Heath, Razorbacks taking a long look at junior class

[Hogstradamus]

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[The_Bionic_Pig]

Every player in that article should be in the Mcdonald AA games next season ...of course except for Sonny Weems who is currently in College in Ft. Smith.  If Coach Heath signs the bulk off of that list that is a top 5-10 recruiting class easily. The article left out An'Juan Wilderness who list the Hawgs as numero uno.  I can understand no mention of Wille Kemps teamate, Wayne Chism because  is either headed to prep school or JUCO because he is no-where near qualifying. Also Micheal Washington could very easily be a 5STAR recruit by the time next February rolls around.  He is absolutely dominating in Texas. 

Thaddeus Young is still not out of the realm of possibility.  He has only taken one visit and that was to Arkansas Midnight Madness.  He has not named a favorite and consistently list Arkansas among his possible college destinations in his latest article 3/8/05. 

[tophawg19]

only thing that worries me is who else is recruiting these guys . no duke ,kansas  ,kentucky ,no carolina , etc we don't need to get the kids the top 100 don't want we need some they do . then try to develop some maybe they missed .

[CarolinaHog1176]

only thing that worries me is who else is recruiting these guys . no duke ,kansas ,kentucky ,no carolina , etc we don't need to get the kids the top 100 don't want we need some they do . then try to develop some maybe they missed .

that's all fine and dandy, but we kinda need to have the same amount of success to expect to hang with them in the recruiting trenches don't you think?  it's like football.... people expect us to go after the same guys that OU goes after, but why?  we were 5-6 last year and OU was in the national title game (and got waaaaaaaxed might I add  hehe).  HDN and his staff did an exceptional job of recruiting after a sub-par season, IMO.  Heath has done nothing but over-achieve in terms of recruiting every year that he's been here thus far.  it's got to be hard to recruit good quality players when you've had the kind of records we had the past couple of years... but the youngin's do like that instant PT recruiting angle.

regardless, let's not compare ourselves with the best teams in the nation until we're among them.  until then, let's do the best job that we can of recruiting the best available talent that we have a legitimate chance of landing

[The_Bionic_Pig]

only thing that worries me is who else is recruiting these guys . no duke ,kansas ,kentucky ,no carolina , etc we don't need to get the kids the top 100 don't want we need some they do . then try to develop some maybe they missed .

 
Huh....Lebron James (He was considering Ohio St & NC if he had attended college) didn't have a scholie offer from Duke, Arizona, Kansas...etc.. did he need developing.  You can't offer every kid a scholie that you like because most programs only have 3-6 on average to give each year.  Ramar Smith & Mike Conley don't have offers from none of the teams in the final four in St. Louis and that doesn't make them "project players" now does it.  I am just not understanding your logic tophawg why would you offer a bunch of players that  ( may either not qualify or has no interest in your program due to location, record and tons of other variables )   Football Recruiting & Basketball Recruiting are 2 totally different entities.  Just because a kid averaged 10 pts a game against top level competition does not mean he would not dominate a kid in 1A who averages a triple double against weak competition.

[tophawg19]

labron had a offer from everyone.In order to beat the top teams you have recruit the same players
if not you have to find a gimmick system [nolans] however good coaches figure them out quickly .
To beat tubby your going to have to get the kind of players he does I don't pay a lot of attention to rec. gurus as i do to the top coaches . they are usually the best talent evaluators there are .
in some cases they don't recruit because they don't need that position but when you don't see any of them theres a reason .sometimes a player falls between the cracks & this is our best chance .
but you can't build a top program without top talent .It starts with top coaching & we don't have that . if we continue to recruit middle of the pack recruits you better have a genius coach .you have to get kids to buy into the system & we don't have that .there is a reason the top coaches are there they get the best players & make pro's out of them . they also recruit well enough when 1 leaves another steps in with little or no loss .

[Supermark101]

only thing that worries me is who else is recruiting these guys . no duke ,kansas ,kentucky ,no carolina , etc we don't need to get the kids the top 100 don't want we need some they do . then try to develop some maybe they missed .

Huh....Lebron James (He was considering Ohio St & NC if he had attended college) didn't have a scholie offer from Duke, Arizona, Kansas...etc.. did he need developing.  You can't offer every kid a scholie that you like because most programs only have 3-6 on average to give each year.  Ramar Smith & Mike Conley don't have offers from none of the teams in the final four in St. Louis and that doesn't make them "project players" now does it.  I am just not understanding your logic tophawg why would you offer a bunch of players that  ( may either not qualify or has no interest in your program due to location, record and tons of other variables )   Football Recruiting & Basketball Recruiting are 2 totally different entities.  Just because a kid averaged 10 pts a game against top level competition does not mean he would not dominate a kid in 1A who averages a triple double against weak competition.

I agree with u, but using Lebron James as an example is not the best. Pretty much EVERYONE knew he would go pro. Duke, Kansas, NC...etc wouldnt waste there time or recourses on a guy that would go pro. *cough*Al Jefferson *cough*

[Biggus Piggus]

regardless, let's not compare ourselves with the best teams in the nation until we're among them. until then, let's do the best job that we can of recruiting the best available talent that we have a legitimate chance of landing

I don't believe Heath has overachieved in recruiting, not with our talent level, but I agree completely with the notion of making sure we sign somebody good if we can't get somebody great.

[tophawg19]

Agreed but we can't afford any more reaches . we don't have enough talent to be wrong again .
talent wise we need 6 or 7 new players .Whoever takes over next year is gonna have to work to find players quick .

[imtad16]

Whoever takes over next year? Tophawg you sound pretty sure Stan Heath is out. Man for people like you I am gonna write down what you say and make sure you eat your words when we do pretty good next season.

