I'm in a researching mood with all the basketball discussion going on and I decided to really dig into basketball recruiting inside the state of MS.... It was mentioned in another thread that Howland would "dominate MS with his resume" and it sparked my interest... What exactly is there to dominate when it comes to basketball in the state of Mississippi.
This is why it is difficult to win here... not only do you have to convince basketball players to come play here in Tad Smith, but you also have to convince kids to come to MS to play because as you'll find out, there ain't a whole hell of a lot to pick from..
Let's start most recently...
2014
There were 5 players ranked by Rivals in the 2014 class. All 5 signed at universities. 1 played significant minutes and contributed in any way.
Devin Booker : obviously you have to start here. He's the best player in MS for quite some time. The only problem? He isn't actually from MS. He is from Michigan and has no ties here other than his family moved here around his junior year of high school. He never considered Ole Miss or State in any way.Johnny Zapardo : signed with MooU. JUCO forward who injured his knee and never saw the floor. He was recruited by the likes of St. Bonaventure, Kent St., Tulane, and Washington. Not exactly you're program changer here.Dayshawn Watkins : Signed with Florida St out of Holmes CC. Okay, we're getting somewhere. JUCO PG who was only ranked a 3*. Had no other scholarship offers on his Rivals profile. The FSU website lists him as the #3 overall JUCO PG in the country, but nothing stat wise or history wise really supports that. He was academically qualified out of high school in Arkansas, but still wound up at Holmes CC before FSU. Avg. a whopping 9 minutes a game and only made 7 shots all year.Maurice Dunlap : 3* who signed with MooU. Never saw the floor and most consider him an option to transfer out.Xavian Stapleton : Being from Madison I'm partial to this one. Stapleton could play. He was a 6'5 shooter with extremely long arms. He wasn't recruited at all and ended up at LaTech. Played well down the stretch and could be a good player for LaTech.Joniah White : 7' foot Center from MC, nephew of Raheem Lockhart. Nicknamed "Slim" for a reason. He'll be lucky to ever see significant time at LaTech
2013
5 Ranked players, all 3* talents. Dwight Coleby is the only player making an impact anywhere. I'm not even gonna list these guys.... Deville Smith never played at State and ended up at UNLV as a headcase, now played his final season at UT-Martin this year. One guy plays at JSU, the other was arrested for rape, and the final ranked player is Sam Craft playing football at Memphis. Kenny Paul Geno rides the pine at UGA and he was unranked.
2012
On the cover this looked like a good year for MS! A 5* player, a 4* player, and 3 more 3* players!
Devonta Pollard : 5* signed out of state with Alabama. Neither team could keep him instate. Ended up, his family is crazy and they dragged him down with them. At Houston attempting to resurrect his career. Best of luck to the guy cause he got put through some serious stuff.Gavin Ware : 4* done pretty well at MSU. Was from Starkville, we never had a shot at him.Colin Borchert : 3* JUCO had a mediocre career at MooU. Never did anything of note.Fred Thomas : 3*. Currently doing nothing at MooU. Decent 3 point shooter and defender, pretty terrible at everything else. We didn't even offer him out of high school. Only listed offers are MSU and UTEP.Twymond Howard : 3* signed with UTEP, ended up at UT-Martin. Top 150 overall player, with offers from Ole Miss, UTEP, Maryland, Arkansas, Baylor, Georgetown, MSU, and Tennessee. Yet he ends up at UTEP? Never contributed there and is starting at UT-Martin now.
2011
This is the year. Basketball was actually good in MS. 12 ranked players, one 5*, five 4*'s, and six 3*s. This year is considered LOADED for MS.
