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Y'all see what Wade said about recruiting and the signees?
Posted on 5/30/19 at 10:45 am
Posted on 5/30/19 at 10:45 am
From NOLA.com...
On how the team shapes up for next year: “We got those four guys back. Days could have put his name in. He’s a heck of a player, now. Days is going to have a huge jump. We’ve got five of our top eight guys back from a team that went to the NCAA Tournament. Went to the Sweet 16. Won the SEC championship. We’ve added some high level players.
"People forget, we had Aundre Hyatt redshirting who was a top-100 player coming out of high school. It was honestly, this past year, there was one point in the middle of the year, he’s such a good shooter. He’s an absolute sniper, now. He’s a tremendous shooter. There was one point in January, I was seriously contemplating calling him and trying to burn his redshirt because I felt like maybe the one thing we were a little light on this past year was some shooting and we made up for it in other areas. He was so good in practice. He’s such a good shooter that I felt like he could have been the difference in maybe us winning even a couple more games.
"Obviously we’ve added some good players with Watford, who we think is a phenomenal player. Bishop’s a really good player. He’s a high character kid. And then Manning, the juco kid, he’s as good as junior college player as I’ve evaluated in a long time. Just watching him. I’m a little biased but I think he’s the best junior college player in the country. I feel good about the guys we signed.
"I feel good about having guys back that know what we’re doing. They’re experienced. We’ve got Skylar as a senior. We’ve got Javonte, Days and Emmitt as (sophomores). Marlon with his second year as a senior. Marlon really benefitted from going through the draft process. He did a couple workouts. He would call me after his workouts and say, ‘Dang coach, you were right.’ Marlon had a tremendous junior year coming from junior college, which is a hard adjustment to make, but I really think the lights turning on on Marlon, I think he’s going to kick it into an extra gear this next season.
"I’m excited about the core we have back. I’m excited about the guys we’ve added. We haven’t even talked about (Courtese Cooper), who’s a big-time shot blocker. I feel good about it. We’ve still got a couple scholarships to play around with here. See what shakes out of the trees.”
How many scholarships do y’all have left?: “Two, three really, but my plan is to keep Marshall on scholarship.”
You’re going to look for some length?: “That would be preferable. Preferably we’d get us a good big kid and somebody we could sit out. That would be ideal.”
On recruiting: “I just like to be patient because there’s lots of things that can happen. Certainly finding somebody with some length. There’ll be another wave of graduate transfers after summer school. There’ll be different ways to find that.”
How does the transfer portal change that?: “You’ve gotta be patient. Right now the supply is greater than the demand. I think there’s more kids in the transfer portal than there are Division I scholarships out there. Now obviously at our level it’s a little bit different because the filter down, there’s not as many kids that can play at this level. But I mean, you’re not going to sit here and hear me whine about the transfer portal. I don’t think it’s nearly as big of a deal as everybody makes it out to be.
"I think transferring, this is my opinion, just evens out the inequities in recruiting. Usually, most of the kids that transfer from the high-major schools didn’t play a whole lot. They transferred down a level and end up playing a lot more. And so we missed on those kids in recruiting and they go to a level that’s more suitable to them. Sometimes the kids at the mid-level or lower level end up having great years and they end up transferring up a level and those were kids that the upper-level missed on and they end up where they should be. It just equals out the inequities in recruiting.”
On Trendon Watford: “He’s got all the makings. He’s a winner. He’s one of the highest character people you’ll ever meet. Unbelievable family. Unbelievable background. He’s won three state championships. Everybody talks about all the points he scored, he scored over 3,000 points obviously, but he had 1,909 rebounds in high school. He’s the all-time leading rebounder in Alabama high school history. Rebounding translates. You can be a good rebounder in high school, you’re going to be a good rebounder in college, you’re going to be a good rebounder in the NBA. He’s going to be a good rebounder everywhere.
"I think he’s a playmaking, 6-9 guy. I don’t say this lightly, he’s as good of player as we’ve signed since we’ve been here. He’s a really, really special talent. Not just because of what he brings on the court but his high school program was, obviously they won three state titles, but his high school program was well-run. His high school coach does a phenomenal job. His family did a phenomenal job. I think his learning curve is not going to be quite as much. His brother was a really, really high level player at Indiana, one of the top 10 all-time scorers at Indiana. He’s played in the G-League the last couple of years. Played overseas. He just has all the makings of a special, special player.”