[tophawg19]

Write it down and i hpoe your right if so i'll eat it like a hawg fan should . that said show me where we fixed any problem areas .same players , coaches team quit at the end of the year .Tougher schedule by far ,attitude problems Where do the wins come from .

[imtad16]

This past season was extremely hard on an inexperienced teams psyche. The heartbreaks of the season wore on them. We did not get one single break all season long in our big games. We were in position to beat very good teams like kentucky LSU Alabama MSU and even played Illinois respectably. I think they learn from such a long hard season and are a tougher team next year. Think about how cake their non conference was. It did not prepare them for close games or tough teams much less tough road enviroments. We are a talented team(raw talent is there). We have a very hard schedule next season.... especially the Maui Invitational. It will actually prepare us for conference play. Also with the vacancy of Rob Flaska's position I think we will hire an experienced a top assisstant or former head coach. Hopefully we will sign a decent PG prospect with out open scholarship...(crossing my fingers for Jamaal Brown from Southern Idaho CC, supposed to be very good.)With all these factors and a summer to try to come back together and build chemistry again we will be refined by the fire of a hard season and surprise people.

[tophawg19]

hope so cause it hurts to see the program where it's at now .just a few points !
1 if jamaal brown is good why hasn;t he already signed somewhere everyone needs good P G'S
2 where are you going to find a really good assistant who would risk 1& done when he proablably can find more security elsewhere SCOTT EDGAR came to mind but TENN. is after him .
3 coach can't control team , can't beat zone & can't get players to shoot well esp F/THROWS .
4 TEAM NEVER IMPROVED they were playing worse at the end than the start .lack of motion on off. poorly set picks over all confusion on off. players didn't know where to be on the floor without the ball
5 lack of leadership from players & coaches .
6poor rebounding supposed to be one of heath's strengths auburn killed us .
I LIKE YOUR ATTITUDE & HOPE I HAVE TO EAT ALL THIS BUT I JUST DON'T SEE IT .

[bornarazerback]

hey tophawg i couldn't agree with you any more great post. These are all true fakes.

[Biggus Piggus]

1) We did not get one single break all season long in our big games.
2) We were in position to beat very good teams like kentucky LSU Alabama MSU and even played Illinois respectably.
3) I think they learn from such a long hard season and are a tougher team next year.
4) Think about how cake their non conference was. It did not prepare them for close games or tough teams much less tough road enviroments.
5) We are a talented team(raw talent is there).
6) We have a very hard schedule next season.... especially the Maui Invitational. It will actually prepare us for conference play.

We didn't get screwed in our big games.  Except for Illinois, we didn't play defense in our big games.  Our stats in defeats were dreadful.  Still they were close games.  That's the maddening part.  We should have won some of those and clearly underperformed our potential, worse as the season went on.

How could it be such a long, hard season when it was our weakest nonconference schedule maybe in all of modern program history, and the SEC was the worst it had been since we joined?  It was long and hard for fans.  Too much ugly basketball and internal chaos.

The weak nonleague schedule overstated our W-L record.  The 18-12 makes it look like we were soooo close, but it should have been 15-16 wins.

Playing a sorry nonconference schedule didn't keep Texas A&M and NC State from having good seasons.  Their schedules were even weaker than ours was.  It's about the coaching.  Not enough got done, didn't build, just eroded.

This team has too many swing players, not enough real ones, twos and fours, needs guards really really bad, and the head coach didn't realize it till February.  In some lines of work that would be a firing offense.

If Heath hires another veteran assistant, then the group of the new guy + Thompson will look pretty good.  One wonders what the heck was going on this past season though.

[tophawg19]

i'm sure imtad16 is like the rest of us hopefull but it's like pulling a rabbit out of a hat he has to be in the hat 1st .

[imtad16]

For one Biggus I said nothing about getting screwed... I said nothing went our way...that is different from getting screwed. What I meant by long hard season was the Conference part of the season. Biggus you said we didn't play defense... look at the scores of those big games they were all low scoring, plus Tubby Smith said "we were not only one of the best defensive teams in the league but the nation" I am not saying that is totally true or anything about that is what he acutally said big words from great coach. I'll admit I try to be on the positive side and I like Stan Heath a whole lot and I think there is some good coaching with in him, I dont see how you can be Tom Izzo's top man for 3 years and come away with nothing...also he showed something at Kent state. I dont buy that Izzo's philosophy is good but wont work in the SEC argument.That philosophy sure has worked some magic in the tournement. I will agree that if Heath and the Hogs do nothing next year and show absolutely not improvement next season we should let him go. You have heard it before that basketball is like life, and if it is like life then man I just think this team will learn from the tough times of this year and use them for betterment next season. I just know if there is no pain there is no gain.




Biggus: I will give you that argument about the weak schedule..Texas A&M and NC State did make it, Texas A&M won close games in the Big 12 you could be saying the same thing about Arkansas if some our close games went our way. NC State is much better than us and went to the Sweet 16 (Julius Hodge and company.)


Guys I can't defend some of the things this team and coaching staff does or does not do, but I want to support them through thick and thin. I know people need support through times like this not people reigning criticism down on them. I would whole heartedly agree with some things you guys have said. I just don't agree with writing Stan Heath off as a lost cause and wont work out for us. I believe ability is there I think we have seen some good from him and hope the bitter turns sweet next season.

[tophawg19]

you don't have to defend your opinion you are a fan to we just disagree a little . there's always room in the middle of the road .as long as theres not a truck coming .all opinions welcome thats why their is a board here . we need differences but in the end were all like CLYDESDALES .pulling together .