Sorry I posted the story on the other thread instead of this one so if you didn't catch that, her it is
Dedan committed on the morning of 5/3. When I posted "It's Happening," that's when it literally happened. This then caused a huge domino effect.
We were really cold at one point in his recruitment as we all know, but the pieces that we got were very important. Remember when I said he was on an unofficial with the trifecta? That was the weekend that sold it for him. Being in the gym with the trifecta, LuRod, and Cottrell was huge in helping him visualize how this season would go. He loved it. His family obviously loved it and they really bought into the vision that the staff was selling. Genuineness and a willing to go out and take risks paid off. The risk here was going all out for the trifecta. If we didn't get them, we really might have had no transfers committed.
Deivon Smith was a lock to come but had to pivot to Utah once Dedan decided. Deivon told other programs he was coming to UNLV so the interest dried up, but Utah was the only school that stayed on him still which is why he ended up there. That's why he didn't take any other visits. It was announced that day around 1/2pm that he would be visiting Utah and the rest is history.
Jaden Bradley then committed to Arizona later that day, around 4pm, because they said they'd take him if Dedan didn't come. Clearly they valued Dedan more, so this recruiting dub over Arizona is huge.
Houston took Cryer over Dedan. Houston was the leader and asked Dedan multiple times to commit. He didn't, so they took Cryer.
UCLA and Gonzaga were never serious contenders, even though a couple of people thought so. Gonzaga was ALWAYS aiming for Nembhard. This was an in-season decision for Gonzaga so their communication fell through. I'm not 100% sure on why UCLA wasn't higher on his list tbh. Apologies.
Florida was really up there, came in third behind us and Arizona. Issue for them was they wanted a veteran lead guard, which they got. Wanted to pair a veteran and Dedan in the starting lineup. I'm not 100% sure why that fizzled out and its my pure speculation that maybe that wasn't the right situation for Dedan. Strong comp though because of Hartman connections.
All in all, it was a rollercoaster, but settled about a week and a half ago. Dedan wanted to play here and his parents wanted him to as well. However they needed to be shown that Dedan would be put in a situation where he would succeed and the staff showed that. Jalen Hill was the truly the key. Obviously they are from different classes and a bit far apart in age, but they've always known each other and so have the families. It helps a lot when your "big bro" is confirming everything that your dad is saying about a school. Yes, your pops and family can tell you good things, but most of the time it sounds better when someone younger says it. Give credit to Jalen, he really was working behind the scenes. I've been saying that "Visualization is key" and it truly paid off in this situation. Shout out to the current players that and trifecta for pushing this over the edge.
In terms of the future, Free and Pharoah wouldn't have taken those visits if Dedan wasn't committed. That's why those visits weren't announced publicly beforehand, because it was dependent on Dedan. Once he committed, the ball started rolling. Someone is already committed for 2024. If you saw how I commented on certain things before, you can infer who it is. That news will drop publicly whenever they feel comfortable.
We are back! The hype right now surrounding the team will extremely high. We just need to deliver and I think we will. We have all the pieces lined up.
I apologize for the long essay, but I thought some would be interested in this. It's a great day to be a Rebel!
