Get Old, Stay Old... What Happened??

[MWBATL]

The best part about beating your head against the wall is it feels so good once you stop.

That describes my divorce....

 

[4shotB]

That describes my divorce....

That also describes me when I got out.

 

[bob4gt]

I think having to attend a real class rather than a virtual class is a deal breaker for many top rated players. Negatively affects Tech's recruiting.

 

[AUFC]

I think Eski was brought in to recruit the guys who want to also play school. I'm not sure you can make the NCAA Tournament with this strategy unless you're in the Ivy League or Patriot League. Notre Dame has found some success with geniuses who are pretty good at hoops. There aren't really any P6 nerd schools that have seen consistent success though.

 

[slugboy]

I think Eski was brought in to recruit the guys who want to also play school. I'm not sure you can make the NCAA Tournament with this strategy unless you're in the Ivy League or Patriot League. Notre Dame has found some success with geniuses who are pretty good at hoops. There aren't really any P6 nerd schools that have seen consistent success though.

I'm not sure I buy the "no one wants to go to school" argument. I missed the Clemson game, but I haven't seen us play well this season.

I had the idea that we'd build some chemistry and start playing together based on some of our slow starting seasons, but it doesn't sound like that's happening.

If I look at kenpom.com, UVA is number 12, and I don't think they've given up on their players going to class. (I'm open to getting corrected here).

Rutgers is number 26, and I don't see how they're that much more of an attractive school.

I'm not going to die on whether kenpom tells the story of our basketball team, but we're at #119, behind Utah Valley and Princeton and Middle Tennessee and Furman. If I just limit myself to the top 40 kenpom teams, you have FAU, Utah State, and a boatload of Big East teams. Are these schools massively funded athletic programs with no academics?

Northwestern is at 44, and I think they still have to go to school.

Yeah, if we're comparing to UNC or Alabama, I understand, but we're just not gelling.

 

[AUFC]

I wasn’t aware Northwestern was having such a strong season. Some of those schools you mention I think have majors that are built for athletes (i.e. UNC - one of the best schools in the country but they had fake classes). Telling players they’ll have to take Calculus is a huge DQ for a lot of recruits. But the “we need athlete majors” discussion is beating a dead horse on this board at this point.

Rutgers is a much more appealing/trendy program at this point. I think I posted about them and the Trapezoid of Terror being the hardest away win in college basketball a few weeks ago (but it wasn’t always like that, if that gives fans hope).

 

[1979jacket]

Money flowing under the table has been rampant in college recruiting. GT Did not engage in that pre NIL, so it was even worse. I am all about calling a spade a spade, and agree he has had some self-inflicted issues, but the reality is that since CBC, we have been playing on a slanted field, facing a stiff uphill slope.

i don't think so - Hewitt recruited as well if not better than CBC. Since then we haven't had a decent coach that could recruit. I believe the opportunity is there.

 

[slugboy]

I wasn’t aware Northwestern was having such a strong season. Some of those schools you mention I think have majors that are built for athletes (i.e. UNC - one of the best schools in the country but they had fake classes). Telling players they’ll have to take Calculus is a huge DQ for a lot of recruits. But the “we need athlete majors” discussion is beating a dead horse on this board at this point.

Rutgers is a much more appealing/trendy program at this point. I think I posted about them and the Trapezoid of Terror being the hardest away win in college basketball a few weeks ago (but it wasn’t always like that, if that gives fans hope).

Rutgers being appealing isn’t built-in to the school. If we were playing the same quality of basketball, and a player had a choice between here and there, they’d pick here. Rutgers is appealing now because they’re playing good basketball now.
I’m taking the coach out of the equation and thinking about the school

 

[EE95_curse EMAG!]

I think the current crop of upperclassmen was compromised by the Pastner/Bell SNAFU. Hard to get old when you have air in the recruiting pipeline for a year or two.

IMO, the question is when do we start recruiting well? I'm not talking McD's AA's, I'm talking the occasional top 20 recruit and a top 50 guy many/most years. Are our recruiting problems over now that the Pastner/Bell debacle is over, or are the recruiting problems bigger than that?

When do we focus on HS players that can actually shoot from outside? GT can't make anyting outside of 5 feet and can't make free throws for about 10 years running. Moses Wright and Jose Avarado were finds, but thats just two players in 15 years. Something drastic is needed. I hope this is Pastner's final year, but I think we all know he'll get a longer leash while AD is busy trying to blot up the oceans of red ink on the GTAA ledger.

