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Hey it looks like Gary is on the recruiting trail. He and Chuck visited National Christian Academy to see Dante Taylor (#9 PF-2009) and Will Barton (SG-2010) according to Scout. There are 5 bigs in the Top 60 considering MD, including 2 McDonald AA candidates. You can only recruit perceived talent. People forget that the 5 people recruiting class in 2002 was a Top 5 class and the 2003 class was number 2 behind FSU. Gist was ranked #13 PF in 2004, and Ledbetter was a 4 star prior to the hip injury in the auto accident. Shane Clark was the #19 SF in 2005 (but academically ineligible and enrolled at Villanova). The 2006 class was ranked #19 overall. Gilchrist was in-between classes according to some media, but according to Rivals would have put their 2007 class in the Top 30. Scout has Gilchrist in 2008, which puts that class at #19. To me, recruiting does not seem to be too much of an issue.
If you really look back at the post NC seasons, the first NIT year was largely attributable to John Gilchrist's selfish play/fake ankle injury. He then departed. The following year, McCray was ruled ineligible. One or two more wins in either of these years and MD makes the NCAAs. Are you faulting Gary for these players' actions? Most of the 2002/2003 classes were highly ranked individuals. You can't always coach them into greater players. So Gary goes in 2006 and 2007 and recruits 4 year players because that worked for him in the past. The problem is it takes time with these more coachable players. I'm sure we'll see a resurgence next year and even higher achievements the year following.
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