(09-01-2014 01:11 PM)HometownTiger Wrote:  This isn't a doomsday post, just an observation.

Jayson Tatum eliminated Memphis from his list today. I'm not all that surprised given his long list of suitors. But it does make me wonder if Josh is losing his "touch" when it comes to recruiting the best of the best (not including Memphis kids). In his first 3 years he was signing guys like Will Barton and Shaq from outside of the city and it seemed like we were at least on the short list for a number of other top non-local prospects, but a lot can change in 3-5 years.

My concern is that maybe the "shine" has worn off. He was getting a lot of hype early on, but it seems like we're starting to struggle with landing top recruits if they aren't from Memphis. The good thing is...the city of Memphis is loaded in the near future so that shouldn't be too big of a problem, but in the coming years...if the city's talent pool isn't as deep, are we going to see more recruiting classes like this past year's? I know Memphis, pre-Cal, has never reeled in top 10 guys from out of the city on a consistent basis so maybe I should just get my mind right...and hope Memphis keeps churning out 5-star kids.

Josh's calling card, at least at this point in his career, has been his ability to recruit. IF that starts to slip...IF this past year's class is an indicator of things to come when the city doesn't produce, then that's a scary sign IMO.

(09-01-2014 01:11 PM)HometownTiger Wrote:  This isn't a doomsday post, just an observation.

Jayson Tatum eliminated Memphis from his list today. I'm not all that surprised given his long list of suitors. But it does make me wonder if Josh is losing his "touch" when it comes to recruiting the best of the best (not including Memphis kids). In his first 3 years he was signing guys like Will Barton and Shaq from outside of the city and it seemed like we were at least on the short list for a number of other top non-local prospects, but a lot can change in 3-5 years.

My concern is that maybe the "shine" has worn off. He was getting a lot of hype early on, but it seems like we're starting to struggle with landing top recruits if they aren't from Memphis. The good thing is...the city of Memphis is loaded in the near future so that shouldn't be too big of a problem, but in the coming years...if the city's talent pool isn't as deep, are we going to see more recruiting classes like this past year's? I know Memphis, pre-Cal, has never reeled in top 10 guys from out of the city on a consistent basis so maybe I should just get my mind right...and hope Memphis keeps churning out 5-star kids.

Josh's calling card, at least at this point in his career, has been his ability to recruit. IF that starts to slip...IF this past year's class is an indicator of things to come when the city doesn't produce, then that's a scary sign IMO.

(09-01-2014 01:24 PM)JTS Wrote:  Reasonable observations.

Why would a national recruit come to Memphis?

(09-01-2014 03:54 PM)GAmogul Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 01:11 PM)HometownTiger Wrote:  This isn't a doomsday post, just an observation.

Jayson Tatum eliminated Memphis from his list today. I'm not all that surprised given his long list of suitors. But it does make me wonder if Josh is losing his "touch" when it comes to recruiting the best of the best (not including Memphis kids). In his first 3 years he was signing guys like Will Barton and Shaq from outside of the city and it seemed like we were at least on the short list for a number of other top non-local prospects, but a lot can change in 3-5 years.

My concern is that maybe the "shine" has worn off. He was getting a lot of hype early on, but it seems like we're starting to struggle with landing top recruits if they aren't from Memphis. The good thing is...the city of Memphis is loaded in the near future so that shouldn't be too big of a problem, but in the coming years...if the city's talent pool isn't as deep, are we going to see more recruiting classes like this past year's? I know Memphis, pre-Cal, has never reeled in top 10 guys from out of the city on a consistent basis so maybe I should just get my mind right...and hope Memphis keeps churning out 5-star kids.

Josh's calling card, at least at this point in his career, has been his ability to recruit. IF that starts to slip...IF this past year's class is an indicator of things to come when the city doesn't produce, then that's a scary sign IMO.

I suspect there is a lot of negative recruiting going on that hurts Pastner with top tier national top prospects.

(09-01-2014 04:43 PM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 01:24 PM)JTS Wrote:  Reasonable observations.

Why would a national recruit come to Memphis?

Well for starters, we are plastered all over the ESPN networks all season long now.

You get serious national exposure.

Plus we are typically a top 25 program, typically play a strong scheduled and are a virtual lock for the NCAA tourney most years. And our teams generally are pretty talented and exciting.

Oh yeah, we play in an NBA arena, are top 10 nationally in attendance and have one of the most rabid fan bases in the NCAA's.

(09-01-2014 07:55 PM)JTS Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 04:43 PM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 01:24 PM)JTS Wrote:  Reasonable observations.

Why would a national recruit come to Memphis?

Well for starters, we are plastered all over the ESPN networks all season long now.

You get serious national exposure.

Plus we are typically a top 25 program, typically play a strong scheduled and are a virtual lock for the NCAA tourney most years. And our teams generally are pretty talented and exciting.

