UH Gets BCS Division 1A BB Transfer

[Stallion]

From a USA Today story:

Penders is most excited about the potential of Cousins, a transfer from Seton Hall who sat out the 2006-07 season. "We have Marcus Cousins sitting here, and nobody's talking about him, which is fine," Penders said. "I don't think it would be possible for us to recruit a juco or high school player that good or that big. We have three other outstanding recruits coming in, and I feel great about that, along with the guys we have coming back."

[MustangIcon]

Bumped an old post about him from when he originally transfered to UH. Has a link to his freshman game log at Seaton Hall if anyone is interested.

UH may have actually been fortunate to lose Lanny Smith, this past season's preseason CUSA POY by some publications and near unanimous first team pick, for the season this past year. They will now have Smith at PG, Mckiver at SG (was one of CUSA's top scorers), a full season of UT transfer Dione Dowell at F, 6'11Cousin at C, along with their other returning players. Also have Brockeith Payne, Dallas area player, in their recruiting class who is supposed to be pretty good from what I heard. They may be good enough to get us a second team into postseason play next year. Hopefully SMU can join them soon.

[Mustang98]

What I don't get is how Cougar High is able to get a 6'11" transfer from Seton Hall. Let's face it, their sporting facilities are out of date, all that's left on campus after 5:00 p.m. are international students living in dorms while the rest of the students drive to their homes in the greater Houston area, and their student/alumni turnout is lame given their size compared to SMU. U of H has always been the red headed stepchild when it comes to funding from the state and somehow they seem to get lucky from time to time (Phi Slamma Jamma, Elvin Hayes team that broke UCLA's streak, Bill Yoeman's 1979 team that beat Nebraska at Cotton Bowl). I have never seen a school get lucky and randomly (every 10 to 20 years) produce a winner with such a lame fan base coupled with "stepchild" funding. Last years football team is a prime example of how they do more with less. Perhaps the NCAA should investigate their program? That BMW 850 that I saw Kevin Kolb driving should be questioned. I didn't think the NFL gave any cash advances.

[MustangIcon]

UH has a fantastic training facility actually, but Robertson and Hofienz do suck. As far as basketball goes they have 5 Final Four appearances and 18 NCAA Tourney bids to their credit so I would say we would have to consider that a little more than "getting lucky every 10 to 20 years."

Obviously one huge advantage they have over SMU is their lower academic standards for athletes. Now I am going to bring up a point that some people won't want to hear or will refuse to believe. I'm sure that plenty of people will think this should go unspoken but UH is a more African-American friendly school than SMU is. People of the same race often feel more comfortable around other people of the same race. SMU does not have a very large African-American population in addittion to having a very "elitest" and sometimes "snobby" atmosphere and perception. This often does not connect well with young African-American kids. **ducking**

[Mustang98]

[/quote]Now I am going to bring up a point that some people won't want to hear or will refuse to believe. I'm sure that plenty of people will think this should go unspoken but UH is a more African-American friendly school than SMU is. People of the same race often feel more comfortable around other people of the same race. SMU does not have a very large African-American population in addittion to having a very "elitest" and sometimes "snobby" atmosphere and perception. This often does not connect well with young African-American kids. **ducking**

I have been saying this for years behind close doors but you are right Mustang Icon. UT has solved this issue by having one or two recruiting coordinators on staff who are African American. These two (Cleve Bryant and George Wynn) at UT make the recruits feel welcome, they tell them where to go to get what they need (help, restaurants, personal guidance while they are at UT), they tell them which clubs to stay away from and which ones are okay. They help kids who come from a poor socio economic environments assimilate to a place like UT or SMU. SMU has got to have a liason for the african american (or any player that might feel uncomfortable regardless of skin color) players to go to. Otherwise we are shutting the door on players who can produce on the field and get a valuable degree from a fine institution such as SMU. I know we hired a former UT player to be a recruiting coordinator. Does anyone know his background?