Tiny discrepancy in the level of competition, wouldn't you agree? Everybody looked at Michigan State and said "One of these things are not like the others". Almost makes you wonder how badly Louisville would have actually lost if they made it one game further.
So...What really is going on with UK recruiting?
- Thread starter OldhamCard335
- Start date
Tiny discrepancy in the level of competition, wouldn't you agree? Everybody looked at Michigan State and said "One of these things are not like the others". Almost makes you wonder how badly Louisville would have actually lost if they made it one game further.
WTH planet are you from? You mean competition like Hampton, Cincy, and WVU? You barely beat Notre Dame, and we barely lost to Michigan State. That's the true difference in our seasons.
And as the #1 overall seed, you should have faced relative lightweights the first few games of the tourney. When LPT started facing good teams--unlike the bulk of your season until that point--Pitino Lite and the draft picks started having trouble. Big surprise.
"Elite program", my a$$...
And as the #1 overall seed, you should have faced relative lightweights the first few games of the tourney. When LPT started facing good teams--unlike the bulk of your season until that point--Pitino Lite and the draft picks started having trouble. Big surprise.
"Elite program", my a$$...
I remember Notre Dame beating Duke twice. Michigan State played too soft inside, so they got blasted by Duke, that simple. That was Louisville's big problem. You all were soft. Too soft to even make it to the final four.
Not worried about UK recruiting at all. Just asking the question that seems to be begging to be asked.
In the last few years, if a 5* recruit had a choice between UK and somewhere else, he would choose UK. If he chose some place else, like Duke or Kansas (e.g. Jabari Parker) there were enough other 5* guys to fill up the slots (K.A. Towns, and Trey Liles) This year, with seven openings, there are only two 5* guys committed, and only two 5* guys remain unsigned. Where they will go is still up in the air. At the same time, some 5* guys who were thought to be UK locks have picked schools like Mississippi State and UNLV, who have nowhere near the rep or status of UK, Kansas or Duke.
It is easy to write it off as "guys wanting to stay close to home", but is that really what is going on here? Has something else changed? That is the question being posed here. Any fan of college basketball would likely wonder the same thing, and Louisville's record vs Calipari at UK has nothing to do with this question.
His record vs Mississippi State would be more relevant, and BTW, he has not lost to Mississippi State while at UK.
Again, this has no relevance to the question, but we should expect that. We know your purpose here is not to discuss the topic at hand; it is just to take digs at UofL no matter what the question.
Thanks for the endorsement of how great a coach Pitino is. Success is measured by wins and losses and he has kept Louisville relevant despite not having OADs on the roster. Kentucky only went one game more into the tournament than Louisville.
So if getting more OADs is what makes you feel Kentucky is superior, then have at it. The truth is with all the talent and hype, no 5* UConn and Duke have won 2 titles during Cal's era at UK and Louisville has won just as many. So keep bragging about all those 5* stars you win over. It only makes the bigger point of showing your coach's incompetence when he doesn't win championships with them.
"Soft" is an SEZ basketball schedule in ANY year. "Soft" is a schedule of 34 teams total on which North Carolina and Louisville are the best teams.
Best to watch calling anyone else "soft". Esp. when SEVEN NBA draft picks can't land the plane.
"Elite program", my a$$...
Some guys wanna attend as little school as possible, not have to work too hard, then get the hell outta Dodge. Not L1C4 material.
And LPT is the right place for them. (Or it used to be...)
"Elite program", my a$$...
Unlike some coaches and fanbases, he won't take it in the a$$ to get one.
"Elite program", my a$$...
It's funny when panic sets in because UK doesn't have multiple 5 stars coming off of the bench. this years team was supposed to be one of the best in the HISTORY of college basketball. I remember UNLV just destroying teams when they were on their run. They didn't have scares against teams that weren't even going to make the tournament. They played one horrible game against Duke. UK lived on the edge multiple times during the season, and managed to dominate only a few times.
As the season wore on, they got worse, it appeared, as more games got dicey. In Cals history, unless he's had top flight talent, he's done nothing. Good years with camby. A good year with Rose.
Give him average talent to good talent, and he panics and throws people under the bus. Players have simply realized that Cal is not the reason they make the NBA. The talent they already have when they come out of high school is.
