Mid major basketball players

[msstate7]

Are these guys just more basketball savvy, coached better, better shooters, or what? How do we find some of these guys? I would love to have a few of these guys to play around our athletes

[thunderclap]

I don't know but I watched Manhattan last night and I'm watching Mercer play Duke right now, and they both would spank us.

[tcdog70]

They are basketball players and not just athletes. They are coached better in HighSchool and are fundamentally sound.

[TimberBeast]

I don't know but I watched Manhattan last night and I'm watching Mercer play Duke right now, and they both would spank us.

That's not saying much. I could walk outside my office right now and get the next 5 guys that walk by and they could probably spank us, but they would not out hustle us (actually they would).

[smootness]

They are basketball players and not just athletes. They are coached better in HighSchool and are fundamentally sound.

I agree with this to some degree. I don't know about better coached; better coached than a lot of SEC players? Yes. But going to a mid-major doesn't mean you were better coached than those going to places like Duke, North Carolina, etc. Generally they are less athletic or have some obvious 'flaw' to their game, like size.

But the ability to shoot is not always what player ratings are based on, so you definitely find some guys at these schools who can flat-out shoot. The coaches just have to be more diligent about drawing up a game plan to get their shooters open because generally the lower-rated guys are less able to get off their own shot and require a good set-up from their teammates.

I always find it funny, though, that we have a lot of fans who bash kids we bring in because they only have offers from some mid-majors, then some of those same people say we need to go after more kids like that.

I'm not speaking specifically of anyone in this thread, just a general observation. We hear a lot about Ray's lack of ability in recruiting because the guys we're getting don't have huge offers; maybe he is finding the guys that some of these programs go after?

[Irondawg]

The mid-majors are getting players for areas that are much better coached at a HS and AAU level which gives them a jump start. So while maybe not the athletes some others are they are very coachable and basketball savvy. Think of it like our football team - we have a lot of success with 2 star guys b/c we try to find guys with good attitudes, work ethic and maybe haven't grown into their bodies yet and we see them developing.

A lof of the mid-majors take a guys who looks a step slower, or is a bit less explosive than some of the better athletes that go to the bigger basketball schools in teh area (like UNC, Michigan, Ohio State, etc) but have good intagibles and by the time they are Jrs are very solid players. The problem for most of the SEC is that in basketball there are extremely few players like in our prime recruiting area. Most of the guys what that kind of potential are so far behind fundamentally that they don't get any recruiting attention. Think Barry Stewart as our recently example.

[engie]

The midmajors that are going on runs are JR and SR-laden teams. They've been coached up over time -- and are generally setup to make a run every third or 4th year. The problem with "elite" recruiting is that you've got to do it every single year with the amount of turnover among those players. Meanwhile, you can recruit one tier lower, and build/retain those players over time. It's the 3-4 year guys that form a backbone to build success on. Even the phenom freshman teams Calipari had at UK had a nice upperclassman presence that was a step behind athletically -- but could go get you a game under the bright lights.

[esplanade91]

Watched NDSU (who I picked) last night and every one of those kids can shoot. As a team they shot over 51% for the season, good for first in the NCAA. They look like Tom Brady at the combine any time they have to jump or run, but dammit they can shoot.

We should probably stop looking at "potential" and a kid's athleticism and start recruiting kids who know their fundamentals. When you rely on athleticism you get beat down by the nerds from North Dakota State and Harvard.

[drunkernhelldawg]

My theory is that young people are more talented than ever, not just in basketball but in every area. We have so many talented basketball players out there that any team in any conference can play ball. I don't care who you are or how many trophies you have; if you don't come to play, you go home with a loss.

[DanDority]

The midmajors that are going on runs are JR and SR-laden teams. They've been coached up over time -- and are generally setup to make a run every third or 4th year. The problem with "elite" recruiting is that you've got to do it every single year with the amount of turnover among those players. Meanwhile, you can recruit one tier lower, and build/retain those players over time. It's the 3-4 year guys that form a backbone to build success on. Even the phenom freshman teams Calipari had at UK had a nice upperclassman presence that was a step behind athletically -- but could go get you a game under the bright lights.

Well said Engie! I hope a lot of readers on this board see this post.