On how the team shapes up for next year: “We got those four guys back. Days could have put his name in. He’s a heck of a player, now. Days is going to have a huge jump. We’ve got five of our top eight guys back from a team that went to the NCAA Tournament. Went to the Sweet 16. Won the SEC championship. We’ve added some high level players.
"People forget, we had Aundre Hyatt redshirting who was a top-100 player coming out of high school. It was honestly, this past year, there was one point in the middle of the year, he’s such a good shooter. He’s an absolute sniper, now. He’s a tremendous shooter. There was one point in January, I was seriously contemplating calling him and trying to burn his redshirt because I felt like maybe the one thing we were a little light on this past year was some shooting and we made up for it in other areas. He was so good in practice. He’s such a good shooter that I felt like he could have been the difference in maybe us winning even a couple more games.
"Obviously we’ve added some good players with Watford, who we think is a phenomenal player. Bishop’s a really good player. He’s a high character kid. And then Manning, the juco kid, he’s as good as junior college player as I’ve evaluated in a long time. Just watching him. I’m a little biased but I think he’s the best junior college player in the country. I feel good about the guys we signed.
"I feel good about having guys back that know what we’re doing. They’re experienced. We’ve got Skylar as a senior. We’ve got Javonte, Days and Emmitt as (sophomores). Marlon with his second year as a senior. Marlon really benefitted from going through the draft process. He did a couple workouts. He would call me after his workouts and say, ‘Dang coach, you were right.’ Marlon had a tremendous junior year coming from junior college, which is a hard adjustment to make, but I really think the lights turning on on Marlon, I think he’s going to kick it into an extra gear this next season.
"I’m excited about the core we have back. I’m excited about the guys we’ve added. We haven’t even talked about (Courtese Cooper), who’s a big-time shot blocker. I feel good about it. We’ve still got a couple scholarships to play around with here. See what shakes out of the trees.”
How many scholarships do y’all have left?: “Two, three really, but my plan is to keep Marshall on scholarship.”
You’re going to look for some length?: “That would be preferable. Preferably we’d get us a good big kid and somebody we could sit out. That would be ideal.”
On recruiting: “I just like to be patient because there’s lots of things that can happen. Certainly finding somebody with some length. There’ll be another wave of graduate transfers after summer school. There’ll be different ways to find that.”
How does the transfer portal change that?: “You’ve gotta be patient. Right now the supply is greater than the demand. I think there’s more kids in the transfer portal than there are Division I scholarships out there. Now obviously at our level it’s a little bit different because the filter down, there’s not as many kids that can play at this level. But I mean, you’re not going to sit here and hear me whine about the transfer portal. I don’t think it’s nearly as big of a deal as everybody makes it out to be.
"I think transferring, this is my opinion, just evens out the inequities in recruiting. Usually, most of the kids that transfer from the high-major schools didn’t play a whole lot. They transferred down a level and end up playing a lot more. And so we missed on those kids in recruiting and they go to a level that’s more suitable to them. Sometimes the kids at the mid-level or lower level end up having great years and they end up transferring up a level and those were kids that the upper-level missed on and they end up where they should be. It just equals out the inequities in recruiting.”
On Trendon Watford: “He’s got all the makings. He’s a winner. He’s one of the highest character people you’ll ever meet. Unbelievable family. Unbelievable background. He’s won three state championships. Everybody talks about all the points he scored, he scored over 3,000 points obviously, but he had 1,909 rebounds in high school. He’s the all-time leading rebounder in Alabama high school history. Rebounding translates. You can be a good rebounder in high school, you’re going to be a good rebounder in college, you’re going to be a good rebounder in the NBA. He’s going to be a good rebounder everywhere.
"I think he’s a playmaking, 6-9 guy. I don’t say this lightly, he’s as good of player as we’ve signed since we’ve been here. He’s a really, really special talent. Not just because of what he brings on the court but his high school program was, obviously they won three state titles, but his high school program was well-run. His high school coach does a phenomenal job. His family did a phenomenal job. I think his learning curve is not going to be quite as much. His brother was a really, really high level player at Indiana, one of the top 10 all-time scorers at Indiana. He’s played in the G-League the last couple of years. Played overseas. He just has all the makings of a special, special player.”
