Basketball Tip Off Dinner

[JasonB]

I thought it was a very frank and accurate assessment of where things are at. If your ambition (and where you want his drive and ambition to be) is for SMU to be in with one of the shoe companies and operating in that environment and cheating the rules, then I think you aren't living in reality. If LB hadn't convinced Mudiay to go play in China, we would be looking at the death penalty in basketball right now.

His ideal is to pull in the Ben Moore and Sterling Brown types and surround them with high level transfers. There is nothing wrong with that ambition, I don't think. If people walked away with an impression that he is satisfied with players of lower quality than that, then I think they were jaded going in. I thought it was very clear he wants recruits who are going to come in, work hard, and have the ambition to go pro. And that Moore and Brown are the blueprints and the expectations.

The question remains, of course, of whether this year and next year's classes fit that paradigm like we think Douglas and Chargois do. Or if they are more like the Australian kids, Landrum, etc. Either way we will find out this season, because Dixon, White, Douglas, Hunt and Young are all going to have to contribute in order for us to be as successful as Jank claims the team can be. As I've said before, if this team fails in conference play again, Jank is out.

LA - what teams did we turn down the opportunity to play?

[PonyKai]

CJ White and McBride ain't Sterling/Ben Top 125-Top 150 tops. Over the last two cycles, the best offer our commits and signees have, collectively, is Tulsa. Tulsa. Hell, at this point recruiting under RoboDoh looks pretty good. There is a very, very wide gulf between getting a guaranteed lottery pick and recruiting at the level that SWAC schools do. TCU has lapped us in two years. Memphis is rolling. UCONN has its stuff together and actually hired a real coach who is recruiting at a real level. Jank hasn't tweeted once in 749 days (FFS have an unpaid intern do it, this is elementary stuff). Recruiting should qualify as a source of alternative energy these days because we whiff enough to generate enough wind power to cover half of the Metroplex.

[Charleston Pony]

CJ White and McBride ain't Sterling/Ben Top 125-Top 150 tops. Over the last two cycles, the best offer our commits and signees have, collectively, is Tulsa. Tulsa. Hell, at this point recruiting under RoboDoh looks pretty good. There is a very, very wide gulf between getting a guaranteed lottery pick and recruiting at the level that SWAC schools do. TCU has lapped us in two years. Memphis is rolling. UCONN has its stuff together and actually hired a real coach who is recruiting at a real level. Jank hasn't tweeted once in 749 days (FFS have an unpaid intern do it, this is elementary stuff). Recruiting should qualify as a source of alternative energy these days because we whiff enough to generate enough wind power to cover half of the Metroplex.

Ben Moore was not highly recruited. As I recall, he may have had offers from Missouri Valley schools but I don't remember P5 schools chasing after him and he turned out pretty good. Time will tell but this should be the year we find out whether Douglas and Ray have potential to contribute at this level. I agree we aren't going anywhere if we are only mining DITRs. Need a sure thing in every recruiting class.

[PhantomPhi]

Really enjoyed Jank's talk and analysis of the team and the film. He has quite a sense of humor.
The scholarship restrictions end at the end of this season.
Look forward to getting back on track.
Recruitment will be focused on transfers and underrated players that may be able to make it to the NBA.

[skyscraper]

TIL they served Kool Aid at the film session.

[SoCal_Pony]

CJ White and McBride ain't Sterling/Ben Top 125-Top 150 tops. Over the last two cycles, the best offer our commits and signees have, collectively, is Tulsa. Tulsa. Hell, at this point recruiting under RoboDoh looks pretty good. There is a very, very wide gulf between getting a guaranteed lottery pick and recruiting at the level that SWAC schools do. TCU has lapped us in two years. Memphis is rolling. UCONN has its stuff together and actually hired a real coach who is recruiting at a real level. Jank hasn't tweeted once in 749 days (FFS have an unpaid intern do it, this is elementary stuff). Recruiting should qualify as a source of alternative energy these days because we whiff enough to generate enough wind power to cover half of the Metroplex.

Ben Moore was not highly recruited. As I recall, he may have had offers from Missouri Valley schools but I don't remember P5 schools chasing after him and he turned out pretty good. Time will tell but this should be the year we find out whether Douglas and Ray have potential to contribute at this level. I agree we aren't going anywhere if we are only mining DITRs. Need a sure thing in every recruiting class.

Ben Moore had TWICE as many P5 offers as our last 7 commits COMBINED.

Some of you are waaaay minimizing the inept talent level Jank is now bringing in.

[PonyLaw90]

I would have gone had I known they were serving KoolAid.

[LA_Mustang]

LA - what teams did we turn down the opportunity to play?

I know of three P5 schools (SEC and Big 12) that were willing to play us, just not at Moody. At their place or a neutral site. Saying no to that is not trying really hard. Do you really expect us to believe of the 60+ P5 schools that not one other than TCU was will to play us even with our coach trying “really hard” to make it happen?

