Texas Basketball Recruiting Notes: Keep Austin Beard

[Rockethorn1978 6102]

Don’t understand kids that want to go live in Waco. What a shit hole.

[texifornia 57074]

2 hours ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Don’t understand kids that want to go live in Waco. What a shit hole.

Well they did just win the national championship, so there's that. 

The bachelorettes who spend their parties there when any midsize city in the country has an equivalent Restoration Hardware, now that's some weird shit.

[jeevsie 3739]

Silly question? Would Arch effect carry over to basketball? The university in general is a hot topic. 

[maninblack 7974]

24 minutes ago, jeevsie said:

Silly question? Would Arch effect carry over to basketball? The university in general is a hot topic. 

Some of the coaches think it's a positive 

[SL Xpress 7518]

1 hour ago, maninblack said:

Some of the coaches think it's a positive 

Beard is going to think a meteor hitting downtown Austin is a positive. That’s just his mindset. 

Archie Manning is not only not going to have any appreciable effect on basketball recruiting, he won’t have as much of an effect on football recruiting as winning 10 games will. 

The biggest thing missing for Beard’s recruiting is sending guys into the NBA from Texas. He’s not really able to capitalize on Shaka’s guys, I don’t care how many Unite The Family t-shirts he sells. Barnes’ NBA guys are great, but that was a long time ago. I love having TJ Ford be so active in the program. He’s such a godsend. KD playing a prominent role means everything. But Beard needs some of his guy’s names being called, and then have them stay in touch with the program. 

His Tech players coming to Austin to extol his virtues isn’t a comfortable fit. He needs UT players. There aren’t any can’t miss examples on this year’s team for the 2023 NBA draft, but there’s plenty of potential. It was really strange watching Texas this past season and realizing there’s not a single NBA player on the roster. Took me back to the pre Barnes years where we went a couple of decades between Johnny Moore and Lasalle Thompson being mainstays and literally no one else saying in the league longer than a cup of coffee. 

[AP101S 1480]

 

[CheesePie 238]

8 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Beard is going to think a meteor hitting downtown Austin is a positive. That’s just his mindset. 

Archie Manning is not only not going to have any appreciable effect on basketball recruiting, he won’t have as much of an effect on football recruiting as winning 10 games will. 

The biggest thing missing for Beard’s recruiting is sending guys into the NBA from Texas. He’s not really able to capitalize on Shaka’s guys, I don’t care how many Unite The Family t-shirts he sells. Barnes’ NBA guys are great, but that was a long time ago. I love having TJ Ford be so active in the program. He’s such a godsend. KD playing a prominent role means everything. But Beard needs some of his guy’s names being called, and then have them stay in touch with the program. 

His Tech players coming to Austin to extol his virtues isn’t a comfortable fit. He needs UT players. There aren’t any can’t miss examples on this year’s team for the 2023 NBA draft, but there’s plenty of potential. It was really strange watching Texas this past season and realizing there’s not a single NBA player on the roster. Took me back to the pre Barnes years where we went a couple of decades between Johnny Moore and Lasalle Thompson being mainstays and literally no one else saying in the league longer than a cup of coffee. 

Dillion Mitchell is a likely lottery pick next year. Kids with his athleticism don’t stick in college long. 

[SL Xpress 7518]

3 hours ago, CheesePie said:

Dillion Mitchell is a likely lottery pick next year. Kids with his athleticism don’t stick in college long. 

Yep. He’s the one I’m chiefly thinking of, but there are a couple of others on the team who could step up as well.  Just need someone to get the ball rolling. For selfish purposes I’d love to keep both Mitchell and Morris for a couple of years, but if the best move is for them to declare themselves for the draft, so be it. 

[justhookit 4191]

12 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Beard is going to think a meteor hitting downtown Austin is a positive. That’s just his mindset. 

Archie Manning is not only not going to have any appreciable effect on basketball recruiting, he won’t have as much of an effect on football recruiting as winning 10 games will. 

The biggest thing missing for Beard’s recruiting is sending guys into the NBA from Texas. He’s not really able to capitalize on Shaka’s guys, I don’t care how many Unite The Family t-shirts he sells. Barnes’ NBA guys are great, but that was a long time ago. I love having TJ Ford be so active in the program. He’s such a godsend. KD playing a prominent role means everything. But Beard needs some of his guy’s names being called, and then have them stay in touch with the program. 

His Tech players coming to Austin to extol his virtues isn’t a comfortable fit. He needs UT players. There aren’t any can’t miss examples on this year’s team for the 2023 NBA draft, but there’s plenty of potential. It was really strange watching Texas this past season and realizing there’s not a single NBA player on the roster. Took me back to the pre Barnes years where we went a couple of decades between Johnny Moore and Lasalle Thompson being mainstays and literally no one else saying in the league longer than a cup of coffee. 

I agree with pretty much everything you say, but you are way underestimating Arch’s effect. Basketball yes probably doesn’t matter, but in honor of Arch’s commitment I wore a Longhorn shirt when I went out yesterday. I can’t tell you how many random strangers gave me a high five and a fuck yes, we got Manning. It’s huge.

[realgreggym 837]

13 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Beard is going to think a meteor hitting downtown Austin is a positive. That’s just his mindset. 

Archie Manning is not only not going to have any appreciable effect on basketball recruiting, he won’t have as much of an effect on football recruiting as winning 10 games will. 

The biggest thing missing for Beard’s recruiting is sending guys into the NBA from Texas. He’s not really able to capitalize on Shaka’s guys, I don’t care how many Unite The Family t-shirts he sells. Barnes’ NBA guys are great, but that was a long time ago. I love having TJ Ford be so active in the program. He’s such a godsend. KD playing a prominent role means everything. But Beard needs some of his guy’s names being called, and then have them stay in touch with the program. 

His Tech players coming to Austin to extol his virtues isn’t a comfortable fit. He needs UT players. There aren’t any can’t miss examples on this year’s team for the 2023 NBA draft, but there’s plenty of potential. It was really strange watching Texas this past season and realizing there’s not a single NBA player on the roster. Took me back to the pre Barnes years where we went a couple of decades between Johnny Moore and Lasalle Thompson being mainstays and literally no one else saying in the league longer than a cup of coffee. 

