LSU big man with immediate eligibility is transferring

[tornado]

be nice if we could land this guy...said to be 6-11

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/rickbozich/2011/07/20/iu-pursuing-6-10-lsu-transfer/

http://www.lsureveille.com/men-s-basketball-garrett-green-to-transfer-from-lsu-1.2606091

[SycamoreFanatic]

"Dancing" Tom Crean HAS to win more than he loses this next season and most likely even get into the N.I.T. at least or he is GONE! He keeps bringing in a lot of players "with credentials" but he and his staff do not develop them nor do they get them to buy into what they want them to do. He can recruit but can he really COACH ? School is still out on that question. All of the excuses the media have afforded him to this point are wearing thin with the fanbase in Bloomington.

With all of the young talent he has onboard and coming, why do you bring in a "one & done" or even any JC players in your 4th year (I think) and undermine your other players who have been promised that they and they alone would be the major factor to lead IU back to the promised land? Could he have made a recruiting mistake or two or three by getting all stars and -O-"blue collar" players to try and build a contender in the Big 10-11-12 ?

Hell, Casey Stengel could have had these guys winning big by now.........................and basketball wasn't even his sport ?

[tornado]

Watching a Crean coached team is painful -- everyone just dribble-drives, puts their head down, forces their way into traffic and then launches terrible shots. Then they take turns and someone else tries the same thing over and over...
The only way this style would ever win is if you luck into a Dwyane Wade caliber player who can score bundles with this technique...
In the absence of DWade - Crean's teams always are at the bottom of the league in scoring, shooting pct., assists, and defensive stats.

[mportsch]

Garrett Green is a solid rebounder that's bad at almost everything else. In three seasons, he has shot 43% on twos and 40% on free throws, and he isn't much of a shotblocker considering his size. That said, he'd help Bradley's interior depth with Egolf out. Green would get minutes this season, but Prosser is a superior player and should start at the five.

I'm actually surprised that Indiana is interested in Green - they'll have Zeller, Watford, Elston, and Pritchard all available to play on the interior, so I don't see Green getting minutes there unless there's a major injury. I suppose some interior insurance is worth a scholarship that would otherwise sit empty for a season.

[MacabreMob]

Garrett Green is a solid rebounder that's bad at almost everything else. In three seasons, he has shot 43% on twos and 40% on free throws, and he isn't much of a shotblocker considering his size.

Sounds like a good fit for UIUC.

[tornado]

Zeller is completely new to D-I, incoming freshman, untested, and probably a year or two away..
Watford loves to hang outside and launch threes and is not really a post player
Crean is known to be very disenchanted with Pritchard & Elston, both of whom were really his predecessor's recruits, and who have been decreasing in playing time steadily as they seem to fall deeper into Crean's doghouse...
..and TC still feels he was cheated out of last year's big man Guy Marc Michel via an unfavorable NCAA ruling of ineligibility.

Crean is desperate for just about any big body and he's scouring the AAU events, juco ranks, and anywhere else trying to land one.

[thefish7]

Excuse the expression, but wouldn't we have to crean house a little to sign this guy?

[mportsch]

Zeller is completely new to D-I, incoming freshman, untested, and probably a year or two away..
Watford loves to hang outside and launch threes and is not really a post player
Crean is known to be very disenchanted with Pritchard & Elston, both of whom were really his predecessor's recruits, and who have been decreasing in playing time steadily as they seem to fall deeper into Crean's doghouse...
..and TC still feels he was cheated out of last year's big man Guy Marc Michel via an unfavorable NCAA ruling of ineligibility.

Crean is desperate for just about any big body and he's scouring the AAU events, juco ranks, and anywhere else trying to land one.

I can't argue with any of that, but I still maintain that Garrett Green would not be an improvement over anybody IU already has. Watford does like to play outside, but he's going to continue to be used at the four in college. Zeller is a five star prospect - I'd be shocked if he can't outplay Green this season.

[tornado]

I do agree but Crean will still make an all out pitch for Green out of desperation - just like he did for Tijan Jobe who never started and couldn't even average 3 ppg/3 rpg in junior college...
and then Bawa Muniru who went to a tiny Alabama high school about the size of Tremont HS, and as a 22 year-old 7-footer playing against guys years younger and a foot shorter - still could barely put up double digits in scoring (12 pts/7 rebs a game)

[tornado]

according to a premium site -- Indiana & Tom Crean are going all out to get this kid -- even though there is not much interest in him elsewhere...

The only other schools Green is reportedly planning visits to are San Diego State and Long Beach State - but he has had some interest from ....
get this...UC-Davis, as well as Cal State-Northridge, University of San Francisco, and a few others...
(he is originally from the Los Angeles area - so the California schools may have an advantage for the kid to play right away in front of his hometown folks.


BTW -- IU seems a bit snakebitten as yet another of their commits gets an injury and is out a while with a fracture of a bone in his back - url= http://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1243111

[RoyalShock]

tropicalshox has reported on ShockerNet that Green will visit WSU.

We played LSU last season and he was responsible for making it close, scoring 15 and grabbing 13 rebounds.

[shockerfan13]

Here is a recent Q&A with Green after his visit to Indiana. Mentions the WSU visit.

http://www.insidethehall.com/2011/07/23/q-a-garrett-green-talks-about-indiana-visit/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+insidethehall+%28Inside+the+Hall+%7C+An+Indiana+Hoosiers+basketball+blog%29&utm_content=Twitter

[tornado]

Garrett Green the big man friom LSU who couldn't find any playing time even in his 5th year there -- is still taking visits...but since Indiana is so incredibly desperate for a big man, they are hounding the guy the hardest..

Currently Green is visiting a couple California schools including San Diego State and will complete his visits at Wichita State today.
He tweets that he will decide Friday but it appears, since he has just one year to play, that he'll go to who promises the most playing time.

BUT -- it is clear the kid knows you can't always trust college coaches.....and have to be careful buying into everything they say...

http://twitter.com/#!/GarrettGreen3/status/96676632747716609

[tornado]

Garrett Green just said he wants to go to a place that will make the NCAA tourney this coming year -- and of his 4 choices,
(sorry Hoosier fans) there are only two options that even have a chance....San Diego State and Wichita State...
and of those two schools -- SDSU is a virtual lock while WSU did NOT make the NCAA tourney last year so....

[shockerfan13]

Garrett Green just said he wants to go to a place that will make the NCAA tourney this coming year -- and of his 4 choices,
(sorry Hoosier fans) there are only two options that even have a chance....San Diego State and Wichita State...
and of those two schools -- SDSU is a virtual lock while WSU did NOT make the NCAA tourney last year so....

Obviously I realize the Shox lost some important pieces from last year as well. But SDSU is hardly even CLOSE to a lock to make the NCAA tourney with what they lost. They have A LOT to replace to even come close to last year. I would say WSU (at this point) has just as much chance as SDSU would at making the dance this year.

Truthfully I think Long Beach State MAY have the best chance at making the dance just because they will have alot of experience. With the conference they play in (what they have returning they can definately win their conference tourney), the experience they have returning from a 22-12 (14-2) team, they may be the most likely team to make the big dance. Of course, with the conference they play in, they would also have to win the conference tourney to make the dance. Where as with WSU they CAN get an at large if they win the games they need to. Not sure what SDSU's schedule looks like but they can be an at large if they win the games they need to also. But the cupbard is pretty bare IMHO.