Palmetto Proving Grounds

The list of Top 10 recruits who decided to come here in the last 35 years is pretty short. Put yourself in that kids shoes and then try to explain to me how you choose USC over the advice of everyone around you when you have offers from KY and UNC. You'd have to be a complete idiot to do that with our track record. We haven't won a game in the NCAA Tournament in how long??? We also have no supporting cast to help that kid become a 1st round draft pick. Face it - losing Harris and Gill is going to hurt like HELL!

WRONG! Florida had offered Harris and Gill had strong offers and was finally rated 4 stars toward the end of his recruitment. Horn was a strong recruiter for us. In addition to those two, Jackson, Ellington, Leonard, Richardson, Slawson, and Galloway were all highly recruited by Major Div 1 programs from the SEC, ACC, and the Big East, as was Haughton.

Ellington maybe had a Kansas offer and could have gone to a lot of middle tier schools if he had made it clear he would choose basketball.

Leonard also could have gone to a lot of middle tier schools.

Slawson, Richardson, Galloway, Lakeem were guys whose USC offer was one of the best they had, if not the best.

Haughton, I have no idea, but apparently he was about good enough for Martin to tell him we are one of the only schools in the country that won't accept him into school even though we'd had him committed for months without mentioning it to him.

Harris and Gill were our best players. Its true and they would be welcome in most programs after what they showed on the floor last year.

I'm not speculating. Each one of the players I mentioned was offered by one or more schools from the Big East, ACC, or the SEC. I'm not critiquing players based on their performance once they got here, but on their comparable status as recruits based on their actual recruitment. If you don't believe me, go to the recruiting services and see for yourself. Slawson, especially was highly recruited and if he went back on the market would be in as much demand as either Gill or Harris. I know nobody wants to give Horn any credit whatsoever, but he was a very good recruiter for us. I was deadset against his hiring but after his 2nd and 3rd recruiting classes I was mightily impressed with his recruiting ability - he vastly exceeded my meager expectations for him. I'll go one step further - if the toxic environment surrounding Horn had not chased away Ian Baker and Carlos Morris, Horn would have had a great chance to sign Sheldon Jeter. Put those three together with Haughton and that's three consecutive very strong recruiting classes for Horn.

I'd be very interested to see what WG has to say about this.

Slawson was not nearly as highly recruited as Harris or Gill and does not have the skill of either.

That's just my opinion though.

I think his upside is solid rotation guy.

I think he is the kind of guy that might have been all conference in the SoCon, though.