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HS Class of 2014 Updates


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The bottom line is that virtually every recruit has some strengths and some weaknesses. Almost every high school player need a lot of work on defense, particularly the in your face defense that the Bills play for 40 minutes. But each of these three guards is athletic and they have some height that we have not seen much of over the past few years. One game in a big time atmosphere against a highly touted opponent on national tv cannot give us enough information to judge a player's potential but he did look very good at times and he clearly looks like a player we would love to have to work with our staff. He is also an excellent student. Also, in terms of who we did sign vs who we did not, this recruiting game is always a moving target because as one person drops off because they go to another school or we decide not to pursue them--another player can become a target when we did not think we had the opportunity to get them. The fact that some came to our attention later in the game does not mean they are not as good or even better than some we were pursuing earlier. I am very hopeful that these three young men will be great additions to our team over time and one or two may be significant contributors next year. But no one knows yet one way or the other so why not be positive and hopeful.

When people are asked what did you see you can either be Polyanna or share your honest thoughts pointing out strengths and weaknesses. Something that may not have been said about Reynolds is that he ended the game with 18 pts - 2 three ptrs - and 4 or 5 assists I think. Sharing what you honestly saw is best in the long run for most who want to really know. I do agree that Tyus Jones would be tough to guard.

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They could all crap out by the time they get down to Compton but it seems quite reasonable to expect a few of them to be good.

This is how my mind works. I read "down to Compton" and I think of this...

(to the tune of NWA's "Straight outta Compton")

Straight down on Compton, genius basketball mind named Jim Crews

From the team called Billikens from Saint Lou

Coaching for the win, doing it again

Run the table in the tourney now we own the A-10...

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Collinsville/Schnucks Holiday Tournament starts next Thursday, Dec 26th through Saturday, Dec 28th.

Austin Gillman (Oakville, MO) plays at 10:30am on Thursday vs. Springfield Southeast
Marcus Bartley (Decatur MacArthur) plays at 2:30pm on Thursday vs. McCluer North

Other teams in tournament include Lincoln, IL, East St. Louis, Althoff, Belleville East and Quincy.

Easy Drive from downtown, only about 14 miles.

GOSEETHEKIDSPLAY

More info on the tournament website at:
http://classic.cusd.kahoks.org/Home

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I wish I could be in town for that tournament. Thanks for the reminder, FDES.

In addition to Gillmann and Bartley, there are also some recruits and prospects from 2015-2017 classes playing:

Brendon Gooch, Althoff (2016)

Jordan Goodwin, Althoff (2017)

Jeremiah Tilmon, East St. Louis (2017)

And I'm sure there are more, with that many regional teams.

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I wish I could be in town for that tournament. Thanks for the reminder, FDES.

In addition to Gillmann and Bartley, there are also some recruits and prospects from 2015-2017 classes playing:

Brendon Gooch, Althoff (2016)

Jordan Goodwin, Althoff (2017)

Jeremiah Tilmon, East St. Louis (2017)

And I'm sure there are more, with that many regional teams.

I may have to stop by and catch a couple of games. I definitely would like to see Bartley play, his highlight video is pretty impressive.

I also want to see the freshmen, Goodwin and Tilmon, play. I hear Goodwin is an absolute stud. I was talking to a client of mine who is involved in basketball across the river and he said Goodwin is great and that the program he came through (the Jets maybe, but I don't remember exactly) has really developed some nice players of late.

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Why mention all those guys? I thought they were all just screwdrivers, monkey wrenches and c-clamps. :)

I think we all learned to not dare rip a recruit who has chosen NOT to play for SLU. Now an obvious troll ripping a kid who has chosen to play for by calling him a "stiff" is apparently acceptable.

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One thing missed in all this is something I will call "mesh." How will each kid mesh with the others and form a collective nucleus that is better as a whole than the sum of its parts? As a dying Spock said in "Wrath of Khan," the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few .. or the one."

But seriously, we all talk about Majerus' ability to find the gems in the rough. The guys flying under the radar. Did he find them? Sure. Did he miss a few times? Absolutlely.

But one thing we are failing to see/discuss is that he also was a master puzzle builder. He kind of knew what he wanted and he strove to find kids not only under the radar, but ones who would adopt his philosophy and style and play their roles to the proper end. Conklin. Cassity. Mitchell. Reed. Remekun. McCall. Jett. Evans. Loe. Ellis. Is there a superstar stud in that list? I'd say no. But they comprised the best teams ever in Billiken history for some. That is where the real mettle of Crews' regime will be tested --- can he recruit and make it all work to his style? And for that matter, does he have a style? Frankly, I'm not sure given this has been watching the remains of the Majerus regime marching out the door. And I'd be willing to bet guys named McElmore, Wiggins, Randle and Parker would never agree to subdue thei regos toplay for Rick's ego. And Rick would have likely never taken them.

