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  1. Duquesne is about to land Damian Saunders. Saunders had signed with Marquette last fall, but was recently denied admission to MU. His prep coach, Bill Barton, is now an assistant at Duquesne, so many of us at Marquette expected him to land at DU. Saunders is an ultra athletic but somewhat raw combo forward from Waterbury, CT. I was anticipating him providing some minutes at both forward positions off the bench at MU this year. If he can cut the mustard in the classroom at Duquesne, he should be a pretty good player for the Dukes. One thing to mention is that Saunders was charged with being in the presence of pot this summer. He didn't have it on him but was with someone who did. Nice new site, by the way, Billiken fans. Good luck this year. As a MU fan, you all know I gotta love Majerus! http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2007/08/29/sports/280774.txt Wednesday, August 29, 2007 6:10 AM EDT Saunders' next stop: Duquesne? BY JOE PALLADINO Republican-American One door closed on Damian Saunders last week. Another door is about to open. Spurned by Marquette University just days before the start of the 2007-08 academic school year, the former Crosby High All-State basketball star is poised to land on his feet, perhaps as early as Friday. It is widely rumored that Saunders will sign with Duquesne University and play in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
  2. "You are so lucky to play in the Big East." Yep, it's pretty cool. "It's all thanks to Wade." Really? Maybe you should ask Wade about that. He'll thank his coaches for pushing him to become as good as he is. And you might want to include Robert Jackson, Travis Diener, Steve Novak, and Scott Merritt in on that discussion. "Wade would have the magic wand just to do anything he wants because you know you wouldn't be where you are if it wasn't for him." Would Syracuse have won the national title that year without Carmelo? How about UConn without Emeka? How about Florida without Noah? "Good thing you're behind us in the national rankings academically...haha! victory is ours!" Those rankings look at a lot of things, including endowment (SLU's is A LOT bigger), and how much does endowment really affect the actual educational experience? That is one area Marquette is working hard at to improve. The 7-year goal is to increase it from $300M to $1B. We'll see where the rankings are at when we reach that goal. Both SLU and MU are fine universities. "wow...Marquette isn't even in the top 100!" If you are talking about US News, yes we are.
  3. Do you think you could either provide here (or over at marquettehoops.com) your take on a few things on Blackledge? He certainly won't be asked to play a huge role at Marquette, but do you think he could defend athletic 3/4's in the BIG EAST (ie: Jeff Green from Georgetown)? That is one area of weakness on our roster... an athletic defender at the combo forward. Obviously, he can block shots, and we were weak at that too. But I was just curious what you think he can do defensively and on the boards. If he can do that effectively, he may actually work out better for us than Lance Stemler. Stemler certainly seems to be the more polished player, but he really doesn't seem to be all that different from a current player we have, Dan Fitzgerald, except maybe with more post moves. I was disappointed when we didn't get Stemler, but now that we have Blackledge, I'm curious to see how this works out. Certainly, his potential is intriguing. And BTW, we have a first rate strength and conditioning coach at MU, Scott Holsopple. Some amazing transformations have occurred in short order with him at the helm, so if Blackledge gets his work done at SWIC and can get to MU to start working on strength (which is no guarantee with JUCOs), I bet he'll be up to 200 pounds by November. Thanks for any help you can provide.
  4. "it was an honor to be lectured by the likes of a marquette fan." Huh. Lectured. You mean like lecturing on whether or not someone should post opinions on a recruiting opponent's message board? My main reason for posting was to correct false statements by you (SLU has better academics) about my alma mater (MU). Who is lecturing? "if you dont think you were patronizing in your overall appearances good for you." Yes, good for me. Patronizing in my overall appearances. I'm not even sure what that is supposed to mean... laughable. You're out on an island all by yourself, Roy, and the ship's not coming to pick you up. Go back to your pacifier and blankey.
