Losing Ground

[EastStang]

In fact of the names Stallion threw out, Baylor didn't even make the NIT. TT didn't make it to the NCAA's, and OSU flamed out early. Rick Barnes team made it to New Orleans where they got beat by a team of freshmen and sophomores (including one non-qualifier). For football the theory clearly holds, for basketball, with early NBA opportunities the usual superstar non-qualifying player goes straight to the NBA and skips college altogether. Look at Maryland, Look at Syracuse, Look at Kansas. They go about it the old fashioned way. That is also why their teams are near the top year in and year out, because they have players around for longer periods of time. In basketball you only need two-three great players and some good role players to win it all.

[Stallion]

As usual when faced with overwhelming evidence concerning just about every school in the NCAA, idiots like you two will pullout examples like Kansas in Basketball and Notre Dame in Football which have nothing in common with the problems faced by SMU in competing with their rivals. I hope it makes you feel better. Actually, though you are still wrong. Kansas has a very important JC player in Jeff Graves. Also, Maryland suited up two JC Transfers, one post high school graduate Hargrave Military Academy Graduate and one "All-Star" graduate of Oak Hill Academy. You admit that Syracuse has partial qualifiers. BTW the other Final Four Team Marquette got there almost entirely on the back of First Team All-American David Wade---a Non-Qualifier. IF those teams choose to recruit High School Players it is because they have the pick of the cream of the crop in High School Recruiting. Obvious examples are their two freshman starters who were First Team and Fourth Team Parade All-Americans. NOW WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH SMU's SITUATION. We're not talking about who SMU should recruit in your little Dream World where every thing is peachy keen and SMU is trying to pick between McDonald's and Parade All-Americans like Kansas and Syracuse. THAT IS A FANTASY. SMU gets a visit from Parade All-Americans every 20 years or so. You are going to sit here and compare two squads with perhaps as many highly recruited High School Players as any teams in the country and ignore every single basketball program in the 5 state region and beyond to prove your point. All I know is that if you analyzed the 30 or so programs SMU faces each year-90-95% of them take at least JC players and many take partial and non-qualifiers. Disadvantage SMU.

[This message has been edited by Stallion (edited 04-09-2003).]

[BigEasyPony]

Lighten up, Francis. Also, ad hominem attacks don't bolster an argument they weaken it. I would encourage you to take the time to read my posts fully OR to at least understand them. I have stated that football and basketball are distinctly different. Because of the sheer number of players you need in football, most schools should recruit some JC players and at schools like SMU maybe as many as ten (10) players should hail from the JC ranks.

Again, I did not compare SMU to Syracuse or KU anymore than you make the comparison of UT to Ok. State to Tech to Baylor (?).

I also said nothing about post high school graduate academies (or prep schools). Many of the Northeastern prep schools like the ones you mention yield high quality recruits that SMU should be recruiting each and every year. I also want to clarify my position for you in that I actually advocate your position somewhat in that I feel the SMU hoops team should probably have one (1) or two (2) JC players on their team, but should also attempt to attract transfers from other four (4) year colleges.

Finally, it is fairly obvious that you are quite knowledgeable on recruiting in general, but that does not mean that all other arguments you deem contrary are without merit.

[Stallion]

your entire premise is incorrect-JC Transfers and Division 1 Transfers are MUCH more important in College BB than FB and comprise a much higher percentage of the players on scholarship. For example, according to the Louisiana Tech WAC recruiting board there are presently 15 JC/Transfers committed to WAC schools and 15 HS Freshman committed to WAC schools in this recruiting year. SMU has basically written off 50% of the pool of prospects at least from the WAC's perspective. And these numbers are not that far out of line with other schools who take 3 or so JC/Transfers a year. Therefore, we end up signing guys like Alex Craft instead of a JC player that could elevate the play and maturity of the team.

[OldPony]

Hey Stal- Whatever happened to the JUCO vs SMU win/loss posts you started early last year when the Ponies were playing so poorly?

[Nacho]

Why does our athletic department have such obvious hatred for juco players? I can think of no other word. They must hate them. Why else would they exclude them? This policy has doomed us to perpetual mediocrity (and that's being very generous). We will never reach anything above our present position as long as we have a gatekeeper whose main responsiblity seems to be to keep out jucos.

We do have one token juco now on the team. Surely we can find more than one juco player to enter the hallowed halls of academia, known as SMU.

[Otto]

Stallion's right - Whittington went to Richardson Berkner HS.

[EastStang]

The problem is in the details. If you are a PE major at Kilgore Junior College (be it a basketball player or Rangerette), and you want to transfer to SMU. Because SMU does not have a PE major, you lose hours, or worse, you have to major in something that you don't want to major in. On the other hand San Jose State or Kansas will take all your credits and has a major in physical education. Which school would you pick? That is the problem with JUCO transfers. If we had an athlete friendly major, I suspect our coaches would take more JUCO's. The problem is that we don't offer what they want or need, and they just go elsewhere.