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This isn't the first I've posted on this topic (on this or "the other" board), but with this incoming recruiting class, I thought it'd be a good time to revisit the topic.
I always come back to one key difference between JL and his two predecessors (this is not meant to bash the other two, but to raise a point of comparison).
I remember like it was yesterday the first sign of trouble from Stan Albeck. He was asked after Hersey's senior year how he was going to replace such an amazing talent. He said, "You don't replace Hersey Hawkins. You don't even try."
I understand that it was meant as a tribute to a great player, but I saw trouble: if you're not even going to TRY to get another star like that at BU, how will we maintain national prominence?
I don't think Les would ever say something like that. He'd be out telling five-star recruits they were gonna be the next Hersey Hawkins.
Then there was Mo. I've addressed this before, but would be curious whether anyone else who's been around a while noticed the same thing. The two Jims were asked a nearly identical question ten years apart . . . Mo in 1996, Les in 2006. In 1996, an ESPN analyst asked Molinari what it would take for Bradley to beat Stanford in the NCAA tourney (even though BU was the higher seed). Molinari said, "I don't know, a miracle? I'm not sure we can." Fast forward a decase: "How can Bradley beat Kansas?" Jim Les said, "You should be asking me how Kansas is going to beat Bradley. If they're gonna do it, they're gonna have to play really well."
The comment from Mo was my first indication that he wasn't the guy for this job . . . before that very comment, I thought he was a demi-god. But that irked me to high Heaven; would Coach K ever have said something like that? And the comment from Les told me that he WAS the man for this job.
This all brings me to a point (can you believe it?). I remember Mo's teams consistently playing scared, like they had way too much respect for the other team. As for Les, although I've seen his teams play sloppy (see years one through three), I've never seen them play scared.
I think Les recruits a different kind of player . . . not just good Christians who respect authority and display humility, but competitors who have a killer instinct.
The more I read about Maniscalco, Austin, Cole-Scott, Egolf, Collins, Thompson, Wilson, the more I see that the best thing this class has going, beyond raw skill, size, etc., is TOUGHNESS. In a year or two opposing coaches will be telling their players, "Don't give this team a lead. If you let them smell blood, it's gonna get ugly."
I always come back to one key difference between JL and his two predecessors (this is not meant to bash the other two, but to raise a point of comparison).
I remember like it was yesterday the first sign of trouble from Stan Albeck. He was asked after Hersey's senior year how he was going to replace such an amazing talent. He said, "You don't replace Hersey Hawkins. You don't even try."
I understand that it was meant as a tribute to a great player, but I saw trouble: if you're not even going to TRY to get another star like that at BU, how will we maintain national prominence?
I don't think Les would ever say something like that. He'd be out telling five-star recruits they were gonna be the next Hersey Hawkins.
Then there was Mo. I've addressed this before, but would be curious whether anyone else who's been around a while noticed the same thing. The two Jims were asked a nearly identical question ten years apart . . . Mo in 1996, Les in 2006. In 1996, an ESPN analyst asked Molinari what it would take for Bradley to beat Stanford in the NCAA tourney (even though BU was the higher seed). Molinari said, "I don't know, a miracle? I'm not sure we can." Fast forward a decase: "How can Bradley beat Kansas?" Jim Les said, "You should be asking me how Kansas is going to beat Bradley. If they're gonna do it, they're gonna have to play really well."
The comment from Mo was my first indication that he wasn't the guy for this job . . . before that very comment, I thought he was a demi-god. But that irked me to high Heaven; would Coach K ever have said something like that? And the comment from Les told me that he WAS the man for this job.
This all brings me to a point (can you believe it?). I remember Mo's teams consistently playing scared, like they had way too much respect for the other team. As for Les, although I've seen his teams play sloppy (see years one through three), I've never seen them play scared.
I think Les recruits a different kind of player . . . not just good Christians who respect authority and display humility, but competitors who have a killer instinct.
The more I read about Maniscalco, Austin, Cole-Scott, Egolf, Collins, Thompson, Wilson, the more I see that the best thing this class has going, beyond raw skill, size, etc., is TOUGHNESS. In a year or two opposing coaches will be telling their players, "Don't give this team a lead. If you let them smell blood, it's gonna get ugly."
) who I hope we can keep at BU until he retires. I would like to think that he will build quite a dynasty and go down in history as BU's most successful coach ever.
)
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