Had there been a star system back then, Johnny would have probably been a high 2 star or low 3 star. Had Robinson and Wilson not gotten hurt, both of them could have had long pro careers.

[Pato del Muerto 52566]

Are you saying a meteor hitting downtown Austin wouldn’t be a good thing?

[SL Xpress 7518]

2 hours ago, justhookit said:

I agree with pretty much everything you say, but you are way underestimating Arch’s effect. Basketball yes probably doesn’t matter, but in honor of Arch’s commitment I wore a Longhorn shirt when I went out yesterday. I can’t tell you how many random strangers gave me a high five and a fuck yes, we got Manning. It’s huge.

Tell me about how big of an effect he’s going to have if we lose our last 6 games again. Recruiting is a tool to win games. If you can’t win games it doesn’t matter how good the recruiting is. Fred Akers, David McWilliams, John Mackovic, Mack Brown, Charlie Strong, and Tom Herman all signed amazing classes. They were all fired. 

Part of the explosion of excitement regarding Arch Manning choosing Texas is the validation as a fan that comes with it. Believe me, I get it. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been obsessed with football recruiting my entire life at levels that are frankly a little unbelievable. But it’s exacerbated right now because we’ve sucked shit through a straw for the last 13 years and 30 out of the last 40. We’re so fucking tired of losing as a fan base. I am. What the fuck are we doing? How can we be this mediocre? I mean, I can give you a lot of answers, but it comes down to making the wrong coaching hires. Is Sarkisian it? I don’t think he is. Texas should be money whipping a can’t miss type candidate. Instead we brought in a guy who did nothing special at Washington and USC, was fired from the pros as a play caller after two years, had success as the OC at a place where every OC has success, and then he lost 6 games in a row to end the season in his first year. In what is frankly not that great of a conference. Do you know how hard that is to accomplish at Texas? Was he betting against Texas?

Like Darrel Royal says, if they’re going to bite, they’re going to bite as a pup. First impressions matter. The best coaching hires make a difference in year one. 

So you get all googly eyed over the Manning announcement. I don’t blame you. It’s fun. I’m excited about it. But don’t come on here telling me what a difference it will make like you’re educating me in some way. Show me the wins. That will have a much more profound impact on the direction of the program. Or lose really big so we can cut our losses and try fucking again. This time with feeling. 

I’m honestly not trying to shit all over anyone who wants to be excited about this. I’ve stayed away from the football boards and football recruiting threads. I do not find it enjoyable to be constantly doom and gloom. But unless Sarkisian does something spectacular this year - and I don’t have any confidence he will - I’m going to be in the camp that can hardly wait until he’s gone. There’s a bigger picture here than Manning coming to Texas. 

I’ll tell you another scenario. Chris Simms was a great pickup just about as ballyhooed as Arch Manning. Son of a Super bowl winning QB and at that time one of the most prominent color analysts for the NFL. A very underrated QB by Texas fans, college football fans, and media observers. Had one true melt down game against Colorado in the Big 12 championship game that ended up being a big defining part of his legacy at Texas. Unfairly in my opinion. Tough as nails who somehow caught the Chrissy Simms sobriquet. Saddled with an incompetent OC who managed to get shut out against OU with a roster that would go on to be the highest scoring offense in college football history the next season. 

Because of his bad experience at Texas the guy doesn’t have anything to do with his alma mater. OK, not a big loss necessarily. But what if he had had a great experience at Texas? What if we had an OC who knew how to get a slot receiver open and him and Kyle Shanahan had been what McCoy and Shipley were a few years later? 

Maybe instead of leading us to some kind of promised land Manning enters the portal after a couple of years and ends up winning a national championship at Bama or USC.  

Look, I’m in a dark place about all of this, and until Sarkisian shows me he can win at Texas at a national championship type level, I’m going to bide my time until we finally get a crack at the next guy. 

The one thing I am positive about are all the efforts by people to put a robust NIL system in place. Hopefully the next coach has some Big Dick Energy and can actually take advantage of it to bring another championship to Texas. Or at least make us relevant. 

Edited June 24, 2022 by SL Xpress
Changed the “Archie”s to “Arch” to appease texifornia. Oh, and because he’s right.

[SL Xpress 7518]

1 hour ago, realgreggym said:

Had there been a star system back then, Johnny would have probably been a high 2 star or low 3 star. Had Robinson and Wilson not gotten hurt, both of them could have had long pro careers.

Robinson and Wilson having long careers doesn’t do anything to address the long gap of not having anyone have an NBA career. I’d add Mike Wacker to that list, too. Thanks shitty Heart of Texas Arena. The bigger point wasn’t the lack of names in the NBA, although that was certainly something that always struck me. It was the lack of NBA talent on the roster period year after year until Barnes came along. In a state that was regularly producing NBA quality talent. 

[Pato del Muerto 52566]

2 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

Recruiting is a tool to win games.

You need to recruit well to win big. But you need to win big to recruit well. 

If a new coach is going to be successful, they need to be able to win big before they recruit at a high level, or recruit at a high level before they win big.  
 

looks like sark is, or maybe has been forced into, recruiting to win.  Had he gone 10-2 last year, maybe the other would have been true.

 

[SL Xpress 7518]

Just now, Pato del Muerto said:

You need to recruit well to win big. But you need to win big to recruit well. 

If a new coach is going to be successful, they need to be able to win big before they recruit at a high level, or recruit at a high level before they win big.  
 

looks like sark is, or maybe has been forced into, recruiting to win.  Had he gone 10-2 last year, maybe the other would have been true.

 

Remember Charlie Strong’s errybody? Pepperidge Farms remembers. Remember Herman’s first class? Show me the wins. 

