Yoeli Childs

[astUTE]

I’ve seen this topic touched on briefly on this board, and I apologize in advance if it was fully discussed and I missed it, but:

If someone knows the whole story, would you please respond recounting how an apparent significant talent, who I understand always wanted to be a Ute, was not offered a scholarship at the U and ended up attending BYU instead?

I’m specifically not looking for a bunch of one-line rips on Coach K, we’ve probably all adquately beat that dead horse (particularly me), I’m really hoping to understand what actually happened.

Thanks in advance.

 

[stonguse]

The word in the aftermath was that Yoeli was a late bloomer and K liked Jayce( I believe) better.

[Puget Ute]

Yoeli was barely 6’5″, but was a great rebounder relative to his size. He would have been behind several other players we had who were the same size (Tillman, Seeley, Collette, Devon Daniels).

Then in college he suddenly grew 3 inches to 6’8″,  put in serious work in the weight room and on the court, and developed himself into a very talented and smart player.

He was a recruiting miss, but being a late bloomer made him less obvious of a target.  I hope he has a long and lucrative career in Europe (if he doesn’t make an NBA roster)

[snafu]

I believe one of the factors was the recruitment of Markkanen. I think the staff was expecting him to sign. Yoeli wasn’t the priority so he committed to the Y. By the time Markkanen committed elsewhere, it was too late to go after Yoeli.

[EagleMountainUte]

I know it is all related to the current situation Utah Basketball is in but I give Larry a pass on recruiting. I am way more critical with what he does with his talent. IE actually coaching. 

Recruiting without money hasn’t been fair. Not that I am accusing money had anything to do with Yoeli. More of a general statement I guess. 

[User Suspended]

[pedro]

He and my son went to Bingham together and my son’s understanding was just the opposite.  He had wanted to play at the Y his whole life.  FWIW

[astUTE]

Thanks for the notes everyone.  I must admit that I was confused about when he was recruited.  I had it in mind that he was a sophomore this year but when I went back and looked, he was a junior, and would have been recruited the same year (as someone else mentioned) as was Markkanen, and during the redshirt year of Johnson.

Those facts, and the 3-inch growth and dramatic skill improvement between his freshman and sophomore years, help explain why he was not a priority.

I don’t expect our staff to win every recruiting battle, and as mentioned, we’ve lost a number of close ones to schools like Ariz and Ore, which are suspected of paying recruits, but we’ve also lost to Gonzaga, which runs a very clean program and those losses really sting.

I really hate losing to TDS (now twice in a row), and thought that I recalled announcers mentioning that Childs was motivated by not getting an offer to play at Utah, where he had always wanted to play.  Perhaps that was not true. 

Bottom line:

With a new coaching staff at BYU, and the loss of Childs, mixed with a good recruiting class at Utah and (hopefully) retaining the talent we developed this year, I EXPECT not to lose to TDS in 2019.

[astUTE]

This post is SO provocative, I can’t believe I don’t have more down votes.