re: Trent Johnson - Local players he's let slip out of state

And as long as guys like Tyrus Thomas end up in the lottery and guys like Tack Minor end up buying lottery tickets, I'll go ahead and say frick justifying recruits based on "stars"

To be fair, there haven't been any Tasmins, Big Baby's, or even Tyrus's to lock up. But Brady failed when he couldn't get guys like DJ or Tweety and ended up with Bo Spencer at the last second.

I actually think John Brady was a terrible coach and far worse than Trent.

But congrats on taking a joke I've heard a million times without laughter and making it somehow less funny.

I'd definitely like Galloway over Derenbecker. Matt's good, Langston's better.

I'd love Mitchell, too. Can't say that it's necessarily Trent's fault, but then again I don't think he put up much of a fight.

Markel Brown would also be great for this team. He's going to be special for OK State. Either of those guys ahead of Dotson.

Turner, Galloway, Brown, and Derenbecker were all last year

Trent basically had spots for the two he liked best and he went with Matt D. and Turner and so far, I can't argue with what his picks...Turner looks great, and i'll hold off judgement on Matt D....also, from everything I've read, Galloway was St. Joes all the way with his family up there and his uncle coaching....

you can't blame Mitchell on Trent....and hell, the guy isn't even playing basketball anymore so I can't imagine he would have been that great or really even wanted to be here....

have you watched Dotson play this year? he's a completely different player than he was a year ago....there's a reason he was the highest ranked out of all these guys that have been mentioned and picked us over Louisville and Washington

he's getting 11 points a game, shooting 57% from the floor, 71% from 3, and 74% from the line all while guarding the other team's best player....toss in 3 boards a game and 2.5 assists per

i agree with you....i also think that our good teams under Brady were really lead by a "one and done" type guy be it Bass, Tyrus, or Stromile......

i like that Trent seems to be going after program guys who will be here for four years, don't have character/academic issues like Graham, Minor, Spencer (should say so far, so good anyway)...i mean I've seen how huge Turner and Stringer have been this year, and I can only imagine how good they will be in a couple years when they've got some experience....

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Brown is behind some experienced guards at Ok State. He'll be an All Big-12 guy before he's done.

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I really like Markel....seen him play a few times at Peabody....Butch got in pretty tight with him and he was pretty much sold on Ok. State....none of Peabody's recent grads have really even considered LSU over the last few years though unfortunately and I think Coach Smith tries to steer them elsewhere (Marcus Simmons-USC and Rodney Jones-Ole Miss)

I don't even consider Matt D. and Galloway to play the same position. Obviously Galloway is a 2, Matt is playing 3. Matt is a legit 6'7" and shoots the ball from outside better but needs to work on his defense. Turner is better than Galloway. Yes, I can say that right now without any doubt. Look, Galloway is from BR and I really hope the guy does well, but our program doesn't have to be built around a team of BR kids. That works sometimes, but it certainly doesn't work all the time.

And you're going to hate on Dotson? Dotson has been about unbelievably impressive thus far this year. He obviously had problems with his knee last year because the current player is a force on both sides of the court. He is showing why he was so highly regarded coming out. Combine that with the fact that TJ said that he really helped get guys like Turner and Matt D. and you've got to love Dotson.

Throw in O'Bryant and Isaac, along with Hamilton next year, and this has the makings of a really really good program under TJ. As I've been saying, people need to get on board because the writing is on the wall. The program is really heading in the right direction.

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LSU is not a basketball school!

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I agree, and I'm one of the biggest LSU hoops fans there is, but it's a reality.

Folks will always answer that with posts about how we used to pack the P-MAC 25 years ago and things like that, but that was a different time and even then basketball was barely more than a diversion.

I remember Shaq's second year, we were ranked in the top-20 and beat a higher ranked Bama team in Tuscaloosa for a big SEC win.

I was super excited about it and tuned in to a local sports talk show to listen to talk about it but in two hours there was one call about the game. The rest was about football recruiting. And LSU football absolutely stunk then.

So you're right Survivor, LSU is not a basketball school. Won't stop me from loving or talking about LSU hoops though.

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I agree with you tiger authority,i think Trent brought in the better players,and as for Dotson he is a toataly different player from last year.

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Absolutely, I know his play was rationalized alot as a bi-product of the injury, but even taking that into account I saw nothing that might give me a clue that he could play at this level last year. He gave no indication he could shoot or had any semblance of a good shooting stroke even.

I never would have guessed how much he'd contribute this year. Everything he's doing is gravey as far as I'm concerned. I'd chalked him us as a wasted scholarship. So glad I was wrong.

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Who gives a flip about basketball?

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From the looks of this thread at least a few folks. I know I do.