Right now, we are shy on some of the parts incumbent on making the Majerus system work. We don't seem to have a decent jump shooter -- mid-range or bomber. We don't have a stretch four. We don't have a combination point that can drive and finish or stop and pop as we did with Mitchell. Jett can finish for sure. And because we have added an immobile four into the mix instead of the stretch four, the Conklin/Evans interior role is a little harder to fulfill. Next year, say Manning replaces Loe and Agbeko replaces Evans --- still no shooter. And I don't think that was Yacoubou's game at Nova, but I could be wrong. That leaves Lancona and Crawford to find religion or depend on McBroom getting better or freshmen. It'll be a work in progres that I'll worryabout ---- next year.

You all know how far back you can go to read the same press ciippings of guys I read about --- Thompson, Cotto, Cranford, Clarke, Baniak, Manue, Trice, Tony Brown and so on. Meh ---- the good thing is I feel better kids with some reputations signed early. I think that's a good sign as opposed to the Spring bumper crops of Ikeafor and Dixon. As for what it means in the long run, who knows, but it's a positive for me right now. A work in progress. Crews is building --- either hispositive legacy or his own temple of doom. Only time wil tell. Each Novemebr Christmas comes a month early. We shall see.

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-Reynolds and Whitney Young have Farragut tonight. As mentioned earlier, he was very solid with 18 points in that 80-70 win over Apple Valley (MN) on ESPN2.

-Gillmann's game vs. Holt was apparently cancelled due to weather the other night. Any word on rescheduling?

-Bartley had 24 in MacArthur's win over Centennial. He had 11 in a 1-point loss to Central. MacArthur is 5-4 (crazy, considering Oakville has played 1 game so far).

-White Station is 6-0 now after a 59-50 win over Memphis Central. Can't find a box to see how Roby did, but brief Twitter mentions indicate he played well. They now play 4 games in a tournament in Honolulu.

-Blair Academy is 4-0 after a 15-point win over USMAPS (US Military Academy Prep School). No box to be found, so I'm not sure how Jolly played. The school is also in as remote a part of NJ as it can be, so it doesn't really get covered by either NYC or Philly press. Their games for the rest of the week have been cancelled, as a tournament at Babson College was called off due to snow. Blair will have played only 4 of 7 scheduled games so far, and is looking for a new opponent this week ("will travel, please call!").

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Oakville post duo of Austin Gillmann and Ervin Sarajilic are doing work! Passing it in high low. Post finishing well. Up 16-3 on SE

Oakville (MO) leads Springfield SE 31-27 at half. Ervin Sarajilic 19 pts 5 reb 2 ast. Austin Gillmann 6 & 4. Jalen Henry 11 pts 3 reb 2 blk

#SLU commit 6-10 Austin Gillmann swats a three and blocks shot inside on same possession. Then hits 3 pt on other end

Austin Gillmann w a pair of nice seals for layups. With strength SLU commit will be good down line

Oakville (MO) defeats Springfield SE 64-54. Ervin Sarajilic 32 pts 10 reb. Austin Gillmann 15 pts 6 reb. Jalen Heny 15 pts 5 reb 5 blk

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Miles Reynolds is averaging 19 points and 5 assists per game...second half of this video focuses on him...he's #3:

http://www.csnchicago.com/node/1458461/drive-miles-reynolds-rising-occasion

Even better than the video is the article associated with it. It seems like Miles has really improved over the summer so we might have another under the radar find. Also, you have to like the attitude he seems to have and the fact that he sems to be a take charge type of leader.

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Oakville post duo of Austin Gillmann and Ervin Sarajilic are doing work! Passing it in high low. Post finishing well. Up 16-3 on SE

Oakville (MO) leads Springfield SE 31-27 at half. Ervin Sarajilic 19 pts 5 reb 2 ast. Austin Gillmann 6 & 4. Jalen Henry 11 pts 3 reb 2 blk

#SLU commit 6-10 Austin Gillmann swats a three and blocks shot inside on same possession. Then hits 3 pt on other end

Austin Gillmann w a pair of nice seals for layups. With strength SLU commit will be good down line

Oakville (MO) defeats Springfield SE 64-54. Ervin Sarajilic 32 pts 10 reb. Austin Gillmann 15 pts 6 reb. Jalen Heny 15 pts 5 reb 5 blk

Note the "with strength" comment. He looks like he will be a good redshirt candidate, which would be fine next year, assuming Jolly is ready to give 5-10 minutes a game in relief of Manning. Redshirting would also put him in the class with Welmer, which might work out well long term.

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Jolly only scored 2 in a recent 46-43 loss to Newark East Side. No one on Blair scored more than 8, though; Seton Hall signee Marial Shayok had 5. Blair has had trouble filling out the schedule due to weather; 2 cancellations and a postponement already. They're 5-1 after the loss. Jolly is in good hands with coach Joe Montegna, though; it's the same school and coach that produced Royal Ivey, Charlie Villanueva, and Luol Deng.

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White Station is now 10-0 after sweeping through 4 games at the Iolani Prep Classic in Honolulu. Roby scored 10, 9, 8, and 4, respectively. WS plays again on 1/7 in a conference game against Overton. Again, Roby's scoring totals are of little concern, given the amount of D-I talent on the roster. They spread it out quite a bit, aside from 26 and 22 from Leron Black in the last 2 games.

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