Shane Battier

[SemperFiCat]

I can understand that. Seems a bit petty in my book. What next? "Man, Coach Pope wore an ugly ass tie in my house. Guess I'm going to UNC."

Look, the guy said, quite simply, "if you want me to play for you, here's when we can talk." It’s not unreasonable. It's Pitino own fault he couldn't honor a simple request.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Look, the guy said, quite simply, "if you want me to play for you, here's when we can talk." It’s not unreasonable. It's Pitino own fault he couldn't honor a simple request.

And Pitino wasn't even planning to stick around to coach Battier so there's that.

Battier won a title, made another one (kudos to UCONN for winning that game), and would have probably won a title n 1998 if not for our Cats amazing comeback. Think it worked out well for him.

 

[bbncal02]

Bottom line is you never know what's going to sway a 17-year old kid or his parents.

This. We've seen all too often what this kids do especially when influenced by their handlers. Sometimes its good, sometimes its the handlers thinking they know best when they don't.

 

[CrimsonCats]

I know we’re all Kentucky fans here, and thus can’t stand Duke, but I’m on the side of not finding Battier’s story at all unreasonable.

Take sports fandom out of it and imagine you have a couple different employers recruiting you for similar positions. You express a preference to discuss it with them at a particular time. One calls you during that time and gives you their undivided attention. The other calls at a random time and is clearly in the middle of doing something else. I have a hard time believing that the first one wouldn’t make a much better impression on anyone. It may not have actually been the deciding factor in his recruitment, but if anyone was being a diva in the story as told, it was Pitino, not Battier.

 

[Edgarman]

I can understand it gets old. However, it's not like that was Bob Johns from Podunk U calling. It was RIck Pitino (who was decently known before he came here as well). And crossing someone of the list after one perceived grievance against some arbitrary rule is pretty arrogant in my book. I don't care we didn't land him. We did just fine without him.

Bashing a kid? Good grief, remove the stick. He's 46! He's older than I am!

He was certainly a kid when Pitno called him. Pitno has matured as well and probably would not call a kid if the same request was made today from a kid being recruited. Battier would not be flattered by getting a call from Pitino. I'm sure that was not Rick's first call to Battier. He was getting calls from hall of fame coaches so after so many calls they all felt like Podunk U coaches. Rick was a great coach but in the case with Battier, he was wrong. Remember Battier was NOT 46 when he got the call from Rick.

 

[wildcat_bigd]

Ole wrinkle head, glad his ugly ass went elsewhere

 

[Edgarman]

Nope. I’ll just call you a prick.

Juneswoon, "You can't handle the truth!"
Name callng must come easy for you to call someone a prick for stating facts. If you were a UK recruiter we would be in trouble since you seem to not respect anyone's request. Remember the kids being recruited would tell you to your face, not now, not ever. Kids want to feel wanted but also respected. Why do you thinks recruits will say, "it felt like family?' It is because they were treated with respect.
We are currently recruiting the Wilson kid out of Holy Innocence in Atlanta. Let's say he commits to us, do you think is is right for Duke, UNC, Kansas fans to label him as a prick. Every great HS recruit will be recruited hard by several schools. There will always be one winner and several schools disappointed. This does NOT make the kid a PRICK.