bauman

I like his attitude, but he has only attracted a fairly weak group of offers. When was the last time we recruited and signed a P5 quality freshman recruit? The French/ Goodwin year? In spite of all the hype of TF being such a good recruiter, I think we need an Asst that can recruit at a higher level than we have been doing recently and it seems like our Texas connection isn't producing anything at all. Maybe that's the recruiting world we now live in, with immediate eligibility and the pay to play joke known as NIL I know some of the local experts view the incoming group of FR as having excellent potential, but really, do they generate anything even close to the excitement we had about 5 years ago when we signed C A Gordon and J Goodwin? As I project our known and probable roster losses after this upcoming season, I believe that this is THE YEAR we need to make hay in the A 10 and NCAA.

I'm not sure who you mean by Robbie. If you are referring to Roby, he is not a coach and as I understand the recruiting rules, he cannot recruit. Whoever TF gets as the new Asst. Coach, I hope he excels as a recruiter because I think the incoming Freshmen class is well below the quality needed to compete at the top of the A 10. They are all nice players but not difference makers. A serious question for readers of this Board. Have any of you gotten excited over any of our signed Freshmen? I think Travis needs to pick up the level of recruiting, which is supposed to be his strength. Maybe in the new CBB world order of recruiting (instant eligibility and NIL payoffs) getting the top 100 FR recruits isn't that important.

Who is the player with the ball in this picture? Which brings up another question. Why hasn't the roster on the Official SLU Athletics website been updated, including the coaching staff?

Thanks, that's good to hear. I think it it important that he gets some Billiken coaching before the Europe trip.

Moving on from the NBA to the subject of this thread (the22-23 season) Is anyone concerned about Cisse still not on campus, given the fact that we are the 3rd school he has committed to? Is it just a visa issue and if so, wshy? He certainly could have used this pre-trip training period to learn the Billiken system and receive all the coaching help a raw talent needs. No one seems to ask about it and the staff seems very quiet. Any solid news on this front from any posters?

Actually, our home schedule is not all that attractive. Our best OOC games are either on neutral or away courts with Memphis as the only potential big draw for the OOC schedule, and even Memphis is not a P 6 Conf school. Our A 10 schedule is good but not a big draw. We already had Dayton every year and usually VCU every other year or so. The only way we draw big crowds is to win, win, win. A final clean up point for Steve. The schedule on the front Billikens.com page list Drake twice.

Pistol, if I understand your post it seems like you are giving the Women 13 scholarships, like the Men. Actually, unless it has been changed in the last year or so, the Women have 15 scholarships available each year.

Seeing LH Jr checking into a room raised a question or two. Is he still a walk on? If so, can the school provide housing or does his family have to cover that?

What do they have us? My guess would be between 26-30

From a 2nd hand, but usually, very reliable source, I heard that the women will open their home schedule against Arkansas I believe on 8/18. This should be an exciting year with so many returning players, including a few from injury. Now if we can just stay healthy

Quality, probably, but only 3 P6 OOC games. Maryland, Auburn and either Miami or Providence with none of them here. So it's not exactly a loaded, attractive home OOC schedule, subject to games not yet announced.

All of these guys represent the outstanding individuals that TF and staff are trying to bring into the program. Congrats to all of them. I don't know anything about the character of 3 of our 6 incoming players, but it sure seems like Kramer, Thames and Hughes meet this same standard. A standard embodied in the concept of Team Blue.

I'm thinking in this new CBB world with the transfer portal and immediate eligibility that Travis might need to be rethinking his love of the 8 man rotation system. I think he might need to start using 10-12 players on a regular basis or face losing prospects with potential such as Andre L and M Strickland.

FITB ??

With one scholarship remaining and a clear need for a D. Jones type back up PG, I would think there are quite a few PGs who have one year of eligibility remaining who would like to be a part of a top 20-25 , NCAA qualifying team for their last year. While it's only on paper, I think today's 2 commitments solidify that preseason expectation.

Sorry guys, I was concentrating on high ceiling. If the emphasis is on raw, and high ceiling, which Ford recruits would that include? If you say Hargrove, Thatch, Strickland and others like them I don't believe they were considered high ceiling except by members of this Board, Solid recruits, but not high ceiling.

Let's see: Goodwin, French, Yuri, Jimerson, Nesbitt, Gordon, Is that enough for you?

Then how do you see it after the next 2 seasons? All the players who have been responsible for our success the past few years will be gone. Yuri, Perk, Jimmer TH Jr, FT Jr and FO. The talent in the remains of last year's FR and the incoming class is not top of the A 10 level. Hopefully TF is able to ink a few top 150 level players with our open scholarships this and next year, but as good of players as our incoming FR will be, we are a long way from fielding a top 50 program. Obviously none of us know who TF will be able to get to SLU in the next 2-4 classes, but with NIL and big money programs throwing around money like it was free, I don't see us getting anymore Goodwin's or French's. Any under the radar signees, such as Perkins and Collins, will move on to a big NIL school as soon as they show what they can do at a mid-major like SLU. Get in the Big East? Ain't going to happen! As Rammer said on Frank's show in the last 3-5 days, It is now all about the money. Future prospects aren't going to worry about the quality of lockers or educational assistance. What they will care about is NIL money. That's the deal, period. If you can't play in that sandbox then find one you can play in.

When is the last one they actually won?

Agree, especially with the addition of Pick, Perk n Park !

As Rammer said yesterday on Frank's show, it's all about the $$$ now. If you want to get a really good player out of the portal you are now needing NIL money. This is sick.

Willie, you are absolutely right with regard to NIL. It is a legal issue that is out of the NCAA's control. But the related, and compounding issue-immediate eligibility (IE) is under that organization's control. They just don't want to fix it-afraid of the big boys. W/O IE, we would probably be seeing less than 10% of the players changing schools-kind of like just a couple years ago. NIL caused transfers would be very few if "schools" knew that giving $$$ to a player would not help them until after a player sat out for a season. We keep seeing the amount $200K being thrown around with no known facts. But let's assume that figure is right. Do you think TENN would be paying Collins $200K to come and sit out next year? I am pretty sure they would not, so as I see it, it is the IE policy implemented by the NCAA that is the main source of this situation. I think you. or someone early in this thread, suggested limiting IE to situations when a Head Coach leaves. That would certainly much improve this mess.

Brian, I'm curious. What is your solution?

You are absolutely right. The immediate eligibility rule is under the control of the NCAA and following your suggestion would likely eliminate the "buy a player issue." For example, do any of us with a brain really think Collins would be transferring if he had to lose a year of eligibility (and substantially less NIL $$$, if he got any at all) and do any of us really think TENN would be paying him any significant amount of NIL $$$ if he could only play 1 year after sitting out the 2022-23 season? Unfortunately the decision makers at the NCAA are totally under the control of the major schools, which drove the immediate eligibility bus. The NCAA is afraid that the major conferences would withdraw from the organization.

And he is so concerned about his daughter that he will leave St. Louis to go to Hampton. Right!