. . . to indicate that McDevitt and staff are out on the recruiting trail for future classes. Four offers are listed as have been made this morning on VerbalCommits for the 2020 class. Based on the early offers for these rising Juniors these appear to be quality recruits. All are perimeter players in the 6'3" to 6'5" range.
BB RECRUITING First thing I've seen . . .
- Thread starter MTFNBY5
- Start date
It is interesting that the day these guys go to twitter to announce they are leaving, we offer a few 4 star guys scholarships. Saw 2 local guys here in Atlanta got offers yesterday.
People need to step back off the ledge and let our new coach build the program with his players. I saw somewhere that the transfer rate in college basketball is something like 15% now. It gets worse when a new coaching staff is coming in. Normal shakeup plus a coaching change = all of this is Kermit's fault.
It's not McD's job to try to build something out of the crumbs CKD left behind. It's his job to put together a team that can be successful in his system. We knew this was going to be a rebuilding year, even if CKD stayed. Let's see what McD's can build for the future.
People need to step back off the ledge and let our new coach build the program with his players. I saw somewhere that the transfer rate in college basketball is something like 15% now. It gets worse when a new coaching staff is coming in. Normal shakeup plus a coaching change = all of this is Kermit's fault.
It's not McD's job to try to build something out of the crumbs CKD left behind. It's his job to put together a team that can be successful in his system. We knew this was going to be a rebuilding year, even if CKD stayed. Let's see what McD's can build for the future.
People keep saying "we knew this was going to be a rebuilding year, even if CKD stayed" but I disagree with that statement. I also don't recall anywhere on record where CKD said this year would be a rebuilding year, if he had stayed. We still had a ton of pieces in place, plus the 3 new recruits, plus the possibility of signing another power-house grad transfer.
So please stop with the "this year was going to suck anyway even if CKD stayed" because that narrative is utter BS.
So please stop with the "this year was going to suck anyway even if CKD stayed" because that narrative is utter BS.
So first, you are wrong. Here is Kermit's quote:
“We're losing some really good players this year and so it's going to be, even if I stayed, it's going to be a rebuilding thing next year,” Davis said. “So fans [have] got to go back to being patient and keep working...."
Second...
Rebuilding and suck are 2 different things. If you think a bunch of 3 star freshman were going to step in a replace Giddy, Nick King, Ed, and even what Brandon brought occassionally against a much tougher schedule without missing a beat, then you are nuts. Add what we lost the previous year with Reggie and JaCorey...c'mom man.
Johnson was going to take Giddy's spot, and by all accounts there would be zero to very little drop off with that. Johnson outplayed Giddy on many occasions, including many clutch situations.
Losing King is tough, but we've lost our good grad transfer CUSA POY superstar every year so Kermit could have found someone out there to replace him just as he always has.
Replacing Ed Simpson....what? I'll bet money right now Antoine Green is an upgrade over Simpson, and a sizable upgrade at that.
Sims, Green, and Johnson would have been a deadly back court. With Green and Johnson you'd have arguably the most potent duo of outside shooters in the conference. That doesn't sound like a rebuilding year to me.
We were 1 good transfer away from having another strong, competitive team.
Instead, we've got 7 players on the roster and will do well to win more games than we lose.
Losing King is tough, but we've lost our good grad transfer CUSA POY superstar every year so Kermit could have found someone out there to replace him just as he always has.
Replacing Ed Simpson....what? I'll bet money right now Antoine Green is an upgrade over Simpson, and a sizable upgrade at that.
Sims, Green, and Johnson would have been a deadly back court. With Green and Johnson you'd have arguably the most potent duo of outside shooters in the conference. That doesn't sound like a rebuilding year to me.
We were 1 good transfer away from having another strong, competitive team.
Instead, we've got 7 players on the roster and will do well to win more games than we lose.
Kermit couldn’t have replaced Nick King with another grad transfer given there were no scholarships available before his exit.
Sims Dixon Johnson Green Simmons Fagan Szmidt Buffen Hawthorne Massenburg Gamble Thomas Curry makes 13. I know there’s debate whether Sims has a scholarship or not, but it’d be a travesty not to give him one after the season he just had. I trust your resources but just don’t understand how it would’ve worked. Obviously it’s a moot point anyway.
Dixon was as good as gone if Kermit remained here which would have opened up the scholarship for a grad transfer
In addition to RaiderDawg comments, I'll add that Kermit was also vocal in radio interviews about a down year and needing to rebuild this upcoming season. While those comments can't be found via search, he certainly said them repeatedly, publicly, and openly even before the end of the season.
While there are not impressive stats for Simpson such as ppg to look at, he may have been the team's best defender which is why Kermit continued to giving him playing time despite his lack of big offensive output. It's not accurate to just dismiss Simpson as irrelevant or some such thing.
At the high level MT has climbed over the years, not having a big man already on the roster to replace Brandon Walters is a setback. As much as I like Gamble, he has not shown dominant play yet in his career. He has improved some over the years and has good athleticism, but I doubt he's a full replacement for Walters.
On top of losing your team's best defender and senior leader, losing two senior all conference players including the C-USA POY is a huge loss that is really difficult to replace...for any team. Maybe Kermit could have landed another grad transfer, maybe he couldn't. Even if he did, there aren't any guarantees that they would have been as highly successful as recent past examples. Frankly, I find it pretty amazing what Kermit was able to do with those one year transfers.
All of this did not or does not suggest MT will "suck" this upcoming season. It's possible they could still have a good season. Maybe they do tank with all the changes. Whatever the case, it's not a forgone conclusion that this team will be some walking disaster this next year.
While there are not impressive stats for Simpson such as ppg to look at, he may have been the team's best defender which is why Kermit continued to giving him playing time despite his lack of big offensive output. It's not accurate to just dismiss Simpson as irrelevant or some such thing.
At the high level MT has climbed over the years, not having a big man already on the roster to replace Brandon Walters is a setback. As much as I like Gamble, he has not shown dominant play yet in his career. He has improved some over the years and has good athleticism, but I doubt he's a full replacement for Walters.
On top of losing your team's best defender and senior leader, losing two senior all conference players including the C-USA POY is a huge loss that is really difficult to replace...for any team. Maybe Kermit could have landed another grad transfer, maybe he couldn't. Even if he did, there aren't any guarantees that they would have been as highly successful as recent past examples. Frankly, I find it pretty amazing what Kermit was able to do with those one year transfers.
All of this did not or does not suggest MT will "suck" this upcoming season. It's possible they could still have a good season. Maybe they do tank with all the changes. Whatever the case, it's not a forgone conclusion that this team will be some walking disaster this next year.
Too much Kermit this, Kermit that. The dude left of his own volition, and considering he's going to where it considered home, in the SEC, for quite a healthy pay raise, it's hard to blame him.
This is life as a G5. Success in G5 isn't in keeping your coaches, it's in replacing them with other quality guys. Did we make the right hire in McDevitt? No idea, but really, we need to give the guy a chance.
All the "But Kermit would have...."'s in the world are irrelevant.
This is life as a G5. Success in G5 isn't in keeping your coaches, it's in replacing them with other quality guys. Did we make the right hire in McDevitt? No idea, but really, we need to give the guy a chance.
All the "But Kermit would have...."'s in the world are irrelevant.
I've cooled my jets on the subject and we'll see how it all pans out but I'm not impressed so far. I'm just not. When you have 3 people jet in one week, it says a lot. We're in a position of hope now.
There are players that can still be picked up this late. Example, I saw where a incoming freshman forward out of KY who signed with St Louis Billikens asked for a release - he was offered by a dozen or so schools prior to his signing with SLU, including wky and mac and ovc schools. I'm sure there are some late qualifying jucos that probably can be got.
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