Seems pretty clear to me that we believe Thornton is a one-and-done player, and we have been prioritizing Winston for the past few months. Now, of course, we need to GET Winston. But if we do, I think the strategy is sound for two reasons: (1) I'm not convinced we'll have a good enough roster to win a national title with a freshman Thornton (who, in all likelihood, still wouldn't start over a senior Walton); and (2) I think a sophomore Winston - especially if he's joined by two other stud sophomore scoring options (any of Battle, Langford, Towns, Hughes, Rowan), will be a better player than a freshman Thornton.Moreover, I think the coaching staff prefers two years of Winston to one year of Thornton, and then having to recruit and break in a new freshman PG for 2017.
If the only piece we were missing in 2016 was an elite PG - and we were in the “rent a freshman point guard for one year” mindset - I would absolutely want Thornton. But that doesn’t seem to me the case.
Winston not visiting yesterday tells me all I need to know with him. We’ll be seeing him for 4 years in Spartan green.
Why do you say that? Do we even know why he didn’t visit? He’s been to our campus a ton already, so I’m not sure I get the absolute pessimism there.
Not really pessimism, more of a historical trend. Generally speaking kids that visit here multiple times, seem to have sincere interest, and have a prolonged recruitment, don’t end up coming here. Bluiett, Coleman, Amir Williams, Booker, Kennard…you see where this ends up