Players are being scared off by his failures now. High (as in top fifteen out of high school) players being exposed and not improving under Cals watch.
Teague has flopped. Poythress is still in school. The Harrisons won't go in the first round and one may not even be drafted. Lee has been shoved to the bench when he could have already been a pro somewhere else. Johnson may be a 2nd round pick.
I guess you could give Cal credit for Harrelson, but even then the guy was 6'10 and 270, which means a big body that the nba likes even if they are not going to last more than a few seasons.
The next time Cal puts a player into the nba that isn't a top twenty player or doesn't have nba size straight out of high school will be the first time.
As the season wore on, they got worse, it appeared, as more games got dicey. In Cals history, unless he's had top flight talent, he's done nothing. Good years with camby. A good year with Rose.
Give him average talent to good talent, and he panics and throws people under the bus. Players have simply realized that Cal is not the reason they make the NBA. The talent they already have when they come out of high school is.
Players are being scared off by his failures now. High (as in top fifteen out of high school) players being exposed and not improving under Cals watch.
Teague has flopped. Poythress is still in school. The Harrisons won't go in the first round and one may not even be drafted. Lee has been shoved to the bench when he could have already been a pro somewhere else. Johnson may be a 2nd round pick.
I guess you could give Cal credit for Harrelson, but even then the guy was 6'10 and 270, which means a big body that the nba likes even if they are not going to last more than a few seasons.
The next time Cal puts a player into the nba that isn't a top twenty player or doesn't have nba size straight out of high school will be the first time.
Last edited:
L1C4 kind of players lose to UK annually.
**** KeepingItReal74: Take a couple of weeks off to rethink what is good guest poster conduct.
**** KeepingItReal74: Take a couple of weeks off to rethink what is good guest poster conduct.
Last edited by a moderator:
And yet Ricky P holds the latest title in the state without 7 NBA players...
If I was an SEC basketball fan, I would not rag on Conference USA. It was a better basketball conference than the SEC. Just compare the number of teams and the seeding for the NCAA tournament when Louisville was in that conference. The old Metro conference was a better basketball conference also. UofL won two national championships out of the Metro.
Not that this thread has been much about actual discussion, but I'll have a go. It's been a strange class, for sure. Hard for UK fans to ignore the fact that Newman, Brown, Ingram, Diallo, and Zimmerman all waited until after the season was over and then none of them picked UK. I'm not sure the platoon was the reason they went elsewhere, despite what the all-knowing Matt Jones says about it. If they didn't want to share minutes, having 7 guys leave for the NBA should have helped get them to Lexington, not the reverse.
Ingram: I don't think UK was ever in serious contention. What we are missing right now is a wing scorer and so he was seen as somebody that could fill that role, but I'm not sure the interest was mutual.
Newman: Newman to UK seemed like a sure thing (insofar as anything in recruiting high school kids is a sure thing) as long ago as two years and as recently as three months, but when he started intimating that he wanted to play PG in college (after Briscoe had committed), it seemed very unlikely he would come here. I have no insight whatsoever into why he picked Miss St, but if he wants the ball in his hands I get why he'd pass on UK.
Brown: He was an enigma the whole time, not sure anybody knew what to expect from him. What I will say is that a kid who doesn't like the spotlight (not an indictment at all, just noting the personality of a top 5 recruit who seemed to want nothing to do with the recruiting circus) was probably wise to avoid Lexington. If he values being allowed just to be himself, he will have that chance at Cal and would not have had that chance at UK. I get this one too.
Zimmerman: Don't know what to make of him. He doesn't fill a need here and it seems unlikely he would have started ahead of Poythress or Skal. His mom was weirdly prominent during his recruiting. He chose to stay close to home. Happens.
Diallo: The one that's really a head scratcher. Granted, I'm biased, but I'm hard pressed to understand why any of these kids would pick KU over UK. Kansas has basically been doing things the same way UK has been doing things the last 5 years or so, just a notch or two less effectively. They win less, they get less national attention (though still a lot), they lose earlier in the tournament, and their one and dones have done less well in the NBA. Maybe this is where the platoon thing hurt UK (somebody convinced him that he'd be in a four man post rotation with Skal, Poythress, and Lee?).
All in all, I'm not as upset with this class as some UK fans seem to be. The idea that we're going to bring in 4-6 top 10 players every year is ludicrous. Sure, there's playing time, but really only a lot of playing time at the wing. Ulis and Briscoe are the guards and the 4/5 will be Poythress/Skal probably, with Lee getting a lot of run. Alternatively, we could start Ulis/Briscoe/Poythress/Lee/Skal and then there really isn't a TON of minutes available. This probably sounds like excuse making, which is fine. I'm excited for next season. I think Ulis is going to be awesome to watch and I've always been a big Marcus Lee fan, too. Will be refreshing in some ways not to have such super high expectations.
Ingram: I don't think UK was ever in serious contention. What we are missing right now is a wing scorer and so he was seen as somebody that could fill that role, but I'm not sure the interest was mutual.
Newman: Newman to UK seemed like a sure thing (insofar as anything in recruiting high school kids is a sure thing) as long ago as two years and as recently as three months, but when he started intimating that he wanted to play PG in college (after Briscoe had committed), it seemed very unlikely he would come here. I have no insight whatsoever into why he picked Miss St, but if he wants the ball in his hands I get why he'd pass on UK.
Brown: He was an enigma the whole time, not sure anybody knew what to expect from him. What I will say is that a kid who doesn't like the spotlight (not an indictment at all, just noting the personality of a top 5 recruit who seemed to want nothing to do with the recruiting circus) was probably wise to avoid Lexington. If he values being allowed just to be himself, he will have that chance at Cal and would not have had that chance at UK. I get this one too.
Zimmerman: Don't know what to make of him. He doesn't fill a need here and it seems unlikely he would have started ahead of Poythress or Skal. His mom was weirdly prominent during his recruiting. He chose to stay close to home. Happens.
Diallo: The one that's really a head scratcher. Granted, I'm biased, but I'm hard pressed to understand why any of these kids would pick KU over UK. Kansas has basically been doing things the same way UK has been doing things the last 5 years or so, just a notch or two less effectively. They win less, they get less national attention (though still a lot), they lose earlier in the tournament, and their one and dones have done less well in the NBA. Maybe this is where the platoon thing hurt UK (somebody convinced him that he'd be in a four man post rotation with Skal, Poythress, and Lee?).
All in all, I'm not as upset with this class as some UK fans seem to be. The idea that we're going to bring in 4-6 top 10 players every year is ludicrous. Sure, there's playing time, but really only a lot of playing time at the wing. Ulis and Briscoe are the guards and the 4/5 will be Poythress/Skal probably, with Lee getting a lot of run. Alternatively, we could start Ulis/Briscoe/Poythress/Lee/Skal and then there really isn't a TON of minutes available. This probably sounds like excuse making, which is fine. I'm excited for next season. I think Ulis is going to be awesome to watch and I've always been a big Marcus Lee fan, too. Will be refreshing in some ways not to have such super high expectations.
It may be ludicrous, but it's close to your reality. At least to keep pace. It's a function each year of who you lose. And the guys LPT lost this year--in addition to Cauley-Stein and Booker--were:
Towns - 2014 Rivals #5
Lyles - 2014 #13
An. Harrison - 2013 #5
Aa. Harrison - 2013 #7
Johnson - 2013 #9
So, if you're losing those guys in one year, it stands to reason you have to recruit at that level to keep pace. The guys LPT is bringing in are ranked 2016 Rivals #1, #10, #48, and Mulder and a walk-on.
That's a helluva drop-off in talent, in total and on a per-player basis. Everything else being equal, to NOT expect a big drop in performance is delusional thinking.
"Elite program", my a$$...
It is a big drop off in talent, but they have enough to be pretty good. The real issue is whether or not there is still one more to declare for the NBA. If Cleveland loses to Chicago, LeBron is going to want Cal to be his coach next year. Maybe the five star kids, and their handlers, are worried about that.
I agree and Kentucky continues to beat UL at the end of the season when it really counts.
Super Bowls.
It really counts when LPT actually plays U of L. How did all that success work against Wisky?
"Elite program", my a$$...
I keep seeing uk fans already locking Skal in as the sure fire center they need in this class. Again, I say with a straight face, if this kid is cleared to play college basketball then there is something seriously shady going on. His handler is actively shopping him around for cash and not hiding it. If Skal becomes eligible, Cal and his peeps paid a huge chunk of cash to make that happen.
If any uk fan denies this, there are confirmed quotes from his handler asking how he can make money for Skal's services. Pretending it didn't happen doesn't make it go away.
All that proves is that it's your Super Bowl. And that you live to beat us. And that in true LPT form, you put ALL your eggs in the basketball basket to do it.
Congrats for something that no one but LPT fans keeps track of.
"Elite program", my a$$...
College Basketball Insider
AAU coach: Skal Labissiere's guardian asked how to profit from prospect
November 12, 2014 11:40 am ET
Skal Labissiere has played for two high schools and three summer programs. (Kelly Kline / Under Armour
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Keith Easterwood has coached an AAU team with future NBA players to a national title, hustled prospects for former summer-basketball king Sonny Vaccaro, and met so many sketchy characters in three decades of operating on the periphery of the sport that Gerald Hamilton barely made an impression on him when they met about 10 years ago.
"Gerald never talked about trying to help kids back then," Easterwood said. "He only talked about bringing basketball players to the United States from Haiti or somewhere else."
Truth be told, Easterwood used to meet guys like this often, if only because his hometown of Memphis is littered with such people, the kind Easterwood routinely refers to as "hobos, heroes and street-corner clowns." Hamilton was, in Easterwood's mind, merely the latest. So they met but never got to know each other because, honestly, it's not like Hamilton had any players anyway, point being he wasn't, at the time, really worth getting to know.
Then, about two years ago, Easterwood got a random phone call.
"It was Gerald Hamilton," Easterwood told CBSSports.com. "He wanted to talk, and one of the things he asked me was, 'How can I make money off of a basketball player?'"
***
The national signing period for basketball prospects runs through Nov. 19, and on Thursday five-star prospect Skal Labissiere is expected to announce his college decision. No matter which program the 6-foot-11 Haitian refugee selects, sources have told CBSSports.com the NCAA plans to spend a lot of time investigating the details surrounding his recruitment, mostly because of the way Labissiere's legal guardian -- the previously mentioned Gerald Hamilton -- has handled things since Easterwood said Hamilton asked for advice on how to profit off of a player he knew would eventually be in high demand.
The red flags are numerous.
Since blossoming into what some have called a can't-miss NBA prospect, Labissiere has attended two different high schools and played for three different summer programs, all while Hamilton worked behind the scenes to secure funds for a 501 (c) (3) foundation called Reach Your Dream. Multiple coaches who have recruited Labissiere told CBSSports.com Hamilton either directly indicated or strongly suggested pursuing Labissiere would mostly be a waste of time if they couldn't offer assistance in helping fund his foundation. One coach from a prominent staff said: "We couldn't even get in the door." Another added: "We recognized what it was about early on and decided not to get involved."
Sources told CBSSports.com that college coaches -- none of whom have been permitted by Hamilton to contact Labissiere directly -- have expressed similar things to the NCAA, and that the NCAA is actively trying to find out how Hamilton is funding something he's calling Reach Your Dream Prep, which is a basketball team built around Labissiere, who needed a place to play his senior season after being ruled ineligible by the TSSAA once Hamilton inexplicably orchestrated a transfer from Evangelical Christian School (in Memphis) to Lausanne Collegiate School (in Memphis) and effectively ended any chance Labissiere had at winning a state championship and/or becoming a McDonald's All-American.
Exactly why Hamilton moved Labissiere from ECS to Lausanne is as unclear as why he had Labissiere play for different summer programs each July. But one source summarized the questionable moves this way: "Gerald's been shopping Skal since after his first year at ECS."
Hamilton did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday, and he has consistently declined to discuss Labissiere's recruitment with CBSSports.com, after the newspaper interviewed another Haitian who was brought to the United States with Labissiere, a refugee named Samuel Jean-Gilles. Though Hamilton told The Commercial Appeal his foundation has helped many young people, only Labissiere and Jean-Gilles have ever been identified, and two sources close to Hamilton told CBSSports.com there are no other examples.
"I don't know why Gerald lies about that," one source said.
