Dead Man Walking – The Rise and Decline of GW Basketball in the Hobbs Era

Let’s start with how Hobbs built to our season of glory 2005-2006 that ended with the disastrous Omar Williams story in the Washington Post.   As I discuss prep schools, I admit that I haven’t done ehaustive research on their legitimacy and am going on some basic assumptions – sorry if I mischaracterize one or two.  I will begin with the key recruiting class of 2002:

Pops Mensa Bonsu – Prep School

Omar Williams – Phony Prep School

Mike Hall – Real H.S.

Ale Kireev – Questionable Prep School

Recruiting class of 2003:

JR Pinnock – Questionable Prep School

Ricky Lucas – Real H.S.

Jaaron Greene – Questionable Prep School

Carl Elliott – Questionable Prep School

Recruiting Class of 2004:

Mo – Phony Prep School

Recruiting Class of 2005:

Rob Diggs – Real H.S.

Noel Wilmore – Real H.S.

Montrell MacDonald – Prep School

Transfers and walk-ons that came through in this era – Dokun Akingbade (redshirted in 2005-2006) and Regis Koundjia.

So our 2005-2006 roster was comprised of these 12: Pops, Mike, Omar, Carl, JR, Mo, Regis, Dokun (redshirt), Kireev, Montrell, Diggs, and Wilmore, plus a couple misc. guys.  So leading up to our glorious year Hobbs had recruited a team that had SI professional level players on the team at one time, SEVEN if you count Akingbade and EIGHT if you count Regis who had that kind of talent but didn’t have the chance to develop.  Pardon my French – but that was a fucking awesome lineup.  The team’s key players included two players who went to phony prep schools, three that went to questionable prep schools, two that went to seemingly legit prep schools, one walkon, one transfer, one key player that went to a legit H.S. and two freshman (who didn’t contribute much in that year) who went to legit H.S.’s.

Hobbs was out there doing what he does best – grabbing talented players, many of whom had questionable academic backgrounds.

Now in another time and place it has been and will be discussed how JK and Hobbs could assemble THAT team and play the schedule that they did that year.  Here’s our OOC schedule for that once in a millennium team: Kennesaw State, Norfolk State, Boston U., St. Francis, Maryland (BB&T), Florida International, Morgan State, Maryland Eastern Shore, NC State, and Stony Brook.  So you take that team, virtually run the table and get an 8 seed with the “honor” to play UNCW and if you win, over all #1 seed Duke – both in North Carolina.

Then the apocryphal Washington Post story on Omar.  Fair/unfair?  Why not point out all the other teams that did the same thing?  Was this a part of the media bias/conspiracy in favor of Gary Williams and Maryland that was getting eclipsed by Hobbs?  Much more discussion on that elsewhere.  Whatever, whatever – the result is that GW put the reins on Hobbs after that and now let’s look at the fallout:

Prior to the apocalypse it was pretty set that these were going to be our recruits for 2006:

Jeremy Wise

Asarangue Souleymane

Damian Hollis (btw he signed in February of 2006 before the Washington Post story), and

Theo Davis or Phil Jones or Jason Love.

Wise, Asarangue, Davis, and Jones all had VERY questionable academic backgrounds and were immediately ditched.  Of those players only Wise turned into a legit star – but he is a legit star at Mississippi State now.  He would definitely be the best player on our present team (you can look up his stats).  Jason Love turned into a very solid player for avier, he’d be one of our better players, but he was a longer shot to come here.  Hobbs has to now scramble and signs at the last minute King and Opoku.  GW is caught with its pants down, everyone is in an uproar and the decline has begun.  We won’t really understand the implications of everything until 2009, but it started here.

You still have enough in the tank for the 2006-2007 season with Carl, Dokun, Mo, Regis, Diggs, good contributions from King and Hollis to make the NCAA’s.  Obviously the team is hurt by the early departure of JR.   But it was the swan song.

You try to compensate with a couple of transfers – Cheyanne and Wynton.

2007 recruiting class – the first full year under the new rules – here’s what we get (all legit students):

Beatty, Jabari, Katuka, and avier.  And frankly I doubt we recruited avier because the story is that his brother DeAngelo who played on Charlotte told him he should come here.  But that class was a bust of epic proportions.  We go into 2007-2008 full of high epectations.  We don’t know yet that our talent level has decreased eponentially.  We don’t know yet about the bad apples, personality problems, behavior issues, chemistry problems.  I believe in my heart that if Hobbs does well with that team then Wesley Witherspoon comes to GW, instead of Memphis where he is playing 16 minutes per game on a roster with a bunch of NBA players.  Instead the team implodes.  Witherspoon doesn’t come, instead our 2008 recruits include:

Tony Taylor, Aaron Ware, and Matt Allbritton (all legit H.S. students).  And this season, I guess everyone already knows what we have.

So, since the Washington Post story, Hobbs has recruited eactly ZERO players who could at this moment  be seen as definite legitimate A-10 players.  Remember Hollis doesn’t count because he was already signed.  If you missed that, I’ll repeat it – Hobbs has not recruited ONE SINGLE obvious A-10 caliber legit player at GW since the Washington Post story.  He 100% positively lost Wise and a prospect big man in 2006 and he 90% lost little Spoon because the team couldn’t play well in the new era.

I look at all of this and conclude that Oscar is right about Hobbs – he’s the same guy he always was.  He isn’t allowed to recruit players that he can win with and he isn’t a good enough ’s and o’s coach to win with the players he can now recruit.  I put a lot of the blame on JK because he’s in charge and sat there and watched all of this happen.  Obviously Hobbs plays a role because he didn’t adjust to his new circumstances.  But writing this I guess I better understand (though don’t condone) his bitterness.

So where do we go from here?  I do note with interest that of the 4 known recruits for ’09, three are in prep schools and two have been linked/rumored to behavior and character issues/problems.  So has the school decided to allow Hobbs more leeway going forward?  Is it too late?  Probably, in my mind, unless Hobbs can get the big recruit he’s after.  If he gets that player and is allowed to recruit from a broader pool, maybe he can turn it around.  Of course I’d fire JK no matter what.  In any event I hope this post gives the newbies on the board a greater historical perspective and maybe everyone else some more to chew on.

thinker, great summary of where we are and how we got there.  I think KH found out just how tough life is when you play by the rules.  Been a Colonials fan since enrolling in fall '68 and it's too bad about the recent plunge in GW bb fortunes.  That said I'm pleased GW's bb program was eposed by the Post.  The fact WP didn't write articles about other schools is irrelevant.  It's college, let's run a clean program run by people who care about the players and fans.

Wouldn't you like to see an interview with Bob C similar to the one JK just gave?  Is Bob C waiting until the end of the season too?  I think it will say a lot about the administration's commitment to bb, if GW eats the remainder of KH and JK's contracts.  They both should go.

Without quibbling about some of your characterizations of the high schools players attended, are you suggesting that GW (Kvancz, Chernak, Trachtenberg, denizens of GWhoops.com) should have looked the other way and not  "put the reins" on the recruiting of Hobbs and the men's program after the Washington Post article? Hobbs was brought in to clean up the stench left by the Penders years. He said as much when he was hired and accepted the limitations (and opportunities) of the situation at GW. He may have underestimated those limitations and may not have reaped the ancillary support he was promised/epected, but I'm not sure that the situation at GW has changed that much other than the embarassment brought on by the Post epose.  Omar was a success story evidenced by his graduation; Mo was a story with a less happy ending. Last year was a disappointment/embarassment  that has continued this year and snowballed into a fan revolt, at least as represented by most opinions epressed here.

Everyone involved with the program justifiably gets tainted by the situation with the men's basketball team, but I'm less clear how the dots of your premise connect so directly back to JK.  Was Karl essentially being hung out to dry after the Post article Jack's doing and does it eplain where we are today? Is our crappy schedule responsible for the problems you discuss? Is the failure to become the darlings of the local media and fans after our 27-3 season responsible for the player disaffection and sub-par recruiting that you decry in your post?  Are Jack's tepid comments and observations to reporters this year the cause or effect of what's happening (and isn't it really far more diplomatic and PC than what many have said here)?  Really, I'm just trying to understand your logic so I can better understand either the blanket condemnation of everyone in the athletic department or the sense I get that you are suggesting that Coach Hobbs may not bear primary responsibility for what you are complaining about. Or are you simply suggesting that Hobbs shouldn't get credit for his past unprecedented successes at GW and therefore isn't entitled to continue to have the opportunity to get things back on a course that he and we want?

