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I don't understand this desire to itemize Nesbitt's perceived shortcomings. He had a good freshman season by Billiken standards. He's moving on to a team where he can be the centerpiece of the offense and we got a more experienced player who will likely produce similar numbers. This is a win-win for everybody

+1

Nesbitt has a higher ceiling but lower floor than pickett. Pickett is also far more consistent than Nesbitt. For the type of player we need for next season, pickett is better suited imo.

I don't, because this team is drastically better than last year's - there's less ball to go around and 45-60 points per game have to be split between YC/GJ/JPerk/FO, then all the others get the scraps. You're out of your mind if you don't think Pickett would've put up better than 8/4 or even his 11/3/2 at Mizzou if he played on last year's Billikens.

Checked in on Forte's new follows and he has recently followed 2 transfer guards. Finally the coaches are listening to the board!! Trey Boston - 6'2" 165lb Soph. Guard out of UL-Monroe (originally from Chicago) Averaged 10 points, 2.2 reb, and 1.9 ast in 9 games last year (19 min/game average) Tray Croft - 6'1" 170 Redshirt Senior Guard from Wisconsin-Parkside (DII) Last year averaged 20.5 points, 4.6 reb, and 3.84 ast. Shot 40% from 3 and 89% from the FT line. He's had a very interesting collegiate basketball career which started back in 2016 2016-17 - Played at Iowa Central CC 2017-18 - Played at Iowa Central CC (named DII player of the year) 2018-19 - Transferred to Northern Iowa and redshirted March of 2019 announces transfer from UNI and ends up at Wisconsin-Parkside, looks like it was academic (https://siouxcityjournal.com/croft-to-transfer-from-uni/article_7ba3c156-17b0-5023-b28c-e5646f3e2d03.html) 2019-20 - UW-P Started first 5 games but misses rest of year with injury 2020-21 - UW-P played and started in 9 games 2021-22 - UW-P Played and started 25 games, put up big numbers In May 2022 he announces he will transfer Looks like one option is someone who would sit behind yuri and learn to then see increased mins next year and the other is the definition of a veteran guard that some on this board have been asking for. Forte has followed a bunch of 2023 and 24 HS players recently too but I'll leave that up to @Pistol

no clue, I don't know why else Coach would yell "move jordan" as much as he did. Also, you'll never hear a coach tell a player to stand there, unless its a drawn up play on an inbounds. That never helps the offense.

Riding a bird scooter through Chaifetz in an AC/DC shirt…Sincere is making a strong case for my second favorite Billiken.

Still, the idea of an annual game between SLU and SIUE at Centene Stadium seems a good one. Between the two schools, they could probably fill the place, the City SC owners should be looking for other events to host there, and a soccer match is better than a concert or something. If we could year after year fill the place, it would raise the profile of both schools, raise the profile of St Louis as a soccer town, and give another date that the owners of City SC can fill up their stadium, and since it’s a soccer match no need to reconfigure the place like they may have to do for some other non-soccer event. This could be a win-win for everyone, SLU, SIUE, City SC, the city of St Louis, and if you get ESPN to broadcast it, raise the profiles of both the A10 and the OVC. All we have to do is fill the place….

You also need to consider that Pickett was a much bigger part of the offense. Often times Nesbitt was left to stand in the corner as the fourth or fifth option

Nesbitt would have been an all conference player as an upperclassman if he bought in to everything Ford and the staff taught him for 4 years. Unfortunately I don't think that was ever something he was/is going to do. He was solid for a freshman. He could have contributed but he's replaceable.

-I'll play, my take 22 400,000 23 400,000 yuri 50,000 yuri 50,000 jperk 50,000 jperk 50,000 okoro 40,000 okoro 50,000 linnsen 40,000 pickett 25,000 jimerson 50,000 jimerson 50,000 tjh 25,000 tjh 25,000 ftj 30,000 ftj 50,000 strick 10,000 parker 30,000 jones 20,000 kramer 7,500 lorentsson 10,000 hughes 7,500 traore 10,000 thames 7,500 nesbitt 50,000 forrestore 32,500 courtney 5,000 cisse 7,500 williams 10,000 tbd 7,500 -the pot ($400k) is fixed, this is money at the start of the season which is flawed as should be based on actual production but I didn't want to pay at the end of the season as it would sting to fork over $50k and the next day, or 20 minutes later, have a kid enter the portal, projected starters all getting the same and the rest based on anticipated playing time/contribution -no doubt room to quibble -my recollection of anticipated playing time/contribution from last season might be a bit impacted by what actually did end up happening with the season -I am giving something to everyone as if CFord deems them worthy of Being a Billiken they are worthy of these funds

SLU Men’s Soccer Schedule: https://slubillikens.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2022 Some regional rivalry return games as expected, from last season, at Louisville, at Creighton, home for SMU. SLU will play frequent past opponent, Marquette at home, giving them an additional Big East game. Lipscomb won the ASun and was an NCAA team last year. Other notes, the exhibition game with Omaha, former SLU head coach Bob Warming recently retired as Omaha’s head coach. SIUE is recruiting well. Steve Bode takes over at Loyola Chicago this year. SLU gets the Ramblers at home. Bode has a lot of FC United connections, where SLU recruits often, as well as in Milwaukee.

