Recruiting - 2013

[JettFlight5]

scum is scum

Now this is Roy at his finest.

He's right. Wow, I said that.

It's really weird caring what kind of guy is the coach instead of just his record and how many tournaments he makes.

[TheA_Bomb]

Now this is Roy at his finest.

He's right. Wow, I said that.

It's really weird caring what kind of guy is the coach instead of just his record and how many tournaments he makes.

The guy has a disease messed up and has been clean since. Cut him some slack. I'm going all Biblical today but I'm not casting the first stone.

[Bobby Metzinger]

The A Bomb Pontius Pilate: I'm releasing one coach from criticism RM, BS, or JC (or Barabbas)

Board Morons The Crowd: RM, RM, RM (or Barabbas)

The A Bomb Pontius Pilate: But what about JC the new Head Coach? King of the Jews

Board Morons The Crowd: Nail him, Criticize crucify him

The A Bomb Pontius Pilate: He's new and already landed 2 recruits apostles what did he do?

Board Morons Crowd: Criticize crucify him, criticize crucify him, criticize crucify him

The A Bomb Pontius Pilate: OK but I wash my hands of it.

Fixed it. Matthew 27:11-31

You have a passion for Billiken Basketball.

[JettFlight5]

The guy has a disease messed up and has been clean since. Cut him some slack. I'm going all Biblical today but I'm not casting the first stone.

I used to not give a shiite about what coaches did off the court as long as they won on it. My one guilty basketball pleasure is still that I have always been a fan of Jerry Tarkanian (who was the dirtiest coach on the planet and didn't care). But that's not going to fly here, and it's best that way.

Jim Crews is our head coach now, and I wish him nothing but continued success, and recruits who can bring that. Mike Crawford and Reggie Agbeko certainly look the part.

[RUBillsFan]

The guy has a disease messed up and has been clean since. Cut him some slack. I'm going all Biblical today but I'm not casting the first stone.

Alcoholism is a disease. Those who suffer from it are addicted to alcohol, not partying with co-eds of a school hours after your basketball team just lost to said school.

That being said, I'm fine with leisure suit Larry being given a second chance. However, as a parent, I would still be concerned about him coaching and teaching life lessons to my son.

[West Pine Jim]

Verily I say unto you, this thread hath jumpeth all the sharks of Tiburon. Ere the dawn, Mayday, we needeth a commitment from the golden dunes of California. Or I will poke my eye with a splinter, or needle, or a camel. Involves less pain.

[Bobby Metzinger]

Alcoholism is a disease. Those who suffer from it are addicted to alcohol, not partying with co-eds of a school hours after your basketball team just lost to said school.

That being said, I'm fine with leisure suit Larry being given a second chance. However, as a parent, I would still be concerned about him coaching and teaching life lessons to my son.

What did you say?

[slufanskip]

Alcoholism is a disease. Those who suffer from it are addicted to alcohol, not partying with co-eds of a school hours after your basketball team just lost to said school.

That being said, I'm fine with leisure suit Larry being given a second chance. However, as a parent, I would still be concerned about him coaching and teaching life lessons to my son.

No disease would be as bad if the symptoms of the disease was that it made you drink natty lite and party with coeds. Well at least the party with coeds part. Unless of course it made you actually like natty lite which would in turn allow you to save money for the hot tub in which to party with the coeds.

[slufanskip]

Alcoholism is a disease. Those who suffer from it are addicted to alcohol, not partying with co-eds of a school hours after your basketball team just lost to said school.

That being said, I'm fine with leisure suit Larry being given a second chance. However, as a parent, I would still be concerned about him coaching and teaching life lessons to my son.

Would it change your mind if the coeds were hot and he was willing to share with your son?

[Clock_Tower]

I believe JC was quoted at some point during the season as saying something along the lines of they are not focused on recruiting, the job at hand is to coach the team. I will look for the quote and other posters can back me up on this.

Can you name me a player we were actively recruiting between the months of October and February? Any player in the 2013 class? Of all the names brought up recently 0 of them were around back then. I don't think it's offensive to say that the INTERIM coach at the time was not focused on recruiting and rather spent his efforts coaching the A-10 champion team. In fact I guarantee if you asked Crews he himself would say that he got a late start on recruiting.

I am not taking any shots at Crews. I think anyone would have done the same thing in his position and I am impressed by how he has recovered in the 2013 class.

Edit: Also, your memory is a little off in regards to the hiring of Crews. He did little to no recruiting last year and was the least involved recruiter on the staff. He was not hired for recruiting reasons.

NH. At first, I was confused by your edit. Then, I re-read my post and now see how it has been taken. Let me clarify. You are probably correct that JC may have been the least involved recruiter last year for RM. I did not mean to imply that at all. And by my comment, I was not implying that JC had been hot on the trail for some recruits last year and all of this year. Instead, I meant more of continuity of recruiting here in the Spring (for instance, the 30 day period ending with the NCAA Tourney loss).

Obviously, JC has been the head coach the entire year. Somehow, JC landed what appears to be a good recruit in Crawford. As to recruiting throughout the year, I presume JC and staff have been involved and would be quite surprise if they did not do much recruiting at all. The incentive was there to recruit: if JC gets the permanent job, then expectations would be there so the earlier the start the better. This spring though, I do recall reading several posts from several of the more respected posters who did say that JC has been re-energized, that JC and staff have been working hard this Spring on recruits, that recruiting looked good and that a change of coaching would upset this work, etc. For instance, JC landed what appears to be another good recruit in RA a good 2 weeks before the interim tag was removed.

JC himself (not me) said 2 recruits 2 weeks ago. So far, only 1. I make a comment about a different recruiting than RM (not an attack on JC) and now I'm told that I am not giving JC a "fair shake". Someone even said I made comparisons to Sodie's recruiting. That's rich!!

Moy. To answer your question: Yes. if RO won't commit and you don't get a good feel from him, then cut him loose and sign Strawberry. Such approach does set the head coach up for complaints about why he stop recruiting so and so.... (McCaulley's grandson comes to mind) but RM was quite effective. Again, I will sit back and wait. To date, JC has done well with Crawford and RA and like you, I'm hoping for Tanner and another one.

[brianstl]

scum is scum

So because the guy had a disease which he got help for, he is scum? He admitted he had a major problem, dropped his lawsuit against ISU, got help for his problem, went to Southern Miss to rebuild his career, returned a bonus after a so so season Southern Miss because he said he didn't deserve it............ but he is scum?

Seems like a guy that fixed his life and is a damn good basketball coach.

[brianstl]

I used to not give a shiite about what coaches did off the court as long as they won on it. My one guilty basketball pleasure is still that I have always been a fan of Jerry Tarkanian (who was the dirtiest coach on the planet and didn't care). But that's not going to fly here, and it's best that way.Jim Crews is our head coach now, and I wish him nothing but continued success, and recruits who can bring that. Mike Crawford and Reggie Agbeko certainly look the part.

It is a disease that can cause many people to do stupid . Funny that many people were more upset about him partying with young adults than the multiple coaches that have risked lives by driving drunk.

[3Bill]

you got that right. i just found myself nodding to both ace and skip's posts.

scum is scum

He's scum because he was an alcoholic and as a result he must be a cheater? Wow. U must make a great father with your holier than thou bs. Eustachy may be one of the top 5 coaches in all of college but we should conclude he's a cheater because he drank too much. Good logic

[ACE]

I get what you're saying. So if a coach only offers 3 stars or better he'll really never have a miss because others missed also.

Injury has to be taken into account. I'm shocked anyone would count Femi John as a miss. However, in your scenario if he wasn't recruited by other schools at our level shouldn't it be a miss as he was probably never going to be more than a practice player anyway.

I don't see how it matters when judging whether a recruit was a hit or a miss what others thought. If Jordan Strawberry comes and ends up starting and playing well for 2-3 years he's a hit despite the fact he isn't highly recruited. If Reggie Agbeko doesn't play much and leaves in a year he was a miss.

It's silly for any of us to think we can judge a player on being a hit or miss before his career at SLU is over unless we're overestimating our ability to judge D1 talent. It appears as if you can predetermine who actually has D1 talent and who doesn't. Who says Ricky Cranford had the potential and Horace Dixon didn't? Ricky Cranford in the end did not have the talent to be a good player at SLU. He had the talent to be a good player at a lower level school regardless of what anyone thought during his recruiting

It seems you want to judge a hit or miss by your perception of the validity of the offer not the actual results of the signing

You tend to see things in black and white and I won't change your mind, but my real purpose in responding is just to keep this incredible thread going...

Like I said, recruiting is an inexact science and none of us have a crystal ball, but when when we signed Barentine and read that he averaged aroud 6-7 ppg and didn't even start on his juco team, I had a pretty good inkling that he wasn't going to be very good. Then when he stepped on the court for the first time, it didn't take long to confirm that he was a big miss right off the bat. Those are the kind of "misses" that are really troubling to me - Barentine, Eric Jones, Ross Varner, Horace, etc... troubling that it was determined that their basketball ability was good enough to play D1 ball at SLU. My point was that RM had few recruits I would put in this "miss" category. I can't think of any. Now he certainly had other "misses."

I have never disputed that guys like Cranford, Jordan, Cotto, and Smith were "misses", but I tend to put those "misses" in a sub-category. They had the basketball ability to be productive D1 players, but "missed" for a variety of reasons (grades, homesick or seeking more playing time). And I am basing some of that rating based on production, not just perception of ability. Jordan averaged nearly 6 ppg as a freshman... I doubt Horace had 6 points total in his SLU career. Smith went on to be a starter on an Ohio team that made the Elite 8. He pretty much was as he was billed, a good defender, rebounder and shotblocker with limted offensive ability. He would have a spot in the rotation if he stayed at SLU. Regarding Cranford, he was only here his freshman season. Based on how he played during his final two years at Northeastern, I think there is enough evidence to project that he would have at least been a contributor at SLU, even if he was not going to be a star. Yes, Norhteastern played in a lesser league, but an all-conference player in that league would have at least been a useful player for SLU.

[ACE]

I noticed that Seton Hall just signed a juco guard, that is in addition to highly touted PG Jaren Sina. If Randy O is looking for immediate playing time, I'm not sure Seton Hall is the place. I don't know what their scholarship situation is, but I wonder if they view him as a Plan B option.

[Pistol]

Is it just me failing to find anything, or did Daishon Knight not actually make his decision yesterday?

[Littlebill]

Is it just me failing to find anything, or did Daishon Knight not actually make his decision yesterday?

I didn't see anything either. Weird.

[RUBillsFan]

Is it just me failing to find anything, or did Daishon Knight not actually make his decision yesterday?

I think he has too busy retweeting all of the "happy birthday, bro" tweets to remember.

[Box and Won]

I noticed that Seton Hall just signed a juco guard, that is in addition to highly touted PG Jaren Sina. If Randy O is looking for immediate playing time, I'm not sure Seton Hall is the place. I don't know what their scholarship situation is, but I wonder if they view him as a Plan B option.

This sounds encouraging.

I have to think that Randy would be able to get his share of minutes next year. Nothing like what Kwamain, McCall and Jett were able to log as freshmen, but still a reasonable amount of playing time. Then he would become a major factor as a sophomore.

[Scoop]

Tanner L tweeted "Cold up here in ole Colorado". Someone tell him it's gonna be 81 today in ole St. Lou.

[slu72]

Tanner L tweeted "Cold up here in ole Colorado". Someone tell him it's gonna be 81 today in ole St. Lou.

Let's hope he's not a skier or a pot head. CO does have it's attractions. Right, Jimbo?

[Pistol]

Updated one-stop Class of 2013 recruiting information shopping:

Offers:

Hakim Saintil, PG: 5-11, 170, Roselle Catholic HS, Roselle, NJ. Offers: SLU and Fairfield. Possible offers: Rutgers, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Cincinnati, and SMU. Prep school a possibility. Latest: Mostly a lot of feet dragging on the decision. Every once in a while he'll tweet something about not knowing yet. His AAU team has been playing in weekend tournaments, and playing well. He hit a clutch 3 to tie, followed by a steal and layup to win one of these tournaments a couple weekends ago.

Jordan Strawberry, PG: 6-1, 170, Mater Dei HS, Santa Ana, CA. Offers: SLU, UC-Riverside, and at least 2 others (UNCW likely). Claims interest from Arizona, Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, California, and Florida State. Latest: Visit to SLU (and dad) went very well. Since then, UNC-Wilmington has gotten in the mix and has one scholarship left to give after Addison Spruill, a shooting guard from Brevard CC, committed yesterday, 4/30. No confirmation on an offer from UNCW but it seems likely they've made one. He seems to be SLU's backup plan to Randy Onwuasor, but SLU seems like his best opportunity.

Daishon Knight, PG-SG: 6-1, 170, Odessa CC, Odessa, TX. Eligible immediately as junior. Offers: SLU, Murray State, Illinois State. Possible offers: Creighton, Colorado State. Interest from Texas State and Baylor. Latest: Decision day was supposed to be 4/30 (his birthday). But it appears he did not yet make an announcement and it's unclear why. He said he's down to 3 schools and has a favorite. Illinois State and Murray State are clearly in the final 3, but the third is not as obvious. His Twitter feed on 4/30 was all about his birthday; now it's just some inspirational poster material ("You only live once, but legacies live forever").

Randy Onwuasor, PG: 6-3, 190, Inglewood HS, Inglewood, CA. Top Choices: SLU and Miami-Ohio. Other offers: UC-Irvine and Cal State-Fullerton. Interest from Seton Hall, Florida State, Arkansas, UNLV, Tulane, New Mexico State, Utah, and Pitt. Latest: Onwuasor has visited SLU and Miami-Ohio. He was supposed to visit Seton Hall after those two, but never announced a visit date. In the meantime, Hall landed a commitment from Hakeem Harris. Utah was also said to be very interested of late, but also appears to have all 13 scholarships filled. SLU and Miami have both made in-home visits in the past 10 days and both have made it clear he's their #1 target at guard. His Twitter feed has gotten fairly quiet outside of retweets from SLU and Miami fans. All signs are it's a two-horse race, unless one of the programs on his Interest list (above) heats up.

Tanner Lancona, PF: 6-9, 225, Tesoro HS, Las Flores, CA. Decommitted from Washington State. Top Choices: SLU, Kansas State, Colorado State, and BYU. Other fresh offers: Clemson and Penn State. Earlier offers: UC-Santa Barbara, Pacific, Pepperdine, Jacksonville, UC-Davis, San Francisco, Loyola-Marymount, Northern Arizona, Idaho, Idaho State, and Santa Clara. Latest: His first visit was to SLU and it went very well. He's currently in Fort Collins visiting Colorado State. It was nice in FC on his first day there but some May snow accumulated on the second (last Tweet: "Cold up here in ole Colorado."). CSU signed a 6-7 guy this spring and 6-10 player in the fall, so the frontcourt may be crowded (two HS guards have also signed). However, there are still 2 scholarships available. After CSU, he's heading to Kansas State this weekend. He and his family said May 5th would be decision day, but an article from a CSU source says he's also trying to get to BYU before making a decision. That might push the date back. As far as KSU goes, they just lost assistant coach Wayne McClain, who is taking the head coaching job at Champaign Central HS in Illinois. KSU has 3 bigs on the roster and Weber reportedly impressed the Lanconas a lot when he visited him after the WSU release. Along with the assistant, Weber has seen 3 guys transfer out, so he can sell recruits on minutes to go around. Rain is in the forecast for Manhattan.

Others:

Achraf Yacoubou, SG: 6-4, 210, Villanova. Transfer eligible as junior in 2014-2015. Interested in SLU, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Miami, and UNLV. Latest: Silence. Since he announced he was transferring 4 weeks ago, his name has only popped up in articles as the other Villanova transfer when Tony Chennault announced he was leaving the program. There is no report that he has talked to SLU, Pitt, or the others - just that he was interested in them. Unlike SLU's other targets, he doesn't appear to be on Twitter, either, and therefore isn't revealing anything himself.

Brett Jolly, PF-C: 6-10, Carroll HS, Southlake, TX. Offers: Weber State. Interest from SLU, Air Force, Belmont, Bucknell, Lehigh, Furman, North Texas, Penn, Tulsa, Sam Houston State, and Wichita State. Latest: After visiting SLU, he made a visit to the Air Force Academy. He seemed to like both places a lot. But it isn't clear that any offers are coming in; what's clear is he's a project and the back-up plan at most places that have shown interest.

Alex Fitch, SG: 6-3, 180, Notre Dame HS, Quincy, IL. Possible walk-on. Latest: There isn't much out there recruiting-wise on Fitch. Most of what can be found are articles from small Quincy-based newspapers with game recaps that mention him. He's playing in a regional all-star game played at Quincy University's arena on June 8. It's not clear he has any offers.

[slu72]

Again, you 'da man, Pistol. Hopefully, your report will shortly read, RO verbals to SLU, Tanner verbals to SLU. Have we offered Straw's kid?

[jimbofive]

Let's hope he's not a skier or a pot head. CO does have it's attractions. Right, Jimbo?

Yep. And though the ratios aren't great, the tw@t we have is high grade. No fuoking french fried fatties here. Though I want to choke slam the couscous crowd as well. I like fit, cheeseburger eating babes, and that's it. No fatties, no whiners. Hopefully Tanner got inundated with fatty whiner sluts. Probably not, though.

[cheeseman]

I feel it necessary to set what some have said about my position correct. I have never said that my point was to put myself in the situation that would allow me to say I told you so. I have also said in a past post that I am willing to even wait until the end of the transfer season comes to analyze the results of the spring recruiting effort. That being said, I still do not find anything wrong with asking questions in regards to the approach Crews is taking. Sorry to learn that to be a SLU fan you must be a love it or leave guy. By the way, I understand that RM did sign kids in May but the difference in my mind is that he was looking for one player usually not 50% of his recruiting class. Nobody wants Crews to have a good recruiting season more than me - after all as I said before, if he does not then we will be in a rebuilding mode after next year and nobody wants that.