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Herd signs Spring Valley star; 3rd member of 2020 class

Winner. Rack 'em.

Believing that MU is outrecruiting WVU for ANY PLAYER in ANY SPORT is just as delusional as when the Spamites believe that WVU is outrecruiting national level programs because Metronews told them to believe that.

This fan base used to be better than that. I long for the day when we are again.
~
We do not "outrecruit" WVU and we don't play the schedule that they do in FB or MBB and we certainly do NOT have the budget they do or the fan support. I don't like admitting it but it is true!!!!
 
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A circular argument. "Wouldn't it be great if MU got its pick of every male baby born in WV 18 years ago, every year?" Yes, but we don't. Some are good enough to go to places like Davidson, Dayton, New Mexico, or WVU; or get offers from places like K-State, WVU, and Xavier; and maybe Cincy, Indiana, OSU, and UVa. We get the culls.

The fact that MU would be better IF it had WVU, et al, level players IT DOES NOT HAVE, is irrelevant as to why picking up OTHER players from WV is not a problem.

What it leads to is what MU basketball is. Trying to play Marshall's schedule with Concord's team.
Wait, a minute....

So, the state of West Virginia produces enough talent to go to wvu, Davidson, Florida, etc, but doesn't produce the type players next in line, who can play at the CUSA level? There's just a huge drop off from players who can play for national known programs to Concord? Right? There hasn't been any players like Luke Eddy, Chase Feiler, Pierra Henry, or Dikembe Dixon? Rondale Watson found out he wasn't Wake Forrest material and if DD was coach when Chase Fischer found that out, he would have probably come back to Marshall too. Jon Elmore wasn't good enough for wvu, so he's suited for Concord? I'm glad Stevie Browning didn't accept that kind of loser attitude. CJ Burks wasn't wvu material, so I guess he really lucked out by not having to go to Concord. Same with Mark Patton & Tamar Slay.

So, let me trying to comprehend your thinking here. What we should do is go to other states, where they don't get recruited as hard as West Virginia kids get recruited, and expect them to come halfway across the country to play for Marshall? That's your plan for upgrading talent? Because, you know, it's either too good for Marshall or Concord talent in WV. BUT, if we hop on a plane or drive 12+ hours to find a kid, they're not getting recruited as hard and would love to be away from their family at Marshall where they can dodge paint chips falling on their head.
 
What we should do is recruit the best players available, regardless of area code.

What we should not do is take kids just because they are from WV/tri-state; nor delude ourselves that the players we get had offers from WVU,

Joe Retton became a local legend by getting the best player at the WV state tournament most years.

Of course he was coaching at Fairmont State.
 
What we should do is recruit the best players available, regardless of area code.

What we should not do is take kids just because they are from WV/tri-state; nor delude ourselves that the players we get had offers from WVU,

Joe Retton became a local legend by getting the best player at the WV state tournament most years.

Of course he was coaching at Fairmont State.

you are the only one that seems to think that is an issue so...……..STFU. you are the one that has delusions that you are sharing information here that we need to know. No one thinks we are beating out wvu for players...has it happened? yes on a few rare occasions over last 30 years.
 
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What we should do is recruit the best players available, regardless of area code.

What we should not do is take kids just because they are from WV/tri-state; nor delude ourselves that the players we get had offers from WVU,

Joe Retton became a local legend by getting the best player at the WV state tournament most years.

Of course he was coaching at Fairmont State.
Jesus Christ, who said we take them just because they're from WV? We currently have 2. One is the best player on the team, one needs to go, and we have 2 coming in who are nice players. Not Concord talent. The notion many have is that WV doesn't produce enough talent to recruit 1-2 kids each year and I proved that wrong.