Jean-Gilles lived with Hamilton and attended ECS for a while, just like Labissiere. But, according to The Commercial Appeal, Hamilton moved Jean-Gilles to Boston within weeks of asking the basketball coach and football coach at ECS if Jean-Gilles had the potential to be a Division I athlete. When both coaches told Hamilton they didn't think that was a likely outcome, Hamilton put Jean-Gilles on a 29-hour bus ride that left in the middle of the night.
Hamilton told The Commercial Appeal it's because Jean-Gilles was a "bad influence."
But literally nobody outside of Hamilton's family agrees with that assessment.
Everybody else describes Jean-Gilles as a quality young man.
"They [were] guardians for me and they don't want me anymore," Jean-Gilles told the paper. "So I guess he did what he had to do. ... If I was 6-feet-9, yes, it would have been different. I would have been [a Division I athlete], and he most definitely wouldn't [have sent] me to Boston. People know what he's trying to do. ... If this is really how he's trying to make money by using people, if that's really how he's doing it, I just feel bad for him."
Labissiere said that skipping college and playing a year overseas before entering the is a viable option, and sources told CBSSports.com it will remain so regardless of what Labissiere announces Thursday. To that point, sources told CBSSports.com Hamilton has already tried to gauge what kind of market might exist for Labissiere by talking to people who work for at least three different sports agencies, and the prevailing thought is that Hamilton might rather steer Labissiere overseas than deal with what could be a difficult task of getting Labissiere through the NCAA's eligibility center.
"I doubt the kid ever plays one minute in college," said a coach from one of the staffs still recruiting Labissiere. "The whole thing is a mess. I just feel sorry for the kid."
Gary Parrish is a senior college basketball columnist for CBSSports.com and college basketball insider for the CBS Sports Network. The Mississippi native also hosts an award-winning radio show in Memphis. He lives in that area with his wife, two sons and two dogs.
Where did you go ClockCalamity? Did you not enjoy the article?????????
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Keith Easterwood has coached an AAU team with future NBA players to a national title, hustled prospects for former summer-basketball king Sonny Vaccaro, and met so many sketchy characters in three decades of operating on the periphery of the sport that Gerald Hamilton barely made an impression on him when they met about 10 years ago.
"Gerald never talked about trying to help kids back then," Easterwood said. "He only talked about bringing basketball players to the United States from Haiti or somewhere else."
Truth be told, Easterwood used to meet guys like this often, if only because his hometown of Memphis is littered with such people, the kind Easterwood routinely refers to as "hobos, heroes and street-corner clowns." Hamilton was, in Easterwood's mind, merely the latest. So they met but never got to know each other because, honestly, it's not like Hamilton had any players anyway, point being he wasn't, at the time, really worth getting to know.
Then, about two years ago, Easterwood got a random phone call.
"It was Gerald Hamilton," Easterwood told CBSSports.com. "He wanted to talk, and one of the things he asked me was, 'How can I make money off of a basketball player?'"
***
The national signing period for basketball prospects runs through Nov. 19, and on Thursday five-star prospect Skal Labissiere is expected to announce his college decision. No matter which program the 6-foot-11 Haitian refugee selects, sources have told CBSSports.com the NCAA plans to spend a lot of time investigating the details surrounding his recruitment, mostly because of the way Labissiere's legal guardian -- the previously mentioned Gerald Hamilton -- has handled things since Easterwood said Hamilton asked for advice on how to profit off of a player he knew would eventually be in high demand.
The red flags are numerous.
Since blossoming into what some have called a can't-miss NBA prospect, Labissiere has attended two different high schools and played for three different summer programs, all while Hamilton worked behind the scenes to secure funds for a 501 (c) (3) foundation called Reach Your Dream. Multiple coaches who have recruited Labissiere told CBSSports.com Hamilton either directly indicated or strongly suggested pursuing Labissiere would mostly be a waste of time if they couldn't offer assistance in helping fund his foundation. One coach from a prominent staff said: "We couldn't even get in the door." Another added: "We recognized what it was about early on and decided not to get involved."
