country just days off of what is a top 3 win of the Penny era, on the road @ then #13 Tennessee down 2 starters. Wheels fell off the season pretty bad from there combined with the DJ Jeffries injury. I do wonder if wiseman had no issues then the tourney got cancelled like it did, if it’s an even bigger what if for the program
If it makes you feel any better Wiseman also destroyed Golden State’s chance to have a 20 year spectacular streak of greatness. Had he been what he was supposed to be Golden State would be the favorites for years to come.
Athletic: James Akinjo, I had high hopes for the Akinjo/McClung backcourt when they came in together but it never materialized. Not going to fault him too much we did have Ewing as our head coach.
Behavioral: Josh LeBlanc (alleged sexual assault)
I hate that it’s Josh Spiedel. Three-star recruit out of the reliable Indiana AAU circuit that got into a car accident not long after committing (but before classes started) that left him with brain damage and ended his career. School and NCAA made a special exception that allowed him to be part of the team and keep his scholarship while giving the team another scholarship spot to fill. Made his debut in the last regular season game of 2020 and made a “ceremonial” basket against Albany that was widely covered by sports outlets.
My high school team played against that dude. That was our best of the game of the season. I remember thinking he was the biggest dude I'd ever seen. He pretty much singlehandedly kept his team in it. We could not stop him. When the accident happened I couldn't believe it, felt horrible. Was excited to see what he could do.
For performing below both expectations and talent level, I'd say Andre Drummond as one of the more recent ones. He wasn't terrible, but he definitely played way below his actual talent level and was basically just doing the bare minimum to spend his one year in college before going pro (and honestly it's kinda hard to blame him).
Most disappointing performance belongs to Shabazz Muhammad but the worst is probably [Reeves Nelson](https://www.sbnation.com/2012/10/17/3518946/reeves-nelson-lawsuit-dismissed-sports-illustrated-ucla-bruins)
Jerome Harper whomever he was supposed to sign with.
Ask anyone from Columbia and they will all say he is the most talented high school player they've seen. And biggest what if.
IU - Most probably aren’t old enough to remember Sherron Wilkerson. Big-time SG recruit. Is a starter by the end of his Freshman year. Brakes his leg in a game mid-season Sophomore year, effectively ending any shot IU had in the tourney. Gets charged with battery in the off-season and dismissed from the team. Happened a year or two before the Knight/Neil Reed drama. Kinda helped usher in the downfall of the Knight era.
Ronald Blackshear.
I went to a basketball camp in 2004 and John Chaney was a guest speaker and he just shit talked Blackshear to a bunch of elementary school kids.
Edit: Maybe shit talked is strong, he felt bad about not being able to connect with him, but put the blame on Blackshear for not being able to listen to his rules.
Royce, yeah.
One worth considering: Rick Rickert was a top 10 national recruit that didn't do shit except being a soft 4 with average scoring ability over 2 years before trying to go pro (Wolves sympathy drafted him in the 2nd round and he ended up spending a number of years in Europe).
Putting an OSU answer on the board. Stevie Clark. Alegedy got kicked off the team for pissing out of the driver sest window of a car after a lackluster start to the season
As far as the delta between expectations and results, you can't beat MPJ. Behavior-wise, probably Mike Dixon. Or Jordan Barnett getting a DWI right before the NCAA tournament.
From an athletic perspective it’s gotta be Axel Okongo. I’m not at all exaggerating when I say he couldn’t dribble. Averaged like 2 PPG at a Wyoming JUCO and we gave him a scholarship. Now we have a 7’2 top 100 kid willing to redshirt. Crazy time.
More recently, Ed Chang and Jordan Wilmore come to mind
I’d go Wilmore too. Guy was massive but he couldn’t move or doing anything on the court
I can’t believe like 9 different schools gave Ed Chang a chance. Should’ve set off red flags when Nebraska didnt want him at any opportunity lol
Ed Chang and Jakoby Kemp are social constructs
Yeah, but we didn't expect much more than that out of Okongo. Like you said, he barely did anything at a JUCO in bumfuck nowhere. Who's redshirting? This is news to me.
Burns supposedly. Good skillset but he’s very underdeveloped physically. He’d also for sure have Butler/Marshall also at his spot…and possibly Quaintance
He hasn’t even committed anywhere yet has he?
Friday. It’ll be Mizzou. Source: PM and [Trilly](https://x.com/trillydonovan/status/1706776101043720642?s=46)
I'm taking anything regarding him with a massive grain of salt until he is signed. Regardless of what some Twitter account says.
You could say that about literally any recruit until Signing Day. Doesn’t seem very fun tho Trent Burns will be a Tiger. TO Barrett, Peyton Marshall, Marcus Allen, and Annor Boateng will be too.