 

[Root4GT]

When do we focus on HS players that can actually shoot from outside? GT can't make anyting outside of 5 feet and can't make free throws for about 10 years running. Moses Wright and Jose Avarado were finds, but thats just two players in 15 years. Something drastic is needed. I hope this is Pastner's final year, but I think we all know he'll get a longer leash while AD is busy trying to blot up the oceans of red ink on the GTAA ledger.

The remarkable thing about our FT issues is our 2 point guards are the problem. One shooting .500 and the other .522. That is awful for the guys with the ball in crunch time. We are 191 out of 352 teams.

 

[g0lftime]

The remarkable thing about our FT issues is our 2 point guards are the problem. One shooting .500 and the other .522. That is awful for the guys with the ball in crunch time. We are 191 out of 352 teams.

Need to be 80%+ since those are your ball handlers late in a game when you have a lead.

 

[Steverc]

Need to be 80%+ since those are your ball handlers late in a game when you have a lead.

Or in our case, late in the game when we are down by 20.

 

[g0lftime]

Or in our case, late in the game when we are down by 20.

Could have cost us a win against our biggest rival. You are right about it only matters in tight games with a slim margin. It helps to get to the line late and if behind to score with the clock stopped. A PG that can't hit FT's in the 80% range shouldn't be playing at an ACC school.

 

[Randy Carson]

John Calipari was/is IMO, the poster boy for the one-and-done approach to college basketball. How many national titles does he have to show for it? ONE.

I'm sorry, but there is just something to be said for watching a sleepy-eyed kid from Oklahoma and a skinny kid from Brooklyn grow up over a four-year period. As a fan, I get to know their game, what to expect, what needs to improve, etc. As a coach it MUST be more rewarding to help these four-year players develop than to coach a Zion Williamson for a year only to see him leave after (losing) the title game. Coach K adapted to the modern reality (and won), but I'm not sure he really enjoyed it as much.

A team loaded with Seniors, Junior and the occasional underclassmen will beat the bunch of "can't miss" freshman more times than not.

And how does a coach develop a "coaching tree" if the kids don't stick around long enough to learn what a real coach needs to know?

Get old. Stay old. And keep a steady stream of fresh talent coming every year to fill the pipeline.

 

[JacketOff]

Get old. Stay old. And keep a steady stream of fresh talent coming every year to fill the pipeline.

The concept is sound, and most of the nation’s top teams abide by it. The problem is that nothing in your last stanza has happened over the course of 7 years.

 

[awbuzz]

The concept is sound, and most of the nation’s top teams abide by it. The problem is that nothing in your last stanza has happened over the course of 7 years.

... Make that 11+ years

 

[Root4GT]

John Calipari was/is IMO, the poster boy for the one-and-done approach to college basketball. How many national titles does he have to show for it? ONE.

I'm sorry, but there is just something to be said for watching a sleepy-eyed kid from Oklahoma and a skinny kid from Brooklyn grow up over a four-year period. As a fan, I get to know their game, what to expect, what needs to improve, etc. As a coach it MUST be more rewarding to help these four-year players develop than to coach a Zion Williamson for a year only to see him leave after (losing) the title game. Coach K adapted to the modern reality (and won), but I'm not sure he really enjoyed it as much.

A team loaded with Seniors, Junior and the occasional underclassmen will beat the bunch of "can't miss" freshman more times than not.

And how does a coach develop a "coaching tree" if the kids don't stick around long enough to learn what a real coach needs to know?

Get old. Stay old. And keep a steady stream of fresh talent coming every year to fill the pipeline.

The problem with this is you need elite talent, not necessarily a one and done type but guys who will play in the NBA.

GT simply hasn’t gotten those guys since Hewitt left with 2 exceptions in 12 years.

Having serious talent matters. We simply don’t have top tier ACC talent. CJP has not been able to bring the needed level and quantity in.

The question that Batt needs to decipher is it a CJP problem or is it a GTAA problem regarding support for basketball. Until he figures that out correctly and has a plan to resolve the problem nothing good will happen for GTBB.

I don’t think any of us really have the answer.

 

[Fatmike91]

The question that Batt needs to decipher is it a CJP problem or is it a GTAA problem regarding support for basketball. Until he figures that out correctly and has a plan to resolve the problem nothing good will happen for GTBB.

Exactly right.

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