(04-11-2017 08:54 AM)salukiblue Wrote: Gary and Geoff talk about the state of the program, transfers, Lawson, the incoming class, and past Tigers teams.
Gary lets loose a bit (for you 'rasslin fans he cuts a shoot) and I found it to be interesting.
http://www.espn929.com/media/audio-chann...kins-seg-1
Gary has been making the same basic points since last week.
1. He believes that we should have backed up the brinks truck and sacrificed a 3rd assistant spot to keep Keelon and his 4 top 50 sons plus one top 10 nephew.
2. He keeps referencing the stats over the last 5 years for the #19 and #22 juco recruits. They are not good stats.
For #1, I have a few issues. Keelon's first two boys that actually have a D1 resume, didnt get us anywhere special. Basically two 19 win seasons and no post season. The first season was with Josh and a full team of players that included 2 McD all americans, 6 top 100 HS players, the #5 Juco player and a former CUSA player of the year transfer. Cant blame lack of surrounding talent on this team. They went 19-15. Sub .500 in AAC. No post season. The second season was with first year coach Tubby and a depleted team that included 1 McD all american and 3 top 100 HS players. They went 19-13 and were .500 in AAC. No post season.
To be fair, in year one they were both freshmen and KJ was hurt most of the season. To be fair, in year two they had very little surrounding talent and were learning an actual basketball system which Im sure was difficult. To be fair, tubby produced more with the depleted team than Josh was able to produce the year before with a full roster of talent.
As for Chandler and Jonathon, they both project to be top 50 players. they could be incredible. But the same underlying Lawson complication would still be in place. The same one that seemingly disrupted chemistry over the past 2 seasons. That's risky in my opinion and possibly not worth the production you'd get out of either of them. Even if they were world beaters, best case scenario is you get them for a 1 and done season. Worst case scenario it complicates chemistry and there is never an actual "team" which is pretty clearly important in CBB.
As for the cousin, DJ Jeffries projects to be a top 10 recruit and possibly a McD all american. He is right here in our back yard. He is the nephew of momma Lawson. He has offers from everyone. Including Calipari. Tubby isn't beating Cal if it comes down to highest bidder. The Lawsons aren't going to talk them out of $ and convince them to come here for free. And there will not be a position to offer. So that seems very unlikely and even the media has said for over a year that tubby wont get Jeffries. They never even mentioned this family connection as far as I know until recently. It has been mentioned that Tubby has only spoken to Jeffries once in over a year here. He must not have liked the conversation. He wont recruit those types of players. Time will tell if he can have success without them.
For #2, Gary doesn't mention playing time over those 5 years with the #19 and #22 Juco players. They were all recruited to sit at the end of the bench and fill a roster most likely. Tubby is recruiting these players to actually be coached and contribute minutes. It is not at all ideal and is certainly not what we are used to. I wish Tubby would recruit top 100 HS players but he doesn't. Yet. He has only been here for a year. Maybe he will. I hope he does.
Everything else is just noise. Keelon is good. Keelon is bad. I think truth is somewhere in the middle. The only fact is that he blatantly took a job here that he wasn't qualified for and his children were the only reason he got it. It may have been the kid's idea. It may have been planned for years. It may have just fell in their lap as has been reported. Maybe Josh was forced. Maybe tubby was forced. Maybe admin made promises and could not deliver. None of it matters. The UofM was ultimately not very successful with this experiment.