slu72

Someone posted Turnbull was to visit this week. And Trilly said Doelitz was gonna commit. Has he even visited?

Sorry, I missed him!

Where’s Pit Bull? Let’s show this guy we are excited!

Handles to break presses would be nice. Larry Jr needs to work on his handles and passing.

What’s Turnbull’s rating?

When I was st SLU in the dark ages the pecking order was SLUH guys looked down at CBC guys who looked down at DeSmet guys who looked down at Vianney guys. The only ones I remember. One of my best friends was a Vianney grad and constantly said Vianney kids could buy and sell all the Catholic boys schools and have enough left over to buy the all the Catholic girls schools. For some reason which Catholic school you went to was always one of the first questions asked when you met someone new. Being from Maine I made up my school St Downeast. Our mascot was a Lobster.

Let’s not overlook Gibby coming home. Basically we got two of the top 50 guys in the portal. I don’t know where Swope stands in the rankings. Of course he hasn’t committed anywhere yet. But if he chooses SLU and Turnbull commits, we have mined the portal successfully.

I think a preseason Gateway Classic tourney is a great idea. Run it like the Charleston tourney where the 3 known state BB schools, USC, Clemson, and CoC, rotate being the host school. We could do the same with Mizzery, Illini, and SLU alternating as hosts. Charleston Classic always gets at least 4 P5 big name schools.

What is the status of Willard the CA kid who gave us a LOI last year? I also read Schertz was after him for ISU. Has he reneged?

I don’t think we’re in any position to whine about our opponents. We haven’t proved anything yet.

Those guys seemed pretty excited about the game. At first I just heard Pentagon but then went back and caught Sioux Falls. If it is THE REAL PENTAGON we could have ABomb and TajMahal 79 get us tickets.

What is the big event in Sioux Falls? Any ideas?

Duke’s losing players. Shoot for the moon!

And hopefully Turnbull sees the pro of signing with SLU.

My BP just dropped by 20/30 points. Thank you Robbie Avila. WOW. He and Gibby will be awesome.

Welcome, Amari. Be great.

My Bills Paranoia is lurking.

While I agree, the reality is many colleges are identified by their sports program’s achievements and not their academic or scientific breakthroughs. The Ivies are considered bastions of academics and knowledge, but when you mention say Alabama the majority of people think of FB and not any scientific, medical, or academic achievements the school might have earned over the years. The fact is people aren’t buying season tickets to watch scientists hunkered over their microscopes in a lab.

Tate isn’t going to hurt anything, but he could help with transfers that might want to come home or good local HS kids.

One could also look at a scholie and room and board as a financial benefit therefore taxable. Lots of decisions to make here.

Not to the extent of NIL.

I find it hard to grasp that even the biggies, P5, with FB programs to fund as well can maintain big paydays for their hoops programs. 22 starters and 40+ backups for FB programs shooting for national championships is going to tax even the big $$ alumns/supporters over time. Yes, they have a lot more of these types than the rest of us, but I don’t think even their well is that deep. Plus, they have to support full athletic programs, ie 20+ men’s and women’s teams. I’m sure those players will start saying, “hey where’s my check?”.

I think NIL was intended for players to be allowed to cut endorsement deals with businesses and receive royalties from sales of their jerseys and when their likeness was used. Fair enough. But soon enough it gets distorted and has become play for pay with no little or no strings attached. Yuri supposedly returned to SLU for NIL $$’s, does anyone recall if he did commercials or made appearances on behalf of any local businesses? Same for Gibby last season. The NIL largely did away with under the table arrangements. Combined with the no limitations portal college athletics has now become a version of the Professional Sports Free Agent period without the player having to enter into any legal contract. Nice work if you can get it.

If SLU had a shot at landing a Love type FR, they should sign him. He’d at least give you a boost for one season. And if you can find the NIL $$’s to keep him, great, a bonus. It’s recruits like last year’s FR class that are the problem. Take Curcic for example. He always impressed me as a smart strong player with a good shot. But Ford just didn’t use him enough. No surprise he leapt into the portal. I guess Harriman’s departure didn’t help as both ended up here in Charleston. Still, I think a lot of FR like him will take their shot at the portal for a better playing opportunity or to earn some NIL $$’s. Medley’s another example. Why did he find the portal attractive? He came here for Ford. Ford goes he goes. Is Kent St gonna shower him with NIL $$’s? I doubt it. Again, a guy who improved at our expense and now taking it somewhere else. This is what college sports has become. Every team may see wholesale roster turnovers every year. It sucks, but it’s the new reality. I don’t even think Schertz could have kept the ISU 5 together if he had stayed given ISU’s lack of NIL $$’s. I think he knew this and was a big factor in his decision to jump ship.

Why waste the effort and money on HS players below the top 25 line? They will likely seek new homes after 1 year; eg Medley, Curcic, Zhang, and Bussell. While I didn’t dislike these players and thought there was some potential they really didn’t add much to last season. The focus for every team has to be on the portal. Calipari learned his lesson. Five 5 star FR didn’t do much against 20-21 year old experienced players. NIL and the Portal have created a whole new ball game. I don’t like it as has turned college sports into the professional arena. But you have to play the cards you’ve been dealt, so you learn to play the game.