3star_recruit

"I'm beginning to tremble." It's just basketball, man.

Thanks for the link, Nate. I don't really see Husak getting much PT in a run-and-gun all-star game. Maybe we'll get to see Clarke take a few shots after McBride, Gardner and Harris take their 20 shots apiece.

I got called in to work on Wednesday but I went today and nobody was there yet by 5:00 pm. Maybe they're taking in the draft.

If CUSA adds Pittsburgh and West Virginia, Cinci and Louisville aren't going anywhere.

CUSA would be better off giving Houston and Tulane their walking papers and adding Pitt and West Virginia. The question is, will they do it?

I've been reading Rivals and CUSA Talk message boards this morning and I still don't think most posters "get it". There is no way the the Big East can maintain a BCS bid with the loss of Miami. None. Adding Louisville does not make up for losing the #1 football program and the country. The TV contract is also going to take a massive hit with the departure of Miami and Virginia Tech. The Big East is in Big Trouble. They've only got 6 football playing members and two of them - UConn and Rutgers - suck. They're embroiled in a lawsuit with the ACC that may take months to resolve. Notre Dame can not be counted in join in football or to stay in basketball. Any team that joins the Big East risks being hung to dry whenever the ACC decides to add a twelfth team. And I can't imagine the athletic directors have any confidence in commissioner Tranghese at this point. CUSA is the conference negotiating from a position of strength, not the Big East.

Hmm . . . he's 6'5, not big and strong and his hair isn't that dark. That doesn't sound like Luke Meyer, that sounds like Dane Brumagin, a rising junior (Class of 2005) from Warrenton Christian. He scrimmaged a little with the Bills last summer and held his own. Brumagin's high school competition is extremely weak - he averaged 30 ppg and 13 rpg this past year - so the only real comp he gets is over the summer. I really hope this mystery player plays tomorrow so I can verify.

I'm off tomorrow so I can attend.

I'd take Lebron because he is really a 6'8 point guard - over the last 3 years he has averaged over 5 assists a game even though he averaged over 27 ppg. http://216.109.117.135/search/cache?p=Lebr...bron/stats.html That causes an instant matchup problem for the other team. If you guard Lebron with a point guard, he'll just shoot over the top of the defender. If you guard him with a bigger player that means one of Lebron's teammates has a mismatch and Lebron will get him the ball.

Clags had absolutely no talent at Venice and still posted a .500 record over two years. At McCluer he will have something to work with. Isham Williams should be All-Conference next year.

Hancock is a solid 3A program so this a good opportunity for Roland. He'll have young squad next year, though. http://prepsports.stltoday.com/ssi/prep/st...ketball+program

I don't think Drejaj will got outworked. I just believe Polk is a better point guard than he is, and Clarke is a better shooting guard. He can't help but get squeezed for minutes.

One of the instructors at the camp was Kevin Eastman, who coached at various colleges for almost 25 years and now works camps and clinics throughout the country. "I love (Lisch)," said Eastman, who a week earlier was working out future pros LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. "Even though I don't count, (Lisch) is one of my favorites. He plays smart. He listens. He's a sponge. He plays hard as hell. He understands the game. His face emits passion for the game. He's fun and he's going to be good." http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...is%20University Thanks for the blurb on Lisch, Nate. Any reports on St. Louis's best player are always appreciated.

Three of the 5 incoming recruits will be here for second semester of summer school starting June 30 - Frericks, Clarke and Husak. Clarke and Husak are scheduled to participate in the DJ's All-Star game. Vouyoukas is playing in the Junior National Championships in Greece so he won't be here until the fall. Same deal with Morris since he is currently taking his final class at Iowa Western. Brad expects Izik to step up next year. Izik is sporting a solid physique and has had an excellent summer thus far. Brad is committed to Izik playing the small forward on offense and Sloan defending the 3 on defense. Sloan will continue to play power forward on offense. Brad used Dickie V's favorite word, "special" to describe the type of player Ian has the chance to be. Ian is a hair over 6'11, weighs 255 lb and may be the best passing big man Coach has ever seen at that age - "he has a bit of Vlade Divac in him". Brad gushed over Ian's work ethic. Since July is an evaluation period, coaches are not allowed to speak to recruits or their coaches other than to say "hi". Brad told Frank he will spend 8-9 hours a day, sometimes more, evaluating players at the camps. He is very confident that this will be an excellent recruiting class, with several local kids. Brad didn't give a number or say which positions he was recruiting, though.

