Couldn’t Resist

Basketball Recruiting Football Recruiting General Quotes of Note52

Sorry…but, I couldn’t resist linking this blog entry and highlighting the comments of SEC Newcomer of the year, Patrick Beverley:

“When I signed my letter of intent to play for Arkansas, I didn’t sign to play for any particular coach. “I signed to play for the University of Arkansas.”

I think that I have a new favorite SEC player to follow.

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Basketball Recruiting Football Recruiting General Quotes of Note

52 Responses to Couldn’t Resist

  1. brickman 04/11/2007 at 8:11 AM #

    ppe what ever happend to backbone .we played great ball last year even with atsur leg ‘. grant,s turnovers , costner,s lack of defence and fells weak passes . just think with what we have coming in and a little off season work. and do not forget a new coach that can run plays the next few years will be so much more fun!!!! i have just got mine back .. told tarhole fan what smith said about being unstopable down low. he said (the tarhole fan) carolina can stop them . after busting gut and fanting and had to remind him who his coach was and the fact that they play no def.

  2. redfred2 04/11/2007 at 8:56 AM #

    Ummm, it seems to funny to me that a lot of same fans that insist that NC State must do everything on the up and up and maintain high academic standards for it’s own athletes, are now saying that a kid who supposedly has weighed all the options and is commiting to a institute of higher learning for all that it offers, is instead just a plain ol’ basketball player afterall. Basically saying that the basketball program is all that the kid is concerned about anyway and the university and the education aren’t really a factor.

    All I want to know is, which is it? If a kid can change mind and it’s all about basketball, please come down off of your high horses when talking about the standards NC State needs to maintain.

  3. redfred2 04/11/2007 at 9:50 AM #

    ^After what happened with this season’s supposed incoming group of freshmAn basketball players, I hope a valuable lesson was learned in that you can’t just promote a theory or just plain basketball when recruiting for any program. Fact is, I think most coaches are already well aware of the fact and most promote all the aspects of what their university has to offer. I’m pretty sure that Sidney Lowe and staff won’t make that same mistake, and that they’re also out there promoting NC State University as well when speaking to potential recruits, their parents, and the HS coaches who they’ll hopefully be dealing with again in the future.

  4. Joeboot 04/11/2007 at 9:50 AM #

    Didn’t Farnold Degand transfer in from Iowa St. after his freshman (red-shirt) year due to a coaching change? I mention this only because I don’t want us to cast any verbal stones that could bounce back and hit us on the forehead.

    I know that the LOI is to the university, but these kids are also drawn to a school by the staff and style of play they have been recruited to play. In a recent interview Tracy Smith stated that Coach Lowe had a lot to do with his decision to commit to State. Other recruits have mentioned how great a role Sidney played in their decision so it really is a difficult situation for these kids to be put in.

    That being said, I do believe that LF could have handled the situation with Davis and Werner a lot better – as in hold them to the LOI and make them sit out a year if they transfer – but I don’t think that would have kept us from losing them.

  5. legacyman 04/11/2007 at 9:53 AM #

    Certainly we can force a kid to honor his LOI and sit out a year after transferring. We can also pee the kid off so he stays and craps around which is no good for either party. It is best to let the kid go if he decides to do it. We do not want to waste a scholly on someone who doesn’t want to be here.

  6. RedTerror29 04/11/2007 at 10:01 AM #

    ^^And Degand sat out his year. Not saying we tie the kids up and don’t let ’em leave town, just that they have to bear the consequences of a decision to renege on the LOI – i.e. sit out a year.

  7. branjawn 04/11/2007 at 10:02 AM #

    just for clarification, who are you addressing RedFred? coffee hasn’t kicked in yet so I am not following too well.

