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Say what you will about NIL, but I just bought some pickles. Partly because the brand looks cool, and partly because of the story around Fred Thatch. Maybe the first time I have bought pickles in a decade. There is something to be said about hometown marketing through a hometown team. It cuts through an otherwise endless sea of bleh.

I won't predict the minutes for the full season but based on how Ford has run his rotations, here is our minutes breakdown in our Sweet 16 win over Arkansas Perkins 36 Yuri 35 Gibby 32 Thatch 26 Okoro 28 Pickett 23 Carr 12 Parker 8

Links!

From yesterday’s game

Peter and Zac are joined by Colin Suhre, the voice of Billiken Baseball and Softball to give an inside look at what goes into an ESPN+ production. Friday's Baseball matchup with Davidson interrupted by a pair of adorable field invaders named Frank and Lucy. Colin provides a detailed breakdown of Billiken baseball's key first vs second matchup against Davidson. Fred Thatch signs NIL deal with Two Men & a Garden Salsa and Pickles. Yuri Collins sheds light on Portal entry and exit with Ben Frederickson Staff visits Andrew Carr Mael Hamon-Crespin visits SLU WBB gets two unnamed commits Zac gets an inside look at the brand new Soccer locker rooms. View the full article

Unfollowing isn’t about hard fellings, it is about business. Twitter followers and how often accounts are interacted is one thing players can use to generate NIL opportunities. Don’t help players build a brand after they passed on playing for SLU. Do follow the social media accounts of all of SLU’s players and engage with their accounts when you have a chance. It is the easiest thing all Billiken fans can do to help make SLU a more attractive option in the modern landscape.

Everyone make sure you unfollow Carr.

He pulled the Twitter equivalent of reaching for one hat and then putting on a different one.

Carr played 28 mpg at Delaware, a team with a NET ranking of 134. He's transferring up in talent level. He has to know he will be playing less minutes than he does now, no matter where he goes.

The jumper looks soooo good. Silky smooth. Smoother than the new Snickers without the d!ck vein. There were a couple of plays above the rim that got me real excited and my favorite was at 4:31 when he tossed his teammate a perfect transition oop from behind the perimeter - he demands respect from the defense that deep but also has the passing skills to capitalize on the numbers advantage. He's a big guy for a 17 year old, would've believed he was 20-something. His playing style looks tailor-made for our system and group of guys.

That is an excellent point! They are delicious, give them a try if you haven’t tried them and like pickles. A small growing local company making a great product and using a local athlete to promote it is a great story all around.

And the score, using soccer parlance, is PLAYERS 1 - COACHES NIL

On the topic of following players, it is criminal on the part of Billiken fans that Perkins, Okoro and Jimerson don’t even have a thousand followers on Twitter. Come on Billiken fans, do better.

I already did.

I’m pretty sure we quit recruiting him

His dream was to come here, you could see it in his eyes. unfortunately for him, ford thinks we’ll get 2 bigs better.

No idea or insider info other than Phil Forte following him on Twitter. I really hope we make a strong push for Felipe Haase. He has similar skillset & great shooting #s, but I think he's an even better fit than Carr because he's a lot bulkier and is a true big guys instead of a tall wing.

NO. Ford doesn't offer anyone a starting spot. What he would offer is the chance for a player to contribute with significant minutes, if he shows he deserves it in practice. Pickett and Thatch would be extremely upset if they know they have been relegated to the bench, despite being one of the best five players on the team. First he will need to prove he can be in Ford's 8 to 10 man rotation and then worry about his minutes. Earn your minutes in practice and in games.

-I don't get the criticism directed at folks paying NIL, I think some (most?) of it is jealousy - this is different than criticizing the NIL concept -if you have a net worth of $1bil then $500,000 is the equivalent percent of your net worth as $1000 is to someone with a net worth of $2mil, maybe not pocket change but probably not something to lose sleep over either, especially if still making an income -in a static environment it would take 2000 years for one billion to go to zero taking away $500k per year -as the saying goes you can't take it with you

If we get Carr it's because we offered him a starting spot alongside Okoro. That means with Yuri at the 1, Perkins at the 3, Okoro at the 5, and GJ or JP at the 2. Carr isn't transferring here to come off the bench - Crespin may be happy with minutes off the bench but I don't see AC agreeing to that role.

