It's Time to Support Coach Mac & Co. (Why?)

[beastiebull]

No.  THe BE invite should have been enough to help recruiting.  Football has been able to pick up BE caliber recruits PRIOR to our entrance into the league, as has women's basketball.  Why not men's basketball?  

[BullDoug]

Cyber,

I don't believe you can put the recruiting issue on CRMs shoulders 100%.  It seems USF's MBB hits rock bottom at every coaching change especially the last two.  Greenie had to resell this program for a couple of yrs before he plucked Asbury, BB, Tron & Leather.  And remember Reggie was just a diamond in the rough.

One of the reasons it was so bad when Seth took over was b/c Paschal started looking at recruits like Yusef Baker and Kevin Brown.  I'm sure you remember the names of the girlfriend beaters & cocaine users that didn't pan out better than I do.  IMO, history just repeated itself at USF.

Greenie bolted b/c he saw the well drying up b/c he failed to make the NCAAs ie "creating tradition".  A coach can only recruit "quality" kids on the potential of bringing a program to the next level for 4-5 yrs.  After that they must recruit using tradition, location and facilities which USF had only one of the three.  So both Paschal & Greenie choose some kids that went bust which sent the program careening south.

CRM is starting from scratch like Greenie did.  In his defense, he has Mosely, Buckley and Collins as legitimate recruits which have or will contribute significantly.  IMO Prek will too.  He has shown flashes but you could argue against him.  In regards to Buckley, he was mildly successful in the Big 10 as a freshman and his campus rep is he's for real.  There is Brandon HS's Cann coming next yr.  He's a three star recruit which is equal to the 101-150 level of the Rivals list.

I agree there should be concern b/c no coach at USF will have lost 3 starting senior starters plus move into a BB league of the same caliber as the BE.  IMO if his recruiting class for the 2006-2007 season is not the best recruiting class ever brought to USF, the MBB team is in trouble.  So concern is valid but I still think its to early to put a verdict on CRM out yet.

[beastiebull]

Buckley wasn't a CRM recruit.  I think that would violate NCAA rules.  He fell into our lap.  Ironically, he may be CRM's saving grace.

[Bull94]

beastie,

Why was our winning percentage higher in basketball then in football?

Look at year over year numbers.Record wise(which is I believe all that matters), It's obvious that basketball has improved while football actually regressed.

If we had BE caliber recruits in football and not in basketball,how come the results weren't there? I don't know if you watched either team play but it was more painful watching football this year.

We have a huge recruiting advantage in football over basketball regardless of conference. We play in a football state( I believe there was an article posted about how much bball talent comes out of this area while we are sitting on a goldmine of football talent). We play in one of the nicest pro stadiums in the country. No comparison.

I believe we are headed in the right direction for both programs.

[Velcro]

Buckley wasn't a CRM recruit.  I think that would violate NCAA rules.  He fell into our lap.  Ironically, he may be CRM's saving grace.

Hey, i hope he is the saving grace... and when he shines here (notice i said when), maybe it will open the flood gates in recruiting

[Velcro]

May 23, 2001

Melvin Buckley Has Top Schools

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russ Blake

RivalsHoops.com    

Melvin Buckley, a 6-6, 195 pound swingman from Thornwood H.S. in S. Holland, Ill., has seen a number of high majors express serious interest in him heading into his senior year.

Buckley told the Insiders Report that he has been offered scholarships by Marquette and Purdue. He is also hoping to unofficially visit both Indiana and Michigan State in June, although he will get a look at IU this weekend when he plays with the Illinois Warriors at the Nike Memorial Day Classic in Bloomington.

Right now, Buckley said Michigan State is ahead of the pack, but he is also interested in Michigan, Wisconsin, Boston College, Virginia, Notre Dame and Arizona.

Buckley enjoyed some fine moments this past weekend at the St. Louis Eagles Invitational, although the Warriors were bounced from the tournament on Saturday night by the Playground Warriors.

Buckley is a sniper from the perimeter who is also adept at drawing contact into defenders and getting to the line. Although he is not an explosive athlete, Buckley is a good shooter who is very comfortable pulling up off the dribble from mid-range. He does have range out beyond the three point arc as well.

Buckley averaged 14 points, five rebounds and two assists per game as a junior. He said he has a 3.7 GPA in the classroom and a 23 on the ACT, both of which are qualifying marks under NCAA eiligibility guidelines.

Buckley already has plans to attend the NBA Players Association and Nike All-American Camps this summer, and then he will conclude a busy July with a trio of events -- the Peach Jam, the AAU Super Showcase and the AAU Nationals. He also may attend one session of the Five-Star basketball camp.

