Comparing Lowery to ... Royce Waltman?

[sixth ace]

...

[pafan]

I disagree with the statement that CLo hasn't recruited well. He's had some of the best recruiting classes in the Valley. The breakdown has been in developing and retaining that talent. The really sad part is that CLo has taken great recruits and apparently made them worse - then they decided to leave SIU.

Some of his early classes might have been good -- I won't disagree with that -- but what he's been able to bring in over the last 3 years or so are far from the best recruiting classes in the Valley.

[LanceShock]

I disagree with the statement that CLo hasn't recruited well. He's had some of the best recruiting classes in the Valley. The breakdown has been in developing and retaining that talent. The really sad part is that CLo has taken great recruits and apparently made them worse - then they decided to leave SIU.

Some of his early classes might have been good -- I won't disagree with that -- but what he's been able to bring in over the last 3 years or so are far from the best recruiting classes in the Valley.

Recruits will notice that you have dug your program into a hole and are continuing to dig. It does put you at a bit of a recruiting disadvantage.

[Aargh]

"A 'bit' of a recruiting disadvantage"???

I wouldn't be surprised if SIU-E is a better recruiting destination than SIU-C.

I don't mean to be piling on SIU's fanbase, but the retention of Lowery this long - and the result of taking SIU-C into the 300's in RPI is going to make the rebuild really tough

That's really sad. I remember making a post on the old VT board where I expected SIU to be an NCAA team for at least the next 5 years - and I think that would have included this year. I think this is the year that SIU's possible top-20 national recruiting class would have been seniors - maybe that was last year.

I'm painfully aware of WSU's path from national prominence to their presence in the abyss in the '90's. It took WSU a decade to dig out of that hole. I'm afraid the SIU program has been damaged beyond ht level of damage done to the WSU program.

It's sad to see a once-proud program brought to its' knees and even sadder to see what that does to SIU's loyal fans. There can be nothing but sympathy felt for SIU fans.