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Jim L'sarranaga

Gables Canes said:
At the very least, L needs to shake up his staff. The current staff simply isn't getting it done. Remember the days when we used to overachieve with a bunch of 3 star recruits? Now we have a roster with mostly 4 star, highly recruited guys and we're bottom of the barrel in the ACC.
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He should have shook up the staff 2-3 years ago.
 
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Gables Canes said:
At the very least, L needs to shake up his staff. The current staff simply isn't getting it done. Remember the days when we used to overachieve with a bunch of 3 star recruits? Now we have a roster with mostly 4 star, highly recruited guys and we're bottom of the barrel in the ACC.
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Been thinking about this a lot recently. Its either a scouting problem (not identifying good players), or its a recruiting problem (not getting the good players to sign). There's certainly been some recruiting problems lately-they wanted Curbelo, Kockburn, Barnes, Carey, Keels etc. and didn't get them. Those are good players that simply turned them down.

But it seems to me the bigger issue is scouting. Who's responsible for taking Deng Gak and Rodney Miller when it doesn't look like either one has ever picked up a basketball in their lives? Why did they go halfway around the world to get Waardenburg when there's a million guys in the continental United States that fit the stretch 4 profile? Who thought it was a good idea to take Anthony Walker when he has absolutely no demonstrable basketball skills whatsoever? How can you watch Harlond Beverly play 2 games and not see that he doesn't care about basketball? Who watched Earl Timberlake and expected him to be an immediate contributor?

I'm starting to think these guys just recruit based on 24/7 rankings. Of the 6 players listed above, 4 were 4* recruits, yet none of them can play. Meanwhile, they ignored guys in their own backyard like Zach Eddy or Blake Hinson that weren't highly ranked, but are good, useful players. How does that happen?

I remember when Timberlake signed, he said something to the effect of, "Miami was the only option." At the time, I just assumed that was a trite way of saying he was really excited to be here. I'm starting to think it really meant no one else wanted him.

I readily acknowledge that I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth; I complain when they don't fill out the roster, and I complain when they fill out the roster with subpar players. Call me a hypocrite if you want, but the bottom line is this sh*t just isn't good enough.
 
IncaneInTheBrain said:
Been thinking about this a lot recently. Its either a scouting problem (not identifying good players), or its a recruiting problem (not getting the good players to sign). There's certainly been some recruiting problems lately-they wanted Curbelo, Kockburn, Barnes, Carey, Keels etc. and didn't get them. Those are good players that simply turned them down.

But it seems to me the bigger issue is scouting. Who's responsible for taking Deng Gak and Rodney Miller when it doesn't look like either one has ever picked up a basketball in their lives? Why did they go halfway around the world to get Waardenburg when there's a million guys in the continental United States that fit the stretch 4 profile? Who thought it was a good idea to take Anthony Walker when he has absolutely no demonstrable basketball skills whatsoever? How can you watch Harlond Beverly play 2 games and not see that he doesn't care about basketball? Who watched Earl Timberlake and expected him to be an immediate contributor?

I'm starting to think these guys just recruit based on 24/7 rankings. Of the 6 players listed above, 4 were 4* recruits, yet none of them can play. Meanwhile, they ignored guys in their own backyard like Zach Eddy or Blake Hinson that weren't highly ranked, but are good, useful players. How does that happen?

I remember when Timberlake signed, he said something to the effect of, "Miami was the only option." At the time, I just assumed that was a trite way of saying he was really excited to be here. I'm starting to think it really meant no one else wanted him.

I readily acknowledge that I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth; I complain when they don't fill out the roster, and I complain when they fill out the roster with subpar players. Call me a hypocrite if you want, but the bottom line is this sh*t just isn't good enough.
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You make some great points. I have little issue with missing out on guys like Barnes, Carey, and Keels. Miami is never going to be able to consistently reel in the cream of the crop 5 star players.

But there does seem to be a lot of star chasing going on. Or does some of this come back to player development? With L's old staff, we took less athletic guys like Gamble and TMJ and molded them into quality, high IQ role players. That isn't happening anymore.

