Gary Laney for May 2, 2009

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 2, 2009 - Page: 1C

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

On Wednesday, it became public that Renardo Sidney, the highly touted power forward from Los Angeles, had backed out of a verbal commitment to Tim Floyd and Southern California and was looking for a new school.

The natural inclination was to wonder if LSU would be part of the new Sidney sweepstakes. The Tigers, after all, still have scholarships and, on the surface, a McDonald’s All-American is worth a look.

Sidney is connected to both the West Coast, where Trent Johnson is rooted, and nearby Jackson, Miss., where he grew up before moving as a teenager.

Basketball recruiting isn’t that simple though, and you knew it just didn’t click. That was confirmed Thursday, when Mississippi State announced it had signed the 6-foot-10, 260-pound man-child Rivals.com rates the nation’s No. 16 player coming out of high school.

Johnson’s in a situation where he’s not only looking for good players, but also players who will stick around and do their part on turning around the team’s bad Academic Progress Rate.

If you’re after a player like Sidney, there are two huge risks attached. One, whatever baggage that made him and USC part ways could resurface and bite you. Second, Sidney’s a strong candidate to be a one-and-done player, which would be another blow to the LSU APR.

An appropriate question to ask is, if another one-and-done player impacts LSU the way Anthony Randolph did, would it be worth it?

Unless the player might pull a Carmelo Anthony and will the Tigers to the promised land, it probably isn’t worth it.

So it’s not necessarily a good fit. Sidney was going to go somewhere that could accept an APR hit, needed a quality big man and has a chance to be very good with his help. Mississippi State fits all of those descriptions.

That’s basketball recruiting. It’s far more nuanced and multi-layered than football.

Football recruiting is about stockpiling. Basketball teams have 13 scholarships and usually only a few are available in a given year.

It’s about targeting the right individuals to fit needs. That is complicated by players coming from various sources — high schools, junior colleges and post-graduate prep schools. It’s further complicated on the other end by players who may, or may not, leave early for the NBA draft.

After signing day was over on April 15, there were still a bunch of pretty good unsigned prep and junior college players, several current college players weighing pro options and coaches taking new jobs. It results in a recruiting period that stays active well after it begins.