The WV kids who go to wvu, go up there knowing they're going to be role players. Chase Harler & Nathan Adrien accepted that. Both decent-good careers up there, but would have had better careers at Marshall. But they want to play for wvu. That's cool. We were also in early on Maciej Bender, then wvu swooped in late to grab him. He's a foreign kid who played HS in VA, but another example of a wvu player we could have gotten that would have been a nice player for Marshall. Good for him too. Brandon Knapper transferred out to EKU. If he would have shown interest in playing at our level instead of going up there, he could be developing into a nice player here. Good for him, as well. Jaylen Bridges is a nice long & athletic player who redshirted at wvu this year and will either have to accept his role over the next few years while developing or transfer out like Knapper did. It's not out of the question to think we could have landed some of these. We're not talking about OJ Mayos, Pattrick Pattersons, or Huntington Prep kids.

We also passed on a kid from Huntington, Tavian Dunn-Martin, a few years ago. He ended up going to Akron, where he followed Keith Dambrot to Duquesne. TDM averaged double-figures last season. Would he fall into the category being good enough to play at wvu or is he just a WV cull we somehow passed on? Dikembe Dixon played a lot for UIC. We didn't recruit Elijah Cuffee very hard and he's a nice player for Liberty. We let Zyon Dobbs go to JMU last year. KJ McClurg is going to Niagra, while his teammate, Kaden Matheney, is going to Bowling Green. I think there's another kid from nothern WV who is going to Youngstown State.
 
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Jesus Christ, who said we take them just because they're from WV? We currently have 2. One is the best player on the team, one needs to go, and we have 2 coming in who are nice players. Not Concord talent. The notion many have is that WV doesn't produce enough talent to recruit 1-2 kids each year and I proved that wrong.

The WV kids who go to wvu, go up there knowing they're going to be role players. Chase Harler & Nathan Adrien accepted that. Both decent-good careers up there, but would have had better careers at Marshall. But they want to play for wvu. That's cool. We were also in early on Maciej Bender, then wvu swooped in late to grab him. He's a foreign kid who played HS in VA, but another example of a wvu player we could have gotten that would have been a nice player for Marshall. Good for him too. Brandon Knapper transferred out to EKU. If he would have shown interest in playing at our level instead of going up there, he could be developing into a nice player here. Good for him, as well. Jaylen Bridges is a nice long & athletic player who redshirted at wvu this year and will either have to accept his role over the next few years while developing or transfer out like Knapper did. It's not out of the question to think we could have landed some of these. We're not talking about OJ Mayos, Pattrick Pattersons, or Huntington Prep kids.

We also passed on a kid from Huntington, Tavian Dunn-Martin, a few years ago. He ended up going to Akron, where he followed Keith Dambrot to Duquesne. TDM averaged double-figures last season. Would he fall into the category being good enough to play at wvu or is he just a WV cull we somehow passed on? Dikembe Dixon played a lot for UIC. We didn't recruit Elijah Cuffee very hard and he's a nice player for Liberty. We let Zyon Dobbs go to JMU last year. KJ McClurg is going to Niagra, while his teammate, Kaden Matheney, is going to Bowling Green. I think there's another kid from nothern WV who is going to Youngstown State.

There is a kid from Huntington that also plays for Akron.
 
You’ll have to allow Sam time to craft a response. He is not used to being presented with that much factual logic. It’s like on Star Trek when Kirk throws so much info at the alien computer (they always gave them a high-pitched voice!) that it shorts out and explodes...yeah, that’s where Sam is right now.
 
Jesus Christ, who said we take them just because they're from WV? We currently have 2. One is the best player on the team, one needs to go, and we have 2 coming in who are nice players. Not Concord talent. The notion many have is that WV doesn't produce enough talent to recruit 1-2 kids each year and I proved that wrong.

