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IU Hoosier41

(2019) SF Trendon Watford to LSU

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Jerry Meyer tweeting out a scenario he's hearing that Steve Prohm would bring Trendon's HS coach on as an assistant at Alabama.

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28 minutes ago, BH33 said:

Jerry Meyer tweeting out a scenario he's hearing that Steve Prohm would bring Trendon's HS coach on as an assistant at Alabama.

 

Trendon's high school coach has been incredibly successful. Not quite the same as offering to hire someone's relative to a coaching staff.

 

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2 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

 

Trendon's high school coach has been incredibly successful. Not quite the same as offering to hire someone's relative to a coaching staff.

 

Yes, definitely. Easy to interpret the other way though, which is what will happen.

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9 minutes ago, HoosierAloha said:


Wait, Steve Prohm is leaving Iowa State for Alabama? Is Hoiberg returning to Iowa State?


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I believe Prohm's name is being thrown around because he is an alumn and former manager there.

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28 minutes ago, BH33 said:

I believe Prohm's name is being thrown around because he is an alumn and former manager there.

If Prohm is interested you just make that hire and call it a day. Really good coach. But didn’t he say over the weekend that he’s staying at ISU? Bama could certainly throw a bunch of money at him.

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14 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Hiring a friend, coach, or relative is an easy way to launder payments. Everyone is happy. Except maybe the head coach.


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Completely true, but this coach is more than worthy of hire with no recruiting connections needed, and the NCAA allows it:

A young Alabama coach takes place among all-time greats
Posted Mar 3, 2019

By Joseph Goodman | jgoodman@al.com

One of the truly remarkable things in the history of high school sports in Alabama is the current dynasty of Mountain Brook basketball.

It even amazes the architect of it all, Bucky McMillan, the still-young coach who is now, already, at age 35, one of the best high school basketball coaches in the country. McMillan won his fifth large-school state championship since 2013 on Saturday at Legacy Arena. He has won 301 games over his unprecedented 11-year career, and all with Mountain Brook.

When McMillan led Mountain Brook to the Final Four as a high schooler back in 2001, it was viewed, at the time, as an anomaly that would never again be duplicated. The little Birmingham-area hamlet of Mountain Brook, where basketball wasn’t even an afterthought because it wasn’t thought of at all, considered it quite the curiosity.

“Wasn’t that the craziest thing of all time?” said McMillan on Saturday, recalling his hometown’s reaction to that unexpected run, and at the same time poking a little fun at Mountain Brook’s sensibilities.

When McMillan then coached Mountain Brook to his first state championship before turning 30, people — even the players on the team — still didn’t quite understand the cultural shift at hand.

“They thought it was impossible,” McMillan said.

Mountain Brook has now played for six of the last seven state titles.

The National High School Coaches Association named McMillan national boys coach of the year in 2018, and he’s more deserving of the award after this season. Possessing an elite intellect combined with the ability to motivate young men, McMillan is like a young Mike Krzyzewski. Any basketball team at the next level or beyond would be wise to hire him.

Here’s why.

Mountain Brook became the first large-school boys’ basketball team in state history to win three state championships in a row with its 61-42 victory against Baker High of Mobile County, but how the Spartans did it was a testament to their coach. It was such a beautifully hideous game to watch, and perfectly encapsulated everything that makes McMillan such a rare coaching talent.

The Spartans have now won five state basketball titles in the last seven seasons.

Mountain Brook won the state championship by 19 points and shot just 37.7 percent from the field. That’s a remarkable statistical disparity, and evidence of a doggedly coached defensive-oriented team.

Baker, a scrappy team that got hot late in the year thanks to the tenacity of players like Fernando Billups, held Mountain Brook to 2 of 17 from three-point range. Baker’s defensive game plan worked to perfection. They double- and triple-teamed Mountain Brook five-star standout Trendon Watford, imploring the selfless player to find the open man, and then, again and again, Watford’s wide-open teammates couldn’t hit their shots.

Watford finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and two assists. He should have had a triple-double with all the passes he made.

Watford’s offense didn’t matter, though, and it was obvious how the game was going to go after Baker’s first possession. They had to call a timeout because they couldn’t advance the ball past the timeline.

Mountain Brook played a full-court press from that first possession until the very end. Baker committed 18 turnovers, and, with Watford tending the rim for Mountain Brook, the overachieving team from Mobile County shot 26.9 percent from 2-point range. Amazingly, Baker made just as many 3s — seven — as 2s.

On many possessions, Watford would defend the baseline on one end of the floor, and then race down the court to defend the paint moments later. Projected as one of the top stretch fours in the country for his recruiting class, Watford is 6-9 and a gifted offensive player. He spent all of his energy playing defense in the final high school game of his career.

Watford didn’t have a single dunk, surprisingly, but did lead by example defensively, involve all of his teammates on the other end, run the point at times — crossing up players half his size in the open court in the process — and, oh yeah, make 12 of 13 free-throw attempts.

atford is going to choose between Memphis, LSU, Alabama, Indiana and Duke pretty soon, but I didn’t want to talk to him about any of that after the game.

What are conditioning drills like at Mountain Brook?

“One thing I won’t miss is that conditioning,” Watford said with a smile, and loudly so his coach and teammates could hear him. “Ain’t that right, Alex? What’s one thing you won’t miss?”

Alex Washington, a senior guard for Mountain Brook who has a chance to attend Harvard, laughed at the thought.

“Oh, 17s,” Washington shouted back.

Said Watford: “That’s definitely what keeps us going on the floor like that, and keeps us running. It’s hard, but you push through it and you fight through adversity.”

Most good basketball coaches condition their players with a drill that requires them to sprint side to side 16 times in under a minute. McMillan makes his players run 17 in under a minute. By the start of each season, Mountain Brook does that drill three times in a practice with two minutes of rest in between.

And that’s just the beginning of Mountain Brook’s conditioning.

“Lots of throwing up to say the least,” McMillan said.

And lots of state championships.

 

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Hey; there's also no guarantee that Prohm goes to Bama. Watford has set a likely commitment day of April 20th

As for Matthew Hurt? "Hurt told USA Today Sports that he will make his college decision on April 19 at his school."  Soooo, there's no guarantee that Duke will be offering or be love at first sight.

As I've said, I'm just not feeling the Memphis love by the Watfords. Maybe, just maybe, we can pull a rabbit out of a hat and have a sliver of a chance. Probably not, but stranger things have happened.

Hell - if we have room for him I'll take the Trendon Watford/Bucky McMillan combo-jumbo-with cheese:

 

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High school coaches landing prime assistant jobs with schools who recruited their best high school players is as old as the hills.  Knight hired Bob Donewald who coached Laz and Abernethy in South Bend and later hired Ron Felling who was Marty Simmons high school coach.  OOPS, that last one didn't work out so well did it?

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High school coaches landing prime assistant jobs with schools who recruited their best high school players is as old as the hills.  Knight hired Bob Donewald who coached Laz and Abernethy in South Bend and later hired Ron Felling who was Marty Simmons high school coach.  OOPS, that last one didn't work out so well did it?
And Felling did a lot of recruiting at the HS level! LOL

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The recruitment of high profile kids is so full of shenanigans (nicest word I could think of) sometimes I feel like I need a shower after reading about them. I have no idea what's going on with Watford and I don't care. He is a young guy trying to make the be$t (?) decision possible for himself and his family. Considering what has been going on for years in college basketball, can anyone really blame him.

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The recruitment of high profile kids is so full of shenanigans (nicest word I could think of) sometimes I feel like I need a shower after reading about them. I have no idea what's going on with Watford and I don't care. He is a young guy trying to make the be$t (?) decision possible for himself and his family. Considering what has been going on for years in college basketball, can anyone really blame him.

No, I can’t blame him or his family but (!) I don’t think I really want IU mixed up in that. As others have posted, we would get hammered for asking “if the day was sunny” on wiretap while other schools will be told to sit in the corner for a season before resuming their cheating ways.

I have zero ill will towards the kids or the families in these cases. If they can get the money or coach/relative/friend a gig all the best to them. It’s the system that is and will always be corrupt. If anyone thought the NCAA knew nothing of these things going on I have some property in Arizona right on the pacific..


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3 minutes ago, HoosierAloha said:


No, I can’t blame him or his family but (!) I don’t think I really want IU mixed up in that. As others have posted, we would get hammered for asking “if the day was sunny” on wiretap while other schools will be told to sit in the corner for a season before resuming their cheating ways.

I have zero ill will towards the kids or the families in these cases. If they can get the money or coach/relative/friend a gig all the best to them. It’s the system that is and will always be corrupt. If anyone thought the NCAA knew nothing of these things going on I have some property in Arizona right on the pacific..


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It's the old "don't hate the player, hate the game."

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