re: Wade's Recruiting Class

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He didn't just get out of prison. He's been on a JUCO team for two years without any such problems.

If he was just out of prison we wouldn't be having this discussion.

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This.

I don't think it would be good optics for Wade at this early point in his tenure, but the kid isn't fresh out of prison by any means.

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It would help but he's only 6'7" 215 lbs.

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That's what I'm concerned about. We've got a handful of 6'6 guys for next season. Can he bang down low against SEC post men who are generally 6'8-6'10ish?

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Ubless you expect him to beat up another ex girlfriend which I highly doubt will happen since he is already on his second chance.

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Yeah because no one has ever blown a second chance?

I don't care if he served a couple years in jail, that doesn't mean he deserves anything. I'll pass

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Jimmy Ott thinks the North Texas kid is coming here. It would be nice

It would help but he's only 6'7" 215 lbs.

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Combs has a 39.5" vertical leap.

(proof)

He plays bigger than 6-7 and 215.

The question with him is does he have much of an offensive game outside of layups and dunks. He's attempted all of two three point shots in his career and made none, though his FG percentages (.561, .601, .563) have been pretty good. When you consider how terrible he is at foul shooting (.486, .584, .507), that's where his limitation is. He can't shoot.

That said, this is a guy who could give you a third player in the post rotation, with some rebounding and defense and the occasional blocked shot, plus he looks like he can score around the goal and draw some fouls. If somebody could teach him to make, say, two thirds of his free throws, he could be a nice option off the bench.

But I don't think Combs could play any "3" for you like, for example, Farmer could. Farmer has a bit of an outside game to him.

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We need scoring. We have no offense. Blakeney kept a lot of games somewhat respectable last year. Taking 20+ PPG out of the lineup is a huge blow.

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We need defense. Especially at this level, most baskets are scored off of turnovers in transition. Every one of these kids that come to a school like LSU can put the ball in the hole, the real needs in most of these kids games are mentality(confidence), decision making, and defense. Most kids can't handle pressure, even at this high of a college level so that's extremely important to find confident, coachable kids and teach them how to handle pressure and play defense. JJ lacked all of these areas. He thought we could outscore everyone with a stagnant offense and zero defense. You can have a free flowing offense at this level with few drawn up plays or sets, but if you don't play defense, you're going to get your asses handed to no matter how great you recruit.

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Besides Farmer and Combs, are there any other forwards Wade is probably looking at? Possibly Ahmed Hamdy?

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I don't even know that they're looking at Farmer.

It stands to reason that Wade could get Hamdy if he wanted.

Hamdy's numbers absolutely do not jump off the page. I'm not 100 percent sure Wade is going to think he's worth bringing in. Depending on who'll come I'm going to guess Hamdy wouldn't be too high on the list of people he's going to want.

I'd actually take Combs over Hamdy. I think he's a better athlete and can score and rebound more. Question is whether there's a JUCO guy who'd be a better get.

If you don't like Farmer, the other guy I'd get at the JUCO level is a kid named Latrell Tidwell out of Kankakee JC in Illinois. He's 6-7, and he averaged 18 and 11 for them this year. Best I can tell he's still available.

Stats

6-7, 230 is better...

6-9, 250 is better. Are we building prototypes?

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I think most of us just want to see improvement.

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Anything that resembles a defense showing up for one game next year would he a huge improvement.

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6-7, 215 is plenty big enough to play PF in the SEC.

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Only if you actually can. It's one thing to be undersized and play well (Tasmin Mitchell), it's another thing to be undersized but clearly be overmatched (Wayde Sims last season).