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Had the pleasure of taking in practice this morning. Coaches were introducing a lot of new stuff, so don't want to draw any premature conclusions re: anything specific. However... the strength/athleticism/skill-level of the 4 bigs is OFF THE CHARTS. And they are getting after it. Coach said (paraphrasing): There's teams out there with one or two bigs better than our guys, but nobody has four as good as our four. The talent on the floor in 5 v 5 at practice is light-years ahead of the last few years. And that was without Isabel, Wiley, or Thor. You also get the sense that these guys know they've got something cooking. Gonna be a fun year!

On the topic of whether star ratings of recruits "matter," I found this post to be pretty interesting: https://basketball.realgm.com/article/229173/Star-Ratings-In-Depth tl;dr: On average, based on statistics, better-ranked recruits end up contributing more to their college teams. However, I would add that this article is based on averages, and as we all know, an average doesn't say much (if anything) about any particular individual. Further, if you have a coach like Majerus, who had a known ability to pick out diamonds in the proverbial rough, star ratings are going to mean less. It's also obvious that plenty of low-ranked players end up far exceeding their recruiting star rankings. If memory serves me correctly, Ron Baker at Wichita State wasn't ranked at all, and Frank Mason, who ended up POY, wasn't ranked highly coming out of high school. There's also something to be said for 3-4 star recruits who stick around for 4 years compared to one-and-dones. The true answer is definitely somewhere in between "a team with 4 star recruits will be automatically better than one with 2- and 3- star recruits" and "star rankings don't matter at all." Although some of you who are saying the latter may be trolling GloryRavs because it's fun and easy to do...in which case just ignore this.

He is already practicing calling Carteare daddy.

Absolutely correct. I will always look back fondly at the Washington fans coming to billikens.com, talking about their star ratings, talking about killing SLU, etc. And we all know what happened next. But overall, you're spot on that ratings do matter to an extent. And that it is easy to troll gloryravs.

Blackthorn

Pirrone’s

Mediocre ingredients. Mediocre pizza. Papa Johns.

Thatch as advertised. Big & strong for a frosh. Jacobs is thin. The size of the rest of the guys really makes him look small (both height and bulk). But very athletic and showed a nice jumper today.

how many 4* players did SLU have on their roster when they were ranked #8 in the nation?

That's easy to say because we have guys with stars. Had we had 4 recruits coming in averaging 1 1/2 stars we'd all be worried about our lack of recruiting. Recruiting stars matter, I'd be willing to bet 4 star players as a whole end up better college players than 2 star players

I assume his choices would revolve around $$$ (which doesn't necessarily mean jumping to a P5 if it's a bit more money for a much higher chance of being canned after 2-3 years) and what gives him the best shot at coaching in Lexington, KY someday. Can't really think of any other significant motivations. Sure, St. Louis isn't the greatest college basketball town, but he can change that, which seems like more of a reason to stay and cement a legacy than a detriment. And as mentioned, obviously a great place to live and raise a family - especially if keeping connections/family in western KY.

Agreed. I also get the sense that Ford not only loves coaching at SLU but that he and his family really enjoy living in St. Louis. It appears that Travis genuinely loves engaging with the STL community which is considerably different than the 45,000 people in the middle of Oklahoma. It also seemed like his son really enjoyed DeSmet. I believe they have 2 other kids currently in high school but not sure. Now obviously his kids won't be in high school forever and if the right opportunity ($/school) came along he'd be crazy not to consider it. But in STL, you're "king of the castle" so to speak. SLU is the highest level of basketball in a metro of almost 3 million. He's not far from where he grew up. He doesn't even have to leave his own backyard to recruit handfuls of quality talent year in and year out. I think he really has the chance to build a Gonzaga/Nova/Xavier-type program here and I also think he knows that. I just don't see Ford jumping to any P5 school for the sake of coaching at a P5 school (again). But I'm usually wrong about everything so...

I view this upcoming season with more of a big picture view. As others have pointed out, the NCAA Tourney can be a bit of a crap shoot. A deep tourney run would be great of course, but my hope is that this year begins a long sustained run of success - consistent NCAA Tourney appearances, always being relevant .. like Xavier and Gonzaga. Avoid major rebuilding seasons. That's far more important than a Cinderella run like Loyola or Mason, etc. I want Ford to build a program that has staying power.

As I noted in my first post: not drawing any conclusions about anything from one viewing. Pistol - no set 5v5 groupings today. Lots of different combos. I am fairly comfortable in stating: The depth of very athletic bigs is unreal for a non-power 5 program. Goodwin and Bess are damn good and are clearly the leaders of the group. Coach considers the size/strength/depth of this roster to be a major team strength. They know that they're gonna be able to wear opponents down and that they need to play in a manner that does so. Consistent outside shooting still a question. If they find that.....scary good.

Agreed. Not every player needs to look like a body builder, and especially at guard. I'll take a wiry athletic freak like Jacobs gives us something a little different.

-so they stopped recruiting him, did Schmidt blow up on social media?

I'm fine with improving the A10. Going 18-0 in conference might look more impressive if this guy is a stud.

Lets make this simple - better ingredients make better pizza - with all things being equal.

Recruiting rankings are one of countless factors that determine the outcome of games.

Exactly. The NFL will never come back here (thank God), so this is a golden opportunity for the Bills to hang with the big boys.

You watch season 3? I thought I overused the word fuok.

Yes, nothing says European Luxury with a Spanish twist like the 1976 Chrysler Cordoba...….

Haven’t had a great shooter since Lisch. Ellis closest thing and streaky as hell

I've got an 8 year old daughter that I introduced to fishing on vacation earlier this year and she loved it. I've been looking around to find good fishing spots relatively near St. Charles and most the people I know have said to go out to Busch Wildlife. I'm not too keen on fishing across the street from the Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail and Museum, and I remembered a few of you were discussing fishing on rivers in another thread. Are there any good spots within 30 minutes to an hour from St. Charles where I could take my daughter to fish? I could go further if it's a spot where my wife and other two daughter would have fun as well, but it would need some non fishing activities for them.

Box make sure you use the correct size fish hooks (pretty small) to catch the small fish you are likely to get. I always remember the first time I went fishing, got nothing but my cousin thought he felt a fish bite, pulled the rod up, and caught a little fish by hooking it right below one of its pectoral fins. Also make sure you can take the hook out of the fish's mouth once you catch it. A lot of beginners have trouble with this. A pair of pliers may help if you do not know how.

Bobs Seafood.

I think the Conklin senior led team that had Ellis and Jett coming off the bench may take exception to that statement. Let's not go overboard with the talent level on this team. Again, I'd rather have 7-8 excellent players than 12 really good ones. Only time will tell if we really have 7-8 excellent players. A fan can think whatever he wants, but I'm not going to be unsatisfied with this program if we make the leap from the last dreadful four years to making the NCAA tournament and don't win a game.

I have many leather-bound books, and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.

rockin that 3rd city kit. Love it.

Let's remember the Majerus mantra ... rebound and defend. If this team does indeed defend and keeps shooting percentages down for our opponents, and we dominate the boards on their missed shots as I expect a French, Foreman, Santos, Gordon, Goodwin, Bess, Thatch group to do .... then the simple math is that we will be even or likely ahead for most games. The known 'catch up" strategy in every game played everywhere now is 'extend the clock/game' which means employ the Haq-A-Shaq routine. So it will be critical that our improvement be most noticeable at the free throw line than anywhere else. We don't need a high-volume three point shooter making 45% plus a game, we need one or two viable options per game that allow for seams to open down low. And we need to make free throws because it will likely come down to that sans a blow out. This season is set. All the ingredients are on the shelves. Ford now has to make them all mesh and work. I don't care who starts, I do care who finishes and what their free throw percentage is/will be. I don't care who gets what MPG. I don't care who averages the most PPG. I care about chits on the left hand side of the win column and ledger and the usual high water marks of the OOC, regular season, tournament and Dance. I care about recruiting 2019-20. I don't care about Mickey Pearson. I also care about ensuring our bouncing baby boys are all tucked into their beds at 8 pm each night. And that no one trips over a crack in the sidewalk. All the rest is just white noise ---- Top 144, preseason predictions, .....

Sweet 16 would be a run in my mind

Anthony Jones: 1987-1990 (3 seasons) Averaged 2.2 ppg over his 85 game career. 56 of 143 from the field, (39%), and 1 of 4 from the arc.

Fun wasn’t it. Mentioned Hank Raymonds playing at SLU and then the Marquette Connection with him and Rick Did you hear McCarver saying Cubs pitchers are like “having zits at the prom?” “You are glad you are there but you want to look good. “. Yikes.

Final tourney line for Ingvi: 7 games played, 26.0 min per game, 12.0 ppg, 84 total points, 32.3 FG%, 26.8 3FG%, and 92.9 FT%. Now, when will the Iceman Cometh to Saint Louis? (Note to Banks: I see you are putting a Troll reaction on all my posts. I think you missed a few earlier in this thread. You might want to go back and get them. You are welcome.)

A man has been out fishing by the lake all day and hasn’t caught anything. He decides to just give up and call it a day, but on his way he notices an old man fishing but a few feet away from him. The man immediately notices the other fisherman has several buckets full of fish, then witnesses him reeling in yet another one. “Excuse me, sir”, the man says, “I’ve never been able to catch much of anything around here. I’ve got to ask, what’s your secret?” The old man pauses for a moment, then mumbles “hmmm mmmph mmm mmph mmm hmm mmmph”. “I’m sorry, could you say that again?” The man repeats, a little louder this time, “hmmm mmmph mmm mmph mmm hmm mmmph!” “I-I still didn’t quite get that, sorry” Finally, the old man picks up a plastic cup, spits a mouthful of live worms into it, and yells “Ya gotta keep your worms warm!”.

Wow you’re totoally right! College basketball and football are the same sport! I hear they have the same amount of players on the field too so surely 1 person makes the same contribution in both sports equally. There is a reason why in basketball 1 player can be the difference between playoffs and not

Carteare will be the newcomer of the year in the A10, but I hope he reads this to see that certain writers might be dissing him. Don't mind seeing A10 teams landing good recruits.

Jacobs is a two star per Verbal Commits. Certain MBM's - not mentioning names - aren't excited about him as his recruiting rank is too low. Me, I'm all in on Mr. Jacobs. I don’t care how many stars he has.

Did lead toy laws come into effect after your childhood?

Shhh don’t speak logically to Hoosier. He doesn’t understand college basketball recruiting