I don't understand why.....

[i10pony]

we can't get more of the top Texas talent. Dement likes to go to Georgia or the east coast. Check this story out. SMU needs to get more of these guys to stay in Texas.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=1649720

[DiamondM]

That one is actually an easy question to answer. The reason why we can't get more Texas talent is because we no longer have Jimmy Tubbs. He is super super connected here in Dallas, and super super respected in the target communities. Him leaving for OU was a real blow to our ability to recruit in Dallas. Whatever his skills otherwise, Dement just doesn't have the same pull.

[Mike Damone]

Guys-
We signed the number 25 player in the nation two years ago. A five-star guy. Quite possibly the highest rated player we've ever gotten. Straight out of Dallas, TEXAS. Maybe this was before Tubbs left, but we have gotten some top recruits from here before.

It also doesn't help that the Big XII is all of a sudden a huge basketball conference now.

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

Actually, Diamond M is right on the money with that statement(wow, I agree with her which is a rare moment. :p ). Anyway, Tubbs had the inside track on players in the Dallas with him having been the head coach at Kimball. I'm sure it provided a certain comfort level for the players to know that they had someone who basically knew about them and the schools and communities that they were coming from.That's why it was possible to get us a Sasser(didn't hurt he coached his older brother Jason to a state title in 1990, if I am correct) and Ross as well as a Willie Davis and B-Hop. With him gone, I don't know that Dement could get the same quality of recruits from this area.

[Johnny Rock]

The answer is simple...Dement sucks and SMU gets out classed by other schools in athletics.

[EastStang]

One other thing that plays into this. AAU and shoes. Some of the AAU coaches require a little vigorish to allow access to players or only allow coaches who use their team's shoe supplier access. These guys seem to have more pull with these kids than their HS coaches. Dement can't play that game because we know what happens when SMU starts spreading the wealth or gets involved in the netherworld of Nike, Reebok, etc., NCAA investigators always follow and no matter what penalties they dole out to others they whack us. According to the rumors that I've heard the Dallas area AAU fiefdom is subsidiary of a couple of other schools. This is all unsubstantiated, but that's the word on the street.

[Charleston Pony]

Is this another one of those AAU deals? Ga Tech is one of those schools that "plays the game". They have to in order to compete in the ACC.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/sports/topstories/stories/110103dnspodunbarrecruit.ac875.html

[Pony_Fan]

Is he buddies with Bosh? What are the AAU rules? If it's legal why can't we play?

[OldPony]

6 of 16 players are from the Dallas area. Do you want Dement to ignore connections in the southeast that he buildt over the years? Tubbs was helpful in Dallas to Dement. He wasn't to Shu. Hmmm? Wonder how that is? Recruiting under the same rules as football, we win over half of our games. I know it takes less poeple to play basketball but we have never had more than 2 real players on a team at the same time. How many SMU players are currently on NBA rosters? Why didn't Tubb's recruit Bosh? I'm sorry, that must have been Dement's fault. Dement has made great strides in the Dallas area. Yes. Tubbs helped. He didn't help Shu though did he?

[DiamondM]

I'm pretty sure Tubbs and Dement took a shot at Bosh. If we had recruited him, would 1 year with him have made any difference?

As for Tubbs record with Shumate -- it's my understanding that Shumate completely alienated the Dallas area high school coaches and had no intention of looking in Dallas, even with Tubbs help and inside track. Dement welcomed that inside track and recruiting ability of Tubbs. It is also my understanding that the problem that led to Tubbs' deparature was that Dement did not give Tubbs any other significant responsibilities -- Dement is ever the control freak and really does not let the assistance do much actual coaching. Tubbs wanted to do more, and OU is letting him do some coaching, not just recruiting.

[LA_Mustang]

DiamondM,

I don’t think there is any doubt that we would have won the WAC last year if Bosh had played for us. And yes, that would have been a huge deal for SMU to have a player taken that high in the NBA draft. All you have to do is tell a recruit that a top NBA prospect wanted to play here. Tubbs and Dement did try to get him but he had no interest in SMU. Personally, I would have rather seen us land Ike Diogu of Garland. He is a beast

As for Tubbs, I have heard the same things that you mentioned. Tubbs wanted more responsibility and OU offered him that. If there is ever a changing at head coach I have to believe Tubbs will be a leading candidate.

[Stallion]

I bet the real reason Tubbs left for OU comes down plainly and simply to CASH and a HIGHER PROFILE to get a head coaching job. Those aren't Dement's fault.

[OldPony]

Stallion is exactly right. Hell, a former SMU head coach isn't often a hot commodity, let alone an assistant who goes with him. Even if Tubbs would like to get the SMU job, his chances would be better from OU. In addition, I guess he is probably making double at OU what he did at SMU and that is without counting benefits of being a member of a Top 10 program like recognition and freeebies everywhere you turn. He will now have better opportunities for great head coaching jobs than he ever would have at SMU. Those of you who don't like Dement want to make this an issue but my guess is that Dement even recommended him for the job.

[Mike Damone]

Not to bash our school, but Bosh was very highly recruited. Why in the world would he've chosen SMU over the big-time programs. He never would've gotten the national exposure and eventual high draft pick status that he recieved. Because of the quick turnover in college basketball now, there is no such thing as waiting for playing time at those schools so we can't sell that here.

If we are going to get cream of the crop blue-chip players out of Dallas, they better have one of two things going for them:
1. Get homesick easily
2. Have a twin brother looking for a scholie.

[PG]

There's no reason to recruit a kid that has no interest in your program. We had no shot at Bosh, Wright, Horton or Williams from the beginning. Horton committed very early to Michigan (before his Sr. year). Bill Self was on to Williams his soph. year (while Self was still at Tulsa). I also heard that Wright and Williams wanted to go as a packaged deal to Texas or Kentucky. Bosh seemed to be looking out of state very early on. Let's face it, the only reason Hop is here is because we offered Ryan a guaranteed full ride, even if Bryan leaves early. Otherwise, he'd be the starting point guard for UT this year.

Our new coaches have ties in the East/Southeast. All of them have spent a lot of time out there so they are probably more familiar with the programs and high school coaches.

The top Texas talent is quickly being snatched up by the top schools and kids are committing early so we might be forced to look elswewhere.