by Blers » February 22nd, 2017, 3:15 pm
The huge surge in Loyola recruiting is based primarily on the new talent brought in this year and next year. While it looks great on paper the talent has been partially offset by injury and red shirting this year. Ultimately though stars don't matter, it's what they do when they get to the school, which is more a reflection on coaching.
2016-17 class
Custer-3/4 star (playing major minutes for the first time in D1, streaky shooting, but still an above average guard)
Chastain-3 (Freshmen, redshirting after injury in third game)
Marques Townes-3 (Redshirt as a transfer)
Satterwhite- 3 (Freshmen coming off ACL tear in HS, flashing as of late)
Skokna-2 (solid, need him to be more aggressive scoring though)
Jackson-2 (clearly a steal)
Granic-2 (ehhhh)
17-18 Class
Christian Negron-3/4 star
Cam Krutwig-3 star
The recruiting class last year didn't add much. The surge began with Mullins promotion to assistant coach. Before that our only "ranked" recruit was Ben Richardson with a 3 star rating from rivals. Milt was unranked due to being injured almost all his junior year of high school and not playing summer ball after. Barring significant injuries/transfers next year will better reflect the talent level as it should mostly be on the court able to play.
To be honest i don't put Jacobson that high on recruiting either. He doesn't often dance with big name recruits (or if he has he hasn't often won). Which is totally fine... in mind i think it really enhances his coaching credibility. He recruits intentionally with a plan in place and gets the guys he needs to win. He maxes out players, recruits through families etc. He really helped build Jeremy Morgan into a great player. He just doesn't recruit with buzz i suppose. Doesn't make him bad.
As for Lansing i really don't know how to feel. It seems like the last two seasons have ended with "The team has quit on Greg." Doesn't that on some level fall on coaching? Maybe not X's and O's or recruiting... but just motivation? I've always respected how his teams play defense but it's hard to say after this year where he stands in my opinion.