[RabidM 2668]

42 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

Tell me about how big of an effect he’s going to have if we lose our last 6 games again. Recruiting is a tool to win games. If you can’t win games it doesn’t matter how good the recruiting is. Fred Akers, David McWilliams, John Mackovic, Mack Brown, Charlie Strong, and Tom Herman all signed amazing classes. They were all fired. 

Part of the explosion of excitement regarding Archie Manning choosing Texas is the validation as a fan that comes with it. Believe me, I get it. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been obsessed with football recruiting my entire life at levels that are frankly a little unbelievable. But it’s exacerbated right now because we’ve sucked shit through a straw for the last 13 years and 30 out of the last 40. We’re so fucking tired of losing as a fan base. I am. What the fuck are we doing? How can we be this mediocre? I mean, I can give you a lot of answers, but it comes down to making the wrong coaching hires. Is Sarkisian it? I don’t think he is. Texas should be money whipping a can’t miss type candidate. Instead we brought in a guy who did nothing special at Washington and USC, was fired from the pros as a play caller after two years, had success as the OC at a place where every OC has success, and then he lost 6 games in a row to end the season in his first year. In what is frankly not that great of a conference. Do you know how hard that is to accomplish at Texas? Was he betting against Texas?

Like Darrel Royal says, if they’re going to bite, they’re going to bite as a pup. First impressions matter. The best coaching hires make a difference in year one. 

So you get all googly eyed over the Manning announcement. I don’t blame you. It’s fun. I’m excited about it. But don’t come on here telling me what a difference it will make like you’re educating me in some way. Show me the wins. That will have a much more profound impact on the direction of the program. Or lose really big so we can cut our losses and try fucking again. This time with feeling. 

I’m honestly not trying to shit all over anyone who wants to be excited about this. I’ve stayed away from the football boards and football recruiting threads. I do not find it enjoyable to be constantly doom and gloom. But unless Sarkisian does something spectacular this year - and I don’t have any confidence he will - I’m going to be in the camp that can hardly wait until he’s gone. There’s a bigger picture here than Manning coming to Texas. 

I’ll tell you another scenario. Chris Simms was a great pickup just about as ballyhooed as Archie Manning. Son of a Super bowl winning QB and at that time one of the most prominent color analysts for the NFL. A very underrated QB by Texas fans, college football fans, and media observers. Had one true melt down game against Colorado in the Big 12 championship game that ended up being a big defining part of his legacy at Texas. Unfairly in my opinion. Tough as nails who somehow caught the Chrissy Simms sobriquet. Saddled with an incompetent OC who managed to get shut out against OU with a roster that would go on to be the highest scoring offense in college football history the next season. 

Because of his bad experience at Texas the guy doesn’t have anything to do with his alma mater. OK, not a big loss necessarily. But what if he had had a great experience at Texas? What if we had an OC who knew how to get a slot receiver open and him and Kyle Shanahan had been what McCoy and Shipley were a few years later? 

Maybe instead of leading us to some kind of promised land Manning enters the portal after a couple of years and ends up winning a national championship at Bama or USC.  

Look, I’m in a dark place about all of this, and until Sarkisian shows me he can win at Texas at a national championship type level, I’m going to bide my time until we finally get a crack at the next guy. 

The one thing I am positive about are all the efforts by people to put a robust NIL system in place. Hopefully the next coach has some Big Dick Energy and can actually take advantage of it to bring another championship to Texas. Or at least make us relevant. 

Umm, sir, this is a basketball thread.

[realgreggym 837]

30 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

Robinson and Wilson having long careers doesn’t do anything to address the long gap of not having anyone have an NBA career. I’d add Mike Wacker to that list, too. Thanks shitty Heart of Texas Arena. The bigger point wasn’t the lack of names in the NBA, although that was certainly something that always struck me. It was the lack of NBA talent on the roster period year after year until Barnes came along. In a state that was regularly producing NBA quality talent. 

It's about development and putting the pieces together. Almost every year, a mid major will  make a run at March Madness. Its called playing together. I think that I saw that Duke had 4 kids drafted yesterday. Kentucky is full of one and dones that's no guarantee. I certainly wouldn't turn down a kid with NBA potential but its a lot more than that. , 

[SL Xpress 7518]

26 minutes ago, realgreggym said:

It's about development and putting the pieces together. Almost every year, a mid major will  make a run at March Madness. Its called playing together. I think that I saw that Duke had 4 kids drafted yesterday. Kentucky is full of one and dones that's no guarantee. I certainly wouldn't turn down a kid with NBA potential but its a lot more than that. , 

I’m not sure of your point. The conversation is about recruiting and if Arch Manning will have an impact on that. My response is that no, he won’t. Not appreciably. (I wrote way more than necessary beyond that, but that’s the gist regarding basketball).

What would make the biggest different in terms of Texas basketball recruiting is sending guys to the NBA. Not signing Arch Manning. 

Winning in the tournament is another conversation. An important one, and I don’t mean to be glossing over it. But it wasn’t the subject of the conversation. Recruiting was. 

To your point, both of KU’s first round picks in the latest NBA draft were ranked outside the top 150 when Bill Self offered them. They rose based on that offer, but still neither of them cracked the top 100. That said, they didn’t turn down the NBA potential McD guys they signed in this last class in Gradey Dick and MJ Rice. 

Also, the portal changes things considerably. KU doesn’t win the whole thing without Remy Martin. UNC doesn’t make it to the championship game without Brady Manek (who I never even remotely imagined could be that incredibly effective as a 4 - and he was coached by Lon Kruger, not exactly a slouch when it comes to development). 

I do appreciate your point, and don’t want to be dismissive of it. But it’s a parallel conversation not directly tied to what I was responding to. 

Edited June 24, 2022 by SL Xpress
Two more Archie to Arch corrections.

[SL Xpress 7518]

19 minutes ago, RabidM said:

Umm, sir, this is a basketball thread.

I had to look up that reference. 
 

“Could you put her on the phone, please?”

[texifornia 57074]

4 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

I’m not sure of your point. The conversation is about recruiting and if Archie Manning will have an impact on that. My response is that no, he won’t. Not appreciably. (I wrote way more than necessary beyond that, but that’s the gist regarding basketball).

What would make the biggest different in terms of Texas basketball recruiting is sending guys to the NBA. Not signing Archie Manning. 

Winning in the tournament is another conversation. An important one, and I don’t mean to be glossing over it. But it wasn’t the subject of the conversation. Recruiting was. 

To your point, both of KU’s first round picks in the latest NBA draft were ranked outside the top 150 when Bill Self offered them. They rose based on that offer, but still neither of them cracked the top 100. That said, they didn’t turn down the NBA potential McD guys they signed in this last class in Gradey Dick and MJ Rice. 

Also, the portal changes things considerably. KU doesn’t win the whole thing without Remy Martin. UNC doesn’t make it to the championship game without Brady Manek (who I never even remotely imagined could be that incredibly effective as a 4 - and he was coached by Lon Kruger, not exactly a slouch when it comes to development). 

I do appreciate your point, and don’t want to be dismissive of it. But it’s a parallel conversation not directly tied to what I was responding to. 

It's Arch, man. Archie's his grandad.

[SL Xpress 7518]

Just now, texifornia said:

It's Arch, man. Archie's his grandad.

 

[Burt Macklin 19038]

2 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Remember Charlie Strong’s errybody? Pepperidge Farms remembers. Remember Herman’s first class? Show me the wins. 

These are really bad examples. Strong’s errrbody class was a joke compared to the 22 or 23 classes. People just made a big deal of it, because of how horrible Strong was recruiting right up until the last two weeks. Herman’s 2018 class was probably on par with last year’s but he couldn’t string multiple classes together and that hurt him by his third and fourth years, especially his horrid OL recruiting, which is a massive difference to Sark. 
 

I’m not saying I believe Sark is the guy, but the reality is you have to recruit well in order to win big. Almost no one wins big before they recruit we’ll unless they took over an already loaded roster. Saban went 6-6 in year 1 then pulled in the #1 overall class. Kirby Smart went 8-4 then pulled in an absolutely loaded class and both kept doing it year after year. 
 

And with NIL in full swing, winning is becoming less and less meaningful to recruiting. Jimbo has won 8 games almost every year at A&M and just pulled in possibly the best recruiting class ever on paper. So yeah, the recruiting momentum Arch brings is massive for this program and it absolutely dwarfs any recruiting bump we’d get from winning 10 games next year, which wouldn’t even really kick in until the 24 class. The effects of the 2 are honestly not even close to comparable. 

Edited June 24, 2022 by Burt Macklin

[Sandbagging Steve 982]

Being the highest bidder wins recruits. It's that simple.

Herman and Strong both SUCKED at recruiting. Some of those "team rankings" were laughable. A whole lotta Marcus Washington and worse in there. Washington is a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. He wanted it. He's just not good enough and never was good enough. It's even worse when a kid doesn't have the skill AND is a headcase. We had plenty of those too.

[texifornia 57074]

2 minutes ago, Sandbagging Steve said:

Being the highest bidder wins recruits. It's that simple.

Herman and Strong both SUCKED at recruiting. Some of those "team rankings" were laughable. A whole lotta Marcus Washington and worse in there. Washington is a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. He wanted it. He's just not good enough and never was good enough. It's even worse when a kid doesn't have the skill AND is a headcase. We had plenty of those too.

Marcus Washington was an AA All-Star Game MVP with plenty of good commitable offers. He was a regular ole bust.

Malcolm Epps is the WR you're looking for.

[rvm96 1643]

Did I click on the wrong thread for basketball recruiting?

[texifornia 57074]

https://247sports.com/player/john-bol-46125411/

So many colossal South Sudanese centers these days. 

[Sandbagging Steve 982]

Just now, texifornia said:

Marcus Washington was an AA All-Star Game MVP with plenty of good commitable offers. He was a regular ole bust.

Malcolm Epps is the WR you're looking for.

Malcolm Epps is a good example. Our rosters have been filled with examples for well over a decade.

Marcus Washington is a perfect example. He was way too slow to ever be any good at the college level. He got a very high ranking early in the process and never blossomed into the athlete they thought he would turn into. But he kept showing up to the stupid basketball-on-grass tournaments and remained a 4-star, even though he dropped in the ranking some. Many on this site tried to use an injury as an excuse for his lack of speed when he committed here. The recruiting rankings want him to remain a 4-star because he showed up to all the camps and he committed to one of their biggest subscriber bases. Not only that, they're just terrible evaluators. tOSU told you straight up they backed off and so did many of the other schools. I don't need proof of that. Bluebloods rarely want 4.7-4.8 wide receivers, unless they're super quick slot receivers with other elite skills.

Texas has been the place where the leftover scraps of the 4-star world that were turned away by most of the bluebloods go to school. And then it's used against us in recruiting. We can't develop talent! Development is the easy part. Recruiting should be an easy part at Texas. Just pay the players like everyone else. X's and O's should be the real competition. Unfortunately, there's only a few bluebloods and only a few of those bluebloods willing to pay the players top rate. They get all the recruits; it's not competitive; really average head coaches like Cookie Monster, Gras Eater Miles and Kirby Smart win championships. It's embarrassing for the sport.

[Knoxtnhorn 6065]

5 hours ago, justhookit said:

I agree with pretty much everything you say, but you are way underestimating Arch’s effect. Basketball yes probably doesn’t matter, but in honor of Arch’s commitment I wore a Longhorn shirt when I went out yesterday. I can’t tell you how many random strangers gave me a high five and a fuck yes, we got Manning. It’s huge.

Same for me.  We're in New Orleans, on our way to Disney.  I've had multiple folks make pro TX or "congrats" comments.

[SL Xpress 7518]

1 hour ago, Burt Macklin said:

These are really bad examples. Strong’s errrbody class was a joke compared to the 22 or 23 classes. People just made a big deal of it, because of how horrible Strong was recruiting right up until the last two weeks. Herman’s 2018 class was probably on par with last year’s but he couldn’t string multiple classes together and that hurt him by his third and fourth years, especially his horrid OL recruiting, which is a massive difference to Sark. 
 