The WV kids who go to wvu, go up there knowing they're going to be role players. Chase Harler & Nathan Adrien accepted that. Both decent-good careers up there, but would have had better careers at Marshall. But they want to play for wvu. That's cool. We were also in early on Maciej Bender, then wvu swooped in late to grab him. He's a foreign kid who played HS in VA, but another example of a wvu player we could have gotten that would have been a nice player for Marshall. Good for him too. Brandon Knapper transferred out to EKU. If he would have shown interest in playing at our level instead of going up there, he could be developing into a nice player here. Good for him, as well. Jaylen Bridges is a nice long & athletic player who redshirted at wvu this year and will either have to accept his role over the next few years while developing or transfer out like Knapper did. It's not out of the question to think we could have landed some of these. We're not talking about OJ Mayos, Pattrick Pattersons, or Huntington Prep kids.

We also passed on a kid from Huntington, Tavian Dunn-Martin, a few years ago. He ended up going to Akron, where he followed Keith Dambrot to Duquesne. TDM averaged double-figures last season. Would he fall into the category being good enough to play at wvu or is he just a WV cull we somehow passed on? Dikembe Dixon played a lot for UIC. We didn't recruit Elijah Cuffee very hard and he's a nice player for Liberty. We let Zyon Dobbs go to JMU last year. KJ McClurg is going to Niagra, while his teammate, Kaden Matheney, is going to Bowling Green. I think there's another kid from nothern WV who is going to Youngstown State.

Gee, Sean, this list doesn't sound like a bunch of "Concords" to me!!
 
You’ll have to allow Sam time to craft a response. He is not used to being presented with that much factual logic. It’s like on Star Trek when Kirk throws so much info at the alien computer (they always gave them a high-pitched voice!) that it shorts out and explodes...yeah, that’s where Sam is right now.

Maybe Scottie "beamed Sam up", W-S!! :D
 
He left the program to finish his pre-med work. Now he is in Marshall Medical School

Glad to hear that, HM, as I believe the young man's goal was to be a Doctor. Just saying that from my observations he would not have made that much of a contribution to Herd basketball production wise. Certainly wouldn't have been as productive as say another local player, later physician, Larry Watson, was!! Remember the old "four to score" offensive under Coach Z, I believe it was?

Certainly don't mean to knock the walk on program generally. Can give local guys/state players a chance at D1 ball and every 3 or 4 seasons or so turns up a diamond in the rough who ends up contributing, like Loop. Hopefully, Meredith and Collins will end up as "diamonds" and not lumps of coal!!
 
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Not sure why OAK didn't seriously consider UD or UC but he did take OVs to New Mexico, Temple and South Florida.

About Rhode Island: They were 13-5 in the A-10 this year. Danny Hurley had them ranked inside the top 25 most of the year in 2017-18, when they were a 7 seed in the NCAA tournament and reached the second round. They also won 25 games in 2016-17 and beat Creighton in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Chris, and Akron was no "slouch" this season either. Atop of the MAC, or at least in the top 2 when the season abruptly ended. They really haven't missed much of a beat since Dambrot left for Duquesne.
 
Chris, and Akron was no "slouch" this season either. Atop of the MAC, or at least in the top 2 when the season abruptly ended. They really haven't missed much of a beat since Dambrot left for Duquesne.
Obviously when the Zips hired John Groce it was a good hire. He had been very successful at Ohio University before leaving Illinois with a winning record.
 
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Wow! Reading all the above sure made me forget about COVID-19. It's a great country where we can debate topics like recruiting and coaches' competence while still dealing with a serious national challenge. My take on Meridith is that he is an accomplished outside shooter and we have a need for shooters. He may work out or he may decide to transfer to a school where he will start. Time will tell. Danny must have thought this through and discussed it openly with the kid and his family. I think Danny will bring in 2 or 3 kids from outside WV next year. This year Early and OAK offered attractive in-state recruiting opportunities.
 
