We're getting a nibble from another whale

[LA_Mustang]

I was very surprised to see in the DMN that junior Anthony Randolph (6’10” 210) has transferred from Arkansas to Woodrow Wilson and is eligible to start playing this weekend. This young man is at the level of Arthur and will probably be the top player in Texas next year. Rivals has him listed as a five-star power forward and a top 20 player in the country.......and guess what little private school in his new hometown is in the mix with the big boys for his services??? He lists medium interest in Arizona, UConn, Duke, Illinois, NC, Louisville and SMU.

[Corso]

Go get him, Coach Tubbs!

[Hoop Fan]

I hadnt heard we were in on him, but this guy is real. He has been ineligible, probably due to transfer or something, but he is going to make Woodrow worth watching. Is he back playing now?

[LA_Mustang]

according to the DMN he will play his first game Saturday night.....and yes, he was having issues with the transfer rules. I'm sure the other coaches in the district are not thrilled to have him around.

[Corso]

Hopefully Coach Tubbs is really tight with the Woodrow Wilson coach, and the coach of any AAU team he latches on to.

[Hoop Fan]

its surprising he is not considering Arkansas on his list. Nonetheless, how many times do you see schools like SMU on a recruiting shortlist that includes Duke and Carolina? That is like being on football shortlists with USC, Oklahoma and Texas. Give Tubbs a decent facility and you might really have something.

[abezontar]

unfortunately by the time we can raise the money and get the facility completed it will probably be too late for Tubbs according to most fans.

[Hoop Fan]

unfortunately by the time we can raise the money and get the facility completed it will probably be too late for Tubbs according to most fans.

yep, no doubt a concern. I'm hoping he can show some success in the meantime though. I do know we cannot wait around until we are better before we do something to Moody and get a practice facility.

[CalallenStang]

The Top 5 Reasons why you can't blame the dilapidation of Moody Coliseum for SMU's lack of (above-average) success in basketball recruiting:

5) It's hard to get recruits in a region where college basketball is so strong but high school talent in basketball is so thin
4) Tubbs has got to work on getting his players shooting better before he can go out on the recruiting trail (TCU game? Just awful)
3) A beautiful new facility won't attract recruits if there aren't any fans in it (look at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi)
2) We fail to go after guys like Randolph with an innovative approach such as "if you come here, you can play WR in football too, and we'll throw jump balls for you in the endzone for touchdowns"
1) Look at Duke. Cameron Indoor is a dump. Coach K still gets kids there. How? "Once upon a time, [insert great player] played here." It doesn't matter that Cameron DOESN'T HAVE AIR CONDITIONING!

[Hoop Fan]

alot of what is needed is out of view. Forget Duke, but you dont even want to know the difference between Dukes lockerroom and ours. Also, not having a dedicated practice facility is huge. Again, forget Duke, even TCU has one of those.

I cant even respond to all your points, but the region is NOT thin on talent. We need a smaller, better facility. The status quo is hurting us big time, no question about it.

[Ponymon]

We need a sugar daddy like T. Boone Pickens who just gave $165 million big ones to the athletic department of Oklahoma State! Supposedly, the largest gift ever to a university. They plan to expand the football stadium, which is already named after him.

[CalallenStang]

alot of what is needed is out of view. Forget Duke, but you dont even want to know the difference between Dukes lockerroom and ours. Also, not having a dedicated practice facility is huge. Again, forget Duke, even TCU has one of those.

I cant even respond to all your points, but the region is NOT thin on talent. We need a smaller, better facility. The status quo is hurt us big time, no question about it.

I will agree with you on the facts that we need better basketball infrastructure, such as a practice facility and new locker rooms, but I still hold to the fact that Texas does not have spectacular basketball talent. Outside of Houston, DFW, and East Texas, most schools do not have any Division I prospects (or one at most). The reason for this is that in most areas of Texas, there are two sports that matter: football and spring football. This is quite different, from, say, Indiana, where high schools routinely have 4,000+ seat basketball arenas. How this hurts the talent level is this: a versatile athlete is growing up in Anytown, Texas. Since his birth, he has gone to every football game the Anytown Anymascots have played. He has gone to two basketball games. Due to seeing a lot more football in person, when he goes to play sports with his friends on his block, he plays football, and not basketball. That, right there, is how the talent level in Texas in football is so high, and while the state has high-level talent in basketball, it isn't spread throughout the state like it is in football.

[Stallion]

you are hopelessly out of touch with the present talent level in Texas. Texas has produced no less than the 2nd most National Top 100 recruits over at least the last 3 years. OSU almost had the No. 1 recruiting class in the Nation last year made up entirely of Texans until that Gerald Green kid went to the NBA. The talent in Texas is enormous and everybody across the nation knows that except apparently you. This year alone Texas has 21 players in the Rivals National Top 150-probably an unprecedented number but within the range over the last 3 years-in fact last year may have been the greatest number of Texas players in the Top 50 ever.

[CalallenStang]

you are hopelessly out of touch with the present talent level in Texas. Texas has produced no less than the 2nd most National Top 100 recruits over at least the last 3 years. OSU almost had the No. 1 recruiting class in the Nation last year made up entirely of Texans until that Gerald Green kid went to the NBA. The talent in Texas is enormous and everybody across the nation knows that except apparently you. This year alone Texas has 21 players in the Rivals National Top 150-probably an unprecedented number but within the range over the last 3 years-in fact last year may have been the greatest number of Texas players in the Top 50 ever.

Let me start off by saying that no, I am not an expert on high school basketball in Texas. But I have seen enough high school basketball in this (southern) part of Texas and have seen some of the big-city teams play on TV and outside of the big cities, there is a significant drop off in level of talent.

I do not deny that the top level of talent in Texas is in line with anywhere else in the nation, hence the 2nd-highest number of top-100 recruits in the past three years. However, when all of these top players are being recruited to, and signing with, premier basketball programs such as UT, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, OU, or other premier programs nationwide, it leaves schools like SMU who (let's face it) are not at the top level of teams with recruits in the 2nd tier. From what I have seen in Texas and in other states, the amount of talent that is "2nd tier" is not proportional to the amount that is first tier. For some reason, in Texas, rural-area schools do not have the same amount of basketball talent as football talent. With all the schools in Texas going after this 2nd tier talent, the talent gets stretched thin. And that, my friend, is what I have been saying about basketball talent in Texas. Not that it isn't here, but rather that it's being stretched too thin.

[EastStang]

These Top 100 lists are just that, lists in someone's mind as far as high school players around the country. But programs get jump started recruiting in urban areas throughout the U.S. GW got jump started because Jarvis started recruiting in DC and NYC. Georgetown got jump started because Thompson started recruiting in DC and New England (he was a former Celtic). Maryland got back up there because Williams focused on DC and Baltimore. St. Joes had a run because they recruited in DC. Take a page from these guys, go to urban areas close to your base and recruit there. Tubbs is recruiting Dallas and apparently nationally. (eg. Fall, Morris). He's got the right idea. Get the best players you can get from wherever you can get them.