Daily Campus

[50's PONY]

There is a letter to the editor in today's Daily Campus about Q. Ross and the general feeling of the students about basketball. Very interesting!
I just wish that we would start recruiting MORE local players. When you see Rice recruiting two very good players (Michael Harris from Hillsboro and J.R. Harrison from Gainesville)it just makes me wonder why we have to keep going to Georgia and Florida for players. They are all around us locally!

[ClassOf81]

That's true (although we do have the Reay kid coming next year from Plano....)

I never heard Harris's name mentioned as a possible recruit two years ago. How did we not get in on that guy? What a player he is. (Maybe Richuel Massey can get him to transfer!)

[EastStang]

I guess there are two short answers to that one. First, Texas while deep in football talent is thin in basketball talent. While there might be 3 studs in Texas(with qualifying grades and test scores) in a given year there are 100s in eastern states. Thus a Texas focus in basketball recruiting would actually hurt you. Second, Dement came from an Eastern program. His buddies are in the east. Thus, he will get more attention from HS coaches in the east. As PX pointed out, some of the Texas AAU programs steer athletes to schools that contribute to("bribe") their programs. SMU doesn't permit that kind of game playing. So Dement recruits where he can. Lastly, many of the eastern prep (private) schools have scholarship basketball players and these kids can perform on SAT's and have all their core courses and thus meet our admission standards.

[Waz]

Did you REALLY say that Texas doesn't have much basketball talent?

[50's PONY]

"a Texas focus in recruiting would actually hurt you" -- did you really say that? Ask Jimmy Tubbs about Texas recruiting. There is a lot more here then meets the eye!

[Fresh]

I agree with East Stang. There are players here, but with the exception of the big kid in Beaumont, there aren't any studs of the caliber that you find on both coasts and in the Chicago area. Players who can help SMU? Sure. But players that will make SMU rise up to a national level? I don't think so. We could roll through the WAC if we had our pick of players from Texas, but I don't think Texas has the same talent as other areas of the country, and that's all East Stang was saying. Not that there are NO players in Texas, just not enough.

[EastStang]

Right. There aren't enough to go around. Yes, a pure Texas focus could hurt us. Remember, there are kids out there in Texas who might be interested in playing in the ACC (for example Bosch) or the Big XII. A National effort can get us some excellent players. I would take 5 B Hops and 5 Bosch's anytime, but I would not turn my nose up at a Simpson or a Rack either.

[50's PONY]

I am not talking about Simpson or Rack -- I am talking about all of the talent around Texas and especially within a 100 mile radius of Dallas. If it is so average why did we go after so many that we never got to first base with or lost out on?

[Stallion]

you guys have seriouly outdated information. I checked this the other day and Texas has 9 players on the Rivals 100 BB List and some thing like 8 on the Insiders Top 100 List. Last time I saw a list of the states with the most Division 1 prospects Texas produced the second most Division 1 recruits in the nation. Now you might be right there is not enough to go around but I think that has more to do with the fact that we can't keep the Bracey Wrights, Chris Bosh's, Diougo?(the Arizona St kid) and Derron Williams kids in state. Last year Texas produced a bumper crop of Top National recruits especially the Metroplex but BHop is one of the few top ones to stay in Texas. But look this ain't 1970-there is no reason to limit ourselves to only Texas players-SMU does emphasize these kids and has done a GREAT JOB in getting these guys to consider SMU. We just haven't closed the deal on enough of them. That's what happened last year-we struck out on a great list of Texas recruits especially inside guys and only then began focusing on Pearson and the Georgia kid whose name escapes me. These coaches can go to a Nike sponsered camp or an AAU camp and see hundreds of top All-Stars from across the country all at the same location thereby reducing recruiting costs. We should get the best players from whereever we can find them while focusing as we do on Texas.

[This message has been edited by Stallion (edited 02-25-2003).]

