I would be more confident if we had mare three stars, and an occasional four star.

Stars don't mean anything. It's a big hype machine.

I agree. That's been proven in the past. But it would be nice to see those stars.

Who did LR offer that's a 2 star? Because exavian Christon and Marquis Eaton are both borderline HM players. Those two guys are not "2 Stars"... Kris Bankston is committed to LR. He is probably a 2 star. But it's so hard to find big guys at this level who don't need development. Bankston is 6'8, long, super athletic and has a motor that constantly runs. He is not very skilled. But that can be fixed. Biggie on the other hand is skilled to the point he had Wisconsin interested in him between his junior and senior years but he was so skinny no HM would take him because they are all in "win now" mode. If Bankston was any amount of skilled, LR probably couldn't get him. If Biggie was 215 out of HS he would probably be at a Gonzaga, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana type place.

Guards good enough to win the Sunbelt and a game in the tournament are not super hard to find. The key is getting ones that will buy in. Bigs on the other hand... Very hard to find. LR is doing well for themselves at the forward positions. But you will probably see a lot of "2 stars" ... But LR can win a ton of games with the right "2 stars".

Regardless of the stars, it is obvious that the staff has been busy, and not just for next year.

(08-08-2016 10:10 AM)NEATrojan Wrote:  Who did LR offer that's a 2 star? Because exavian Christon and Marquis Eaton are both borderline HM players. Those two guys are not "2 Stars"... Kris Bankston is committed to LR. He is probably a 2 star. But it's so hard to find big guys at this level who don't need development. Bankston is 6'8, long, super athletic and has a motor that constantly runs. He is not very skilled. But that can be fixed. Biggie on the other hand is skilled to the point he had Wisconsin interested in him between his junior and senior years but he was so skinny no HM would take him because they are all in "win now" mode. If Bankston was any amount of skilled, LR probably couldn't get him. If Biggie was 215 out of HS he would probably be at a Gonzaga, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana type place.

Guards good enough to win the Sunbelt and a game in the tournament are not super hard to find. The key is getting ones that will buy in. Bigs on the other hand... Very hard to find. LR is doing well for themselves at the forward positions. But you will probably see a lot of "2 stars" ... But LR can win a ton of games with the right "2 stars".

I thought most of the players that have been mentioned as being offered were listed as two stars. I was working from memory, which is probably not good at my age. Guess I'll have to go back and check my e-mails and look at those kids offered again.

(08-08-2016 11:38 AM)outsideualr Wrote:  

(08-08-2016 10:10 AM)NEATrojan Wrote:  Who did LR offer that's a 2 star? Because exavian Christon and Marquis Eaton are both borderline HM players. Those two guys are not "2 Stars"... Kris Bankston is committed to LR. He is probably a 2 star. But it's so hard to find big guys at this level who don't need development. Bankston is 6'8, long, super athletic and has a motor that constantly runs. He is not very skilled. But that can be fixed. Biggie on the other hand is skilled to the point he had Wisconsin interested in him between his junior and senior years but he was so skinny no HM would take him because they are all in "win now" mode. If Bankston was any amount of skilled, LR probably couldn't get him. If Biggie was 215 out of HS he would probably be at a Gonzaga, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana type place.

Guards good enough to win the Sunbelt and a game in the tournament are not super hard to find. The key is getting ones that will buy in. Bigs on the other hand... Very hard to find. LR is doing well for themselves at the forward positions. But you will probably see a lot of "2 stars" ... But LR can win a ton of games with the right "2 stars".

I thought most of the players that have been mentioned as being offered were listed as two stars. I was working from memory, which is probably not good at my age. Guess I'll have to go back and check my e-mails and look at those kids offered again.

No sir you may be right. They may be rated as 2 stars. I'm saying they are better than most 2-3 stars. My point was just that those ratings people have not seen most or the kids they are rating.

I agree. I went back and checked, and I was correct in that most were two stars, but many were being recruited by good schools, so you're probably right in that they are better than they are rated.

Most two star guys are two stars because they simply haven't been seen much by those that evaluate. Guys rated in the top 150 or 200 or so are probably more fairly rated due to exposure, but that doesn't mean those that aren't rated as highly aren't necessarily as good or even better. Fred VanVleet wasn't ranked in most rankings because he didn't play on a big time AAU team with tons of talent. He did sneak into a few very late. He went on to become an AA and has signed with the Toronto Raptors. Ron Baker was a little known kid out of western KS that had two offers I think and no stars. He became an AA and has signed with the New York Knicks. We've had other examples like that in Wichita and I'm sure plenty of others have as well.

While stars are nice to brag about between fan bases and may give you some idea of what you might see at times, there's so much more that goes into evaluating basketball talent.

It also takes a little time to build up a reputation that gets you in the doors of four and five star players and even some of the higher rated three star guys. But win consistently for a few more years and more doors will open on the recruiting trail.

Exactly. Little Rock could turn into a Wichita, Gonzaga type. Little Rock is a decent sized city, Little Rock basketball is the only show in town, no football so bball gets the majority of the money. All things that have helped Wichita and Gonzaga turn into what they are. If LR can get the city fully behind them with another couple of great seasons and keep in state kids on the roster then it could turn into a special place. What you see in Spokane and Wichita is dominance every single year in conference and they play great nonconference schedules. This seasons non conference schedule was a step backwards in my opinion. We will see

(08-09-2016 03:49 PM)NEATrojan Wrote:  This seasons non conference schedule was a step backwards in my opinion. We will see

Yes. We have to do better on our scheduling.

I agree that some of our opponents aren't household names, but I believe right now it's important we continue to win in the OOC games. A lot of folks who don't follow basketball closely are probably more impressed that we win against a low or no RPI team than if we lost to Duke. Hopefully at some point we are competitive enough that we can win most of our OOC games against good competition as we did last season, but for now, let's win all our OOC games and most of our conference games, and get back to the tournament. That will lead to even better recruiting results and the ability to compete with good teams as Wichita State and Gonzaga are doing.

One step at a time. But as last year showed, with our current OOC schedule, our margin for an at-large is so razor-thin as to be almost invisible. And that is with a record-setting year.

As Coach Foley has always said, he focuses on peaking at tournament time. Yes, we're probably not going to get an at large berth if we don't win our tournament, but if we win our conference, we're guaranteed post season play. And if you start off winning, you build confidence for the conference season. Yes it would be great to play some name teams here in Little Rock, but that's expensive for our men's program, and probably not necessary at this point. Hopefully the time will come when we can play and win against good teams at The Jack.

We cannot consider ourselves to have moved into the elite mid-level group unless we are in the at-large discussion.

http://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/texas-tech

Look at all the 2-stars TTech has.

(08-10-2016 10:06 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  We cannot consider ourselves to have moved into the elite mid-level group unless we are in the at-large discussion.

We have to be realistic. We're not in the elite mid level group yet.
Yes. We had one great year. If we can sustain that momentum, we could move into that elite group. But we have to take it one step at a time. If we can have another really good season, and then...and that's the kicker...follow it up with another season after next, then we might begin being considered in the elite group. I'm hoping we can do it.

(08-10-2016 10:18 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  http://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/texas-tech

Look at all the 2-stars TTech has.

All Coach Beard needs is one or two three or four stars to go with his two stars and he'll produce a winner. Hopefully Wes can do the same.

Just get good players who are disciplined and teachable and who can play your style of game, and go to it.

And honestly, who can really predict which two stars, three stars, and even four stars sometimes, who will become a solid player, or even a star? It's somewhat of a crap shoot. Some kids develop early, but then hit their peak early, while others take longer, but become stars. There's where talent evaluation comes in.