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Jalen Johnson - A 10 Impact Freshman


HoosierPal

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http://www.midmajormadness.com/2016/9/30/13102194/2016-17-atlantic-10-basketball-season-preview-freshmen-deriante-jenkins-dejon-jarreau-kamari-newman

4. Jalen Johnson (6-7, forward), Saint Louis

Newly-hired coaches need to take gambles when scrambling to fill out a recruiting class. Travis Ford thinks he made a smart one in Louisiana prep forward Jalen Johnson, whose recruiting stock fell after he suffered a torn ACL in his junior season. His versatility will be welcome in a front court that needs bodies. Only three returning big men logged minutes last season, and Ford has high expectations for Johnson and fellow freshman Zeke Moore.

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From one hoosier to another, thank you for the information.

I am always excited about every Billiken's season and games even in the bad years.

I think the team will play better with another year of experience and I figure they will win 5 more games this year than last because of enthusiasm of the new coach, the players will actually have fun again instead of the Coach Crews buzz kill.

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Two very different things HoosierPal. I have puzzled a lot about the origin of the St. Louis meaning for the word "hoosier" (the non Indiana native meaning). All I can think of is that during the civil war St. Louis must have been garrisoned with Indiana troops engendering a lot of resentment from the local people or portions of the local people, to the point of making the word "hoosier" a put down. If I am wrong in this interpretation of the origins of the derogatory St. Louis meaning for the word "hoosier" please provide clarification. Thank you.

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1 hour ago, Old guy said:

Two very different things HoosierPal. I have puzzled a lot about the origin of the St. Louis meaning for the word "hoosier" (the non Indiana native meaning). All I can think of is that during the civil war St. Louis must have been garrisoned with Indiana troops engendering a lot of resentment from the local people or portions of the local people, to the point of making the word "hoosier" a put down. If I am wrong in this interpretation of the origins of the derogatory St. Louis meaning for the word "hoosier" please provide clarification. Thank you.

To answer your direct question, I have no idea why south St. Louis is the only area of the country where hoosier is synonymus for white trash. I think there is something in the water in south St. Louis.  Your guess is as good as mine.

As far as the origin of the term Hoosier, we were told of two potential reasons while growing up in the great Hoosier State.  One account traces the word to the necessary caution of approaching houses on the frontier. In order to avoid being shot, a traveler would call to let themselves be known. The inhabitants would then reply "Who's here?" and or into "Hoosier?"

The second version is that a contractor name Sam Hoosier, based in Kentukiana, preferred to hire workers from Indiana rather than workers from from Kentucky.  The workers were thereby known as Hoosier's men, or Hoosiers. 

You pick. No, "Whose Your Daddy" isn't pick number three.

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On 9/30/2016 at 4:03 PM, CBFan said:

From one hoosier to another, thank you for the information.

I am always excited about every Billiken's season and games even in the bad years.

I think the team will play better with another year of experience and I figure they will win 5 more games this year than last because of enthusiasm of the new coach, the players will actually have fun again instead of the Coach Crews buzz kill.

Well that worked well last year - another year of experience may or may not end up with better play.  

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On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 10:54 AM, HoosierPal said:

Okay, are you from Indiana, like me, or from South St. Louis?

My whole family is from Southern Indiana and we moved to the St. Louis area in the late 60's.  I have heard the hoosier term used by my friends and peers to describe Jefferson County Mo. in jest where I live.

To get back on topic I am looking forward to watching Jalen Johnson play this season.  Jalen may start but if he does not he will be able to fill in for Reggie when he needs a break.

I thought the last month of last season Reggie played well but when he got into foul trouble and had to sit out for long periods of time the offense did not run as well.  I think Jalen can fill that gap if he does not start.

Since I drink the Blue Koolaide I am excited about the upcoming season and do not think the season will suck because I do not believe that JJ, MC, ZM, RA, DR, JB suck and the Jim Crews buzz kill is gone.

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22 minutes ago, SLU_Nick said:

Damn those initials.  JJ will always be JordairJustin Johnson and JB will always be BarnettJeramy Biles to me.

We should reserve initials for only players who have played in the 2nd round of the NCAAs.

FIFY

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25 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

So you see Reggie starting at the 4. Who's your starting 5 man?

Gillmann? Neufeld? Not sure it matters.

I'd love to see Johnson start and get big minutes. There's nothing but opportunity:

PG-SG: Bishop-Roby-Hines

SG-SF: Crawford-Johnson-Moore

PF: Agbeko-Welmer

C: Gillmann-Neufeld

I have no idea how to project the starters on this team. He could go Bishop-Roby-Crawford-Agbeko-Gillmann to appease veterans. He could mix in the younger guys. No clue.