Rodney Hood, Johnny O'Bryant, Tyler Adams : All exceptional basketball layers. We all know the story on JOB. He loved AK and wanted to play at Ole Miss, but when it came down to it, he couldn't play in Tad Smith in front of no fans. Due to no fault of Kennedy, he chose LSU. Tyler Adams wanted out of state and ended up at Georgetown, later to find out he had a heart condition and is unable to ever play basketball again. Rodney Hood was MSU all the way and only until Stansbury left, he went to Duke.Deville Smith, LaAntwan Luckett, DJ Gardner : All 4* players. Smith we have already discussed, ended up at 3 different schools. Luckett was a 4* top 100 player that signed with ALCORN STATE. What does that tell you about the perception of basketball players in MS? Gardner tweeted the f-word to MSU when they decided to redshirt him. He has not played college basketball.Jarvis Summers, Snoop White, Aaron Jones : Ole Miss signed these three 3* players out of the remaining crop. They have been steady contributors for us and that's been the best we have to work with. These 3 turned out better than nearly every other player in the state that year outside of Hood and JOB. That shows AKs ability to take kids and make them into good basketball players. He only takes MS kids when he sees potential in them. As you can see.... these 3 are the only MS players AK has signed outside of Dwight Coleby in the last 4 recruiting cycles. All 4 have turned out better than almost every other MS player in their class.
I could go farther but I think everyone should get the point. The guys out of MS that AK has signed, have been better than nearly every player to come out of MS in the same time-frame.
This is a serious limitation when it comes to this job and MooU's job. If Howland can recruit nationally, then they will win. If he can't, they won't. Period. To put it into a little perspective... let's check some of the basketball rich states and see how many players they pump out per year compared to Mississippi's 5 or 6.
Arizona - 10+ per year.
Illinois - 20+ 3* or higher
Indiana - 10+ per year
Kansas - Around 10 per year w/ multiple 4* and 5* players
Maryland - 10+ w/ elite level prospects
New Jersey - tiny NJ produces 5 or more elite prospects every year
North Carolina - 10+ with elite prospects mixed in
Pennsylvania - 10+ w/ multiple 4 and 5* players yearly
Feel free to discuss you're opinion of recruiting here.... stories on the players listed, etc. I've provided stats and evidence of how bad the state of MS has been in basketball recently. I could go farther but it would take way to much time and space.
This is why it is difficult to win here... not only do you have to convince basketball players to come play here in Tad Smith, but you also have to convince kids to come to MS to play because as you'll find out, there ain't a whole hell of a lot to pick from..
Let's start most recently...
2014
There were 5 players ranked by Rivals in the 2014 class. All 5 signed at universities. 1 played significant minutes and contributed in any way.
Devin Booker : obviously you have to start here. He's the best player in MS for quite some time. The only problem? He isn't actually from MS. He is from Michigan and has no ties here other than his family moved here around his junior year of high school. He never considered Ole Miss or State in any way.Johnny Zapardo : signed with MooU. JUCO forward who injured his knee and never saw the floor. He was recruited by the likes of St. Bonaventure, Kent St., Tulane, and Washington. Not exactly you're program changer here.Dayshawn Watkins : Signed with Florida St out of Holmes CC. Okay, we're getting somewhere. JUCO PG who was only ranked a 3*. Had no other scholarship offers on his Rivals profile. The FSU website lists him as the #3 overall JUCO PG in the country, but nothing stat wise or history wise really supports that. He was academically qualified out of high school in Arkansas, but still wound up at Holmes CC before FSU. Avg. a whopping 9 minutes a game and only made 7 shots all year.Maurice Dunlap : 3* who signed with MooU. Never saw the floor and most consider him an option to transfer out.Xavian Stapleton : Being from Madison I'm partial to this one. Stapleton could play. He was a 6'5 shooter with extremely long arms. He wasn't recruited at all and ended up at LaTech. Played well down the stretch and could be a good player for LaTech.Joniah White : 7' foot Center from MC, nephew of Raheem Lockhart. Nicknamed "Slim" for a reason. He'll be lucky to ever see significant time at LaTech
2013
5 Ranked players, all 3* talents. Dwight Coleby is the only player making an impact anywhere. I'm not even gonna list these guys.... Deville Smith never played at State and ended up at UNLV as a headcase, now played his final season at UT-Martin this year. One guy plays at JSU, the other was arrested for rape, and the final ranked player is Sam Craft playing football at Memphis. Kenny Paul Geno rides the pine at UGA and he was unranked.
