I don't know if I'd go this far. As I've said earlier in this thread, it's all relative. Bad compared to whom? Calipari or Brady? Brady's last few years have declined in terms of recruiting, but for kids like Randolph, and Tommy Mason Griffin (who of course either were one and dones or didn't end up coming here), and what I did not like about Brady is that his classes were very inconsistent (one or two one and done players, and then a bunch of more questionable players). Trent did get White to transfer, got Courtney and John Isaac to commit early, at least you feel like he's going after an overall solid prospect across the board. He's missed out on a several very high profile players--no telling how seriously they were considering LSU or if they would have considered LSU if Brady was still here. I'm going to suspend a grade on Trent until I see the 2010 class, but so far, I'd say Trent has done an average to slightly above average job in recruiting given the circumstances.
In one word... on the recruiting & on NJ - Shucks, yes Shucks as in Corn... - Hopefully things will get better but next year is gonna be a test for us/me...:geaux:
We all know Brady's problems/weakenss but the fact is that without a handful of Brady recruits still on roster we would be going into next season with no hope. Recruiting was not Brady and Butch's problem, it was keeping them on the team long enough to develop.
Me? I like Trent Johnson...a lot...and I'm gonna give him time to build his program. Recruiting's one thing, but coaching is another. I think coach Johnson will really develop the players we have. He'll have them playing as well as higher ranked players. Good teams beat good players all the time...at every level...even the pro's.
Without Collis Temple Jr. hand delivering players to Brady he would have been fired years ago and remember that Butch was also Taz's Godfather. I try not to compare anyone to Brady, that's just plain cruel. I'm not comparing TJ's recruiting to anyone, I'm just saying that so far he hasn't got the job done IMO. Great job coaching and I absolutely love his calm no nonsense attitude, but recruiting must improve drastically or he will have very limited success.
I would agree with you here--recruiting has to improve. But, it's hard to say he hasn't gotten the job done, b/c what is LSU's recruiting baseline? Dale Brown, John Brady, or Roy Williams? I definitely agree recruiting must "improve" b/c until Trent plays with his own players running his system, he'll always have some stigma attached to him (i.e., playing with Brady's players--see, Les Miles-Nick Saban). But, I think to fairly judge Trent, you have to ask what kind of job we expect him to do. Dale Brown was one of the best recruiters of his era, debatably. Brady (Butch), for all of his faults, didn't have a bad recruiting record (I would say he wasn't great, either--just managed to bring in his fair share of high flying LA players that were highly touted... earlier in his LSU tenure). I would think the fair job for Trent is, do what he said he'd do, recruit LA well (and definitely better than Brady's staff), be able to compete in TX, MS, AL and GA effectively against SEC and Big 12 schools, and land good solid top 10-20 classes. I don't think it's fair to expect LSU to sign the same kind of classes that UNC, Duke, UCLA or Kentucky sign, but they better well be signing better classes than Ole Miss, Miss St, Alabama, Auburn, and arguably on par or better than Arkansas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt (Vandy is a little bit of an interesting comparison b/c of the type of school it is). Florida and Kentucky right now, are the class of the SEC in terms of recruiting. Meeting those schools' standards might be "aspirational" (although, if Billy D doesn't watch it, I think LSU could be where they are in the SEC West). I don't know if I ever see Trent going after the same kinds of classes as those two programs (i.e., McD AAs every year, and numerous one and dones), BUT, I think if he gets his type of players in here, they will be coached up, play very competitively with those schools year in and year out and ultimately, Trent's players will be better prepared for the NBA. How's Trent doing against this blue print? Well, he signed Eddie Ludwig, who is a 3 star kid out of New Orleans--you can either call him a reach, or foundational signing getting Trent back into New Orleans, a critical point for LSU. He went OOS to sign Aaron Dotson, who is a top 100 kid, who will see the benefits of Noel not signing with LSU and he will get plenty of PT. Then Trent secures very early commitments from Jalen Courtney (Miss) and John Isaac, the best LA player likely in the class of 2011. So, I think if Tiger fans expect the splashy headlines, with Trent's signees dotted all over the press, I'm not sure we're going to see that. Are we hopefully going to see consistent classes, that fit needs, have top 100 players in them, and buy into his system? ... Hopefully. :grin: And, I think a class of any four of Stringer, Turner, Galloway, Derenbrecker, and Williams 2010 would be that. :thumb: LSU! :lsup: LSU! :lsup: :geauxtige
Hmmm. He's a NY kid that's another Brandon Jennings story--might go to Europe, b/c he doesn't really want to be in college for a year, and he is also dealing with criminal charges. There are certainly schools desparate enough to recruit him, but not LSU/Trent.
Oh I didnt mean why LSU wasn't recruiting him I just saw the article on rivals and was wondering what it was about. Thanks for the info and always keeping us informed on bball recruiting
http://lsu.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=960946 Trent talks about his plans for next year. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that, for the first time ever, Trent's outlook is actually positive.
