With ongoing discussion of whether or not Pastner can recruit, it brought to mind that throughout GT's history in the ACC, recruiting has sputtered and soared, regardless of the coach. We all like to bask in the glories of Price, Salley, Dalyrmple, Ferrell, Hammonds, Scott, Anderson, Mackey, Best, Forrest, Jack, Bosh,Thaddeus, etc. Good times.
For the sake of historical perspective and sardonic grins, this list is dedicated to the dark moments in GT Hoops recruiting, both culpable and unfortunate. Please feel free to add to the list:
#11. Cremins 1994 switcheroo with taking the South Carolina job ruined our chances with PA big Jason Lawson, who had a good career with Villanova. Can't say that we were a slam dunk to land Lawson, but we were in a good position with Lawson and Elisma. We did get Elisma.
#10. Muhammed Faye. For some reason, Hewitt's staff felt the need to leak the news that we had a significant international signing, but was keeping the player's identity a secret until he was enrolled. The secrecy had the (I hope unintended) effect of producing a high degree of anticipation and expectations for the player who turned out to be Muhammed Faye. A 6"9" string bean who had no strength to play the post or skills or quickness to play the perimeter. It all became a big joke ... on us.
#9. We were set to land Don MacLean in 1988 in the Spring period. He was a UCLA legacy, but that program was in disarray. UCLA hired Jim Harrick as coach during a recruiting dead period and right before the signing period, MacLean magically came out of the dead period a UCLA commit. MacLean would leave the school as its all time leading scorer. Gotta love Harrick.
#8. Matt Harpring. I have to make a spot for him on this list because one of the all time great GT players had to beg his way into the program as Cremins just didn't believe he was an ACC player. Harpring played on the same high school team as Cremins' son and Cremins saw him numerous times. Kevin Cantwell practically had to hold Cremins at gunpoint to get him to take Harpring. Sheesh!
#7. Michael Christian. In typical Cremins fashion, Bobby was able to identify top PG talent and went all the way to Denver to land his replacement for Mark Price. Christian was one of the top lead guards in the class of 1987. Great signing. But Christian got into a car wreck and mangled his knee and never was the same. If we had signed Christian, would we have landed Kenny Anderson for 1990?
#6. Kevin Morris. Bobby Cremins was slow to account for early departures and they burned him every time, particularly at PG. Cremins didn't try to recruit for a Marbury replacement until the Spring (even though Marbury wasn't even going to classes!) and we got left with Kevin Morris who was not up to the task. Cremins promptly recruited over Morris the next year when he signed LeTravis Spivey (ho was not much better). Recruiting over Morris alienated Cremis from the NYC AAU coachesand helped to dry-out that NYC talent pipeline. To add a little salt to the injury, the rest of that class was Pablo Machado (transferred to Pepperdien), Jon Babul and Jason Floyd.
#5. Jamie Watson and Joe Forte. GT fans had become accustomed to Cremins landing his top targets, and after a Final Four run, there was little reason for GT fans believe that Cremins would whiff. But for the 1990 class, whiff we did. Reece was slated to replace Scott at the wing but he chose Carolina and Watson was supposed to replace Oliver at the 2G but he followed our ex-assistant to South Carolina. We did manage to land Jon Barry (sight-unseen) and Brain Hill late to fill in.
#4. Joe Forte and Damien Wilkins. Cremins had put himself in good shape with his two prime targets for 1999 and had them in together for official visits on the first day of Practice in October. It happened to be the practice where Dion Glover blew out his knee. A depressed Cremins retreated and was not seen for the rest of the weekend. Forte went to Carolina and Wilkins to NCSt. That was the final nail for Cremins.
#3. Austin Jackson. Hewitt needed a PG to replace Jack and for some reason targeted Austin Jackson who was well known to be a Five Tool baseball prospect. The only other Power Five offer for Jackson was from Illinois. Jackson said he wanted to play basketball, but EVERYONE else seemed to know that there was an extreme risk that Austin Jackson would not be able to turn down a MLB signing bonus. Jackson turned out to be the bonus baby, as many expected and he went on to a decent MLB career. The good news was that we would eventually sign Zam Frederick to replace Jack...
#2. Shareef Abdur Rahim. Rahim was a long time fan of the program and was around Gt years before he blossomed into a Blue Chip recruit. It was considered a foregone conclusion he would go to Tech. But shady dealings of the dirty Todd Bozeman at Cal mediated through former LSU guard Mahmoud Abdul Rauf (WTF?) sent Rahim packing for California. Cremins went ballistic and chewed out Rahim's Marietta high school coach who would head a local powerhouse program for decades. That coach would refuse to allow any of his players to attend Tech for over 20 years (Usher broke the streak, but only via USC).
#1. Michael Southall / Emeka Okafore. Hewitt needed a Center. Future All-America and part of the team that would defeat us for the National Title was high on Tech, but was too slow for Hewitt, who decided to take the physical prep school post player Michael Southall, who had had some legal troubles. One week later, Okafore telephoned to commit to GT, but Hewitt didn't have a spot for him. Okafore became an All Amarica and National Champion at UConn (not to mention a Math major and model student). A few weeks after refusing Okafore, Southall was busted on felony weed dealing charges. He was later busted for weed using because, he said, he needed to relax before his court proceedings. Eventually, we did end up with Shenscher, but Jeeze man!
Honorable mentions: Alonzo Mourning (Close but no cigar) and Al Harrington.
Recruiting flubs are part of the landscape!