I’m not saying I believe Sark is the guy, but the reality is you have to recruit well in order to win big. Almost no one wins big before they recruit we’ll unless they took over an already loaded roster. Saban went 6-6 in year 1 then pulled in the #1 overall class. Kirby Smart went 8-4 then pulled in an absolutely loaded class and both kept doing it year after year. 
 

And with NIL in full swing, winning is becoming less and less meaningful to recruiting. Jimbo has won 8 games almost every year at A&M and just pulled in possibly the best recruiting class ever on paper. So yeah, the recruiting momentum Arch brings is massive for this program and it absolutely dwarfs any recruiting bump we’d get from winning 10 games next year, which wouldn’t even really kick in until the 24 class. The effects of the 2 are honestly not even close to comparable. 

You’re missing my point. Getting Arch in recruiting won’t matter if Sarkisian flops on the field again. He has to win on the field period. Recruiting by itself is not a solution. 

I’ll also say both Saban and Smart were buying players, their parents, their trainers, and whoever else they needed to left and right to get those classes and did it year after year. At the end of the day you still have to figure out a way to win with those classes. It’s not inevitable. Whatever talent deficiencies Texas had last year it shouldn’t have been a 5-7 team. Aranda went 12-2 in his second year. I’m saying Sarkisian needs to do something similar. Recruiting Arch is not the end game. But hey, you’re excited about it, too. Don’t let me rain on your parade. Be excited. You deserve it for what you’ve been through as a fan. Just don’t try to get me to join you. Show me the wins. 
 

 

[SL Xpress 7518]

27 minutes ago, texifornia said:

https://247sports.com/player/john-bol-46125411/

So many colossal South Sudanese centers these days. 

I’d find it fascinating as a thought experiment to see how Beard incorporates this guy into his rotation. John Boi ain’t switching on defense to defend a guard on the perimeter, that’s for sure. I know Beard recruited some 7’ type players at Tech, but the results were mixed. 

[Rickylovesweed 14538]

Is every Sudanese basketball player named Bol? 

[cafe society 2872]

JFC, whomever introduced football to the basketball recruiting board needs to die in a fire.  WTFF.

Edited June 25, 2022 by cafe society

[justhookit 4191]

5 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Tell me about how big of an effect he’s going to have if we lose our last 6 games again. Recruiting is a tool to win games. If you can’t win games it doesn’t matter how good the recruiting is. Fred Akers, David McWilliams, John Mackovic, Mack Brown, Charlie Strong, and Tom Herman all signed amazing classes. They were all fired. 

Part of the explosion of excitement regarding Arch Manning choosing Texas is the validation as a fan that comes with it. Believe me, I get it. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been obsessed with football recruiting my entire life at levels that are frankly a little unbelievable. But it’s exacerbated right now because we’ve sucked shit through a straw for the last 13 years and 30 out of the last 40. We’re so fucking tired of losing as a fan base. I am. What the fuck are we doing? How can we be this mediocre? I mean, I can give you a lot of answers, but it comes down to making the wrong coaching hires. Is Sarkisian it? I don’t think he is. Texas should be money whipping a can’t miss type candidate. Instead we brought in a guy who did nothing special at Washington and USC, was fired from the pros as a play caller after two years, had success as the OC at a place where every OC has success, and then he lost 6 games in a row to end the season in his first year. In what is frankly not that great of a conference. Do you know how hard that is to accomplish at Texas? Was he betting against Texas?

Like Darrel Royal says, if they’re going to bite, they’re going to bite as a pup. First impressions matter. The best coaching hires make a difference in year one. 

So you get all googly eyed over the Manning announcement. I don’t blame you. It’s fun. I’m excited about it. But don’t come on here telling me what a difference it will make like you’re educating me in some way. Show me the wins. That will have a much more profound impact on the direction of the program. Or lose really big so we can cut our losses and try fucking again. This time with feeling. 

I’m honestly not trying to shit all over anyone who wants to be excited about this. I’ve stayed away from the football boards and football recruiting threads. I do not find it enjoyable to be constantly doom and gloom. But unless Sarkisian does something spectacular this year - and I don’t have any confidence he will - I’m going to be in the camp that can hardly wait until he’s gone. There’s a bigger picture here than Manning coming to Texas. 

I’ll tell you another scenario. Chris Simms was a great pickup just about as ballyhooed as Arch Manning. Son of a Super bowl winning QB and at that time one of the most prominent color analysts for the NFL. A very underrated QB by Texas fans, college football fans, and media observers. Had one true melt down game against Colorado in the Big 12 championship game that ended up being a big defining part of his legacy at Texas. Unfairly in my opinion. Tough as nails who somehow caught the Chrissy Simms sobriquet. Saddled with an incompetent OC who managed to get shut out against OU with a roster that would go on to be the highest scoring offense in college football history the next season. 

Because of his bad experience at Texas the guy doesn’t have anything to do with his alma mater. OK, not a big loss necessarily. But what if he had had a great experience at Texas? What if we had an OC who knew how to get a slot receiver open and him and Kyle Shanahan had been what McCoy and Shipley were a few years later? 

Maybe instead of leading us to some kind of promised land Manning enters the portal after a couple of years and ends up winning a national championship at Bama or USC.  

Look, I’m in a dark place about all of this, and until Sarkisian shows me he can win at Texas at a national championship type level, I’m going to bide my time until we finally get a crack at the next guy. 

The one thing I am positive about are all the efforts by people to put a robust NIL system in place. Hopefully the next coach has some Big Dick Energy and can actually take advantage of it to bring another championship to Texas. Or at least make us relevant. 

Holy Fuck. I didn’t mean for you to write a wall of text. I agree with you. On everything, except the Arch commitment. You’ve got battered Horns syndrome or something. My point obviously was not whether it translates to wins or Sark being the guy, but if you are so far removed from being able to see how big this is I’m not sure what a to say. They spent 5 minutes on the ESPN show yesterday talking about it. Ask fucking  aggy how much wins matter.

