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Recruiting - 2017


RUBillsFan

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I really have no clue how to take this .......we have two open spots and 22 open offers for 2017 per Verbal Commits.   VC also shows 8 spots for 2018 with 25 open offers.   That's a lot of "stuff' being slung all over the place.  Based on the ranking systems, we seem to have no limits on who and how high they are that we offer.  The optimistic side of me say "you go Coach Ford."  The usual Billiken side of me says "no freaking chance."  But this seem scompletely foreign when compared to the past regime.

Going to have to wait it out and see how it goes.  The Malik Williams kid seems a real stretch for us given his current offers.

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Tyler Polley

F, 6-9, 210

Weston, FL (Sagemont)

Offers: SLU, Dayton, Rhode Island, LSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC, TCU, Temple, UCF, UAB.

Interest: George Washington, Richmond, Georgetown, Purdue, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Miami, Florida State, Florida, Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, Georgia, UCLA, Rice, American.

Latest News: SLU extended an offer to Polley, who was in double-digit offers already.

Scouting Report: Polley has a slender frame but a lot of skill; he’s a top-100 2017 player. Excellent out of the high post, Polley is an outstanding passer for his position, shoots well, and scores in a variety of ways. Polley’s dad played football for Florida State; the Seminoles are involved but have yet to offer.

Twitter: @Tyler_polleyyy

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Malik Williams

PF/C, 6-11, 225

Fort Wayne, IN (Snider)

Offers: SLU, Xavier, Marquette, Georgetown, Louisville, Pitt, NC State, Wake Forest, Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan State, UCLA, USC, UConn, Cincinnati, Temple, Toledo.

Interest: Michigan, Bowling Green.

Latest News: SLU and Connecticut are the latest to offer Williams. He plans to cut his list to five schools in August and commit on his birthday, August 26th.

Scouting Report: Williams is a top-50 2017 recruit and one of the top 10 post players in the class. He’s long and lean and runs the floor well. He’s an outstanding shot blocker, with great length and timing. He shows a variety of post moves on the offensive end.

Twitter: @leek_willi34

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This is an interesting strategy. I guess it can't hurt to just offer really good players to see what happens? 

Although if he started landing a few the NCAA would be setting up a satellite office on campus. 

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Wyatt Wilkes

F, 6-8, 210

Winter Park, FL (Winter Park)

Offers: SLU, Butler, Creighton, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Florida State, Tennessee, Auburn, USC, TCU, UCF, UAB, Rice.

Interest: Davidson, Duke, Virginia, Clemson, Iowa, Purdue, Miami, Florida, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Alabama, Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia, Stanford, Cincinnati, Murray State, UNF, Stetson, VMI.

Latest News: SLU is the latest to offer Wilkes, who is having a big summer for his AAU team, CP25 Southeast Elite.

Scouting Report: A top-100 2017 recruit, Wilkes plays the wing and stretch-4 positions. He’s a consistent shooter and passes his position extremely well. An underrated defender, he uses his length to get blocks.

Twitter: @wyattwilkes

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11 minutes ago, JMM28 said:

This is an interesting strategy. I guess it can't hurt to just offer really good players to see what happens? 

Although if he started landing a few the NCAA would be setting up a satellite office on campus

Why do you say this?  Can't coaches connect with high-caliber players without violating NCAA recruiting bylaws?  Izzo and Krzyzewski manage it.

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RaiQuan Gray

PF, 6-8, 259

Fort Lauderdale, FL (Dillard)

Offers: SLU, DePaul, Maryland, NC State, Virginia Tech, Pitt, Florida State, Clemson, Illinois, Rutgers, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Kansas State, Florida, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Auburn, USC, Memphis, Cincinnati, UCF, UAB, East Carolina, FIU, FGCU, San Francisco, Vermont, Binghamton.

Interest: Marquette, Wake Forest, Northwestern, Arkansas, Cal, Louisiana Tech, Murray State, Chattanooga.

Latest News: SLU is the latest to offer Gray, who already has an absurd amount of offers. He hopes to make a decision in August.

Scouting Report: A versatile 4-star recruit, Gray is a strong forward with a smooth jumper. He can lead the break in transition, shoot the 3, and defend multiple positions.

