socaltownie;842418432 said:
How many second weekends did Monty get us to? that right ZERO.....sorta like his interest in going out and recruiting. Love the guys for teaching and X and Os but if you can't see the difference between the two regimes when it comes to recruiting (or why it is important in the modern game) than I guess we will just agree that we disagree.
BTW - would you like to argue we wouldn't have been pretty darn good with Solo, David and Gordon in the front court last year - even if Aaron left ;-) I kinda like that group.
Second weekends are just an example of lowered expectations. My goal is to win a PAC12 title, and an NCAA title, and nothing short of that.
OK, lets say you had your front line of Solo, Kravish and Aaron Gordon last season. The Arizona and UCLA guards are still much better than ours were. Not much drop off at AZ to Rondae. I think Cal with AG would have been better, but they would have had to play over their heads to even get to the tournament. And you lose both Solo and Gordon for this year, and it is the same rebuilding year we are left with now. You bring in the one and done's, and it wrecks the program. It is far better to bring in players who will stay a few years so you can build your team and your program.
You and I don't disagree at all about the importance of recruiting. Where we might disagree is defining who those players are. You seem to place your faith in recruit rankings and the team's recruiting class rankings, which is based on play in high school. They are predictions, not facts. They take no account that most teenagers have not developed physically, mentally, or in character. Most are immature. Most players do their development in college or they fail. And some suffer serious injuries, which can keep them off the floor.
Leaving aside the Monster Class for a minute, because the jury is out on them, look at the #6 rated 2003 class of Leon Powe, a 5-star recruit who was surrounded by eight 4-star and five 3-star recruits while at Cal. They went 13-15 in 2004. In 2005, Powe was hurt and did not play, and they went 13-16. They had about the same record without their best player as they did with him. In 2006, they had an OK year at 20-11, blown out in the final of the PAC10 tourney and losing in the first round of the NCAA.
Or Cal's #10 rated class in 2001. Julian Sensley, who never made it to Cal, eventually played for Hawaii, and did nothing much there. Erik Bond, who did next to nothing at Cal and transferred to St Marys, where he did about the same. Jamaal Sampson played decently for a freshman. He blocked shots, rebounded, but had no offense. He left for the NBA, where he washed out after a few seasons of bench-warming.
Prior to 1998, before recruit rankings, Todd Bozeman brought in several blue chippers, Jason Kidd being the best. I remember reading that Murray and Grigsby were both ranked around #45, and KJ Roberts was rated the best point guard in the west. Sharif was rated as one of the top 2 or 3 players in the country, I think. Kidd, Murray, and Grigsby got Cal to the NCAA, where they beat #10 Duke, but were blown out by Kansas in the sweet 16. The next season they were upset in round one of the NCAA by lowly Wisconsin Green Bay. Grigsby often got hurt. Roberts was greatly overrated and transferred. Sharif came for one year and was the Cal offense. Best on-on-one player ever to play at Cal. His team went a mediocre 17-11, finished 4th and lost in the first round of the NCAA. Sharif left for the NBA. Ben Braun took over the team so late, he had no recruits, and he took the team minus Sharif to 23-9, 2nd place, and to the NCAA where Cal beat Villanova and lost to North Carolina in the Sweet 16. A better team without Sharif than with him.
Ryan Anderson was a terrific player for Cal, but the Cal team went only 33-33 over two seasons with Anderson, before he left for the NBA. I was concerned over the loss of Anderson, but Montgomery took over and the team went 22-11 without Anderson.
The best recruiter I've seen at Cal was Jim Padgett. In 1969, he had Charlie Johnson, Jackie Ridgle, and Bob Presley, all 5-star players, IMO, and Cal went 12-13, 7th in the PAC8. In 1970, he lost Presley, but added Ansley Truitt and Phil Chenier, both 5-star players, and with CJ and Ridgle, the team finished 11-15, and 6th in the PAC8. In 1971, He added John Coughran, perhaps another 5 star player to the mix and the Bears went 16-9 and tied for 3rd in the PAC8.
So Cal has had precious little success even when we get highly rated recruits. The best player on our current team, or at least the best big man is David Kravish, and when he first signed with Cal, he was rated as a 2-star recruit. Justin Cobbs was a 2-star recruit, and Jorge was a 2 star or 3-star recruit, depending on who you listen to. The rankings were wrong on all three.
My point is not that we should look for 2-star recruits, but that we don't get swayed by recruit predictions on paper, as they are often wrong. We should evaluate a player on skills, potential, character, and maturity, and the ability to make his teammates better. We need team players who will grow with the program and contribute more each year, not transfer if they are unhappy, and not just showcase their individual talents and split.
:beer:
