Played in a golf outing today with a HS basketball coach here in PA, whose son played AAU and college. His son was very good, but not high major.
When Pitino was at Iona, he shows up with for a game that was featuring several targets, one of which was a high priority. His son, who was playing that day, goes to the gym with his dad, the coach to stretch and do some extra work. They walk in to the gym and the only two guys there were Pitino and his assistant. The target put up 24 points and 12 rebounds, but wasn’t paying attention to the game when he was sitting and during the third quarter his teammate throws down a thunderous dunk that brings down the house. Bench was celebrating except for the target…Pitino taps his assistant on the leg and they walk out.
Not surprising, but he said high majors spend very little time recruiting HS kids, even AAU. 95% of their time and money is spent on re-recruiting players on the squad and picking off transfers. They figure they can just throw money at them after their freshmen year, using mid/low majors as farm teams. Laughed when I asked if $3.5M NIL budget was a good number.
And speaking of Villanova, he used to tell his players to watch the system Jay had to teach them. He said Nova now looks like every other team. Neptune is in trouble.
When Pitino was at Iona, he shows up with for a game that was featuring several targets, one of which was a high priority. His son, who was playing that day, goes to the gym with his dad, the coach to stretch and do some extra work. They walk in to the gym and the only two guys there were Pitino and his assistant. The target put up 24 points and 12 rebounds, but wasn’t paying attention to the game when he was sitting and during the third quarter his teammate throws down a thunderous dunk that brings down the house. Bench was celebrating except for the target…Pitino taps his assistant on the leg and they walk out.
Not surprising, but he said high majors spend very little time recruiting HS kids, even AAU. 95% of their time and money is spent on re-recruiting players on the squad and picking off transfers. They figure they can just throw money at them after their freshmen year, using mid/low majors as farm teams. Laughed when I asked if $3.5M NIL budget was a good number.
And speaking of Villanova, he used to tell his players to watch the system Jay had to teach them. He said Nova now looks like every other team. Neptune is in trouble.
