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Basketball recruiting

A lot of chatter that the tide might be turning against us on Allen, from the cheating bastard at Houston possibly hiring Allen's AAU coach to Kansas making up ground quickly.

I hope your info is still current, Robo.
 
"The latest in home meeting with Shaka was "thanks but no thanks" facetime. I think Allen's family wanted him to go to Texas. A lot of folks thought Texas was the no brainier destination. He's apparently now not coming here."

From Hornfans.
 
Kid has to mentally ill not wanting to stay home and play for Shaka. That or somebody's buying his mom a house.
 
Interesting news today that Allen named Texas, UH, and Kansas as his final 3.

Everyone thought Kansas was out since they picked up a commit to another stud big man. And that Kentucky moved in to drivers seat by losing that guy and having a spot for Allen.
 
Interesting news today that Allen named Texas, UH, and Kansas as his final 3.

Everyone thought Kansas was out since they picked up a commit to another stud big man. And that Kentucky moved in to drivers seat by losing that guy and having a spot for Allen.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Allen actually said anything. As far as I can tell, some CBSsports reporter just tweeted info that has been widely known for a while now.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Allen actually said anything. As far as I can tell, some CBSsports reporter just tweeted info that has been widely known for a while now.

I have no idea. I had a good buddy tell me he read this info from a news article today. I thought it was something new. Maybe not.
 
The hoops recruiting action continued in Indianapolis last weekend during the second session of the Nike EYBL circuit, which was also the last live evaluation period for college coaches in April. We reached out to a buddy of ours Scott Phillips of NBC Sports (you can follow him on Twitter @phillipshoops) who passed along a few Texas notes, including an interview with recent Texas offer and big-time 2017 rising prospect Jordan Goodwin. His notes:

Texas head coach Shaka Smart has always taken the hands-on approach when it comes to recruiting. When he takes interest in a player that he's recruiting, Smart is one of the rare high-major head coaches who will personally make introductory calls and evaluate games without assistant coaches.

That pattern of behavior from Smart continued over the weekend as the second-year head coach has come on strong for four-star guard Jordan Goodwin, a native of Belleville, Illinois. Smart was courtside to see the Class of 2017 prospect play with the St. Louis Eagles this past weekend at the Nike EYBL's stop outside of Indianapolis as he offered Goodwin a scholarship over the weekend.

"I talked to coach Shaka. He said he liked my physicality with how I played and that's what he liked about me, so he offered," Goodwin said.

"It's a big offer. That's a great conference so hopefully more coaches will look at me."

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Goodwin is coming off of a strong high school season with Belleville Althoff high school in which he won a Class 3A state championship in Illinois.

Although he plays high school ball in Illinois, Goodwin lives in the St. Louis metro area and gets the best of both worlds when it comes to competition. The Texas offer was one of a few big ones for Goodwin this week as he's also picked up new offers from Michigan State and UConn. He's also been hearing a lot from Illinois, Missouri, Purdue and Saint Louis.

The Texas offer is very intriguing to Goodwin, however, because he likes what Smart and the Longhorns have to offer. Texas was also one of the first national programs outside of the Midwest to step up and offer the fast-rising prospect.

"It's a good basketball school. They're known for getting in the tournament and stuff like that. Coach Shaka has a good coaching background and history," Goodwin said.

During this spring in the Nike EYBL, Goodwin has been a force all over the floor for the St. Louis Eagles. Behind Goodwin's strong play, the Eagles are 5-2 through two sessions as Goodwin leads the team in points, rebounds and assists. Goodwin is averaging 17.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game so far this spring.

Currently regarded as the No. 65 overall prospect in the Rivals.com Class of 2017 national rankings, Goodwin could be in-line for a move up the rankings with the way he's started out this spring.

DJ Harvey updates on Texas

Five-star Class of 2017 wing D.J. Harvey was recently down in Austin checking out campus and stopping by to see head coach Shaka Smart. The No. 24 overall prospect in the country has a big list at this point, but the Longhorns are still involved thanks to his close relationship with Smart.

"We just watched them workout, I just wanted to talk to Shaka. Shaka's a great coach and he's easy to talk to. We talked more about other stuff than basketball. So I just went down there to say what's up and talk to him. But I loved the visit, I loved the campus. I've been down there several times," Harvey said.

