Recruiting - 2017

[kshoe]

32 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Honestly i dont think any other coach gets us back in the goodwin sweepstakes.

If we had gotten coach K or Izzo like Bernie said we wanted, they'd be in the mix!

[TheChosenOne]

2 minutes ago, kshoe said:

If we had gotten coach K or Izzo like Bernie said we wanted, they'd be in the mix!

Well played.

[cheeseman]

8 hours ago, Old guy said:

I hope and pray we are not going to go through another cycle of adoration of a false messiah, like we did with Tatum, just to be disappointed at the end.

Worse than failure is not trying.

[Box and Won]

Hopefully he will receive a phone call from Mr. Lisch in Australia (or Rio).

[Old guy]

3 hours ago, cheeseman said:

Worse than failure is not trying.

I am not against trying to get good players to choose SLU, even against great odds. I am against the behavior of a mass of people in the board who made getting Tatum into our team a matter of personal importance, and felt that failure to do so caused their own sense of identity to be irreparably rented into a million pieces. This was followed by public airings of feelings of depression, betrayal, and much wailing, etc... In reality Tatum did what was best for himself, being coached by Crews certainly was not a good choice for him. We engaged in this type of behavior with Tatum, let's not do it with Goodwin. I hope we can look at Goodwin for what he is, and Tatum was, a very good player who we would be pleased to have in our team but who will ultimately choose what is best for himself in his own terms, not ours.

[Franchise_08]

With all due respect, Goodwin is no Tatum

[Old guy]

No, he is not and we should not start another cycle of "hail the savior" with him either.

[Billiken4life5]

10 hours ago, Pistol said:

Checking in with our massive 2017 Interest list:

• Nana Akenten has added offers from Nebraska, Duquesne, UTEP, Bradley, and Valpo in the past couple months. He's gaining more interest, as well - Iowa, Wisconsin, K-State, Iowa State, SMU, Colorado State, and others. He won a dunk contest at a recent event. Ford has been in contact since taking the SLU job, so I'm leaving him on the interest list as his stock continues to rise.
• Marvin Bateman, despite his fans on this board, hasn't seen a jump in stock. His sole offer is from Maryville, although he has interest from some D-I schools. Scouts have said he remains a low-D-I or lower-division prospect. I doubt there's any SLU interest here.
• Daniel Farris added an offer from UMKC. He's been hearing from other D-I schools since the spring and his state title with Vashon, but his only other offer at this point is Eastern Illinois. Hard to gauge if SLU is involved at all, but it seems unlikely.
• Noah Frederking has filled it up for the Illinois Bears on the AAU circuit this summer, and has added Ivy League interest (Dartmouth, Cornell). He's been to see Evansville and Indiana State, and SIUC is also said to be interested but still no offers at this point.
• Lenell Henry has had a solid AAU season but I'm not seeing much of any recruiting activity. He visited SLU last summer but I don't see any indication of interest left here from the new staff.
• Willie Herenton, like Lenell Henry, is one of the many Chicago kids we showed interest in under Crews, but who seems to be getting lost in the shuffle this AAU season.
• Chris Knight has added offers from Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, BU, Army, and Elon. No sign SLU is still interested.
• Ra Kpedi was a kid that Crews' staff liked a lot. He hasn't added any new offers this summer - Ball State in April was the last - but he visited DePaul this month. He has a long list of power conference schools interested, but his offer list is a notch below at this point. He's young for his class; prep school candidate.
• Brandon McKissic has had a solid season for the Eagles, but not a whole lot of new recruiting activity. He still likes DePaul, although they do have a commitment from 2017 PG Justin Roberts.
• Skyler Nash is having a quiet summer since announcing he'll be attending Gould Academy for a prep year.
• Christian Negron said that mostly the same schools are involved as he plays for Puerto Rico's U18 team in the FIBA Championships this summer. Butler, Illinois, Iowa, and DePaul are four of his seven offers, and are the most involved. TCU, Tulane, and Loyola-Chicago have all been in contact this summer, as well. Bradley, UAB, and Virginia Tech are his other offers. He's one of the better players on the interest list, but I can't find that SLU has been involved since the Ford hire.
• Jamal Nixon is having a solid summer with the Illinois Wolves, but he's still not getting offers. He visited Drake in June. He's got other Valley and Horizon-level interest, but I think SLU is probably out of the picture at this point.
• Jack Nunge picked up offers from Creighton and Princeton this month. Vandy offered before Bryce Drew was the head coach, but he refreshed the offer and watched him play against the St. Louis Eagles recently. He has a ton of Big Ten interest, along with ACC, SEC, Big 12, and Pac 12. No sign that SLU is in the picture.
• Alex O'Connell has a crowded recruiting pool, as well. His offer list - which was already bloated - has absolutely exploded: Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt, Butler, Xavier, Iowa, Miami, NC State, Texas A&M, UConn, and Cincinnati have all entered the fray. Even if SLU still showed interest, I don't think there's a chance here. He's about to visit Louisville, one of the frontrunners.
• Manny Patterson is playing well for the horribly named AAU team All In/Young & Reckless, picking up offers from Bowling Green and Central Connecticut. No sign of any SLU involvement remains, as far as I can tell.
• Charles Payton plays for the same AAU team as Patterson. He visited Valpo this month. He's bounced around schools and AAU programs a ton. UIC, SIUC, and supposedly Nebraska have offered, but I can't find current interest for SLU.
• P.J. Pipes had a good summer with the Illinois Stars, but his offer list includes a lot of lower-division schools - Central Missouri State, Wisconsin-Parkside, UMSL, Lewis, Winona State, Minnesota State, and - his lone D-I offer - Denver. However, UTEP, UMKC, and UWGB have all been in touch recently and are tracking him, so it's possible more D-I offers could come. SLU won't be one of them.
• Nathan Reuvers committed to Wisconsin.
• David Sloan has had a quiet summer after his transfer to Louisville Ballard was announced. With his offers (Louisville, Butler, Tennessee, Mizzou, Iowa, Memphis), he'll have no issues once the fall rolls around.
• T.J. Smith transfered from Marian Catholic in Matteson, IL to Wesley Christian in KY, a school trying to build a national program. He reclassified to 2018. He's grown to 6-8.
• Alec Spence is having a decent summer with Ramey. SEMO, his only D-I offer, still seems the most interested. Indiana State, Evansville, and Cleveland State (and Maryville) have also reached out. SLU probably isn't interested here.
• Joey St. Pierre transferred back to Burton HS in his hometown of Richmond, IL from La Lumiere. His most recent offer is UTEP, joining New Mexico and UIC. He still has a lot of high-level interest, although I'm struggling to confirm if Ford's staff has reached out. He's also going to be playing football this fall.
• Collin Stallworth is playing AAU ball with Ramey this summer. Central Michigan and Jacksonville State have offered for basketball, but he also has a few football offers, like Toledo and Illinois State. No sign of any SLU interest still.
• Ryan Stipanovich picked up offers from Bradley and Oral Roberts. I'm not sure if SLU has reached out since Ford took over, but it looks like a stretch at this point.
• Levi Stockard is a local kid I'm surprised we haven't heard more about and talked more about here, given what's happened to his offer list. DePaul, Marquette, Cincinnati, K-State, New Mexico, and others are all on board. And now Xavier has just offered. I'm not sure if Ford has been in contact.
• Alonzo Verge seems to be primarily targeted by Illinois at the moment. I'm honestly not sure where he's attending HS in the fall yet, but his talent is undeniable and the high-level interest remains. SLU is certainly aware but if Illinois has the inside track and the dust from his transferring hasn't settled, they may just wait it out.

Ford's kid is going to Desmet this year so he'll see plenty of Stipanovich if he is interested. Personally I don't think he's an A10 level player.  Stockard is though.  Still needs to develop his inside game more but he has the athleticism to play at this level. 

[Pistol]

9 hours ago, Billiken4life5 said:

Ford's kid is going to Desmet this year so he'll see plenty of Stipanovich if he is interested. Personally I don't think he's an A10 level player.  Stockard is though.  Still needs to develop his inside game more but he has the athleticism to play at this level. 

Stockard has 3 Big East offers. I don't think any A10 program can turn their nose up at him. I have no idea why there's so little buzz about him. A guy I know here in Cincy who went to Marquette asked me about him a few months ago: "Hey, what do you know about that Stockard kid from Vashon? Apparently we're making him a big priority. I haven't heard anything about him." Which is the crazy part- how does a kid with a state championship title and that much size go so unnoticed? I hope at the very least Ford has been out to see him and been in touch.

What year is Ford's kid? 2018?

[brianstl]

Brooks Ford is class of 2018.  

[Pistol]

5 minutes ago, brianstl said:

Brooks Ford is class of 2018.  

I guess I should add him to the interest list. I don't see an offer yet. The main issue here would be dealing with his dad, who's a real head case.

[thetorch]

Ford's kid is more Kevin Grawer than Brian Grawer.  Not sure if he warrants an inclusion on the interest page.

There is absolutely no way Stockard doesn't go JUCO or prep.  I don't think even Cincy or an SEC school could get him in.

[almaman]

thanks for compiling. we can use it for reference down the road. boy such a big list. has it always been like this but now we are more aware because of media etc? just can't picture such a long list back in Grawer, Spoon, days.