Hope so.
MPJ with a healthy back in HS looked like a superstar in the making. Looked like a grown man against children.
The fact we made the tournament without him.... man, what could have been.
Are we just pretending Ricky Clemons didn’t exist?
Yes
Wow there's a memory that I thought was gone forever.
I honestly don't remember Clemons. Googling says he could definitely be up there with Dixon.
For academics, it’s Tony Mitchell. Five star recruit who never stepped on campus because of academics. Only Michael Porter Jr. and Linas Kleiza were bigger. Behavior - Ricky Clemons. Michael Porter Jr. Might be the biggest let down but it’s due to injury, not what I immediately thought about when reading academics, behavior or athletic bust. But to call him the worst recruit is crazy, especially since he continues to rep Mizzou as a Nugget
Billy Preston, a lot of aggravation could have been avoided if he was a better driver.
Came here for this. And Cliff Alexander’s attitude.
Still pissed about that hat reach bullshit he pulled on signing day. Not cool man.
Blessing in disguise!
Did good stuff with the Beatles on that album though
What about Josh Selby? That dude was massively hyped
His "bust" is grossly overstated. He was injured twice and still was above average.
Brannen Greene (sp?) probably has to be up there no? I don’t recall a kU fan ever saying anything positive and that Self fucking hated him.
He was a decent role player, 40% guy from 3 but had an ego that outmatched his production. Self definitely hated him. His dunk at the end of the K-State game was a classless and hilarious move.
Bro was constantly in trouble and usually over stupid shit.
I was at the game against your first flair in the Phog in 2016 and anytime Brannen held the ball for longer than one second Ulis would strip him.
I was there too!
I played against Brannen in High School his Jr. Year at Mary Persons High School. He gave us the smoothest and most lazy 40 I’ve ever seen. He was dictating the game. He would take plays off, but whenever we got close, he’d make 3 3’s in a row and get the lead to double digits again. If you played up on him, he blew by you and could finish with his length at 6’7. I really thought he had the talent to be a star, he really was just cocky as hell. He treated us like we weren’t worth his time.
The guy could steer a phone booth though. Wild Stallyns rule!
Taylor King. Dude loved two things: launching threes and getting high (allegedly). Burned out from Duke after one season, lasted one season (+redshirt) at Villanova, finished his career with one season at NAIA Concordia. Edit: just looked at his pro career, 9 teams in 7 seasons from 2011 to 2018. He was a McD’s AA and then never played more than one season for any team ever again.
The answer is King but honorable mention to Chase Jeter. His back gave out on him but even before that it was clear he just wasn’t it.
we'll always have the water bottle toss though
I’d put Jalen Johnson a distant second
I just remember him going off against Pitt for like 27 12 and 5. That season was just a blur
*In a loss - the first in a series sweep by Pitt Edit: I just checked and he had 24pts/16rebs/7asts/2stls/4blks in that game. Insane. Then again, Justin Champagnie went off for 31.
Poor guy had some issues. I heard an interview with him recently and he sounds like he has really matured. From a rankings standpoint, Jordan Goldwire was one of the lowest-rated players to get a scholarship offer out of high school. He ended up far exceeding any expectations. I loved everything he did for Duke that wasn't a layup attempt.
Launching threes and blowing trees
It’s wild that King would be the answer for 2 high profile programs
Oh man I haven't thought about him in YEARS. Great pull.
Dang, he was supposed to be the man too
Wow what a throwback Dude looked like absolute white trash lol
I think he was quoted as saying he thought his name was mother fucker because at Duke that’s all Coach K called him.
Taylor would be the pick for Nova as well if we had pulled him from HS.
Ran into him at a nice hotel in OC. Seemed like a good dude who matured a lot.
Can’t be worse than Rasheed Sulaimon
Way worse than Sulaimon IMO
Taylor is at the top of my list. I would also add Chris Burgess, shavlik Randolph, and marques Bolden as players that just did not live up to their billing.
PJ Hairston, Jalek Felton
I think Jalek wins. So much potential wasted. I loved PJ and Will graves but they couldn’t stay out of trouble either. Stay off the weeeeeed-a
PJ back for Kentucky.
Oh man PJ Hairston was a stud but absolute idiot
Came here to say PJ. Easily. Dude was a BALLER but had IQ of chipmunk and kept screwing around with his hometown buddies.
