Collin Chandler is the easiest chance he’ll ever get at an elite recruit. Maybe the easiest chance the UofU has EVER had at a player of his caliber, indeed he would have been the best to commit ever had Smith done his job well enough.
If Smith can’t get Chandler to commit, he won’t be able to get anyone else even approaching his talent to commit.
There is a possibility that there is another huge utah fan out there who is also an elite basketball player. There is also a possibility that after seeing Smith’s team in action that player gains a bit of respect for our program. It is POSSIBLE for Smith to fix this mess… but highly unlikely.
If Smith was recruiting the Delon Wrights and Jakob Poeltl’s of the world I might have some hope about the future of the program. Those guys were unheralded recruits, but we had reason to believe they had a ton of potential. One had a giant frame, soft hands, tremendous athletic ability, and zero bad habits due to a lack of experience. The other had NBA level instincts, size, and athleticism. He also had a brother who was a successful NBA player. He just hadn’t grown up yet, and was a terrible shooter.
Who do we have on this roster, or who are we recruiting that is a diamond in the rough (or an already elite prospect. No, Chandler does not count, he’s not coming to Utah)? WHO?? We Utah State recruits that followed Smith to the UofU. We have guys who would have left Utah when K left if anyone wanted them, some of them even tried to leave but came back. We have a guy who DID leave only to realize he wasn’t good enough to play on a decent team, so he came back as well. We have one or two guys that came here because they didn’t get playing time at the mediocre schools they were at before. We have guys who were recruited to keep the bench seats warm. Carlson HAD nba potential, but for whatever reason has not prioritized his life in a way that would make realizing that potential a possibility (which is fine, the NBA isn’t for everyone obviously).
At this point, the only way Smith has any shot at making this program respectable again is by focusing on recruiting raw, athletic players, and developing their skills. LUCKY for us, I think Smith MIGHT actually be capable of doing this. He showed that he could help guys like Queta improve. Unfortunately, right now we don’t have raw, athletic players. We have Carlson and a bunch of Rollie Worster types who long ago maximized their basketball potential.
If/when I see Smith getting players with raw athletic ability to commit, I will start to believe in this team again.
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