Yes, and I think the other thing you got to be is objective. Really, I think the point made by all of this recruiting scrutiny is really, a bitch about Ricardo Gathers leaving thread. Other than Ricardo, name the recruits that LSU missed out on under Trent's watch, that weren't at least arguably covered off by some other OOS recruit. I mean, I get on Trent's recruiting as much as anyone, just because I know it's the lifeblood of a program. But, in his time, in LA, who are the recruits he missed out on? Here's my take of all of the recruiting failures/misses (sarcasm) here: (2009) Kourtney Roberson--same year as Eddie Ludwig, who was arguably the number 2 or 3 recruit in LA his year. Roberson plays for Texas A&M now, after missing one or two years sitting out for various reasons, and is a marginal player for them. (2010) Langston Galloway & Markel Brown. Trent signed Matt Derenbecker & Turner & Stringer this year. Derenbecker's now gone and that is a loss, but not because of anything Trent did. Turner and Stringer were top players in Miss and Alabama. (2011) Last year, in John Isaac's year, you would have to stretch to say Trent missed out on the kid Jarreau out of McDonough (a SF/PF) who was probably the highest ranked kid in an otherwise less deep LA class. But, then he signed Johnny O'Bryant, a McD AA to play that spot (and the first McD AA since Tasmin Mitchell--and a LSU's first OOS McDAA in how many years?). (2012) Ricardo Gathers and Javan Felix. Here, I think is where folks jump on Trent a little bit. Frankly, that's not surprising when you consider the last couple of years that he had to recruit against (i.e., rebuilding year records). But, you have to consider here also that he signed Anthony Hickey Jr. in 2011, which made Felix somewhat dispensible, and Hickey is on an all-SEC Freshman sort of pace. Trent did sign Malik Morgan, who actually fills a role that this team needs. And, as for Gathers, the recruiting year is not yet done and again, I'll be interested to watch what Trent pulls out of his sleeves on this one. I think the interesting recruiting question will be, as the LA talent starts to get back to respectable levels, with Bridgewater (who may not be an ideal hoops recruit), Jarrell Martin, Victor Craig, Kahlea Turner, and others, on the horizon--will Trent make more in-roads with them? I think that if this LSU team continues to play well, these recruits won't have an excuse about LSU being a bad destination to play at. It will come down to do these kids want to stay at home and play for the P&G--at some point, it's on these kids to also take ownership over their choices. Obviously, we won't get them all--Brown wasn't able to do that, nor was Brady. I think if we're landing one or two kids in the LA top 3-5, and some interesting OOS prospects, we're on track. Let's be fair and just enjoy how the team is doing. Let's consider that Hickey, Stringer, Turner, Isaac, O'Bryant, Courtney are all sophomores or freshmen, and we add Malik Morgan. Somehow I don't think Trent is doing a "horrible" job recruiting. :geauxtige
I thought this article and responses poetic in our discussion about Trent. The Argument for Saving Stansbury - For Whom the Cowbell Tolls Folks in cowbell land are calling for Rick Stansbury's head. A guy who has Miss St with 19 wins right now. That said, I've always felt Stansbury was an underrated recruiter, who convinced kids to stay in state and play for him, and recruit the occassional transfer or OOS kid, when he had no business playing for Miss St. This would I suppose go to your "lock down the borders" argument. However, there's still something to be said about coaching, keeping kids interested, teaching them something and yet keeping them in line. It also says something about the kind of kids you recruit. Kids with their heads screwed on straight or not. I see guys like Stansbury going after kids like Sidney, or even a guy like Mark Gottfried, who's lit the NC State recruiting world on fire, but yet, what do they do in the tournament? Have they really done a disservice to their kids? And, the debate rages on.... What I can say is this. I'm sure Stringer, Courtney and O'Bryant are glad they came to LSU. Stringer has, despite all of the folks saying that a 5'9" (who knows if he's really 5'7") kid couldn't play SG in the SEC, improved--scored 18 points last night. He's gotten physically quicker/stronger and is playing a little bit more heady right now (still takes the occassional ill-advised 3 and settles, but he's worlds better this year, and I can't wait to see how much he can improve next year. Btw, did you notice, they had Stringer playing more point last night--getting him ready for next year perhaps?). O'Bryant has gotten better since the beginning of the season. He's in shape, and developing his low post moves. This is frankly just a shameless plea to Devonte Pollard. Now is the time for him to start looking at LSU again. Why take another visit to Kentucky, when you can stay close to home and work with Trent!
