Recruiting: Tough Business

I saw recently that both Jason Morris and Shannon Scott have eliminated Georgia from consideration.

UGA is, however, still in the running for Cady Lalanne.

These developments show just how difficult it is to get basketball recruiting going at Georgia.

Looking back at recent history, Dennis Felton arrived in Athens after the awkward personnel decisions were reached with Jim Harrick. Due to the looming NCAA penalties, Felton appropriately agreed to release Harrick's incoming class from their letters of intent.

Since Harrick had largely been unsuccessful in recruiting, Felton faced a roster with several seniors, but no juniors and no sophomores. Felton's recruiting efforts achieved the following results:

1. 2003: Corey Gibbs, Marcus Sikes, Steve Newman and Levi Stukes (two 3-star players, and 2 unranked guys. Decent last minute work, but no home runs, especially given the fact that Gibbs was coming off of a knee injury)
2. 2004: Channing Toney, Younes Idrissi, Dave Bliss, and Sundiata Gaines (two 3-stars and two unranked)
3. 2005: Louis Williams, Mike Mercer, Rashaad Singleton, Terrance Woodbury, Kendrick Johnson, and Billy Humphrey (two 5-stars and four 3-stars)
4. 2006: Takais Brown and Albert Jackson (one 3-star and one unranked Juco)
5. 2007: Chris Barnes, Troy Brewer, Jeremy Jacob, Jeremy Price and Zac Swansey (two 4-stars, and three 3-stars)
6. 2008: Ebuka Anyaorah, Travis Leslie, Howard Thompkins, Dustin Ware, and Drazen Zlovaric (one 4-star and four 3-stars)
7. 2009: Demario Mayfield and Daniel Miller (one 3-star that would stay, and one that would ask out of his commitment after Felton was let go)

Felton did a respectable job in recruiting, especially so, given the fact that he had to recruit under the cloud of an NCAA investigation for the first couple of years. His third year, 2005, was supposed to be his "money year," the year in which his recruiting and the team's performance were supposed to take off.

And from all indications, things were pretty much set. He got early commitments from two 5-star players. However, Louis Williams opted to go straight to the pro's, and didn't show up at all. Another player, Kendrick Johnson, who was supposed to provide depth in the post, showed up with hobbled wheels.

From there, instead of taking off, things went down-hill for UGA. Injuries, transfers, suspensions and dismissals decimated the roster and the team's record. Although Georgia went to the NCAA Tourney in 2008 under Felton, the team's disappointing record in 2009 and the failure in quality recruiting during the year ultimately led to Felton's dismissal.

Now what? Mark Fox is on the scene. Can he reverse the tide?

Maybe. There are reasons for optimism here. No NCAA investigation. A new training facility. Even better news, Fox does not have to recruit like crazy to be successful. He has a roster full of scholarship players. He has 9 players-- 1 senior, 2 juniors, 5 sophomores, and 1 freshman, from the Felton tenure.

He can field a competitive team with Thompkins, Ware and Leslie, with Albert Jackson, Jeremy Price and Chris Barnes. All he needs to do is have a good offensive system, and he can win now.

But Fox won't be able to win later unless he recruits. So looking at how things are shaping up, Fox has the following recruiting results:

1. 2009: Vincent Williams (one 3-star to go along with Felton hold-over, Demario Mayfield).
2. 2010: Gerald Robinson (former 3-star from 2007).

Coach Fox wasn't a "big splash" recruit like John Calipari. I don't think it was realistic for fans to expect him to bring talent with him, so his first year is sort of like Felton's. The expectation was for him to plug up as many holes in the roster as possible. Vincent Williams is decent work, considering the circumstances.

The key for Fox is whether he can compress the schedule. Make his second year much better, like a money year, if you will, and really do well in 2011.

So far, the jury is still out on the 2010 recruiting for Fox. Georgia has missed out on some guys, but we still have a shot at Jelan Kendrick, a 5-star, and Cady Lalanne, a 3-star forward. If Fox can get Kendrick, Georgia recruiting is definitely on its way up. Follow the successful recruiting of Kendrick with the commitment of Julian Royal, Dai-Jon Parker, Tony Parker, and a couple of the other elite recruits for 2011 and 2012, then Georgia will have finally hit its stride.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed. Recruiting is tough business.

Great Story on Channing Toney

and his dad, Andrew.

Toney

Channing Toney averaging

4.7 points per game for UAB.

