Hometown hero: Jayson Tatum

[brianstl]

I think the reason why Justin said what he said was because Crews was refusing to recruit Barnes.  When he did that, SLU's chances of landing Tatum dropped significantly.  Tatum was willing to take a chance on SLU if he got to play with his buddy.  Once that was gone, Tatum's main focus was Duke.

[willie]

I am probably one of the most rose colored glasses guy about our program but why can we accept the fact that he was never coming to SLU. 

[3star_recruit]

All you have to do to sign a top 3 high school player is to sign his point guard.  Every MBM knows that.  Why mid-major programs across the country have not caught on is a mystery.

[wgstl]

4 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

All you have to do to sign a top 3 high school player is to sign his point guard.  Every MBM knows that.  Why mid-major programs across the country have not caught on is a mystery.

Come on, you know this was a certain situation.. do you follow Tatum on social? He wears SLU gear more than anything else besides Celtics stuff. Far more than duke. That’s weird to wear a schools gear that you turned down, unless you’ve seen this before. 

[3star_recruit]

24 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Come on, you know this was a certain situation.. do you follow Tatum on social? He wears SLU gear more than anything else besides Celtics stuff. Far more than duke. That’s weird to wear a schools gear that you turned down, unless you’ve seen this before. 

Every hometown message board says this.  Hardcore Depaul fans were sure they were getting Jabari Parker, for example.  In fact, Depaul basketball did everything a fan could want to get him.  They signed his best friend.  They hired his best friend's dad.  Parker's family attended Depaul's Midnight Madness.  Parker was a regular at Depaul games. 

And Parker committed to Duke anyway.  Because committing to big name coaches and programs is what top 3 players do today.  This isn't the 1990s.  Months before he officially made a commitment, Tatum began blogging about his basketball life.  It read like a Duke recruiting brochure.

 

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

All you have to do to sign a top 3 high school player is to sign his point guard.  Every MBM knows that.  Why mid-major programs across the country have not caught on is a mystery.

Well in this case take Tatum out of the equation and Crews still should offered Barnes a scholarship.

[Scoop]

Jay was coming to SLU.  Fumble.

[BilliesBy40]

11 hours ago, willie said:

I am probably one of the most rose colored glasses guy about our program but why can we accept the fact that he was never coming to SLU. 

I don’t get why it bothers posters like you so much. Tatum seriously considered going to SLU. That is fact. We don’t get anything from it, of course. 

It shows how little some on here know about the history of the situation that Justin was brought up as some authoritative source. Justin didn’t even have enough sway to get Jayson to play for him in high school.

 

[TheChosenOne]

1 hour ago, BilliesBy40 said:

It shows how little some on here know about the history of the situation that Justin was brought up as some authoritative source. Justin didn’t even have enough sway to get Jayson to play for him in high school.

 

So true! Reading that part of the article I can only imagine how thrilled Jayson’s mom was to hear Justin speaking for him like that. If anything, Justin having played at SLU was a hindrance to landing Jayson as I doubt mom wanted to hear stories of him following in his dad’s footsteps when the article paints a picture of a single mother working her tail off and struggling to provide for her son.

[wgstl]

12 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

Every hometown message board says this.  Hardcore Depaul fans were sure they were getting Jabari Parker, for example.  In fact, Depaul basketball did everything a fan could want to get him.  They signed his best friend.  They hired his best friend's dad.  Parker's family attended Depaul's Midnight Madness.  Parker was a regular at Depaul games. 

And Parker committed to Duke anyway.  Because committing to big name coaches and programs is what top 3 players do today.  This isn't the 1990s.  Months before he officially made a commitment, Tatum began blogging about his basketball life.  It read like a Duke recruiting brochure.

 

First we need to stop comparing jayson to other homegrown kids. That’s the issue. No one said this about Lee, Beal, BMac etc, just Tatum, and you know why. 

[3star_recruit]

34 minutes ago, wgstl said:

First we need to stop comparing jayson to other homegrown kids. That’s the issue. No one said this about Lee, Beal, BMac etc, just Tatum, and you know why. 

I'm not made of stone.  I understand why fans would get excited because a top 3 player is the son of a former Billiken.  But when a kid blogs for months about Duke and then picks Duke, it is what it is.

Props to Coach Ford for leveraging his connection to Marcus Smart and Jayson's pride in his hometown to build a relationship with a potential Hall of Famer.  Social media clout is good for our program.

[wgstl]

7 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

I'm not made of stone.  I understand why fans would get excited because a top 3 player is the son of a former Billiken.  But when a kid blogs for months about Duke and then picks Duke, it is what it is.

Props to Coach Ford for leveraging his connection to Marcus Smart and Jayson's pride in his hometown to build a relationship with a potential Hall of Famer.  Social media clout is good for our program.

The best possible situation with Tatum not coming here did happen.  Tatum shows SLU love so much, and Ford uses that along with Smart. 

[willie]

3 hours ago, BilliesBy40 said:

I don’t get why it bothers posters like you so much. Tatum seriously considered going to SLU. That is fact. We don’t get anything from it, of course. 

It shows how little some on here know about the history of the situation that Justin was brought up as some authoritative source. Justin didn’t even have enough sway to get Jayson to play for him in high school.

 

I do believe at some point Jayson considered going to SLU but I also believe the narrative that he was going until the last few days was false. Nothing in the ESPN article says otherwise. I also think not wanting to play for your father is a good decision. The unfortunate fact is that with the exception of Hughes all local 5 stars have gone elsewhere. Maybe after a few NCAA runs that can change. 

[RUBillsFan]

7 minutes ago, wgstl said:

The best possible situation with Tatum not coming here did happen.  Tatum shows SLU love so much, and Ford uses that along with Smart. 

Also it is great for me personally rooting for Tatum that his time at Duke was so forgettable.  He was injured to start the season & if I'm remembering correctly unfairly got some flak for their lackluster year.  His buddy / other big time recruit for Duke that year Harry Giles was also injured & unlike Tatum never really got it going.  Duke lost in the 2nd round of the NCAAs despite having 8 guys who would go on to play in the NBA.  Tatum is not some highly revered Duke legend which I would have a hard time stomaching.  Any love he gets from Duke fans now is totally based on him becoming an NBA star & is in spite of how they felt about his time at Duke.

[billiken_roy]

4 hours ago, BilliesBy40 said:

I don’t get why it bothers posters like you so much. Tatum seriously considered going to SLU. That is fact. We don’t get anything from it, of course. 

It shows how little some on here know about the history of the situation that Justin was brought up as some authoritative source. Justin didn’t even have enough sway to get Jayson to play for him in high school.

 

my understanding is that was a problem with the parents.   had little to do with justin's "sway".   

[majerus mojo]