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Wow! What a week! my sweet Lillian Kathleen arrived on Wednesday and now okoro? sometimes, life is just GREAT!

The Okoro signing is big. It would appear that Okoro had his pick of SLU, Illinois, Mizzou and more big named schools. His choosing SLU sends a message to local St. Louis area players. Good things are happening at St. Louis. The local players are playing, having fun and winning. They are playing an exciting brand of basketball and our local Billikens are recruiting for SLU. The next big step for SLU is to play our way into the top 25. If French and Goodwin return, then I believe that will happen this year. Martin tried to rebuild their program with a big splash in his first season, with big signings and made a trip to the tournament. However he has not been able to build on that. Instead the team has fallen back to mediocracy and inconsistency, with good wins followed by terrible losses. It looks like coach Martin goes for the best available player and just hopes the pieces will fit together. His individual player development also seems to be lacking. I think the shine is off of the Martin apple. Illinois seems to be making progress under coach Underwood, but I don't consider them to be the threat to SLU in the St. Louis area that Martin was with his local ties. At this point, for the coming season we seem to be the better of the 3 teams and well ahead of Mizzou. Coach Ford has a vision for the team and it is coming together. Going into this season, I believe we have a good player at each position and high quality players coming off of the bench. We have depth at the forward position, which is something that we did not have last season. We also have a path to success after this year's big seniors graduate. That means we have a successful program shaping up. We have a team that can run and looks to score of a fast break, a team that can dominate inside, a team that can press and one that can hit outside shots. That is a tough combination to beat. Coach Ford has sailed this team through rough waters. I believe we are positioned now, to attract top local area recruits. Go Team Blue and congratulations Coach Ford!

And then Tarris Reed can replace Okoro.

If you guys want to start calling me The One Jr. I won't stop you...

We are going to have players coming off the bench that would start on almost if not every Billiken team I've ever seen. We've had teams where I knew we were sure Tourney teams but I never felt like we had a great chance to make the sweet 16 without a great draw or an upset in our bracket. The Majerus teams were good and so fundamentally sound but I wasn't shocked when we lost. If Has and Goodwin are back any loss will be a huge disappointment to me (yes, I know we will have them) but we will go into every game with me believing we can win and in the large majority that we should win. If Has and JGood come back I'll feel like anything less than a sweet 16 appearance next season is a let down.

My son goes to a Big 10 school. If they dont open up for the fall I will talk him into transferring to a school that is open. If private schools think parents are going go pay their over priced tuitions for online classes they are crazy. There will be a football and basketball season. To much money would be lost.

holyjeez he comes with Conklin Summer app already installed!

Me at the Y when they have the hoop lowered

Business is booming

Doc, the problem is we are all well aware of corona and the impact it has on everything. Every single thread on this board could be hijacked by a discussion of corona if we wanted to as it permeates everything everywhere. not sure a thread welcoming our newest recruit needs to be another place to start corona discussions...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2020/04/08/handicapping-the-most-promising-of-267-potential-coronavirus-cures/ Here are the top 50 treatments (out of 267 ) under review ....not including the one I mentioned above as it came out 6 days after the article. Hmmm....Top 50 of 267 vs top 64 of 353 ......Maybe I should setup a bracket and see if we can predict a Final 4.

Sorry, I really do not want to monger in fear! But people are speculating about roster spots. I think if you, or anyone, believes the corona situation is a non-factor in any of this, I guess time will tell. But I'm really just asking if it might become a factor. People on here tend to talk about all of this as if nothing is going to change... or we will just suddenly be back to normal... sorry for suggesting it may not be that simple.

Among other things, I think Francis' choice speaks to Yuri and TJ's character and talent. Welcome aboard!

Love it! Fits an obvious need once French moves on and it’s easy to pull hard for any kid who has been thru what he has. Im ready to host another billikens.com tailgate, since I assume it will be all dudes social distancing shouldn’t be a problem. Can’t f’ing wait!

Side note: I think it is awesome that Conklin has a check mark after his twitter.

Why waste time checking Tiger bore?

The whole situation is fast-tracking a lot of societal changes that were moving along slowly due to humanity’s natural resistance to change. While I think a lot of the talking-head essayist are going too far in claiming “things will change for good” (while usually pushing their agenda on what that change should/will be), there are some things it is hard to see not happening: -The university system bubble is going to burst with a lot of schools who focused entirely on enticing students through buildings and sports with weak academics having no value proposition to offer student. -Mail-in voting become much more ubiquitous. -Commercial real estate seeing a huge demand drought for years as smaller firms realize the cost savings of all virtual teams. -(Hopefully) The end of the fly-across-the-country-despite-having-nothing-to-say-just-wanted-to-shake-your-hand model of b2b sales and marketing. -A re-birth of the late 80s early 90s made-for-TV sports properties where everything is based on creating a show and not a live audience. I’d expect the next attempt at a XFL-style alternative league in any sport will be played in a warehouse-turned-TV studio and not a stadium/arena.

Broy gets a pass. Whatever he decides is fine by me. As for balance, we’ll return the Swede, Strickland, Jimerson (if he gets a medical) and the 3 unnamed FR will all be local 4 stars or above. Good building blocks. Plus any transfers Coach Wizard lands to round things out a little. Oh, ye of little faith.

Take on a big contract and in many cases buy out an existing contract. At this point and in the near future I have to imagine the number of coaches being fired with years remaining on their deals will be fairly limited. So Mizzou is likely stuck with their pile of sh!t coaching staff.

