[BostonCard]

I mean, the women’s basketball team actually took a grad transfer this last year, as did the football team (and a very highly rated player at a position of need). If my math is right, Fields is the third grad transfer we’ve taken in football.

That was more of a dig at football, where guys applied and got into Stanford completely on their own merit without being in any contact with the coaching staff. This is what Fields and Isaiah Sanders both did. They are Renaissance men who just happen to play football.

"We've taken" implies the staff did literally anything to "take" them, like trying to contact them at all. They did not. I would prefer to say the staff "was provided with" or "was served up on a silver platter," because "take" is an active verb and there was precisely zero action by the staff on those transfers. Duane Akina literally didn't know Fields was joining the team until he was already enrolled.

Fair point; I think the issue is that while Haase’s enthusiasm in recruiting is well-described, his ability to turn that into strong on-court performances is lacking.  I’d rather be reading that he has taken on someone that can teach the players he has fundamentals, or who can craft an effective offensive philosophy, or that he has finally figured out how to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.  Unless one of those guys is the proverbial missing piece, I remain skeptical about the long term prospects of the basketball team under Haase.

BC

[BostonCard]

I mean, the women’s basketball team actually took a grad transfer this last year, as did the football team (and a very highly rated player at a position of need). If my math is right, Fields is the third grad transfer we’ve taken in football.

That was more of a dig at football, where guys applied and got into Stanford completely on their own merit without being in any contact with the coaching staff. This is what Fields and Isaiah Sanders both did. They are Renaissance men who just happen to play football.

"We've taken" implies the staff did literally anything to "take" them, like trying to contact them at all. They did not. I would prefer to say the staff "was provided with" or "was served up on a silver platter," because "take" is an active verb and there was precisely zero action by the staff on those transfers. Duane Akina literally didn't know Fields was joining the team until he was already enrolled.

Fair point; I think the issue is that while Haase’s enthusiasm in recruiting is well-described, his ability to turn that into strong on-court performances is lacking.  I’d rather be reading that he has taken on someone that can teach the players he has fundamentals, or who can craft an effective offensive philosophy, or that he has finally figured out how to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.  Unless one of those guys is the proverbial missing piece, I remain skeptical about the long term prospects of the basketball team under Haase.

BC