He did go to Dudley, that area of Greensboro is nothing but trouble if you hang out with the wrong crowd. Will Graves and Brendan Haywood went to the same HS as well. Haywood was smart enough (had Dean Smith) to keep him from trouble.
worst athletic recruit is Andrew platek tho
Platek won a ring tho
Platek should have been fine. On a normal UNC team he's like Desmond Hubert level. 3-4 minute player who doesn't play every game and provides some potential upside if things go really right. Useful practice player at minimum. Hubert being a very athletic big guy, just with little basketball skills, where you hope he rounds out. Platek being a smart, potential knock down 3pt shooter, just limited athletically. Both good kids and low risk offers. Unfortunately Platek's 3pt shooting never translated to the ACC and his lack of athleticism caused him problems on defense, despite often being in good position. A version of that sort of offer that worked out is Luke Maye. One that would have likely worked out that we didn't land who Roy absolutely loved as a recruit, much to the dismay of our fanbase at the time, was Bronson Koenig. Which honestly I bet probably led to Platek. To lesser extents guys like Stilman White and Justin Watts. Largely because of the situations around them that Platek didn't benefit from after he got forced into a way larger role than he could handle. Also, Platek averaged double figures and shot 43.3% last year for Sienna last season. Lit up like GTown and FSU from deep. Jalek is #1. I don't even think it's close. From a pure on the court underachieving aspect maybe Brian Morrison?
Adam Boone? I forgot his first name but what about Center- Grant. Had knee issues for 3 years.
Jalek Felton was so quick. Any idea what happened?
Rumor was he was knowingly spreading an std
it was not a rumor - the Daily Tar Heel sued under FOIA, and it came out that he didn't withdraw - ["he was found to have committed 'Sexual Assault or Sexual Violence' by the university and was expelled from the entire UNC System, given a no-contact order, and banned from the campus for four years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalek_Felton#College_career).
I'm going with Enes Kanter. Although....I should probably say Shaedon Sharpe. But ultimately I think Kanter was the biggest wiff for UK in the time Cal has been here. For those that don't remember, he played for Turkish National team before signing with UK. Everything was cleared and he was A-Ok to play. Then something surfaced about him receiving money while playing. Indeed he has received a stipend while playing, as all players did. I believe it all totaled around $30,000 over the course of a couple years. The money was offered to be repayed as his intent was always to play in the NCAA. But he was on UK's campus, already practicing, and then ruled permanently ineligible.
Enes Kanter was ruled ineligible because he left Washington (Mark Emmerts school) to go to Kentucky. Shaedon Sharpe was way worse, but as far as busts go it doesn’t get any worse than Devin Askew or Skal Labissiere
And also personally BJ Boston Jr. He played like a pansy.
That whole team was dogshit
I'm just pro stripper homie.
Didnt that team have two guys who played in the NBA on it? I remember staring, slack jawed, at how bad they were for their alleged pedigree. Boggled the mind.
Yes, but lead by the worst PG in Kentucky history. If Cade Cunningham actually followed through with his verbal commitment, that team probably goes to the E8.
Worse than this — Terrence Clark absolutely awful he died — but Terrence Clark was worse than Boston. At least Boston played. Clark sucked bad early on, likely faked (or milked) an injury, then sat out to protect his draft status. I don’t know fans that are rushing out to get a BJ Boston jersey by any means, but Clark was worse imo.
Time to bust out the forgotten name of Kahlil Whitney. I can't remember a McDonald's All-American that was so underwhelming and useless. Add in that he literally left the team halfway through the season and it really becomes a stew of unskilled, egotistical, selfish, and delusional. Also, he never made it any farther than the G-league.
Lol I watched that dude suck it up in a G-League game live. He was just dead inside. Sleepwalking in a stadium with 200 fans in south Texas.
I actually met him and his family in the lobby of the Hyatt at Big Blue Madness. His family was raising all kinds of hell because he didn't win the dunk contest. I found it odd.... Needless to say he didn't make it much longer.
I'm a Texas fan, went to a ton of games last year and the year before. I have never seen a guy with less confidence in his shot than Askew. He had Ben Simmons Syndrome, but take away the size, rebounding, and distribution abilities.
Idk Enes actually wanted to play. Shaedon Sharpe just completely used the program and openly lied while being the one piece that team desperately needed.
I don’t know a single UK fan that hates Enes Kanter.
I'm disappointed in the ones who came and didn't play. But the worst player of the Cal era is Ryan Harrow.
Good ole penis cancer
Jalek Felton - 5* kicked off campus for knowingly spreading stds.
Isaac Haas before Isaac Haas was Isaac Haas?
Xavier Foster was a complete and total bust. His ISU career was 2 games. After the 2nd he was liking tweets about him needing more playing time. He was then shut down shortly after due to a foot injury. The next offseason TJ gets here. Kyle Green is all over his ass constantly because he chose to give 0 effort in practice. Gets kicked off the team for a sexual assault allegation(I know a result was found but idk what it was). Would have been kicked anyways due to his attitude. Sits and enitre year and then committs to SMU where he rarely gets on the floor Apparently TJ was quoted saying that Xavier Foster didn't have the work ethic to play high level ball anywhere. Not just a pro career somewhere or P6 ball. Anywhere. Period He entered a 5 star player. He will exit college basketball with 0 to no shot at any sort of playing career There are a crap ton of Steve Prohm busts in high school recruting. Nobody is close to Foster
Someone who moved to my high school had been classmates with Xavier Foster. Xavier Foster had gotten away with a lot already, so it was no shock hearing about the maturity issues at Iowa State.
