tseugnekillib

Interesting sign-off for a first time poster!

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willie said....."While I'm not like billikenguest aka father knows best, we fans overdo this recruiting thing". willie....I understand your ("aka father knows best") phase, but what do you mean by....."While I'm not like billikenguest.....we fans overdo this recruiting thing."? Help me understand you comment.

I agree, the TL/KL/LM/JJ/IV unit is our most productive unit at both ends of the court.

comparing to 1996-1997 was just a 10 year benchmark, and the 2002-2003 was as close to a 5 year benchmark as I had at hand. the pre-season small group workouts is far from the very physical regular practice sessions. It's more like a football workout w/out pads versus workouts with pads! none of our three freshmen post-players are better than IV. In time, one of them may replace JJ. DM is not going to replace TL or KL, but he could evidently replace LM if his stroke continues hot. why are pessimist such "bitter" people?

kshoe....not at all shocked that your shocked. Truly, I would have been more shocked....if your weren't shocked! It is my "personal" observation that the scheduling changes in college basketball have a meaningful impact on incoming freshmen. Practice still starts on or about October 15th. However, regular season games now start two weeks earlier than in past years. That two weeks equates to 12 or more practice sessions, which is a significant amount of seasoning time for incoming freshmen. Looking at the below first 10-game schedule segments, particularly the November 2006 portion. I would start my returning veteran players and work in the freshmen when the opportunity presented itself. But, that's just me! 1996-1997 Schedule Nov 20 UALR Dec 4 SIU-C Dec 7 UMKC Dec 9 Alcorn St Dec 14 Furman Dec 15 SMS Dec 18 Murray St Dec 21 EIU Dec 23 UCLA Dec 31 Vandy 2002-2003 Schedule Nov 22 UT-Martin Nov 26 SMS Nov 30 St. Bona Dec 3 Arizona Dec 7 UT-PanAm Dec 14 Dayton Dec 18 Grambling Dec 21 Butler Dec 28 SIU-C Jan 2 Kansas St. 2006-2007 Nov 11 Quincy Nov 17 Texas A&M Nov 18 Lamar Nov 19 LaTech Nov 25 Houston Nov 29 Loyola-Chicago Dec 2 SIU-C Dec 9 WIU Dec 12 Pacific Dec 16 UT-Martin

fyi....Grunk just got married in mid-August.

With regular non-conference games now starting about three weeks earlier than the recent past years.....the chances of a freshman coming in and starting has gotten much slimmer. It would take a truly outstanding freshman to crack thru this group of Billiken veterans. For that reason and assuming all are healthy, in November I'm going with a veteran line-up of TL, KL, LM, JJ and IV. DP, DB and BH are my next in line. The distribution of minutes may change by Jan 1, once the freshmen stop thinking and simply get their reaction time up to speed.

Good luck to Anthony.....he may need some prayers as well. One day last week I was flipping thru the cable channels and caught DJ (Floyd Irons' friend, "something" Johnson, sorry I'm having a senior moment with his first name) on his own sport show commenting on the rumor of Bonner taking over for Irons. DJ called Bonner every possible negative name (10-12 names at least)in the book for thinking he was worthy of taking the job that rightly belonged to Irons. I was stunned that the name calling / character assassenation was being run on this cable station. DJ is not a nice person!

imo, Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook (384 pages), is the most informative of the pre-season publications. Below is how they rated the A-10 for 2006-7. Last season's Blue Ribbon's pre-season ratings are in ( ). 1. Xavier(2) 2. SLU(12) 3. UMass(7) 4. Charlotte(3) 5. Fordham(8) 6. GWU(1) 7. Dayton(6) 8. St. Joes(5) 9. Temple(4) 10.LaSalle(10) 11.Richmond(11) 12.URI(9) 13.St. Bona(14) 14.Duquesne(13)

A_Bomb said......." I met Sampson once and that guy is great in person he makes you like him and he is very engaging." I have met the following Samspon-like Ambassadors to the games of college basketball....all outgoing, engaging, wonderful human beings! Dave Bliss Eddie Sutton Jim Harrick Bobby Huggins

billfan4life.....come back at a later date.... or start another thread about Florida and Virginia recruiting Suggs or about Griffey being recruited by Kansas.

If Gordon comes in and gets major minutes on the wing ...... it potentially dimishes Stemler's minutes as a Indiana wing player. If Stemler gets significant minutes as a BigTen power forward.....congratulations to him and his magic ride from a lowly-recruited high-school player to a prime D1 player on the big stage. Time will tell!

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footsie, next time we will include a diagram to be sure you get the picture!

prez....thank you for your time and effort in putting the "Madness" together. I particularly liked how the men's and women's teams played to a combined blue or white score....very creative. I do think that the crowd was affected by the Cards-Mets game, particularly once the Cardinals go back into their game. Again...well done!

the obvious clear tie is former Billiken recruit Stemler, and his going to play for Sampson. Sorry you missed it!

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perhaps they don't want people to see the recruits that may be visiting?

I blame the father first and foremost. The perfect player's father for Sampson. Indiana plays at Champaign on Tuesday, 01-23-07.....now that will be a hot ticket! btw, the Illinois non-conference school includes the below home "buy" games. Illini also play at Xavier on Dec29....go X! Austin Peay Jackson State Georgia St. Florida A&M Savannah St. IUPUI Belmont Idaho St

David, a D1 coach may have to target/heavily recruit/offer 15+ quality players to get 2 players....there are 100+ schools trying to get the same players. SLU isn't trying to sign 5 players, SLU isn't trying to sign 4 players, SLU isn't trying to sign 3 players......it was stated at the last Billiken Club meeting that SLU was looking to use 2 of their 3 available scholarships. You still have to target multiple quality players to get one quality player because of the competition.....everybody needs players! Look at the attached list of players the ND gets involved with in one year: http://www.irishblueandgold.com/Recruiting/Basketball.aspx SLU needs to sign two quality recruits before classes start in August 2007. The sooner the better for most folks; but quality over just signing the first Tom, Dick or Harry that you see at a AAU tournament.

Polk is the quickest Billiken I can ever recall.....David Burns from Navarro (eastern Texas juco)was really fast as well, but those memories go back a couple of decades.

Enjoy.... http://slubillikens.cstv.com/sports/m-bask.../110905aaa.html http://www.irishblueandgold.com/Recruiting/Basketball.aspx As stated in the ND note DM's verbal to SLU was on 05/16/05.

If SLU would have been 4-4 in oral commitments.....two Zack Plackemeiers-like guards (Duchesne HS going to IUPU-Ft.W) and two 6-8 post-players like Josh Harrellson ( St. Charles HS going to WIU) about 70% of this board would have been excited that we not only got "local" kids, but "early" commitments as well. SLU is looking for two quality players (my hope is a SF and PP) and there are about 11 months left in the current recruiting cycle.....since I'm going nowhere, I'll just wait and see what happens over the next weeks/months! Early or late....we need two quality players.