Oh yeah, we play in an NBA arena, are top 10 nationally in attendance and have one of the most rabid fan bases in the NCAA's.

The blue bloods are plastered all over ESPN as well.

I do not believe that we have finished the in the top 25 during Pastner's tenure.

(09-01-2014 08:27 PM)MemphisCanes Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 07:55 PM)JTS Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 04:43 PM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 01:24 PM)JTS Wrote:  Reasonable observations.

Why would a national recruit come to Memphis?

Well for starters, we are plastered all over the ESPN networks all season long now.

You get serious national exposure.

Plus we are typically a top 25 program, typically play a strong scheduled and are a virtual lock for the NCAA tourney most years. And our teams generally are pretty talented and exciting.

Oh yeah, we play in an NBA arena, are top 10 nationally in attendance and have one of the most rabid fan bases in the NCAA's.

The blue bloods are plastered all over ESPN as well.

I do not believe that we have finished the in the top 25 during Pastner's tenure.

We have, it doesn't really matter though.

(09-01-2014 09:23 PM)JTS Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 08:27 PM)MemphisCanes Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 07:55 PM)JTS Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 04:43 PM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 01:24 PM)JTS Wrote:  Reasonable observations.

Why would a national recruit come to Memphis?

Well for starters, we are plastered all over the ESPN networks all season long now.

You get serious national exposure.

Plus we are typically a top 25 program, typically play a strong scheduled and are a virtual lock for the NCAA tourney most years. And our teams generally are pretty talented and exciting.

Oh yeah, we play in an NBA arena, are top 10 nationally in attendance and have one of the most rabid fan bases in the NCAA's.

The blue bloods are plastered all over ESPN as well.

I do not believe that we have finished the in the top 25 during Pastner's tenure.

We have, it doesn't really matter though.

The final poll? You are correct, 18 in the final USA today poll two years ago.

(09-01-2014 11:38 PM)georgiatiger Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 09:23 PM)JTS Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 08:27 PM)MemphisCanes Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 07:55 PM)JTS Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 04:43 PM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  Well for starters, we are plastered all over the ESPN networks all season long now.

You get serious national exposure.

Plus we are typically a top 25 program, typically play a strong scheduled and are a virtual lock for the NCAA tourney most years. And our teams generally are pretty talented and exciting.

Oh yeah, we play in an NBA arena, are top 10 nationally in attendance and have one of the most rabid fan bases in the NCAA's.

The blue bloods are plastered all over ESPN as well.

I do not believe that we have finished the in the top 25 during Pastner's tenure.

We have, it doesn't really matter though.

The final poll? You are correct, 18 in the final USA today poll two years ago.

And ESPN ranked us as one of the top 25 programs of the modern era. It's not really or always about 'last year'.

(09-01-2014 03:54 PM)GAmogul Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 01:11 PM)HometownTiger Wrote:  This isn't a doomsday post, just an observation.

Jayson Tatum eliminated Memphis from his list today. I'm not all that surprised given his long list of suitors. But it does make me wonder if Josh is losing his "touch" when it comes to recruiting the best of the best (not including Memphis kids). In his first 3 years he was signing guys like Will Barton and Shaq from outside of the city and it seemed like we were at least on the short list for a number of other top non-local prospects, but a lot can change in 3-5 years.

My concern is that maybe the "shine" has worn off. He was getting a lot of hype early on, but it seems like we're starting to struggle with landing top recruits if they aren't from Memphis. The good thing is...the city of Memphis is loaded in the near future so that shouldn't be too big of a problem, but in the coming years...if the city's talent pool isn't as deep, are we going to see more recruiting classes like this past year's? I know Memphis, pre-Cal, has never reeled in top 10 guys from out of the city on a consistent basis so maybe I should just get my mind right...and hope Memphis keeps churning out 5-star kids.

Josh's calling card, at least at this point in his career, has been his ability to recruit. IF that starts to slip...IF this past year's class is an indicator of things to come when the city doesn't produce, then that's a scary sign IMO.

I think the fact that he has been depending on going after "risky" transfers and jucos in recent years tells me he has slipped for the top flight prospects. I suspect there is a lot of negative recruiting going on that hurts Pastner with top tier national top prospects. Until he wins big, improves as a bench coach and goes deep in the NCAA tournament with some kind of consistency he really is going into those recruiting wars with a watergun. Energy and positive attitude will only go so far and this many years into his career he hasn't shown anything that would attract a top national prospect to come. At this point he has to rely on local kids to keep the nostrils above water level, which I don't think is a good thing if we are truly trying to consider ourselves to be a national program.

(09-01-2014 11:31 PM)450bench Wrote:  I'm not a Josh guy, but he's not losing his touch with respect to recruiting, IMO. Not at all. I think he's actually finding his niche. He may be on the radar for some big names and some will cross him off, for whatever reason, and then he'll move on to others. I think these coaches know when they have a real prospect and know when a prospect is a shot in the dark.
It's a bump in the road.