Just curious, if Jank had said the earth is flat, just ask Kyrie Irving, would you have believed that too?

[SoCal_Pony]

I saw Jank preparing on an overhead projector

Welcome to the fire Jank club. Your support is greatly appreciated.

[smupony94]

I saw Jank preparing on an overhead projector

Welcome to the fire Jank club. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Took long enough for someone to understand it

[PonyKai]

Ben Moore was not highly recruited. As I recall, he may have had offers from Missouri Valley schools but I don't remember P5 schools chasing after him and he turned out pretty good. Time will tell but this should be the year we find out whether Douglas and Ray have potential to contribute at this level. I agree we aren't going anywhere if we are only mining DITRs. Need a sure thing in every recruiting class.

24/7, at least, shows Moore had a total of 16 offers, including from Illinois, Colorado State, Missouri, Northwestern, and Minnesota. Did have him listed as the No. 220 prospect nationally. Not picking a fight, but even Ben Moore is oceans apart from what Jank has been doing since he took over.

[Rebel10]

Both Ben and Sterling had multiple P5 offers. They were not under the radar players. Both were good lands for Coach Brown. If our plan is really to recruit underrated players (DITR types) and surround them with transfers that sounds a lot like someone else that is not here anymore that coached another sport. That philosophy might work well in CUSA or the Missouri Valley Conference but not in the AAC unless the goal is Hawaii, I mean the NIT. We are competing in a conference against schools that are serious about recruiting. With that being said I am not against Jank. Glad we have other people that went to the dinner that were not totally drinking the kool aid.

[JasonB]

That was kind of the point I was making. Jank himself said that Moore and Brown are the types of players he is targeting. Their first year, they weren't stars, but they certainly were capable parts of the rotation and it was clear that they were going to be good players.

Of the FY '17 class, Chargois performed way above those guys, Douglas I would say was a little behind where Brown was, but still has potential. Ray is an incomplete (and I would bet we don't see him this year). Landrum showed quickness and athleticism, but couldn't shoot. So he is out. But we hit on one, probably 2, and "maybe" 3.

Of the FY '18 class, Hunt was pretty well regarded. Everyone saw Young as a project with upside. White not heavily recruited, so the latter two would fall in the DITR category. So, it is certainly reasonable to doubt the impact. But again, we know what Jank's comparison's are with Brown and Moore, and so we can set our own expectations. All three have length for their "positions", can they shoot to spread the floor and do they have enough handles and athleticism to take advantage of spacing. They are going to have to be able to do that and contribute in a similar manner to Ben and Sterling their freshman year, or else we won't survive the easy non-conference schedule, much less conference play, and Jank is out of here as it seems like all of you want.

For the FY '19 class, we have a lot of spots available with the end of restrictions plus three graduations. We will have 5 size guys coming back, so you have to think it is going to be pretty guard heavy. I would expect anywhere up to three transfers, with 1 or two being GTs eligible immediately. We haven't hit that market yet. If you have 2 GTs, Whitt, Douglas, and White in the backcourt rotation next year then your other two scholarships are both going to be driven towards redshirt candidates. Which probably explains why you are taking players early that don't have a ton of offers. We will take a top recruit over a GT if we can get it (or if Douglas shows enough improvement that he can start next season), otherwise it will be 2 GTs and a regular transfer.

Personally, I don't think that is bad strategy. Even 4 stars don't usually come in and start as a true frosh. At Guard you have Whitt coming back and Douglas, who we aren't sure is a starter yet. So, do you want him to go out and grab 4 star players and hope they can start, or is he going to get GTs to add to the mix? Probably the latter, right? And if recruits know he is bringing in transfers, are 4 stars going to come in and sit at the back of the rotation? Probably not. So, you have to go grab players who are willing to redshirt a season.

But go ahead, complain that we aren't serious about basketball because our coach doesn't hire prostitutes or pay players.

[Rebel10]

Strerling started his first conference game but that was not my point. Don’t try to conflate what you are saying with what I am saying. We have not gotten any players with multiple P5 offers yet which is what Sterling and Ben had. Jank has missed on players with P5 offers (not talking about how many stars they have). Not against Jank but not trying to be a brown noser to him either. Again glad others went to the dinner as well.

[LA_Mustang]

Whoa whoa whoa there Jason. Did you really just say Ethan performed way above Sterling in his freshman year? I really like Ethan and I think he is going to be a very good player, all-conference before he’s done but no way he had a better rookie season. Sterling was on a top 25, NCAA caliber team and started most of the games. Sterling didn’t score as much as Ethan but he was about as solid of a contributor (defense, rebounding and clutch 3s) as you’ll see for a freshman on a really good team.

Ethan had a couple of monster games in OOC but basically disappeared in AAC play. It is a crime to say he was as good as Sterling in their freshman years.