re: Hogs land 4* Barry Dunning

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You act like Alabama is some hotbed of talent or something. He’s the 77th ranked player who had South Alabama in his top 3.

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Alabama posters are the ones acting like Alabama is some hotbed of talent. Kid is the 77th ranked player in the country. But naw, we'll take a pass on him. He doesn't really fit our groove. Whatever. Glad you feel that way, I guess.

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Alabama posters are the ones acting like Alabama is some hotbed of talent. Kid is the 77th ranked player in the country. But naw, we'll take a pass on him. He doesn't really fit our groove. Whatever. Glad you feel that way, I guess.

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The two first Bama posters did post some snarky remarks but the others talking about fit are right.

Its perfectly normal and fine though, plenty of really good players on one team that wouldn't work on a different one.

Not surprised at all Auburn didn’t really go after him. Bruce has decided to focus heavily on GA and if there’s an elite in-state player, he will go after them hard. We’ve only signed two in state players since 2015.

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Its perfectly normal and fine though, plenty of really good players on one team that wouldn't work on a different one.

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That's what coaches are for. The #77 player in the country can ball. Working on improving a particular kids skillset, and figuring out ways to utilize that skillset to make the team more successful, is the reason coaches make millions of dollars.

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But what basketball coach, regardless of scheme, takes a pass on a player with size, handles, and who creates mismatches? If that isn’t a good fit for your approach to basketball, your approach or philosophy sucks.

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Well, speaking as a person who follows one of those teams, it isn't that black or white. If you can't knock down a 25 footer then you create a problem for our offense because you are a non-factor outside the paint. We can accept 1 of those on the floor at a time, generally our big. If you are 6'6 and playing the 3/4, the opponent needs to respect the fact that if you are given a good look from 3 you can make it. Gurley, Ellis, Mikes and Holt are all our 2-4 guys right now. They will all shoot 3's. Even some of our younger bigs, Ambrose-Hylton and Bediako, will be 3 point threats this year or next. That's who we recruit.

That doesn't mean Dunning can't turn into that guy by year 2 or 3, but he's far from it right now. Our focus has been on guys who are 6'6, long, defensive and make outside shots.

Arkansas and Alabama have 80-85% of the same traits they look for in their guys - especially defensively. However, there is a difference in the skillsets that are valued on the offensive side. We place more value on shooters, Arkansas places more values on guys who can exploit one on one via drive and mid range jumper on offense.

My GUESS is that we recruited Dunning because he's a very good player, but that he was not at the top of our list because he checked 4 of the 5 boxes. If we had struck out on the guys who checked 5 of the 5 boxes (which we very well might), we'd probably circle back to Dunning if he was available. However, he checked 5 of 5 boxes for Arkansas, and so they prioritized him. And because they did that and it's a great program, he picked Arkansas, and won't be available if we strike out on the current guys who fit our checklist 100%. Which is a great move on his part.

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He posted “Alabama and Auburn backed off because Dunning doesn't have a great 3-point shot and wouldn't have been a great fit for their 3-pt focused offenses, but he's a match made in heaven for us. He's very athletic and long, can get out and run, guard 1-5, and get to the free throw line. Fans are going to love watching him play.”

I think you and he both nailed it with those comments.

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And I think the other part there is not that we wouldn't sign Dunning - it's just early and at this point we're chasing other guys who fit more. Dunning has a whole lot of Herb Jones in him (with a better shot at this point in his career, I think). And while Herb's limitations led to some frustration at times, he was a great player last season overall for us - the run and gun 3 point shooting team.

So, it just comes down to early in recruiting you go hard after the dudes that fit everything you want. Dunning was that for Arkansas, not quite that for us. If it's 6 weeks from now and we strike out on our "fits everything we want" and Dunning is still there, I guarantee we make a run at him because he has a lot of other very impressive qualities that any team would want. But he won't be.

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Arkansas and Alabama have 80-85% of the same traits they look for in their guys - especially defensively. However, there is a difference in the skillsets that are valued on the offensive side. We place more value on shooters, Arkansas places more values on guys who can exploit one on one via drive and mid range jumper on offense.

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This is actually a great way of putting it. Muss is heavy on analytics just like Oats but doesn't focus nearly as much on the value of shots on the floor. He still wants to space the floor though and pay with a certain level of pace. Their overlap for players is fairly big because of that.

I live in Baldwin county and work in mobile. It's been talked about for months on the radio how Bama and Auburn were no longer pursuing him as hards as they were. Maybe fit, maybe he let the know where he stood with arky. Who knows. I do know south turned up the heat and lot and that's probably where he will end up when he's in the portal next year.