Thinker's long list and post is interesting.  But it really only takes a few seconds to sum up Hobbs.  It is as I've said before -- he caught lightening in a bottle with a group of kids who turned out to be super players and -- for the most part -- great kids.  He also had more competent assistants.  We can blame the reaction to The Post story all we want, but the simple fact is that he sin't any good.  We thought we had both a good recruiter and a good coach.  Turns out he was a charlatan at both.  If he was a half decent recruiter, he could have (should have) ode the winds of the 27-3 team and upgraded the level and quality of recruiting almost without effort..  He didn't.  Even after the Post story, he managed a third consecutive trip to the Dance, and he still couldn't capitalize on it recruting-wise.   That's becasue he's a fraud as a recruiter.

Then you get to his coaching skills.  Of which there basically none.   And he can't even manage to look the part on the sideline. 

Fraud recrutier.  Incompetent coach.

Karl Hobbs.  Koach Klown. 

Poog,

I don't think my post really complains about anything - I was trying to show how we got where we are.  I'm not saying we should recruit kids with questionable academics or that we shouldn't.  Just that a big part of Hobbs' success was in doing so and when not allowed to do so he is apparently unable to succeed.  How does all this tie to JK?  Well he's the boss.  He knew or should have known how Hobbs was succeeding and he presumably endorsed it.  He presumably was a big part of the discussion that changed all of that after the article so he's the last guy that should be surprised at the result given his immense basketball eperience.  All pretty neutral.  Now we are at a spot that shows that Hobbs cannot succeed at GW having to recruit the way he's apparently been told to recruit.  I think showing all of the players before and after the article puts a very clear perspective on how things changed. 

We've had the opportunity to see all of Maryland's dirty laundry in the Post this past week so we know that recruiting is a dirty business and schools that want to thrive have to find a way to work in the system as it is.  GW, apparently, does not currently have an answer to where you draw the line in a way that does not embarrass the University but still fields an entertaining and (for GW standards) successful team.  The bar in my mind has never been to repeat the '05-'06 season.  I knew at the time that I'd probably never see another season like that in my life.  The bar at GW needs to be competetive in league games, predominantly winning seasons, a run in the A-10 tourney every few years and post season every 3-4 years with no criminals on the squad.  My complaints against JK are known and run deeper than the subject of this particular thread - scheduling, response to the article, PR, etc. fall outside this thread.  This is about the rise and decline fo GW baskettball under Hobbs, and my focus here is predominantly on recruting.  Hobbs' coaching methods are discussed at length elsewhere and I'm not an 's and o's epert myself so I don;t feel qualified to make real specific cirticisms on that front.  Suffice to say I don't think Hobbs is a great bench coach and I'm not sure many people would disagree.  My post in sum is really just - When Hobbs could recruit who he wanted he was able to win at GW on a grand scale.  After the Post article and recruiting restrictions were placed on him, he showed that he could lose on a grand scale.  

• Wise is with Eustachy at Southern Miss.
• Pinnock's prep school, Coastal Christian, was a phony.
• Dunno if you wanted to include it, but even though cleared by the Clearinghouse, HS diplomas were never confirmed for Rice, Pinnock, Omar or Elliott
  

Poog,

I get that you think this thread is about JK and how much responsibility he bears for all of the problems.  To me JK isn't what this thread is about.  We can do another thread - "Should JK be held responsible."  And I'm not saying you can't comment on whatever you want to comment on. But all this side tracks my focus on how dramatically everything points to that one moment of the Post article.  I understood the impact in a general way - but listing all of the players and seeing that Hobbs hasn't recruited a SINGLE bona fide A-10 player since the article was a real eye opener for me.  I would have thought the debate would go to - Well what are the restrictions on Hobbs?  Have they been removed or changed given who he has recruited for net year? 

Mentz,

Thanks for your clarifications and corrections.  I always mi up my Mississippi schools.

Thinker,

I don't know what you consider a "legitimate A10 player" but I think Hobbs has recruited several with the talent to play in this league the last couple of years.  What you are looking at is the end result of their talent, coaching, work ethic, health and basketball scheme.  There are lots of ingredients that have gone into the teams poor play and the players lack of development, but to place all the blame on the recruiting is short sighted.

Travis King doesn't have the talent to play in the A10? I disagree. He looked pretty good his freshman year (prior to injury).  Tony Taylor seems like he'll be a solid A10 pg during his career. Maybe not All League good, but a solid A10 player.  Joe Katuka should becaome a more reliable center for GW.

The 2007-2008 recruting class (avier, Katuka, Edwards, Beatty) was higher rated than the 2002-2003 class (Hall, Omar, Pops, Kireev). All four recruits from the 2007 class were 3 Stars rated by Rivals.  Only Omar was from the first class.  All 4 recruits from the 2007 class had OFFERs from BSC schools: avier (Nebraska, WSU), Katuka (St Joes, Rutgers), Edwards (Vilanova), Beatty (Maryland, Rutgers, St Johns).   http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/commitlist.asp

But the 2002 class developed into something better than anyone could have reasonably epected. Last year's class was, as you say, a complet bust.  I still think Katuka can produce in this league and maybe Edwars will develop (he's only a freshman).  avier showed some good promise as a freshman, but got homesick and didn't do anything to improve his skills.  Beatty was very tallented but was an obvious head case and maybe Hobbs should have known that in advance, but I didn't hear anything bad about the others prior to them commng to GW.

Injuries, poor coaching, lack of player developmen (avier never learing to hit FTs, inability for raw big men to improve), and a offensive and defensive system that clearly does not highlight the talents on the current squad are just as damaging as poor recruiting.  What we see now on the court is a result of all of those problems, not strictly poor recruiting.

Bobo,

I stand by my assessment of Hobbs' recruiting.  Maybe Travis gets an asterisk, but sorry brother he's almost certainly done.  Ask any Dr. - you just don;t recover from that injury.  Yeah maybe Taylor turns into a solid A-10 player.  He isn't one yet.  Neither is Katuka, neither was Beatty.  Don't let the stars fool you.  Stars are about hype - particularly for the higher profile kids.  Many services give kids stars having never seen them play.  I don't think it counts for much.  Look at the list again, who has come since 2006 that has shown that they are legit A-10 players?

Frosh Sweetie,

It's spelled stalking - just like it's pronounced.  If you know how to pronounce it.

You must have been cute as a baby three years ago with that lisp of yours.

Frosh, who has the problem?  We're talking about basketball and you keep throwing your seual fantasies on the board.  I think the answer's pretty obvious.  Write letters to Penthouse, at least then you'll be in the company you deserve.

"That said I'm pleased GW's bb program was eposed by the Post.  The fact WP didn't write articles about other schools is irrelevant.  It's college, let's run a clean program run by people who care about the players and fans."

Let's differentiate among three different things: a) bad character guys, b) academic risks and c) guys who went to fraudulent prep schools.  What the NY Times and Washington Post eposed was c).  And, what could have been the etent of GW's remedy would have been to simply stay away from recruiting kids who attended such schools.  In fact, had this been the remedy in and of itself, these past two seasons would likely have had markedly different results.

Depending on your point of view, the problem stems from the overreaction taken by GW's administration.  Bad character guys get recruited all the time.  Coaches have to decide whether their talent outweighs the baggage.  You can be a great student and a bad character guy.  This decision was Hobbs's call and since he's the one who has to be around these guys all the time, I'm not going to defend or criticize his take on this.

The enormous problem with our recruiting today is that we are now shying away from anyone who resembles an academic risk.  This is what I mean by an overeaction.  It's no secret that the average GPA and test scores of a Division 1 basketball player is typically less than the player's student population as a whole.  Making eceptions for athletes has always been in play.  The question of course is the ETENT to which a school is willing to bend over backwards to admit a recruit.  And this is where I believe KH is being hamstrung by the school's administration.  We are no longer going after kids from legitimate high schools who we once were prior to the prep school scandal. 

