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Tennessee has already been in talks for a few months now.

This was raised in another topic, but seems better discussed here. Is SLU positioned better than other A-10 schools for the new NIL driven recruiting world? I think so. Here is why? SLU is the only nationally competitive program in St. Louis. I know we have SIU-E and now Lindenwood, but I don't think those programs will compete with us for NIL dollars. St. Louis is a top 25 city population wise with a ton of businesses, big and small, to help in the NIL effort. There are a lot of alumni in town that own businesses that could help. We also don't have an NBA team. So, basketball fans that want a high level product in town only have SLU to back. Let's compare to other schools. VCU and Richmond have to compete with each other for limited dollars in a city of about 230,000. Bonaventure is in Olean, enough said. St. Joe and LaSalle are competing with each other and Villanova and Temple for Philadelphia dollars. Mason and GW compete with Georgetown and other schools within a certain radius for attention in DC. Duquesne has Pitt to contend with. Rhode Island has Providence. UMass is outside of Boston by about 90 minutes and has BC to compete with. Fordam has St. John's and, to a lesser extent several of the smaller schools in the NYC area. Davidson is in Charlotte has to compete with UNC Charlotte and, more likely, Duke and UNC. The two schools possibly best positioned to do well for themselves for NIL dollars, in my opinion, are Dayton and Loyola. Dayton has an avid fan base and is the only game in town, although the population in Dayton is only about 150,000. I just think that their fan base will come up with something for them on a civic pride basis. Loyola competes with DePaul and Northwestern in Chicago, but Chicago is so big and has so much money that I think they may do well for NIL money. This is especially true when you consider that Loyola has been Chicago's most successful program over the past 10 years. Also, Chicago is so spread out geographically, that Loyola may still get local consideration from businesses that just aren't close enough to Northwestern. With regard to the NBA side of the discussion, Chicago, Philadelphia, DC, New York, Boston, and Charlotte all of NBA teams, where St. Louis does not. I know that the greater concern is big conference teams dominating conferences like the A-10 as far as accumulating NIL money to distribute. I'm just saying that we might be the best positioned team in the A-10.

And it helps that they’re in a top 25 tv and MSA market. Programs like Dayton, Bona, etc should be more concerned.

-the only comparison I see between Chaifetz and Family Arena is both have roofs, seats and parking issues -no doubt we have advantages being in a major market, however there are many alumni bases significantly represented in C-suites around St Louis, I hope the SLU folks are getting approached to support NIL and The U not expecting them to come to the NIL -one advantage a college town could have over us is in many cases the school is the focus of the area which could lead to more businesses being aware of the school and willing to support NIL's -again, I don't expect Dr Chaifetz and a few others to foot the bill for all things SLU athletics

On one hand, I think you have a valid point that SLU absolutely should not sleep on Lindenwood competing with them for local $ as a D1 program. They have a number of built in advantages over SLU. On the other hand, calling The Family Arena "Chaifetz Arena's" equal is an absolutely hilariously absurd take. Have you been to both? The capacity for basketball is similar, but that's about the only thing they are equal in. Chaifetz is better in just about every other way. Not to mention SLU owns Chaifetz and it is on campus whereas The Family Arena is owned by St Charles County and is a few miles from campus. You'd think being close, but not on campus wouldn't matter much, but it pretty clearly did for SLU at Kiel/Saavis.

I was fans of those types of players as well. I just don't know that I agree that we don't see good big men anymore. Those guys just play a little bit different style. The best example is Giannis. He is maybe the most dominant player in the game today, and he is 6'11". Embid is 7'0". Durant is 6'10". Jokic is 6'11". If Olajuwon, Malone, and McHale could shoot like these guys do, they would have done the same thing.

While all of those things are true, $$$ is the answer to basically all transfers at this point.

The family arena is a freaking dump. Chaifetz is one of the best designed arenas I've ever been in. There is absolutely no comparison between the two except for their similar size.

In no way is the Family Arena the equal of Chaifetz.

