After reading the Post Dispatch interview with Justin Tatum, I think it's safe to say that Anderson won't be offering him an assistant coaching position.
Tatum's P-D interview
- Thread starter Pure Swing
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"We just didn't feel the strong love from Mizzou as we did with the effort UNC or Duke or some others were putting in. Obviously, those are high-profile programs. If they can put their work in from hours and hours and miles and miles away, somebody can do the same thing from an hour and a half away." -- Tatum
Pretty much sums it up ... I don't expect Mizzou to get every five-star kid in their home state, but I do expect them to at least be trying as hard as the programs from outside of the state. Those kids don't come along very often. There's only two five-star kids in the state, that I know of, in any class. It shouldn't be that hard, with a dozen assistant coaches, to stay in constant contact with two kids and their family (especially considering one of them is in the building every day) and let them know their home state wants them to stay home.
Pretty much sums it up ... I don't expect Mizzou to get every five-star kid in their home state, but I do expect them to at least be trying as hard as the programs from outside of the state. Those kids don't come along very often. There's only two five-star kids in the state, that I know of, in any class. It shouldn't be that hard, with a dozen assistant coaches, to stay in constant contact with two kids and their family (especially considering one of them is in the building every day) and let them know their home state wants them to stay home.
If Mizzou has a dozen assistant coaches the NCAA will be visiting with them soon as that is 9 over the allowable limit for recruiting.
After re-reading, I guess I don't fully grasp the reasons for his comments. Especially the last paragraph. Tatum almost comes across as bitter when MU backed off (assuming that they knew, or at least had an indication they were out of the running). As much as people don't want to admit...there are limited recruiting resources. And Coach Anderson has quite a number of scholarships to fill. Roster management takes time and resources and is all about hedging in these situations. I'm sure they had every indication they were going to be eliminated, so they moved resources elsewhere.
That's how I take it. If Tatum had shown sincere interest in Mizzou I have no doubt they would have been all over him. But, like you, I think they realized they had no chance and moved on. It does make it sound as if Tatum was just looking for attention and is now using that as an excuse as to why he won't stay home when in reality he wasn't going to anyway. This is just another reason why I could never be a college coach. You have to beg and beg and fawn all over teenage kids and their parents to get them. This example clearly shows how much they expect that now days.
Sounds to me that Tatum and poppa Tatum wanted to be catered hand and foot and worshipped. From what I seen at the final four, good luck elsewhere. The biggest problem today is that kids want to be catered too and told everyday how great they are because that is how they are raised from the time they are young.
Judging by the way Tatum acted on the floor I'd say he's used to being coddled and feels entitled. Seriously. Who would be dumb enough to think Mizzou/Anderson didn't want this kid? I don't care one bit that h s not coming to Mizzou.
I think there's something to that comment.
But I think Justin Tatum's statements should be listened to. He was saying similar things over a year ago on St. Louis radio. His message then was simple: Jayson is very interested in Mizzou and SLU, but we don't hear much from either program compared to the high-profile teams that are recruiting him.
The perception among most out-state fans is that StL kids don't want to play at Mizzou.
The perception among many fans in StL, based largely on statements from recruits themselves, is that Mizzou is unwilling to work hard to recruit StL kids. If they don't jump in Mizzou's arms immediately, Mizzou turns its attention elsewhere.
The thing is, the guy we most want and have a legit chance of landing is his high school teammate. It would've been no trouble to put in a ton of effort to be there. I don't blame him for not wanting to play for a lame duck coach, but for mizzou not to be at almost every game shows just how little Anderson knows about recruiting high level prospects.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Posted from Rivals Mobile
If they were at every game they would be in violation of the NCAA rules and wouldn't get him anyway. Recruiting rules are very strange at that level and it would be real easy to cross the line while trying to get a high profile kid. Not saying that was the issue for Mizzou, just that some go overboard thinking they should, or could, be at almost every game. Sometimes they can go and just watch with no contact, sometimes they can go and talk to a player and his parents and sometimes they can't even be in the building where he's playing. I don't know how they keep up with the all rules on recruiting.
For what it's worth, I think Cook wants to go to Mizzou. But the Illini are recruiting him very hard. It will be an interesting test for Anderson.
Not getting Tatum won't have a negative impact on Mizzou's chances with Cook. Might even help them if what I'm hearing is accurate.
Cook is extremely explosive, can use either hand, and works very hard. But despite all those attributes, he's often surprisingly easy to defend. Really needs work on his inside moves and needs to be encouraged to shoot the little jumper. He has a pretty nice release.
As a freshman this year, Carteare Gordon was a much better player than Cook was his freshman year and outplayed Cook at Chaminade. I'm not sure why Mizzou hasn't offered him already. Seems like that might have a little influence on his decision in a couple of years.
