3star_recruit

I don't recall Brad making this particular statement but in my mind, any guy in the regular rotation is a major contributor. So Ian and Varner, for example, were major contributors last year but JJ and Husak were not.

The composition of this team is retarded. There's like six small forwards but none of them is a great outside shooter. The point guards on the team are known for dominating the ball rather than moving the ball early in the shot clock. There is only one tried and true post player on the whole roster. An NBA team in the Western Conference configured this way would have a hard time playing .500 ball, never mind being a championship team.

How about former Mexico star Sean Raboin? I know he verballed to Towson St. but maybe he changed his mind. Wouldn't be the first time that happened in the past month.

I expect a small uptick from some of the Vashon fans coming in to see Polk.

The GT game was last year and, like a lot of top 25 teams last year, wasn't even ranked in the pre-season.

With all due respect, the Lisch that Roy and I have been touting the last two years isn't lacking in upper-body strength and ball-handling skills. His upperbody strength is one of the things that sets him up apart from a lot of high school guards.

Yeah, but the good news is is that the home schedule the following year is gonna be impressive. Probably the best we've had in years and years.

Whoops, didn't see that one. Still, that's only two RPI killers versus four last year. That's definitely an improvement as is the spacing out of the marque games -- Gonzaga and SIU.

I don't see any heavyweights but I do see two probable top 25 teams - Gonzaga and SIU, 2 probable top 50 teams - Dayton and Hawaii, 4 probable top 100 teams - Austin Peay, Hawaii, UW Milwaukee and Iowa, two probable top 150 teams - Arkansas and Oral Roberts. SEMO is the only RPI killer I see on the list.

That Oral Roberts game is dangerous.

I think it's hilarious how a 6'10 265 lb kid can "show" at the top of the screen and still get back to challenge a putback under the hoop while the rest of his team has barely moved.

Hard to tell from Frank's comments whether this alleged replacement for Alexander will be from the 2004 or the 2005 class.

It's all relative. We can call SLU marketing mediocre but compared to who? Xavier? Gonzaga? Those schools have been winning 20 games a year for a while now. Was there marketing really any better than ours when they were going to the NIT instead of the NCAA tournament?

Sorry, should have been clearer. Vets=The guys that have been playing non-stop overseas rather. Ian hasn't been in the mix over there for a year now.

Only the vets for Greece appear to be playing in this one.

He is supposed to big-time leaper. Outside of Larry and Jeffers we haven't had anybody like that in recent years -- hence our excitement.

The 'ol strength of schedule should be looking pretty good going into conference play. Polk will have to face two tournament teams in his first 4 weeks on the job. Welcome to D-1 ball, Dwayne.

Cusworth was a project out of high school but if he's really put on 30 lb, I wouldn't call him a project anymore. I doubt Savannah State could beat Brown and Cusworth had 14 points and 12 rebounds against Brown as a freshman.

How is the AD going to be more creative with the academic requirements, which is controlled by the admissions office? That's like hoping the business school dean will be more creative with the academic requirements for the medical school.

We shouldn't ever have to go the juco route to get guards. There are plenty of quality guards in Missouri and Illinois. I can understand Brad rolling the dice on a juco big man because there are so few big men who are prepared to play out of high school. But if we pass on say, Dodie Dunson or Dane Brumagin, and instead sign a juco guard in the spring, I'm going to be scratching my head.

The athletic department shouldn't have the power to determine the university's academic course offerings. That's waaay overstepping their bounds.

Three years ago when Kevin Slaten was a guest on one of the KFNS morning shows, he said that Troy outscored Richard McBride something like 30 to 3 in an AAU game. Richard McBride, of course, is a top 50 recruit and plays for the Illini. He also said that Troy had "serious interest" from Iowa State. Yet somehow, this high major stud who dominated Richard McBride and was being recruited by a then-Big 12 power is now playing at UMSL. Curious.

Ryan Tillema, Dane Brumagin and David DuBois, all kids who have listed us, were also in Vegas. Ryan averaged 24ppg, Dane averaged about 18 and DuBois averaged 21. Great way to evaluate a bunch of players on one recruiting trip.

The ineffectiveness of Greece's leading scorer, Konstantinos Vasileiadis, doomed them in this one. He was only 5/18 from the field.

Yeah, the signing of Alexander wasn't like the signing of Morris at all. Morris was signed in the fall and filled a glaring need on our ballclub, a drive-and-dish point guard. Alexander was a "by the way" recruit at the end of the spring signing period when it became obvious that Tommie was going to prep school.