Quote:
Originally Posted by thenatural15
For those of you who believe Izzo missed on CDR I thought you might find this interesting, its a quote from today's Lansing State Journal, in an article by Joe Rexrode:
"
"I mean, I think that kid deserves a lot of credit," Izzo said. "He really has taken his game to another level. It wasn't that us or Michigan or anybody else missed. (Memphis) got him, but it wasn't like he was everybody's superstar. He's made himself a great player. He's made himself an All-American, and he and Calipari deserve credit for that, they really do."
This was part of the same article....
Douglas-Roberts, a former star at Detroit Cass Tech and Northwestern, was recruited but not offered a scholarship by MSU coach Tom Izzo. He was an erratic, turnover-prone player as a freshman, but has blossomed into a Naismith Award finalist as a junior - joining North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, Kansas State's Michael Beasley and UCLA's Kevin Love.
I completely agree that some of Izzo's plan B's or C's or D's haven't quite been where all the rest of us would like. And I think one of Izzo's main issues is he doesn't recruit outside the midwest very often, at least not nearly as vigorously as he does within the midwest. Don't take me wrong the midwest is very rich in talent but I believe with the system that we run at times we don't get the dynamic type of player like J-Rich enough...someone who can create their own shot like KL does to help break down a defense.
Whats funny though is KL reminds me a lot of what many thought Brandon Cotton would bring to MSU before transferring to U of D...I mean really U of DETROIT???? |
Nice debut post and welcome to the board. I agree with your point about Izzo's Midwest-centric recruiting and how it sometimes curtails his efforts to maintain continuity in the program if he misses on his top target or two. And things can become even harder when he doesn't recruit the PSL as hard as the talent that the PSL annually produces
suggests that he should recruit it.
Note: I know all about the coaches and handlers and uncles aunties brothers that you have to deal with when you recruit certain kids in the D. It can be annoying, trying and a bitch...but with Ramar Smith, Manny, Hairston, Crawford, CDR, etc...sometimes the extra effort is worth the hassel. Not always...but sometimes.
Izzo should ALWAYS be recruiting a few 6'5" to 6'8" long athletic wings who can crash the boards and slash to the hoop. IMO you can never have enough Mo Pete's, Jason Richardson's, Alan Anderson's, Raymar Morgan's and Delvon Roe's. Wings like that are so versatile that they're worth their weight in gold. If Izzo can't find those kind of players in the Midwest in any given year....he needs to start looking outside of the Midwest instead of settling for so many sub 6'5" wings.