New Wichita State Assistant Coach

[RoyalShock]

How would that be the same?

Because both had committed and neither had signed their LOIs.

It's one of those unwritten rules that once a player verbally commits he's off-limits. It's one thing to ask his high school or AAU coach how solid the commitment is (which I think happens a lot), but another thing entirely to convince the kid to decommit. It may not be an NCAA violation, but it's not something looked kindly upon.

[wu_shizzle]

Thanks for teaching me a new word, "drabble". I really like it. And thanks for posting some of my Ramblermania remarks on Smart.

I agree that for the most part ShockerHoops is a nice community.

I've made my point and don't need to elaborate.

If Smart does indeed sign with the Shockers, then maybe I'll comment on the ethical angle.

I feel bad for you, we have some fans who invest way too much of their emotional lives into the whims of 16-17 year old young men as well.

We were not too happy when Denzel Bowles asked for a release to follow Mark Turgeon to Texas A&M. But looking back, did we really lose that much? Bowles didn't seem to figure it out until a transfer to James Madison and some years of maturity so he probably wouldn't have worked with Gregg Marshall either.

My advice? Don't spend another moment on Roosevelt Smart. Get excited about the players you have, and the players that want to be a part of your program. One player isn't going to make or break your team, so don't let it make or break you either.

[pinstripers]

The story goes there was effort by KU and others to get Fred after his verbal. If it was done before the LOI, yes it's the same. And, it's just part of recruitment.

I don't see it.........the KU coaches talked to Fred about going to KU..............did a WSU coach talk to Smart about going to WSU? He jilted Loyola for Sunrise.

[OregonShocker]

Wait what? Has anyone else seen this? Interesting.

Jason Perez hired by Word of Life.

http://www.varsitykansas.com/2015/07...rez-hired.html

Perhaps off topic, but Perez was a great player in an era where great players for WSU were few and far between. Put him in a different time with a different set of teammates, and talk about him would rival any recent player. IMO.

[shockmonster]

How is @swellafelon going to feel when he finds out Smart dumped LoChic so that he could walk on at WSU? :)

I thought I heard that Smart is reclassifying to 2016 and attending a Prep year at SCA.

[lostshocker]

It's one of those unwritten rules that once a player verbally commits he's off-limits.

what? basketball recruiting must not be the same as football recruiting.

[1972Shocker]

Sounds like maybe Butler and Western Kentucky could just as easily be targets of Mr. Felon's speculations:

http://butlerhoops.com/blog/2015-guard-roosevelt-smart-drawing-butler-interest/

[Kung Wu]

I thought I heard that Smart is reclassifying to 2016 and attending a Prep year at SCA.

I was goofin' around about the following year.

[shoxlax]

I thought I heard that Smart is reclassifying to 2016 and attending a Prep year at SCA.

\
Here is the real skinny and then I'm done with this nonsense. Smart lit it up from the get go last year and realized he could hold his own at a higher level program. When you are playing against Thon Maker and the like and putting up good numbers you are going to draw attention. The issue with Roosevelt is that he is a 6-1 (or 6-2 at the most) shooting guard. Good teams are going to want a better look at him before they offer a smallish shooting guard. He was plenty heralded as a player in Illinois and had some high level interest, but committed early and everyone forgot about him. Also, not sure he wanted to play behind Milton Doyle for two years.

Once he decommitted I had no doubt he would come back to SCA Prep next year. It's basically a free season to showcase his intriguing talent to see who fishes. He is plenty good enough to play here and a bunch of other places. Time will tell.

Another thing is that his prime recruiter at Loyola was Daniyal Robinson, who is now at Iowa State. Google Mr. Robinson sometime and tell me how squeaky clean he is. Moral of the story: Casting stones from a glass outhouse in the middle of Chicago is not always a good idea.

[SB Shock]

I realize this is all speculation on my part, and that the major recruiting websites don't list Smart as a WSU recruiting target.

If Smart has a choice of playing for WSU or Loyola? Which do you think he would be more excited about playing for?

[WSUwatcher]

If his theory is correct, is that even wrong?

No it isn't, nor is it dirty. Recruiting is hardball, and I'm also surprised that Doc, who's known to be a fan of OU football, would find anything at all objectionable or "dirty" in the possibility that someone might continue to stay in contact with a recruit who has committed elsewhere. In football, that's standard practice, and as an Alabama fan I know that every season a few of my team's commitments are going to end up "flipped" elsewhere, just as the Tide will end up flipping a few their way from other schools. Why should it be any different in basketball?

Coaches prize kids who are mature enough to think their decisions through before committing, and who then stick by their word even when others try to lure them away. But if they want to compete at the highest level, they also know that they need to stay after kids who don't operate that way, who commit prematurely and might be persuaded to think twice or even three times about their decisions. If Roosevelt Smart ends up being one of those, and he ends up at WSU because the Shockers want him and seem to have more to offer than Loyola does -- and how hard a case is that to make? -- that's fine with me.

It's one thing to hire a guy who doesn't qualify to coach at your school because his son is the bluest of blue chips, as Larry Brown persuaded the Harvard of the Plains to allow him to do with Ed Manning. If someone wants to call that dirty, I'm in the chorus with him. It's quite another to try to flip a recruit, if indeed that's even what happened with Sunrise, WSU, and Smart.

[MoValley John]

what? basketball recruiting must not be the same as football recruiting.

Exactly. In football, a verbal just means the other schools need to work harder at flipping the recruit.

[_kai_]

Loyola fans

[pogo]

Exactly. In football, a verbal just means the other schools need to work harder at flipping the recruit.

Now thats funny

[Shockersarelife]

Luke Barnwell named as sunrise new coach http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/N...ice=tablet&c=y