I can respect Newtman who is OK with the way things are because at least now we are running a clean program.  However, I would question just how dirty our program was a few years ago.  Omar did leave as a college graduate.  Maureece had a successful three years at GW with all reports indicating that he was doing fine academically prior to his senior season.  To my knowledge, under Hobbs, we have not been paying players, families or AAU coaches for players to attend GW.  We have not employed prostitutes to show recruits a good time.  And, we have not allowed players to miss classes and demonstrate an inability to learn while handing them diplomas.  I mention these things because they are far more commonplace at bigger schools than GW. 

As Thinker has summed up, whether you deem our current players to belegitimate A10 players or not, there is no arguing the dropoff in talent over the past few years.  I believe it was Alum1 who said that he found it incredible that GW couldn't capitalize on the 27-3 season from a recruiting standpoint.  What I'd argue is that we were in a position to do just that but we had to start saying no to some players who did in fact come from legitimate high schools.  I do believe that this decision to overreact has been the primary reason why we are where we are.

Mentz,

I didn't realize JR had attended two different preps.  For the record, his other one, Worcester Aacdemy, is definitely NOT a phony.

Once again, Thinker, I think there are several players on your list that have the talent to play in the A10.  They may not be stars, but King, Taylor, Katuka and others belong in the A10.  Others didn't work out for other reasons: injury, off-court problems, lack of coaching, player development, etc.

What you are seeing is the net result of several factors, one being recruiting.  To put it all on recruiting is just plain lazy analysis. 

Spot on Bobo.  Another coach could have turned this lot into a very competitive, more cohesive, and improving squad.  That's the whole point.  He's not the great recruiter he was made out to be and even  the kids he gets that have potential, he can't develop them.  BUt you're right, the long litany of recruting ecuses and mistakes are only part of the larger picture. 

By the way, a few questions to ponder:  with respct to our former players, I wonder what kind of impact a better coach might have had on the future careers of Pops, Mike, et al?  You have to wonder if that was a bit of a missing link for these kids?  Also, is it only me, or does anyone else think that the best we're going to get around here is the marginal kid that needs a lot of development to grow into a good, A-10 capable player?  It's sort of like Providence or St John's in the  Big East, the blue chips are going to go to the marquee programs, so you have to get kids who are the proverbial diamonds in the rough, develop them and hope you get the right combination.  Unfortunately we#ve got a caoch who can't improve these kinds of players, so it's a recipe for disaster.  Wrong coach at the wrong program.

Bobo,

Absolutely, Hobbs is not a good 's' and o's coach.  That didn't stop him from succeeding when he had better players.  Of course a better coach would do better with these players than what we've done.  Don't get fiated on whether Katuka or Taylor or King or whoever are real good players.  MAYBE they can be.  They haven't shown in games that they are.  Maybe they will get better.  I'm not saying they're bad kids.  They just haven't shown they can play at a high A-10 level YET.  On this current team you could say that only Diggs, Hollis, and maybe Wynton are guys that could be epected to get 20 points or 10 rebounds or whatever in any given game.

I focused on recruiting, because frankly I think Hobbs' success and failure as been all about recruiting.  When he could recruit the guys he wanted - he won.  When couldn't he lost.  Pretty simple.