[Coach314]

Stockard...along with all the other Senior starters at Vashon this year are all qualified for Division 1 ball.  Not sure where you got your information.  SLU has shown minimal interest since Ford has taken over.  Maybe they have some better options at SLU they are focusing on.  But not offering one of the top bigs in the state??? 

[RiseAndGrind]

8 minutes ago, Coach314 said:

Stockard...along with all the other Senior starters at Vashon this year are all qualified for Division 1 ball.  Not sure where you got your information.  SLU has shown minimal interest since Ford has taken over.  Maybe they have some better options at SLU they are focusing on.  But not offering one of the top bigs in the state??? 

and so it begins! A local coach says SLU is not recruiting STL hard enough. 

A tradition like none other. 

[brianstl]

My guess is coach 314 is Vtime.  He has always said every Vashon player will qualify.

[ACE]

Just now, brianstl said:

My guess is coach 314 is Vtime.  He has always said every Vashon player will qualify.

+1, you beat me to the punch.

[brianstl]

1 minute ago, ACE said:

+1, you beat me to the punch.

Saying a player who played for one of the Irons wouldn't qualify has always brought a reply from Vtime that the player would actually qualify. Many times that player wouldn't actually qualify. 

[Box and Won]

24 minutes ago, brianstl said:

My guess is coach 314 is Vtime.  He has always said every Vashon player will qualify.

They often do...after playing at a JUCO.

[Pistol]

Polk was eligible immediately. He left his jump shot back in high school, though.

[brianstl]

1 minute ago, Pistol said:

Polk was eligible immediately. He left his jump shot back in high school, though.

Kern would have been a great player if he could have qualified and kept his act together.

Does anyone know where Kern is today?  Last I heard of him is when he got shot.

[Pistol]

1 hour ago, almaman said:

thanks for compiling. we can use it for reference down the road. boy such a big list. has it always been like this but now we are more aware because of media etc? just can't picture such a long list back in Grawer, Spoon, days.

I think it's a bit of both. Tracking recruiting information is getting easier every year. Social media has exploded the availability of information (and garbage; you just have to know what to look for and where).

Coaches can text players now; that's been around for a shorter time than people realize. There are way more AAU events. And I think the overall environment is more competitive as coaches' contracts get bigger and fans' patience gets shorter. Over-offering was not done to the extent it is today.

Think of how Grawer or Spoon would have to recruit a player from outside the STL region. Either the HC or one of his assistants would have to see a player in person or via videotape sent to them. If a coach didn't see a player in person, he'd have to rely on the word of an assistant completely, and coaches would also rely on tips from other coaches and observers. They were exposed to way, way fewer players, no matter how much time they could put in. I mean, even in my era (2001-2005), we were sending letters to recruits by the hundreds and faxing their HS coaches; there were just big lists, put together in various ways. I have no idea what the response rate was on that kind of stuff, but it had to be a low single digit percentage.

So while I'm sure they'd offer more than 4 guys at a time for 4 scholarships, there's no way it would be as many as we're seeing today. But there's also no way each player would have as many offers, either. There are players on our lists with 30+ offers; that probably was unthinkable in the Grawer/Spoon eras.

[Pistol]

3 minutes ago, brianstl said:

Kern would have been a great player if he could have qualified and kept his act together.

Does anyone know where Kern is today?  Last I heard of him is when he got shot.

He sure would have. He loved Romar, too. If anyone could've gotten his potential out of him, it was Romar. He just would've had to sit a year. And if he had to leave, his scholarship would've gone to Taj Gray. What could've been...

Here's a thread from 2006 asking your question, but I can't find anything newer than that regarding his status. He just kind of disappeared.

 

[Coach314]

Lol.  This is my second post on this forum.  You have just replied to my first. Vtime?? I didn't go to Vashon nor do I have a child that goes there.  I also do not coach at the school. I was just supplying factual information to the topic.  Not assumptions or myths. Another fact:  5 of the 6 Seniors that just graduated Vashon will be attending College on basketball scholarships. One of those kids barely played and it was his first year playing high school ball. Now,  maybe the high school programs you are used to are sending kids to high Major D1s but i think the objective is to continue on to the next level. Whatever level your talent/grades dictate.  Back on topic though...Levi's transcripts and ACT scores have been sent to each school that offered Stockard.  There has been NO talk of prep schools or jucos. Now...which is it going to be? You guys are complaining about local kids not staying home and wishing this or that kid attends SLU but when you find out SLU is not offering these kids you attack the post?  They are going heavy after the class of 2018...that's where their offers are going.  McKissic would consider SLU...IF THEY OFFERED!!  Gordon, Ramey,  Watson aren't coming to SLU.  But by all means...continue on with the assumptions and misinformation.

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, Pistol said: