Ha! It appears you feel there is some diverted animosity in my post! There truly is none! It was a very simple statement.
The answer to your first question: Not sure one can just pull up a label to describe the Ford culture. I'm just sure I would not describe the culture around the Missouri State, Murray State, Illinois State, or the SIU-E programs using the same words as describing what Coach Mullins is cultivating at SIU.
The answer to your second question: Every coach strives to build a culture in their program. One of Coach Mullins more publicized attributes he looks for in recruiting kids is that they be former State Championship team members, "because they know how to win". Another is players that understand how to "keep your chip". Bryan has says he looks for players that have a "chip on their shoulder" from being passed over in recruiting by schools they thought they were good enough to play for. Mr Benson may have felt he did not fit well in Coach Mullins team culture because A) He had not been on a State Championship team. B) His recruitment blew up this summer and he really chose one of the 5 top schools that were recruiting him. Therefore Mr. Benson may not feel he has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to his game. He may not have been able to buy into feeling like he needed to competitively perform better each time out to overcome a competitive short coming that he may have experienced in the past. It is better for all parties involved that Mr. Benson plays ball in a culture he is comfortable in, instead of trying to conform to one he can't truly except!
Regardless, NJ Benson will be playing in the Valley and I still wish him good luck with every game except when playing against Saluki's
I pretty well felt the same way when Jacob Hutson chose Loyola over SIU two years ago. I really wanted to see that kid in the maroon and white but he chose the Moser culture over what Coach Mullins was doing in Carbondale.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Appreciate <a href="https://twitter.com/SIU_Basketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SIU_Basketball</a> coming in for workouts today!</p>— Aaron Darling (@rrhs_Bball) <a href="https://twitter.com/rrhs_Bball/status/1445187649262718976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2021</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Coach of River Ridge HS, Woodstock, GA. Staff in to see 7'0 C Braden Pierce
Don’t think we have offered to Pierce yet. Guessing if he has some interest in our program he will get an offer from BM.
Ha! It appears you feel there is some diverted animosity in my post! There truly is none! It was a very simple statement.
The answer to your first question: Not sure one can just pull up a label to describe the Ford culture. I'm just sure I would not describe the culture around the Missouri State, Murray State, Illinois State, or the SIU-E programs using the same words as describing what Coach Mullins is cultivating at SIU.
The answer to your second question: Every coach strives to build a culture in their program. One of Coach Mullins more publicized attributes he looks for in recruiting kids is that they be former State Championship team members, "because they know how to win". Another is players that understand how to "keep your chip". Bryan has says he looks for players that have a "chip on their shoulder" from being passed over in recruiting by schools they thought they were good enough to play for. Mr Benson may have felt he did not fit well in Coach Mullins team culture because A) He had not been on a State Championship team. B) His recruitment blew up this summer and he really chose one of the 5 top schools that were recruiting him. Therefore Mr. Benson may not feel he has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to his game. He may not have been able to buy into feeling like he needed to competitively perform better each time out to overcome a competitive short coming that he may have experienced in the past. It is better for all parties involved that Mr. Benson plays ball in a culture he is comfortable in, instead of trying to conform to one he can't truly except!
Regardless, NJ Benson will be playing in the Valley and I still wish him good luck with every game except when playing against Saluki's
I pretty well felt the same way when Jacob Hutson chose Loyola over SIU two years ago. I really wanted to see that kid in the maroon and white but he chose the Moser culture over what Coach Mullins was doing in Carbondale.
The overriding aspect of the Mullins culture is that the kids who get recruited to play here be “good kids”, and we all know what that means. Doesn’t matter if they have a 6’ vertical if they aren’t good kids. I could not agree more with that philosophy.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
Ha! It appears you feel there is some diverted animosity in my post! There truly is none! It was a very simple statement.
The answer to your first question: Not sure one can just pull up a label to describe the Ford culture. I'm just sure I would not describe the culture around the Missouri State, Murray State, Illinois State, or the SIU-E programs using the same words as describing what Coach Mullins is cultivating at SIU.
The answer to your second question: Every coach strives to build a culture in their program. One of Coach Mullins more publicized attributes he looks for in recruiting kids is that they be former State Championship team members, "because they know how to win". Another is players that understand how to "keep your chip". Bryan has says he looks for players that have a "chip on their shoulder" from being passed over in recruiting by schools they thought they were good enough to play for. Mr Benson may have felt he did not fit well in Coach Mullins team culture because A) He had not been on a State Championship team. B) His recruitment blew up this summer and he really chose one of the 5 top schools that were recruiting him. Therefore Mr. Benson may not feel he has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to his game. He may not have been able to buy into feeling like he needed to competitively perform better each time out to overcome a competitive short coming that he may have experienced in the past. It is better for all parties involved that Mr. Benson plays ball in a culture he is comfortable in, instead of trying to conform to one he can't truly except!
Regardless, NJ Benson will be playing in the Valley and I still wish him good luck with every game except when playing against Saluki's
I pretty well felt the same way when Jacob Hutson chose Loyola over SIU two years ago. I really wanted to see that kid in the maroon and white but he chose the Moser culture over what Coach Mullins was doing in Carbondale.
The overriding aspect of the Mullins culture is that the kids who get recruited to play here be “good kids”, and we all know what that means. Doesn’t matter if they have a 6’ vertical if they aren’t good kids. I could not agree more with that philosophy.
I agree with the good kids thing to a certain degree. I also realize that C-Lo's big time huge awesome recruiting class in 2008 or whatever it was turned into a disaster.
That being said, a certain Saluki that we all love and who was a stud got arrested and kicked a window out of a police car or something similar. while at SIU. And I never hear anyone say he was a bad kid. We love him. And he turned out well. Kids do stupid things sometimes.
Talking about Tatum, of course.
I still want SIU to get the best players that they can.
According to Instagram Story Braxton Stacker is committing tomorrow at 11. 6’4 G from Cardinal Ritter in St. Louis. Offers from Murray State, Illinois State & Indiana State plus a few others.
Braxton Stacker committed Murray State per his Instagram.
Don’t be discouraged yet by these recruiting misses. Winning games will help the process in the future. I’ve seen nobody in SIU past work any harder than BM on the recruiting trail. If we don’t get Avila there probably a good chance we don’t sign nobody in the fall. I’m still Ok with that. I still see a mid year transfers or year end portal being a part of BM recruiting. Another Rolan Robert, Paul Lusk would fit well with the program.
Don’t be discouraged yet by these recruiting misses. Winning games will help the process in the future. I’ve seen nobody in SIU past work any harder than BM on the recruiting trail. If we don’t get Avila there probably a good chance we don’t sign nobody in the fall. I’m still Ok with that. I still see a mid year transfers or year end portal being a part of BM recruiting. Another Rolan Robert, Paul Lusk would fit well with the program.
I have no doubt Mullins and his staff work extremely hard on the recruiting trail. That's why this cold spell has been a bit surprising (and even a bit concerning) to me, even taking into account that last season didn't go well. You're not going to get everyone you want, obviously, but not getting commitments from any of the kids they put the most time into, and losing several to rival programs, is a bitter pill and the equivalent of digging a 10-point halftime deficit for this recruiting class ... there's time to come back (in the spring period), but it's certainly not the situation you want to be in.
The freshman class that just arrived on campus looks like a good one, but you don't want to take a step back on the recruiting front, as stacking consecutive strong classes goes a long way to building a winning program with staying power. Maybe there will still be a pleasure surprise before the November signing period ... if not, let's hope the roster retention in the spring is really good so there aren't too many holes to plug beyond the current openings.
Don’t be discouraged yet by these recruiting misses. Winning games will help the process in the future. I’ve seen nobody in SIU past work any harder than BM on the recruiting trail. If we don’t get Avila there probably a good chance we don’t sign nobody in the fall. I’m still Ok with that. I still see a mid year transfers or year end portal being a part of BM recruiting. Another Rolan Robert, Paul Lusk would fit well with the program.
I have no doubt Mullins and his staff work extremely hard on the recruiting trail. That's why this cold spell has been a bit surprising (and even a bit concerning) to me, even taking into account that last season didn't go well. You're not going to get everyone you want, obviously, but not getting commitments from any of the kids they put the most time into, and losing several to rival programs, is a bitter pill and the equivalent of digging a 10-point halftime deficit for this recruiting class ... there's time to come back (in the spring period), but it's certainly not the situation you want to be in.
The freshman class that just arrived on campus looks like a good one, but you don't want to take a step back on the recruiting front, as stacking consecutive strong classes goes a long way to building a winning program with staying power. Maybe there will still be a pleasure surprise before the November signing period ... if not, let's hope the roster retention in the spring is really good so there aren't too many holes to plug beyond the current openings.
I'm not too concerned with it. Keep in mind that the main pieces of this team are just juniors, with an extra 5th year available if they want. As long as we retain players, we can afford an "off" year in recruiting without missing much. But...we need to win badly this year to reverse that trend.
