i think both stay but make no mistake about it TT is a stro type pick. He is predicted the #1 overall pick if he comes out. If he plays well in the Final Four and decides to come out then it will be between him and aldridge for the #1.
The big question is, will LSU's performance get Leonard Washington thinking more favorably about coming to Tiger Town. He is a five-star forward who can hit three pointers. Brady cannot afford to lose this one, and as of right now LSU is not his list of favorites.
Thomas has been a top 5 pick on the mock draft boards for a while. He's recently gone up to #3 or #2. Given that Aldridge was #1 on a lot of them and what just happened, it's inevitable that TT will at least be in the conversation for #1. If he continues his dominance on a national stage next weekend, it'll only heighten. Regardless of whether he's actually 1, 2 or 3, it's really hard to say he should turn that down for another year and risk injury or whatever. Bass may advise staying, but Jay Williams might have another perspective.
What, like "ride motorcycles more responsibly"? Jay W. got his, but he would have been OK the next year too... Provided he didn't rev it up on a motor sickle....
http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1240 http://www.draftexpress.com/mock.php?y=2006 I didn't realize he was getting looks as a top pick either, but decided to take a quick look and found this online... if this is accurate he's gone and anyone says that he won't be is smoking something... You're talking about millions of dollars, who wouldn't take that kind of money to play a little game of basketball.
While I agree on some of your points (i.e., beating Texas is key... we compete VERY heavily in the Houston area for recruits), I do think that LSU might give some thought to how losing Thomas and/or Davis plays for their future line-up. Remember there may be some late season pick ups out there that could help this squad if we all of the sudden lose our very effective frontline. We instantly go from a frontline dominated team to a guard heavy/swing forward team. A guy like Jerome Meyinsee of McKinley as far as I know is unsigned. He's 6'9"/215 and already bigger than Tyrus was when he played at McKinley. Don't know if the Tigers are looking too closely at him, but I knew they were earlier. If Thomas/Davis goes pro, why not sign another big body to play with Rolle and Lazarre or groom them as a redshirt freshman? The counter is you can focus on signing one of the better centers in LA who's a junior or sophomore (there are those targets), but they don't help your team for a couple of years... So, I tend to think this April and May will be very interesting from a personnel and basketball recruiting standpoint. As for Leonard Washington, I thought we were still in very serious contention for him. In Brady's last live radio show, some body asked about the kid from St.Louis... Brady couldn't give details but said LSU definitely "would be in the mix." I can imagine that swing forwards are looking at our very deep team from the 6-4" to 6-7" SG/SF perspective over the next couple of years. We have Temple, Tas', Dameon Mason, and Terry Martin that can play all the way down to forward, and that's not including Tack and Ben. I think it's always nice to add a great player and LA's best player, but I personally think LSU needs to sign a PG and a quality big man next year... :geauxtige :bball: :champs: LSU IS A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. BE A PART OF THE MAGIC OF PMAC!!!
If you are going to enter the draft early, this is clearly the year to do it. You are essentially eliminating an entire class of kids because of the new draft rule this year. Next year, Tyrus would be in the draft with Greg Oden who's almost a lock to go number one along with others in what appears to be a very, very strong incoming freshman class. Add in the risk of injury and I think anyone looking out for Tyrus's future should advise him to make the jump now. He's playing the best basketball of his life right now and should be handsomely rewarded for it. I understand that he has weaknesses and he should address them, but this is potentially a multimillion dollar mistake if he stays. Big Baby's game doesn't translate well to the NBA, so IMO, he's almost a lock to stay in school, possibly for 2 more years. I think he's the type of player who will need to load up on awards so that scouts really, really get impressed by his skill set, like a David West who's having alot of success in the NBA.
I think you make some good arguments, and I'm sure they're arguments that an agent would make to the kid. What we don't know is what's in the mind of Tyrus, what's the emotional side, how much he likes playing with his "brothers" and how much he likes college. I think it's a skewed picture to say that if Tyrus does come back, there's no way to improve his draft situation. You just never know what's going to happen in a draft or future draft (Oden could get hurt e.g.). As long as Tyrus doesn't "tumble" I'd argue that the money difference from being a top 5 pick this year verus being a top 6, 8 or so pick the following year is negligible if you're really enjoying college, playing ball in your home town and being a kid. I also don't think this is the "top" of Tyrus's game by any means. Regardless, that's why I'm going to wait until the end of it all and see what happens. I do like the fact that if folks are right, Big Baby is going to stay at least another year (see article below), and honestly, I think that's more important for our team long term than Tyrus staying. Rolle can learn to complement Big Baby much like Thomas did this year, and with a deeper backcourt, our team will adapt. Look for Tas' to also step up more too. http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA032506.1C.COL.BKCharvey.lsu.66dd5b2.html