Nasser,

Welcome to the world where anybody can claim to be an epert on anything.  I'm not an epert on HS basketball and don't claim to be.  Recruiting sites and stars don't mean that much.  All I can truly comment on confidently about players is what I see.  I saw Beatty play a few times and I saw that he was pretty slow, unathletic, and had a VERY akward shooting motion.  You say he's an A-10 talent.  What do you have to back that up?  Talent and ability to fit into a team and behave and perform academically are all different things.  Montrell is probably an immensely talented kid who has now been on/left/thrown off I think 4 different NCAA teams.  With him it's not about talent.  Is Tony Taylor a nice kid?  It sure seems like it.  Does he have skill?  It seems like it.  It seems like in practice or warmup he can shoot the lights out.  Has he done that in a game yet?  No.  He seems quick and can drive to the basket.  Can he finish at the rim?  He hasn't shown that yet.  Will he show that in the future?  I hope so.  It's just that he hasn't shown it yet.  It doesn't mean that I think he's a jerk or a bum - just that his ability to succeed in the A-10 has not been proven on the A-10 floor yet.  Same with Katuka.  Nice kid - some nice skills - hasn't put it together on the floor yet.  That's all I'm saying.  No one recruited since the article has SHOWN they can perform at a high level on the FLOOR where it matters.

Please stop saying things like "sure Karl was a great recruiter at UCONN since he was at UCONN" and "KH isn't the recruiter he was made out to be."  Nobody epected KH to deliver UCONN-type talent to GW and if you did happen to think this, you're not very bright.  At UCONN, KH recruited some of the best players in the country.  At GW, KH recruited some of the best players to have ever played at GW.  So recruitingwise, KH is definitely the right guy.  The problem that some of you would like to conveniently ignore is that any good recruiter can quickly become a bad one when the pool of players you are interested in landing suddenly shrinks before your eyes.

Thinker, this issue is in part a JK issue but it also has to be a SJT and Chernak issue as well.  In fact, it was SJT who got the ball rolling with his reprehensible quote on how GW would never have recruited college graduate Omar Williams if it knew then what it knows now. 

As far as being critical of the athletic department, this all boils down to whether you feel their collective solution was proper or whether it was an overeaction.  In other words, could we have just stayed away from questionable prep schools and leave it at that, or did we have to go overboard and turn our backs on recruits from legitimate high schools who were/are considered academic risks (recruits who we would have easily gone after before the NYT and WAPO articles)?  Obviously, I subscribe to the former.

Court,

I have no problem with Tony Taylor.  He seems like a truly special kid.  From those I talk to that see him practice he has great talent.  This is not in ANY way about Tony Taylor being a great kid or potentially a great A-10 player.  I'll add several other things about Taylor - He came to GW at 17, by all accounts from a great family and a great school.  Hobbs has in the past relied on guards that were street tough and quite a bit older because they DIDN'T graduate from HS and went to prep school and HS for multiple etra years.  So when Carl Elliott or Mo Rice or JR Pinnock came here they were older and tougher.  It appears also that Taylor is such a good kid that he takes criticism to heart.  It seems that he is sensitive and that frankly he doesn't respond well to the intense yelling he gets from Hobbs at games.  He really is just a kid.  This is in no way a knock on him.  I think with the right handling he will turn into a legit elite level A-10 player.  He just hasn't shown it YET, that's all.  I'm not saying he sucks.  I don't think he does.  I think he is young and sensitive and physically not as strong as you need to be to be successful at this level.  Again no knock on him.  He just hasn't shown eliteness YET.  Don't mistake my comments on play as being comments on character.

MV,

I agree with you 100% that the recruiting limitations put on Hobbs were not all of JK's doing - maybe even not much of JK's doing.  SJT undercut Hobbs and everybody from the faculty senate on down threw Hobbs under the bus.  It was a shameful way to treat Hobbs and an even more shameful way to treat Omar.  It was disgraceful that the school didn't step up and make a much more forceful defense of Omar given that despite his shaky academic start - he had graduated on time from an academically oriented private university.  MANY people applauded John Thompson when he took Iverson OUT OF PRISON right to Georgetown and gave him a chance.  Omar's story wasn't as dramatic as that but frankly I think it's great that GW gave him a chance and he came through.  Good for Omar, I imagine it was a tough row for him to hoe and he should have been a poster child for academic redemption and second chances, not villified as a cheater not deserving of his second chance.

I had forgotten about that SJT quote, what a shame.

I don't know what the women's High School records look like, but I do know that their academic advisors are much more available and present than the men's team's. Omar, I think, is a shining eample of what GWU can do for someone who has not necessarily had the best academic eperience leading up to college, but has the capacity to work hard and accomplish what is necessary to get a degree.

