2014 Lamar Cardinals Basketball Recruits

I sent Tic Price an e-mail a few days back congratulating him on the great recruiting class. He replied and thanked me for my support. I think we have a good coach who wants to do something good with this program. Don't get me wrong...I was probably the first to be in disbelief at the immediate hiring. He's proven me wrong with his recruiting ability. We shall wait and see how things pan out, but I think we can expect to be leaps and bounds better than we've been the past two years.

 

Saying this with the clear understanding that everyone knows I was very vocal against Price's hiring, I caution you to take a wait and see approach as to how great this class is. Unless you were just born yesterday and have not had the distinct pleasure of following LU Basketball over the last 30 years (at least since Foster left) you would well know that every coach between Foster and Price have proclaimed "great" recruiting classes at LU (including Newell and Giovanine who coached against Price while he was at UNO). I think that the results of those "great" classes speak for themselves during that timeframe. Even though I was against the hiring, I still want LU to succeed wildly, and by default Price as well. I will take a cautious wait and see attitude!!

 

Some may equate 1987 to yesterday, but I hardly do anymore. I am taking a wait-and-see approach to it simply so as to not disappoint myself. However, I doubt I'm the only one to say the recruiting class looks outstanding (on paper) considering the two years we've just had. I will be the first to say that I believe Knight's firing was premature. He won the conference tournament in his first year here. Does that give him a 100% reprieve from the consequences of having two of the worst all-time basketball seasons in NCAA history? Absolutely not. It does, however, show that he could do things with the right personnel. He came in to a gold mine--a conference tournament winner waiting to happen. Mike James is likely one of the best players Lamar has had in the last quarter-century. Forgive me, but I think Knight deserved one more year.

 

With that all said, Price will have to prove himself to LU fans to garner our enthusiasm about him leading the team. His recruiting class, however, already looks better than what Knight could bring. When's the last time we had a 3-star recruit sign? When's the last time we had 3 players in the same recruiting class average more than 15 points per game (2 with more than 20 points per game) in their respective levels? I think this shows promise. Will it equate to a winning team on the court? Time will tell and we shall see.

 

EDIT: Keep in mind that leaps and bounds better than last year is not much. Winning twice as many games as we did last year is still only 8 wins.

This right here might be why this could be a great recruiting class. This kid is a big time player for Lamar, and the SLC conference. Kid had interest from several Big 12 schools. Not sure why the offers did not come from the Big 12. But glad he is a commit to LU!!! When was the last time LU got a 3-star recruit?

 

Davontae Bailey- 3-star recruit by Rivals, ESPN, and Yahoo Sports, plays SF in high school, likely to play as a guard at Lamar; 6'4", 185 lbs.

I doubt that anyone posting at this time is using cardinal colored glasses in looking at the recruiting class. I like the looks of the class on paper in that Price recruited size that could be competitive. When a program is as far down as LU was the last two years it is hard to project what the new recruits can do. I remind myself every year that all of the recruit stats are against lower level programs, be it JUCO or High School. Also remind myself that seldom does a great player in high school play against an opponent that is his equal and when they get to D1 every team probably has someone that could be their equal. The work and growth that happens when the recruits get to LU is what makes the difference.

Coach Roc had no problem recruiting talented JUCO players and he also brought in some decent HS players. Coach Price has inherited a team that's been one of the worst D1 teams in the country the last 2 years, plus they are banned from post-season play next year, yet he's put together a pretty good recruiting class.

 

 

Which brings me back to Pat Knight, who after taking Lamar to the NCAAs his first year, complained about how hard it was to recruit players to Beaumont!! He should apologize to Lamar and us fans for not giving a damn about the job.

Speaking of coach Roc's JUCO recruits I saw where Mike James was named MVP of the Italian League he was playing in

Preston Mattingly tweeted this 3 days ago. He may be one of the players that are leaving.

My first year of college is in the books! I'm happy to announce my GPA is now 3.63 #BYE #Lamar #Gooddays

Maybe, but I take that as more of bye for the summer. We will see.

I like what I am seeing so far.

 

I'm also glad that we are no longer ignoring the local area. I was looking at some other teams this morning and a name jumped out at me, Jamar Gulley. He had a very good college career in JC (JaC All-American) and then some very good years at Missouri State. He ended his senior year as their leading scorer. I wondered if we even made an attempt to get him to come home. It looked like the only DI offer he got out of JC was from Missouri State.

 

http://www.missouristatebears.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/jarmar_gulley_767056.html

 

I don't mind getting talent from anywhere in the country. I just hope we never ignore local talent again, especially legacy local talent. We need to at least express an interest in the local players. It is fine if some still want to play somewhere else. It never hurts to make a try though.

 

Sent from my Android device using Tapatalk2

 

 

you are so right, you can get players from anywhere and everywhere, but you can't forget about the solid players around your area, especially if your wanting more fan support, because that is a sure way to bring fans into the arena to support your school, because when you sign Johnny, his mother, father, grandparents, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews and friends are going to be there to to watch Johnny became a huge star!!!!!!!!!

 

Go Lamar!!!!!!!!

 

Knightman

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/165719/davontae-bailey

 

ESPN caught wind of Bailey's commitment. I always prefer to see things like this over just the Twitter feeds. At least it proves the validity of Twitter as a recruiting platform.

Kevin Booze 5'10" pg from Irving MacArthur HS, Irving Tx signs LOI with Lamar.

 

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/kevin-booze

 

2* rating....Played AAU with Dallas Showtyme

Kevin Booze is ranked the #41 player in the state by texashoop.com.......Devontae Bailey #63.

 

https://rivals.yahoo.com/texashoops/basketball/recruiting/rankings/rank-3051;_ylt=Al29G2aYFFR1cgi1CGwmOa7VS5B4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQDviygqr1g any other videos of the recruits coming in? This is Benquan Petty's

Davontae Bailey has signed with Seminole State.

Davontae Bailey has signed with Seminole State.

 

Grades?

 

Davontae Bailey has signed with Seminole State.

 

Grades?

 

Maybe...he went to that Prime Prep school in Dallas that Neon Deion founded...wonder if something didn't jive with the NCAA? I've been wondering if something was up because on the Lamar Verbal Commits page he was still listed as a verbal commit when others are listed as having already signed a LOI

 

Davontae Bailey has signed with Seminole State.

 

Grades?

 

Maybe...he went to that Prime Prep school in Dallas that Neon Deion founded...wonder if something didn't jive with the NCAA? I've been wondering if something was up because on the Lamar Verbal Commits page he was still listed as a verbal commit when others are listed as having already signed a LOI

 

Emmanuel Mudiay went there too...the big pick-up for SMU.

Bailey not signing helps explains the Kevin Booze signing. I think there's still one existing player on the roster that's not returning to make the scholarship numbers match. Although Bailey is listed as SF, he was playing PG at the prep school.

So Prime Prep was shutdown today by the UIL/TEA...did see one report that said there had been issues between them and the NCAA...and the kid that signed with SMU announced he would play professionally overseas next season

I know that the NCAA watches schools like that real close!!

 

Go Cardinals!!!

 

Knightman