Sources told CBSSports.com that college coaches -- none of whom have been permitted by Hamilton to contact Labissiere directly -- have expressed similar things to the NCAA, and that the NCAA is actively trying to find out how Hamilton is funding something he's calling Reach Your Dream Prep, which is a basketball team built around Labissiere, who needed a place to play his senior season after being ruled ineligible by the TSSAA once Hamilton inexplicably orchestrated a transfer from Evangelical Christian School (in Memphis) to Lausanne Collegiate School (in Memphis) and effectively ended any chance Labissiere had at winning a state championship and/or becoming a McDonald's All-American.
Exactly why Hamilton moved Labissiere from ECS to Lausanne is as unclear as why he had Labissiere play for different summer programs each July. But one source summarized the questionable moves this way: "Gerald's been shopping Skal since after his first year at ECS."
Hamilton did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday, and he has consistently declined to discuss Labissiere's recruitment with CBSSports.com, after the newspaper interviewed another Haitian who was brought to the United States with Labissiere, a refugee named Samuel Jean-Gilles. Though Hamilton told The Commercial Appeal his foundation has helped many young people, only Labissiere and Jean-Gilles have ever been identified, and two sources close to Hamilton told CBSSports.com there are no other examples.
"I don't know why Gerald lies about that," one source said.
Jean-Gilles lived with Hamilton and attended ECS for a while, just like Labissiere. But, according to The Commercial Appeal, Hamilton moved Jean-Gilles to Boston within weeks of asking the basketball coach and football coach at ECS if Jean-Gilles had the potential to be a Division I athlete. When both coaches told Hamilton they didn't think that was a likely outcome, Hamilton put Jean-Gilles on a 29-hour bus ride that left in the middle of the night.
Hamilton told The Commercial Appeal it's because Jean-Gilles was a "bad influence."
But literally nobody outside of Hamilton's family agrees with that assessment.
Everybody else describes Jean-Gilles as a quality young man.
"They [were] guardians for me and they don't want me anymore," Jean-Gilles told the paper. "So I guess he did what he had to do. ... If I was 6-feet-9, yes, it would have been different. I would have been [a Division I athlete], and he most definitely wouldn't [have sent] me to Boston. People know what he's trying to do. ... If this is really how he's trying to make money by using people, if that's really how he's doing it, I just feel bad for him."
Labissiere said that skipping college and playing a year overseas before entering the is a viable option, and sources told CBSSports.com it will remain so regardless of what Labissiere announces Thursday. To that point, sources told CBSSports.com Hamilton has already tried to gauge what kind of market might exist for Labissiere by talking to people who work for at least three different sports agencies, and the prevailing thought is that Hamilton might rather steer Labissiere overseas than deal with what could be a difficult task of getting Labissiere through the NCAA's eligibility center.
"I doubt the kid ever plays one minute in college," said a coach from one of the staffs still recruiting Labissiere. "The whole thing is a mess. I just feel sorry for the kid."
Gary Parrish is a senior college basketball columnist for CBSSports.com and college basketball insider for the CBS Sports Network. The Mississippi native also hosts an award-winning radio show in Memphis. He lives in that area with his wife, two sons and two dogs.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Keith Easterwood has coached an AAU team with future NBA players to a national title, hustled prospects for former summer-basketball king Sonny Vaccaro, and met so many sketchy characters in three decades of operating on the periphery of the sport that Gerald Hamilton barely made an impression on him when they met about 10 years ago.
"Gerald never talked about trying to help kids back then," Easterwood said. "He only talked about bringing basketball players to the United States from Haiti or somewhere else."
Truth be told, Easterwood used to meet guys like this often, if only because his hometown of Memphis is littered with such people, the kind Easterwood routinely refers to as "hobos, heroes and street-corner clowns." Hamilton was, in Easterwood's mind, merely the latest. So they met but never got to know each other because, honestly, it's not like Hamilton had any players anyway, point being he wasn't, at the time, really worth getting to know.
Then, about two years ago, Easterwood got a random phone call.
"It was Gerald Hamilton," Easterwood told CBSSports.com. "He wanted to talk, and one of the things he asked me was, 'How can I make money off of a basketball player?'"