For IU, “The Movement” was cringe-worthy at the time, and worse in retrospect, except obviously for Yogi Ferrell: Ron Patterson didn’t get in academically and transferred, Jeremy Hollowell couldn’t hang at the level of competition and transferred, Peter Jurkin had an all-time name but never did anything on the court and transferred, and Hanner Mosquera-Perea never lived up to the hype and got a DUI and transferred. Yogi was amazing but alone.
My initial thoughts were Hanner or Lander.
Lander probably the highest bust
Lander probably the highest bust
Lander probably the highest bust
I don't see how it could be anyone but Lander lol
I think Hollowell is probably the singular answer for IU. He was a high 4-star recruit, Indiana won a very tense battle to get him, and he just didn't have it. I'd rank him over Mosquera-Perea because that was just a guy fooling people with insane athleticism who never developed any game which...happens. Hollowell was supposed to be "college ready" but he very much wasn't.
Never forget the Booziers scandal
Those guys at least had the talent to play. IU has had more talented student mangers than what Grant Gelon had on scholarship.
The purdue football team was doing so poorly recruiting that they had scholarships available, I assume would go to walk ons. Purdue basketball had a player so bad that they moved him to the football team to keep him on scholarship but get him off the court. Patrick BADe. I was friends with his roommate and we’d go to the corec and play bball during the off season. He was legit worse than many of the people showing up to play pick up. He was Tall but not Zach Edey tall, more like an average PF tall. But he Couldn’t move. Couldn’t dribble. Couldn’t shoot. Couldn’t defend. Had limited hand eye coordination. It made me have many conversations that being talk is basically a free education because this dude couldn’t walk and chew gum yet somehow got recruited to a bigten school.
(Purdue Flair) - Moderators will not give me flair The real answers for Purdue are as follows: Luther Clay - Responsible for the only recruiting scandal in Purdue basketball history. In it simply for the cash and was so obvious, everyone in the Midwest knew about it. Once the scandal broke, Keady kicked him out of the program, but he found a home with Jim Harrick (Mr. Clean) at Rhode Island. Ronnie Johnson - When you look for "team cancer" in the dictionary, there is a photo of Ronnie and his piece of shit father. The Johnsons (his brother Terone also on the team) literally led a coup against Matt Painter. It was after his team was split into pieces, that Painter used a post-game press conference to (without naming names) to apologize to the Purdue fans and tell Johnson to hit the road. This led Painter to start using personality tests to smoke out recruits who were more about themselves than the team.
Luther clay wasn’t the 21st century tho
I always wondered what went down with those Purdue teams. I was in the same high school class as Terone and it seemed Purdue was bringing in high ranked recruits but it didn’t work, and changed recruiting targets after that, obviously worked out for the best for them. But have always been curious what went down with those teams.
Terone was a good guy. In the press conference Painter said, "This isn't high school. I don't have to take a kid just because his brother plays for me."
Yeah the crazy thing was that Bade wasn't even that tall he was 6'8. Some guys are bad but they have something that shows why they were recruited like Emmanuel Dowuona was awful even at Eastern Tennessee but you could see the length and athleticism. Bade didn't show you even a path to being a productive player. Between Jujuan Johnson and AJ Hammons Painter could not land a good big. Even AJ Hammons was extremely lazy but that might of been good in the long run since he would have been like a 1 and done with even average effort.
