Basketball Recruits

[playincajun]

Ok so we have a full coaching staff now. Let's get to players. I understand that the coaches were recruiting to their old schools. Will the recruits follow them to ULL? How many scholarships do we officially have to offer? Will the two commits from Florida still be coming? Does Wallace get a medical? Will Dyson, Diagle and Gary get grey shirt year back? Parrot or BirdofParadise want to take a shot at these?

[Parrott]

Too early to answer all of these questions right now, especially about which recruits will end up here. Right now there are two available scholarships on top of the two November signees. I'm hearing that both Florida signees have been contacted, and nothing has been officially decided yet. NCAA is handling the medical issue with Wallace, so it will be a while before that's final, but it would be a shock if he doesn't get another year. Daigle, Dison and Gary are on track to earn another year by hitting the 80 percent mark on their degree plan by the end of the summer. The key is whether those scholarships are renewed by the new coaching staff.

[Cajunsmike]

_ Ok so we have a full coaching staff now. Let's get to players. I understand that the coaches were recruiting to their old schools. Will the recruits follow them to UL? How many scholarships do we officially have to offer? Will the two commits from Florida still be coming? Does Wallace get a medical? Will Dyson, Diagle and Gary get grey shirt year back? Parrot or BirdofParadise want to take a shot at these? _

I am not Josh Parrot or Bird of Paradise but I will take a shot at addressing the issues you bring up. First of all, we don't have a full staff yet. Only two guys, Rich and Johnson, have come on board. If someone is assigned to the director of basketball operations position we may have two more coaches to hire. Will recruits follow Coach Nikita Johnson here is something we don't know but I have heard we are optimistic on that front. I don't know what decision will be made on the early signees but I predict McDonald (the HS guard) comes on board while the JC guy (I think his name is Reese) goes elsewhere. I am confident Wallace will get a medical redshirt if he wants to. I don't know if he wants to or even if Coach Marlin would think that is a good idea. He may prefer to use the scholarship on a different player. Dyson, Daigle, and Gary will all get their first year back. How effective Gary and Dison will be after their injuries is another question which no one knows the answer to now. Regarding no. of scholarships, right now we have eight scholarship players scheduled to return (6 seniors and 2 sophomores) while the NCAA allows 13 players to be on scholarship. If Wallace comes back we would then have 9 guys returning. If we assume Wallace stays on but Reese goes elsewhere we could have three scholarships to give. It could be as many as four if both Wallace and Reese are not here. It could be as few as two if they are both here. Also, we don't know if everyone else will return. Scholarships are a year to year thing and Coach Marlin may choose not to bring everyone back or someone may decide to go elsewhere. If that happens another scholarship could open up.

[Parrott]

To clarify my earlier statement: Reese said that he has yet to hear from the new coaching staff. He changed his cell number a few weeks ago, so that might be why. McDougald expects to hear from Marlin this week.

Mike, there is no director of basketball operations position at UL. There's the head coach, three assistants and a GA. There is a newly created position as associate athletic director for student services, which oversees academics for both basketball and football. This is all directly from a conversation I had in passing with Walker today.

[Cajunsmike]

_ To clarify my earlier statement: Reese said that he has yet to hear from the new coaching staff. He changed his cell number a few weeks ago, so that might be why. Still waiting to hear from McDougald.

Mike, there is no director of basketball operations position at UL. There's the head coach, three assistants and a GA. There is a newly created position as associate athletic director for student services, which oversees academics for both basketball and football. _

Although there is not currently a director of basketball operations position, the university is considering creating one.

Another point regarding recruiting; With no juniors scheduled to return this is a good year to bring in some JC guys to round out the roster. I predict that we bring in 2 JC guys and one more HS guy by the time recruiting is done.

[lcitsh]

Ok so we have a full coaching staff now. Not quite. One more assistant to go. Will the recruits follow them to UL? Too early to tell. It's a possibility. How many scholarships do we officially have to offer? That depends on how many returning players we will have. Will the two commits from Florida still be coming? Yes. Does Wallace get a medical? If he wants it and if Marlin wants him. Will Dyson, Daigle and Gary get grey shirt year back? Probably, but again, do they want to play, does Marlin want them and will Gary & Dison be healthy enough to play.

[Parrott]

Mike, the university might consider adding the DBO position later, but at no point did Walker say anything about that being available anytime soon. Especially with the university's current hiring freeze for non-essential positions. (They are allowed to complete the coaching staff, but that position doesn't even exist right now.) An assistant will handle the scheduling and the associate AD for student services will take care of academics.

And lcitsh is right on the money, but things could easily change.

[CajunT]

_ Although there is not currently a director of basketball operations position, the university is considering creating one.

Another point regarding recruiting; With no juniors scheduled to return this is a good year to bring in some JC guys to round out the roster. I predict that we bring in 2 JC guys and one more HS guy by the time recruiting is done. _

Mike, I think your probably close more then some think. Things may indeed change, but my sources told me Marlin is not high on Reese, but likes McDougald. So I'm not surprised Reese has not been contacted yet, change phone number or not. There are several other recruits Johnson and Marlin are talking to that have not been mentioned by any source at this point. The 7-footer had not visited Tech this year while Johnson was recruiting and is not a done deal as he has several other options on the table as of this past weekend. Look for several prospects to possibly visit this weekend.

[Zeebart21]

_ Mike, I think your probably close more then some think. Things may indeed change, but my sources told me Marlin is not high on Reese, but likes McDougald. So I'm not surprised Reese has not been contacted yet, change phone number or not. There are several other recruits Johnson and Marlin on talking to that have not been mentioned by any source at this point. The 7-footer had not visited Tech while Johnson was recruiting and is not a done deal as he has several other options on the table as of this past weekend. Look for several prospects to possibly visit this weekend. _

This is getting good!

Z

[CajunT]

_ This is getting good!

Z _

Zee, things change quickly when you have coaches recruiting prospects to a new program.

[Boomer]

_ This is getting good!

Z _

Hey Z---thanks for getting us to the Tech site---I can't get on but would you tell the guy with the "Blue Dog" logo that we appreciate his using the artwork of a famous UL alumnus whose donations helped raise money to get their coach to UL!!!! I think that they would enjoy your comment!!!!

[playincajun]

This is just what I was going for. Great answers but in the end we need Feb 13 to get here to
see where we are heading. Any thought on the rolls our two freshman to be sophomores will play next year? In all we want to knock the former staff those were two good finds. Talking about Andrews and Mitchell. I have heard that Grandigo is expected to be a leader with Bureau and Diagle. I agree with the statuses of Gary and Dysons injuries being a factor. Also Wallace is set to graduate so APR will not be an issue. Baptiste could be molded into a dominate player with guidance and rebounding work.
igeaux.mobi