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"Mizzou, Tennessee look silly for passing on MSU's Ben Howland" NWT

BobStackFan4Life

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I know some of the people on here thought Wellman should go after Howland while others, most notably rj, felt Wake should not go near him. Anyway, saw this on the frontpage of CBS Sports this morning. For some reason they don't mention the Wake opening.
And the California native with three Final Fours on his resume would've taken either job if offered. He tried to get involved at both places. But for reasons I'll never understand even if I live to be a million years old, Tennessee and Missouri each passed. And, at this point, that looks like the best thing to ever happen to Mississippi State.

"[Ben Howland has] proven what he can do," Schnider Herard, a consensus top-50 national recruit in the Class of 2016, told Scout.com's Evan Daniels on Wednesday, a few moments after publicly committing to Mississippi State. "He's been to the NCAA Tournament and has guys in the [NBA]. Everyone knows he's a great coach."

Everyone, apparently, except the geniuses at Tennessee and Missouri.

Let's instead focus on Mississippi State and what Howland is doing in Starkville. He got hired in March and quickly gained a commitment from Malik Newman, a five-star recruit who could lead the SEC in scoring this season. That development -- along with three other commitments -- helped Howland secure a recruiting class that ranked 20th nationally, according to 247Sports, just four months after moving to the Magnolia State.

Not bad.

And now things are even better.

Herard's commitment gives Howland four commitments from the Class of 2016, three of which are consensus top-100 national recruits. So now Mississippi State's class is ranked 10th in 2016, according to 247Sports. And Daniels believes it could actually improve.
Bottom line, here's the lesson: Don't overthink it, you brilliant athletic directors. When you're a middle-of-the-pack power-conference program, at best, like Missouri or Tennessee, and you have a chance to hire a man who has made three Final Fours and was, just a year earlier, playing an up-tempo brand of basketball that resulted in an outright Pac-12 title, you make that hire. You turn UCLA's loss into your gain. Because, if you don't, then somebody else -- like Mississippi State, for instance -- will eventually turn your loss into theirs.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25363361/ben-howland-still-making-mizzou-tennessee-look-silly-for-passing-on-him
 
Tennessee and Mizzou both have recently had coaches with questionable ethics. I'm not saying Howland = Pearl or Haith, but there were more than a few questions during the last few years of his time at UCLA. To call them out for passing on Howland - whose last few UCLA teams sucked btw - seems short-sighted at best.
 
Miss. St. is also heavily involved with DeRon Davis, a top 50 big from Colorado. The kid had offers from Arizona and Texas, among others, but is down to IU and Miss. St. Crean has been recruiting him for 4 years, while Miss. St. only got involved in the last 4 or 5 months or so. The idea that a kid from Colorado with a long offer list would choose Miss. St. after a relatively brief courtship is either an example of Howland's broad appeal or something shady going on in Starkville.
 
he might look okay now but at his age the fire in his belly is going out
 
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