[justhookit 4191]

24 minutes ago, cafe society said:

JFC, whomever introduced football to the basketball recruiting board needs to die in a fire.  WTFF.

Sorry.

[justhookit 4191]

4 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

I’m not sure of your point. The conversation is about recruiting and if Arch Manning will have an impact on that. My response is that no, he won’t. Not appreciably. (I wrote way more than necessary beyond that, but that’s the gist regarding basketball).

What would make the biggest different in terms of Texas basketball recruiting is sending guys to the NBA. Not signing Arch Manning. 

Winning in the tournament is another conversation. An important one, and I don’t mean to be glossing over it. But it wasn’t the subject of the conversation. Recruiting was. 

To your point, both of KU’s first round picks in the latest NBA draft were ranked outside the top 150 when Bill Self offered them. They rose based on that offer, but still neither of them cracked the top 100. That said, they didn’t turn down the NBA potential McD guys they signed in this last class in Gradey Dick and MJ Rice. 

Also, the portal changes things considerably. KU doesn’t win the whole thing without Remy Martin. UNC doesn’t make it to the championship game without Brady Manek (who I never even remotely imagined could be that incredibly effective as a 4 - and he was coached by Lon Kruger, not exactly a slouch when it comes to development). 

I do appreciate your point, and don’t want to be dismissive of it. But it’s a parallel conversation not directly tied to what I was responding to. 

He’s senile and/or regarded. Do not engage.

[jeevsie 3739]

Sorry, guys.  I started it. Mea culpa.

But I did start it with "Silly Question?"

Edited June 25, 2022 by jeevsie

[SL Xpress 7518]

52 minutes ago, justhookit said:

Holy Fuck. I didn’t mean for you to write a wall of text. I agree with you. On everything, except the Arch commitment. You’ve got battered Horns syndrome or something. My point obviously was not whether it translates to wins or Sark being the guy, but if you are so far removed from being able to see how big this is I’m not sure what a to say. They spent 5 minutes on the ESPN show yesterday talking about it. Ask fucking  aggy how much wins matter.

Oh my sweet summer child. ESPN talked about us for 5 minutes! We’re saved from irrelevance! Those 30 years out of the last 40 are riding into the sunset! We’re back! Only this time not in a Shock the Nation way, or a Roll Left way, or a Notre Dame “Texas..is…back!” way or a Sam Ehlinger “We’re back!” way! No, this is way bigger than any of those. This is the “Arch Manning chose us we’re therefore saved” we’re back, which is WAY more consequential. Don’t know what I was thinking!

[Rickylovesweed 14538]

[SL Xpress 7518]

1 minute ago, Rickylovesweed said:

More like Old Man Yells at Cloud that has struck him with lightning over and over again. There’s a reason I didn’t post here while Shaka Smart was the coach for his last 4 1/2 years and there’s a reason I stay away from football and football recruiting threads. 

[Speedway 152]

20 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

More like Old Man Yells at Cloud that has struck him with lightning over and over again. There’s a reason I didn’t post here while Shaka Smart was the coach for his last 4 1/2 years and there’s a reason I stay away from football and football recruiting threads. 

And that is a crying shame SL Xpress. You have forgotten more about Texas Longhorn athletics than the majority of the mouth breathers around here will ever learn their entire lives, including myself. The only posts I looked forward to reading more than yours were your Dad's.  The apple does not fall very far from the tree.  Thanks for the salient insight on the current situation.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Speedway

[HtownHorn 14762]

3 hours ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Is every Sudanese basketball player named Bol? 

You think Manute was faithful to one woman? I heard he was Mutombo's wing man.

[justhookit 4191]

35 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

More like Old Man Yells at Cloud that has struck him with lightning over and over again. There’s a reason I didn’t post here while Shaka Smart was the coach for his last 4 1/2 years and there’s a reason I stay away from football and football recruiting threads. 

Well the other reason is because you’re football takes suck.

Arch choosing us should be a game changing moment. Hopefully we take advantage of it.

[SL Xpress 7518]

6 minutes ago, justhookit said:

Well the other reason is because you’re football takes suck.

Arch choosing us should be a game changing moment. Hopefully we take advantage of it.

your

[SL Xpress 7518]

9 minutes ago, justhookit said:

Arch choosing us should be a game changing moment. Hopefully we take advantage of it.

 

[MuellerHorn 4265]

2 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

Manute Bol is the Genghis Khan of Sudan.  Maybe even the Shawn Kemp of Sudan.

With how this thread is turning, he's probably the Antonio Cromartie of Sudan.

[SL Xpress 7518]

13 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

With how this thread is turning, he's probably the Antonio Cromartie of Sudan.

We’ll get more news on the basketball recruiting front and it’ll change around quickly. 

I read a mildly interesting article in The NY Times today, of all places, talking about the changes in basketball recruiting. Namely:

1. The NCAA is trying to do more to organize high school centric events for coaches to attend to help give more juice back to high school coaches who are at least affiliated with some kind of ostensible academic institution, as opposed to the AAU clubs who owe their allegiance to the various shoe companies

2. The advent of the transfer portal and all the activity associated there has meant less time/energy/resources spent on high school recruiting by college coaches, and - more interesting to me - less time on high school evaluations. 

3. Unless you’re a widely known quantity, foreign credentials aren’t nearly as important as getting in front of college coaches, which seems like a blinding glimpse of the obvious to me, but was still a primary point of the article

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/sports/ncaabasketball/college-basketball-recruiting.html
 

Spoiler

By Billy Witz

June 24, 2022

BLAIRSTOWN, N.J. — Three days after traveling from his family’s vacation home in Porto Heli, Greece, Symeon Efstathiou found himself in a basketball gym at a remote boarding school tucked away in the northwest corner of New Jersey.

Along with his 6-foot-8, 200-pound frame, he brought with him a trick bag of tools: a silky shooting stroke, crafty moves in the low post, the ability to finish with either hand and a proclivity for dishing out decisive passes and high-fives to his new teammates.

