Leaderboard

Yuri could use some competition. Aaron Cook may beat him out and that would be fine with me. Yuri's passing ability is an A+ but his shooting is about a D and his defense is about a C-. Cook playing solid D and the ability to hit the open 3 may lead to more wins. Yuri's flashy passes have gained him a lifetime pass on this board. I'd like to see other areas of his game vastly improve before I consider him a non-questioned/unchallenged starter.

Updated: 6/21/2021 Getting somewhat quiet and slow around the transfer portal. Thought I'd composite things up as they stand now feeding off the Consolidated A10 Transfer thread.. Seniors: The following seniors have still not declared their intentions regarding the extra COVID year: Ibi Watson and Jordy Tshimanga at Dayton; Ryan Murphy at Duquesne; Jeremy Shepard at Rhode Island; Ryan Daly and Anthony Longpre at St. Joe's; and, of course, our Hasahn French. All others have decided to move on or come back. Any additions or deletions are welcome. What do the transfers bring to the gaining A10 schools? Here's a synopsis of who gets whom and what the plan might be: Davidson: Foster Loyer, the 6'0" junior played in 13 games for the Spartans this year averaging 4.2 ppg over about 14 mpg. He last played for Sparty in February. In the previous two years, he played 31 and 36 games averaging about 7 mpg and 2.4 ppg. A Big Ten benchwarmer recruited over at Michigan State. Former 3-star recruit. Dayton: Toumani Camara (Georgia) and Richard Amaefule (East Tennessee State): Camara, a 6'8" sophomore, led Georgia in blocks (1.1/g) last year, playing 25 games and averaging 12.8 ppg in 28.4 mpg. Amaefule, a 6'9" freshman from England, played in 19 games averaging 8 mpg and 1.5 ppg. Camara was an SEC regular, Amaefuel a Southern League bench warmer. Even if Amzil, Nwokeji, Blakeney and Sissoko stay, Dayton's front line will be young plus two 4-star recruits. Camara should add veteran leadership where its needed. If college is a guard's game, a lot will fall on Elijah Weaver's shoulders and the two highly ranked freshman guards (Gree and Smith) coming in. On 5/15, Kobe Elvis, a 6'2" freshman from Canada, announced hsi transfer to Dayton. Elvis played in 19 games for the Blue Demons, averaging 5.2 ppg and 1.9 apg in about 20 minutes per game. While his shooting percentages were decent enough, he didn't take enough to be substantial. Shot 50% from the line. Member of Canadian National Team. Originally a two star recruit. Duquesne: Tre Williams (Indina State), Pedro Castro (Houston Baptist), RJ Gunn (lenoir-Rhyne), and Leon Ayers IIi (Mercer): The Dambrot Revolving Door is always open and spinning in Pittsburgh. Tre WIlliams, a 6'7" center led Indiana State with 1.5 bpg last year. He played n 25 games at just over 30 mpg averaging 9 ppg and 6 rpg. He likely replaces Michael Hughes. Pedro Castro, a 6'6" junior forward, did it all for Houston Baptist. He led them with 14.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.5 steals pg and 1.1 bpg. Looks like he's Marcus Weathers' replacement. Houston Baptisit went 6 and 19 last year, good for 11th in the Southland Conference. Leon Ayers III played in all 29 games for Mercer. The 6'6" junior put up 12.2 ppg with 3.8 rpg. Duquesne has a lot of unknowns in the 2/3 slots. Lenoir-Rhyne, a DII school in NC, went 9 and 7 last year. RJ Gunn, a 6'7" senior, played in all 16 to the tune of just over 30 mpg and averaged 16.6 ppg along with 5.3 rpg. He was their leading three-point attempts guy and shot that at a 38.8%. Looks like a lot of replacement parts but Dambrot will have to start pretty much from scratch. Unless Murphy and Dunn-Martin come back, the backcourt is weak and unproven. Kevin Easley, Jr., a 6'7" sophomore played in all 26 TCU games at about 20 mpg and averaged 4.5 ppg and 3.7 rpg. As noted elsewhere, he was the Southern Conference Rookie of the Year two years ago before transferring to TCU from UT-Chattanooga where he averaged 14.2 ppg with 6.7 rpg. He stepped up into a bigger pond with the Big Twelve. He did start half of TCU's 26 games this year. Fordham: Patrick Kelly (Penn State) and Darius Quisenberry (Youngstown State): Kelly is a 6'7" freshman who didn't see the floor much at Penn State. Only got in five games. Darius Quisenberry played in 60% of the Penguins 25 games but played a lot when in there. The 6'1" junior played 33 mpg and averaged 14.9 ppg and 3.1 apg. Going to need a lot of work at Fordham. It's Fordham. Antonio Daye Jr from Florida International is a 6'1" junior who led the team in scoring at 17.1 ppg along with 4.2 apg and 2.4 rpg. He is a 29% shooter from 3; 45% from the floor and 69% from the line. FIU finished 9 - 17 good for 7th in CUSA's East Division. Fordham added second Penn State