Texas stays active with in-home visits

During the week between the EYBL's first and second session, the Texas coaching staff stayed active on the recruiting trail as Smart had a few chances to meet with some priority targets in the Class of 2017.

Smart met with five-star forward P.J. Washington, four-star wing Charles O'Bannon Jr. and four-star guard Matt Coleman during the week.

Coleman, considered the No. 35 overall prospect in the Class of 2017, had good things to say.

"Texas, the first day they came to see me and they came," Coleman said. "It went well, much love between me and Shaka. A great relationship off the court, just personal stuff, so I have much respect for that guy."
 
Is the consensus on Allen that he isn't coming to the good guys anymore?
Haven't heard anything good in awhile. When does we have to sign?
 
Is the consensus on Allen that he isn't coming to the good guys anymore?
Haven't heard anything good in awhile. When does we have to sign?

I definitely wouldn't call it a consensus yet. No recruiting website has reported that we're out of the running; they're just saying that we're not the lock we appeared to be a short time ago. Some poster on Hornfans claimed to hear that we're out of the running.

Things definitely aren't trending in our direction, at the very least. I'm just going to assume he's headed to Kansas until he says otherwise.
 
So Jai Lucas was set to leave for TCU as an assistant, but it appears that Shaka will reassign one of his other assistants (Horn maybe?) in order to promote Jai. This could be a big deal for Allen's recruitment.

Also, who knows if Duarte knows anything, but I like this tweet:

[Tweet deleted]
 
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So Jai Lucas was set to leave for TCU as an assistant, but it appears that Shaka will reassign one of his other assistants (Horn maybe?) in order to promote Jai. This could be a big deal for Allen's recruitment.

Also, who knows if Duarte knows anything, but I like this tweet:

So I haven't been following this, but Houston? What is Allen's connection to Houston? Is Sampson overtweeting again?
 
Per Chip:

"7:30 PM - I've confirmed Kansas has been told thank you but Jarrett Allen will not be attending KU in the fall."
 
By now you know that the deadline to sign a LOI passed Wednesday just before midnight, and St. Stephen’s (Austin) five-star 2016 forward Jarrett Allen didn’t sign a LOI. That doesn’t mean Allen won’t eventually sign some paperwork. It just means the paperwork (Athletic Scholarship Agreement) doesn’t traditionally lock a kid into a school like the LOI does, which leaves the prospect flexibility to go somewhere else if he chooses.

Where are things with Allen right now? The same place they have been. Everyone continues to wait on Allen to make a decision, and the nation’s No. 15 prospect overall hasn’t, according to multiple people dialed into the recruitment, deceived those recruiting him. He’s simply going through the recruiting process in a truly unique way, and despite what it might look like, Allen, who hardly ever talks and barely tweets, doesn’t enjoy the recruiting spotlight. Quite the opposite, actually.

A while back, Rivals.com’s Eric Bossi dropped a note on our board after the Nike Hoop Summit that he thought Allen would carry this into late May, and that’s starting to look more and more like the case each passing day. Late May is almost here, and those in the know think the end will happen soon with the odds in favor of Texas.

But a common response from sources, including one today, about Allen is, “who knows?” (McComas)

*********

The Longhorns have yet to make official any hoops staff moves, but Jai Lucas is still expected to be promoted to an assistant coach position while current assistant Mike Morrell will move to another role. What’s the delay? Probably Texas working through exactly how to make all of this work with titles, responsibilities, and making sure all of that is in line with NCAA regulations.

From everything we’ve heard, Morrell’s eventual role, despite being off the road as a recruiter except when Shaka Smart is coaching Team USA, will still allow him to be very involved in the recruiting side of things – he’s the lead guy on a few key 2017 prospects - as well as aspects like scouting, and game-planning. The Longhorn staff knew it really needed to keep Lucas, regarded as someone with a very bright future in the industry, in the mix (reminder: Jarrett Allen has spent a lot of time in Houston working with John Lucas), and wanted to do whatever it could to keep what it believes are four good coaches. That included Morrell, who has a relationship with Smart that dates back years before Smart very quickly promoted Morrell to assistant at a young age, being willing to make the move required to keep Lucas around.

So while on the surface the word “demotion” has been thrown around, the reality is, according to multiple sources, Texas realized it needed to find a way to keep everyone, and Morrell’s move allowed that to happen, which is something many coaches probably wouldn’t have been willing to do and speaks to how much Smart’s assistants like working for him and trust him. (McComas)
 
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