KU and McDonald's AA's

Take a look at the Macca AA's (Macca is what they call McDonald's down under) that Self has recruited. Has recruiting the Macca AA's really helped our program? The clear answer is that recruiting Mickey D's has been overall a very good thing for KU. But it is far from being 100%. In Self's first 4 years he did a great job of picking impact players from this group. His next 4 years was a solid F! Only 2 players in those 4 years and neither particularly impactful and 1 was one of the biggest busts (Selby). The next 4 years was a mixed bag. When you consider the impact we have had from players like Tyrel Reed, Brady Morningstar, Travis Releford, Tyshawn Taylor, Jeff Withey, Kevin Young, Devonte' Graham, Frank Mason, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kahn, Landon Lucas and others, the real genuis of Self and staff has been finding the diamond in the rough and developing over the years. While it is always nice to land a Mickey D or two, I would prefer finding the diamonds in the rough and keeping them for 4 years.

2004 - None
2005 - Mario Chalmers (A+), Micah Downs(C-), Julian Wright (B+)
2006 - Darrell Arthur (A), Sherron Collins (A+)
2007 - Cole Aldrich (A)
2008 - None
2009 - Xavier Henry (C-)
2010 - Josh Selby (F)
2011 - None
2012 - Perry Ellis (A)
2013 - Wayne Selden (B+)
2014 - Cliff Alexander(D), Kelly Oubre (B )
2015 - Malik Newman (B+), Dedric Lawson(A), Cheick Diallo (D-), Carlton Bragg (D-)
2016 - Udoka Azubuike (A), Josh Jackson (B+)
2017 - Billy Preston (F)
2018 - Devon Dotson (A+), Quentin Grimes (I), David McCormack (I)

Macca=Paul McCartney, too. Although to my knowledge he doesn’t do much w NCAA men’s basketball.

Thanks, CJ. I’d already forgotten some of the “players” who failed or were near failing.

You were very nice to Bragg. Not sure he earned the D-

the real genuis of Self and staff has been finding the diamond in the rough and developing over the years. While it is always nice to land a Mickey D or two, I would prefer finding the diamonds in the rough and keeping them for 4 years.

Totally agree with this Corpus. I guess we have had it that way for the most part.(Players developing along with 1 or 2 McD AA each year). It would be an interesting experiment to see how things would play out/develop if Self intentionally stopped recruiting the McD AA. Obviously that's not going to happen b/c HCBS sees the benefits in doing so (And I get that he does), but would like to see what would happen under that circumstance.

Also, was the smiley face next to Oubre a typo or are do you just consider him a guy who has to wear shades

I agree with you porthawk - rarely do the Mickey D's stay for long and too often they don't accomplish much while here.
CJ - would quibble with several of your ratings. Cole always gets an A+ from me for his FF game vs UNC. Also seems Lawson needs a footnote. Thanks for doing the research - interesting overall.

Thanks for the explanation, HE. So CJ gave KO a B. I agree with that grade.