transfer DJ Gordon. The 6'5" freshman was essentially another bench warmer for the Nittany Lions, getting in six game of mop up duty. Largest run was 7 minutes and that's where he scored his 3 total points for the year. Originally a two-star recruit. Recently, Fordham announced the transfer of 6'7" SG Kam'Ron Cunningham from Mississippi Valley State. MSVS was a whopping 2 and 22 last year. Cunningham played in 18 games last year averaging 10 ppg. But it was completely erratic. He scored 34 against Alcorn State in early February; with two other games of 24 and 24 points but there were a lot of 0 games as well. Cunningham was a former two-star recruit out of SC. Mason: D'Shawn Schwartz (Colorado), DeVon Cooper (Morehead State) and Davonte Gaines (Tennessee): Mason lost essentially it's entire roster when Paulsen was fired. Who knows what they will look like come next season. I expect Kim English to foster an OOC schedule that is extremely weak as he searches for answers. D'Shawn Schwartz was a steady player for the Buffs. The 6'7" senior played in 30 of 32 games, averaging 28 mpg, 9.3 ppg and 3.1 rpg. Devon Cooper was a solid starter at Morehead. The 6'4" junior played in 32 of 32 games, averaging 12.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.5 apg all over 31.6 mpg. Davonte Gaines, a 6'7" sophomore, saw little time at Tennessee. He played 68 minutes over 19 games. He was originally recruited by Kim English so he followed the coach to Mason. This is a roster in total upheaval. Doubt much will be expected. George Washington: Ira Lee (Arizona), Joe Bamisile (VA Tech), Bryan Knapp (Cornell) and Brendan Adams (Uconn): Another roster with a "Help Wanted" sign on it. Right now, only James Bishop returns of any note. Ira Lee, a 6'8" senior, played in 23 games, averaging 10 mpg and 3 ppg. His best year was his sophomore year when he averaged 6.6 ppg. Not excited. Joe Bamisile, a 6'4" freshman guard, played in 13 of Va Tech's 22 games and averaged 3.5 ppg over 9 mpg. The Ivy didn't play this year but Knapp, a 6'1" senior, played in all 27 games the year prior averaging 7.1 ppg in just under 29 mpg. Adams, is a 6'4" junior, only played in 16 games this year averaging 4.1 ppg. He played a lot early then saw his time cut as the Big East tournament approached. Not a high volume scorer by any stretch. Bets game was 9 points in 31 minutes. One thing Coach Chistian has is time to promise kids. Going to be another hodge-podge year in Foggy Bottom. Geedubya added 6'10" Tyler Warner to their roster as a non-scholarship player. Warner is an obvious big man from Ontario, NY out of the 212 Sports Acadmey in FL. A stretch big who shoots from distance. Geedubya recently added 6'8" PF Qwanzi Samuels from Florida Gulf Coast. Samuels played in three games for the Eagles last year, last appearing in February 5. He played in 24 games in his freshman year. He scored about 50 points total over those two years averaging about 1.8 ppg. He is originally from the District of Columbia so this is a return home. La Salle: Mamadou Doucore (Rutgers) and Josh Nickelberry (Louisville): Doucore, a 6'9" junior from Mali, was essentially a scrub at Rutgers, getting in 11 games for 5 mpg and averaging 1.3 ppg. Nickelberry, a 6'4" sophomore, was a highly recruited kid, a big high school scorer in NC. In two years at Louisville, he has been in 24 games with 15 in his freshman year in mop up duty. Not a lot to write home about. La Salle has always brought transfers in. Clifton Moore, Ramon Galloway, BJ Johnson, Pookie Powell, Tyrone Garland. Traci Carter. And from big schools ..... Indiana, South Carolina, Syracuse, Marquette. None have really set the world on fire. Umass: Michael Steadman (Montana), Trent Buttrick (Penn State), Rich Kelly (Boston College) and CJ Kelly (Albany): Steadman is a 6'10" senior, who played in 19 games this year, his last one being February 13. He averaged 13.2 last year in over 30 mpg but then saw his time drop to 19 mpg and 10 ppg. This will be his third school having started at San Jose State. Buttrick, a 6'8" senior, played in all 25 State games this year at 13.3 mpg and 3.0 ppg with ditto in rpg. Bench/role player. Rich Kelly, a 6'1" senior, also saw his last game action on February 13. Prior to this year, he was a 30 games per season guy. Averaged 11 ppg this year but also had 16.7 and 13.3 ppg last two years prior. Has averaged 40%+ from three the last three years. CJ Kelly, a 6'5" junior, led Albany in scoring at 14.3 ppg over 16 games. He last played with the team on February 28 but that's when their season ended. He was a 41% three point shooter. Umass is going to have a lot of time to give out what with Mitchell, Pierre, DeGray and Gasperini leaving. I think it will be extremely interesting to watch