    On another note, man I’m happy for Josh Hamilton. got his first ML hit last night, a HR from the leadoff spot! I played with his older bro Jason from age 12-15, so Josh was the batboy (dad Tony was coach). Dude was a runt back then! I do remember though that when he was 10 I think (I was 15) they made him play in the 13yo only league b/c he was too good for Little League. This was at West Raleigh when I was playing at Swift Creek. Also on my team was Paul Wilder for those who remember him. Actually, most of the guys from Athens Drive HS who were in that horrendous car accident were in that league. Including Trent Ellis who had to have his legs amputated b/c of that event. Man he woulda been good. sorry to ramble, I figure some other Raleigh natives on here though might remember these things.

  8. Joeboot 04/11/2007 at 10:11 AM #

    RedTerror:

    That was my point. We had to play by the rules with Degand and I think we should have done the same thing with Davis and Werner. We can’t make them attend State and if they don’t want to, then that is fine, but they have to realize they (and their parents) effectively signed a contract with NC State. There are consequences for breaking contracts.

    All in all, I’m glad with the way things worked out. I think our future is bright.

  9. Rochester 04/11/2007 at 10:13 AM #

    Josh was/is a great kid, despite all that happened. I dragged my wife to see Josh play last year in Batavia in the New York-Penn League. He was on Hudson Valley, but didn’t play that game. We did flag him down and talk to him for a minute and wish him luck. I hope he can deal with success this time around. Wasn’t he a Wolfpack baseball recruit out of high school? Not that he was ever going to turn down the money and go to college, but maybe with a few years at State he would have avoided all the other mess.

  10. branjawn 04/11/2007 at 10:20 AM #

    Josh was a good kid, honestly though, his dad was a hard-ass. I hated having him for a coach, he cussed at this older son Jason every practice. And we were in like 8th grade! It seems, from what I’ve read, that the reason he had so many problems is that his parents had tried to protect him from the world, then had to leave all of the sudden, leaving him vulnerable. Coupled with injury and lots of money, he sought peace in the bottle, the pipe, the ink (nothing against tats, I have 2). Read the rest of the story, which is very uplifting,
    here    .

  11. redfred2 04/11/2007 at 10:30 AM #

    branjawn

    There are one or two posts on this thread that are basically saying that basketball, or the BB coach, makes ALL of the difference in the world. It’s not supposed to be that way. For just a plain old basketball player that may be true, but for a student athlete it is hardly the case. All I’m saying is that it’s either one way or the other. We are either recruiting student athletes, or just plain athletes to play a game. If you’re going to say that basketball is ALL that kids are commiting to and signing on for here, and elsewhere at other universities, then just drop all of the false pretenses about it.

    Sorry, I’ve opened a can of worms and I’ve got to go, but I’ll catch back up later this evening.

  12. packbackr04 04/11/2007 at 10:33 AM #

    bran^ i played west raleigh ball with jason as well. he is my age though… that is my claim to baseball fame.. i got a hit off of josh hamilton. he also married a girl i went to highschool with. both linda and tony (his parents) are good people

  13. treznor 04/11/2007 at 10:54 AM #

    redred2:

    I don’t think that just because someone prefers to play for a certain BB coach (or style of coach) that makes them more of an athlete than a student-athlete. While I strongly believe in NCSU academics, the reality is that there are many other colleges out there where a quality education can be gained. If a student-athlete is looking at a number of schools, all of which have good academics and all of which are offering him a free ride (which negates a consideration that many would have when considering schools of apparently equal academics) then the only variable left is the coach you’ll playing under.

    There’s nothing to say that someone that leaves one university for another because the coach changes isn’t still a student-athlete because the university he may be transferring to may also have the same quality academics as the university he signed his LOI to.

  14. branjawn 04/11/2007 at 11:03 AM #

    PackBackr, who did you play for? I played for Mitchell’s and then Jack Daniels Grocery. I was on the All-Star team every year age 11-16 too. thought we might know each other…

  15. foz 04/11/2007 at 11:06 AM #

    I agree with treznor. If all other aspects of student life/academics appear to be on an even keel to the recruit, then coach and style of play becomes the main factor.

