HJS {l Wrote}:I think the talent and depth will be solid next year (if the core of Jax, Rahon, Hanlan, Heck, Cliff, Anderson all remain). Even moreso if they add Kelly and/or Jorgensen. However, they need more bigs than just Anderson and Clifford. It's disappointing that the staff doesn't seem to agree.
I know this doesn't fit the formula of "problem in athletic program exists = fault lies with person running program" but I find it pretty likely that the staff is aware that a backup big would make a huge difference and neither Caudill nor Van Nest is that guy. Moreover, I think the problem is that there are limited freshman bigs who can obviously contribute right away. BC for instance has recruited a grand total of 4 of them over the last 15 years in Agbai, Smith, Anderson and Clifford (I'm only counting PF and C). *** ******* was not very good as a freshman although a player like him would certainly have value same with Doornekamp but my point is that they are just as likely to be essentially useless in the Southern, Oates, Dudley (andrew), McClain, Ravenel, Dunn, Zoellner, Caudill mold as freshman.
The biggest loss of the Donahue era to date is this guy:
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/42530/travis-taylor. I acknowledge that a similarly situated player is not immediately helpful due to the sit out rule, but I hope we can get one underclassman transfer and grad transfer to help next year and the year following. Obviously the quality needs to be higher than Van Nest.
Kelly, if he signs, and a presumably stronger Odio will give some additional help as well. Although clearly not as a 5.