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Message: [QUOTE="alphaorange, post: 261706, member: 305"] With all the chatter surrounding the NN recruitment and why he should go where, one of the constants has been which schools have the best track records of developing players and, specifically, at their given position. To me, in the case of "one and dones", it is particularly overblown. To begin with, any player with the talent to be considered a one season rental is already fairly physically developed and has an obvious level of polish, already. Calipari has been noted on here to be very good at developing raw players. Which players are these and what did he do for them? I realize that he has had several first rounders in the last few years but several of these have busts or already had the ability to play at the next level. Most of these guys would have been 1st rounders right out of HS. He provides more of a haven to play high level ball while biding time. GT has the rep of turning out top level centers. Is it really true that they developed there? Ewing, Mourning, and Othella Harrington were the #1 prospects in the country. Since Ewing made his real money and reputation as an offensive player and never did much in that regard at GT, it could be argued that the coaching at GT held him back rather than helped him reach his potential. Mourning came in as a defensive and rebounding juggernaut and left the same way. His offense also developed later. There are others but no player shows an obvious case of being a product of the coaching staff, but rather a product of what they were going to be regardless of who coached them. Lest anyone think I am just an SU homer, I am not. Melo came in as a dynamic offensive machine and left the same way. Owens, the same. DC really evolved his game, but he stayed four years and I think he would have done the same at any number of other schools, as well. Any great player is going to do most of his development in the NBA, and most of it by virtue of playing for top coaches and against top flight competition. My point is that no school is going to really make a difference to a top player as long as they are going to a school where they can play and practice against great players, and be coached by talented coaches. In the case of one year players, the difference is even less. My homerism thought: JB does help players offensively prepare for the NBA more than most others as he gives them much more freedom on that end of the game. [/QUOTE]

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