Chris Douglas-Roberts and our recruiting history

['86]

How's about, does anyone have a little historical perspective on BB recruiting to share?

What happened with Detroiter Douglas-Roberts that he went to Memphis and we signed out-of-staters T Walt and Mojo? Douglas-Roberts was ranked about 75th overall, our signees both up in the 100's.

Do you see this program ready to sustain home-run classes like the last two? What does it take for us to have a lapse in recruiting in any given year?

Any thoughts on what it will take for us to have an awesome class this year? FYI, I like to talk about upside. There is no need to disparage anyone, we should always allow room for overachievement and sleepers. Even so, there is nothing wrong with slobbering over a guy you think will make some noise at the next level.

TIA

[Sparty2QP]

World Wide Wes and Calipari are "buddies". See Dejuan Wagner.

['86]

65 views and one reply, un-ac-ceptable!!! C'mon you guys, let's have it. This is an interesting subject. I only know of WWW, but I also know there's more to the Douglas-Roberts recruitment story than that. It seems I read we didn't offer him, is that right? What can we say, there have been times when has just blown it!? I'm new to recruiting, for so many years I was just conditioned to looking forward to the annual write-up and breakdown of our football classes in the newspapers. I know nothing of the stories of all the other recruits throughout the years.

So c'mon GRR, some of the rest of you, spill it! I know I'm not the only one who wants to know! Like, here's another question. Why the strategy of only dangling a handful of offers out there? Why don't we practically automatically offer the top ten or twenty rated guys, or at least all the top guys not committed in positions of need. There's so much to try to get a handle on while we're waiting for '09 recruit number two to 'come on down!'

[OdomPond]

Originally Posted by '86

Why the strategy of only dangling a handful of offers out there? Why don't we practically automatically offer the top ten or twenty rated guys, or at least all the top guys not committed in positions of need.

In addition to bball skills, Izzo also recruits character and work ethic. The fact that MSU has little to no off the court problems doesn't happen on accident.

In the case of CDR and other recent targets, as soon as handlers (like WWW) are involved, Izzo backs off.

[Springfield Duvel]

I would also note that the year with TWalt and Mojo, MSU had an early commit from Eric Devendorf (or however you spell it). Izzo had his outside shooting guard early and then Eric decided that he did not want to go to state. I don't know the whole story but basicly Izzo had to go for the next guy and the next guy.

['86]

Ok, this is all good. I didn't want to do it, but I had to, WWW:

IS THIS THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN SPORTS?: GQ Features on men.style.com

How naive was I? The Family? AAU? Really, I guess I know nothing about recruiting? Are these 'handlers' everywhere? I really feel like I know nothing, now.

I appreciate the Devendorf info, too. That makes sense, your plan A recruit decommits and you are left scrambling.

['86]

... perhaps it'll be interesting for some- this is the next to the last page of the above linked article giving a little insight into WWW and Memphis as well. On the very last page, they mention '08 recruit Tyreke Evans, a 5* with Memphis on his short list.

“All right. All right.”
“Where you from, again?”

“GQ.”

“I’ve been hearing about you. That you’ve been misleading people. Asking a lot of questions about me. I’m not a story. I’m just a nice guy. I’m not powerful; that’s a myth.”

“I think you are—”

“Telling people that you’re writing a story about one thing and then asking a lot of questions about me.” He’s angry that I’ve been looking into his association with high school players. “That’s a land mine you sittin’ on, boss.”

“You going to be around this week?”

“Nah. I’m out of here.”

“We should talk.”

And then his tone changes. From slightly annoyed to confrontational. “Why should I talk to you? You should have come to me first.”

“I wanted to do my homework first.”