***
The national signing period for basketball prospects runs through Nov. 19, and on Thursday five-star prospect Skal Labissiere is expected to announce his college decision. No matter which program the 6-foot-11 Haitian refugee selects, sources have told CBSSports.com the NCAA plans to spend a lot of time investigating the details surrounding his recruitment, mostly because of the way Labissiere's legal guardian -- the previously mentioned Gerald Hamilton -- has handled things since Easterwood said Hamilton asked for advice on how to profit off of a player he knew would eventually be in high demand.
The red flags are numerous.
Since blossoming into what some have called a can't-miss NBA prospect, Labissiere has attended two different high schools and played for three different summer programs, all while Hamilton worked behind the scenes to secure funds for a 501 (c) (3) foundation called Reach Your Dream. Multiple coaches who have recruited Labissiere told CBSSports.com Hamilton either directly indicated or strongly suggested pursuing Labissiere would mostly be a waste of time if they couldn't offer assistance in helping fund his foundation. One coach from a prominent staff said: "We couldn't even get in the door." Another added: "We recognized what it was about early on and decided not to get involved."
Sources told CBSSports.com that college coaches -- none of whom have been permitted by Hamilton to contact Labissiere directly -- have expressed similar things to the NCAA, and that the NCAA is actively trying to find out how Hamilton is funding something he's calling Reach Your Dream Prep, which is a basketball team built around Labissiere, who needed a place to play his senior season after being ruled ineligible by the TSSAA once Hamilton inexplicably orchestrated a transfer from Evangelical Christian School (in Memphis) to Lausanne Collegiate School (in Memphis) and effectively ended any chance Labissiere had at winning a state championship and/or becoming a McDonald's All-American.
Exactly why Hamilton moved Labissiere from ECS to Lausanne is as unclear as why he had Labissiere play for different summer programs each July. But one source summarized the questionable moves this way: "Gerald's been shopping Skal since after his first year at ECS."
Hamilton did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday, and he has consistently declined to discuss Labissiere's recruitment with CBSSports.com, after the newspaper interviewed another Haitian who was brought to the United States with Labissiere, a refugee named Samuel Jean-Gilles. Though Hamilton told The Commercial Appeal his foundation has helped many young people, only Labissiere and Jean-Gilles have ever been identified, and two sources close to Hamilton told CBSSports.com there are no other examples.
"I don't know why Gerald lies about that," one source said.
Jean-Gilles lived with Hamilton and attended ECS for a while, just like Labissiere. But, according to The Commercial Appeal, Hamilton moved Jean-Gilles to Boston within weeks of asking the basketball coach and football coach at ECS if Jean-Gilles had the potential to be a Division I athlete. When both coaches told Hamilton they didn't think that was a likely outcome, Hamilton put Jean-Gilles on a 29-hour bus ride that left in the middle of the night.
Hamilton told The Commercial Appeal it's because Jean-Gilles was a "bad influence."
But literally nobody outside of Hamilton's family agrees with that assessment.
Everybody else describes Jean-Gilles as a quality young man.
"They [were] guardians for me and they don't want me anymore," Jean-Gilles told the paper. "So I guess he did what he had to do. ... If I was 6-feet-9, yes, it would have been different. I would have been [a Division I athlete], and he most definitely wouldn't [have sent] me to Boston. People know what he's trying to do. ... If this is really how he's trying to make money by using people, if that's really how he's doing it, I just feel bad for him."
Labissiere said that skipping college and playing a year overseas before entering the is a viable option, and sources told CBSSports.com it will remain so regardless of what Labissiere announces Thursday. To that point, sources told CBSSports.com Hamilton has already tried to gauge what kind of market might exist for Labissiere by talking to people who work for at least three different sports agencies, and the prevailing thought is that Hamilton might rather steer Labissiere overseas than deal with what could be a difficult task of getting Labissiere through the NCAA's eligibility center.
"I doubt the kid ever plays one minute in college," said a coach from one of the staffs still recruiting Labissiere. "The whole thing is a mess. I just feel sorry for the kid."
Gary Parrish is a senior college basketball columnist for CBSSports.com and college basketball insider for the CBS Sports Network. The Mississippi native also hosts an award-winning radio show in Memphis. He lives in that area with his wife, two sons and two dogs.Thanks for posting the article. I just don't feel the need to cator to some troll who has no clue what they're even arguing about much less able to find the facts for themselves that have been out there for a very long time. Some of these uk trolls are just so dumb it saps brain cells just trying to converse with them.
