It was pretty evident this was going to happen for a while now. Their recruiting strategy is beyond weird. Like I've been saying since last season, all they can do at this point is win. No 5 stars (and a lot of 4 stars) are coming here until the program starts showing results on the court.
I'm sick of this "no 5 or 4 star players will come here until we start to win" narrative. Yes, winning will help but programs do get these types of players before they start to win. Washington has been getting great recruiting classes despite continuing to not win with them. Ben Simmons went to LSU.
Let's look at the '17 class alone:
Michael Porter - Missouri (yes, extenuating circumstances here)
Collin Sexton - Alabama
Mitchell Robinson was committed to Western KY before he bounced on them twice
Brandon McCoy - UNLV
Nick Weatherspoon - Miss State
John Petty - Alabama
Ethan Thompson - Oregon State
Tremont Waters - LSU
Chuma Okeke - Auburn
Rayshaun Hammonds - Georgia
Jordan Goodwin - St Louis
Kimani Lawrence - Arizona State
Davion Mitchell - Auburn
Josh Anderson - Western Kentucky
Jaylen Nowell - Washington
Those are just players in the top 75 of the class. You don't necessarily have to be a winner to convince talent to play for you. Should be somewhat easier for us than other losing programs to get some talent here considering we have two hall of famers and a ton of NBA front office experience on the staff