Vezenkov gets pro contract

[kyxu]

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet (or if it has, my apologies and feel free to delete):

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/xavier/2013/08/05/vezenkov/

With a pro offer in his home country, I would imagine the chances of Vezenkov ever playing a minute at Xavier would be nil.

Thoughts?

[THRILLHOUSE]

It's posted in the recruiting forum - http://www.xavierhoops.com/showthread.php?24442-Aleksandar-Alexander-Vezenkov/

[Masterofreality]

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet (or if it has, my apologies and feel free to delete):

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/xavier/2013/08/05/vezenkov/

With a pro offer in his home country, I would imagine the chances of Vezenkov ever playing a minute at Xavier would be nil.

Thoughts?

Thoughts are that he's dead to me. Actually, he was never alive to me.

At least CMack got to see the world. Maybe he should just internationally recruit in Canada.

[Muskie]

It's ok to keep this one here. The other thread is somewhat large.

Well on to the next one I guess. I wonder what the total investment was on this recruit? But Kudos to Mack for thinking outside the box and nearly getting one of the top players in Europe.

[kyxu]

I wonder what the total investment was on this recruit? But Kudos to Mack for thinking outside the box and nearly getting one of the top players in Europe.

That's what I was thinking. Mack took a big risk with this one, and it looked like it was going to pay off. That's a lot of dollars to spend on a guy who's going to end up not playing for you.

[PMI]

That's what I was thinking. Mack took a big risk with this one, and it looked like it was going to pay off. That's a lot of dollars to spend on a guy who's going to end up not playing for you.

Yea, it was most likely an expensive recruitment, but he did at least get the assurance that if the kid was going to play NCAA basketball, it was going to be at Xavier. My guess (all speculation) is that Vezenkov's performance over the past few weeks was the deciding factor in him turning pro. I don't believe that he was playing us the whole time. It's not like we didn't know he might turn pro. His family seemed pretty transparent about that the whole time. So I don't think it was a total waste of time and money. The talent was completely worth the pursuit I think. Can't win em all.

[ballyhoohoo]

Yeah it was expensive. But two round trip commercial flights to Europe are probably in similar cost to Mack gassing up a charter and flying somewhere. He doesn't fly charter all the time, but I'm sure he does on occasion.

I would assume the vez recruitment was I'm the neighborhood of 15k

[GoMuskies]

Depends on whether Mack was flying coach or business class.

[nuts4xu]

I would assume the vez recruitment was I'm the neighborhood of 15k

This seemed a little high to me, so I checked on flights with Delta, figuring his flights were the most expensive part of his recruitment. If he flew business class, which I would imagine he would, a round trip flight to Greece runs you about 6k. If you fly economy class, which very few 6'5" college coaches would do, a flight runs about 2K.

With 2 trips to Greece, it sounds like 15k is probably about right. However, a lot of the other recruits we have pursued involve just driving to watch them play, so it is all relative. It would surprise me to learn the $ spend on the Vez recruiting blew our recruiting budget. We should be fine.

[ballyhoohoo]

This seemed a little high to me, so I checked on flights with Delta, figuring his flights were the most expensive part of his recruitment. If he flew business class, which I would imagine he would, a round trip flight to Greece runs you about 6k. If you fly economy class, which very few 6'5" college coaches would do, a flight runs about 2K.

With 2 trips to Greece, it sounds like 15k is probably about right. However, a lot of the other recruits we have pursued involve just driving to watch them play, so it is all relative. It would surprise me to learn the $ spend on the Vez recruiting blew our recruiting budget. We should be fine.

I travel to Europe for work Nuts, don't fact check me buddy.

[LA Muskie]

Yea, it was most likely an expensive recruitment, but he did at least get the assurance that if the kid was going to play NCAA basketball, it was going to be at Xavier. My guess (all speculation) is that Vezenkov's performance over the past few weeks was the deciding factor in him turning pro. I don't believe that he was playing us the whole time. It's not like we didn't know he might turn pro. His family seemed pretty transparent about that the whole time. So I don't think it was a total waste of time and money. The talent was completely worth the pursuit I think. Can't win em all.
I agree.