#304boys
2017-18 Roster-CUSA Champs, NCAA first round winner(6)
Jon Elmore
CJ Burks
Jarrod West-all starters
Rondale Watson-6th man
Ot Elmore
Phil Bledsoe
Definitely not Concord level DD has proven you can win with WV talent. Nobody has ever said every player should be from WV. IMO only, MU has more clout with in state players than out of state
 

we covered that. early at one time had an offer from wvu.

reading and comprehension Sam. try it. one last time, no one is claiming we out recruit wvu. in your haste to inform the unrealistic fan, you seem to miss things.
 
You do understand that "offers" to sophomores are honorary, right.

Fact is, as the link states, this player was not given a binding offer from WVU. As stated.
 
You do understand that "offers" to sophomores are honorary, right.

Fact is, as the link states, this player was not given a binding offer from WVU. As stated.

we said offer, he had one. did you miss "at one time"? you are grasping now. your comment would only matter if someone was claiming we beat out wvu for Early, no one is. learn to read.
 
Glad to hear that, HM, as I believe the young man's goal was to be a Doctor. Just saying that from my observations he would not have made that much of a contribution to Herd basketball production wise. Certainly wouldn't have been as productive as say another local player, later physician, Larry Watson, was!! Remember the old "four to score" offensive under Coach Z, I believe it was?

Certainly don't mean to knock the walk on program generally. Can give local guys/state players a chance at D1 ball and every 3 or 4 seasons or so turns up a diamond in the rough who ends up contributing, like Loop. Hopefully, Meredith and Collins will end up as "diamonds" and not lumps of coal!!
Oh the old “four to score” offense” Yep put them to sleep then slip one in on them. I remember it well.
 
Not that I follow the Rams too closely, what I have seen they have not been much since the Jim Herrick days. I didn't see Cincy,NM, and Dayton on the list from 24/7. If that's the case I'm not sure why he didn't head too Albuquerque or Dayton, a team who had a real sot at winning it all last year.
Your dislike for Dan is really showing now. You have complained about Dan not beating out bigger schools for a recruit and he does then you make excuses(Doc brought in a linebacker from Va last year that had no D1 offers I didn't hear you complain).
 
A circular argument. "Wouldn't it be great if MU got its pick of every male baby born in WV 18 years ago, every year?" Yes, but we don't. Some are good enough to go to places like Davidson, Dayton, New Mexico, or WVU; or get offers from places like K-State, WVU, and Xavier; and maybe Cincy, Indiana, OSU, and UVa. We get the culls.

The fact that MU would be better IF it had WVU, et al, level players IT DOES NOT HAVE, is irrelevant as to why picking up OTHER players from WV is not a problem.

What it leads to is what MU basketball is. Trying to play Marshall's schedule with Concord's team.
well something is going right because this is the most wins this program has had since Huck
 
You have complained about Dan not beating out bigger schools for a recruit....

Where?

It would be ridiculous to consider MU in competition with "bigger schools". Which is why I called out other posters who incorrectly parrot puff pieces and misinterpret the facts about recruits' offers (not just this one, but generally).

Fact is this "304 boys" nonsense is easy to understand. Of course WV produces an occasional player at the "better than CUSA" level. It is foolish to think that MU is in play for such a player and unfair to criticize DD, or anyone else, for not getting such players. My issue with DD, and with his apologists here, is not with who he doesn't get, but who he does. The blunt fact is that WV, or WV plus immediate tri-state, simply does not produce anything like 10 or 12 "CUSA level" players per generation. Which is why the Joe Retton system of getting the state tournament all-star team doesn't work. Because its not 1970 and we don't play in the WVIAC.
 
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You have complained about Dan not beating out bigger schools for a recruit and he does then you make excuses(Doc brought in a linebacker from Va last year that had no D1 offers I didn't hear you complain).

Where did I complain about Dan not beating out bigger institutions?
 
