Rashed Anthony Commits

[bauman]

9 minutes ago, CBFan said:

Welcome Mr. Anthony, I hope your time at SLU is productive for you in the class and on the court.

Coach Ford and Mr. Anthony fill a need on the team time to concentrate on 2018.

I am really excited for the 2017-2018 season.

Agreed about this upcoming season.  Although most of us have never seen 6 of the 7 new players, they give me lots of hope for the 17-18 season.  I see a number of NIT predictions in various threads, but I think we can do better than that.  Looking at the A-10 teams, I really think we can contend for the league championship, at least by conference tournament time.  Assuming the A-10 to be at least a 3 team bid league, I think we will be in that grouping.

Getting back to the topic of this thread, I am satisfied with Anthony coming in for one year.  I don't think we should expect any more from him than a back up role to Foreman and French, but that is exactly what we needed, without impacting 2018 recruiting.  If he gives us more than that, then that will be unexpected but welcome.  I think, once more, our HC has pulled a rabbit out of his hat giving the program another big step in the transition to 18-19 when hopefully we will have a monster front line of Foreman, French, Gordon and Santos, with Bess, Johnson and Thatch able to fill the "3" role and a backcourt of Goodwin, Graves, AH and Bishop.  If Welmer sticks with SLU he will offer an outside threat to fill in as needed at either the 3 or 4 spot and that still leaves one open scholarship for the 2018 recruiting class, which Coach Ford has referred to as loaded.

I have followed Billiken basketball for quite a few years, and I never remember feeling this good about the composition of a team, especially depth wise.  We didn't even come close to approaching this depth in the RM years.(Starting line up, maybe, but not the entire roster)  Better have your season tickets boys and girls!  We are entering a fun period of Billiken basketball!

[ACE]

10 minutes ago, bauman said:

Agreed about this upcoming season.  Although most of us have never seen 6 of the 7 new players, they give me lots of hope for the 17-18 season.  I see a number of NIT predictions in various threads, but I think we can do better than that.  Looking at the A-10 teams, I really think we can contend for the league championship, at least by conference tournament time.  Assuming the A-10 to be at least a 3 team bid league, I think we will be in that grouping.

Getting back to the topic of this thread, I am satisfied with Anthony coming in for one year.  I don't think we should expect any more from him than a back up role to Foreman and French, but that is exactly what we needed, without impacting 2018 recruiting.  If he gives us more than that, then that will be unexpected but welcome.  I think, once more, our HC has pulled a rabbit out of his hat giving the program another big step in the transition to 18-19 when hopefully we will have a monster front line of Foreman, French, Gordon and Santos, with Bess, Johnson and Thatch able to fill the "3" role and a backcourt of Goodwin, Graves, AH and Bishop.  If Welmer sticks with SLU he will offer an outside threat to fill in as needed at either the 3 or 4 spot and that still leaves one open scholarship for the 2018 recruiting class, which Coach Ford has referred to as loaded.

I have followed Billiken basketball for quite a few years, and I never remember feeling this good about the composition of a team, especially depth wise.  We didn't even come close to approaching this depth in the RM years.(Starting line up, maybe, but not the entire roster)  Better have your season tickets boys and girls!  We are entering a fun period of Billiken basketball!

Keep in mind that one of the NIT predictions is coming from a SPUMAC fan posing as a SLU fan. Trying to mesh all of these new players will be Ford's biggest challenge. It appears we will have the most depth in the league and agree, there is no reason we shouldn't contend for a trip to the Dance. IMO, the biggest key is will we have a couple of players emerge as All-Conference caliber players. 

[Pistol]

To carry this over from the other thread:

Rashed Anthony - PF, 6-9, 240 - Orangeburg, SC (Seton Hall, NJ)

Offers: SLU, Richmond, George Mason, UMass, Memphis, East Carolina, Niagara, Long Island.

Scouting Report: Anthony is a grad transfer from Seton Hall, eligible to play immediately. He took a redshirt in 2013-2014, played 8.8 minutes per game as a redshirt freshman the following season, and his minutes declined from there. His stats are too limited to draw much useful information from. Out of high school, he was scouted as "a bouncy forward with a crazy wingspan" who could dominate with rebounding and shot blocking at the defensive end and help with an offensive spark at the other end. He also reportedly had offers from Oklahoma, K-State, and BC out of high school. He grew 1-2 inches in college and added about 30 lbs. to his frame.

There's no question we want a grad transfer big man for a one-year plug before doing some more work in the 2018 class. Anthony's lack of minutes at Seton Hall definitely raises some concerns, but he had the misfortune of starting his college career (after a redshirt season) the same time as Angel Delgado, who has been a monster for SHU for three seasons. The same class at Seton Hall has two other forwards, Ismael Sanogo and Desi Rodriguez, who round out the short 7-man rotation they use. So he's basically been stuck in Delgado's shadow, pushed to the end of the rotation by two other forwards with a more inside-out game, in a system that does not rely heavily on big men, coming off the bench for 4-10 minutes a game. He's a defensive player, primarily. Offensively, he's playing near the basket. I chalk up his lack of minutes to a combination of loaded class at his position, in particular one dominant big man in his way, and probably not the best fit.

There's potential for a useful role player here. Don't expect 15 and 8, but he can be a useful contributor immediately.

[Pistol]

I like this move. There's no downside. He's a great fit on the roster, on paper. He'll finally have a chance to get some more minutes and show out a little more now that he's not facing a huge logjam at his position, not to mention being stuck behind one of the best big men in the Big East. He's a defensive player, gives us experience and size, and the scholarship opens up again for a 2018 player.

[wgstl]

5 hours ago, Pistol said:

I like this move. There's no downside. He's a great fit on the roster, on paper. He'll finally have a chance to get some more minutes and show out a little more now that he's not facing a huge logjam at his position, not to mention being stuck behind one of the best big men in the Big East. He's a defensive player, gives us experience and size, and the scholarship opens up again for a 2018 player.

I'll take a defensive, especially with what we have for next year. We have enough scorers.  

[Old guy]

This may be a very stupid question I am asking the board. Rashed redshirted 2013-2014, then was an active member of the SH team 14-15, 15-16, and 16-17. He graduated and comes to us as a graduate transfer. Since he redshirted one year is his eligibility 1 or 2 years going forward? Someone knows this?

[drkelsey55]

one

[HoosierPal]

Does anyone know what Masters program he will enroll in?

[MusicCityBilliken]

2 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Does anyone know what Masters program he will enroll in?

I didn't even see anything official from SLU that he's coming.

[Old guy]

Thank you drkelsey55, appreciate the info.

[HoosierPal]

47 minutes ago, tarheelbilliken said:

I didn't even see anything official from SLU that he's coming.

As of 2 PM, Thursday, the signed NLI has not yet been received. per Coach on The Turn.

[WestCoastBilliken]

44 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

As of 2 PM, Thursday, the signed NLI has not yet been received. per Coach on The Turn.

So may be we are jumping the gun here? Or is this a done deal

[drkelsey55]

He wouldn't do a NLI if he is a grad transfer he just signs a financial agreement.

[HoosierPal]

15 minutes ago, drkelsey55 said:

He wouldn't do a NLI if he is a grad transfer he just signs a financial agreement.

Coach's precise words were "I can't comment on recruits who haven't officially signed their letter" when asked about Anthony.

https://www.101sports.com/audio/travis-ford-expects-the-billikens-to-play-faster-more-aggresive-and-physical-next-year/

[drkelsey55]

I could be wrong.

[Soderball]

I thought grad transfers were unicorns.

 

I suck and all the people calling for a grad transfer were right.

 

Ford is absolutely superb.

[Soderball]

13 hours ago, ACE said:

Keep in mind that one of the NIT predictions is coming from a SPUMAC fan posing as a SLU fan. Trying to mesh all of these new players will be Ford's biggest challenge. It appears we will have the most depth in the league and agree, there is no reason we shouldn't contend for a trip to the Dance. IMO, the biggest key is will we have a couple of players emerge as All-Conference caliber players. 

Considering the kind of stuff I've watched under(Fire Jim) Crews I would be very pleased with an NIT bid. This team is good enough to play postseason. Enough of this performance we've all been subjected to. An NCAA bid is a tall order but not out of the cards.

[CBFan]

8 hours ago, Soderball said:

Considering the kind of stuff I've watched under(Fire Jim) Crews I would be very pleased with an NIT bid. This team is good enough to play postseason. Enough of this performance we've all been subjected to. An NCAA bid is a tall order but not out of the cards.

Good to hear from you Soderball, I agree any post season would be great considering where the program has been in the last three seasons.  At least this season there is a reasonable chance to make the big dance so being in the running all season sure makes it a lot more fun.  I really believe that the 2018-2019 season will really be something special and may go one step farther than coach Majerus got the team.  For 2018-2019 I see another year of experience with the team and then adding Gordon Thatch and another good recruit really sets up well for something special. Happy Friday.

[Quality Is Job 1]

6 hours ago, CBFan said:

Good to hear from you Soderball, I agree any post season would be great considering where the program has been in the last three seasons.  At least this season there is a reasonable chance to make the big dance so being in the running all season sure makes it a lot more fun.  I really believe that the 2018-2019 season will really be something special and may go one step farther than coach Majerus got the team.  For 2018-2019 I see another year of experience with the team and then adding Gordon Thatch and another good recruit really sets up well for something special. Happy Friday.

Along with French Goodwin, the underlined guys make up Billiken superheros.  Their motto: we don't need no stinking commas!

[STL Hoops Insider]

I don't see why a team full of all these high major talents wouldn't be expect to make the NCAA tournament this year. I hear many of you saying Bess should come off the bench and he's a kid that started nearly half the games a sophomore on a 29-6 Michigan State team. If we are good enough for him to be a reserve than we should be in the NCAA tourney in any conference. He should start though.

[HoosierPal]

2 hours ago, STL Hoops Insider said:

I hear many of you saying Bess should come off the bench and he's a kid that started nearly half the games a sophomore on a 29-6 Michigan State team. If we are good enough for him to be a reserve than we should be in the NCAA tourney in any conference. He should start though.

He started 37% (13 of 35) of MSU's 2015/2016 games, which is closer to 1/3 (33%) not 1/2 (50%). Look this stuff up rather than make it up. And his starts were at PF. Look it up. Then he ended up on the bench.

[STL Hoops Insider]

I did look it up. He started 13/32 games he played in. That's close to half. He missed 27 games with injury his freshman season, but started 3 of the 12 as a freshman. The other guards on his team, Valentine and Forbes are in the NBA.

[HoosierPal]

11 minutes ago, STL Hoops Insider said:

I did look it up. He started 13/32 games he played in. That's close to half. He missed 27 games with injury his freshman season, but started 3 of the 12 as a freshman. The other guards on his team, Valentine and Forbes are in the NBA.

Trying to cover up your blunder?  The games Bess DNP, was on the bench, were played.  He started 37% of the MSU games his sophomore year. Deal with it. 

[STL Hoops Insider]

There's no blunder. He started games for Michigan State on a great team. The kind if talent we'd give our left arm for under any other coaching regime. Ford has people spoiled.

[goonaha]

Anthony is now on campus per Stu: