3star_recruit

They probably did have a shot months ago when they offered. Since then he's grown almost two inches and now has the ability to play inside as well as outside. Things change quickly in the world of recruiting.

"SMS did sign Justin Fuehrmeyer and Blake Ahearn, and SLU didn't." And if SMS continues to sign small, slow guards they will continue to finish 5th in the Valley. If those are truly the kinds of players that you believe will take us to the top of the A-10, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

"First of all you don't know what impact offering a kid early has." No one does because it depends on the kid. What I do know is that SMS doesn't have any high major recruits on its roster and its not for lack of trying. "But at least people know SMS is on the map." What people? "SLU needs to get on the map somehow. Whatever SMS is doing it is working." I'll take our last two recruiting classes over Barry's any day. "Now Stokes, Kiel and McNutt are players that having great summers and doing damage against the top talent in he country." Stokes and McNutt are having nice summers but they aren't "doing damage against the top talent in the country". They rarely get the opportunity to play the truly loaded AAU teams and when they do, like when Mean Streets played the Eagles at the Eagles Invitational, they have look like what they are -- mid-major players. "I cannot think of one reason why those guys can't play at SLU and contribute to make the Bills better down the road." Maybe they can. But there are an abundance of 5'7 point guards and 6'3 swingmen. There's no need to offer them so early. "I am tired of talking about Leon Powell. What has he done to deserve early recruitment?" He lead the #2 team in the state in scoring and rebounding. He's a 6'6 jumping jack with three point range. There's a shortage of those kind of players.

"if they were to go after some of the top players in the area sooner, i.e. John Brandenburg, Tyler Griffey, Chris Stokes, Adam Kiel, Marvin McNutt, Mike Tisdale, and so on they might be able to nab a couple of the better local talent but they need to get after it early and stay on them." OJ, this sounds great on its surface but SMS offers every high major St. Louis player earlier than SLU yet they sign none of them. So obviously there's more to signing high major talent than who offered first -- who's doing the offering and the kid's grade situation has a lot more to do it. If Brandenberg develops into a top 100 player he will be yet another player that SMS offered early and didn't get. You don't win anything for that. SLU has to recruit players who will help them compete in the top tier of the A-10. How does offering mid-major recruits like Chris Stokes, Adam Kiel and Marvin McNutt this early accomplish this? We're already landing that caliber of talent. Now Leon Powell deserves early recruitment -- and he's getting it.

There's so few 6'11 players at the mid-major level that can walk and chew gum at the same time that it's worth the risk. You won't see major conference schools offering unproven big men this early.

There's been a lot of criticism of JJ's work ethic and even his heart over the last few years. What I haven't seen is any mention of JJ's post up game, or rather, his lack of one. The only games where JJ has been effective is when he has that mid-range jump shot going. If JJ can't hit that shot, he can't score. Go back and look at the game tapes if you have them. JJ has put on about 20 lb of muscle since he's been here. He battles under the boards and often keeps balls alive even when he can't grab the rebound itself. That's commendable. But his footwork around the basket is just as poor as when he got here. He has one move in the low post: pivot, lower his shoulder and force up an ugly shot. That's just what Kenny Brown, another unskilled SLU post player, did for two years. Yet nobody questions Kenny Brown's work ethic and rightly so. Is it possible that our guard-laden staff, be it Soderberg's or Romar's, just don't have much experience teaching that aspect of the game? Is there a big man camp where we can send our raw interior players? If development will continue to be a problem, I'd rather we a sign a chubby or a skinny big with legit post up skills (like we have in Vouyoukas) than a player that looks the part but has no post up skills at all. Then it's just a matter of that player losing or gaining the necessary weight to be a formidable D-1 interior player.

I'll be surprised if the tickets are $18. An equivalent ticket at the Iowa game was about $12.

There's plenty of parking at the Family Arena. The game with Iowa there had decent attendance (~6000) and parking was free.

If we're 6-5 with a win over UNC by the time the conference opener rolls around, attendance will be just fine. St. Charles basketball fans will walk in off the street and make up any shortfall in disgruntled fans. If we're 4-7, it doesn't make any difference because the attendance would have been piss poor at Savvis as well.

Meant to say Bonner in that first sentence. Just edited it.

JJ and Bonner were beasts inside but jump shots? I don't remember their range extending beyond 12 feet. Baniak was more of a face up player.

When's the last time we had a 6'8 240 lb forward with a legitimate post up game and a jump shot? I'm thinking never. If that truly is an accurate description of his game then health is the only thing preventing Obi from playing major minutes this season. He presents a matchup problem, while the other candidates for the position, Newborne and JJ, do not. Battling with a big strong guy in the low post and then challenging him 17 feet away from the basket isn't something most college bigs have to do on a regular basis. That's what makes a guy like Curtis Withers so hard to defend. Newborne will probably get the starting nod because 1) he's a solid defender and 2) he's a senior. But I fully expect Obi to give us an offensive spark off the bench and see his minutes gradually increase throughout the year. By the time he's run the gamut of Gonzaga, SIU, North Carolina and Iowa there won't be anything in the A-10 Obi hasn't already seen before. P.S. Isn't it weird that we've gotten two kids who played their high school ball way down in Texas but we've yet to sign anyone from Wisconsin? Calling Adam Koch . . .

Most likely our staff was at the Mullens tournament in KC where several players of interest were playing.

