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Billy Joe wrote:What are the excuses now?

You answered your own question:

SMU has burned a lot of bridges with the local high school programs and is not getting looks from the top players in the state/area because of it.

Billy Joe wrote:Wrong, wrong, wrong.....you are telling me SMU has a chance to land a top quality recruit in another state than it its own state, city, area? How is that possible? It starts with local recruiting. A lot of the best players in the nation are from Texas and the d/fw area. Admit this fact: SMU has burned a lot of bridges with the local high school programs and is not getting looks from the top players in the state/area because of it. SMU basketball has been a non-existent program for a long, long time. We did hire a name, proven winner coach. We did build one of the nicest basketball facilities in the country. What are the excuses now?

Burgers and Cheer

Nothing good happened before we "burned bridges".
So if we were able to recruit locally before, that hasn't worked.
I don't care if we are trying or being forced to try to recruit differently.
Hopefully it will produce a different product and maybe even a little post season play in the next few years.

ponydawg wrote:Nothing good happened before we "burned bridges".
So if we were able to recruit locally before, that hasn't worked.
I don't care if we are trying or being forced to try to recruit differently.
Hopefully it will produce a different product and maybe even a little post season play in the next few years.

I don't disagree with any of that. I was just discussing why we can't recruit locally any more.

Although, our best teams in the last 10 years have been the Sasser/Davis teams, and those guys were local. Now granted, they weren't all that great for "our best teams in the last 10 years" but what can you do....

In the '99-'00 season we made the NIT and lost in the first round. That was our best team of the last decade and had a very strong contigent of local players. If we can do as well or better with players from another region then what the h*ll does it matter where they are from?

Frankly burned bridges have no reason to do with why we can't recruit locally. The fact that our program has stunk for the last decade is entirely the reason we can't recruit here. SMU basketball and athletics in general is regarded as a complete joke throughout DFW. THAT is the reason we cannot recruit locally, not because we have offended coaches or burned bridges.

Doherty would I am sure love to have his pick of the DFW litter, but as it stands right now, all we can recruit from the area is spares. And if Doh can get better players out of state than he can here, well i think most of us can agree we would like the better players.

Are we anticipating this guy to sign Nov. 12 or May?

Billy Joe wrote:Wrong, wrong, wrong.....you are telling me SMU has a chance to land a top quality recruit in another state than it its own state, city, area? How is that possible?

People from out of state don't know better. Local people know what a complete farce SMU athletics has been and aren't going to get fooled into thinking it is going to get better until they see some tangible evidence. People want to win. People do not want to lose while practicing in the nicest practice facility in the country.

George S. Patton wrote:Are we anticipating this guy to sign Nov. 12 or May?

let's hope November, otherwise he might wise up.

All things being equal, you prefer the local player over the non-local guy. And you'd think with the local talent pool, you could bring some of those guys in. But I don't give a rat's [deleted] where a guy comes from as long as he can ball.

Coming from the DC area, I'd bet that the #1 HS team in the DC area would destroy the #1 HS team from DFW 10 times out of 10. And what happens is that the AAU coaches in the DC area know all the WCAC coaches (who can recruit since they are Private schools). They get these kids as 8-9th graders, the kids get a free excellent Catholic school education and can pass their SAT's without a problem, and they roll along merrily. If the kids are extremely stupid there is whatever school Stu Vedder is coaching this year. They take any kid no matter how dumb and get him to pass. His teams are an All-Star team and usually #1 or #2 in the DC area every year. Look if Doh has a DC pipeline use it.

EastStang wrote:Coming from the DC area, I'd bet that the #1 HS team in the DC area would destroy the #1 HS team from DFW 10 times out of 10. And what happens is that the AAU coaches in the DC area know all the WCAC coaches (who can recruit since they are Private schools). They get these kids as 8-9th graders, the kids get a free excellent Catholic school education and can pass their SAT's without a problem, and they roll along merrily. If the kids are extremely stupid there is whatever school Stu Vedder is coaching this year. They take any kid no matter how dumb and get him to pass. His teams are an All-Star team and usually #1 or #2 in the DC area every year. Look if Doh has a DC pipeline use it.

Duncanville is damn good this year and could hang w/anyone in DC. That said, your greater point is well received.

jimhagle wrote:Amazing Maryland and Georgetown either weren't interested or he didn't want to go there-shockingly small crowd for big time bball in the DC area.

He's just not ACC /Big East ready, but his ceiling is fairly high. Again, if he had waited till Spring, and played well this season, his recruitment would blow up.

Billy Joe wrote:Wrong, wrong, wrong.....you are telling me SMU has a chance to land a top quality recruit in another state than it its own state, city, area? How is that possible? It starts with local recruiting. A lot of the best players in the nation are from Texas and the d/fw area. Admit this fact: SMU has burned a lot of bridges with the local high school programs and is not getting looks from the top players in the state/area because of it. SMU basketball has been a non-existent program for a long, long time. We did hire a name, proven winner coach. We did build one of the nicest basketball facilities in the country. What are the excuses now?

W/100% certainty, I'm telling you SMU has a better chance to land top quality recruits in other states, before landing one in Texas. Its possible b/c we are a private school w/a good academic reputation, that has a profile coach, that recruits nationally. The locals are close enough to see the flaws, or consider SMU the punch line of jokes.

Furthermore, it's a fairly diverse student body in terms of geography. Of my 5 best friends from my SMU days, 2 are from Cali, one from DC, one from Texas, and another is an Okie. The roster should reflect the national make-up of the school

EastStang wrote: They take any kid no matter how dumb and get him to pass.

I think I know of a couple of schools that use that line as their Mission Statement.

PonyDoh wrote:

jimhagle wrote:Amazing Maryland and Georgetown either weren't interested or he didn't want to go there-shockingly small crowd for big time bball in the DC area.

He's just not ACC /Big East ready, but his ceiling is fairly high. Again, if he had waited till Spring, and played well this season, his recruitment would blow up.

Based on what? How is his celing so high? He could be a big stiff for all you know. 0 Stars, right in the backyard of ACC, Big East.
If he was any good @ that size he wouldn't be coming here.
Sounds like a major project that if we are lucky might bring something to the table year 3 or 4. Big men take longer to develop than any other position in the game.

Just to clarify something for the ones that just don't get it, the talk about recruiting locally with just a hint of success is directed toward keeping some of the local talent @ home. Not the whole freakin team.
If we could begin getting some of the 3 or 4 stars or perhaps even a 5 star
their AAU teammates just might follow. You can develop a local fan based because you have local talent. They might just have friends that play football that may want to come here, etc. etc.

Just saw where Rice secured another 3 star bb player (from Houston)