Hobbs has 14 roster spots, and I think that he has the right to fill them with who he wants to. At the same time, The Director of Admissions, Chernak, President Knapp, and the faculty have the right to epect that those 14 spots at what is now a competitive university (just ask all the freshmen who have told us how much smarter they are than us) will use those academic seats in the class to work hard both on and off the court.

I had heard nothing but good thingsabout players in the classroom up until the 06-07 season, when certain players just checked out on all levels. That pattern of nonchalance in classes is reflected in a number of players today, which is too bad, because they aren't good enough to have that motif. I had a class with Rob Diggs, he was always there, he participated occassionally. I've heard Aaron Ware (I  think it's Ware) is eemplary in class, always prepared, always involved in class conversations.

When those things are happening, I think Hobbs gets leeway. But when playersaren't working hard to catch up and make the most of the academic opportunities presented to them, I think the Hobbs leash gets shorter and shorter.

Nasser, I think we have to take the definition of "not a legitimate A10 player" and apply it beyond basketball skills.  Miles Beatty is a perfect eample.  To be generous, Miles had major behavioral problems.  Miles was a starter on his high school team until his senior year when he came off the bench.  McCoy over Saracen on Friday Night Lights notwithstanding, this typically doesn't happen without an etraordinary reason.  In any case, it had to be perceived as a red flag regarding his recruitment.  (I'm not saying that he should NOT have been recruited; I won't play the hindsight is 20/20 game.  Just saying that there had to be a major concern going in.)  In any case, Miles's reported problems while at GW ranged from alcohol to assault of a female student. 

Miles was not a legitimate A10 prospect because of a lot of personal issues that he needs to deal with.  Let's hope he has begun this process.

From what we heard about Tony Taylor, he was a standout person in high school--and a good student.

He hasn't turned out to be what we hoped this year, though clearly has talent.  Don't think that should rest on his thn shoulders.

Having a rabid, psycho coach has likely screwed with his head as it has with the rest of the team. If TT isn't adapting to KH's style, and is a good kid inclined to listen, it's up to KH to shelve the hysterical screaming and distracting the team with his literally on the court presence. KH may want to, just once, try what works, rather than his preconceived notion of how things should be.

Hobbs, supposed to be a wizard with point guards,must bear this responsibility. Unfortunately, he accepts none with a grand total of one league win in mid-Febbruary.

Well said thinker - you've done a great job tracking the decline of GW ball - and I'll agree with (most of) you and blame a weak recruitment for our team's current suckiness.  I mean - presumably Hobbes is the same intense/hotheaded/misunderstood genius (you pick) coach he was during the #6 season - and lord knows we're still running the same "pass the ball around the outside and hope for something to open up inside" offense.  The difference is that this crop of players just isn't as good as Pops, Hall, Omar, etc were.

And thinker picks out why - the quality of our recruits fell because JK/SJT/Hobbes/whoever decided that we were only going to recruit from "legit" high schools.

But I think it's premature to start calls for Hobbes or JK's head because of this...

Instead, I think the ripple effects of the 2006 decision to drop a very promising class of recruits are why we're the bottom of the A-10.  Those guys would be juniors right now, and presumably had 2 solid years of development under their belts.  Ideally, they would have turned out pretty good, bought into Hobbe’s system, and we’d be sitting pretty.

Instead, we lose our recruits, and Hobbes has to rush to sign enough players to put up a roster.

I’m not by any stretch of the imagination a basketball coach, but I’d imagine that trying to recruit good players in early spring (after the Post article) is difficult (they're already committed) – and the ones that you do sign aren’t going to be as good.

So we get a cobbled together class of recruits for 2006: King, Hollis, Spoon, Opuku, and Moore.  Moore leaves before this season starts.

And in 2008/2009 of the original Class of ‘06: King gets injured, Opuku is clumsy, and ‘Spoon puts up stats well short of spectacular.  Hollis is the only standout, averaging 12 and 5.

A college basketball team takes time to develop.  Tony Taylor will grow up, Ware will find his game, and maybe, just maybe, Hobbes’ offensive scheme will sink in.

Maybe time to review this post from March of 2009.