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PonySnob wrote:

Duke Blue Blood wrote:What the hell is going on with these two schools? We have lost A LOT of talent to them. Neither school could care less about Basketball and they play in a worthless conference for competition and coverage....

Bigger suitcase?

They probably say the same thing about SMU when SMU gets a good player. I know when Mudiay committed to SMU that what some opposing fans were saying.

They did not get one player, they got 3!

The ones I thought would go to LSU have not- surprised at who has and the #.
No clue on A&M at all! However I think we should take a look at the Freshman 7ft C Mamadou Kamara that A&M has an offer on. He is raw but has talent and I think LB and staff could mold him.

Duke Blue Blood wrote:They did not get one player, they got 3!

Same thing is still probably said.

plus they were all friends with Avery Johnson's son and each other-its a snowball deal. See my tagline

"When momentum starts rolling downhill in recruiting-WATCH OUT"

As someone who grew up in Baton Rouge as an LSU fan before going to SMU, I can shed a little light here.
1. Recruiting Class: The only reason LSU got Ben Simmons is because of LSU assistant coach David Patrick (who, like Simmons, is originally from Australia). DP moved to the states from Australia in '94 and went to my little 1A high school (and played on the same team as my older brother). He was a really good player (got a scholly to Syracuse), and now he's a REALLY good recruiter. Used the Aussie connections to reel in Simmons (I believe DP is friends with Simmons' dad?), then I think the rest of the dominoes started falling because of Simmons' talent. Blackney and him are AAU buddies and wanted to play together, and apparently they have been in Malik Newman's ear about joining forces (although I think that ship has sailed; most LSU people seem to think he's announcing tomorrow to UK or Miss St). Sampson was kind of a surprise, but he's a Baton Rouge kid that went to the same HS as Jerrell Martin, so not that surprising.

That said, I obviously cannot say that LSU's recruiting class DIDN'T involve any $$$ (by all accounts, CBB recruiting is 100x dirtier than CFB), but at least there is some logic as to how they got Simmons on board and others followed from there.

2. Johnny Jones v. Larry Brown: Yes, JJ can recruit, but LB is a VASTLY superior coach. In fact, most/all LSU fans think that JJ is a pretty terrible X's and O's coach that has been saved (somewhat) by the talent. If you ever watched them play this year, they are extremely frustrating to watch because they were so undisciplined and erratic (kind of like UT this year). So, should SMU have interviewed JJ when he was still at UNT? Probably, but I think it's a moot point anyway because he's an LSU grad from the Dale Brown days so LSU was always going to be his dream job.

Even though we missed on some big name recruits this cycle and the Mudiay situation was disappointing, I still think LB is the best thing to happen to SMU athletics in a long time.

hoopmanx wrote:

Duke Blue Blood wrote:Plenty happy with Larry, so we are good there.

How can say we were not in the running for DJ Hogg or Elijah Thomas?

I love Larry, but Johnny would have good, possibly better in certain ways. We were never in the ballpark w/DJ Hogg, and we finished 3rd for Thomas. Thomas was a loss and we spent time on him early, not so much late. From what I understand we barely kept contact the last 4-6 months of his recruitment

I Don't know why you are so don on Thomas, I think If we had kept McQuaid we would of had a better shot at Thomas. I love the players we got but I would trade our class for A&M's every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I thought it has been generally accepted that at a minimum A&M had Avery Johnson working as a shadow recruiter for their class.

Pony_Law wrote:

hoopmanx wrote:

Duke Blue Blood wrote:Plenty happy with Larry, so we are good there.

How can say we were not in the running for DJ Hogg or Elijah Thomas?

I love Larry, but Johnny would have good, possibly better in certain ways. We were never in the ballpark w/DJ Hogg, and we finished 3rd for Thomas. Thomas was a loss and we spent time on him early, not so much late. From what I understand we barely kept contact the last 4-6 months of his recruitment

I Don't know why you are so don on Thomas, I think If we had kept McQuaid we would of had a better shot at Thomas. I love the players we got but I would trade our class for A&M's every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I thought it has been generally accepted that at a minimum A&M had Avery Johnson working as a shadow recruiter for their class.

I'm down on Thomas b/c everyone I know, whom I respect, that has met the kid, all say he's a very odd bird. Lacks work ethic, thinks the world of himself etc. In terms of people surrounding him, heard he's in the same category ads Frazier and Nash, which is as bad as it gets in the last 7-8 years in DFW.

I wouldn't trade our class for A&Ms if you include Semi. Only kid I wanted from that crew was Davis and we never had a shot

PeauxnyUp wrote:
1) Yes, JJ can recruit.

2) In fact, most/all fans think that JJ is a pretty terrible X's and O's coach that has been saved (somewhat) by the talent.

This would be perfect material for "sh*t SMU fans don't say".

Be careful with your use of "JJ" in an SMU board.

hoopmanx wrote:

Pony_Law wrote:

hoopmanx wrote:
I love Larry, but Johnny would have good, possibly better in certain ways. We were never in the ballpark w/DJ Hogg, and we finished 3rd for Thomas. Thomas was a loss and we spent time on him early, not so much late. From what I understand we barely kept contact the last 4-6 months of his recruitment

I Don't know why you are so don on Thomas, I think If we had kept McQuaid we would of had a better shot at Thomas. I love the players we got but I would trade our class for A&M's every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I thought it has been generally accepted that at a minimum A&M had Avery Johnson working as a shadow recruiter for their class.

I'm down on Thomas b/c everyone I know, whom I respect, that has met the kid, all say he's a very odd bird. Lacks work ethic, thinks the world of himself etc. In terms of people surrounding him, heard he's in the same category ads Frazier and Nash, which is as bad as it gets in the last 7-8 years in DFW.

I wouldn't trade our class for A&Ms if you include Semi. Only kid I wanted from that crew was Davis and we never had a shot

Davis is one of my favorite players I've seen in that class. Improves every time I see him and is more and more explosive. He continues to develop offensively and I think he's going to develop into a lottery pick, I really do. I've seen damn near the entire top 150 players at this point or another and more than half live. Tyler Davis has one of the highest upsides of the class.

I'm definitely down on Thomas though after seeing him through the course of the season. Somewhat flat-lined imo, didn't see a lot of development.