Personally not a fan of the speculation as to why Nesbitt decided to move on. He was obviously an emotional player, but essentially labeling him a head case and comparing him to Gordon and Biedscheid isn't really justified at all.

Bo Cruz

What a cool shout out for Larry the Legend. Didn’t know much about Armon Watts before reading this but I’ll be rooting for him if I catch any Vikings games this season. Best of luck Mr. Watts. Armon Watts, now in NFL, feels ‘duty to give back’ to North St. Louis https://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/benjamin-hochman/hochman-armon-watts-now-in-nfl-feels-duty-to-give-back-to-north-st-louis/article_82337d33-a9f6-5fff-8f85-49118b449410.html There are kids he doesn’t know, but he knows them. They live in north St. Louis, like he did. Like his family still does. They are so innocent and precious, yet vulnerable and imperiled. “You know, gun violence, stuff like that,” Armon Watts said. “You know, robberies. ... “I grew up right off Newstead and Bircher. Back then, it was still dangerous with some of the violence that happens in the city. Of course, we had to witness some of those things. Just being able to make it out of that, to where I am now, it’s definitely a big achievement.” Growing up, Watts could’ve been a number. Now he’s No. 96 for the Minnesota Vikings. The defensive tackle tallied five sacks last season, third-most on his team. Two forced fumbles, too. And as each career step takes him farther from north St. Louis, it also brings him closer. He’s starting the Armon Watts Foundation this summer. He’s hosting a free football camp for kids. And now that he’s a name around the NFL, he wants to meet and inspire kids from his neighborhood. “I just felt like it was kind of my duty to give back,” said Watts, 25, who played high school football at CBC and college ball at Arkansas. “Because I see a lot of potential (in kids), especially with (the impact) of somebody being like me, who can make a change or start to make a change. Whether it’s with the youth or my plan to buy back some property (in north St. Louis) and build some new stuff ... it’s definitely just the beginning. I’ve got a lot of plans for that part of town. ... “I was raised by my mom. ... My dad was actually incarcerated for a while, but he’s back in my life. Just getting over some of those hurdles — some of the things my mom had to go through — she made life as easy as possible as she could on us. Having seen her go through adversity, and me go through some of those adversities, adversity wasn’t anything I was new to. You just overcome it. And I’ve just been blessed to do what I do now.” Watts remembers his mentors, back to those who worked at the Boys & Girls Club. And he cherishes a childhood encounter with a pro athlete. The impression was inimitable. Everlasting. It’s one he hopes to make with this new generation of kids in north St. Louis. “Larry Hughes would throw these inner-city camps,” he said of Hughes, a St. Louisan who played 11-plus years in the NBA. “And I remember going, him teaching a basketball skills, passing out T-shirts, taking pictures and signing autographs. As a kid, being able to meet somebody on professional level — it sticks with you for a while. So it’s kind of exciting being able to be in his shoes now.” Watts’ camp, for kids ages 10-18, is from 12:30-3 p.m. Sunday at CBC. He’s hosting the camp along with another CBC alum in the NFL. That’s Jonathan Owens, who made his first-career interception last year for the Texans — and is engaged to the famed Olympic gymnast Simone Biles. Watts recalls waking up before the sun in order to make the bus to CBC each school day. He became a star athlete for the Cadets, noshing on quarterbacks every fall Friday. This newspaper named an all-decade high school football team for 2010-19, and Watts was named to the second-team defensive line. Incidentally, the first team D-line was rather stacked, featuring Edwardsville’s AJ Epenesa (second-round draft pick by the Bills), Edwardsville’s Vincent Valentine (third-round pick by the Patriots), Lutheran North’s Ronnie Perkins (also a third-round pick by the Patriots) and East St. Louis’ Terry Beckner Jr. (who was a marquee signee for Mizzou and a seventh-round pick by the Buccaneers). Watts also was a contributor to a winning basketball program at CBC before he went on to play football for the Razorbacks. Alas, he didn’t play much. Entering his final season, he had yet to start a game or sack a quarterback. But he unleashed a strip-sack in each of the first two games in 2018. The 6-foot-5, 307-pound Watts became a force. He finished with seven sacks and was picked in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL draft by Minnesota. “So it’s a big year for me,” he said of 2022. “We’ve got a new coaching staff, it’s my contract year. And especially coming off a big year, which I had last year. “And I think for me, just having this platform I have, it’s just taking advantage of it while I’m playing. Me being from the inner city, actually growing up there and seeing day-to-day stuff ... I want to do what I can to do my part. ... There are people around the neighborhood who just weren’t able to take things as far as I did, as far as college and being able to play sports at the highest level. But that’s part of why I’m doing my foundation.”

The NBA is a volume 3pt game. Props to Van Vleet for working each year to become that kind of player. It's very hard to do.

i wasnt talking about van fleet peaking in college. it's his progress with the rapters that has been amazing imo. when i watched him in college i thought he was good, but now he is a star with toronto. yuri isnt van fleet rapter good at this time.