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Not that I follow the Rams too closely, what I have seen they have not been much since the Jim Herrick days. I didn't see Cincy,NM, and Dayton on the list from 24/7. If that's the case I'm not sure why he didn't head too Albuquerque or Dayton, a team who had a real sot at winning it all last year.
You say, " Im not sure why he didn't head to NM or Dayton, a team who had a real shot at winning it all last year? So Dan just beat a out a few schools that are on a real upswing and you think the kids should have gone there, without even giving Dan credit for winning that recruiting battle.
 
Where?

It would be ridiculous to consider MU in competition with "bigger schools". Which is why I called out other posters who incorrectly parrot puff pieces and misinterpret the facts about recruits' offers (not just this one, but generally).

Fact is this "304 boys" nonsense is easy to understand. Of course WV produces an occasional player at the "better than CUSA" level. It is foolish to think that MU is in play for such a player and unfair to criticize DD, or anyone else, for not getting such players. My issue with DD, and with his apologists here, is not with who he doesn't get, but who he does. The blunt fact is that WV, or WV plus immediate tri-state, simply does not produce anything like 10 or 12 "CUSA level" players per generation. Which is why the Joe Retton system of getting the state tournament all-star team doesn't work. Because its not 1970 and we don't play in the WVIAC.
I happen to disagree...Dan is winning with 304 and local talent. Bob Pruett worked his tail off recruiting 304 kids (including the Eastern Panhandle remember the QB from Moorefield High Pruett moved him to TE and he didn't want to play that position but the coaches felt he would play if he stuck). What people don't realize is the Top 5 to 10 hoops players that play in the Mountain East can play at a mid major college. Shoot the conference player of the year couple years ago made an NBA roster. Stevie Browning transferring from Fairmont Sate to scored over a 1,000 pts for the Herd. On the football said the lineman Brooks also transferring and played a lot for the Herd. Last year UC had a kid drafted in football, Shepherd has had kids drafted.

Bottom line you have a stigma against 304 kids and Dan does not. He is winning games like no one else since Huck, so whats the issue. BTW, Dan missed out on the point guard from Morgantown, and if anyone wants to be nervous about our program finding a replacement for West is very very important. Dan MUST have quality guard play to make his offense run(Herdmeister the fans that do pay attention knows Dan cant screw up that recruitment). So keep your figures crossed on this one. I feel Dan lucked out a little on the Taylor kid.
 
A lot of people still don't get it.

David Early's offers:
Marshall, Duqeusne, Ohio, Robert Morris, & wvu

OAK's offers:
Marshall, Akron, Cincinnati, Dayton, Drexel, ETSU, Evansville, George Mason, George Washington, New Mexico, Ohio, ODU, Penn State, Rhode Island, Robert Morris, USF, Temple, & VCU

But people seem to be upset with how tight our recruiting net is. This topic was being discussed on Old Fairfield during the season and I compared Marshall's net to a few other programs. wvu for instance is almost exactly like ours. They had...
4 WV players
4 border state players (2 OH, 1 KY, 1 PA)
3 transfers/JUCO (1 from Texas, 2 are foreign born players)
1 from Washington, & 1 from Wisconsin.

Marshall had...
2 WV players
6 border state players (3 VA, 2 OH, 1 KY)
2 transfers/JUCO (1 from Texas, 1 foreign born--Sustic)
2 foreign born players who were recruited
1 from GA


People think us having so many WV kids is a problem, but I'd argue we'd be better if we had twice as many. If Marshall was able to land a couple more WV kids; pick any two between Luke Frampton (Davidson), Chase Johnson (UF--Dayton), Elijah Cuffee (Liberty), Chase Harler (wvu), Jalen Bridges (wvu), Brandon Knapper (wvu), Karim Ezzedine (New Mexico--I think he might have graduated), & Tavian Dunn-Martin (Duquesne), how are we not better?

Isaac McNeely, 4* 2022 guard from Poca, already has offers from Davidson, Kansas State, Liberty, Marshall Robert Morris, wvu, & Xavier; with interest from Cincinnati, Indiana, Ohio State, & Virginia. Probably shouldn't recruit him either....?
good post
 
He is winning games like no one else since Huck
Is he, though?