Extremely glad the Billikens extended Ford. Something really special is being built here.

assuming this is for any food thoughts on local eats not just bbq have any others checked out Jerk Soul in Hyde Park? closed on Saturdays carry out only. Delicious but reason posting is that they are moving to Cherokee Street. Seated with a patio 3106 Cherokee. The first location closes at end of month. It is some very tasty food and reasonable prices.

-Congratulations!! adorable little one, glad to hear all is going well, she'll be too young to remember our first National Championship, record and keep it for her!

Let not forget the contribution Brad Beal and his organization contributed to develop these young men so they can contribute to local schools like SLU. Beal has been a great ambassador for STL. I believe we now have a pipeline. Esto Vir!!!

If campuses remain closed until the New Year I find it hard to believe lower level basketball leagues will be playing. The NBA might open operations but these two aren’t NBA ready. If the G league and over seas leagues aren’t open these two will be left with 2 options 1. Remain in school, earn a degree, possibly play college ball. 2. Sit on your couch, workout on your own and hope the G league returns to action.

Respectfully is good, thanks. But respectfully; I actually read through this entire topic, and so far, I was the first and only person to suggest that roster spots may have some relationship with this ongoing crisis. Makes perfect sense to me, and I am a higher ed insider who thinks about all this in relation to higher ed, so I just brought it up.

DAMN! I'm out of reactions but good post.

Kids will go to the situation they feel is best for them. It's not an accident that every local player we've landed has committed when there was immediate playing time available. Hence why we couldn't pull in the locals last year. But when we have significant playing time available, we are VERY tough to beat locally. That other program that Aquinas refused to name (nicely done) is just a hodgepodge of players. Illinois's recruiting strength is upstate. KState is still our strongest competitor. I think we will demonstrate, however, that our program has a higher ceiling as the most talented program in the A10 than KState does as a Big 12 program with average talent.

Congrats. Another Billiken Beauty! Hope mom and Lillian are doing well.

The labrum is not restricted to the shoulder, it is present in the hips and other major joints as well. The bony part of a joint is only strongest structural support of the joint. Bone rubbing against bone is not good. For a joint to work there is cartilage covering the bony articulating surfaces of the joints. In the shoulder joint the articulation surface located in the scapula is rather flat and incapable to keep the joint in place (not so in the hip), in the shoulder the cartilage portion covering the clavicular bony surface has a curved shape that provides the proper articulating surface for the arm to connect to. The hip's pelvic surface, the acetabulum, is also covered and protected by cartilage, the hip labrum. Both of these surfaces are covered by lubricating filled membranes in order to get the joint working properly/ Shoulder labrum injuries are more common because the bony portion they cover does not provide as much support as that of the hip. However, you can have labrum injuries in both shoulder, hip, and other joints as well.

I'll agree, IF Illinois can finish near the top of the Big10 every year, they will get attention from local recruits. They dont however have the tradition of getting covered by the St Louis media like Missouri has. Right now, the Big 10 is brutal, so getting in the top tier and staying there, is really tough. Illinois has not yet demonstrated that they can do that. The best thing we can do for national coverage is to get into the top 25. That way we get the daily ESPN scores and highlight updates. The way we play, with Yuri dishing the ball with amazing passes and with so many forwards and guards able to get well above the rim for spectacular dunks, we produce Made for TV moments every game. Another advantage to us being in the top 25, is that it will make the annual Bragging Rights game a joke, as we suddenly become the elephant in the room.

I’ve seen so much praise for Yaya as a teammate and kid who has battled adversity in his life, that he would be another local kid I would be on board with seeing in Billiken blue along with the other two posted about most frequently. As others have said, the fit might not be ideal for him here as far as the roster in his first few seasons, but maybe he is a guy who is willing to take a backseat in his first few seasons as he continues to develop and learn our system taking on an expanded role as an upperclassman.

waking up to this.... God is good.

Hard pass.

this one has a little more info on Okoro: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/normal-west-graduate-francis-okoro-transferring-to-saint-louis/article_c9dc893a-8ebf-5e77-bcb0-e16435cfc2d4.amp.html

Here’s an article about the commitment: https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/oregon-transfer-francis-okoro-picks-st-louis

I was referring to if D1 players were getting paid to play. I get this isn't exactly that. However it won't be long before sponsors get sweet deals to advertise and then the sponsor pays the kid. Just laundering money from the school to the kid, nothing else. My opinion won't change. If they want to be paid to play and are good enough let them go do it. Don't enroll in college.

And we will welcome you back Caleb and Cam’Ron!

Was just coming to post this... we’ve got JGood, Thatch, Yuri, TJ, Okoro... anyone else? Don’t hate that pipeline at all

Corey Tate

Your wish is my command

with the foundation Ford has set, we're gonna start to hand pick who we want. Thats big time. This program is taking off.

I don't want to get banned from this website

Had to bump this for 2 reasons one I was doing the math on O Gs shriner #s and then I remembered that I wanted to point this out when it happened; we have passed 52K twice the OG prediction in about 10 days after flying past 26. AKA do you have any idea you' be this far off?

Sorry I was a little delayed because I had to get the bag of cash sanitized but I have completed the drop off. We should be good

Ferry was very much like Macauley, only not quite as good. He was constantly compared to him. 6'8 center with a decent jump shot. If you saw his son play then you saw Bob play basically. Bob is still scouting for the Nets. He's been a front office/GM/Scout for going on 50 years. He won a title as a GM with the Bullets. I think he was on his way to making the Basketball HOF before his son made some racist comments as GM of the Hawks. Boushka was a PF but played on the perimeter alot, could handle and shoot. Played like Roland Gray.

Bad post. Not cause you're wrong or anything, just it's so depressing to even think about.