Thomas Not Coming To Tennessee?

[Give him SIX!]

I just read that Maurice Thomas is going to sign with UTEP. I thought that we had this guy allready onboard, but guess that I was wrong. Does anybody know any further info?

 

[TitanVol]

I heard that we offered and he committed but he wouldn't sign while he was here. I don't know if there were other issues involved or not but we signed Ryan Childress instead.

 

[BHAMVOLFAN]

Originally posted by TitanVol@May 12, 2005 9:56 AM
I heard that we offered and he committed but he wouldn't sign while he was here. I don't know if there were other issues involved or not but we signed Ryan Childress instead.

There were other issues. We souldn't sign him until his mother visited. She basically didn't want to visit and also told Mo he needed to keep his options open. CBP liked Childress and offered him when Mrs. Thomas waffled on the offer.

 

[TitanVol]

Originally posted by BHAMVOLFAN+May 12, 2005 9:59 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (BHAMVOLFAN @ May 12, 2005 9:59 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-TitanVol@May 12, 2005 9:56 AM
I heard that we offered and he committed but he wouldn&#39;t sign while he was here. I don&#39;t know if there were other issues involved or not but we signed Ryan Childress instead.

There were other issues. We souldn&#39;t sign him until his mother visited. She basically didn&#39;t want to visit and also told Mo he needed to keep his options open. CBP liked Childress and offered him when Mrs. Thomas waffled on the offer. [/quote]
Did she not visit? I thought I had heard that she visited but wouldn&#39;t let him sign?

 

[Give him SIX!]

From what I have read and heard Thomas is supposed to be quite a better player than Childress. Any opinions?

 

[TitanVol]

Here is the politically correct answer:

Yes Thomas was rated higher but Pearl knows the Childress kid and thinks he fits his system. Childress is more of a big strong physical kid and Thomas was more athletic. Childress also played at a pretty good school in Moeller so he has played against some very good competition.

 

[therickbol]

This answer could become very lengthy, but I&#39;ll spare you soap box speech. Their numbers in high school are actually very similar. They are about the same height, but Childress is much stronger. Thomas is more athletic. Here is the thing, you can&#39;t just recruit by looking at the amount of stars that rivals.com gives to a player. Every year countless (a lot) players are "underrated" by the recruiting services. Thomas was rated higher because of his athletic ability. Bruce Pearl has seen Childress play enough that he feels that he is one of those players that slips through the cracks and is underrated. Being able to recognize a player like that is a big part of being successful at the mid-major college level. So, Pearl has apparently seen something in this kid that the shmucks from rivals.com didn&#39;t see. Not to mention, he fits the mold of the type of player that is successful in Pearl&#39;s system. What you read on rivals.com, scout.com, or any other recruiting service doesn&#39;t give you near as much insight into the players as Pearl had. So, personally I will trust what Pearl has seen from the players and assume that Childress would make a better UTK men&#39;s basketball player

 

[OldVol]

Originally posted by therickbol@May 12, 2005 10:49 AM
This answer could become very lengthy, but I&#39;ll spare you soap box speech. Their numbers in high school are actually very similar. They are about the same height, but Childress is much stronger. Thomas is more athletic. Here is the thing, you can&#39;t just recruit by looking at the amount of stars that rivals.com gives to a player. Every year countless (a lot) players are "underrated" by the recruiting services. Thomas was rated higher because of his athletic ability. Bruce Pearl has seen Childress play enough that he feels that he is one of those players that slips through the cracks and is underrated. Being able to recognize a player like that is a big part of being successful at the mid-major college level. So, Pearl has apparently seen something in this kid that the shmucks from rivals.com didn&#39;t see. Not to mention, he fits the mold of the type of player that is successful in Pearl&#39;s system. What you read on rivals.com, scout.com, or any other recruiting service doesn&#39;t give you near as much insight into the players as Pearl had. So, personally I will trust what Pearl has seen from the players and assume that Childress would make a better UTK men&#39;s basketball player

Good analysis.

Anyone with the star power, Kentucky, Duke, NC, Kansas, can take the recruiting services and recruit championship players every year.

But the reason you see so many small schools getting into the Dance every year is because of just what you described: An ability to detect potential that others have overlooked.

Here&#39;s hoping we&#39;ve finally found our Pearl of Great Price.

 

[allvolinky]

I agree OldVol I think CBP is just what our university needed. I think we will see a completely different ball club come this November. I feel that in the next 2 years we will diffently be a competitor in the SEC.