Article in Birmingham News about SEC Basketball and Recruiting.

[AzzurriDawg4]

Ranks classes over the last 4 years and shows results - State is ranked 7th in the SEC over that time.

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[99jc]

7. Mississippi State -2008-09 record: 14-6, 4-1.

State's 2005 class ranked seventh in the nation, yet not a single player from that crop remains. Since then, the Bulldogs have recruited off the radar. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;">Maybe Rick Stansbury, who earned his rep on the recruiting trail, is a much better Xs and Os coach than people realize.
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i just hate that mass substitution pattern....and lets see how he coaches against Jodi Meeks.
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[Frances Drebin]

...that maybe he's a better evaluator of talent? Just because he's "recruited off the radar" doesn't mean he hasn't recruited well. He's clearly gotten some players.

 

[MSUCostanza]

If it's true that he hasn't gotten the "cream of the crop" players, then one has to admit that he's a good evaluator of talent, and must be able to coach some, since he has won a lot of games and championships over his tenure.

If it's true that he's a terrible coach, then he must have awesome players, since we still manage to win a lot of games.

I personally think it's somewhere in the middle. I think he is a good to very good recruiter (not great) and a good to very good coach (not great). There is a reason Duke, UNC, etc are always in the top 10. They have McD's AA's sitting on their bench waiting for their chance to play. We've had, what? One or two McD's AA's suit up for us in our history? That shows me that we are not getting elite talent. So to win as much as we have must mean we have a pretty good coach who is a good evaluator of guys that can succeed in college.

 

[patdog]

For most of his players you can see the improvement each year they're in the program (well, for those that stay in the program you can). He's a better Xs and Os coach than he's given credit for, but he's still probably only average at that part of the game. His strengths are recruiting, evaluating talent, and developing talent.</p>

 

[saltybulldog]

I was thinking this same thing this morning and got me thinking....

MSU currently has more players with NBA potential than we have had collectively since Stans has been the coach.

I am buying. Varnado, Bost, and R. Johnson all seem to be future NBA guys.

 

[fishwater99]

Stans is a good recruiter and an even better evaluator of talent, but isn't that just recruiting..
He okay at coaching , and has gotten better over the years, but he just can't seem to win the Big Game outside the SEC.
Can we do better at MSU? probably not.

 

[TheHorrorTheHorror]

i'll buy on Vanardo. he'll find a place & he may not start. but he will be in the league.

i still think it may be too soon to make a decision on bost & ravern, but i do agree that they have more promise than most anyone else that has come through the system.

 

[8dog]

3 4-stars with a fourth coming off the bench?

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

is there any? Does Huertas have the game to come off the bench for a few years? He's big enough, and can seemingly shoot well enough. Andy thought Malcolm White had NBA potential out of high school, but he never showed it before last night. Terrico White? Maybe, but wayyy too early to judge him. Hell, Warren will probably get picked up by someone for a while, even at his height.

Do any of y'all see any of those guys getting at least a stint on a team?

 

[Hanmudog]

Malcolm White definitely has the build and the ability but I don't know about his head. He reminds me a bit of a young Charles Rhodes. Good one game and gone the next. I think Warren is just not big enough for the NBA and stays out around the three point line too much instead of driving it in. Huertas is turning out to be a good player but he seems a bit mental sometimes. Too emotional maybe. If that makes any sense.

 

[RebelBruiser]

Just my opinion, but Terrico White has the most NBA potential on our team by a long margin. He's got great quickness and athletic ability, and he's got a pretty good outside shot, along with having pretty good size for a guard. Warren is too small. Honestly, he's Devan Downey without quite as much ability to score off the drive. After Terrico, I'd say Murphy Holloway has the next most potential. His problem will be that he's only 6-5 or 6-6. He's a little small to play the 3 in the NBA, but he's not a good enough perimeter guy to play at the 2.

It's really strange to me how different the NBA game is. You can be a great college basketball player and have very little NBA potential, simply because so much of being an NBA player is dependent on having a specific size and a specific skill set to match that size.