  5. "I have no problem with you going to another board to gather information, see which way the wind is blowing or just be entertained. myself, i probably read 15-20 boards a week. but i rarely if ever post on another team's board and if i do i dont engage debate." Good for you. Does that mean that's the only way to do it? Are people really wrong for actually... God forbid... posting on... dare I say it... ANOTHER TEAM'S message board!?!??!?!?! Oh, the horror!!! "this is a billiken house." And I feel I've been very respectful while visiting. "i feel comfortable and ok with debating billikens with other BILLIKEN fans." Do you realize how childish this sounds? "i do not think i would be right to debate another program with their fans in their house." To be honest with you, I'm not getting where you're taking it that I'm "debating" your program. I combatted your misguided comment that SLU has better academics. I made a comment that when I visited SLU, I was surprised at how little buzz surrounded the program. Otherwise, I was complimentary and even said I hope he picks a Jesuit education... if not MU, SLU. You called me thin skinned or whatever earlier? This may be the most obvious case of the pot calling the kettle black in the history of mankind! "but thanks for stopping by this past month to tell us how pathetic the billikens are and how legendary and superior the marquette program is. your input has been invaluable." Provide me with one example where I did that. You are the biggest baby I have seen on any message board. And I ain't talkin' Big Baby Glen Davis. I'm talking ga-ga goo-goo. Once again, to everyone else, good luck. Shame Lance didn't pick one of us!
  6. First of all, were you in the room when Crean made his pitch? How do you know he hadn't seen him play? I think your info might be a tad off there, friend. I assure you, Crean did not tell Lance he was "the answer." In fact, Dominic James said that the thing he loved most about Crean when he was being recruited was the fact that he was the one guy who told him, "Here is where your game needs work..." and went on to explain a number of weaknesses. And then said, "Here is where we can help you at Marquette..." Snake oil, my ass. All head coaches are salesmen... if they are not, they won't last long. But if you think that's all Crean is, you're sorely mistaken. No Billiken fans on the Marquette boards. Having attended a MU-SLU game at SLU a year ago or so, it's not all that surprising to me. The palpable apathy of SLU fans was remarkable to me when I was there. Even in the worst of the Mike Deane days, when I was a student at MU, the Bradley Center and MU bball program never had so little buzz surrounding it. Personally, for SLU's sake, I hope you guys ditch Sodes and grab up a guy who can really make SLU into a power in the A-10. Lord knows, SLU has the potential to do that! Roy, if you're trying to suggest I'm strange for going to another school's message board to get info on a common recruit on the eve of an announcement, go right ahead. True "fans" are by definition "fanatical" about their teams, and I sometimes go out of my way to find out more about the players MU is recruiting. What a wild idea! To the rest of you on here, thanks for being civil. Very Jesuit of you all. Good luck. If Lance doesn't choose Marquette, I certainly hope he sticks with the Jebbies.
  7. "who have done nothing but parlay the success of 1 season into a new conference they have no business being in." A league we don't belong in? Last I checked, we finished 4th out of 16 teams this year. Yeah, we sure embarrassed ourselves. "Can you tell I'm bitter?" Ummm... yes. So sorry we did what was best for our own university. "I hope I am wrong." You know, I don't know what to think anymore. When I read the article where his coach was quoted talking about Crean and where Stemler would fit into the MU offense, I thought MU. I have heard other things recently to point to MU as well. However, I'm guessing he's being pulled in different directions for different reasons. I'm really at a loss at predicting this one as of 4:50pm. We should all know tomorrow. After that happens, I'll leave you guys be. I really do wish SLU well generally, but can't tolerate such BS like calling our coach a snake oil salesman. Good grief.
