(04-23-2015 02:07 PM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(04-23-2015 12:43 PM)dan10 Wrote:  I am certainly surpised he did not choose Maryland. We shall see if it pays off for him, especially since UofL is in more of a rebuilding mode than a win now/immediately mode.

The answer seems pretty simple to me if you were to ignore Lee's hometown from the mix. As much as I respect Mark Turgeon, if you were given the choice to play for him or Pitino for just 1 season to improve your draft stock, which do you choose? Has to be Pitino. Especially since it looks like he's expected to start right away. Maybe Pitino sold him a bill of goods, but either way he has a chance to make an immediate impact.

Couple that with the fact that Louisville is historically a superior program to Maryland, and the decision becomes fairly easy.

It doesn't look particularly good for UMD that they couldn't land a kid from Baltimore, however. And to that I say, great! F you, Maryland.

From the standpoint of who is the coach, I would say you are absolutely correct and it is not close. From the standpoint of wanting to have a chance at a championship like he claimed, it seems a bit more of a strange decision, as I think UofL is in more of a rebuilding/(in their case reloading) mode than one that is championship caliber right now. In that case Maryland or even Arizona made more sense. I think he would have had playing time at any of those schools, since his list seemed to have schools that actually had a hole at the position he plays. Either way his exposure at Louisville will be fantastic as long as he doesnt lay an egg there and lives up to expectations.

My only thing I that I am not sure he will grow much with Pitino. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, he is basically Bruiser Flint (except actually good). He is a defense first coach who darn near ignores the offensive side of the ball. The difference is that he gets enough talent that his offense can skirt by, whether a Flint team cannot. I fully expect Lee to become better defensively, but I cant see him getting better on offense from Pitino. Louisville's offense are almost as brutal to watch as Bruiser's.

(04-23-2015 02:43 PM)dan10 Wrote:  

(04-23-2015 02:07 PM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(04-23-2015 12:43 PM)dan10 Wrote:  I am certainly surpised he did not choose Maryland. We shall see if it pays off for him, especially since UofL is in more of a rebuilding mode than a win now/immediately mode.

The answer seems pretty simple to me if you were to ignore Lee's hometown from the mix. As much as I respect Mark Turgeon, if you were given the choice to play for him or Pitino for just 1 season to improve your draft stock, which do you choose? Has to be Pitino. Especially since it looks like he's expected to start right away. Maybe Pitino sold him a bill of goods, but either way he has a chance to make an immediate impact.

Couple that with the fact that Louisville is historically a superior program to Maryland, and the decision becomes fairly easy.

It doesn't look particularly good for UMD that they couldn't land a kid from Baltimore, however. And to that I say, great! F you, Maryland.

From the standpoint of who is the coach, I would say you are absolutely correct and it is not close. From the standpoint of wanting to have a chance at a championship like he claimed, it seems a bit more of a strange decision, as I think UofL is in more of a rebuilding/(in their case reloading) mode than one that is championship caliber right now. In that case Maryland or even Arizona made more sense. I think he would have had playing time at any of those schools, since his list seemed to have schools that actually had a hole at the position he plays. Either way his exposure at Louisville will be fantastic as long as he doesnt lay an egg there and lives up to expectations.

My only thing I that I am not sure he will grow much with Pitino. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, he is basically Bruiser Flint (except actually good). He is a defense first coach who darn near ignores the offensive side of the ball. The difference is that he gets enough talent that his offense can skirt by, whether a Flint team cannot. I fully expect Lee to become better defensively, but I cant see him getting better on offense from Pitino. Louisville's offense are almost as brutal to watch as Bruiser's.

When players in Lee's situation say something like that, you can't take that literally. Sure, obviously it's something he has a desire to do. Every player in D1 wants to win the championship.

Literally, what do you HONESTLY think is more important to him though? An NCAA championship or being fine-tuned for the NBA or pro ball overseas? Like you and SN08 said... no brainer there.

So you have to read between the lines and think about what a kid is honestly thinking. The reason for having to do that is because Damion Lee can't come out and say, "Well, what I really want to do is go play for someone who will help me make millions of dollars as a pro." He would be villified for saying something like that and may have turned teams off because that sounds selfish, even though it's the truth.

(04-23-2015 04:45 PM)CoastGuardHawk06 Wrote:  

(04-23-2015 02:43 PM)dan10 Wrote:  

(04-23-2015 02:07 PM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(04-23-2015 12:43 PM)dan10 Wrote:  I am certainly surpised he did not choose Maryland. We shall see if it pays off for him, especially since UofL is in more of a rebuilding mode than a win now/immediately mode.

The answer seems pretty simple to me if you were to ignore Lee's hometown from the mix. As much as I respect Mark Turgeon, if you were given the choice to play for him or Pitino for just 1 season to improve your draft stock, which do you choose? Has to be Pitino. Especially since it looks like he's expected to start right away. Maybe Pitino sold him a bill of goods, but either way he has a chance to make an immediate impact.

Couple that with the fact that Louisville is historically a superior program to Maryland, and the decision becomes fairly easy.

It doesn't look particularly good for UMD that they couldn't land a kid from Baltimore, however. And to that I say, great! F you, Maryland.

From the standpoint of who is the coach, I would say you are absolutely correct and it is not close. From the standpoint of wanting to have a chance at a championship like he claimed, it seems a bit more of a strange decision, as I think UofL is in more of a rebuilding/(in their case reloading) mode than one that is championship caliber right now. In that case Maryland or even Arizona made more sense. I think he would have had playing time at any of those schools, since his list seemed to have schools that actually had a hole at the position he plays. Either way his exposure at Louisville will be fantastic as long as he doesnt lay an egg there and lives up to expectations.

My only thing I that I am not sure he will grow much with Pitino. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, he is basically Bruiser Flint (except actually good). He is a defense first coach who darn near ignores the offensive side of the ball. The difference is that he gets enough talent that his offense can skirt by, whether a Flint team cannot. I fully expect Lee to become better defensively, but I cant see him getting better on offense from Pitino. Louisville's offense are almost as brutal to watch as Bruiser's.

When players in Lee's situation say something like that, you can't take that literally. Sure, obviously it's something he has a desire to do. Every player in D1 wants to win the championship.

Literally, what do you HONESTLY think is more important to him though? An NCAA championship or being fine-tuned for the NBA or pro ball overseas? Like you and SN08 said... no brainer there.

So you have to read between the lines and think about what a kid is honestly thinking. The reason for having to do that is because Damion Lee can't come out and say, "Well, what I really want to do is go play for someone who will help me make millions of dollars as a pro." He would be villified for saying something like that and may have turned teams off because that sounds selfish, even though it's the truth.

Thats true, but IMO I dont see how Pitino helps him very much in working towards the goal of being drafted/making an NBA team. Pitino has the name brand for sure, but he is lousy at coaching offense. Sure Damion will get better on the defensive side, which he does have a lot of room to improve, but I just dont see how Pitino is the choice here to take his play to the next level. The only thing other than defense that Louisville absolutely adds is visibility, but you need more than just visibility to get to the next level.

It's not like Lee will suddenly forget how to score. Pitino recognized the need for a true offensive threat. When he's putting up 15-20 in a Sweet 16 game next year, that'll help his draft stock a good bit.