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Stallings admits Vandy is whiffing on top recruits

Kevin Stallings

Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings reacts after his team defeated Kentucky during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the championship game of the Southeastern Conference tournament at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Sunday, March 11, 2012. Vanderbilt won 71-64. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

AP

Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings didn’t exactly put all of his recruiting eggs in one basket this spring, but there’s no disguising the fact that he wanted local guy Alex Poythress pretty badly. Perhaps an order of magnitude more than he wanted anyone else on his list. When Poythress chose SEC rival Kentucky instead, Stallings found himself holding a nearly empty bag. Rather than trying to hide that fact, Stallings has been refreshingly honest.

“It’s really the first time in a while that we’ve missed more than we’ve hit in recruiting,” Stallings told Tennesean.com. “This was certainly a year where we did not hit on some of the guys we went after.”

Right now, the Commodores have commitments from German Kevin Bright and A.J. Astroth, a shooting guard from Florida. With four scholarship slots left, Stallings doesn’t need to fill all of them this season, but he has an excess of playing time and a paucity of top talents lining up to grab it.

In the article, recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer says he does not believe Vanderbilt can make a late run at top talent, the way a Duke, Kansas or Kentucky can. ESPN’s Dave Telep told the Tennesean that the Commodores will have to find creative ways to bridge the talent gap.

“My guess is that they’re going to be active from now until the end of July trying to fill that playing time … that could come from players overseas. From a high school perspective, barring any guys getting out of their letters of intent, there’s not much there. There’s nothing there.”

Eric Angevine is the editor of Storming the Floor. He tweets @stfhoops.