  8. You do realize, don't you, that US News puts undue weight on factors like size of endowment (SLU's is currently much larger than MU's, although MU is making a push over the next 5 years to get to $1B), research, etc. These factors have negligible effect on the sort of education you get, and certainly don't speak to how hard it is to get into each school, how much money each school throws at students to get them to attend, how the actual instruction, advising and job placement are, etc. Both are strong academic schools, but if you truly believe you're getting "better academic" at SLU, as Creanis Envy Billiken Roy says above, you're mistaken. Also, better hope that Stemler didn't pick up Business Week this week, which ranked the top 50 b-schools in the country. IU is #10, MU is #46, SLU isn't on the list. And this ranking looked strictly at student satisfaction, job placement, and relevant factors like that. http://bwnt.businessweek.com/bschools/unde...ate/06rankings/ Point is, at IU, MU or SLU, he's going to get a strong Business degree. I also find the "better exposure" part funny. Better exposure, Roy? Are you kidding me? I suppose you mean in the St. Louis area, which I can see, but certainly not nationally. More PT and big fish in small pond, I might agree with. Slick talking snake oil salesman. Whatever. So much for being civil about a recruiting battle!
  9. Classy, Billiken Roy. What a load of BS you're shoveling!
  10. My mistake. I assumed with the Knollmeyer commitment that there was just one scholarship available and you guys were hoping Stemler would be that guy. I'll go back over there and change that. Thanks. Again, the BSU fans pretty much ripped Nelson once he said he was leaving. He's apparently pretty raw, but if SLU is offering, he has to have some potential. A redshirt year can really help big kids too, as you guys I'm sure know. At MU, I'd point to Amal McCaskill for direct proof of that.
  11. A guy on there claims that Nelson told him he's going to SLU. Not to bring everyone down, but since Maurice Acker decided to transfer from BSU to MU, I've been following the Ball State board a bit, and the locals there are not very high on Nelson. I have no idea what sort of a high-major prospect he would be... http://www.bsufans.com/modules.php?op=modl...c&topic=10179&1
  12. Gotcha. So it was more of a comment just on how he'd fit in at SLU than how SLU compares to MU, N or IU. Thanks for the clarification. To Box and Won... I doubt he'd feel the pressure for filling in for Novak. Obviously, all of us at MU would not expect the second coming of Novak. Novak is frankly the best shooter I have ever seen in person. People talk about Redick and he is great and more versatile, but give Novak an opening around the 3-point line, and he's absolutely money. As you guys know, we have three incredible guards who return as sophomores next year. If anything, the pressure is lessened at Marquette because Stemler would be surrounded by so much talent and would not have to be the man. Along with this is the fact that having guards who can drive and dish leaves a bomber space to shoot it (witness Novak's 121 threes). So, bottom line, no, I don't think there's pressure to be the next Novak. Stemler would get his shot at PT, but also would be part of a terrific team at Marquette.
  13. From DoctorB above: "He is a good looking athlete with spring, fiesty around the bucket, and can post up." That's a lot more than people would ever have said about Novak. Novak added a post game this year and became a decent rebounder, but it sounds like Stemler is naturally a better post than Novak ever was. And as you can imagine, Novak didn't exactly play in the traditional 4 on offense, since he made 121 3-pointers last year. I definitely think Stemler would be a very nice late addition to Marquette, and I think he'd get solid minutes. He's not going to make or break our season, but I think he'd do a little bit better than you guys are giving him credit for at Marquette. Good luck to him. MU or SLU are both good choices with good academics.
  14. Novak played the 4 in our offense last year, but Novak is not a true 4 either. Crean is looking to run the three-guard offense, with a good versatile forward at the 4 and an athletic big. Stemler would get minutes in this modified 4 position, and likely, a few at the 3 as well. I will say this... a starting spot at Marquette is anything but guaranteed. We return a lot of talent. However, if Stemler can grab a few boards and spread the defense and at least guard the 4 reasonably well, he'll get substantial minutes. I have a feeling it will be SLU or MU. Both would be good options for him. Obviously, he'd be able to play closer to home at SLU and would play against better competition at MU. He has a built-in niche at either school. It all depends on what his top priorities are basketball-wise, which I don't think anyone knows for sure besides Lance and those closest to him. Just to comment on Basketbill above: "I am glad frankly that LS did not just light up the house. If you wanted to choose a team, which team would you want to play for 1.) a team that you would be the best player on or 2) a team that had a balanced group of as good or better players?" I'm not sure how that's relevant, unless you were saying that this puts SLU in the same category as IU or MU, where Stemler is clearly not the best player either.
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