How did I overlook that? The Crawford write up was right after the Bobby Hill blurb: "We've already written plenty about 6-9 BF Casey Crawford from Overland Park (KS) Blue Valley North this summer, so our readers should have an idea of what the skilled big man is all about. He had his jumper rolling and hit nine threes during a 37-point semifinal outburst for KC Pump 'N Run. He followed it up with 23 in the final and averaged well over 20 per game during his eight games in the tournament. ..."

. > the >games I saw, he showed more potential with the 17yr old >group as he was able to move out from under the rim and >display some skills facing the basket. O'rear is really >farm-boy strong, but not nearly as quick off the ground as >Matt Shaw. I agree, that's why I thought the article's observation that O'Rear had "surprising bounce off the ground" was awkward. Newborne is similar in stature to O'Rear and quicker off the ground IMO but no one would say Newborne has "surprising bounce". O'Rear is a great high school player but I'm still not convinced that 6'6 225 lb with OK hops and an average perimeter game translates into a high major player, be it small forward or power forward. Maybe if he grew a couple more inches. >From what I have seen, Rudy is pretty ordinary playing 16yr >old AAU ball. In the tournaments I've seen, Rudy has not >moved up to his 17 yr old squad as O'rear has done. But Rudy >is young and "may" develop some more. We must have a Vulcan mind meld going on here. I like Rudy's basketball IQ but he isn't stellar at shooting off the dribble or creating off the dribble in general. He plays great defense, is a good rebounder for his size and a very good shooter when he gets his feet set. But there are other 6'2 guards who bring more scoring and playmaking to the table. Considering that we lose Ian and JJ to graduation in 2007, I don't think we should be going after any guard/wing who isn't a difference maker. Other than Powell, I wouldn't offer any other local kid at this point. As for big men, Brad is going to have dig deep into his out-of-state contacts because the Missouri well is bone dry.

One of the Valleytalk regulars posted what appears to be a premium article on their message board. Here's the portions that concern our local players: "Maybe he isn't quite well known enough on the national level to merit a place in the Backing up the Hype section, but 6-6 WF/BF Leon Powell was borderline spectacular in Kansas City. The 2007 standout from St. Louis (MO) Vashon played on GameFace's 16 and 17-under teams and dominated in both age groups. He runs the floor like a gazelle, springs off the floor for impressive slams and is a dangerous jump shooter from 12 feet all the way out to the three-point line. He blocks some shots and does a nice job on the board and has the sleek, wiry frame you like to see on a wing. The only reason we still list him as a combo forward is because he doesn't yet possess the ball-handling skills of a wing." . . . A name in the Midwest that folks are sure to learn more about is 2007 stud Lucas O'Rear. The 6-6 BF from Dubois (IL) Nashville Community is a tough as nails competitor with surprising bounce around the basket, nice skills and a scorer's mentality. He reminds us a lot of another player from that neck of the woods, current Southern Illinois standout Matt Shaw . . . One of those guys sitting on the border between mid and high major ability is 6-5 WG/WG Bobby Hill of St. Louis (MO) Vashon. The 2006 wing who played in KC with GameFace has the body and range of a high major guy but isn't super explosive and lacks some ball-handling skills, perhaps leaving him at the upper mid level. Regardless of where he ends up, he's a scorer from the wing who always chips in defensively and does a nice job on the glass.

>last year without the benefit of a monster game against SLU, >shot 94% from the free throw line and 38% from behind the >arc. > >SLU has no need for a player like that. Sure we need a player like that. But like I said, what about the 20 or so games where Ahearn isn't lighting anybody up? http://www.smsbears.net/webapps/bball_seas...&season=2004-05 If he brought something else to the table when he isn't scoring -- defense, passing, rebounding, something -- I have a strong feeling Brad would have signed him. Maguire may end up being a one-dimensional player as well but at the high school level at least, he's a pretty good rebounder.

All that proves is he gets up to play SLU. What about the other 20 or so games when he isn't lighting anybody up and is getting abused on defense?

"The reason I question the direction of our program lies in the fact that we were not even being considered by the kid." We just signed two guards (Liddell, Lisch) who are better than Hansbrough and have a 2 month-old verbal from a 6'5 sniper. So you're upset that Brad, who only plays 5 perimeter players, didn't offer a seventh one?

I've never heard of Ben linked with SLU, no. His brother was a top 5 player, he's a two-time state champion, and he was being recruited by programs with a tradition of going to the NCAAs so I'm not surprised.

We desperately needed shooting, from the three and from the free throw line. Ben Hansbrough is good at a lot of things but not great at anything, kinda like Darren Clare. Dustin Maguire has range out to 25 feet and shoots almost 90% from the free throw line. Ben is a better all-around player but Maguire clearly fills a need. I know I've opened the door for a Blake Ahearn rehashing but so be it.

"What about changing it for the better through education" If the educational system was up to the snuff in the ghetto, then it wouldn't be a ghetto. To receive a top-notch education, you've got to get out of the ghetto first.

That being said, if Tommie kicks it out to Drejaj for a three just because he's the open man, instead of shooting the 10 footer over a smaller defender, I will be very unhappy.

Man, if you're comparing the homers here to the Taliban, I shudder to think what you'd call the homers at the Marquette, UNC or Phognet boards.

The "I have it on a good authority" types of post about the unflattering inner workings of a basketball program is what private messaging is for. Years of posting on sport message boards has shown me that any such post will be received in a hostile manner. I really would hate to see you leave as a poster. Please just keep in mind that anybody who comes to Billikens.com can see your posts. How do you think Polk or Liddell or Lisch or their parents would feel reading that the coach has no confidence in his team?