There's an excellent, and troubling, piece by Luke Winn on SI.com about Gary Williams' newest basketball recruit Tyree Evans, a 23-year old juco transfer and ex-con. The troubles surrounding Evans don't seem to be your typical "boys will be boys" stuff; he sounds like someone not worthy of the benefit of the doubt Williams is giving him. Here's all you need to know: Evans was thrice recruited by Bob Huggins and had his letters of intent pulled all three times because "there were enough other issues". So it's come to this, Gary. You're getting guys that Bob Freakin' Huggins has deemed unworthy. Wow. Read the whole story, and you'll probably agree that the University of Maryland basketball program is hovering around rock bottom, a stunning turn-around for a school just six years removed from a National Championship.
Monday, May 05, 2008
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Chris, little disappointed in the lack of analysis that you usually provide. Obv, this guys got risks, but has a tremendous upshot. And its been some time since he got in legal trouble. some arguments in the article have glaring holes:
"missing out on the incredible wealth of Maryland-grown talent -- local stars such as Texas' Kevin Durant, Kansas State's Michael Beasley, North Carolina's Tywon Lawson, Georgetown's Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, DaJuan Summers and Austin Freeman, and Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony and Donte Greene -- has forced Williams to fill in gaps with two-year, rather than four-year, players."
how many of those players were 4 years, let alone 2 years?
I think my main point was that schools with recent National Championships shouldn't have to take fliers on suspect kids with serious criminal histories. (And Evans's problems are serious. This wasn't JamesOn Curry getting entrapped into selling weed or Allen Iverson unfairly going to jail because he was in a bowling alley brawl. This guy was selling weed after signing a letter of intent and pleaded out to assault after getting charged with rape. Those aren't mistakes, those are signs of a troubled individual.
My main point is that Gary never would have done this in 1996 or 2000 or, especially, 2003. Ever since Dickerson and Patsos have left, Gary hasn't recruited a single All-ACC player. Those guys you mentioned; none even sniffed Maryland (with the possible exception of Freeman). Gary's program is seriously hurting. And desperate times call for desperate measures. Gary and Maryland should be better than this.
I agree that GW and MD should be better than this, but all programs have ups and down. This is a bit drastic, but GW rebuilt the program from the foundations and deserves a little benefit of the doubt if he says this is the right move. That said, if it blows up then the UMD program is in waaay more trouble than they are now and something will have to give...
Hate to brake it to you, but there have been ALL-ACC players recruited since Dickerson and Patsos left. Vasquez, as much as you hate on him, is good and was 2nd team All-ACC as a sophomore.
I think the bigger problem here is that Maryland has missed on a few people since winning the National title and even after they went to the Final 4 in 2001. That class was Mike Grinnon and Andre Collins, both mega busts. Rudy Gay gave Maryland a verbal then backed out after Jim Calhoun used illegal recruiting practices to get him to go to UConn. Mike Jones and Travis Garrison were both McDonalds All-Americans but neither lived up to expectations - Garrison maxed out his sophomore year and hardly played as a senior (especially when he was harassing girls in College Park) and Mike Jones, although he was a great player who got better each season, never lived up to the hype. I think Maryland had 2 bad classes and its still hurting them now. They're just trying to get back to the tournament, and if this is what it takes, so be it. This same thing has happened even to the best of schools and coaches (Duke) recently. Nelson was suppose to be the next LeBron for Duke but never lived up to the hype, Josh McRoberts McSucked his entire career, Paulus was suppose to be this fantastic point guard and was allegedly hurt last year, yet completely healthy this year he had worse numbers across the board.
I think the Winn story is stupid in a lot of regards and I think he's a horrible reporter/writer, but this story takes the cake. Just sounds like a way to bash Maryland without doing any research.
I hate to break it to you, but Vasquez sucks. And if Maryland, six years removed from cutting down the nets, is bragging about guys who made second-team All-ACC, I'm pretty sure you've just proven my point.
I've given you much more credit then you deserve if you think Vasquez sucks. Seriously? You must still be upset about that 24 point, 8 assist performance back in January.
Lets look at your boy Chris Paul who's a fantastic point guard. His sophomore stats at Wake were 15.2 ppg and a 2.38 assist to turnover ratio. Vasquez's stats his sophomore year? 17 ppg and a 1.63 assist to turnover ratio. Pretty good stats if you know anything about college basketball. If you think he's a cocky SOB, fine, say that's why you don't like him. But don't just say he sucks, because he doesn't.
In his sophomore year, Chris Paul led his team to a #1 ranking and a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In his sophomore year, Greivis Vasquez led his team to two losses to Virginia Tech and the NIT. Are you really comparing the two?
When Vasquez is on the floor, Maryland is a worse team.
Chris Paul was playing with a better team compared to Vasquez! And last time I checked, teams weren't ranked #1 based solely on 1 player. Does it help? Obviously. But if you put Chris Paul on Coppin State, they're not going to be ranked #1. And Wake proved that they shouldn't have been a #2 seed that year by losing to West Virginia in the 2nd round. Paul made Wake a better team and Vasquez makes Maryland a better team. I'm not saying he doesn't do stupid stuff (taking a 3 with 30 seconds left on the shot clock and not having an open look) but Maryland did better this year with him on the court. Am I saying he's as good as Chris Paul? Nope, considering he could end up being one of the best point guards ever. But I am saying Vasquez is a good player who is constantly getting better. I know it might be hard to look at something without having Wake blinders on, but its true.
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