Dai Dai Gone!!

[stlcatfan]

We’ve seen this before. Dai Dai , his mom and agent are the bad folks here. Dai Dai’s mom was wrong when she said the coaches couldn’t be trusted. End of discussion.

Head hunting and head hunters.
I found a tweet from an Illin supporter that said the Illi were trying to get Ames to jump to Illinois.
Then in the Fighting Illi website.....
"Ames would be a great piece to the puzzle as well. Right now, Illinois is extremely thin at guard. We have the new addition of Boswell. Illinois has Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn who I have projected as the starting No. 2 guard.. If Ames comes to Champaign, I would likely move Boswell over to the starting No. 2 guard and have Ames start at the No. 1 guard spot. Gibbs-Lawhorn would back up Boswell and Ames."

So it appears to me that the Agent was negotiating with Brad Underwood Inc about Ames coming to Illinois. Now the patty cake charade begins where Ames appears to be considering several schools along with Illinois. For the purpose of covering up a prebaked deal or worse leveraging Illinois for a bigger pay day.

And before we get too righteous about this, I suspect that our program has done this, especially when Tang assembled his first team. This is the ugly side of the transfer portal and agents who want to make money are out headhunting for deals, just like the business world, poaching talent.

So much for the quaint naivete of the bygone era of college sports.

College football and men's basketball have never been pure as the wind-driven snow, but at least there used to be rules in place (even if they weren't always consistently enforced). Now, it is just free-for-all. There are no rules any more, it seems. It's out of control and things will need to change soon before the entire system collapses under its own weight.

[SCKSCat]

Did the Tomlin episode cause behind the scenes discord that upset players enough for them to leave after contemplating their experience at Kansas State. There wasn't as much joy displayed this past year. I suppose the loss of Glover had a bearing on the decision guards made. These comments really are focused on Ames' family thinking Tang lied to them. These circumstances altered the plans Coach Tang had going into the season. These unknowns likely did alter the picture that was painted for Ames. If Ames can't understand that, then do we want him on the team?

[tmcats]

who knows why players choose to leave? those negative comments from the ames' family about tang and trust have nothing to due with tomlin. clearly, the discord within the program caused by his nefariousness and resulting dismissal may have had some impact on ames, but i suspect this is more about playing time, i.e. being recruited over, and an expected bag waiting someplace else, like illinois, promised by his agent.

[WildcatEngineer]

I do not know how to get ahold of him. But I would find Chicago's Jacob Pullen's opinion on this situation insightful.

He would bring different perspectives to our discusions on NIL, Portal, loyalty to the school, Chicago recruiting.

[tmcats]

I do not know how to get ahold of him. But I would find Chicago's Jacob Pullen's opinion on this situation insightful.

He would bring different perspectives to our discusions on NIL, Portal, loyalty to the school, Chicago recruiting.

bruce weber had problems recruiting chicago while at illinois because it was so nasty. knight also had issues after taking zeke to a natty. knight and illinois's coach at the time, lou doo, went at it pretty strong over cheating at recruiting in that market. remember it well.



Knight accused Henson of cheating, and once joked about sending a box of NCAA rule books to Champaign. Henson called Knight a “classic bully,” and joked that expletives were just the Hoosier coach’s way of making conversation. After years of less-than-coded barbs, the animosity burst forth when they had a shouting match in 1991.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/02/ ... last-time/

[jeffmax26]

There is probably more to the story than the Ames family painted. Dug McDaniel probably got a better NIL deal than Ames. Maybe Ames levied for more with his agent and Tang may or may not have scoffed at it....who knows...Maybe there will be a book written someday. Regardless, this is the state of college basketball. The days of cheering for a specific player may be over....as their loyalty is to themselves and the almighty dollar over the institution, fans, coach, etc. This is such a hard thing to grasp as it was not that way just a short time ago. Heck, if NIL was what it is now, we may have lost Nowell. To me, the satisfaction comes in when I compare what we lost to what we are getting.
Dug McDaniel > Dai Dai Ames.

[bigdeal]

I agree with TM on Ames. I think his family just thought he would be the starting point guard next year as the coaches probably laid out a pathway of developing in year one then stepping in to a larger role in year 2. I think they interpreted that as a promise of being the starter and running the team. Of course the team went 19-15 and the staff needed to upgrade the talent. Ames closed the season pretty well and did show signs that he was developing under the staff's tutelage. I believe the staff saw shortcomings on the team that needed to be addressed and they had the opportunity to do so. I think Ames would have had a strong role on the team next year, depending on how well he played and continued to develop. But he and his family wanted that starting point guard assurance and, instead, he was told he would have many opportunities to handle the ball but wasn't going to be handed the keys. The agent likely told them he could get the keys elsewhere, along with a bigger bag. And off they went. I personally think he will not get handed the keys elsewhere, although he may be promised that. Best of luck to him, and thanks for the contributions this past year.