I still think there's interesting recruits out there that SIU is in on that are just as good, if not better than the ones we've been missing on. But winning is important this year if they're planning on tapping into the transfer market.
Don’t be discouraged yet by these recruiting misses. Winning games will help the process in the future. I’ve seen nobody in SIU past work any harder than BM on the recruiting trail. If we don’t get Avila there probably a good chance we don’t sign nobody in the fall. I’m still Ok with that. I still see a mid year transfers or year end portal being a part of BM recruiting. Another Rolan Robert, Paul Lusk would fit well with the program.
I have no doubt Mullins and his staff work extremely hard on the recruiting trail. That's why this cold spell has been a bit surprising (and even a bit concerning) to me, even taking into account that last season didn't go well. You're not going to get everyone you want, obviously, but not getting commitments from any of the kids they put the most time into, and losing several to rival programs, is a bitter pill and the equivalent of digging a 10-point halftime deficit for this recruiting class ... there's time to come back (in the spring period), but it's certainly not the situation you want to be in.
The freshman class that just arrived on campus looks like a good one, but you don't want to take a step back on the recruiting front, as stacking consecutive strong classes goes a long way to building a winning program with staying power. Maybe there will still be a pleasure surprise before the November signing period ... if not, let's hope the roster retention in the spring is really good so there aren't too many holes to plug beyond the current openings.
I'm not too concerned with it. Keep in mind that the main pieces of this team are just juniors, with an extra 5th year available if they want. As long as we retain players, we can afford an "off" year in recruiting without missing much. But...we need to win badly this year to reverse that trend.
Here's hoping that all plays out the right way. Not to be too much of a pessimist, but Southern will be picked behind teams like Loyola and Missouri State that beat Southern for key recruits this fall, and Valentine and Ford presumably will remain charismatic rivals on the recruiting trail. If Southern finishes 5th in the MVC, as likely will be the preseason expectation, will that be enough to move the needle and help Mullins and Co. regain recruiting momentum?
Obviously this is all theoretical and patience is required to see how things shake out. Sometimes I think recruiting is a little like shooting in basketball ... only takes one going down after a slump (or one key commitment in this analogy), and then things can sometimes snowball in a favorable direction.
Don’t be discouraged yet by these recruiting misses. Winning games will help the process in the future. I’ve seen nobody in SIU past work any harder than BM on the recruiting trail. If we don’t get Avila there probably a good chance we don’t sign nobody in the fall. I’m still Ok with that. I still see a mid year transfers or year end portal being a part of BM recruiting. Another Rolan Robert, Paul Lusk would fit well with the program.
I wouldn't take every "miss" as that, sometimes a school may offer but the kid and the school know that he isn't their main priority so he ends up not committing to them even though at one time he had an offer from said school. That's why a school may say we out recruited a higher level school when in reality that school had really moved on from that recruit. Now in SIU's case they have missed on a few kids ( NJ Benson and Jalen Quinn being two that come to mind) but not nearly as many as have been reported on this site. I believe SIU had backed off on Stacker and pretty sure they aren't currently involved with Avila. Still feel like Mullins and company are getting their fair share of quality recruits, now we need to win and get this program back to the top of the Valley. Go Dawgs
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DeAnthony Tipler (<a href="https://twitter.com/DTip1er0?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DTip1er0</a>) tells me that Radford, SFA, App State, Sam Houston State, South Alabama, Troy, SIU, Jackson State, UIC, ETSU, Bryant, and others have contacted him since entering the portal.<br><br>Tipler who played at Coastal Carolina averaged 13.4 PPG this past season.</p>— jake lieberman (@jakelieberman2) <a href="https://twitter.com/jakelieberman2/status/1447701044314525698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2021</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
5'10 PG
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DeAnthony Tipler (<a href="https://twitter.com/DTip1er0?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DTip1er0</a>) tells me that Radford, SFA, App State, Sam Houston State, South Alabama, Troy, SIU, Jackson State, UIC, ETSU, Bryant, and others have contacted him since entering the portal.<br><br>Tipler who played at Coastal Carolina averaged 13.4 PPG this past season.</p>— jake lieberman (@jakelieberman2) <a href="https://twitter.com/jakelieberman2/status/1447701044314525698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2021</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
5'10 PG
Went from Northeast Mississippi CC to Coastal Carolina and then is leaving now (played 1 yr). I'm sure there can be legit reasons but it does raise a red flag. Also, while listed as a PG, this kid can flat out shoot, but we already have a couple guys that can do that. I would like to see a TRUE experienced PG come in to break defenses down, while not turning the ball over, and kicking out to out shooters (Jones, Domask, etc).
