Posted by oldave on 4/4/2014 1:03:00 PM (view original):
i have been known to "poach"  if we are going to use that word.   almost allways i feel bad about doing it.  but, there are times when the more "normal" recruiting strategies just wont be good enough to get the level of players i think i need to succeed.  for instance,  when i only have one or two open schollies.    but can also happen when i have a bunch of openings and things shake out in a certain way.

i usually sitemail the guy after recruiting is done and apologize ... sort of.  im not really apologizing for doing it  (i dont think its wrong)  but that doesnt mean i dont feel bad for the guy.  heck weve all been there and theres no question it sucks.   and i will say that i would really try hard not to "poach" the same coach repeatedly... even if that might cause me to miss out on a player i want.  creating enemies is just not my thing.  exception are guys who repeatedly shotgun recruit and have way more considering them than open spots... they are asking for it.  

and also,  when a kid is inside 100 to 200 miles of me,   and considering a school that is recruiting from distance....  i kind of look at that as "all bets are off" too,  although i would usually try to get on the kid sooner rather than later so the other coach will at least know that hes got to go elsewhere.

i guess my feelin is if you are shotgunning or distance recruiting,  you are opening up an invitation to "poachers" and you reap what you sew.

agree with joey that you usually do have a more intimate knowledge of conference mates and thier strength and normal tactics, etc.  
Joe, for instance, has a nose ring and if you punch him just right... he bleeds like hell.

100% agree... it definitely sucks getting poached, especially in conf, so like you, i try to avoid it - even trying to avoid repeating with out of conference guys like you do. also agree with the distance and shotgun thing. especially when its a lower prestige school, its like seriously, you are going to come 100 miles from me with your b+ and think i am going to look the other way with my a+? that is simply not going to happen. well, it might happen once, but you better not count on it :)

Posted by oldave on 4/4/2014 1:07:00 PM (view original):
gil,  your still a kentucky guy,  right?   im growing to hate them for some reason.  i guess its the whole one and done thing.    but also just never really liked Cal a whole lot i guess.   but i gotta acknowledge theyve got alot of talent and props to him for figuring out how to get them to mature and gel at the right time.

yup. i know where you are coming from, i hate this one and done thing, too. you can't complain when the result is 3 final fours in the last 4 years, 4 elite 8 in 5, when we missed the NT going into cal's era and could easily have made that 2 in a row, if he had not instantly turned things around. that said, i hate the one and done style, it was definitely more enjoyable when kentucky was good like this late in the 90s with guys who stayed. of course some left early... but a lot of 4 year players were major contributors. that gives you plenty of time to fall in love with these guys. its always like damn, just starting to get to know the dude, and he leaves :/

i think the one and done rule clearly failed. it was intended to reduce the amount of people going pro so early - but i feel like while it did cut out the few guys who went straight from high school, those guys were few and far between - im talking out my *** here, but i would bet more guys are leaving after 1 year of college or less than were previously. before, leaving after 1 year was unheard of, and even 2 was very rare, at least it seemed that way, i might just be biased from watching so many leave early from UK. but i feel like making the rule 1 year of college has not only bumped 0 years of college guys to 1, but 2-3 year of college guys down to 1 year, as well. 

anyway that said, this has been a pretty brutal year of basketball, but its about the greatest post season ever. in 2012 i went to all 6 games, it was awesome, but it was like, i dont know - its not like it wasn't insanely awesome when they won each game, but many of them you expected them to win. its hard for it to be AS awesome when you expect to win, as when a couple weeks ago, you would never guess in a million years you could have won this game. those last 3 games, thats the kind of thing you end on... overall favorite and defending champ (not to mention the biggest rival), the runner up team who destroyed the big 10 and looked like a championship team in their earlier games, and an undefeated #1 seed. pulling off something that unlikely is pretty hard not to love... although honestly im not sure they have passed the 1998 level when it comes to improbability, i still cant believe how far down they were in the second half of the second half in so many of those games, to come back from all of those.

The Big 10 champ who needed a BS charge call to beat the 4th place team in the SEC. . . 

sorry