[stlcatfan]

There is probably more to the story than the Ames family painted. Dug McDaniel probably got a better NIL deal than Ames. Maybe Ames levied for more with his agent and Tang may or may not have scoffed at it....who knows...Maybe there will be a book written someday. Regardless, this is the state of college basketball. The days of cheering for a specific player may be over....as their loyalty is to themselves and the almighty dollar over the institution, fans, coach, etc. This is such a hard thing to grasp as it was not that way just a short time ago. Heck, if NIL was what it is now, we may have lost Nowell. To me, the satisfaction comes in when I compare what we lost to what we are getting.
Dug McDaniel > Dai Dai Ames.

I agree. It looks like we are upgrading (or looking to upgrade) at every position going into next year. Hopefully, we can land Khalif Battle and Baba Miller. Omoruyi would be great, but I think our chances of getting him are pretty slim at this point (I hope I'm wrong).

That's not to say guys like Dai Dai, Cam, and Art weren't talented. They were, but Dug (and not Dai Dai) is our likely starter at PG. Dai Dai would still have gotten a lot of playing time. I also felt Cam and Art weren't always playing like they were "all in" which may be why they struggled with consistency throughout last season. What's the point of having talent if you don't play hard every game?

Interesting side note. I was recently talking with some folks who had season tickets behind the K-State bench. In one of the games this past season, Coach Tang pulled Cam Carter out of the game. While the game was going on, Tang got in Cam's face and said, "You did that on purpose! We are going to have a talk after this game is over!" They didn't mention what Cam had done.

[learnin]

Did the Tomlin episode cause behind the scenes discord that upset players enough for them to leave after contemplating their experience at Kansas State. There wasn't as much joy displayed this past year. I suppose the loss of Glover had a bearing on the decision guards made. These comments really are focused on Ames' family thinking Tang lied to them. These circumstances altered the plans Coach Tang had going into the season. These unknowns likely did alter the picture that was painted for Ames. If Ames can't understand that, then do we want him on the team?

Time and again, you keep dancing around this subject because you’re rightly concerned that Coach is not quite the exemplary, outstanding, player- loving man he led you to believe he was. You’re rightly perplexed that there has been a mass exodus
of players under this regime even though most posters were remarking, through the first year and much of the second, that young talent would be knocking the doors down to play for such a man.

You rightly had misgivings when you read it had been decided, by the top 3, that Tomlin was on a third strike and your out basis. You had been led to believe, like all of us, that Tomlin might be given another strike if not for the nasty president. When I commended you for daring to think out loud about being taken in by the purple couch, dancing with the students and pious rhetoric, you turned quickly and assured me you had no misgivings.

But, once again, I commend you for thinking out loud about what all other posters are thinking to themselves.

Despite the purple couch, dancing in the stands and a plethora of pious sentiments, our coach is like most coaches. He’s in it for himself and everything else comes second. One poster, in particular, picked up on this when he pointed out the uncaring sentiment displayed by the comment,

“We need dudes”

while a group of young men stood in the wings.

Before there are a thousand angry responses posted, please know something. I’m not piling on coaches who take care of themselves firstly as long as they follow the rules. This is a dirty business made even dirtier by the transfer portal and NIL. After all, most players are taking care of themselves firstly, no?
A coach is not going to be around long if they give deference to seniority over talent. This does not mean that coaches don’t care about their players, but here’s the rub and a couple of us tried to make the point.

Go easy with the pious platitudes. No one lives up to them. Don’t set up the purple couch or dance in the stands if you expect something in return. When asked about the possibility of leaving , don’t blame it on God. People soon see through the phoniness. Don’t let your beliefs lead to preposterous prophecies like,

“We’re going to the final four with or without you.”
“There will be a parade in Manhattan and soon.”

Was Dai Dai lied to? We won’t know the answer, but if a player was recruited with a final four carrot dangled before him, one has to wonder.

[bigdeal]

Wow, just wow. I know it interferes with your narrative, but Coach Tang said, I believe it was last summer, he tells the kids it is his job to recruit guys who can take their place and it is their job to work and get better so that can't happen. I also believe a good number of the transfers since he has been here have been due to him being honest with kids about their future roles as he sees it, whether they like it or not. I think the transfers this year have mostly been guys being recruited over, which has always been life in high major programs, particularly with NIL and the open portal days. Nothing to see here about your unsubstantiated claims and, for some reason, vendetta to see Coach fail. Hopefully we have some more good recruiting news soon as the roster is rebuilt to do better than last year.