“If you’ve done your homework, then you’ll know that there’s a lot of sensational stuff¬ out there. I’m not going to talk to you now.” He turns and begins walking away, then he stops, spins on a heel to face me. He extends a finger in my direction and says, “Because the moment you write one wrong thing…”
*****

The Nike Super 6, a mid-January extravaganza of high school hoops staged at the World’s Most Famous Arena, is exactly the type of event that Wes marks on his calendar. It’s a chance for the next generation of superstars to put their talent on display in front of a crowd of thousands. Rick Pitino is here. Rumor is that John Calipari is in attendance. And Wes is here, too, seated courtside between a man named Reggie Evans and Eric Goodwin, the muscle-bound brother of LeBron’s former agent, Aaron Goodwin. It’s surreal to see Wes sitting next to Goodwin; by all accounts he loathes Wes. Between games, Wes mockingly waves to me.

This afternoon’s main attraction is one Derrick Rose, a six-foot-three-inch blisteringly fast point guard from Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy. Journalists and insiders who have followed Rose’s career also noted Wes’s presence on the sideline of Derrick’s AAU games last summer. Rose’s college choices came down to Memphis, Illinois, and Indiana. One journalist told me, “When I saw the list, I knew Derrick was going to Memphis.” The prediction was correct.

When I talk to John Calipari, he says it makes sense that Wes would recommend Memphis to Derrick Rose. “It’s the right fit,” he tells me, and then adds, “Wes is a goodwill ambassador to our program.”

Sounds dirty. Hate it!

[IzzoisdaMan]

Back to the CDR recruitment...MSU WAS interested and recruited him. There were some off court issues though...specifically, an incident at the USA Basketball Festival (supposedly skipped a practice and had some attitude issues). He had some minor academic issues in high school too.

From what I remember, he wasn't very interested in MSU. Kansas and Arizona were considered the leaders but he ended up committing to Memphis without taking any visits (whispers that KU and Zona pulled their offers).

To his credit, he hasn't had any issues at Memphis and obviously is a helluva player.

[BeantownSparty]

Just to clarify... MOJO was not well into the 100s like Walton (100 or just before 100 depending on the source) . He was a four star recruit so it wasn't as though they were scraping the barrel to get him (even though he did not pan out as hoped).

[NorCal Spartan]

Originally Posted by BeantownSparty

Just to clarify... MOJO was not well into the 100s like Walton (100 or just before 100 depending on the source) . He was a four star recruit so it wasn't as though they were scraping the barrel to get him (even though he did not pan out as hoped).

I've only ever Joseph listed as a 4 star recruit on Scout.

On Rivals:
Maurice Joseph - Basketball Recruiting
Here he's listed at #136.

Rivals.com Prospect Rankings
These rankings may be old, but everywhere on Rivals I see he's about the same.

Scout had him at 4-star and at #100. I'll take Rivals.

['86]

Originally Posted by IzzoisdaMan

Back to the CDR recruitment...MSU WAS interested and recruited him. There were some off court issues though...specifically, an incident at the USA Basketball Festival (supposedly skipped a practice and had some attitude issues). He had some minor academic issues in high school too.

From what I remember, he wasn't very interested in MSU. Kansas and Arizona were considered the leaders but he ended up committing to Memphis without taking any visits (whispers that KU and Zona pulled their offers).

To his credit, he hasn't had any issues at Memphis and obviously is a helluva player.

Thanks. Yeah, I just stumbled into all of this and started following one thing and then another. I see now we've already had WWW and CDR threads. I ran across this from Da Chairman:

It wasn't academics it was more an attitude thing. There were some red flags that made coaches think twice about recruiting him. If you'll remember the recruiting game in Michigan was CRAZY in 04 and 05.

Malik Hairston (04), Joe Crawford (04), Al Horford (04), Eric Devendorf (05), Chris Doug and Wilson Chandler (05).

All were at least Top 40 kids and none ended up instate. Izz and TA were pretty fed up with any kid that had any red flags whatsoever during that time. They really gravitated towards kids that didn't have an drama in their recruitments.

MSU was fortunate to land Gray and Neitzel early. Then they got Suton. UM got Jerret Smith early. Both schools lost out on Horford and Sasha Kaun.