I think I understand what you are asking. And, SLU is doing well with Academy recruiting. But keep in mind, there are plenty of successful examples with a wide variety of backgrounds. Isaiah Parker wasn’t on everyone’s radar when SLU first started recruiting him, landed him, developed him, and helped him become one of the best Freshman in the country this past season. And, he of course signed a Generation Adidas deal after that. He was perhaps known more for his his wrestling accolades in some circles. That of course worked out well for Parker and SLU. SLU has some long term relationships with a few of his club coaches. And, now SLU has an additional 2022 Left Back recruit from the same club, Kevin Rivera. SLU recently targeted a two sport athlete from Minnesota, who joined Minnesota United, did well, began training up with their first team, and later signed a deal with them. Meteoric rise. Other players are more obvious MLS Next Academy standouts that may never make it to a campus. With some others, SLU competes with Indiana or Notre Dame or UCLA or whomever. Others, i will see play and say this kid can play and I have no idea why he isn’t playing academy or being more highly recruited. In the new example here, SLU had been recruiting Dougherty a long time, well before he was on the radar of some others. A large part of recruiting is identifying talent, preferably early on, building long term mutual interest relationships, closing for a player, It’s also timing, and even some luck too in some situations. Locally, Seth Anderson, Donny Ross etc didn’t play Academy ball, but they can play. Ross’ cousins played Academy at times, non Academy at times, even went back and forth, so that can happen as well. I can assure you future Billiken Tanner Anderson can play. Matteo Boasso plays Academy ball at SLSG, and, he can play too. Marcos Moore is an Academy player in Houston at Rise. And so on. It varies. One thing you will also see is a few redshirted players from last year that step right in and contribute more than you may think. They are ready to go. That’s part of the player development and depth with recruiting. Transfers too. Alberto Suarez is a good Center Back. Lane Warrington will play a lot of right back etc.. Chandler Vaughn was stuck on the bench at Pittsburgh before transferring to SLU. Simon Becher played at Holy Cross before SLU. Kipp Keller wasn’t always a big strong 6’2 Center Back. Another player such as Patrick Schulte was a well known stud for years. So it varies. All that matters is getting players that fit at SLU, developing them, having success at SLU and having them continue that after SLU. So it’s a mix and a variety that has been successful, of geography, type of club team, etc…it’s pretty fun. The rolodex of names and connections that Kalish, Berstch, Stoll have is vast, far and wide. Resources are important too. Budget. Travel, Facilities. Success to sell etc… SLU’s on field success has also helped get SLU visits, conversations, etc with some that hadn’t before. I like where SLU is at with recruiting right now. Hopefully it keeps getting better and better. It is a daily grind. The work that goes into for both the Men and Women’s programs is a lot. …………………. Women’s Soccer is a little bit different and has its own sets of challenges with recruiting. Similarities and differences.There’s been a lot going on with that this past week so I can probably post something separately in their thread.

A lot of SLU talk in this - great interview.

Yes he will. But I'll be pretty surprised if there's no communication between SLU and Smith, I do think we will be involved to some extent.

I need the pullover that The Legend is rocking! Also love the fact he's marketing SLU with all these NBA guys around. Recruits will see it.

Defense wins championships. Let’s go!! Love that CKK is keeping that Texas pipeline open. Steer them away from SMU.

SLU has received a commitment from 2023 Center Back, Cole Dougherty. Cole is a defender (Center Back) from Solar Academy (Dallas) MLS Next. Solar is one of the country’s best current and historic club programs nationally for both Boys and Girls. He was recently named Honorable Mention Best 11, at this month’s Generation Adidas Cup in U17. His team advanced to the Round of 16, the only independent club to do so. His team also won the top flight division at the Jefferson Cup in Virginia this past month. His club team won the U16 Copa Rayados last season. Cole also played up with the U19’s in the San Diego Surf Cup that season, as well as in the Solar Premier Cup. As a Sophomore, he helped lead his high school team, Rockwall Heath, to the 6A State Championship Game with a strong defensive effort, giving up just 1 goal in 6 games leading to the final.

My guess is that, as soon as Yuri took his name out of the Portal, an order for about 4000 ‘Run With Me’ hoodies were made by a Mr. Bill I. Ken.

He and Forte know each other from the DFW AAU scene.

Seems to be a lot of people you don’t like.

Self fulfilling prophecy

We just won a bidding war with an SEC school and other major programs. SLU isn’t going to be little sisters of the poor in the NIL game.

That dude is the biggest dou*#* canoe on Twitter. In a cesspool of A-Holes he stands out as the biggest one. I hope he lives a life full of stubbed toes and paper cuts.

Tennessee did not pull its offer. The Volunteers thought they had Collins until they didn't. There was an effort by SLU to get an NIL package together to make the decision harder. I don't know what the end result of that effort was, but something clearly changed the equation. There also were some conversations between SLU and Tennessee about the talks Tennessee engaged in with Collins before he was officially in the transfer portal. SLU was not pleased with how that process went down. In the end, it's a big win for the Billikens. Retaining talent is a huge challenge for an A-10 team right now, and the Billikens circled the wagons. They should be very good next season. Share Likes1 BenFred

Yeah, looks like he's focused more on non-basketball professional next steps. Even if Duke had a scholarship to give him, he's at the end of the roster. Getting a free year at Duke and spending a year with their basketball team after finishing at Harvard is not a bad way to spend the 23rd year of your life.

If there is some truth to this and May was involved in pushing back - good for him. He deserves credit. Just yesterday, in this thread, a wise man remarked: "How this is not considered tampering is beyond me."

The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again.

Yes I've been a proponent of SLU starting something like the above. Maybe crowd sourced and if possible to a 501C to allow donations to be tax deductible. I'm not in St. Louis and I'll be out of the country part of this year and next but I'm willing to help put together a plan. Big programs always had more pull and money. The combination with free transfer is rocking the sport. I cheer for SLU and whatever players are on the team. I want SLU to win. I'd prefer that players I like stay but if that's not the case anymore. The program belongs to alumni. Coaches are hired guns, now players (not all) are becoming hired guns too. I make no value judgment on the system or players wanting to get money. I just want SLU to adapt so SLU can be competitive.

you saw a different traore than i did. in his few appearances he made enough catch and scores, nice rebounds and outlets, steals, etc to show he had very good promise. a lot more than what gillman ever did. he would have been a decent 5-10 minute sub for okoro this coming year and then see what he progressed or not to become. his gleeful jig after the one big play was a season highlight imo.

I wouldn't dismiss Lindenwood. Of the three D1 schools in the region, they have football and will use it to their advantage. St. Charles is growing every year. Not to mention they have the family arena nearby that is Chaifetz Arena's equal.