Taj79

Bizz -- you da man. I hereby drop the argument. If only Vee were here to stomp on my head. Torpedoes away. Issue sunk.

And a three at the buzzer to win. Umass 67 to 64.

And Jesse Morgan bombs one in to tie with 37 ticks left.

Umass down three with about a minute to go.

Valpo 13 of 24 from three; 12 of 24 on twos. Broekhoff, Boggs and Kenney only double digit scorers and each included at least three threes. See how that plays out on the road.

Excellent work, Mr. Melton.

I too heard Rammer say out of cast today.

To clarify, I am not hand-wringing. I think I think it could be interesting. I doubt Garrett will be able to follow Loe on the perimter and if he does, great for the JJ drives. If they place Garrett on Remekun, a more traditional interior player, can Trasolini stay with Loe? On a repaired ACL? Six votes? For beating Hawaii Pacific and Homer Simpson? For real?

Yeah buddy. I'm in. Let's compare notes!

The term "buzz" takes me back to Unews days .... if bonowich confirms, I believe it was the pregame headline we used when our beat writer, Mike Olechowski, would preview the next opponent in his beat coverage of the men's basketball team. Santa Clara beat Simpson (Homer,is that you?) 106 to 66 in their opener. Someone mentioned some guy named Roquemore in the Wiz' thread but he didn't do much over and above 4 assists. But 6'2" senior guard Kevin Foster scored 27 points in 24 minutes including 7-of-15 from three-point land. Third and fourth leading scorers were Marc Trasolini and Raymond Cowles III who threw in 13 and 12 each. Trasolini is listed at 6'9"and 240 while Cowles is 6'4" and 206. Second leading scorer was Robert Garrett with 14 who is 7'0" and goes 270. All are seniors except Garrett who is a sophomore. Are they any good? Last year they were 8 and 22, finishing on a 16-game losing streak and not winning a game in the West Coast Conference. Early on, they did beat New Mexico and Nova with the Nova both wins coming on a neutral court with Nova in that CBE/Anaheim tourney. Foster average 18+ ppg but only played 18 games. Trasolini was not on the roster. If this is a C- team as the Wiz predicts, it may not serve as a true test but with that kind of size and beef up front, Wednesday's game might serve as an interesting interior test. JJ gets Foster I guess.

@kshoe ----hey, thanks for that. If the number hits 40, I'll concede and drop the argument with 40 and 0.93% as the mean watermark.

Really? 18? I would nothave thought us that high. Of course, it is a year unlike any other.

Hey --- he might have got fouled on the shot which would negate it as an attempt and make it not noted on the ESPN play-by-play. All five made buckets were noted as layups. JJ driving to the rim is a thing of beauty.

@bizz ---contrary to popular belief, I'm not trying to argue with anyone. Dissenting opinions accepted. But as kshoe points out, until weget a list, the argument/debate goes unanswered. If I'm wrong on my STL Division 1 production, I'm wrong. I'd still like to see it.

@bizz --- where they went to school prior to getting to D1 is irrelevant, especially if it's all just a fifth year kind of thing.. And if it's counted for one, it would/should be counted for all metro areas. Swopeshire would count for St. Louis in this equation even finishing at IMG in Florida. All things being even. Tommie Liddell went to prep school,did he not? He would count as St.Louis as well. Aguille Carr here, a Seton Hall commit, has been Bal'mer's POY for the last two years ----- starting as a 5'5" sophomore. And now he's a 5'5" senior. Just went to enroll in Florida, was homesick (for his baby girl --- really has a 1+ year old from a cheerleader) and is now back at a local Christian school to get his grades and stuff in order for Seton Hall. I know the quality of a STL PHL education was always questioned, Bal'mer schools seem to be worse. So if you go to Barton Community College in Kansas, you're now a Kansan and not a bizzle-ite? Hell, even when Wilt went to Kansas, he was still from West Philly.

@Absurd ---- I checked the ESPN play-by-play. If they misnoted it, so did I. I watched the game on-line fromabout the 13 minute markof the first half on and personally donot recall seeing JJ stop and pop from anywhere outside the arced area of the paint. Of course, as 05 will attest, I'm old.

I didn't give Loe/Ellis F's, the grade is based on my pulled quote from Absurd reference two bombers a night. I just believe two bombers, any two, hot on a given night makes us almost unbeatable. We did not have two bombers last night (thanks for my miss on McCall's make). I wasn't grading Loe/Ellis at all. Cody played really well and was aces from the free throw stripe. And Rob was workmanlike given the style of the opponent. Barnett's was (quoting Rammer) "NBA length and then some." And it was to beat the shot clock if I recall correctly. It was near the end of the game while we were running clock. Otherwise, I doubt he takes that. Heck,even Glaze did well enough with his two buckets, a rebound or two and some nice hustle. We need an inside option to keep team shonest on us. We get that and I'll start talking Sweet Sixteen and even Elite Eight asothers already are. And in case you're wondering, JJ was 5-of-8 in layups last night; 0-of-1 from my definition of "jump shots" and "field goal shooting." The good news: it was a three so it didn't count in the "mid-range" category. As a matter of fact, his grade gets bumped up to .... wait, he had five turnovers. Leave it at an A.