this chemistry experiment going forward. Weeks, Garcia and Fernandes all like to jack it; adding the Kellys will make it interesting. Rhode Island: Ishamel El-Amin (Ball Sate): El-Amin, a 6'1" senior, palyed in all of Ball State's game last year, leading the team with a paltry 2.9 apg. He did average 16.2 ppg coming up from 13.8 his junior year. Jalen Cary, last year's big time transfer from Syracuse didn't pan out and Fatts is gone. Jeremy Sheppard has yet to formally declare. But Rhodey's chief weakness last year was somewhat inept big men (outside of Mitchell) and inconsistent guard play. Rhodey does get the other Mitchell twin back from ACL repair as well. St. Joseph's: Ejike Obinna (Vanderbilt) and Charles Coleman (East Carolina): Obinna, a 6'10" senior Nigerian, did nothing but mop up duty for a relatively bad Vandy team. Nineteen games played at about 8 mpg with replicable averages of 1.9 ppg and rpg. Coleman, a 7'0" sophomore, also was a mop up guy at East Carolina with 0.8 ppg in 9 games but last seen at ECU in January. Neither guy seems to fit Billy Lange's coaching MO to date as he doesn't seem to do big men. But that may have been because of what he inherited. St. Bonaventure: Quadry Adams (Wake Forest) and Abdul Karim Coulibaly (Pittsburgh): Adams, a 6'3" guard, played in 9 games and averaged 2.2 ppg in those 9. He's from NJ and that's where Jaylen Adams is from. Brothers? Cousins? Don't know but Jaylen's career at the Bonnies was legendary so it could be looking for lightning to strike twice. Coulibaly, is a 6'8" sophomore from Mali. In 22 games at 22.5 mpg, he averaged 5.2 ppg and 3.9 rpg. With the transfer of Jalen Shaw, Schmidt needs an Osunniyi part time sub. Coulibaly will likely be an upgrade to Shaw. Plus he has a JUCO big man, Oluwasegun Durosinmi, also Nigerian, in the fold as well. Given that Schmidt has everyone back from his 2021 A10 champions, this is just tweaking and replacing parts departing. Despite focusing on transfer from other four-year schools, it is important to recognize the Bonnies' signing of 6'5" SG Linton Brown this past week. Brown was a first-team All-American JUCO at Indian River State College in Ft. Pierce, FL. Brown averaged over 18 ppg and added over 6 rpg. Schmidt returns his defending champion starting five still but, on paper, he has added tremendous depth and resources. Saint Louis: Rashad Williams (Oakland) and Jordan Nesbitt (Memphis): Williams, the 6'2" junior, missed two of Oakland's 30 games this year. He was the second leading scorer at 13.6 ppg over 29 mpg. He didn't really rebound or assist but shot 78% from the line and 34% from three. Of his 362 shots, 277 came from beyond the arc. That's 75% of his total shots taken. He made 94 threes, which is a little over 3 per game. Nesbitt, as we all know, has no real stats from his brief stay at Memphis. VCU: Marcus Tsoshonis (Washington), and Jimmy Nichols Jr. (Providence): Finally, Tsoshonis is a 6'3" sophomore who was Washington's second leading scorer by average at 10.4 ppg. He shot 37% from three but dished out only 1.1 apg. He shot 45% from the floor with 37% from beyond the arc. Three other guys on Washington took more threes than Tsoshonis; he was fourth leading point producer as well. Nichols, a 6'8" junior, played in 16 of Providence's 26 games, last seeing the court in January. He scored 6.1 ppg with 2.4 rpg. As noted in a previous thread, there will be lots of shot replacement needed at VCU as Bones Hyland moves on to the pros. Assists are not an issue with Ace Baldwin controlling the ball. Davidson has noted no transfers to their program and loses a lot in Grady and Collins. Bates Jones and David Czerpowicz, not so much. Davidson has added 6'8" PF Michael Katsock to their roster. The kid was recruited as a walk-on after playing post grad basketball in the DC area. He will be a freshman. Davidson has 8 guys on scholarship; 13 if you count their walk-ons and LOI signees. Richmond also lists no transfers. But they did get four of their five seniors to commit to coming back in Jacob Gilyard, Nathan Cayo, Nick Sherrod and Grant Golden. This will leave the starting five intact as Sherrod replaces Blake Francis but the bench remains incredibly weak despite getting ample playing time last year with injuries to Francis and Golden. The Bonnies should still fee comfortable and listed as #1. Dayton is very intriguing. Can VCU not skip a beat in replacing Hyland with Tsoshonis? Richmond will have an old and veteran roster. Chemistry should not be an issue there. Then there is us with new parts Okoro and Nesbitt along with the transfer Williams, if eligible. I think the preseason guess will be along these lines with some ranking of these five teams as top five in the various prognostications.

