spoonie_love

By the way, great bench coaches advance even mediocre teams to late rounds in the tournament. Being an almost annual fixture in say, the Sweet 16, is one of the best recruiting tools I can think of, apart from SUVs, luxury off-campus apartments, and jobs for family members.

Actually, if the zebras hadn't completely swallowed the whistle and called the push off (Rice?) under the basket with less than 2 seconds left, they might have won it all as well. OK, I was a huge "Flyin' Illini" fan at that time, so I'm still a little bitter....

Let's face it, the best recruiter in the world couldn't put together those kinds of established recruits to play at SLU. Stevens couldn't put something like that together for Butler, and that program, rightfully, gets a ton of attention these days.

Reasonable minds can certainly disagree. That said, how many of the IU names mentioned were considered top flight recruits vs. being ones who thrived in Knight's system (it's an honest question, not saying they were or weren't). What's more, how often did Knight get 2 or 3 top flight guys in a recruiting class? Henson regularly seemed to (and a fair amount of credit for doing so at least goes to Asst. Jimmy Collins as well). I get the desire to want another Majerus type hire that will generate enthusiasm and national interest, but I also put every bit as much weight when I hear coaches like Tom Izzo tout Crews' ability and his recommendation that Crews' be given the permanent job to succeed Majerus. No matter what, I truly believe this a Sweet 16 team, maybe better. As others have pointed out, it's Crews' job if that happens.

Hey Grunkie, feel free to mellow out and show some class.

Oh, and Henson was certainly the better recruiter than Knight (a Crews mentor by the way). A lot of kids probably didn't want to necessarily play for Knight. Still, he was far more successful than Henson. Now, why would that be? Because Knight was a very good bench coach he did more with less.

Over how many years? And how many great teams did he have that should have also advanced to that level?

West coast SLU fan here and my first post. "Long time listener, first time caller, Bob." Anyway, Crews is obviously a legit bench coach. If I have to choose, I'll take that any day of the week over a guy who's sole talent is being a fantastic recruiter. Particularly in the case of a school such as SLU where, for a variety of reasons, you'll never be able to compete for the true blue chips talents. For instance, Lou Henson was one of the best recruiters in the game. It could also be argued that few college coaches had done less with more. Good bench coaches, on the other hand, are usually better able to identify value in the second to third tier of recruits, and there's no reason to believe that Crews couldn't do that. Majerus (R.I.P.) was obviously fantastic at it. And don't automatically assume that many top flight recruits would unilaterally want to play for Majerus. A fantastic coach no doubt, but not every supposedly great talent wants to work that hard or do so in a program emphasizing defense. Second round or better in The Dance and the job should be Crews'.