  16. branjawn 04/11/2007 at 11:07 AM #

    RedFred: I see where you are coming from. I personally would rather have good character and a good attitude from a player at the expense of a National Title. Seriously, who here thinks of Michigan State as an elite basketball program? Didn’t they win it all a few years back? Fame is fleeting, reputation is forever. Plus, you can win it all with good players who are good students and good people. That’s what I would like to see.

  17. Buddygreen 04/11/2007 at 11:48 AM #

    Good show by Mr. Beverly. Great attitude. Even though it is great the kid had that attitude I feel recruits should be allowed out of their LOI if there is a coaching change. I am glad Sidney took the high road and let those kids go if they wished. Showed class and showed he was confident in his abilty to go out and get better recruits which he did.

  18. McPete 04/11/2007 at 12:01 PM #

    To anyone who believes that NC State should have insisted on Werner and Davis honoring their LOI’s and making them sit out a year if they want to transfer, just remember the negative pub that K-State just got when the AD suggested they’d so the same. It would be used against NC State for years to come by other programs as a negative recruiting tool: “They’ll fire their coach and you’ll be stuck”. Don’t blame these kids for wanting out. The kids may sign a LOI to a school, but with whom do they develop a relationship for several years, sometimes going to the 7th grade? A coach, not a university. These coaches target prospects in freakin’ middle school sometimes. We all know recuiting can be a very shady business so if a kid gets duped by a coach or university, he should be able to reconsider. or maybe don’t pressure HS kids to sign LOI’s until the spring period.

  19. redfred2 04/11/2007 at 12:43 PM #

    I had to come back in and place an order, so I checked on the thread. Good points from treznor, and I agree. But if what you’re saying is that a coaching change does allow for a recruit to open up their recruitment again, then why not take then why not make that part of the LOI, make it automatic and take that decision out of the hands of the kid, the AD or the university, and protect them all so no ill will is created on anyone’s part in the future. If the kid wants to stay, so be it, but don’t leave it in the hands of, as was in our case, an overly eager to please everyone but his own, administrator, or make the kid look a traitor because he’s thinking about leaving and bucking the system. Just make it a rule and leave it open in that case.

    branjawn, I also agree with your comment, but that is where compromise comes into the picture. I can enjoy good basketball without winning, but some fans/people just can’t enjoy watching 18 kids developing over the course of their college careers, and those fans expect only to see win, after win, after win. I guess it’s possible to have a winner along with high academic standards, or you can at least have the perception of having both, but you have to have a willing media to create that illusion. Unfortunately, we don’t have the inside track and aren’t quite as blessed as those who groom the talent in that department.

    I only need to point back so far as to a nat’l championship gained with a player named McCants playing on the team. I’d love to have seen the media’s take on him if he would have signed with NCSU.

  20. Dan 04/11/2007 at 1:24 PM #

    Despite the continued recruiting interest, Mays maintains that his commitment is firm.

    “I would never give someone my word and then back out. My mind is totally made up. That’s where I’ll be going.”

    – Julius Mays in a recent free scout.com article.

  21. PapaJohn 04/11/2007 at 2:02 PM #

    branjawn – great article on Josh Hamilton, thanks

  22. packbackr04 04/11/2007 at 2:20 PM #

    bran^^^ i played for mitchells too.

  23. statered 04/11/2007 at 2:49 PM #

    off topic I know but I think this article might be worthy of soem SFN commentary: http://charlotte.com/127/story/81108.html

  24. highonlowe 04/11/2007 at 3:20 PM #

    Interesting editorial statered. The author should have also pointed out that 20 of the 32 boardmembers hold an undergraduate or graduate degree from Chapel Hill.

  25. Gene 04/11/2007 at 3:27 PM #

    I’d love to have seen the media’s take on him if he would have signed with NCSU.

    Pre- or post-Valvano?

    We aren’t getting any crap for Tracy Smith, though he’s from a school with questionable academic credibility.

    17 years of clean living helps others to overlook some things.

    Heck, 5-6 years of clean living can help. Herb didn’t get any serious negative publicity for Thornton’s off the court issues, when he first started coaching here.

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