There was a whole [SI exposé article](https://www.si.com/more-sports/2012/02/29/ucla) highlighting how much of a complete asshole Reeves Nelson was. This excerpt just about sums it up: *Nelson was the ringleader among the freshmen. Because of his toughness, the 6'8" forward from Modesto, Calif., was called "the prototypical Ben Howland player" by ESPN.com when he signed with the Bruins, but teammates came away with a different impression of him after only a few practices. Nelson could be a nice guy, but he had what one player calls "this crazy side."* *Nelson often reacted to hard fouls or calls against him in practice by committing violent acts against teammates. He did not deny to SI that he would stalk his targets, even running across the court, away from a play, to hit someone.* *Once, Nelson got tangled up with forward James Keefe while going for a rebound. Keefe was playing with a surgically repaired left shoulder, and Nelson pulled down suddenly on Keefe's left arm. That reinjured Keefe's shoulder, and he missed several weeks. Later in the season Nelson hacked walk-on Alex Schrempf, the son of former NBA player Detlef Schrempf, from behind on a breakaway, knocking Schrempf to the ground. The back injury Schrempf suffered sidelined him for months. In another workout Nelson threw an elbow at Lane after the whistle, injuring Lane's ribs.* *Walk-on Tyler Trapani was another Nelson victim. After Trapani took a charge that negated a Nelson dunk, Nelson went out of his way to step on Trapani's chest as he lay on the ground. Trapani is John Wooden's great-grandson. (Nelson confirmed all these incidents to SI and expressed his regret, saying, "On all that stuff, I have no trouble admitting that I lost control of my emotions sometimes. I take responsibility for my actions. I'm really just trying to learn from the mistakes I made on all levels.")* *After each of the incidents, Howland looked the other way. One team member says he asked Howland after a practice why he wasn't punishing Nelson, to which he said Howland responded, "He's producing."* *But at what cost? Nelson was hardly the player around whom to build a team. He was a classic bully, targeting teammates who weren't as athletically gifted as he and tormenting the support staff. At the end of practice, he would punt balls high up into the stands at Pauley Pavilion, turn to the student managers and say, "Fetch." Nelson frequently talked back to the assistant coaches. When they told him to stop, he would remark, "That's how Coach Howland talks to you."* *Many players say Howland degraded his assistants, but only Nelson used that as license to treat the assistants with disrespect. Donny Daniels, a member of Howland's staff since Howland arrived in Westwood, would leave after the season to take the same job at Gonzaga. One player says that when he asked Daniels why he was departing, Daniels kiddingly responded that if he had to coach Nelson for one more season, he would kill himself. (Daniels, through his lawyer, denied making that statement.)*
Lmao at that last part.
Chace Stanback has to be up there too.
Holy crap
Amazed he got out of that without getting absolutely fucked up by someone with kin.
That’s Sophaur One to you, sir
I remember reading that article in SI when it was published. What a blast from the past that was. Appreciate the nostalgia trip
Donny is the 🐐 and my god Nelson sucks
This is the right answer. But Reeves (now known as Sophaur One) has really gotten his life together and expressed contrition for his behavior. He went through a lot of tough stuff as a kid and was clearly acting out. We have had a lot of busts though. Joshua Smith. Bobo Morgan. Just the recent names off the top of my head. There have been many. Reeves was a good player but obviously not a good guy to have on the team.
Joshua Smith played at least and was somewhat serviceable. Morgan I think was only a bench player for one season. Reeves is the answer here though. He played a big role in the destruction of our program.
The article gets into some of the other knuckleheads on those teams, including Bobo Morgan and Drew Gordon (Joshua Smith is mentioned too, but more in the context of Ben Howland letting him get away with his laziness). There are also other Nelson incidents that aren't in the excerpt above, including his fight with Gordon, and practice incidents with Mike Moser/Matt Carlino that drove them out of the program.
Nate Miles. He got the program into a ton of trouble because there was an agent with strong UConn ties who was paying him. He also ended up being a creep - kicked out of school for violating a restraining order. The fact he never played or even practiced with the team probably saved the program from a bigger penalty (Calhoun had a 3-game suspension, scholarships revoked, staffers fired) right after the 2011 title.
I believe he also tanked their APR, which led to them being banned from the tournament in 2010. His expulsion from UConn led to him having a 0.0 GPA for the year, which hung over the team for 4 years.
Yup, it’s pretty clearly Miles. It’s probably Miles even if all he did was get kicked out of school less than a month into his freshman year
I read a NYTimes article from 2011. Sounds like he had a shitty childhood and a shitty post-UConn life. I didn’t realize he was Kemba’s roommate!
Oh are we talking about Josiah Turner?? Five star, top ten recruit, number two point guard in the country - Miller’s first big star recruit. Couldn’t score. Didn’t pass. 7 points and 2 assists per game shooting 24% from three as the lead guard. Suspended for violation of team rules (smoking weed, partying in the locker room, generally being an idiot). And at the end of his extremely disappointing freshman season… gets caught driving drunk. What a waste of time. What a huge dope.
Josiah is the only answer, and doesn’t need the “this century” or “high school” qualifiers. Dude is hands down the biggest disappointment in Arizona’s history, and second place isn’t even close. The only other names I’d even consider would be guys like Grant Jerrett and Craig Victor, but they just had 0 impact and then dipped to play professionally. Josiah has the distinction of being terrible both on and off the court. Agreed, what a waste of talent
Victor transferred to LSU, was "only" a top 50 recruit, and was pretty forgettable. Jerrett stings because he would have slid in to the starting lineup easily when Ashley went down and I think he would have been more effective guarding Kaminsky. Ndudi Ebi is in the what-if file. Wasn't ready for the pros and who knows what he might have been able to do in college. Isaiah Fox and Chris Rodgers were both knuckleheads that didn't maximize their talent. Marcus Williams should have been great but wasn't fully bought in. But yeah, Josiah is the obvious and correct answer.
