So much talent...

[Gotta Hav]

Is this a reflection on 4 losing seasons in a row, GL style of play, 45 year old Orange and Yellow seats in the HC, or just unable to close the deal....

https://www.indystar.com/story/spor...elbqgDHePRkjaAnLuorf7w0LoeuGTHy46S8-j0pQCZlNA

 

[Bluethunder]

Many times it has been a case of us not really aggressively recruiting those kids. I can think of a handful on that list that we were associated with, but only a small few that we really went hard after. Several were ones that we were recruiting and then backed off of for one reason or another.

I actually don't have as big of a problem not recruiting Indiana as much as many others on here do. Talent is talent and I don't really care where you find it. The one that gets to me is not passing on so many from Indiana, it's spending so much time in Iowa to get so very few recruits out of the state. We seem to get one about every four years or so, but man it sure seems like we spend a lot of time in Iowa to rarely get one to come here.

And just as a side note, I saw many of those kids (especially the ones that were considered to be our level) in high school and I can't name one of them that I was crushed to see go somewhere else.

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

I tend to not really care too much where our talent comes from - but some (maybe most) of our best teams in history have had a strong presence of Indiana kids... I'm not sure that it is nothing more than a coincidental fact because most/all of those teams also had out of state talent that played a significant role.

Me thinks - you got to get an Indiana kid or two year in and year out and although we might not be touting anyone in that article right now. You got youth in Neese, Washington and a couple more pretty talented Indiana kids coming in next year. In-other-words just give it a little time and we will have some players inevitably start showing back up on that list.

Plus BScott was on the list last year and everyone including Lansing think he sucks / hell he was listed as second-team two years in a row and in his career has wins against IU and Butler to go along with four years of being a consistent statistical presence along with MVC Freshman of the Year - so who the hell cares if you got good Indiana kids anyway when your own fans and coaching staff doesn't respect what the kid did.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

We offered several of the kids on that list. To be honest, once you peel off the high-major kids, there isn't much on the list we didn't offer.

Even the HM kids, we took initial shots at them. The first kid listed, Kyle Guy, we were the first college program to offer him as a sophomore. There have been numerous times that Lansing has been the first guy in and then the kid takes off. Oh, like, Bryant McIntosh.

There are also a couple couples on that list that we didn't offer because we had already taken commitments or had guys lined up at the position.

This shit is cyclical with regards to the list. Next year we could have both Neese and Washington on the list if they both come in and perform and they could be mainstays. Going forward, we have commitments from in state kids Barnes and Hankins for 2019. Barnes has high major potential from a couple AAU guys I've spoken to. If Kessinger doesn't get injured in HS and have the horrific injury and kept on that progression, he may have been on this list. As said, Brenton was on it last year.

Looking ahead to 2020 recruiting, we've offered multiple solid prospects and one just popped for Nebraska the other day.

I guess my question would be is who on the list do you think should be a Sycamore? Hell, most of them have recruiting profiles here you can go back and get a glimpse of what may happened.

 

[BrokerZ]

Desmond Bane is probably the only one I think was gettable that we didn't jump on and make a priority, but none of us really know his recruiting motivations or how hard we really tried to land him. He stayed unsigned well into his Senior season in high school and sort of went to TCU out of nowhere, so he could have just been waiting for the first high-major team to offer him.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

Desmond Bane is probably the only one I think was gettable that we didn't jump on and make a priority, but none of us really know his recruiting motivations or how hard we really tried to land him. He stayed unsigned well into his Senior season in high school and sort of went to TCU out of nowhere, so he could have just been waiting for the first high-major team to offer him.

He was the Indiana HS version of Tyreke Key basically.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

I still think that someone, somehow, blackballed Greg in Indiana high school basketball or on the AAU circuit after the Bryant McIntosh debacle. Not sure why they would have done that, but after that kid reneged on his commitment, we couldn't sniff much in Indiana for a while.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

I still think that someone, somehow, blackballed Greg in Indiana high school basketball or on the AAU circuit after the Bryant McIntosh debacle. Not sure why they would have done that, but after that kid reneged on his commitment, we couldn't sniff much in Indiana for a while.