13
Posted on 5/30/19 at 10:57 am to macaoidh
I like what he said about Hyatt
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:11 am to UptownnMike
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:12 am to macaoidh
That all sounds very encouraging. If we can land a serviceable big (6'9"+) who plays solid defense, we'll be in better shape going into 2019 than we were going into 2018.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:14 am to macaoidh
I always appreciate the thought and detail that Wade provides when he evaluates the program, players, needs, etc.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:22 am to SCP
Love reading interviews with Wade when it comes to actual basketball and his guys. You can tell he’s very passionate about the guys who he recruits and he cares for them. It’s so great to finally have a good basketball program
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:34 am to UptownnMike
Yea, my concern with Hyatt was if he was such a good shooter, why wasn’t his redshirt burned while we were only rotating 8 and struggled from 3. Good to know he at least made them consider burning it. If not, that probably wouldn’t be a good sign.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:36 am to macaoidh
One other thing of interest...
On Javonte, Skylar and James Bishop: “I like our length. We’re going to be big. We may not necessarily be big in the post. Hopefully we’ll get another big guy. We’re going to be big. We’re going to be long at the guard spot. It’ll allow us to switch, allow us to do some things. Honestly we just got to be a lot more, we’ve been a little too high-risk, high-reward defensively. We’ve just gotta be a lot more solid if we’re going to take that next step to be an elite program.
"We’ve got to become an elite defensive team and defensive rebounding team. We’re an elite offensive team. We’re an elite offensive rebounding team. And our defense has been just good enough. But it hasn’t been where it’s gotta be if we’re going to stack up with everybody. But I do think our backcourt will give us some versatility to switch and just keep people in front and hopefully get in there. When I talk about rebounding, we’ve got some big guards now. Our guards gotta be able to rebound down, pinch the elbows and help us rebound and start our break.
"We’ve got to be able to take advantage of having those bigger guards and having those good guards. I think Bishop. He’s just a scoring machine. He’s going to fit in with what we do. He’s a lefty. I love lefty guards. He led the Under Armour circuit in scoring. So he’s just got a natural knack. He’s going to help our shooting. I think Skylar’s going to have a great year shooting. I think he’s going to shoot 40-plus percent from three. We gotta get better there, but I feel good about our backcourt.”
I get the impression we're going to look a little like Auburn did this year, though with a lot better interior play when we have to play a half-court game.
This might be the most fun-to-watch LSU team in a long, long time. Just give me a serviceable big who can rebound and defend; that's the only piece missing.
On Javonte, Skylar and James Bishop: “I like our length. We’re going to be big. We may not necessarily be big in the post. Hopefully we’ll get another big guy. We’re going to be big. We’re going to be long at the guard spot. It’ll allow us to switch, allow us to do some things. Honestly we just got to be a lot more, we’ve been a little too high-risk, high-reward defensively. We’ve just gotta be a lot more solid if we’re going to take that next step to be an elite program.
"We’ve got to become an elite defensive team and defensive rebounding team. We’re an elite offensive team. We’re an elite offensive rebounding team. And our defense has been just good enough. But it hasn’t been where it’s gotta be if we’re going to stack up with everybody. But I do think our backcourt will give us some versatility to switch and just keep people in front and hopefully get in there. When I talk about rebounding, we’ve got some big guards now. Our guards gotta be able to rebound down, pinch the elbows and help us rebound and start our break.
"We’ve got to be able to take advantage of having those bigger guards and having those good guards. I think Bishop. He’s just a scoring machine. He’s going to fit in with what we do. He’s a lefty. I love lefty guards. He led the Under Armour circuit in scoring. So he’s just got a natural knack. He’s going to help our shooting. I think Skylar’s going to have a great year shooting. I think he’s going to shoot 40-plus percent from three. We gotta get better there, but I feel good about our backcourt.”
I get the impression we're going to look a little like Auburn did this year, though with a lot better interior play when we have to play a half-court game.