[BullDoug]

My point with Buckley is he was a highly sought after recruit that landed here at USF.  Secondly, I'm sure there were some discussions betw. CRM and Buckley before Buckley made his final decision to come to USF and for CRM to offer a schollie.  Meaning there was a minimum amount of recruiting.

[CyberBull]

I think that is a chicken and egg arguement. Does recruiting well produce winners or does winning attract good recruits?

I am more concerned with how we develop our talent than I am with where they rank on the Rivals recruiting list. I hate to tell you but Rivals rankings aren't the end all concerning talent evaluation. There are a million examples of lower ranked recruits developing into better talent than guys who were ranked higher than them.

I think that is why they actually play the games rather than present the Nat Champ to whoever had the highest Rivals  ranking.

Now looking at the top 150 list, do you think there is any coach out there we could hire for what we pay CRM and somehow expect him to get these types of recruits? After all we aren't a perrenial winner,yet.

I knew I should of prefaced that rivals link b/c I just used them as an example. I could of used other lists such as Bob Gibbons, Insiders.com etc...

The point is that most of us realize that getting highly ranked recruits does not guarantee success. However, your chances of winning markedly increase if you can get your fair share of players on that list. It's like picking a stock. You are not guaranteed a good return on your investment but your chances of doing well is greater than stocks that are not rated as high.

I agree that developing talent is very important but in the league that we are entering EVERYONE is highly touted and ranked. That is the minimum requirement. Teams that win have solid coaching and players that take the game seriously. For USF we are in dire need of upgrading our talent level just so we can stay on the court.

For example, Rivals at some point had us connected to 5-star recruit Keith Brumagh (sp?). The kid is great talent from Deland that CRM has been recruiting since Day One. However, even if things fall our way, the stars align and we get some major cosmic karma going our way and the kid sign with us.....it's not a big deal in BE terms. These kind of kids sign with BE schools all the time. Many of the top teams have 3 or 4 4 and 5 star  kids in one class and nevermind an entire roster.

CRM maybe a great coach, teacher and mentor but unless he improves his recruiting he is not going to be here long enough to use his strengths to his advantage.

The lifeline of any program is recruiting. If you can't consistently recruit well you are not going to win.

[CyberBull]

One more thing: I hate bringing his name up b/c of the animosity that surfaces, but Seth had recruiting up and running by year two. We somehow landed BB and Tron and we nearly had Dooling, Walker, Sanders, Cotton and Wise. In other words, Seth's failure as a coach was when couldn't recruit guys like I mentioned above to complement BB and Tron. It also didn't help that he was still learning how to coach in a big conference setting and that his x's and o's were a little suspect but anyways..... :

It always comes back to recruiting. Seth had some early success but it never manifested itself to taking the program to the next level b/c he could not build on recruiting players that were as good or better than Tron and BB.

CRM has a different more pressing problem.....he has yet to recruit impact players like BB and Tron. Even worse all the losing has made this place an after thought to play at for most Top Florida kids.  Sooner than later he needs to bring these kinds of kids into the program b/c we have seen the last 3 years what happens when you don't have enough talent to compete. Imagine what is going to happen inthe Big East the next couple of years.

CRM needs to start recruiting NOW ....this spring.....if he still wants to have a job at South Florida in two years. That is just the way bigtime college basketball works.

If he can land a couple of blue chippers or kids that are considered undervalued much like Dwayne Wade was out of high school (he was still a Top 150 player) it would be a tremendous shot in the arm for the program and for his longterm job security.

BTW...I guess I should preface my mentioning of BB and Tron. We need players who can take over games like they used to regularly. I wasn't referring to the selfishness and immaturity they often displayed.

[Bull94]

BTW...I guess I should preface my mentioning of BB and Tron. We need players who can take over games like they used to regularly. I wasn't referring to the selfishness and immaturity they often displayed.

Cyber,

You have to give CRM time to build momentum in his recruiting efforts. It takes time to rebuild. Alot of these kids are being recruited from the time they hit high school.

You can't expect any new coach to come into a program in the shape ours is in and say I want top 150's only. He's already beaten a top 20 team and gotten us past the first round of CUSA.

These kids will start to notice if we keep this up. He seems to be a great motivator and has this overachieving team peaking at the right time.

I remeber BB and Altron disappearing for the big games. Seth wasn't able to get these guys to play when he needed them to. Our team would disappear late in the season. It's nice to know that basketball is actually played in March.