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35 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Gillmann? Neufeld? Not sure it matters.

I'd love to see Johnson start and get big minutes. There's nothing but opportunity:

PG-SG: Bishop-Roby-Hines

SG-SF: Crawford-Johnson-Moore

PF: Agbeko-Welmer

C: Gillmann-Neufeld

I have no idea how to project the starters on this team. He could go Bishop-Roby-Crawford-Agbeko-Gillmann to appease veterans. He could mix in the younger guys. No clue.

As Majerus said 'starting is for high schoolers' (or something like that).  It's more important who gets the minutes, and who is on the floor in crunch time.  I'm betting that Welmer gets significant minutes and is on the floor in crunch time.  He played a lot with his back to the basket at Columbus North.

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Bishop-Crawford-Johnson-Agbeko-Gillmann will get us the most points, with Roby getting the most minutes off the bench. 

 

If one of the centers improves, and gets more physical, Bishop-Roby-Crawford-Agbeko-Gillmann would then be the best line up.  

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39 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

As Majerus said 'starting is for high schoolers' (or something like that).  It's more important who gets the minutes, and who is on the floor in crunch time.  I'm betting that Welmer gets significant minutes and is on the floor in crunch time.  He played a lot with his back to the basket at Columbus North.

Has Welmer put on any weight?  It will be hard to play with his back to the basket in the A10 with the frame he was sporting.

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1 hour ago, Pistol said:

Gillmann? Neufeld? Not sure it matters.

I'd love to see Johnson start and get big minutes. There's nothing but opportunity:

PG-SG: Bishop-Roby-Hines

SG-SF: Crawford-Johnson-Moore

PF: Agbeko-Welmer

C: Gillmann-Neufeld

I have no idea how to project the starters on this team. He could go Bishop-Roby-Crawford-Agbeko-Gillmann to appease veterans. He could mix in the younger guys. No clue.

This.This depresses me. 

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I think you make these lists for two reasons ... #1) you are really, really good and must play or #2) you're not too bad but more importantly, going to a team where help is needed immediately.  I think our guy is here because more of #2 than #1.

 

Umass is depleted and the kid is top 50.  VCU gets good kids but as noted, they already have Lewis (VCU has like seven seniors on their roster -- gonna be interesting next year).  The two kids at Richmond are teammates and Mooney only has one real backcourt player left in Jones.  And Mason is in as dire straits as we are. 

There will be a lot of minutes to go around to begin with and then the injuries and fatigue settle in as well.  The best thing about when this season ends is that we should know really well what talent lies on this team.  While I'd like to believe the slaying of the evil witch (Crews) will make kids want to play, I don't know if the talent is there to be any better if not worse, record-wise.

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3 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

So you see Reggie starting at the 4. Who's your starting 5 man?

Yes, and I hope Matt Neufeld has improved enough to be an effective starting center.

Effective enough = Good defender and rebounder and make defenses play closer to the post.

If Elliot Welmer can score I like Elliot at the 3 position.

Bench Mike Crawford, Austin Gillman, Zeke Moore, Aaron Hines, and Jalen Johnson

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1 hour ago, brianstl said:

Has Welmer put on any weight?  It will be hard to play with his back to the basket in the A10 with the frame he was sporting.

Yes.  6'8" 175 lbs senior year in HS.  Now 6'9" 215 lbs.  Maybe 5 lb less than Neufeld or Gillmann.

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In no particular order, I think this is what you want most of the season. Otherwise, it's just gonna be a long season.

1.) Bishop takes his game to the next level (whatever that means).  We still need a PG and he's the closest thing we've got amongst the current players, transfers, and recruits.

2.) At least 1 of the 3 (Welmer included) FR can play and be a contributor next season. I'm hopeful Johnson is that guy.

3.) One of the bigs - Neufeld, Gilmann, or Welmer - becomes reliable on D and rebounding.  Gilmann has some strengths on offense (shooting, passing), but he was a defensive and rebounding liability. I still think Neufeld has the best shot at becoming this guy. 

Basically, just come out of this season with 3 players you can reasonably count on for strong roles in 2017. Anything else is just bonus.

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42 minutes ago, SShoe said:

In no particular order, I think this is what you want most of the season. Otherwise, it's just gonna be a long season.

1.) Bishop takes his game to the next level (whatever that means).  We still need a PG and he's the closest thing we've got amongst the current players, transfers, and recruits.

