Jacob Pullen to K. State

[crymdg2]

Picked K. State over Dayton and SLU

http://ilprepbullseye.com/page47.html

[gmerts]

And so the influx of talent to Manhattan, Kansas begins.

[Billiken Law]

a telling line:

"As things turned out, three of the other schools that were in Pullen's final five--Dayton, UAB and Oklahoma, all ended up receiving commitments from other guards. At that point Kansas State became a most logical choice."

Why isn't SLU also on that list?

[slu72]

Just a guess, but Pullen was impressed by the other recruits Hugs has coming in...Beasley, Walker, etc. What did we have to compete against that? Never mind that Beasley and Walker will probably declare and be gone by the end of their sophomore year.

[lefty]

there'll always be more with huggins there.

[crymdg2]

It says previously in the article, "Pullen ended up choosing the Wildcats over Dayton, St. Louis and others."

The quoted region of the article that you refer to states "three of the other schools in his final list." I think they are just stating that these 3 schools got other recruits already going there and therefore he chose not to go there because of that. We were on his final list. We just aren't part of the mix that Pullen did not choose because of other players already committing.

[Billiken75]

This isn't a sour grapes thought - but it is pretty sad that Huggin's, with his reputation - can be so successful, and, a university will tolerate his academic record in favor of a high profile basketball program. This "cheater wins" attitude at the college level is pretty disheartening.

[billiken_roy]

while i am far from huggins biggest fan and his underhanded methods, what is "his academic record" that you speak of?

there are far worst academic records than what cincy had.

now if you want to point out the character of some of his previous players and the trouble they got into before and during and after their playing days at cincy, that is valid.

[cheeseman]

This is the same situation that happened with Stemler. A coach from a BCS conf. with a questionable reputation comes in at the end and snares the kid from us and Dayton. We will continue to have this last minute issue until we start making successive trips to the Dance.

[Billiken75]

I was under the impression that the graduation rate of Cincy players under Huggins was near 0%. Wasn't that the basis of a Sports Illustrated article?

The other thing I do not completely understand, was the high level recruits that were basically in Huggins pocket - which he in effect used as "bait" during his job hunt following his dismissal from Cincy. That whole process seemed incredibly bogus. Is Huggy that nice of a guy that these students stay uncommitted until he found the right job?

[aj_arete]

was misleading and also old. Huggins' subsequent Cincy teams had decent graduation rates, not great, but certainly better than many. The graduation rates were also deceiving because they had JUCO players, who got degrees, that didn't count under NCAA graduation rate calculations.

[billiken_roy]

i believe for the intial 5 or so years of huggy's existence at cincy, the 0% was true. however since the late 90's that has done an about face. in fact, the cincy basketball team won the cusa basketball academic award in i think 2004. they still arent to be confused with stanford, but they are no where near the bottom of the ncaa graduations. see sampson for that trophy.

as to the second part of your question, you have to remember that walker and mayo have no want to go to college. they are looking for the quickest way to the nba. in all likelihood, huggy convinced them he held that key. however both walker and mayo may not even go to k-state now. i am betting since walker has been said to be ineligible for being too old, he will be allowed to enter the nba draft now. and the last i heard, mayo was closer to committing to snake oil salesman tim floyd now at usc.

as to beasley. huggy stole lutz's top recruiter who had beasley in his pocket and beasley followed that recruiter, not huggins. that didnt happen until after huggins got the kstate job, so that had nothing to do with the kstate appointment.

as to the "nice guy" question, spoon always swore huggins was about the most personable guy in the world. and anytime i have heard huggins on the radio or seen him interviewed he does come off as a charmer.

what disgusts me about huggins is his obvious disdain for recruiting good kids. he couldnt care less about the character of his kids. sure some kids need a second chance, but too many of huggins thugs have turned bad during their time at or after cincy to ignore what their character must have been.

[billikenmetz]

No, we will have this last minute issue until we get a head coach who can recruit. It doesn't matter about wins or losses. It's the coach. If I were being recruited, I'd want to play for a coach, not just a program. Why the hell did Wade go to Marquette? They hadn't won anything special until he got there. We need a Wade and now. We need a Tom Crean and now. We have a Soderberg and he needs to be canned.

[slu72]

Broy, this is the guy that brought in Robert Whaley. He's the Tark of the new millenium. As for Beasley, with friends like Hugs who needs enemies? Lutz defended him in his tribute, then good ol' Huggy stabs him in the back. As for Walker, SI had an article just last week, Hugs is maneuvering to get him enrolled at KSU by December. The kid will get some bogus HS sheepskin, and be wearing purple and white in January. Bob Huggins is a win at all costs kind of guy. There's no morality involved. Charming? Yeah, in an Al Capone sort of way. Schools, especially the BCS'ers who haven't been swimming in the deep end of the NCAA cash pool lately, will hire anyone to get there. See IU and Sampson. This hire never would have happened under Miles Brand....guaranteed.