I like Dan but outside of our late season run in 2017-2018, his tenure has been fairly pedestrian.

Donnie Jones won at a .573 rate.

Greg White won at a .578 clip.

Dan? .551 overall. We've never finished higher than 4th in the regular season since Dan came on in 2014-2015.
 
Is he, though?

I like Dan but outside of our late season run in 2017-2018, his tenure has been fairly pedestrian.

Donnie Jones won at a .573 rate.

Greg White won at a .578 clip.

Dan? .551 overall. We've never finished higher than 4th in the regular season since Dan came on in 2014-2015.
And Donnie left us at the church standing(with not a lot of post season success). I will admit the Greg White era was fun at times but no post season success to speak of really. I felt one thing that hurt Dan was the program was a mess when it took over so he had nothing to build around.
 
And Donnie left us at the church standing(with not a lot of post season success). I will admit the Greg White era was fun at times but no post season success to speak of really. I felt one thing that hurt Dan was the program was a mess when it took over so he had nothing to build around.
The program was in shambles when Dan took over; there's no doubt. But the same could be said for the program Jones took over from Jira.
 
The program was in shambles when Dan took over; there's no doubt. But the same could be said for the program Jones took over from Jira.
Donnie only coached here 3 years, 16, 15, and 24 wins. Nothing really crazy and to win 16 games his first year Jirsa had to leave him some talent.

Markel Humphrey 4 JR F 6-6 230 Atlanta, GA 13.1 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Tirrell Baines 30 FR F 6-6 220 Laurens, SC 11.5 Pts, 5.8 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Tyler Wilkerson 32 SO F 6-8 240 Lexington, KY 9.2 Pts, 5.9 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Darryl Merthie 8 pts Jr
Mark Dorris 13 pts a game Sr
 
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Donnie only coached here 3 years, 16, 15, and 24 wins. Nothing really crazy and to win 16 games his first year Jirsa had to leave him some talent.

Markel Humphrey 4 JR F 6-6 230 Atlanta, GA 13.1 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Tirrell Baines 30 FR F 6-6 220 Laurens, SC 11.5 Pts, 5.8 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Tyler Wilkerson 32 SO F 6-8 240 Lexington, KY 9.2 Pts, 5.9 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Darryl Merthie 8 pts Jr
Mark Dorris 13 pts a game Sr
Donnie did have Humphrey and Wilkerson returning. Fair point.

Dan had a decent amount of talent to work with when he got here as well but ran quite a bit off it off (Kareem Canty, Chris Thomas, etc). Ryan Taylor, Cheikh Sane, Austin Loop, Shawn Smith (who got hurt), Devince Boykins and JP Kambola were still around for the 14-15 season, though.
 
You say, " Im not sure why he didn't head to NM or Dayton, a team who had a real shot at winning it all last year? So Dan just beat a out a few schools that are on a real upswing and you think the kids should have gone there, without even giving Dan credit for winning that recruiting battle.

What I said was not sure why he would pass up solid - consistent programs like NM and Dayton to come here. I think its less about potential playing time elsewhere, then beating out bigger schools.
 
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Dan is winning with 304 and local talent.

As well pointed out by others above, not really. DD had a great 8 days. Two years ago. Nothing before, nothing since.

How long is this fan base going to embarrass itself with this "one time we made the tournament and won a game." meme? Sad.

What people don't realize is the Top 5 to 10 hoops players that play in the Mountain East can play at a mid major college.

Ah, so in your world, the 125-odd "mid-major" college coaches, plus the 125-odd lower than even that, but still Div I, college coaches, plus the how-many-ever better than the MWC Div II coaches (the MWC is hardly the top of Div II, far closer to the bottom) are being rottenly out-recruited by phys ed teachers from ridiculous small colleges in rural West Virginia.

What color is the sky in your world?
 
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