2.) At least 1 of the 3 (Welmer included) FR can play and be a contributor next season. I'm hopeful Johnson is that guy.

3.) One of the bigs - Neufeld, Gilmann, or Welmer - becomes reliable on D and rebounding.  Gilmann has some strengths on offense (shooting, passing), but he was a defensive and rebounding liability. I still think Neufeld has the best shot at becoming this guy. 

Basically, just come out of this season with 3 players you can reasonably count on for strong roles in 2017. Anything else is just bonus.

Yeah, really hoping that a few of the underclassmen step up. You're dead on with what needs to happen for us to be good in 17/18.

Regarding your first point on Bishop, even though he was an All-Rookie selection, he needs to become a lot more efficient to contribute to a tourney team. I think it was pretty clear that he is very skilled, but inconsistent - which is totally acceptable for a freshman on a not so good team, but we will need more from him as expectations increase.

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2 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Yes.  6'8" 175 lbs senior year in HS.  Now 6'9" 215 lbs.  Maybe 5 lb less than Neufeld or Gillmann.

 

Not sure if I am going to believe the SLU roster weights listed.  They are the same as last season and there is no way Neufeld only weighed 5 more pounds than Welmer.  Neufeld isn't exactly thick, but he was noticeably thicker than Welmer last season.

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Obviously I want to see the freshmen and even though Moore and Welmer are Crews recruits, they at least are supposed to have a specific skill (shooting) that is valuable and both have pretty good length for their position. Johnson seems to be the consensus guy that we are most excited about.

I haven't given up on Neufeld. He has size and moves decently in comparison to most of the bigs we get here. I somewhat question whether he's actually a good basketball player, but bigs take time and he has a real coaching staff now. I'd like to see Bishop continue to improve on setting up his teammates. He seems like a solid shooter/scorer, but he will be most valuable as someone who can create for others on next year's team. I know he had a solid amount of assists last year, but I still think that part of his offensive game is behind his ability to score.

Personally, the class I care about the least is the junior class. I don't think Gillmann is very good and even though his passing ability does allow us to move the ball quicker and his shooting ability can stretch the defense, we need more bigs who can actually play inside. Roby was a little banged up last year and I think he can be a solid role player going into the 2017-18 season, but his development just isn't that important to me. Ideally, we can land a big and another guard with our last 2 scholarships in this upcoming class that can both play over Gillmann and Roby from day 1. 

The two seniors just seem like good guys. Good guys don't win you basketball games, but they are two players who came to play for the program that Majerus built (no, I didn't say Majerus recruited them) and they seem to have had good attitudes during the Jim Crews debacle. Both are actually solid players who would have been nice bench guys on our really good teams and I'd like to see them end their careers on a high note even if that means just being part of the group that turned things around at SLU. I think Crawford needs to average about 13.5 ppg to be a 1000 point scorer which would be a cool accomplishment for him. It's probably a longshot, but he was the leading scorer last year and he'll likely be more healthy this season.

Basically my goal for this season is for it to feel like the 2010-11 season. We went 11-19 that season or whatever, but we were competitive down the stretch and actually put a scare into some pretty good teams that season. That team also lost quite a few games (non-conference and conference) in the last minute of the game. We knew we were going to add some good players (Mitchell and potentially Reed) to the following year's team so it was all about seeing progress out of the current guys and instilling a winning culture. This year's team is also young with a short bench and they have some upperclassmen who can lead and hand off to the more talented guys who are sitting out this year or who are coming in as recruits.

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On 10/1/2016 at 5:29 PM, HoosierPal said:

To answer your direct question, I have no idea why south St. Louis is the only area of the country where hoosier is synonymus for white trash. I think there is something in the water in south St. Louis.  Your guess is as good as mine.

I think we've discussed this before on here, but there is a good argument that the South St. Louis use of the term is actually the one consistent with the original definition. Before it became a badge of pride for people in Indiana, the term meant something like "uncouth rustic" across the South and Midwest. There are various theories on why that definition caught back on and/or hung on longer in St. Louis longer than anywhere else, but it's all pretty interesting:

http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/internet/extra/hoosier.html

 

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58 minutes ago, brianstl said:

 

Not sure if I am going to believe the SLU roster weights listed.  They are the same as last season and there is no way Neufeld only weighed 5 more pounds than Welmer.  Neufeld isn't exactly thick, but he was noticeably thicker than Welmer last season.

Well, that's fine if you don't want to believe the SLU roster.  Your original question was has he gained weight.  The answer is yes, maybe 40 pounds in the past three years.

(BTW, since birth he has probably gained 205 pounds. :lol:)

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