It's an interesting point. How "hot" is Trent's seat? Frankly, it's my belief that it's not that hot. You've got an AD that hired Trent and likes him, you've got a coach that is a COY in three different conferences, and you've got a program that's trying to build CONSISTENCY. You do that with recruiting good players and developing them. I don't think you do that in the long term if you force transfers and abandon your players. I think though the interesting question will be how good (or bad) does LSU have to look to gain some traction with fans. With only 2 schollies for 2011, Trent is really committed to this young team and consistent improvement. He's got a deeper, and more talented team, although no apparent superstars. Most folks predict LSU, after a terrible year last year, to finish 5th in the SEC West with only Auburn being worse. At the same time, folks acknowledge a young team that is on the way up. There aren't super high expectations, so the team just has to show improvement. Not a ton of pressure on Trent, except to fill seats in the PMAC. All of that said, the Tigers have to hope that (1) there is no more "bad luck" with injuries (i.e., Dotson knee, Garrett's back, or another injury), and (2) Trent's recruiting calls (going for kids like Derenbecker, Stringer, Turner, Courtney) are right and these are kids talented enough to make a difference in the SEC. As long as these kids pan out, I don't think there's any pressure to "force" folks out, b/c truthfully, his big recruiting class where Trent will be judged again is 2012, with Gathers and at least 4 scholarships. If Trent can land a decent big man for the future and another quality guard in 2011, he's continuing to lay the ground work for the future. On the other hand, you can certainly see a situation where Bass goes off scholarship, or Dotson doesn't see enough PT with Turner and Derenbecker and decides to transfer, there could be some little attrition. The good news is that by and large, you're not seeing big attrition issues under Trent as opposed to the prior regime.
That's extremely poor ethics, and quite frankly would backfire horribly. Players want a coach that trusts them just as much as they trust their coach. If they can't be 100% sure that they will be respected, and their commitment to the school will be respected, they will go elsewhere. Plain and simple, it's practically the worst thing a coach can do.
Tigerbait is the only source right now with a follow up article. Basically, his feedback is positive. He had good things to say about Trent, Brent Scott and liked what he saw. AAU teammates, Jalen Courtney and Andre Stringer were his hosts. That said, he's got officials still to Ole Miss, Miami and rumor has it also Maryland. He seems like he's going to take all of his visits and make his decision in November. LSU has a shot, although know one knows how good of a shot it is. I think if JOB is smart and actually takes a look at the coaches of the schools he's considering, and who's actually developed NBA big man talent (i.e., Trent) and then factors in the new basketball facilities, and at least as good a hoops tradition as there is in the SEC (short of Kentucky) and you'd think LSU has a better than good chance. We'll obviously see what happens ... some time later.
Thanks for the info... I hope Courtney and Stringer stay in constant contact with him... Any idea who the backup plan might be?
You're right. I think that Courtney and Stringer help us quite a bit. I've got to think that O'Bryant will be watching how Trent uses both of them. Mississippi will continue to be a place where LSU needs to keep a pipeline. There are always a few kids out of their top 5 that would love to leave the state and go to LSU or Bama. That said, conventional wisdom would place JOB at a home state school, IMO Miss St over Ole Miss. Just don't buy that Kennedy can coach, or have a system in place for, a big (case in point Malcolm White). Stansbury has a few big men in his past teams, but frankly did very little to elevate these kids games. Trent has Nick Fazekas, the Lopez brothers, and we'll see how White has progressed. We'll see though, whether home cooking gets the best of JOB. I'm not sure there's a great back up plan, but I'm also not sure Trent is feeling an urgency for 2011--he should be focusing on 2012. In 2011, he's got the Isaac commitment, and I know he'd like to sign another big. A kid out of Texas, Alex Davis, is a 6'9" 190ish SF/PF, that may be another project in the mold of Dennis Harris, that is/was considering LSU in the 2011 class. Not sure about 6'11" skinny man Juneau--LSU has not been on his list, and my guess is that Brent and Trent decided he wasn't thick enough to withstand the rigors of the post in the SEC. I think that they've learned that it's hard to match up with the Chris Johnsons and Dennis Harrises of the world.
I really would like to see whats up with the Jarreau kid for a few different reasons... He missed his Jr year because of injury, so the offers(VCU, UW, ULL, Chattanooga) he has are more then likely coming from his sophomore year and this summer... He's a Louisiana guy and more importantly a N.O. guy... Why wait til next year to reopen that pipeline and that's if he is a SEC quality player, he's skinny but a few sites have posted that he has some some SF skills...He committed to VCU and then backed out a few days later, that happens alot when bigger schools come calling... Wonder if LSU is one of those bigger schools
well it looks like we got our latest walk-on Seven-foot tuba player joins the LSU basketball team - The Dagger - NCAABÂ - Yahoo! Sports