last year our >incoming players were not replacing any key components of >the team. they were filling in gaps and replacing players >that already had glaring weaknesses and really didnt factor >as greatly in our success as our departing players did this >year. my gosh, we returned the entire starting lineup. The team was coming off a 15-16 season. Even if they would have finished 15-16 last season, I would have viewed it as an improvement because they played a tougher schedule. They did a little better than that. >this year we have a boat load of players that will see the >billiken at the savvis center for the first time and those >newcomers are replacing our best two players from last year >plus a couple of key long time role players. Let's look at this objectively. Marque was a shooting guard without a three point shot. Kenny Brown was a football player trying to play basketball. Chris Braun was a 6-10 jumpshooter who averaged 3.4 ppg and 2.1 rpg last year. Drew Diener could not get his own shot. Drejaj was the only guy on the team with any point guard experience in high school. Reggie Bryant is a good three point shooter who managed to average 9 ppg on a Big East team where he was the sixth man. Frericks had comparable numbers to Kenny at juco and reportedly has some post moves and a better shot. Morris is a true point guard. Darren Clarke can get his own shot. Vouyoukas reportedly has some post moves and plays for Greece's junior national team. JJ is the best frontcourt athlete we've had since Jamal Johnson. but let's not lose >sight of the fact that his desire and the truth of his >results could end up being different. Could be. But that's true with every coach. > >i continue to say, "i'll wait and see". I would do that with any team, regardless of talent level. Charlotte and Tulane had more talent than we did last year but we had a better team. Go figure.

If Brad ever signed a true Chris Heinrich clone - bricks for hands, poor footwork - I would be shocked. He likes fundamentally sound basketball players. I don't think he would have signed Kenny Brown either.

UAB plays football also.

"I would expect expansion to 12 teams to be back on the ACC agenda in 2004." I wouldn't. I expect the ACC to sign a new football contract long before next summer since the current one expires after next season. The TV execs aren't going to renegotiate a deal 6 months after one has already been struck. If the ACC doesn't expand to twelve now, expansion will probably have to wait until the next football contract expires.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2003Jun14.html Excerpts: "A bunch of schools met to look at the 'what-ifs' from the ripple effect if the proposed ACC expansion goes through," Gladchuk said. "It was people I've known and worked with for a long time, and it's no different from what a lot of people around college football are doing now. We wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't do this. . . . If the ACC expands, things are going to happen, and they're going to happen quickly. "We need to be thinking about what we would do." The ACC has extended preliminary invitations to Big East schools Boston College, Miami and Syracuse. ACC presidents are not expected to vote on the proposed expansion until this week at the earliest. A source familiar with Thursday's meeting said a seven- or eight-team conference would be formed and would include Army, Navy, Rice, Southern Methodist, Tulane and Tulsa. Another source said those schools had discussed forming a football-only conference last year. The logistics of joining a conference with Rice, SMU, Tulane and Tulsa are not as daunting as it may appear. Navy is scheduled to play Tulane next year and in 2004 and Tulsa in 2004 and 2005. The Midshipmen are scheduled to play Army and Rice in each of the next three years.

"they were relatively not recruited by top programs, they did not have off the chart statistics, they played in competition that doesnt normally produce top players." Kenny's Juco profile: First-team All-Conference as a sophomore when he averaged 11.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 1.9 bpg while shooting 57.3 percent from the floor for the Reivers Frericks Juco profile: Averaged 10.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game at Chipola. He shot 58 percent from the field and 60 percent from the free throw line. Frericks was named All-Conference and earned a berth on the Region VIII All-Tournament team. I'm really not seeing a big difference here.

We may be a little worse on post defense but I would be shocked if we weren't much better on post offense. Kenny was a great defender but he had not post moves, traveled a lot, and shot 41% from the line. Frericks is roughly the same size as Kenny, reportedly has some post moves and can actually make a free throw. Braun averaged a whopping 3.4 ppg and 2.1 rpg and was an average defender, IMO. If JJ or Vouyokas can't equal that production, I may decide to walk on next year and do it myself. I think the offensive gains offset any defensive losses.

Seniors graduate. Good programs replace good players. We'll see how good a program we are. If we can't even replace a role player like Kenny Brown, we need to get out of Conference USA. I guarantee you that Louisville fans aren't going to be satisfied with an NIT bid just because Marvin Stone and potential lottery pick Reece Gaines have moved on.

I love Sloan but for all his scrappiness he only averaged 3.8 rpg even though he played 26 min a game. That's the worst average for a starting power forward in the league. I still think he'll start but I suspect JJ and Vouyoukas will cut into his minutes.

Starting spots are earned in practice. Now that Brad has made the decision that Izik will be primarily a small forward, I don't see any of our undersized wing players being able to handle him in practice. Sloan may be a senior but it will be a challenge for him to match up with the 6'10 Greek kid as well. The idea that Brad's best defenders play the most minutes is nice rhetoric but not entirely true. Marque was a great offensive player but Fisher and Drejaj are better defenders. However, if Marque had played 26 min rather than 36 min a game, we would not have made the NIT.

"I realize it's a small one but is IO really ready for the starter at the 3?[" It's Izik's natural postition. The only reason that he played up front is because we needed him there. I'm curious how potent a scorer Izik would be if he had a 5 inch height advantage on the kid guarding him. I'm sure the staff is too. Makes me smile just thinking about it.