They both lost out on Crawford and Hairston. MSU lost out on James Hardy.

**
I told Izz and TA recruiting would get a lot better (ie simpler) with the classes of 07 and beyond. So far it's been that way but the state of Michigan was just pretty crazy in the classes of 04, 05 and 06.

http://www.spartantailgate.com/forum...s-roberts.html

I'm not exactly sure what 'crazy' means here. Did we or did we not miss out on guys that we need to compete at the highest level? Could that happen this year? The behind the scenes in recruiting sounds like it can get a little hairy if not downright dirty.

[GRR Spartan]

Okay '86 I'll type very slowly so you get it.

1. World Wide Wes was involved. He has a good track record of "helping" recruits make choices.

2. IZZO has a track record of telling recruits what they have to do academically to stay on MSU's active list. If a player doesn't show he is working to get accepted by MSU's admissions office with grades and test scores IZZO backs off. The Benton Harbor kid who ended up at DePaul falls into that category.

3.There are only so many scholarships and at some point in time the staff sits down and decides who they have a LEGITIMATE chance of signing (Joseph/Neitzel) and who is playing the waiting game(Horford) and who is playing real games (Kaun who was waiting for Kansas to hire his prep school coach as an assistant) or players who are hooked up with World Wide Wes types and are getting someone paid (AAU coach/HS coach/street agent/family member.)

['86]

Originally Posted by GRR Spartan

Okay '86 I'll type very slowly so you get it.

1. World Wide Wes was involved. He has a good track record of "helping" recruits make choices.

2. IZZO has a track record of telling recruits what they have to do academically to stay on MSU's active list. If a player doesn't show he is working to get accepted by MSU's admissions office with grades and test scores IZZO backs off. The Benton Harbor kid who ended up at DePaul falls into that category.

3.There are only so many scholarships and at some point in time the staff sits down and decides who they have a LEGITIMATE chance of signing (Joseph/Neitzel) and who is playing the waiting game(Horford) and who is playing real games (Kaun who was waiting for Kansas to hire his prep school coach as an assistant) or players who are hooked up with World Wide Wes types and are getting someone paid (AAU coach/HS coach/street agent/family member.)

You don't have many friends, do you, GRR?

'Crazy' makes a lot more sense, but why you figured I should just know this I don't know. So, what happened to the craziness? Did things just get cleaned up all of a sudden? If this happened then, how can guys speculate on recruiting now not knowing what's going on in private- who is looking for sweetheart deals, etc., etc. What causes all these blue chip recruits to go to top 5 programs? How can we make the push to that next level? I could be wrong but I doubt they are doing it with dirtiness.

Maybe none of us knows, I don't know. It's still real dirty out there or it isn't?

[GRR Spartan]

I have friends and some are in Big Ten AD offices, some are coaches at multiple levels in college.

Your post gave the impression that recruiting is like a video game and once you figure out the formula no one gets away. I can tell you that there are some meetings where coaches walk away knowing that someone has sealed the deal and the player /family is going through the motions to make it look legit.

By the time a player is a D1 recruit for any top 100 program there isn't a lot left to know about except what is in their head, if they will gain weight/strength and if they will progress once they are playing against teams as loaded as they team they are on.

The coaches know about grades, how the player interacts with his coaches (see Alex Legion), if they will move away from home (Chris Allen) and if they are going to listen to parents (Delvon Roe) or other advisors (Porter and Hairston).

We will never know what happened between MSU's staff and Al Horford but MSU sure cooled on him, Horford backs out from Amaker and has a great career at Florida.

Not every program is dirty but there are coaches like Sampson and Calipari who are aggressive recruiters while there are coaches like Tubby Smith and IZZO and even Coach K who show respect for each other.

['86]

Originally Posted by GRR Spartan

I have friends and some are in Big Ten AD offices, some are coaches at multiple levels in college.