@jbizz --- I readthe original hard copyandcounted the 82 I quoted. Here's the link so I'm guessing it's the same: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/recruiting-blog/bs-sp-baltimore-di-hoops-players-1107-20121106,0,3936312.story Yep, 82. I've also reviewed the hometowns and I can say somewhat emphatically that the DC area is NOT a part of this. Columbia, Laurel and even Annapolis might be considered about the southern-most border but none of these kids are "inside the beltway" towns like Rockville, Chevy Chase, Oxon Hill and so on. This is pure Bal'mer.

Going inside against USC-Upstate is one thing. Kansas and New Mexico might be another. Xavier, who I consider weak on the front line with only Robinson and Taylor returning yet each scored near 20 last night. So I'm still watching this facet of our game closely. Evans turned my head very well last night when he realized who was guarding him, posted, and matched his career high with 21. But those guys were twigs. Evans, despite listed as an inch shorter than Craig, made him appear small. And Jett gave away four inches but dominated him defensively all night. It was a great start but the bell hasnot exactly been answered for me. Still, I am not concerned just watching to see where it all goes. You can be very content with our interior last night. Conversely some might wonder where the three-point marksmanship went. Two treys ---- one by Carter in the rotation and a prayer by Barnett to beat the shot clock. The others were missed on wide open shots. Still ---- no real worries. From my pulled quote above .... DE gets an A+. JJ gets an A. Manning/Remekun an incomplete. Two bombers gets an F. Defense was okay and enough, we'll say C for average. Rebounding also an incomplete -- good enough for the competition but more body of work needed.

Rammer noted last night that Crews said the matchup for Manning was not good, that USC-Upstate had too many 6'7" athletic types that didn't bode well in terms of Manning matching up. Crews also was asked about Glaze's minues which were improbable at best but with Remekun down, Glaze's style and game matched up better against SC-Upstate than Manning. It was said in a "next man up" kind of summation and also talked about how one has to be ready to play to the hand one is dealt. And each player has to prep as if they are going to get the call. Manning did fine enough against Rockhurst. The book is not closed. I can see him battling against Umass, Xavier,La Salle and others as we move forward.

That Glaze played, let alone started, was a surprise to say the least. But as someone noted, Rammer said the matchupfor Manning just was not there tonight. Too many 6'7" guys soit was said. There were bad moments (he's only a sophomore coming off 29 total minutes) but the good (the fact he can provide some decent minutes) outweighed the bad. Work in progress. I can accept that. USC-U shot really well except for when they rushed and imploded late. Has to be a much better test than just about every other directional school we could have faced (except South Alabama --- ask Florida State). Sanctioned Uconn beat Michigan State in Germany last night. Kentucky lucked out against Maryland (who is equally young). Evans exploited his mismatches. He looked bigger than anyone on him even when they matched up. Barnett could add a few minutes of breathing time to rest JJ, MM and KC. I think the CR/GgG combo or the CR/JM combo,which will be used matchup specifically, is okay but needs more fleshing out before January. the free throw shooting looked good. USCU has a nice team. Surprised at the student turnout. Good. Keep surprising. Do not like the dance team's duds. On to Santa Clara.

Good game. Enjoyed it. Didn't need the three for this one. USCU was pretty game for opening night. No issues. Improvement can be made.

Please understand, I am not trying to stir things up with anyone -- Vtime, STLHoopsInisder, or the regulars I tend to infuriate. I just would love to know what the comaprisons are. Probably can't be done. But it might reaffirm or condemn my belief that STL is NOT fertile basketball grounds. There woudl have to be a statistical quantifier --- overall metro population for example --- that the Wiz could afctor in. It woul dnot be fair, I think, to compare STL to LA, or Chicago or NYC for example. But it migh tbe fair in term sof comaprisons to Memphis, Baltimore, Charlotte and so on. The Baltimore alumni list is pretty impressive too, as far as NBA careers go.

For those who have been around a while and remember my running battles with ol' Vtime over offering a scholly to every kid in the greater STL public/catholic high leagues, I alway sargued STL talent was weak. But I don't reall yknow. Today, the Sun, besides doing the Dez Wells story, release its curren tlist of Baltimore kids playing Division I basketball. the totla was 82. This includes players at Dayton, Srt. Joe's, GeeDub, Umass, Richmond and Xavier in our A10, but also bigge rnames like CJ Fair at Syracuse, Eric Atkins at Notre Dame and Antonio Barton at Memphis. So, in going back to that long-ago argument this question ... does anybody know or does the Post do such a list for St. Louis?

And here it is: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/xavier/2012/11/07/dez-wells-immediately-eligible-at-maryland/