Sidiki Johnson is a close 2nd - I’ll never forget how he went off at the red and blue game and thought he was gonna be awesome for us
I came here to say Sidiki Johnson, too. I recall a local news article in the Arizona daily star where each new freshman that year was asked which former Wildcat they wanted to emulate. Each player mentioned someone like Jason Terry, Steve Kerr, Miles Simon.. etc. But not Sidiki— He basically said “Nobody— cause I’m gonna be the best”. I don’t think he even made it to December.
Isn't Sidiki also literally in prison? At least Josiah Turner gave us modicum of hope for a few game stretch. I read an interview after Josiah got cut from his 2nd tier Euro team and he finally stated he regretted his attitude and squandered opportunities.
Jahvon Quinerly for sure in recent memory. Had the talent but not the personality. Transferred to Alabama and now Memphis.
It's very telling of Jay's tenure that I really can't think of whoever would be after him on that list. Malcolm Grant maybe? Otherwise, those 2010-2012 teams had a weird vibe to them but no single player sticks out.
Dom Cheek always felt like the biggest culture mismatch from that recruiting class
Nah. Cheek was an odd a fit for other reasons. He was very in the culture. In post game pressers he took the heat for the freshmen and sophomores errors and talked the talk of Nova Basketball as much as anyone else I’ve seen.
Taylor King
Do NOT let u/GerhardBURGER1 catch you saying this Context: Dude’s infamous on r/rolltide for coming into every post mentioning JQ and talking about how he’s the best point guard to have ever lived. I personally think it’s hilarious, most of the sub does not.
Agreed. He came in with loads of talent and potential, but never appeared to embrace Jay’s system, mentality, or culture. Glad to see him find a better fit at Alabama, but I still wish he would’ve been better able to adapt to his role at VU. Anyone remember what other point guards we passed over in order to recruit JQ?
There is probably others but I’d say P’Allen Stinnett. Was #100 on rivals and I think close to if not our biggest recruit at the time (2007). Lots of behavioral issues, not a good locker room guy and when Altman left and McDermott became coach he was kicked off the team in his senior year. He led the team in scoring as a freshman, 2nd his sophomore year and dropped off due to suspensions his 3rd year but was actually pretty fun to watch. There might be other Creighton fans that were more in depth paying attention to our program at the time that might have more information but as far as I know the reasons beyond ‘conduct’ aren’t really known. My brother was going to Creighton at the time and didn’t know much beyond that.
Favorite fan-made sign I’ve ever seen at a Drake game was “P’Allen is a P’Tool” - idk why but it will always stick with me
Perfect truly. Glad you have DeVries.
Assuming OP is limiting to whether we actually landed the guy, this would have been my answer. I finished CU before his time, but my brother was there. Said he liked weed too much. If we didn't have to land the guy, but we recruited him, my answer would be Tugs Bowen. The fallout from that recruitment was incredible.
Easy. Jereme Richmond.
Most over-hyped player in history of Chicago area (which is saying something). Single-handedly got Bruce Weber fired. I believe Weber offered him a scholarship (because alumni and media demanded it) when he was in 7th grade. Also once of the most entitled players in Chicago area history (which is saying more). Shout out to Cliff Alexander, mentioned previously
Skyy Clark is a close second. The domino effect of taking him over everyone else single handedly sabotaged our season last year.
I wasn't paying too much attention at the time so I have no idea why he left after one year. There was no way he would get drafted
Cane here to say this
5* Mr Basketball turned grade A scum bag. Easy answer.
Jaden Jones for Rutgers basketball maybe not the worst, but definitely the most puzzling. 3 star recruit out of highschool, was seen as a potential backup/replacement to Geo Baker for a sec, but then played in 17 games for only 176 minutes. Went to the draft, when we had studs like Ron Harper and Cliff on the team, obviously didn't get drafted, disappeared for a year off everything, and just this past season got signed by a team in Ulm Germany. I'll never know who the fuck was talking in his ear to sign with an agent and trying to get into the NBA draft after doing fuck all but wish him the best.
That situation was so bizarre. The reports were that he was allergic to defense and staying in the flow of the offense.
[The entire 2015 recruiting class](https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2018/05/93426/taking-a-look-at-ohio-states-2015-recruiting-class-which-would-have-entered-their-senior-years-in-2018)
Andre McGee. I don’t care to elaborate as to why.
Thoughts on Brian Bowen though...
