Interesting Izzo recruiting comment from a couple days ago....

[thebadby2]

On recruiting momentum with this success and more success for MSU players in the NBA:
"We're
making some progress, until you recruit against certain people. We are
making some progress. It's good. Any positive publicity and with
Draymond, Magic I think is coming back. With all those things, somebody
out there is going to appreciate the family atmosphere and the fact that
you come here, you're not just a person, a fly on the wall. You are
going to be appreciated by the players before you, the players with you,
the alums. That's what I have to sell. That's what our university is
all about. I'm getting more comfortable selling that again, too. I've
wavered up and down. You gotta go after this guy, that guy, you've got
to have good enough players. This team has taught me something, too.
You've got to have players that want to be here, that want to play for
the university, that want to play to win a championship."

 

[NTOP]

Izzo's the best, and still likable. A rare breed.*

*

 

[sonofabit]

What was the forum? MSU media? National? Anyone run with this? I think having a Goliath to root against can be a good thing if that's what is being alluded to.

 

[thebadby2]

Detroit Free Press. I don't think it's a big deal, Izzo's just taking a little jab about something we all know already.

he has lost a few of the elite Michigan players over the years due to the workings of World Wide Wes and others, James Young who was one and done at UK last year is a notable one. Also not sure how Barnes/Texas were able to get Saginaw PG Eric Davis when Izzo has been recruiting him since his freshman year of H.S., putting in a lot of time at his games etc. Izzo has always had the lock on the best mid-Michigan players, hell, he built his program on them.

 

[TD_6082]

Izzo apparently doesn't always practice what he preaches. Tyler Ulis wanted very badly to go to Michigan State.

 

[thebadby2]

he did really want to go to MSU, right until the moment he got a UK offer..

not sure what your point was-that Izzo doesn't practice what he preaches because he doesn't take every player that really wants to play at MSU?

Whatever you meant, you missed the mark. See the attached article. I'm guessing Ulis is the very player Izzo is referring to with that comment.

Cal steals one from Izzo

 

[Harve74]

Re: he did really want to go to MSU, right until the moment he got a UK offer..

Good find.

The comments under that article are great. A couple of them could have come, word for word, from the Lair, particularly the one contrasting Calipari's selling glory and Izzo selling hard work and ice packs. Or the one blasting Izzo for under performing (in the Final Four), no less.

 

[thebadby2]

Re: he did really want to go to MSU, right until the moment he got a UK offer..

Good observation--just a reminder that at the end of the day, the Lair is no different than every other big program message board, with one exception--for the level of football/basketball school Pitt is and has been for a long time, it;'s amazing how many regular posters there are and how passionate everyone is. If you look at like a Wisconsin board for example there is nowhere near as much traffic. Honestly, despite all the ridiculous BS and grousing on the board, the passion of the fan base as expressed here gives me hope that Pitt may once again be a force-- in football , particularly -- because a lot of people still care deeply, although we don't all express our passion the same way. Basketball is in OK shape, I really believe just a couple of the right kinds of recruiting classes from being what it should be again. But Dixon had better pay some hard attention to his recruiting, because this roster by default he has assembled is why we're in the spot we're in. A great example was the Jeter transfer. There was a kid that really wanted to go to Pitt out of HS, we don;t offer him, and as soon as he wants to transfer, we take him with open arms, despite having a bunch of guys that play his position already. It defies logic. JD really need to come up with and execute a recruiting game plan--the way things have been going, it seems to the outside observer like he takes whoever he can get regardless of whether they fit the needs of the team.

I remembered the Ulis recruitment and Izzo's disappointment when he chose UK on a late offer (which led to teh Tum Tum Nairns commit), so I knew that article was out there. I follow MSU secondary only to Pitt as I have lived in Michigan most of my life and have deep family ties to MSU--although I have never posted on the MSU message board and don;t visit it at all. Since I grew up a Pitt fan, Pitt is my team, and of the two played in the Final Four tomorrow, I'd root Pitt all the way--which would make me a pretty unpopular guy in these parts.

Back in 2008 when we played the Spartans in the tournament I really
thought we had a mirror image team and would give them all they could
handle. Unfortunately they just had way better guards than we did and
Kalin Lucas and Drew Neitzel killed us all game long, we couldn't;
defend them and Izzo ran a lot of stuff to get them shots, as he always
does for his guards.

 

[Harve74]

Re: he did really want to go to MSU, right until the moment he got a UK offer..

I can't argue with anything you say. I just thought the carping about Izzo and Final Fours was funny, because we have posters who insist they would relax about anti-Dixon comments if he just made ONE Final Four.

Your recruiting comments are spot on. In years past, there DID seem to be a plan in place and recruiting was fairly predictable. Doke's description of the model of signing #50-150 guys and developing them over 4-5 years, and keeping the roster full by reaching on an extra lower ranked guy and "trading" him in for a newer project if he didn't work out, was working. Until it broke, spectacularly.

Since the massive turnover from Bond and Birch, thru Adams, Zeigler and JJ Moore, we have just been throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Really, if Artis hadn't been a scoring surprise, we might BE BC or VT already.

There was some justification for every individual move since then, but overall, it HAS led us to where we are.

The current '15 class is not going to turn us around, but it might be better than nothing. Nix is trading two failed reaches for one who should be a slight upgrade immediately but in a limited role. Wilson is solid, but not spectacular. He's pretty much Dixon's typical combo guard, just a little bigger.

The remainder of this class and the '16 class are critical.

We're reaching for the stars with Diallo, Rowan and Heron (in'16). If we get two of the 3, we can probably fill in enough pieces around them in '16 to get back into the upper half of the ACC quickly.

ONE wing difference-maker like Rowan or Heron could go a long way to making a 4/5 rotation of Young, Artis, Jeter and a journeyman big very serviceable. We'd arguably have a BETTER roster than the Patterson/Zanna team.

If we don't get one, we can only hope Durand hits treys this coming season and Cam Johnson becomes what he could be.

A 2016 class of any one of the 3 PG candidates we're chasing, Manigault and Tervell Beck if we miss on Heron would be something we could build with in the old style. With that big junior to be class, most recruits won't see much time as freshmen anyway unless they are elite.

If we miss on Diallo and Rowan, we would have rides for one or two more guys. But a couple of the Top 30 guys would make it a lot easier and quicker.

Ironically, I think we HAD a solid plan to rebuild the paint with a developmental big in Cook and roll the dice on Diallo, but Cook's ACL broke that. So, we're back in scramble mode in April.

We're left with almost no choice but to hold rides open for Cheick and Maverick. If they go elsewhere, next year will be more of the sane and the 2016 class becomes VERY critical.

 

[TD_6082]

Bruce Pearl was on ESPN radio Sunday morning & told the story about Tyler Ulis' recruitment. I can't remember the story exactly, but it sure sounded like Izzo pretty much dropped the ball on this one. TU didn't seem to be a priority to Izzo.