Efstathiou, who will play for Greece in the European U-18 championships later this summer, spent last weekend playing at the Mid-Atlantic Independent School Team Camp, one of dozens of men’s basketball recruiting events around the country that college coaches were permitted to attend.

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The showcases ranged from the Section 7 camp, a spectacle where hundreds of high school teams from California and other western states traveled to play on a dozen courts crammed into the Arizona Cardinals’ football stadium, to events like the one at Blair Academy, which hosted prep schools from New York to Philadelphia.

 

These events are part of the N.C.A.A.’s efforts in the wake of a federal corruption scandal to rein in the influence of the summer travel ball circuit, which is fueled by shoe company money and draws many of the best players in the country to events that coaches can attend in July.

The idea, Pollyannaish as it might have been, was to divert some recruiting juice back to high school coaches, who at least in theory are tethered to an academic institution. Many college coaches, especially ones near the top of the food chain, prefer events like Nike’s Peach Jam, which will take place next month in North Augusta, S.C., allowing them to see top-flight talent being tested against one another, all under one roof.

Still, there is some utility to events like the one at Blair Academy.

A player in an ancillary role on his travel team might be granted a more thorough assessment of his abilities while playing a leading role for his high school squad. Ochai Agbaji, who just led the University of Kansas to the national championship, is a good example — an under-the-radar talent who struggled to find minutes on an elite travel team but blossomed over his four years in college.

 

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Efstathiou’s jersey for the Greek under-18 national team.Credit...Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times

 

 

These camps, which will be open to college recruiters again this weekend, mean that in a particular gym, coaches like Mike Anderson of St. John’s and Shaheen Holloway of Seton Hall would share bleacher seats with assistants from Division III schools like Swarthmore and New York University.

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So it was that one coach at a Division III school with elite academics was there last Friday to observe Efstathiou after getting a tip that morning about this new kid from Athens who was an Ivy League-caliber student.

After several trips down the court, the coach sighed.

“He’s too good for us,” said the coach, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is prohibited by N.C.A.A. rules from speaking publicly about players who are being recruited. “That’s a Division I player.”

When this was relayed to Efstathiou, he smiled.

Efstathiou, who turned 18 in April, has largely driven his own recruitment. His parents, who run a shipping company, are more interested in academics than basketball. (His older brother, Angelo, is enrolled at Tufts.) But he has basketball ambitions, too, something he felt might be better fed in the United States than in Greece, where if he continued to play for his club, Panathinaikos, he might not see regular playing time with the senior team for another five years.

Efstathiou’s plans to come to the United States last summer were waylaid because he was unable to get a visa until October because of coronavirus pandemic travel restrictions. He instead emailed video clips to about 50 college coaches — from Duke and U.C.L.A. down to Rochester, a Division III school. Many schools did not reply, even after several follow-up emails. Yale sent an automated reply, which an assistant coach later apologized for when he called to let Efstathiou know that they were not interested.

The coaches at Princeton University liked Efstathiou enough to connect him with the Hun School, a boarding school near their campus. Efstathiou will spend a year there after high school, giving him a chance to become stronger and more athletic.

 

Image

 

Credit...Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times

 

 

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That will allow Princeton to keep a close eye on him, of course, but it will also allow Efstathiou more time to catch the eye of other coaches whose schools have strong mechanical engineering or business curriculums, his preferred academic interests.

 

“It’s not easy,” said Efstathiou’s mother, Semiramis. “There are always people around willing to help, but you never know how genuine they are. So to be honest, I don’t think we ever found the right channels to get in contact with universities that he wanted to be seen by.”

 

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This is a moment of great flux in college sports. Athletes are empowered as never before — able to cash in on their fame, change schools with few restrictions and take advantage of an extra year of eligibility granted by the N.C.A.A. during the pandemic. Those freedoms, though, are not enjoyed across the board.

Coaches were so occupied this spring with hosting transfer candidates that many schools — roughly one-third of Division I teams, according to one coach — did not send coaches to evaluate high school prospects during two weekends in April when they were allowed to evaluate prospects in person. The transfer portal is so flush — more than 1,400 men’s basketball players entered this year — that it has also minimized the cost of recruiting mistakes because rosters can be easily retooled each year.

The upshot is that not only are coaches spending less time recruiting high school players, but they are also spending less time even evaluating them.

Still, on Saturday, about 60 miles from Blair Academy, at Montgomery High School in Skillman, N.J., the value of being there was reinforced. Elijah Gertrude, a wiry, 6-3 guard with a reputation as a flypaper defender, was suddenly knocking down one 3-pointer after another. Coaches from Virginia, Iona, St. John’s and Seton Hall seemed to cringe with each shot Gertrude sank — he made all six he attempted in this particular game — knowing they might soon have company recruiting him.

“That was many people’s question: Could I shoot the ball?” said Gertrude, who grew up in the Marion Gardens housing project in Jersey City.

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Earlier this month, Jimmy Oladokun had to answer a more fundamental question: Do I belong here?

 

Image

 

Efstathiou says playing in the United States is much different than in Europe. “They do a lot of stuff you don’t see in Europe,” he said. “I mean, you see people in the gym here practicing between-the-legs dunks.”Credit...Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times

 

 

Oladokun, a 16-year-old from Upland, Calif., was invited to the Pangos All-America Camp in Las Vegas, which included many of the top 100 prospects in the country. The camp was not held during an in-person evaluation period so it drew only N.B.A. evaluators — including the Oklahoma City Thunder’s general manager, Sam Presti, and the Denver Nuggets’ president of basketball operations, Calvin Booth — and recruiting analysts.

At 6-9, 210 pounds, Oladokun plays like an overgrown puppy — more enthusiasm than grace — but he made his mark by relentlessly banging for rebounds with some of the best prospects in the country.

“I was so nervous,” said Oladokun, who has a 4.5 grade point average and has, since the camp, received scholarship offers from the University of California, San Diego, and U.C. Davis, as well as an offer for a roster spot from Yale, which does not award athletic scholarships but can provide other financial aid.