I love when someone calls BS on me and sets themselves up for failure. I want to see this troll come back and eat their crow but we all know if that troll does come back it will be to deflect or try to discredit the source. But what will be even funnier is seeing them discredit the person who wrote it but in the same breath praise the same person for his way too early top 25 predictions.
Just precious...the whole lot of em.
I love when someone calls BS on me and sets themselves up for failure. I want to see this troll come back and eat their crow but we all know if that troll does come back it will be to deflect or try to discredit the source. But what will be even funnier is seeing them discredit the person who wrote it but in the same breath praise the same person for his way too early top 25 predictions.
Just precious...the whole lot of em.
I still call hearsay. None of that can be proven, although I'll admit that its very interesting. Not a surprise that you all would run with it like fact though.
Equally not surprising that you would discount it as false. It's what BBN nut jobs do. Ignore, deflect, and defend at all cost regardless.
Except for the first hand accounts that he was shopping Skal for money ... or that he has a fund setup to feed Skal. But yeah, besides that, there's pretty much nothing.
Haha! Anyone here surprised? A blue fan doesn't beleive it and is calling out the source. I guess Goodman just reports hearsay. Does this mean everything else he reports is hearsay too? No way any of this can be proven....except with proof. Numbskull.
Duck Dodger to the rescue!
Let's compare programs since Ricky P came on scene in the great state of Kentucky which y'all do belong to despite how you describe your fellow kin folk.
UK under Petino (8 seasons)
1990-1997. 219-50, a championship, runner up, three final fours, three regional finals, one 10+ loss season
UofL : 177-85, one elite eight, three sweet 16, two second round outs, one first round out, four 10+ loss seasons including a 14-16 year
UK under ten loss Tubby (10 seasons)
1998-2007 263-83, a championship, three regional finals, two sweet sixteen,
Four second round outs, five 10+ loss seasons
UofL 204-120, one final four, two second round outs, three first round outs, two NIT' s, eight 10+ loss seasons including a12-20 and 12-19 season
UK under drunken Billy G (2 seasons)
2008-2009. 40-27, a first round loss, NIT, two 10+ loss seasons
UofL. 58-15, two elite eights
UK under Coach Cal (6 seasons)
2010-2015. 190-38, one championship, one runner up , four final fours, a regional final, NIT, two 10+ loss seasons
UofL. 168-53, one championship, two final fours, one regional final, one sweet sixteen, two first round outs, three 10+ loss seasons.
Your a man who likes facts, fact is outside of your two season era while BCG was our coach we rule even under ten loss Tubby. Keep it real.
In this last 15 years--this millennium--the slapd!cks have had three years where they had a good chance going into the postseason. And two of those years, 2010 and last year, you didn't win it anyway.
That was the other slapd!ck poster's point--learn to read. And understand what delusional thinking is.
"Elite program", my a$$...
That was the other slapd!ck poster's point--learn to read. And understand what delusional thinking is.
"Elite program", my a$$...
Every program has great teams that can not close the deal and as a fan it stings. How bout your 2005 team that went into the final four and could not get it done. 2009, our NIT season, your rolling and y'all thought you had it but couldn't get out of the regional final. I will spare you the details of your 2012 and 2014 NCAA tournament losses especially your 2014, 31-5 were gona repeat team that loss in the sweet sixteen. The tournament is a crap shot even for the best teams.
Five times in the last fifteen years you all have had a team you thought was gona win it - 2005, 2009, 2012 (oops), 2013 and 2014 - and you only got one.
Some of your more delusional fans, like ours (oh could we all be alike....scary thought), probably deep down thought you had a chance in 2008 and last season. I know what the point is I'm just making a friendly rival counter. Chill. Good hashing the state of the commonwealth with you. Have a good nite and don't let the bed bugs bite. Go Cats
Last edited:
Typical Blue hole none sense crap.......fact you blue kitties in back to back seasons choked and got out coached in loses to UConn and Wisconsin . While you blue holes spent all of both those seasons talking 40-0 crap, it's time for you blue holes to STFU‼️
Last edited:
Similar threads
