Pitino recruiting misses...

[ShortCreek]

I do not hate Rick at all. But, I’m resigned to moving on. I also see all these new guys entering the picture and I’m convinced there are not just a few but multiple guys that can be successful here.

Have you watched WKU? Hollingsworth is as good as any guard we have and Rick couldn’t see that? All-time leading freshman scorer in the history of their program. He’s a Russ Smith type kid with energy and a scorer’s mentality.

 

[Thecycle27]

Everyone in the Power 5 missed on Hollingsworth. It is really easy to see now his misses. Look what he did with Smith, Dieng, Obannon, Kuric, Myles, Knowles, and others. Players that bought into what he was coaching excelled the guys that fought him struggled. Players limit their ceiling not coaches.

 

[Cue Card]

Everyone in the Power 5 missed on Hollingsworth. It is really easy to see now his misses. Look what he did with Smith, Dieng, Obannon, Kuric, Myles, Knowles, and others. Players that bought into what he was coaching excelled the guys that fought him struggled. Players limit their ceiling not coaches.

Yeah I agree with that. It's not really fair to bash any coach over player development. Most can show a player what they need to do to get better, but it's up to the player to put in the work to make it happen. I wasn't happy with Pitino passing on Rondo just because he was a sure thing for the Cards and he was a terrific HS player. He had Telfair though so I understood his position. I do enjoy watching local kids play for the Cards. Always have.

 

[nccardfan]

How funny we used to rave about all these players, Twill, Siva, Kuric, Chris and Russ Smith, Knowles, etc. being L1C4 and now some of you want to label them as Pitino’s left over picks..

 

[ShortCreek]

Everyone in the Power 5 missed on Hollingsworth. It is really easy to see now his misses. Look what he did with Smith, Dieng, Obannon, Kuric, Myles, Knowles, and others. Players that bought into what he was coaching excelled the guys that fought him struggled. Players limit their ceiling not coaches.

Most power 5 schools are not within 1.5 hour drive to watch him play.

 

[devilschild]

I’ve posted on here several times ,since Pitino was the HC, that he seemed to just refuse to recruit KY kids unless they were top 50 recruits. You would think after the success of Larry O & P Knowles that he would have given some other kids a shot. But over and over he passed by local kids to grab similar rated kids from way off that didn’t pan out. AJ Slaughter,Anthony Hickey,Tyler Brown,Kalen Martin,Hollingsworth,Lofton,Shelvin Mack,the Thornton kid from Manual,Aric Holman,& several others, I’m sure I’ve forgotten, didn’t get a sniff. Hell Dewayne Sutton came up big for us in several games this year and he was right across the street for 4 years without getting a real look. IMO Rick just didn’t value KY kids game. He didn’t at UK either if you go back and look at who came out of the state back then. You had Chris Whitney,Darnell Burton,Greg Buckner,Lamont Barnes,Dan Langhi,etc come out while he was coaching in Lex. None had offers if my memory is correct. Hopefully Coach Mack is paying attention to what’s coming out of the state....

 

[CardinalDave]

With the current FBI probe, ALL recruiting will likely see a drastic change.
I am 100% anti-Nike and have been for years...they wrote the book on using shoe company involvement to influence A.A.U. and recruiting. I prefer Adidas , who has typically flown under the radar but moved to the forefront of the ugly stuff when some former Nike employees switched to them. adidas has been good to Louisville

 

[zipp]

When you try arguing with the benefit of hindsight, you start to lose credibility...

 

[Mayoman]

When you try arguing with the benefit of hindsight, you start to lose credibility...

Not sure what you are trying to convey here.

Just a thought though.....some would argue that the discussion might be one of gained perspective rather than hindsight. To identify trends and such. And who has much credibility on a rivals site anyway?

At any rate, this is history now and water under the bridge.

So to me....it is a wasted exercise of futility and negative energy. Time to turn the page....the present and future await us. Can't change the past now can we?

One can only interpret the events or data from a different perspective gained over time. You do it all the time yourself. So why is it that you say "you start to lose credibility' doing it? Do as I say not as I do sort of thing.?

 

[devilschild]

In a lot of these cases it’s not hindsight. Lots of folks were wondering why Rick didn’t recruit some of these kids while they were still in high school. There were quite a few posts on here about recruiting Kelan Martin while he was still at Ballard.

 

[bigloucards]

The one that bugged me most was offering Rondo a walk on spot. That young man grew up a UofL fan and wanted to play for the Cards, but he wanted a scholarship too. If I remember right, he also offered a walk on spot to Chris Lofton.

Just wow.

Yeah the Rajon Rondo recruitment or lack there of still “chaps my ass”!

 

[jarheadky]

Exactly - Pitino would have never lasted as long as he did if he was in recruiting wars with Belmont. People just really hate Pitino.

It's really easy to pile it on the guy cause of the oversized ego and double standard he has displayed the last several years and while I know he's not at all popular here right now I can't find it in my heart to hate him, never have been able to. Most people just cant wrap they're mind around the fact that there is a very thin line between guilty and innocent especially in our justice system. While I still think there is a chance he gets charged by the FBI knowing how they work its also just as likely the guys telling the truth and is victim to a bureaucrat with a badge trying to climb the ladder, who causes the government to pay out millions to Pitino in a settlement and gets promoted because of it. It's the government way screw up to move up!!

 

[zipp]

When you try arguing with the benefit of hindsight, you start to lose credibility.

Not sure what you are trying to convey here...

To clarify, the concept of a "recruiting miss" loses all relevance for me when someone argues nothing more than "look how that kid turned out." Unless someone has a crystal ball, holding someone responsible for a future that no one else knew in advance is ridiculous.

Arguing that Crum or Pitino (or Mack in the future) should have recognized local, undiscovered talent requires an explanation why. Not just because they're coaches and Louisville-area high school basketball players are under their noses; so are a lotta area kids who never develop anywhere.

Too many of these threads are couched in nothing more than "what if" scenarios. I'm OK with that as long as it's not accompanied by unfounded criticism of a coach not named Nostradamus...