“A huge part of basketball is confidence; it doesn’t matter if you have the skill,” he continued. “The camp helped me display what I could do even though I didn’t play to my ceiling. I realize they’re great players, but they’re just like me in a lot of ways.”

These revelations have been occurring from coast to coast.

In a mostly empty gym last Friday night, Efstathiou found himself matched up against Alassane Amadou, a spindly, athletic 6-9 wing from Quakertown, Pa., who was being watched intently from the baseline by Marquette Coach Shaka Smart and an assistant coach, Cody Hatt. (They took turns applauding when Amadou made a play in front of them.)

Efstathiou’s team, which lost two starters to injury in its opening game, was quickly down by 22 points when Amadou came flying down the lane for a dunk that Efstathiou was helpless to prevent.

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“
 

 

 

Image

 

Credit...Rachel Wisniewski 

I’m not scared to get dunked on,” said Efstathiou, who got his team within 9 points in the second half, occasionally going right back at Amadou, with whom he battled for rebounds on free throws as if a scholarship were being dangled for the winner. “The athleticism here is different — they do a lot of stuff you don’t see in Europe. I mean, you see people in the gym here practicing between-the-legs dunks.”

He added: “It will take some time to get used to. I prefer a little more structure.”

The next day, Efstathiou said, his phone began to buzz with calls and texts.

Davidson Coach Matt McKillop wants to watch him play this weekend, as do coaches from St. Joseph’s, Brown and Cornell, before Efstathiou returns to Greece next week. Princeton Coach Mitch Henderson wants him to tour the campus. Maine, which wants him to enroll this fall, plans to send a coach to the European Championships in Turkey.

Iona also called to express interest.

The Gaels are interesting suitors. Coach Rick Pitino remembers Efstathiou from when he coached at Panathinaikos three years ago, but the report Pitino received from an assistant coach while he was in Greece last weekend indicated a prospect who had gotten stronger and improved his shot.

“There was more of it and it was much more serious,” Efstathiou said of the attention from college coaches. “I’ve won Greek national titles, I’ve played for the Greek national team, played in European tournaments, which would probably get respect from some but it didn’t yield much fruit.”

“I think it was necessary that I made this trip,” he added. “You have to get yourself in front of coaches or else it won’t work.”

(my attempts to edit this story on my iPad were too labor intensive, so fuck it)

 

[SL Xpress 7518]

5 star PG AJ Johnson was just in on an unofficial visit the last two days:

https://247sports.com/Article/AJ-Johnson-emerging-as-an-elite-prospect-in-the-2023-class-talks-recruitment-and-dream-school-Texas-Kentucky-Arizona-State-189027912/

Spoiler

AJ Johnson has exploded onto the national scene this spring and while he rose significantly in the latest rankings update up to the No. 38 overall spot, he made it very clear that it wasn't near enough this weekend at Section 7.

The 6-foot-5 guard out of Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft is very immature physically possessing just a 160-pound frame but he's already a great athlete with terrific, size and length and is a dynamic ball-handler and scorer in the 2023 class.

"It's been crazy, everything is happening so fast," Johnson said of his rise this spring. "It's everything that I dreamed about, all the offers and all the recognition for the hard work that I have been putting in."

The notoriety, the phone calls and the excitement of emerging into an elite prospect can be overwhelming for some but Johnson is taking it in stride and just grateful for everything that's happening.

"Kind of," he answered if it has been difficult to deal with. "I never had to really go through the options of choosing a college and have options and stuff. It had never gotten to that point but now I have multiple and it's a blessing."

Johnson is close friends with former elite prospect and current Houston Rocket, Jalen Green, and he has become a valuable resource and friend that can help guide him through this process based on his past experiences.

"When he was going through it, I was watching all of it," said Johnson. "I would see it but now he tells me about it and the processes that he was going through."

Johnson attributes his recent success to a variety of developments over the past year and the exciting part is is that Johnson still has so much more upside to tap into.

"I grew a lot and that helped, I grew like five-inches," said Johnson of how he has made this jump. "I started learning about the game more, watching film more, it's way easier when you can slow the game down for yourself."

Johnson told 247Sports that his recruitment is growing rapidly with three new high majors getting involved including Kansas and Louisville, who have both offered, and Kentucky starting to show interest.

Louisville and Kentucky both had an assistant in attendance scouting Johnson this weekend while LSU's head coach was at every game.

Kansas: "I didn't know I was ever going to be able to go to a high college like that and to be offered by them was crazy. It's a great program, I knew they won last year but I never really got to watch how they played their guards."

Kentucky: "I really love Kentucky, that's been one of my favorite schools since I was growing up. I like De'Aaron Fox and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander."

Louisville: "That was big too, they just got a new coach and they haven't offered many guys in the 2023 class yet. It was crazy, he [Kenny Payne] was real, he just keeps it real, he seems like a great coach, a great person and he is going to coach me hard."

Today, on Tuesday, June 21st, Johnson begins an unofficial visit to Texas and already has one official scheduled this fall.

"I am going to Texas on Tuesday, LSU on September 10th and then I want to visit all of them like Kansas, Louisville, all of them," he said.

"I like both of the coaches a lot," Johnson said of Texas and LSU. "I haven’t done to much research on the schools yet."

Johnson has yet to reach the peak of his recruitment and he is in no rush to make a decision and told 247Sports that he plans to let things continue to come.

 

[SL Xpress 7518]

Here’s an overview from On3’s Gerry Hamilton regarding Texas targets. There is no one better in covering Texas basketball than Gerry. I consider him the best in the business in many respects in both football and basketball. It’s dated, especially regarding Walter’s commitment to Baylor, but still a better list than simply searching under Texas offers:

https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/news/texas-targets-in-the-updated-on3-top-150/

[futureman 22527]

probably been posted. I don’t read this thread.  

[Rockethorn1978 6102]

I’ve always wondered if bronny would go college or just go play in the G League. I haven’t kept up with him.