BOL Round Table

It is absurd to me that you don't understand hoops recruiting. It takes years to establish and develop relationships with prospects. It is very unsual for a player to develop as an upperclassman in high school into a college prospect. The star players are identified very early in high school, if not before in junior high/middle school. That is what it takes to recruit stud hoops players. In the spring, very few big-time recruits are uncommitted, as the vast majority of top 150 players committ early in the fall. When the attrition happened in the spring, CAG didn't have established relationships with players to fill the roster spots. So, he did the smart thing and kept those schollies in his pocket until the '13 & '14 classes. It appears to me that the '14 class is much stronger than the '13 class overall and thus, CAG won't likely sign anyone this spring, but rather save the extra schollie for the '14 class. No inside info. here, just my observations from the outside looking in and reading between the lines based on the staff's actions. I hope this raises your level of understanding of how the college hoops recruiting world works. RTR!!!

Thanks for the lesson on hoops recruiting but I'm perfectly aware of how it goes, I've been following it for about 15 years. Yes it takes years to establish relationships with the top guys, especially trying to convince the top prospects to come to Alabama. If you go back and look at my posts in this thread I'm not talking about signing a top-flight guy in the spring. I'm well aware that one of Grant's top targets was Willie Cauley and we looked like the team to beat until UK came calling. In my opinion Grant should have looked to the JUCO ranks for help in the post this year after missing on Cauley, and I specifically mentioned a player from Birmingham that signed with Arkansas in the spring that could help our team. I don't know if we recruited Clarke or not, his recruiting profile says we didn't but I know these sites aren't a 100% accurate. But I seriously doubt Anderson spent years building a relationship and recruiting Clarke. Going into the season with the three post players on our roster was a huge risk and has cost us games.

I'm just using Clarke as an example, I'm sure there are plenty of JUCO big men that signed with much less prestigious schools than Alabama that would have jumped at an opportunity to play at Bama and the SEC. Considering our depth, just another warm body and 5 fouls would've helped our team, especially when Engstrom went down. And losing Steele and Engstrom isn't a legitimate excuse to lose to Mercer and Tulane at home. Maybe I expect too much out of the program, but losing to those teams is what is keeping us out of the dance right now which is frustrating. But you're right, next year is a make a break season for CAG both on the court and the recruiting trail. Lets hope he can get the job done.