Sam was essentially the same player here after 3 seasons.
Gak hasn't gained a pound in 4 years.
Beverly looks about the same as his freshman season, maybe a little better defensively but his offensive game is still hot garbage.
Walker is still as lost as ever.

The only player who is overachieving their star ranking on this roster is Wong.

I don't know if this is due to recruiting evaluation misses, lack of player development, poor in-game schemes, or a combination of factors. Whatever it is, our current approach clearly isn't working.
 
IncaneInTheBrain said:
But it seems to me the bigger issue is scouting. Who's responsible for taking Deng Gak and Rodney Miller when it doesn't look like either one has ever picked up a basketball in their lives? Why did they go halfway around the world to get Waardenburg when there's a million guys in the continental United States that fit the stretch 4 profile? Who thought it was a good idea to take Anthony Walker when he has absolutely no demonstrable basketball skills whatsoever? How can you watch Harlond Beverly play 2 games and not see that he doesn't care about basketball? Who watched Earl Timberlake and expected him to be an immediate contributor?

I'm starting to think these guys just recruit based on 24/7 rankings. Of the 6 players listed above, 4 were 4* recruits, yet none of them can play. Meanwhile, they ignored guys in their own backyard like Zach Eddy or Blake Hinson that weren't highly ranked, but are good, useful players. How does that happen?

I remember when Timberlake signed, he said something to the effect of, "Miami was the only option." At the time, I just assumed that was a trite way of saying he was really excited to be here. I'm starting to think it really meant no one else wanted him.

I readily acknowledge that I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth; I complain when they don't fill out the roster, and I complain when they fill out the roster with subpar players. Call me a hypocrite if you want, but the bottom line is this sh*t just isn't good enough.
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I think alot more good programs than you think had interest in all the players you mention. Including Miller and Gak. And, I think Timberlake's comment was that -- when all was said and done -- UM was the "only option" for him (based on the positives of what signing here offered; not in the negative connotation you put on it)!

Bottom line: recruiting to UM has been a huge challenge to every Head Coach we've had. The specific reasons why it has been and remains such a struggle is unknown (at least to me).
 
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hotshot said:
I think alot more good programs than you think had interest in all the players you mention. Including Miller and Gak. And, I think Timberlake's comment was that -- when all was said and done -- UM was the "only option" for him (based on the positives of what signing here offered; not in the negative connotation you put on it)!

Bottom line: recruiting to UM has been a huge challenge to every Head Coach we've had. The specific reasons why it has been and remains such a struggle is unknown (at least to me).
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According to 247, Gak had some impressive offers, including UF, Kansas, Duke, Indiana and Uconn

Beverly had some impressive offers too: Baylor, Creighton, UF, Iowa State, Louisville, Michigan State, Ohio State, UVA, Xavier

Either all these schools were wrong, or we aren't doing a good enough job developing these guys. I'm beginning to think the issue is moreso the latter.
 
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bacane said:
Well, he's doing a bit better than Miami these days.
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No doubt. Ham shared one Big East regular season championship while he was here but he also coached some awful teams. Left here after 9 seasons with a losing record.

A shame he left to take the Wizards job but ... aside from the $$$, I think he realized the UM job was always gonna be a difficult one in the Big East.
 
hotshot said:
AT UM, Leonard did no better than anyone else we've had!
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Except we were starting to cook with gas when Hamilton picked up and left for DC. He was their 5th choice but you have to take the opportunity. Freeman and he screwed us on any potential Pitino deal.
 
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Mark Schmidt, a BC grad now coaching St. Bonaventure in the A10, is reportedly the frontunner.
 
hotshot said:
Mark Schmidt, a BC grad now coaching St. Bonaventure in the A10, is reportedly the frontunner.
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For the BC gig? He is a real "meh" name. My guess if he didn't go to BC, he wouldn't be that heavily considered.

There are so many quality names available who are very affordable/cheap. It is amazing how many teams just fight the obvious.
 
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