Porter Moser should be the guy

[Lennys Tap]

Illinois had better athletes and much higher rated players at every position. And their coach is no slouch. And Loyola dominated from start to finish. Moser can take his and beat yours or take yours and beat his. That's a rare quality in a coach. I don't know if he can recruit BE level talent or not. He's never had the resources to even try. I wouldn't be averse to MU giving him the opportunity.

[Goose]

Lenny

I agree with your post. I would not be disappointed but do worry about the step up in recruiting. While I would love to see a great coach on the sideline, I am greedy and want great players as well.

[MU82]

Illinois had better athletes and much higher rated players at every position. And their coach is no slouch. And Loyola dominated from start to finish. Moser can take his and beat yours or take yours and beat his. That's a rare quality in a coach. I don't know if he can recruit BE level talent or not. He's never had the resources to even try. I wouldn't be averse to MU giving him the opportunity.

Love the use of that old Bum Phillips quote about Don Shula, Lenny. And you're entire post captures my feelings.

Can we get somebody "better" than Moser? We'll see. Can we even get Moser? We'll see about that, too. But the guy has a pretty nice body of work these last few years, when even his "down" years saw Loyola win a regular-season conference title and be league runners-up. Certainly one for the list, anyway.

[cheebs09]

Pretty cool Moser/Majerus video. I'm a sucker for a good YouTube video to sell me on a coach. I was convinced Cuonzo would do well based on a mic'd up video. Which is why my opinion should not be taken too seriously.

https://youtu.be/HDdQEipYajw

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Do you share the following concerns in regards to Craig Smith?

• Has never won a game in the NCAA tournament as a head coach
• As a head coach he's been at schools located in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah.
• Has never coached in any capacity at a school east of the Mississippi River
• Has only has 2 years of experience at the high major level which was at Nebraska as an assistant coach from 2012-2014

No,  no,  no,  yes

[Stretchdeltsig]

Illinois had better athletes and much higher rated players at every position. And their coach is no slouch. And Loyola dominated from start to finish. Moser can take his and beat yours or take yours and beat his. That's a rare quality in a coach. I don't know if he can recruit BE level talent or not. He's never had the resources to even try. I wouldn't be averse to MU giving him the opportunity.

Dah. Do you think?

[JWags85]

Back to recruiting though, I have a question for you and Wags Or anyone else). How important do you rate assistant coaching in recruiting? They are doing most of the legwork. Obviously certain coaches are the draw - that is the reason, K, Cal, Izzo, Roy, etc. get the one-and dones. My question is more pointed at the non-"superstar" coaches.

Obviously they are very important and get a lot of heavy lifting done. But as mentioned, Moser has been recruiting at the sub-200 level for the last 20 years at UALR, ISU, SLU, and now Loyola. Assuming he can just bring in assistants that can elevate that AND sell his more difficult to sell system is a big ask.  Does he have former assistants that moved into bigger programs and recruited well there that he can tap into?  That I don't know.

[blue and gold]

No,  no,  no,  yes

There are viable candidates that have had success in the NCAA tournament. Why aren't you concerned that Craig Smith has never won a tournament game?

Furthermore, why aren't you concerned that Smith's head coaching jobs have only been in the Dakotas and Utah? Those areas aren't exactly hotbeds for recruiting Big East talent.

[shoothoops]

I compare it to what Wichita St did post-FF.  Of course he won't be snagging Top 100 guys.  But Marshall used to the exposure to bring in a number of Top 150, Top 125 guys, in addition to top JuCo guys (which obviously is not Moser's MO, but it was similar level talent.

Moser, even with the FF bump, has never recruited a player in the top 250 to Loyola.  Go back to SLU.  In his years there, he only helped recruit 2 top 200 recruits (Mitchell and Thompson in his first class with Rick).  No further top 200 recruits until he left for Loyola.

His Xs and Os are without question.  But I think the recruiting is a very fair concern. Just cause he recruited as well as other mid major schools in his conference, doesn't mean he'll naturally graduate up when he hasn't for the last 20 years

Some people here might remember some of the kids Moser and Majerus recruited to SLU, because several were from Chicago, Milwaukee, Twin Cities, KC, etc...

They were all very good basketball players, that often had team success as well. Mike McCall Jr. was 2nd Team All State, helped lead Foreman to their first Public League Title. Dwayne Evans was 3rd Team All State at Nequa Valley. Both played on highly ranked, good, teams all year. Jordair Jett was also all State in Minnesota out of St. Paul, helping lead his team to their first state title game appearance, before helping Notre Dame Prep to the 4 seed in the Prep Tourney. Kwamain Mitchell played at Whitefish Bay Dominican in Milwaukee and had some success there. Willie Reed (KC) played with Femi John (before his career ending injuries) and knew their family. Will John, Femi's cousin, was a star soccer player at SLU.

When Moser was there he would often go out and recruit some of these players. When he liked a player, he'd later bring Majerus. Many were overlooked because they were either overshadowed by someone else, or they didn't have the height, were a tweener, or this or that or didn't run with the popular AAU team. Various things. In many cases more Power 5 schools would come in later or late that weren't there earlier, and/or the ones that did weren't a fit.

SLU went 14, 19, 35 KenPom with that group of.recruits. Recruiting dropped off a lot after Moser left.

This is an article example of Majerus and his recruitment of Brian Conklin. (After this article they finished 14 KenPom that year and lost to 1 seed, and 3 KenPom Michigan St. by 4 points in NCAA Rd 32)  Conklin was a two time first team all state and won a state title in Oregon.

https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/2012/03/canzano_rick_majeras_saw_somet.html

That's how they did it at SLU.

The expectation is recruiting elevates as conference and resources elevate.
The expectation is that one puts a staff together that can recruit good enough players to win at high levels etc...If you are looking for someone that has already lit up the recruiting services rankings, you'd have to look elsewhere.

[Pakuni]

Obviously they are very important and get a lot of heavy lifting done. But as mentioned, Moser has been recruiting at the sub-200 level for the last 20 years at UALR, ISU, SLU, and now Loyola. Assuming he can just bring in assistants that can elevate that AND sell his more difficult to sell system is a big ask.  Does he have former assistants that moved into bigger programs and recruited well there that he can tap into?  That I don't know.

It's a fair question, but there are successful high major recruiters who came from lower levels.
Scott Drew never coached above the Horizon League before landing at Baylor.
Ben Howland never coached in the P6 before getting the Pitt job.

There's definitely a risk, and it's why Moser wouldn't be my first choice. But there are no flawless candidates for Marquette. 

[StillAWarrior]

But there are no flawless candidates for Marquette.

Of course there are. We just need one of those P6 head coaches that makes the tournament pretty much every year, plays on the second weekend most years, and makes the occasional Final Four.

[rocky_warrior]

Of course there are. We just need one of those P6 head coaches that makes the tournament pretty much every year, plays on the second weekend most years, and makes the occasional Final Four.

True, a simple set of requirements.

[Pakuni]

Of course there are. We just need one of those P6 head coaches that makes the tournament pretty much every year, plays on the second weekend most years, and makes the occasional Final Four.

Now why didn't I think of that?

[StillAWarrior]

Now why didn't I think of that?

Don't feel bad. I'm kind of a basketball savant.

[LAZER]

It's a fair question, but there are successful high major recruiters who came from lower levels.
Scott Drew never coached above the Horizon League before landing at Baylor.
Ben Howland never coached in the P6 before getting the Pitt job.

There's definitely a risk, and it's why Moser wouldn't be my first choice. But there are no flawless candidates for Marquette.

Who's your first choice?

[Pakuni]

Who's your first choice?

Beilein.

[naginiF]

Of course there are. We just need one of those P6 head coaches that makes the tournament pretty much every year, plays on the second weekend most years, and makes the occasional Final Four.

So winning the conference reg season/tourney isn't important to you? Tells me a lot.

[MU82]

Of course there are. We just need one of those P6 head coaches that makes the tournament pretty much every year, plays on the second weekend most years, and makes the occasional Final Four.

After disappointing seasons, is Kentucky turning Cal loose, Duke dumping K or Sparty canning Izzo?

[muwarrior69]

Lenny

I agree with your post. I would not be disappointed but do worry about the step up in recruiting. While I would love to see a great coach on the sideline, I am greedy and want great players as well.

Wojo could recruit but not coach, Moser can coach but can he recruit is an open question. From what were seeing at least we know he will get the best and perhaps even more than the best out of the players he does recruit. Quite frankly I think he'll be fine at MU. How many coaches can say to a recruit I have been to the final 4 and I can do it with you here at MU. But what do I know, I am just a 74 year old fart that graduated 50 years ago. I would like to see how he would develop Carton, Garcia and Lewis. In fact I think they would stay to play for a coach that instills a winning attitude in his players.

[StillAWarrior]

After disappointing seasons, is Kentucky turning Cal loose, Duke dumping K or Sparty canning Izzo?

I'm not sold on any of those guys. Cal has some baggage, K is too connected to Wojo, and Izzo really underperformed this year. Me and Pakuni are wanting someone flawless.

[muwarrior69]

I'm not sold on any of those guys. Cal has some baggage, K is too connected to Wojo, and Izzo really underperformed this year. Me and Pakuni are wanting someone flawless.

Lets clone John Wooden.

[naginiF]

I'm not sold on any of those guys. Cal has some baggage, K is too connected to Wojo, and Izzo really underperformed this year. Me and Pakuni are wanting someone flawless.

the Izzo --> Crean connection is much more damning than this one year

[MU82]

I'm not sold on any of those guys. Cal has some baggage, K is too connected to Wojo, and Izzo really underperformed this year. Me and Pakuni are wanting someone flawless.

Reasonable.

Coach Ditka it is then, my friends!

[StillAWarrior]

Lets clone John Wooden.

And have guys like Sam Gilbert lurking about? Hard pass.

[StillAWarrior]

Reasonable.

Coach Ditka it is then, my friends!

Mini? Or full-sized?