[KoreAmBear]

I know Monty has to do a better job recruiting, but I have faith in Monty, once he gets his full complement of players, with some class and size balance, to take us far into the tournament at some point. This is more the Butler, Utah State (Stew Morrill, Monty assistant), Purdue way. But it's still effective. I don't think we're ever going to go the UW, Kentucky way.

[sycasey]

Princeton playing a high seed to within an inch of its life? Is it 1995 again?

[KoreAmBear]

Originally Posted by sycasey

Princeton playing a high seed to within an inch of its life? Is it 1995 again?

They almost shocked Georgetown once.

Wow, step back for the tie. What great games today!!!

[sycasey]

Originally Posted by KoreAmBear

They almost shocked Georgetown once.

Wow, step back for the tie. What great games today!!!

They gave us a helluva game in '97 too, as I recall.

[6956bear]

Monty likely will not coach too many more years. It sounds really great to recruit a bunch of good players and keep them for 4 years and build a solid program and hope it comes together during a NCAA tourney and you make a final four. The final four typically features teams with some NBA type players. No team has won a final in recent years without some elite talent. Even Butler had Gordon Hayward who left early. Now I know Hayward was not an elite recruit, but developed quite well, but the point is you need some elite players to go to an elite 8 or final 4.

Crabbe may be that kind of guy by next year or the year after. Adding a Brandon Ashley, Rico Gathers or some other other top recruit could give Cal enough of a mix to make a run. Monty will have Cal as a solid to good program with his coaching alone. Add a couple of top players and the Bears could go far.

[sycasey]

Originally Posted by 6956bear

Monty likely will not coach too many more years. It sounds really great to recruit a bunch of good players and keep them for 4 years and build a solid program and hope it comes together during a NCAA tourney and you make a final four. The final four typically features teams with some NBA type players. No team has won a final in recent years without some elite talent. Even Butler had Gordon Hayward who left early. Now I know Hayward was not an elite recruit, but developed quite well, but the point is you need some elite players to go to an elite 8 or final 4.

I think the hope is that with this kind of approach, you'll land some stud players anyway, or someone will develop into one. And then you'll have the foundation to go a long way with them. As in, you don't go up there swinging for the fences, just trying to reach base, but sometimes you connect for a home run anyway.

[dupdadee]

Originally Posted by KoreAmBear

They almost shocked Georgetown once.

Wow, step back for the tie. What great games today!!!

Originally Posted by sycasey

They gave us a helluva game in '97 too, as I recall.

don't forget the famous backdoor cut basket to win the game against the defending champ, ucla, in 1996....

[ilyn]

Surprised this hasn't been caught, but Terrence Ross is on UW, i think you're thinking Terrence Jones

[bluesaxe]

Originally Posted by sycasey

I think the hope is that with this kind of approach, you'll land some stud players anyway, or someone will develop into one. And then you'll have the foundation to go a long way with them. As in, you don't go up there swinging for the fences, just trying to reach base, but sometimes you connect for a home run anyway.

If you build a solid program and get known for winning your chances of landing top players increases. If you don't build entirely around guys who think they're only here for a year, you end up with much better teams.

I'm hoping the NBA either drops its age limit entirely or goes the baseball route - you can go in the draft as a high school grad or as a college junior. It would be much better for the college game and scumbags like Calipari would actually have to figure out how to build a team and coach it.

[59bear]

I'm not sure how you define elite recruit but Hayward did have offers from a number of elite programs. He was definitely a recruit who was highly sought. Duke, NC and Kansas have flourished by drawing scads of McD's guys and keeping enough of them for more than a year or 2 to find success. Granted, you have to get 'em to have the opportunity to keep 'em (as Monty eventually did at LSJU) but I don't see the Calipari formula being all that successful either.

[KoreAmBear]

Originally Posted by ilyn

Surprised this hasn't been caught, but Terrence Ross is on UW, i think you're thinking Terrence Jones

Haha, you're right. They're all Terrence to me.