Are Loyola, head coach Porter Moser and his staff getting back to the glory days of Rambler recruiting with an emphasis on the Chicago Public League? Think back to the 1980s with Alfredrick Hughes (Robeson), Darius Clemons (Phillips), Andre Moore (Carver), Carl Golston (Phillips), Greg Williams (Collins) and others putting Loyola on the college basketball map.
Right now former Marshall star Milton Doyle, who is just a freshman, is the best player in the program. Simeon's Donte Ingram is signed and headed there next year. And Public League stars Marlon Jones of Orr and Luwane Pipkins of Bogan have both been on campus recently for unofficial visits.
Just a thought on the recruiting of more shooting guards. Tony Nixon who has worked himself into the rotation will be out of eligibility this year and maybe PM is wondering if Turk will ever learn to play defense. Turk got yanked Sunday after letting his man just blow by him, shooting the ball early and often. So if he is losing confidence in Turk ,Nixon leaving and with Joe Crisman having just one year of eligibility left.....maybe it makes sense.
smokeyjoe wrote:Just a thought on the recruiting of more shooting guards. Tony Nixon who has worked himself into the rotation will be out of eligibility this year and maybe PM is wondering if Turk will ever learn to play defense. Turk got yanked Sunday after letting his man just blow by him, shooting the ball early and often. So if he is losing confidence in Turk ,Nixon leaving and with Joe Crisman having just one year of eligibility left.....maybe it makes sense.
That absolutely makes sense, but I can't get beyond the fact that we have problems with our height. We went with a bigger lineup against ISUred and did well, but this has not been typical. We've had issues with size so far this year.
Both Donte Ingram and Ben Richardson can play the two. I agree with Go that height is a bigger priority right now. I actually think point guard is also a bigger priority, although 2015 commit Harris Brown I believe plays the point, but he seems more like a scoring guard.
It's a stretch to say that the coach lost confidence in Turk. You're right that he took a couple questionable shots in the second half and also got beat on defense, but Crisman also played his best game of the year so why would you take him out?
As for recruiting, I don't know what the philosophy is, but if it's to just get the best players you can, that seems like a legitimate strategy to me. It's fun to play the depth chart game, but all of that can change quickly. I think it's a little dangerous to slot guys into roles when they are in high school.
As long as you have a mix of bigs and guards, I think you can make things work. Especially if you are getting good athletes and skilled players.
The thought I had most recently is that Porter must be happy with his big men (even though it doesn't appear that way given the playing time). All things considered, Porter will have 2 more years of Osborne, O'Leary, Johnson and King. Maybe they will all develop to their full potential and we'll see big things.
Still, getting Jones would be a good get.
Also, what does Porter know? He's still actively recruiting guys that would come in next year. Unless Pickett leaves (which I seem to flip flop on every day), we don't have a spot available. Further, Knuth is still a verbal commit. We have NO CLUE what is going on with him.
As far as the still recruiting for next year statement, every coach worth anything will continue to do so even if there are no spots available. You never know what may happen and who may have a season ending injury or decide to transfer or whatever. You don't want to be caught off guard with a defection or something and not have any relationships to fill that void.
As Marshall has said before, "recruiting is like shaving. If you skip a day you start to look like a bum." Or something along those lines. Gotta stay active and cultivate relationships. Plus, you never know if someone chooses another school but decides to transfer in a year or two, you have a previous relationship that could be beneficial.
GoRamblers wrote:Also, what does Porter know? He's still actively recruiting guys that would come in next year. Unless Pickett leaves (which I seem to flip flop on every day), we don't have a spot available. Further, Knuth is still a verbal commit. We have NO CLUE what is going on with him.
I guess we will find out in a couple months. It was so strange to see Pickett get into the Evansville game when we hadn't seen him around the team for weeks (months?). Who knows.
GoRamblers wrote:Also, what does Porter know? He's still actively recruiting guys that would come in next year. Unless Pickett leaves (which I seem to flip flop on every day), we don't have a spot available. Further, Knuth is still a verbal commit. We have NO CLUE what is going on with him.
I guess we will find out in a couple months. It was so strange to see Pickett get into the Evansville game when we hadn't seen him around the team for weeks (months?). Who knows.
I wonder if he had the intentions of transferring but didn't tell the coach. Then again, why wouldn't you?
After a non-Conference season where PM didn't get the team as prepared as he could, I had hoped we had turned the corner with the Missouri State game. He used his bench better in that game but then went back to a reliance on Chris Thomas in the post in subsequent games. He used his bench well yesterday with the exception of sitting King too much in the 2nd. half. I'm happy we won yesterday but still have concerns moving forward. Will the bench be used correctly ? What about Jeff White's ball-handling issues ?