This might be the most fun-to-watch LSU team in a long, long time. Just give me a serviceable big who can rebound and defend; that's the only piece missing.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:44 am to macaoidh
Who are the former player's kids that are future studs referenced by Will Wade (in relation to Taz value in recruiting).
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:45 am to bugafor6
quote:
Yea, my concern with Hyatt was if he was such a good shooter, why wasn’t his redshirt burned while we were only rotating 8 and struggled from 3. Good to know he at least made them consider burning it. If not, that probably wouldn’t be a good sign.
He came in injured, I dont think they wanted to rush him on the court. By January he said he was thinking about it, probably because they felt like he was at or close to 100% by then, but from what I recall we convinced him to enroll a year ahead here to rehab him properly.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:52 am to Manswers
quote:
That all sounds very encouraging. If we can land a serviceable big (6'9"+) who plays solid defense, we'll be in better shape going into 2019 than we were going into 2018.
I believe that with the experience we have coming back, we already are in better shape than we were last year. People really don't appreciate the coaching job Wade did. Only two of the top eight had any experience playing in game conditions together. I expect the returning freshmen to make a major leap in contributing to the team.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:53 am to covtgr
Jabari Smith's son is the only one I know of.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:56 am to covtgr
quote:
Who are the former player's kids that are future studs referenced by Will Wade (in relation to Taz value in recruiting).
Jabari Smith, Jr., who is a Top 50 national recruit out of Sandy Creek HS in Georgia for the 2021 class.
And yes, you are old.
This post was edited on 5/30/19 at 11:57 am
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:57 am to macaoidh
Make sense to keep Graves on scholarship at this point after we swung and missed on so many guys now. Like Wade said I expect us to find 1 big we can play and another guy we redshirt probably at this point and that's it.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:57 am to macaoidh
quote:Seeing the Jr. behind that name definitely makes me feel like it.
Jabari Smith, Jr., who is a Top 50 national recruit out of Sandy Creek HS in Georgia.
And yes, you are old.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:59 am to SCP
quote:
I always appreciate the thought and detail that Wade provides when he evaluates the program, players, needs, etc.
Certainly sounds like a man with a plan, and confident IRT what the 2019-2020 squad will look like. Add that 6'9"-10" rim protector/rebounder, which will enhance his 8-9 player rotation, and make a run at it.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 11:59 am to thunderbird1100
I would have taken Jordan Wright with that scholarship, but it's fine. I don't know that Wright would give you more than Graves will, and you can certainly get a better player in 2020 with that scholarship.
Supposedly they're looking at adding a local kid, but I don't know a name. I would guess that's a walkon who maybe gets a scholarship if they strike out with the two bigs they're recruiting.
Supposedly they're looking at adding a local kid, but I don't know a name. I would guess that's a walkon who maybe gets a scholarship if they strike out with the two bigs they're recruiting.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 12:00 pm to thunderbird1100
I mean, that’s basically the beginning of the meat and potatoes of the schedule. I doubt he would have been a full go at practice, and performing well in scrimmages if he was still doing intense rahab
Posted on 5/30/19 at 12:03 pm to landmanner
Awesome read...thanks for posting Scott.
Can't get enough good basketball talk.
Wade confirmed for me that Cooper will be able to play a role...which is good. I think he's more than just a body.
And I expected a transition this year to something a little closer to AU as well Scott.
Can't get enough good basketball talk.
Wade confirmed for me that Cooper will be able to play a role...which is good. I think he's more than just a body.
And I expected a transition this year to something a little closer to AU as well Scott.
Posted on 5/30/19 at 12:32 pm to macaoidh
quote:
we’ve been a little too high-risk, high-reward defensively
THANK YOU!!!
I'm so happy to see him say that because that EXACTLY what has been the issue on defense. LSU was one of the best in the SEC in creating steals/turnovers, yet were in the bottom half to 1/3rd in defensive efficiency.
Offense is great and you have to have it, but the elite teams are the ones that are extremely efficient on the defensive end.
Without Waters, I expect a bit of a dip in offensive efficiency (though maybe not overall scoring). But if LSU can balance that by becoming a much better defensive team (i.e. top 25) I'll GLADLY accept the tradeoff.
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