With the information that JUCO Tramar Southerland is an additional signee for next year, where does the scholarship count stand at the moment? It is clear that we are way, way over the 13 limit. Other than Wayne Burton's scholarship, where are the others going to come from? Once again we will have a whole lot of new faces to learn before we really had time to get used to a lot of the old ones.

Seems to me that players for this program are selected without any longevity in mind. Sort of hit and miss.

(04-28-2010 05:12 PM)PTJR Wrote:  With the information that JUCO Tramar Southerland is an additional signee for next year, where does the scholarship count stand at the moment? It is clear that we are way, way over the 13 limit. Other than Wayne Burton's scholarship, where are the others going to come from? Once again we will have a whole lot of new faces to learn before we really had time to get used to a lot of the old ones.

Seems to me that players for this program are selected without any longevity in mind. Sort of hit and miss.

Wasn't Mike Smith the only other senior? So I guess that would put us 4 over. Of course, we don't know if all 3 early signees are eligible but I think our coaches would have a good idea about that by now. The question is- are the new players better than the old ones they are replacing? It would seem like they would have to be a good bit better for the signings to make sense since DI experience, familiarity with the system, knowing your teammates should all count for something. I don't like the one year scholarship rule or the idea of running off players. But it seems like most on the board are in agreement we need to be significantly better next year- I don't know that most care how that is done.

(04-28-2010 06:43 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-28-2010 05:12 PM)PTJR Wrote:  With the information that JUCO Tramar Southerland is an additional signee for next year, where does the scholarship count stand at the moment? It is clear that we are way, way over the 13 limit. Other than Wayne Burton's scholarship, where are the others going to come from? Once again we will have a whole lot of new faces to learn before we really had time to get used to a lot of the old ones.

Seems to me that players for this program are selected without any longevity in mind. Sort of hit and miss.

Wasn't Mike Smith the only other senior? So I guess that would put us 4 over. Of course, we don't know if all 3 early signees are eligible but I think our coaches would have a good idea about that by now. The question is- are the new players better than the old ones they are replacing? It would seem like they would have to be a good bit better for the signings to make sense since DI experience, familiarity with the system, knowing your teammates should all count for something. I don't like the one year scholarship rule or the idea of running off players. But it seems like most on the board are in agreement we need to be significantly better next year- I don't know that most care how that is done.

One other thought. If the coaching staff is making the decision who stays or goes (rather than players choosing to transfer, flunking out, etc.) how exactly do they make those decisions? We don't have any 5 star (or 4, 3, or 2) players coming in. How can they decide, just for the sake of argument that Sutherland is better than let's say Cicic, Kelson, or Davison. They maybe have seen Sutherland play once or twice and watched some film. We generally don't know how good a signee will be until he is here for awhile. I'm just not sure how you make those decisions with any degree of accuracy. It's not like an NBA tryout camp where the players are competing directly against each other.

(04-28-2010 06:51 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-28-2010 06:43 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-28-2010 05:12 PM)PTJR Wrote:  With the information that JUCO Tramar Southerland is an additional signee for next year, where does the scholarship count stand at the moment? It is clear that we are way, way over the 13 limit. Other than Wayne Burton's scholarship, where are the others going to come from? Once again we will have a whole lot of new faces to learn before we really had time to get used to a lot of the old ones.

Seems to me that players for this program are selected without any longevity in mind. Sort of hit and miss.

Wasn't Mike Smith the only other senior? So I guess that would put us 4 over. Of course, we don't know if all 3 early signees are eligible but I think our coaches would have a good idea about that by now. The question is- are the new players better than the old ones they are replacing? It would seem like they would have to be a good bit better for the signings to make sense since DI experience, familiarity with the system, knowing your teammates should all count for something. I don't like the one year scholarship rule or the idea of running off players. But it seems like most on the board are in agreement we need to be significantly better next year- I don't know that most care how that is done.

One other thought. If the coaching staff is making the decision who stays or goes (rather than players choosing to transfer, flunking out, etc.) how exactly do they make those decisions? We don't have any 5 star (or 4, 3, or 2) players coming in. How can they decide, just for the sake of argument that Sutherland is better than let's say Cicic, Kelson, or Davison. They maybe have seen Sutherland play once or twice and watched some film. We generally don't know how good a signee will be until he is here for awhile. I'm just not sure how you make those decisions with any degree of accuracy. It's not like an NBA tryout camp where the players are competing directly against each other.

Since it's pretty much a given that a player just signed will get a scholarship, you make a very good point. They are going to run off some kid that they know doesn't live up to what they want because they've seen him for a season, for another kid who they have seen maybe a time or two who may or may not live up to what they want.

Looks like that's about the size of it. Hit and miss. And sooner or later, when a program operates in this fashion, really decent players aren't going to give us a second look as they can't count on whether they will be here very long. Just not a good situation.

We needed true pg's and hopefully we got a couple. We needed another 6'3 - 5" wing and looks like we got that.

(04-28-2010 07:36 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(04-28-2010 06:51 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-28-2010 06:43 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-28-2010 05:12 PM)PTJR Wrote:  With the information that JUCO Tramar Southerland is an additional signee for next year, where does the scholarship count stand at the moment? It is clear that we are way, way over the 13 limit. Other than Wayne Burton's scholarship, where are the others going to come from? Once again we will have a whole lot of new faces to learn before we really had time to get used to a lot of the old ones.

Seems to me that players for this program are selected without any longevity in mind. Sort of hit and miss.

Wasn't Mike Smith the only other senior? So I guess that would put us 4 over. Of course, we don't know if all 3 early signees are eligible but I think our coaches would have a good idea about that by now. The question is- are the new players better than the old ones they are replacing? It would seem like they would have to be a good bit better for the signings to make sense since DI experience, familiarity with the system, knowing your teammates should all count for something. I don't like the one year scholarship rule or the idea of running off players. But it seems like most on the board are in agreement we need to be significantly better next year- I don't know that most care how that is done.

One other thought. If the coaching staff is making the decision who stays or goes (rather than players choosing to transfer, flunking out, etc.) how exactly do they make those decisions? We don't have any 5 star (or 4, 3, or 2) players coming in. How can they decide, just for the sake of argument that Sutherland is better than let's say Cicic, Kelson, or Davison. They maybe have seen Sutherland play once or twice and watched some film. We generally don't know how good a signee will be until he is here for awhile. I'm just not sure how you make those decisions with any degree of accuracy. It's not like an NBA tryout camp where the players are competing directly against each other.

Since it's pretty much a given that a player just signed will get a scholarship, you make a very good point. They are going to run off some kid that they know doesn't live up to what they want because they've seen him for a season, for another kid who they have seen maybe a time or two who may or may not live up to what they want.

Looks like that's about the size of it. Hit and miss. And sooner or later, when a program operates in this fashion, really decent players aren't going to give us a second look as they can't count on whether they will be here very long. Just not a good situation.

Your point makes rational sense. But most of these recruits, especially the "really decent" ones have been told how great they are for so long that they expect to make the NBA. Being "run off" from a program that's been wining and dining them is probably the furthest thought from the minds.