[nuts4xu]

I travel to Europe for work Nuts, don't fact check me buddy.

Never again, should have known better than to double check your math! As someone who travels almost exclusively within the US, and would fly economy if travelling oveseas, it surprised me how expensive those flights can be.

[casualfan]

Yea, it was most likely an expensive recruitment, but he did at least get the assurance that if the kid was going to play NCAA basketball, it was going to be at Xavier. My guess (all speculation) is that Vezenkov's performance over the past few weeks was the deciding factor in him turning pro. I don't believe that he was playing us the whole time. It's not like we didn't know he might turn pro. His family seemed pretty transparent about that the whole time. So I don't think it was a total waste of time and money. The talent was completely worth the pursuit I think. Can't win em all.

IMHO, Xavier was his fallback option. I think he had a pretty good idea if he didn't crap the bed in the tourney he would be getting a good contract. It certainly didn't hurt anything (at least not in his eyes) to have a fallback option.

[Muskie]

This seemed a little high to me, so I checked on flights with Delta, figuring his flights were the most expensive part of his recruitment. If he flew business class, which I would imagine he would, a round trip flight to Greece runs you about 6k. If you fly economy class, which very few 6'5" college coaches would do, a flight runs about 2K.

With 2 trips to Greece, it sounds like 15k is probably about right. However, a lot of the other recruits we have pursued involve just driving to watch them play, so it is all relative. It would surprise me to learn the $ spend on the Vez recruiting blew our recruiting budget. We should be fine.

How many clients did you put on hold to conduct this research?

[Milhouse]

It's a loaded 2014 classes the extra scholarship could be a blessing in disguise.

[PMI]

IMHO, Xavier was his fallback option. I think he had a pretty good idea if he didn't crap the bed in the tourney he would be getting a good contract. It certainly didn't hurt anything (at least not in his eyes) to have a fallback option.

That's a fair opinion, but my counter argument would be that his dad has kept him eligible for NCAA basketball this whole time even though it was abundantly clear that he could get a pro contract somewhere. That's what leads me to believe that he did have a real decision to make. I don't even cite that his sister player in the NCAA, because it's different for a female. I think the family acknowledged that NCAA basketball might legitimately be the best option for his future, and I most definitely think that Mack believed that they believed that before he spent all the time and money he did on the recruitment. Fact is, we'll probably never know, but time to move on to 2014.

[casualfan]

That's a fair opinion, but my counter argument would be that his dad has kept him eligible for NCAA basketball this whole time even though it was abundantly clear that he could get a pro contract somewhere. That's what leads me to believe that he did have a real decision to make. I don't even cite that his sister player in the NCAA, because it's different for a female. I think the family acknowledged that NCAA basketball might legitimately be the best option for his future, and I most definitely think that Mack believed that they believed that before he spent all the time and money he did on the recruitment. Fact is, we'll probably never know, but time to move on to 2014.


I don't think what I meant and what your counterpoint says are all that much different. My point was that I think all along signing a certain contract was option #1 all along. Whether the main criteria was $'s or number of years (probably a combo of both) I think Xavier was an option in case he wasn't offered a contract that met the criteria they wanted.

That's nothing against Xavier or the Vezenkov's.

There's obviously a reason he kept the door open at Xavier. I just personally think the way everything played out points to him wanting to stay in Europe all along, but having X around in case he didn't get the contract he wanted.

Like you said, we'll never truly know.

[nuts4xu]

How many clients did you put on hold to conduct this research?

None, I can multi-task like a mofo.

[ballyhoohoo]

None, I can multi-task like a mofo.

I always thought it was called typing left handed while the other hand...........

no homo

[Cheesehead]

Well, this F-ing sucks. I hope the Greek economy collapses. (just kidding)