2012
On the cover this looked like a good year for MS! A 5* player, a 4* player, and 3 more 3* players!
Devonta Pollard : 5* signed out of state with Alabama. Neither team could keep him instate. Ended up, his family is crazy and they dragged him down with them. At Houston attempting to resurrect his career. Best of luck to the guy cause he got put through some serious stuff.Gavin Ware : 4* done pretty well at MSU. Was from Starkville, we never had a shot at him.Colin Borchert : 3* JUCO had a mediocre career at MooU. Never did anything of note.Fred Thomas : 3*. Currently doing nothing at MooU. Decent 3 point shooter and defender, pretty terrible at everything else. We didn't even offer him out of high school. Only listed offers are MSU and UTEP.Twymond Howard : 3* signed with UTEP, ended up at UT-Martin. Top 150 overall player, with offers from Ole Miss, UTEP, Maryland, Arkansas, Baylor, Georgetown, MSU, and Tennessee. Yet he ends up at UTEP? Never contributed there and is starting at UT-Martin now.
2011
This is the year. Basketball was actually good in MS. 12 ranked players, one 5*, five 4*'s, and six 3*s. This year is considered LOADED for MS.
Rodney Hood, Johnny O'Bryant, Tyler Adams : All exceptional basketball layers. We all know the story on JOB. He loved AK and wanted to play at Ole Miss, but when it came down to it, he couldn't play in Tad Smith in front of no fans. Due to no fault of Kennedy, he chose LSU. Tyler Adams wanted out of state and ended up at Georgetown, later to find out he had a heart condition and is unable to ever play basketball again. Rodney Hood was MSU all the way and only until Stansbury left, he went to Duke.Deville Smith, LaAntwan Luckett, DJ Gardner : All 4* players. Smith we have already discussed, ended up at 3 different schools. Luckett was a 4* top 100 player that signed with ALCORN STATE. What does that tell you about the perception of basketball players in MS? Gardner tweeted the f-word to MSU when they decided to redshirt him. He has not played college basketball.Jarvis Summers, Snoop White, Aaron Jones : Ole Miss signed these three 3* players out of the remaining crop. They have been steady contributors for us and that's been the best we have to work with. These 3 turned out better than nearly every other player in the state that year outside of Hood and JOB. That shows AKs ability to take kids and make them into good basketball players. He only takes MS kids when he sees potential in them. As you can see.... these 3 are the only MS players AK has signed outside of Dwight Coleby in the last 4 recruiting cycles. All 4 have turned out better than almost every other MS player in their class.
I could go farther but I think everyone should get the point. The guys out of MS that AK has signed, have been better than nearly every player to come out of MS in the same time-frame.
This is a serious limitation when it comes to this job and MooU's job. If Howland can recruit nationally, then they will win. If he can't, they won't. Period. To put it into a little perspective... let's check some of the basketball rich states and see how many players they pump out per year compared to Mississippi's 5 or 6.
Arizona - 10+ per year.
Illinois - 20+ 3* or higher
Indiana - 10+ per year
Kansas - Around 10 per year w/ multiple 4* and 5* players
Maryland - 10+ w/ elite level prospects
New Jersey - tiny NJ produces 5 or more elite prospects every year
North Carolina - 10+ with elite prospects mixed in
Pennsylvania - 10+ w/ multiple 4 and 5* players yearly
Feel free to discuss you're opinion of recruiting here.... stories on the players listed, etc. I've provided stats and evidence of how bad the state of MS has been in basketball recently. I could go farther but it would take way to much time and space.
