How to win a recruiting battle

Earlier this week, Dan Wolken made a great point in a blog post from the Memphis Commercial-Appeal regarding Elliot Williams' decision to head to the NBA after his sophomore season.

Essentially, his argument is that Williams ascension for a 4 ppg scorer at Duke as a freshman to a first round pick at Memphis as a sophomore gives him a lot of credibility on the recruiting trail. If you come to Memphis instead of Duke, I can get you a guaranteed contract instead of splinters from riding the bench.

It doesn't really matter whether or not that actually is true, what matters is the perception. And right now, that perception is favorable for Pastner.

Maybe Pastner has been taking notes from his predecessor at Memphis.

John Calipari's ability to recruit is nothing short of legendary right now. Brandon Knight is the fourth straight star point guard to join forces with Cal in an effort to boost himself into a first round pick. The previous three -- Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, and John Wall -- all were/will be top four picks. This season, three other freshman -- DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton, and Eric Bledsoe -- seemed destined for the first round, and, in all likelihood, junior Patrick Patterson will be joining them.

That's why Cal is able to land recruits. Not because of his stellar coaching resume (technically, he's never been to a Final Four), but because he gets them paid. Legally.

Its because he understands the role he plays as a coach to these kids. He doesn't try to convince them to come back to school. In fact, he all but boots them out the door.

Back in January, Wall told reporters "I joke about coming back, and like you say, [Cal] tells me, no" after a 30 points win over Arkansas.

Today, this passage was in an AP report:

"He told me it's my time to go," Cousins said, then nodded his head vigorously later when a reporter asked if Calipari "pushed" him out.

Its becoming more and more clear. If you want to have success recruiting, you need to get your players to the NBA.

The quicker the better.