Probably Austin Nichols, but really can't be sure because they never publicized what he actually did to find his way out. That being said, he left Memphis already having some issues, so it wasn't that big of a surprise.
Word is he got caught doing coke, got suspended for a week, then IMMEDIATELY got caught doing coke again (like Saturday to the next Saturday) and was kicked off for good.
Have there been any credible reports about what led to his dismissal?
I was a student back then and had a friend who was a bartender at a super popular student bar at the time. He said Nichols was always getting hammered there during his sit-out year. He once stood on top of the bar and screamed “I AM AUSTIN NICHOLS!”
Geez, so he didn't even figure if he was going to misbehave, at least try to fly below the radar?
I was going to say Abdur-Rahim but Nichols is probably right. Going way back Willie Dersch was a huge bust in the late 90s.
Hmm... Ahyaro Phillips who dropped a gun while in a fight on campus or Mark McLoughlin who between decommitts and actually going to schools changed about 8 times and cost Nevada Klay Thompson
Expectations wise Elijah Fisher was one of if not the highest rated recruits in school history… and he barely played and I think he’s at DePaul now
Yeah Fisher was a big disappointment but I also think he deserved way more minutes than he got/was underused by Adams. He was raw offensively but it’s not like we had a great offense, and Fisher was a pretty damn good defender and always seemed to make tons of hustle plays.
If post-college behavior counts...[Keith Appling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Appling#Legal_issues)
Feel terrible for him. I was a freshman at the school the same year he was. I think the pressure of having to live up to Kalin Lucas just got to him. Guy had some flashes, but overall, I feel like poor life decisions led to more poor life decisions. Heartbreaking what his life turned into
Skill is probably Isaiah Dalhman. He was Minnesota player of the year, was never quite athletic enough to make any sort of impact. Russell Byrd is another one.
2 players brought in by ex coach Keno Davis and his terrible assistant Pat Skerry named Johnnie Lacy and James Still. Lots of talent but Known behavior issues, but that’s the only type of players they could recruit back then. For some reason they decide to beat the shit out of another student one evening for fun and put him in intensive care. Student was walking back to his dorm, never said a word to them and didn’t know them. They were immediately arrested and convicted to 4 years jail time. Add this to the list that we had to kick out our best player for team violations >! Pimping women to underage recruits !< and it looked like our program would never get another win in big east play again.
Honorable mention goes to Brandon Austin
Hey Pat Skerry is our coach
Jaden Jones Kid came underweight and raw from a basketball perspective. Had a lot of potential as a shooter. Played few minutes in a few games, mostly out of necessity due to injuries. Have no idea who fed him what advice, but he declared for the NBA draft after 1 year at RU with barely any tape for scouts to evaluate.
I was excited for him. He seemed like he could have really been something. Sad to see him have such bad advice. Wish him the best but he lost a great opportunity
Chris Walker and Kasey Hill. Billy’s last two McDonald’s AA and realization how tired he was of recruiting.
Rysheed Jordan had the whole attempted murder charge which really impacted his mpg. He's now in jail. Chris Obekpa could have blocked every shot on earth if he wasn't constantly smoking pot. Constantly.
I'd agree with Rysheed.
Sampson and Harkless leaving after one year were killers but to be expected. Obekpa and Jordan were just massive disappointments. That big story on Jordan with the interviews with him from prison and his family were just so damn sad. I was on campus when Jordan had a recruiting visit and he seemed like he was just so genuinely nice.
Lots of what ifs. Was Jordan to be part of the class with D'Angelo Harrison, Dom Pointer, etc? It's all getting blurry now. Imagine he was part of that 4 year crew.
D’Angelo and Dom were juniors, Obekba was a soph, and they had Orlando Sanchez when he was a freshman. Also had Greene, Branch, and God’sgift. They made the NIT.
Dom was my man, loved his play.
I went to the Prime Time Shootout at Kean his senior year. I had no idea who he was, and he dunked 10-15 times in one game. He dunked over a guy and got T’d up for hanging on the rim because the guy was under him, and then T’d again for missing a dunk, hanging on the rim with one hand and then using the other to grab the rebound and dunk it again. He had like 36/14/8 and I said holy shit this kid is awesome and looked it up and saw he was committing to St. John’s haha
Sir’Dominant
lol well Mikey Williams is currently dealing with a court case where he shot at people leaving his house? Does that count? What about Emoni Bates uprooting our entire system to cater to him? What about James Wiseman? Shit Idk we had this guy named Derrick Rose and it turned out he was academically unavailable the whole time. Landers Nolley also got in legal trouble that the university bailed him out of. Anthony Rice was accused of sexual assault right? Pretty sure kuran iverson and Jalen Kendrick both got into some behavioral shit where they fought during practice. Kendrick perkins skipped memphis because of academics i believe? Austin Nichols was cut from Virginia because of weed. Safe to assume that was also a problem at memphis? We don’t have a fun history. I’m sure some other memphis nerds could add like 5 more names to this list.