Dismissed from team in February for one and academically ineligible for the other ? I’ll pass on both. The team is to deep and talented to take chances like these two.

Smith wasn't on staff at Longwood. She was a fifth-year grad student (2 years JUCO, 3 years Longwood). Surprised she's going straight to an AC position, but hey, I guess Tillett has confidence in Smith's potential.

https://bustingbrackets.com/2022/05/02/ncaa-basketball-updated-wte-2022-23-power-rankings-transfer-deadline/ Look who’s #16 ...

more importantly, He'll need to play a lot + have low TO's for any NBA opp. He'll be up for the challenge.

SLU had a good player development Spring. They capped their Spring Schedule with a strong 3-1 result at Illinois. Illinois had 4 wins this Spring, including 3-1 over Indiana, 3-0 over Illinois State, and a win over the current D2 National Champs. But more than that, Illinois is a Power 5 School, and, any Power 5 win is a good one for SLU, especially a convincing one on the road against a school having a good Spring. Power 5 is one of the biggest recruiting selling point challenges SLU faces on a regular basis. Illinois has one of the better recent local players on their team, and, they target some overlapping local and regional players. Indiana’s (whim Illinois defeated this Spring) newer regime overlaps SLU recruiting right now with about two dozen player targets. Women’s Soccer has more Power 5 teams and leagues than Men, and selling that experience, facilities, resources is even more of a recruiting factor in the Women’s game. That’s why it’s important for SLU to be competitive in those categories to keep up. ……………… It’s also a good confidence booster heading into Summer Ball. SLU will have players playing in 3 different leagues, on various teams this Summer, from May through July. Rosters are still being finalized, and, a few players are switching teams, while some others will remain with long term clubs. ……………… It’s an important time for recruiting. Just this past weekend alone, while prepping for Illinois, there were ECNL Super Cup games amongst six clubs, the Naperville Invitational, and the Adidas Tournament of Champions in Iowa. Lots and lots of competing Power 5 programs were at these events. Spring High School and club seasons in various states, showcase events and Summer national playoffs. …………. There has been a lot of coaching turnover. One conference movement of note, is Dayton assistant Dean Ward leaving to be the head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne in North Carolina. (lots of strong youth teams there as well as future program opportunities). Ward was their lead recruiter in St. Louis and in the region. Florida State’s highly successful coach stepped down over differences with their new AD. Tennessee’s recently successful coach will take over at FSU. He was given a 3 year extension one month prior. He will get a big compensation and resource bump at FSU. Coaching compensation, resources, facilities, budgets, all matter. ………… The Fall outlook (and beyond) for SLU is strong. The goals this Fall are to win the A-10 regular season, and A-10 Conference Tournament. And, it’s to be a top 16 National Seed, making a little bit deeper NCAA run as well.

I think they were joking? edit - just read it. They were not joking

When you’re hoping congress will come and save you, you know it’s an absolute mess…

I can see how the players make money, I can see how the various “NIL Agents” (for want of a better term) make money. What I can’t see is how the billionaires supplying the NIL money make anything off of this. I don’t see where anyone is making commercials using the likenesses of entire football and basketball teams worth of college students in any form to sell or move products and services enough to make the expense of giving these NIL deals. From what I can see, it’s purely a money loosing expense for the people giving the money away. The only thing they get is their egos stroked for trying to help their favorite university buy a championship. And it looks like the price will keep going up. How long are enough of them going to keep giving away money before they lose interest in this and switchand buy a trip to outer space, or a submarine, or lord knows what else is the new trend that rich people will do to show off their wealth?

The NIL is a new thing, a lot of people appear to be testing the waters in this area. However how long is the interest going to last? It is like the opening of a new restaurant with good reviews. Lots of people want to check it out, then the interest goes away...

Javon Pickett will be a huge addition to next years team.

No hard feelings here. Wake Forest is a great academic school, certainly top 50, and is on the East Coast, one of Carr's wants. Very understandable decision. Now Coach Ford, let's get a Big who is better or equivalent to Carr.