3star_recruit

I don't see how an idiot can have a championship and multiple Final Fours under his belt. It's not like he did all that winning with a roster full of McDonald's All-Americans.

Those same recruiting websites are the source of this alleged scholarship offer. We don't really KNOW whether Georgetown has offered him a scholarship or not.

Whether they are an upper echelon team or not is irrelevant. Georgetown hasn't made a practice of signing 6'7 earthbound tweeners, be it 1984 or 2004. One of college bball's best power forwards in recent years, Michael Sweetney, was a lottery pick out of that school just two years ago.

If he really is an earthbound tweener, then what the heck is Georgetown doing offering him a scholarship? Something doesn't add up here.

"The simple fact is that even the best offense can struggle when challenged by a good defense. In those situations, it is important that they can put up a defense to match what they are up against." No one ever said otherwise. But no amount of rationalizing is ever going to convince those of us that enjoy fluid basketball that 56-53 wars of attrition are entertaining to watch. Sometimes those kind of slugfests can't be avoided. But for that to be the goal? Yuck.

Oh, I agree that UNC has a good defense. But they are an OUTSTANDING offense. They bury most teams in the first 20 minutes and then teams are forced to throw up a bunch of quick shots to catch up. But if they have to make stops in the last five minutes of a game, they usually run into trouble.

"I think JJ would pick it up in practice because this kid will push him around, and then dunk on him if JJ is lazy." That made me laugh out loud. A visual of Muhammad Ali barking at a prostrate Sonny Liston popped into my head.

"Defense has to be AT LEAST as good as the offense to be a power" So by your definition, UNC, Arizona, UConn, etc. are not powers. Those teams' defense aren't anywhere near as good as their offense. If you really meant that less talented teams can evolve into top 25 programs with great defense and average offense, then I agree with you. That's the Wisconsin Badger program under Bo Ryan in a nutshell. Note that the Badgers under the anemic Dick Bennett offense never was a perennial top 25 program.

I like Newborne. He plays hard. Can he hold his own against mid-major 6'7 230 lb power forwards? I think so. Can he hold his own against athletic 6'8 240 lb power forwards? No. I'm hoping ther are more of the former and less of the latter in the A-10 next year.

"add a decent #4 and a guy that can hit 3's at 40-45%, who knows we might be a surprise next year" You can say that about every SLU team since Larry Legend left. Why would this spring signing period be any different?

Sometimes great offense wins. Sometimes great defense wins. But great offense is more fun to watch. Arizona and Oklahoma St. was the most entertaining game of the night. Wake and West Virginia was the most entertaining game of the tournament. I'm not asking for great offense. I just can't stand watching crappy offense. Good offense would suffice.

"It does not matter if you win 5-3" It matters to fans who enjoy fluid basketball. College basketball took off in this country when teams start putting points on the board. If it had remained the brutal, offensively impotent game it was in the '30s, it would be no more popular than college hockey.

When a mid-major is right on the brink of becoming a high major, then they start getting home and homes with high majors, like Gonzaga last year and Xavier two years ago.

Man, she sounds really green. But maybe she can generate enthusiasm among the players. They looked frustrated under Jill.

nm

You've got to have the hops and strength to pull that off, though. If you're mostly an earthbound player, you've got to be a little bit bigger.

"overall our conference schedule will be easier, still solid but No louisvilles or cinci games......" For Xavier, this year was an anomaly. Normally they are just as formidable as Cincy.

Lisch is a tough, physical guard that can penetrate and also stroke it, especially off the dribble. I think he's more like Kiwane Garris than either of the Dieners. In any case his life is going to be miserable next year if someone else doesn't develop the confidence to hit open 17-20 footers. You can't beat good teams with one perimeter shooter.

With Charlotte coming in and GW, St. Joe's, Dayton and Xavier and returning a lot of people from 17-22 win teams, I expect four NCAA bids out of that group next year. We're gonna take our lumps.

I seriously doubt that anyone on this board is a racist in the sense that George Wallace was a racist. But I am disappointed to read the same old stereotypes about black players getting by on raw athleticism and lacking fundamentals while athletic white players are hard-nosed with high basketball IQs.

I agree with everything you said but in this particular case we're talking about a kid that will likely end up at a D-2 school like Truman St., not a Valley kid. The Valley doesn't extend scholarships to 6'8 4 ppg high school role players either. Edit: I haven't seen any posts suggesting that Ben should be snubbed because Valley schools were looking at him. If anything , I've seen posts saying he's looking for a school at a higher level than SLU.

Ross Whelan, Pop Bluff's 6'8 center, is a senior.

I actually know Floyd personally so I'll have to disagree with the the folks here. A person's public persona isn't always his private one. Floyd's public persona is an act to intimidate and draw pressure away from his players and to himself. The private persona is the real person. And there are very few men that you will meet that are as giving and down to earth as Floyd Irons.

If you believe the in-depth interview the Riverfront Times had a while back, Ben is kind of a hot head who likes to do what he wants when he wants. He's the kind of kid you have to give some latitude in order for him to be productive. I don't think that attitude would go over well with Brad.

About friggin' time.