[The CPC]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Fresh:
<B>I agree with East Stang. There are players here, but with the exception of the big kid in Beaumont, there aren't any studs of the caliber that you find on both coasts and in the Chicago area. Players who can help SMU? Sure. But players that will make SMU rise up to a national level? I don't think so. </B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No players like the studs in Chicago or on the coasts? Really? Thats amazing. Its befuddling. How did that happen? Even more importantly, how is it that the Freshman of the Year in the Big 10, Pac 10, and ACC will all be kids from Dallas this year? Last time CPC checked the ACC was on the East coast, Pac 10 was on the West coast, and the Big 10 had a half dozen schools within spitting distance of Chicago. Does this mean that all those big schools missed out on the studs in their own backyards, and had to settle for the leftovers from Dallas? How did those big leagues miss out on all the studs who are so much better than the Dallas kids, and where did those studs wind up going to school?

When the coaching staff at Illinois came down to Dallas to sign Warren Carter this year, were they lost? Meant to go north up to Chicago, but got on the wrong highway, and just had to make the best of it? I mean, if Kendrick Perkins is the only guy in Texas, then signing Carter must have been almost as big a mistake as signing Deron Williams and Kyle Wilson last year, is that right? I guess there's no way the Illinois coaches will be back next year to pursue Hortons little brother, or Lamarcus Aldridge. Unless of course they misplace their compass again. CPC hates it when that happens.

Do CPC a BIG favor, would you? Write a long, detailed letter to the coaches at Univ. of Illinois and Northwestern, explain to them about the Chicago studs that they're missing out on, and how the Dallas kids just dont measure up. Maybe then they'll stop coming down here to recruit these kids away.

PS: The kid at Arizona St. spells his name Ike Diogu.



[This message has been edited by The CPC (edited 02-25-2003).]

[PG]

Don't forget Ndudi Ebi from Houston Westbury, headed to Arizona next year. At one time over the summer, he was considered by some (ESPN) the second best recruit in the nation behind LeBron James.

Next year will be another great year for local players, including Jason Horton, LaMarcus Aldridge (probably the best), Jeremis Smith, Kevin Langford, among others.

[RI Stang]

PG - Are we in on any of those kids?

[Fresh]

I'll leave the letter-writing to coaches to you, CPC, since you seem to be in the know and undoubtedly have everyone from Bob Knight to Coach K on your speed dial.

Sorry, maybe that was over the top.

My point is the last line of my original post: "Not that there are NO players in Texas, just not enough." There's the big kid in Beaumont, and Bracey Wright, and Chris Bosh, etc. That's why I said that if we had our pick of the players in Texas, we'd roll through the WAC.

The very best players here are probably about equal to the very best players elsewhere who aren't named LaBron James. But I will maintain that there are more "second-tier" players in the New York City, Washington, L.A., Baltimore areas.

I also think this is something of a fruitless argument, since we're all debating rather objective ideas.

[OldPony]

I believe Texas is the 2nd most populous state. That alone should make it no worse than 2nd in D-1 players. When you compare the population basis in the southeast and the distance required to travel to get these guys, it makes recruiting for all but the big national programs stay closer to home. The Ponies will do well with local talent and Dement has made great strides in developing Dallas realtionships. That doesn't mean he should ignore the relationships he has built in the southeast over the years. Better players draw better crowds. All things being equal though, take a chance on the local boys. At least their Mom and Dad might show up and we need all the help we can get build a Dallas fan base.

[EastStang]

You take the Texas Map and put it on the East Coast, it covers about 8-10 states. Add those populations together and they far exceed Texas'. Basketball is the sport of choice among urban youths. There are what four urban areas in Texas. In same geographic region above you have Washington, Richmond, Raleigh-Greensboro, Baltimore, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Trenton, Newark, Wilmington, NYC, and Pittsburg. Also, on the east coast the weather is colder more of the year which drives kids indoors to play. They play basketball. Lastly, tradition plays a big part. Basketball has been big in the mid-Atlantic, Philly and the New York area as the #1 sport for decades. While it is true that UH and UTEP were strong as early as the 60's and SMU in the 50's, basketball was always second in the hearts of Texans.