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Observations on the all star game tonight!


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I was sitting just over from you, across from the St.Louis bench a little closer to half court with THicks

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman

Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would have helped club.

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If you are speaking of the Bonner League sure. Its at Cardinal Ritter, and I will be going up there pretty regularly over the next few weeks. Just send me a pm on the day of or day before you intend on going and I'll let you know if I can make it.

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Did anyone catch when Mitchell missed the 3 badly, but hustled back on Relphorde who was leaking out and blocked his dunk attempt out of bounds. I think that was a play that no one is talking about, but really showed me something. He didnt get down on himself for taking a bad looking shot, immediately got back on defense and was athletic enough to catch Relphorde and block his dunk. This time last year, Mitchell was playing no AAU and coming off of a 3.5ppg season and no one knew who he was. Now he will be suiting up for Rick Majerus. I bet not even he could have dreamed of that.

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I'm not as pessimistic as before. However, you have to admit that the All-Star game lacked "star" quality from the previous exhibitions. That game used to attract recruits from Illinois, Florida and other high major schools.

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You had 3 billiken recruits. Enough star power for me. The National Team had Keenan Ellis who I've seen for years as he was a high school teammate of OJ Mayo and Bill Walker and their AAU teammate on the D1 Greyhounds. I know Rahmon Fletcher as he is a KC guy and he made the ABCD Camp All-Star Game after his sophomore year. Safford was a top 20 prep school kid. Aaron Johnson is a big-time pg, who was hobbled and didnt play much. He was the MVP of the Real Deal on the Hill last summer. Terrence Roderick was great last night. Kashif Carr is a freak athlete and it will be interesting to see what school he chooses. I dont know if he qualified. I enjoyed the game, plus Harrellson got a chance to impress some doubters. Billikan seemed like he had a good understanding what Harrellson is about.

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I do not know how long you stayed but I thought this one of the best of these games, particularly the fourth quarter. There were times when the teams, particularly Mitchell and Eckerle and Harrelson, were playing DEFENSE and the play was tough all around. It was particularly nice to see the SLU recruits play more than normal and play very well. Eckerle had a great second half and Mitchell had a great game. If you are a Bills fan then this was a fun game to watch.

As to Harrelson, the jc coach sitting next to me said that he thought he would be perfect for a Majerus coached team and I agree so it was fun to watch him as well.

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I agree that there was some decent defense being played, but the National team seemed all out of sorts. It didn't seem like they got along and were getting bothered by the biased officiating. I understand why almost all of those players are going to low-major or mid-major schools.

Having said that, I was impressed with Mizzou's recruit, Safford. He'll fit in nicely for the Tigers. As for Relphode, he's certainly well-built, but I don't see him providing any answers down low. I've heard posters say he's going to play the 4 next year. It'll be interesting to see if he has the grit to do that. We'll see.

By the way, Felton was by far the best player on the court last night and it's not just because of his dunking ability. He was a monster down low and with good size. If he had the academics, he'd be a high-major recruit. Who cares if he doesn't have a jump shot with that size and athleticism.

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I'm a fan of both Mizzou and SLU and have been for years. Since I didn't attend either school, I don't have an emotional attachment to either. I was more of a SLU fan during the Norm years; more of a Mizzou fan during the Quin years, more of a SLU fan last year, and now more of a Mizzou fan after the way SLU treated Brad. However, both programs have been #1 and #1a throughout the years.

Now I do like Majerus and he's taken the Billikens to another level, so I'm excited about their prospects. I just hope his stint is longer than at USC.

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billikan i wasnt there but i have seen jeremy felton a lot over the last 4 years. what you equate to poor defense by felton can be justified, but how many blocks and defensive rebounds did he have?

felton indeed has a consistent effort issue, but there is no denying the kid is electric and an amazing talent.

i think a big part of his problem is that all of his high school coaches never had him long enough to get him to zero in on that needed focus.

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I did not see him get any blocks and he had a few rebounds but not many. He is clearly a great athlete and he would run out and leave the rebounding to someone else so he could go down and do a spectacular dunk. I would say he is a perfect example of what is the problem with USA basketball in the olympics. He is ready for prime time and Sportscenter with his dunks and his athleticism but his overall game, fundamentals of passing and defense and strong effort on both ends and team play seemed lacking to me. It may just be that this was an all star game so I will cut him some slack. That being said, Mitchell did all of the other things, particularly defend, rebound and play defense. It amazes me how many fans only see the dunks and very little else!

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'kan, I agree. I was more impressed with A. Mitchell's play than Felton's, especially down the stretch, but I knew that Felton would be the MVP because he'd put on a show. Felton was the highlight reel, but it was the yeoman's effort of Mitchell and Eckerle and Pearson which won the game.

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i think Pearson is going to be a very good small college player at Tennessee-Martin. He has a very good stroke from deep and he's quick. I'd like him to be a better passer, but if his team is looking for a scoring pg, he definitely fits the bill.

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Early in the game he seemed to be gunning up a lot of shots that were questionable but when he and Eckerle were teamed together they both seemed to play well and they were very supportive of each other. In the right enviroment I think he can be a player.

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