KD & GT

[GaTech4ever]

Didn’t necessarily want to create a thread for this, but screw it, it’s not like I’m pushing any active threads down lol.

Kevin Durant posted a story on IG where he found a box of his countless recruiting letters from every school in the country. He specifically mentioned GT twice (more than any other school).

The context was that we sent coaches to his school all the time, and we also had a coach show up when KD was at Dave & Busters to try and convince KD to de-commit from Texas on the spot. KD was the #2 ranked player in the same class when we signed 2 of the top 11 players (Young and Crittenton). Just thought the story was funny/interesting. Would love to one day again be in the mix for these kinda guys. Anyone who followed recruiting back then know if we had any chance with him? We’re only one of six schools listed on his 247 page.

Not sure if the URL will work but here’s the post:

Overtime on Instagram: "Every coach in the world was tryna get this man 🐐 @easymoneysniper"

109K likes, 249 comments - overtime on February 9, 2022: "Every coach in the world was tryna get this man 🐐 @easymoneysniper"

www.instagram.com

 

[Connell62]

Didn’t necessarily want to create a thread for this, but screw it, it’s not like I’m pushing any active threads down lol.

Kevin Durant posted a story on IG where he found a box of his countless recruiting letters from every school in the country. He specifically mentioned GT twice (more than any other school).

The context was that we sent coaches to his school all the time, and we also had a coach show up when KD was at Dave & Busters to try and convince KD to de-commit from Texas on the spot. KD was the #2 ranked player in the same class when we signed 2 of the top 11 players (Young and Crittenton). Just thought the story was funny/interesting. Would love to one day again be in the mix for these kinda guys. Anyone who followed recruiting back then know if we had any chance with him? We’re only one of six schools listed on his 247 page.

Not sure if the URL will work but here’s the post:

Overtime on Instagram: "Every coach in the world was tryna get this man 🐐 @easymoneysniper"

109K likes, 249 comments - overtime on February 9, 2022: "Every coach in the world was tryna get this man 🐐 @easymoneysniper"

www.instagram.com

Hewitt connected with him and left an impression like he did with so many prospects back in those days.

He could recruit with the best of them....

 

[Root4GT]

Hewitt connected with him and left an impression like he did with so many prospects back in those days.

He could recruit with the best of them....

We could use some one who could recruit like Hewitt and staff now. I still find how the GT program under Hewitt went from building a team from nothing to playing for the NC followed by 5 years later being a very bad team. Sure he lost assistants but still it's hard to comprehend. His 2003-4 and 2004-5 teams were really good! Injuries derailed to 04-05 team. I miss being relevant on the National level.

 

[MWBATL]

We could use some one who could recruit like Hewitt and staff now. I still find how the GT program under Hewitt went from building a team from nothing to playing for the NC followed by 5 years later being a very bad team. Sure he lost assistants but still it's hard to comprehend. His 2003-4 and 2004-5 teams were really good! Injuries derailed to 04-05 team. I miss being relevant on the National level.

He lost the assistants who could actually, you know, coach. Hewitt himself was an immensely charming, attractive and well spoken man which is why I suspect he was a great recruiter. But (as Collins is proving as well) you do have to actually coach and not just recruit.

 

[Root4GT]

He lost the assistants who could actually, you know, coach. Hewitt himself was an immensely charming, attractive and well spoken man which is why I suspect he was a great recruiter. But (as Collins is proving as well) you do have to actually coach and not just recruit.

That is clearly a part but there has to be more than that as he lost 2 assistants who both failed as HCs. Hewitt's teams at Siena were very good. 66-27 overall record and he took over a very bad team there. I don't believe either of his main GT assistants were on his Sienna's staff.

 

[CuseJacket]

I wonder if KD is a common what-if at a lot of schools now. There's a couple similar anecdotes on the Syracuse side.

First, there was this


Second, Weaver's backfill (Troy Murphy) had been recruiting KD really well,, knew his mom extremely well, went on record recently saying he thought he would have had him, but said that he (Murphy) and many schools backed off when they thought KD was NBA-bound. Then the rule changed, and one of the lone holdovers who kept recruiting him was Texas.

I'm not sure what to make of the 'GT tried to get him to flip' comment. That's rarely a thing in college basketball (compared to college football) due to unspoken rules about not recruiting guys once they're committed elsewhere. I'm sure it happens, but the rare number of kids who flip in CBB especially around that time support the unspoken rule.

 

[g0lftime]

He lost the assistants who could actually, you know, coach. Hewitt himself was an immensely charming, attractive and well spoken man which is why I suspect he was a great recruiter. But (as Collins is proving as well) you do have to actually coach and not just recruit.

We couldn't even run an inbounds play under Hewitt.