-I hope whoever was grading Yuri's defense factored in the number of charges he took, I guess he was team leader in that stat, if it is kept

Cook does most of his damage 15 feet and in. The best part of his game is defense.

You might just get your wish.

Always

Kramer's had two good weekends in a row playing the spot-up shooter role for BBE. His overall game, which he won't get to show much on that squad, reminds me of Mike Crawford.

Looks like we are interested in Treyvon Lewis 6'4 wing Ferndale High School in Michigan.

If Cook comes to be our backup PG i will be so thrilled. Bringing in a guy from the Lou that played in a natty and has started >60 games.... Im already getting riled up.

Agree with both 3 star and NH regarding certain Grad transfers but you'd damn well better make sure you're right. I'm TJ or anyone elase and you recruit a guy in and promise him a starting role for a position I've worked hard to earn and he turns out to not be better than me, I'm probably on the way out, even if you adjust. Especially with a no sit 1 time transfer rule. I'd feel a bit screwed over. And if you promise a guy a starting role, everyone will know what he was promised,

Hypothetically, would you be opposed to a coach recruiting a grad transfer (e.g., Tramiane Isabell) and saying something like "our plan is for you to be our starting point guard and play the majority of the minutes next to Jordan Goodwin in the backcourt"? Obviously if Isabell comes in and he sucks, that plan has to be altered. But it's not like all players enter the season with the same opportunity to win playing time as everyone else on the roster (which I know you're not saying)

If you don't believe that Tramaine Isabel was promised a starting role I think you're naive. Coaches offer starting roles to priority players all the time.

Peter and Zac sit down to speak with former Director of Sports Medicine for Billiken Athletics Anthony Breitbach. He served under Brad Soderberg, Lorenzo Romar and briefly Rick Majerus. For 7 years he cared for Billiken athletes across all sports. He worked out of West Pine Gym and oversaw the transition to Chaifetz Arena. Join us as he shares his wealth of stories and knowledge from behind the scenes of Billiken Basketball! View the full article

The only player with a lifetime pass is Perkins and no other player. I like all of the players on the team and because of that I do not care who is named the starters as long as it is the 5 best and it is a fair competition for all 5 spots. All positions must have challengers that want those minutes.

Oh, yes. You guys did a phenomenal job. Coach Shields is super impressive. When it comes to recruiting local players, I'm guessing that even the kids who are dead set on going to school away from home and/or to someplace bigger would reconsider after hearing her sales pitch.

I like Cook's experience and scoring, but no way would he unseat Yuri as the starting point guard. Ford would be a nutcase to sit Collins (6 assists/2 turnovers as a soph) in favor of Cook (2 or 3 assists/2 turnovers). If he comes to SLU it means getting minutes at multiple positions, and both Cook and Nesbitt are good insurance for sliding over to play the point behind Collins.

The only thing that will be going down are his car insurance premiums... because he’s getting so old...

Amazing what happens when the checks start bouncing.

Just listened to the interview and...wow.

Tony is a great dude and one of my all-time favorites at SLU. I will have to give it a listen.

All i want in 2022 is Larry Hughes, Jr.