Twitter: @Tgray4

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19 minutes ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

Why do you say this?  Can't coaches connect with high-caliber players without violating NCAA recruiting bylaws?  Izzo and Krzyzewski manage it.

 

And they coach at traditional powers. When mid-major schools out of nowhere start landing top 75 kids, it always makes people ask "how did they do it."

And JMM28 was mostly joking in his comment so I wouldn't take it to serious.

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Anthony Mack

SG, 6-5, 215

Troy, NY (Blair Academy)

Offers: SLU, George Mason, Memphis, Wyoming, Buffalo, Yale, Dartmouth, Lehigh, Colgate, Boston, Vermont, Stony Brook, Albany, Fairleigh Dickinson, Wagner, Drexel, Hofstra, Iona, Fairfield, Bryant, Robert Morris, Siena, Stetson, Towson.

Interest: Rhode Island, Villanova, Providence, Xavier, St. John’s, Marquette, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Georgia, Texas A&M, USC, Cal, Cincinnati.

Latest News: SLU is the latest to offer Mack, whose stock is rising during his strong summer performance.

Scouting Report: With a consistent jumper and deep range, Mack had been a pure scorer but has expanded his game to become a strong passer and rebounder from the off-guard position. A tough ball handler, he has even played the point on occasion for his AAU team.

Twitter: @Iam_AnthonyMack

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I like the idea of offering any player good enough who shows an interest. You only need one to start. Get a top 100 4 star (and you see at least a couple of these guys committed to a school you wouldn't expect top land them every year), and maybe someone else follows, or you improve enough that another wants to follow suit the next year.  

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8 minutes ago, kshoe said:

 

And they coach at traditional powers. When mid-major schools out of nowhere start landing top 75 kids, it always makes people ask "how did they do it."

And JMM28 was mostly joking in his comment so I wouldn't take it to serious.

To be fair.... when traditional powers land a kid i wonder "How did they do it?"

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My general thoughts on these newest five offers:

-Mack is the only one who isn't a top-100 player in any services, and based on the way he's blowing up, he probably has a strong case to be. He had a George Mason offer at one point that might be stale, and his only offer of note otherwise is Memphis, which he really likes. He has a ton of other offers, primarily from those Northeast conferences. However, he's getting a ton of interest from the Big East, ACC, Big Ten, and other power conferences now.

-We're later to the game on the other four, who are all top-100 2017 players in various rankings and have a lot of offers.

-Mack, Gray, and Williams all want to have their lists down or be committed by the end of August. The timelines for Wilkes and Polley aren't as clear. Polley may be waiting to see what Florida State does. Wilkes has some bluebloods showing interest, so he might be waiting to hear something more definitive from a few of them before trimming his list.

-The common thread between all five players is that they're big for their positions. Even if we don't land any of them, there's no doubt Ford is upgrading the size and strength of this roster.

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32 minutes ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

Why do you say this?  Can't coaches connect with high-caliber players without violating NCAA recruiting bylaws?  Izzo and Krzyzewski manage it.

This is exactly why I'm still pissed we chose Ford over K and Izzo, no matter what Bernie says.

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8 minutes ago, kshoe said:

 

And they coach at traditional powers. When mid-major schools out of nowhere start landing top 75 kids, it always makes people ask "how did they do it."

And JMM28 was mostly joking in his comment so I wouldn't take it to serious.

I'm not sure SLU is technically a "mid-major."  The Atlantic 10 is considered a high-major conference, though not "Power 5."  Considering where Travis Ford has been and who he's recruited before, I don't think it would raise eyebrows for Top 100 (or 75) players to commit to the program at SLU.  It's not like we're talking about UMKC, SEMO, or SIUE.

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8 minutes ago, Westy03 said:

@Pistol how many offers do you think we have out there for 2017?

I have 23 on my list, so that's my high estimate. A few from the Crews era have been confirmed as still fresh under the new staff, but a few may be stale.

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8 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

I like the idea of offering any player good enough who shows an interest. You only need one to start. Get a top 100 4 star (and you see at least a couple of these guys committed to a school you wouldn't expect top land them every year), and maybe someone else follows, or you improve enough that another wants to follow suit the next year.  

I'd err on the side of over-offering than under-offering. We've seen plenty of the latter already.

Plus, there's no question these kids like getting offers. It means a lot to them personally - their pride, their esteem, their notoriety. These latest offers are all active on Twitter, and when they get mentioned as having a new offer, they retweet everything about it, sometimes even including photos of SLU's home court, logo, etc. It's pretty cool to see, and the more times that big-time players are retweeting "Blessed to receive an offer from Saint Louis University!" along with photos of our home court and logo, the better. Even guys who already have a bunch of power five conference offers are doing this. Ford is getting our name out there as being back in business.

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2 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

I like the idea of offering any player good enough who shows an interest. You only need one to start. Get a top 100 4 star (and you see at least a couple of these guys committed to a school you wouldn't expect top land them every year), and maybe someone else follows, or you improve enough that another wants to follow suit the next year.  

That is my question, which of these kids have legitimate interest in SLU? Does anyone know which 2017 kids we have a shot with or are our primary targets at this point? Things should start to really heat up as the AAU season comes to an end. I would imagine we will see a lot of activity over the next month or so as kids have more time to take visits, start narrowing their lists, and committing. 

With regards to the number of offers debate, I really don't have a strong opinion. If it is obvious a kid can play at this level, I don't see much harm in extending an offer even if that leads to a high number of kids having offers. I never understood the prior staff's hesitancy in offering kids. I know some defended their practice as somehow making an offer worth something and special, but that is nonsense in the current recruiting landscape where kids seem to take pride in accumulating offers and posting them on social media. Overall, who cares though, we will judge this coaching staff based on the recruits they land like any of the past coaching staffs.

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One more thing about the concerns about offering too many players: our competition is doing it. Using the Big East programs we aspire to be as a barometer, here are their current 2017 offers as listed by VerbalCommits (which doesn't capture everything, and also might have stale offers so it's give or take a few):

St. John's: 10

Villanova: 13

Georgetown: 16

Marquette: 19

Butler: 20

Creighton: 22

SLU: 22 (23 by my count)

Xavier: 23

Providence: 27

Seton Hall: 27

DePaul: 45

Median: 22

Average: 22.2

 

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7 minutes ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

When do you think Coach Ford will begin to see some commitments for the 2017 class?  I think it will be great news if he gets some before school starts, but if the early signing period comes and goes without landing anyone, the "not-a-quick-fix" becomes even longer.

I'm seeing a lot of 2017 players say they want to have their lists trimmed in August, and many who want to commit that month, as well. I'd imagine we'll have a much clearer picture then. Maybe a commitment or two, and hopefully on a bunch of lists.

The early signing period is November 9-16.

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I believe we can alll agree there are offers to all kinds of players. These go from 4 star + players to 2 star players. So, honesty, if we are really aiming to landing one or more of the really highly ranked players we have offered, and get our available slots taken by commitments from 2 star players in November, what are we likely to do, say no and hope for the best or what? I cannot imagine what Ford might do in this case.

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56 minutes ago, Pistol said:

One more thing about the concerns about offering too many players: our competition is doing it. Using the Big East programs we aspire to be as a barometer, here are their current 2017 offers as listed by VerbalCommits (which doesn't capture everything, and also might have stale offers so it's give or take a few):

St. John's: 10

Villanova: 13

Georgetown: 16

Marquette: 19

Butler: 20

Creighton: 22

SLU: 22 (23 by my count)

Xavier: 23

Providence: 27

Seton Hall: 27

DePaul: 45

Median: 22

Average: 22.2

 

It isn't just the Big East.  It happens in the A10, too.  Duquesne has 27 offers out for 17, GM has 24,   LaSalle has 26, RI has 25, Richmond has 21, St Joes has 20, the Bonnies 27 and VCU has 44.  

 

VCU already has 30 offers out for the class of 2018.  We have 25 offers out for that same class.

 

 

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19 minutes ago, Old guy said:

I believe we can alll agree there are offers to all kinds of players. These go from 4 star + players to 2 star players. So, honesty, if we are really aiming to landing one or more of the really highly ranked players we have offered, and get our available slots taken by commitments from 2 star players in November, what are we likely to do, say no and hope for the best or what? I cannot imagine what Ford might do in this case.

You only offer players that you think can get you to the tournament and you take the first that accept.  We can't afford to hold out for plan A and then get stuck with only plan D left on the table.

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