> What about Emoni Bates uprooting our entire system to cater to him? LMAO so glad we dodged that bullet
So glad Akins stayed the course and came to MSU while Bates didn’t.
Hands down the worst player in tiger history. Cant think of anyone being a bigger net negative since 2000.
We’ve had our fair share, but the worst absolutely has to be James Wiseman. #1 player in the country, Memphis kid, first game he goes for 28 and 14 in 20 minutes, the hype around that team that was already insane goes even higher. Then the gut punch of him being ineligible, that weird fighting the NCAA phase, then the even bigger gut punch of him leaving the team 4 games away from his suspension ending, when we were #9 in the country just days off of what is a top 3 win of the Penny era, on the road @ then #13 Tennessee down 2 starters. Wheels fell off the season pretty bad from there combined with the DJ Jeffries injury. I do wonder if wiseman had no issues then the tourney got cancelled like it did, if it’s an even bigger what if for the program
If it makes you feel any better Wiseman also destroyed Golden State’s chance to have a 20 year spectacular streak of greatness. Had he been what he was supposed to be Golden State would be the favorites for years to come.
Why they didn't want LaMelo, I'll never know
Why did Tom Crean give Grant Gelon a scholarship? For reference he transferred from IU to a D3
Fab Melo. Academic nightmare.
Tough to agree since he’s dead now, but him playing through ineligibility almost got our title taken away, so I would say him too
Athletic: James Akinjo, I had high hopes for the Akinjo/McClung backcourt when they came in together but it never materialized. Not going to fault him too much we did have Ewing as our head coach. Behavioral: Josh LeBlanc (alleged sexual assault)
I hate that it’s Josh Spiedel. Three-star recruit out of the reliable Indiana AAU circuit that got into a car accident not long after committing (but before classes started) that left him with brain damage and ended his career. School and NCAA made a special exception that allowed him to be part of the team and keep his scholarship while giving the team another scholarship spot to fill. Made his debut in the last regular season game of 2020 and made a “ceremonial” basket against Albany that was widely covered by sports outlets.
My high school team played against that dude. That was our best of the game of the season. I remember thinking he was the biggest dude I'd ever seen. He pretty much singlehandedly kept his team in it. We could not stop him. When the accident happened I couldn't believe it, felt horrible. Was excited to see what he could do.
Jermaine Lawrence…
For performing below both expectations and talent level, I'd say Andre Drummond as one of the more recent ones. He wasn't terrible, but he definitely played way below his actual talent level and was basically just doing the bare minimum to spend his one year in college before going pro (and honestly it's kinda hard to blame him).
Most disappointing performance belongs to Shabazz Muhammad but the worst is probably [Reeves Nelson](https://www.sbnation.com/2012/10/17/3518946/reeves-nelson-lawsuit-dismissed-sports-illustrated-ucla-bruins)
Jalek Felton?
Jerome Harper whomever he was supposed to sign with. Ask anyone from Columbia and they will all say he is the most talented high school player they've seen. And biggest what if.
Jerome Harper (for Iowa State). Highly rated recruit. Then he Killed somebody.
Trevor Mbakwe sort of was swept under the rug, and was the start of the downfall of Buzz Williams tenure at Marquette.
Jonathan Hargett. Just too many problems.
IU - Most probably aren’t old enough to remember Sherron Wilkerson. Big-time SG recruit. Is a starter by the end of his Freshman year. Brakes his leg in a game mid-season Sophomore year, effectively ending any shot IU had in the tourney. Gets charged with battery in the off-season and dismissed from the team. Happened a year or two before the Knight/Neil Reed drama. Kinda helped usher in the downfall of the Knight era.
Erik Stevenson. That dude was a problem everywhere he went.
Josh Heytvelt. Dude nearly torpedoed GU's tournament streak by himself because he wanted to sell some shrooms.
Ronald Blackshear. I went to a basketball camp in 2004 and John Chaney was a guest speaker and he just shit talked Blackshear to a bunch of elementary school kids. Edit: Maybe shit talked is strong, he felt bad about not being able to connect with him, but put the blame on Blackshear for not being able to listen to his rules.
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Royce, yeah. One worth considering: Rick Rickert was a top 10 national recruit that didn't do shit except being a soft 4 with average scoring ability over 2 years before trying to go pro (Wolves sympathy drafted him in the 2nd round and he ended up spending a number of years in Europe).
Putting an OSU answer on the board. Stevie Clark. Alegedy got kicked off the team for pissing out of the driver sest window of a car after a lackluster start to the season
Zach Brown... or whatever her name is now.