What's interesting, in retrospect, is Greg's loyalty to his assistants ended up costing him the kid. His dad said the reason for his decommitment was that Greg toyed with the Drake job. Greg has gone on record that he only did that to get his assistants a raise. He had already got his money but our assistant salary pool was among the lowest at the mid-major level. Once he "broke it off" with Drake, all three assistants got substantial pay bumps.

The reality is the kid got a slew of high major offers because he played out of his mind during that two month Summer stretch. Rather than just being honest saying "Hey, It's Coach Collins and Northwestern" which is a totally legit reason because there are few, if any, better education/competition combos in the country, they took the chicken shit way out. During that whole time of talking to Drake, Greg was still front and center at every damn EG10 AAU game and communicating with the McIntosh family -- his dad told me as much when he ran into me once.

I honestly don't think we were blackballed.

If anything, kids moreover want to play in these uptempo Golden State/NBA shoot'em up offenses. Greg makes his kids play defense. That just doesn't register with a lot of the upper level prospects unless there is a blue blood name on the front of the jersey. Not even getting into getting kids on campus and having them come to the morgue that is the Hulman Center.

 

[Sycamore Proud]

If anything, kids moreover want to play in these uptempo Golden State/NBA shoot'em up offenses. Greg makes his kids play defense. That just doesn't register with a lot of the upper level prospects unless there is a blue blood name on the front of the jersey. Not even getting into getting kids on campus and having them come to the morgue that is the Hulman Center.

If a kid is not committed to playing on both ends of the floor, I personally don't care if we don't get him. I would rather see that recruiting effort go for someone who meets my expectations. I have been a defensive proponent all of my life and I dn't plan on changing now.

 

[sycamorebacker]

I tend to not really care too much where our talent comes from - but some (maybe most) of our best teams in history have had a strong presence of Indiana kids... I'm not sure that it is nothing more than a coincidental fact because most/all of those teams also had out of state talent that played a significant role.

Me thinks - you got to get an Indiana kid or two year in and year out and although we might not be touting anyone in that article right now. You got youth in Neese, Washington and a couple more pretty talented Indiana kids coming in next year. In-other-words just give it a little time and we will have some players inevitably start showing back up on that list.

Plus BScott was on the list last year and everyone including Lansing think he sucks / hell he was listed as second-team two years in a row and in his career has wins against IU and Butler to go along with four years of being a consistent statistical presence along with MVC Freshman of the Year - so who the hell cares if you got good Indiana kids anyway when your own fans and coaching staff doesn't respect what the kid did.

I agree with your post. I just want to add that if you're talking about winning teams that were "elevated" to winning by IN players, we're basically talking about 3 teams led by 4 IN players in the last 40 years.
Also, you mentioned Reese and Washington, don't forget Thomas and Kessinger. The amount of all of their contributions is still unknown, but we have an opportunity to get contributions from 6 IN players over the next few years.

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

I agree with your post. I just want to add that if you're talking about winning teams that were "elevated" to winning by IN players, we're basically talking about 3 teams led by 4 IN players in the last 40 years.
Also, you mentioned Reese and Washington, don't forget Thomas and Kessinger. The amount of all of their contributions is still unknown, but we have an opportunity to get contributions from 6 IN players over the next few years.

I didn’t really forget them - I wasn’t trying to name every IN kid on our roster. Neither Thomas nor Kessinger has showed me anything to suggest they belong on this list currently which I know were on the same page about.

Understand that as it relates to “the list” in the Indy Star article referenced to begin with that Washington and Neese have a chance to be included at some point. Thomas can’t make it because he’s a SR. Kessinger won’t make it because he’s not got a high enough ceiling to make it. That’s really why they were left out of the conversation - I think those guys will both have significantly better years than last year so it’s not intended to be a slight of them.