If I remember correctly, they have him playing down in the post. UAB has one 6' 8" guy getting minutes, but otherwise, they go Toney at 6' 5", Delaney at 6' 2", and Johnson at 5' 8".

Meanwhile, Robert Vaden, their shooting guard and the remaining member of their starting five, is getting the majority of the touches. In the last game, he launched 13 three-pointers. He connected on 8 of them, so it's obvious that he can shoot. And they did beat Arizona on a bizarre play.

But with Vaden slinging it from deep and Toney having to guard much bigger players, I don't see Toney's scoring average going up that much. In the last game, Toney played 26 minutes, but took just 2 of the team's 52 shots.

UAB will be regaining some guys after fall quarter, if memory serves me, and they might help Channing get back to a rotation as a shooting guard. But as for now, it looks like Toney's skills are being utilized awkwardly in this, his final year.

UAB has depleted roster

Only 8 scholarship players will be eligible to start the season. They have a couple of guys who are sitting out the required year after transferring in, and a couple of guys are academically ineligible for the fall, if memory serves me, and these should be ready to go for the winter.

Former UGA player, Channing Toney, will play the entire year this year, after playing a partial season in 2007/2008. He should have plenty of playing time, though some of it will likely come at the 3 position. We'll see how this year goes for him.

Jeremy Jacob to UAB?

December 2006:

Channing Toney, concerned about his status on UGA's squad as a starter, and perhaps discouraged over an earlier suspension for academic reasons, decides to transfer. He ended up at UAB.

Fast Forward to 2008:

Jeremy Jacob, reportedly wanting to be the focal point of a team, opts to transfer from Georgia to Chipola Junior College. One of Chipola's key players, Casey Mitchell, is a UAB signee for the 2009/2010 season.

Will Jacob end up, like Toney, at UAB? It could happen.

When Jacob initially announced that he would leave UGA, it looked as if LSU would be his ultimate destination. LSU has the advantage of offering Jacob the opportunity to play in the SEC for a team based in his home town.

However, Rivals.com has reported that Jacob could be close to signing to play in Birmingham, not Baton Rouge. Although I can't access the Rivals article, I don't doubt their information. If Jacob has talked things over with Mitchell, they might want to try to play together after junior college.

The question is: Will Jacob be better off at UAB than at Georgia?

Channing Toney's experience suggests that the answer might be, "no."

Not too long after arriving in Birmingham, Toney was apparently part of an argument between several UAB basketball players. He was arrested in September 2007, and faced a fairly serious charge of physically harassing a police officer. Toney was disciplined by Coach Davis. As I recall, due to the combination of the transfer rules and the suspension, Toney missed the first 16 games of the year.

From a purely basketball perspective, UAB has arguably not proven to be a substantial improvement over Georgia for Toney. Toney averaged just over 9 points a game while at Georgia. He has averaged less than one basket more, right at 10.5 points per game, at UAB. In fact, his shooting percentage went down from his last year at Georgia.

While Toney is guaranteed starter minutes at UAB, it is likely that had he stuck with UGA, he would have been the starter anyway, given Mike Mercer's injury and later dismissal, and Billy Humphrey's knee problems and later dismissal.

Meanwhile, Toney is playing in Conference USA, which while a good conference, does not have the stature of the SEC. Although Conference USA boasts Memphis, a perennially powerful program, the conference's other teams, like Tulane, Central Florida and Houston, are not nearly as successful. Again, they are decent basketball programs, but not on the level of University of Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and other SEC schools.

And as far as head to head comparisons are concerned, UAB has the advantage in games won last year. However, they played in the NIT. Georgia made it to the NCAA tournament and was the "feel good" story of the initial field of 64.

As for Jacob, he will arrive at UAB in 2009, if that's where he indeed ends up, and he will have to make his own way. Using Channing Toney's past year as a comparison to what Jacob might experience is somewhat unfair. Jacob's time there might go very well.

The fact remains, however, that if Jacob left Georgia so that he could be a starter or the focal point of the offense, he may or may not find what he wants at UAB. If Demarcous Cousins, UAB's top 2009 recruit, arrives, then chances are that Cousins will get a ton of shots. Casey Mitchell will shoot a lot. Jacob would probably get his share, but would that amount be more than what he would have gotten at UGA? It's impossible to predict.

Besides that, Jacob will be on his fourth year removed from high school. He played a year of post-high school ball at Hargrave, then went to Georgia and red-shirted. Next will be junior college. What happens if he's not happy at UAB?

It all might work out, and I wish Jacob well, especially since it looks like he won't be playing against UGA in the short term.