Your post gave the impression that recruiting is like a video game and once you figure out the formula no one gets away. I can tell you that there are some meetings where coaches walk away knowing that someone has sealed the deal and the player /family is going through the motions to make it look legit.

By the time a player is a D1 recruit for any top 100 program there isn't a lot left to know about except what is in their head, if they will gain weight/strength and if they will progress once they are playing against teams as loaded as they team they are on.

The coaches know about grades, how the player interacts with his coaches (see Alex Legion), if they will move away from home (Chris Allen) and if they are going to listen to parents (Delvon Roe) or other advisors (Porter and Hairston).

We will never know what happened between MSU's staff and Al Horford but MSU sure cooled on him, Horford backs out from Amaker and has a great career at Florida.

Not every program is dirty but there are coaches like Sampson and Calipari who are aggressive recruiters while there are coaches like Tubby Smith and IZZO and even Coach K who show respect for each other.

That's good, and I've said many times I'm new at this. You read posts though, 'Izzo needs to recruit such and such kind of player', 'Izzo missed it with that one', 'Why can't we get recruits like UNC?'

The last two years in recruiting have been superb, I think everyone would like to see us sustain that. Right now, we have murmurings that there aren't any world-beaters on the radar. I'm just getting familiar with the landscape, the process, and now the dark side... Like everyone else, I'm pulling for us to have another great class, and trying to understand it all.

[phavenst]

Originally Posted by '86

That's good, and I've said many times I'm new at this. You read posts though, 'Izzo needs to recruit such and such kind of player', 'Izzo missed it with that one', 'Why can't we get recruits like UNC?'

The last two years in recruiting have been superb, I think everyone would like to see us sustain that. Right now, we have murmurings that there aren't any world-beaters on the radar. I'm just getting familiar with the landscape, the process, and now the dark side... Like everyone else, I'm pulling for us to have another great class, and trying to understand it all.

There's only so many times you can use the "I'm new at this" excuse to defend your annoying and idiotic comments. I've never come across a more needy person on a message board before. Wahh Wahh..no one will give you all of the answers to the world's mysteries.

['86]

Originally Posted by phavenst

There's only so many times you can use the "I'm new at this" excuse to defend your annoying and idiotic comments. I've never come across a more needy person on a message board before. Wahh Wahh..no one will give you all of the answers to the world's mysteries.

What, is this three in a row? Four? Whichever, a string of caustic, critical posts without one that is positive. I'd say it's you. And, they really are caustic, too. I can only hope you're getting internet access from a cave.

['86]

talks a bit about the CDR recruitment at the end of part 4 of his 3/24 presser, which video is on Hondo's House:

Welcome to Hondo's House

Throughout, speaks well of Calipari and there doesn't seem to be a hint of bitterness about the CDR recruitment. gives CDR credit for bringing up his game a whole new level in college. Apparently, he was really skinny in high school and wasn't a 'must have' recruit. That's good, my faith is restored.

Who knows what to think about WWW, maybe he is a "nice guy". Whatever he's up to and however he gets his money, it's not hard to imagine 'somewhat' legitimate income like kickbacks from Leon Rose or shoe company money for keeping A I and others in line.

[Spartan_MD]

Originally Posted by '86

Who knows what to think about WWW, maybe he is a "nice guy".

Wes IS a nice guy.

['86]

Originally Posted by Spartan_MD

Wes IS a nice guy.

Cool. He's obviously tough, too. It's fascinating, a guy able run in those circles and get some of that money due to no apparent skill other than personality. That is really interesting. I think I read there may be a movie about him coming up.

[Ari Gold]

Originally Posted by '86

65 views and one reply, un-ac-ceptable!!! C'mon you guys, let's have it. This is an interesting subject. I only know of WWW, but I also know there's more to the Douglas-Roberts recruitment story than that. It seems I read we didn't offer him, is that right? What can we say, there have been times when has just blown it!? I'm new to recruiting, for so many years I was just conditioned to looking forward to the annual write-up and breakdown of our footb