slu72

Other than the 4 UB recruits, most of our transfers have been due to RM recruiting over players. CS is a prime example. He knew his minutes were going to go down significantly this season so rather than ride the pine he opts for a DIV II school. Can't blame him if he wants to play rather than sit. Same with JJ and JSmif they saw what was coming in and wanted out. Granted Thompson just wanted away from RM. Cotto was a hot head who thought he knew better than the coaches and in all likelihood would have left his next stop as well. I have no problem with a coach recruiting over kids. It's done all the time by just about everyone. The reason schools like Duke and UNC don't have many transfers is because they're big time winners and kids don't mind sitting on the bench if they're going to be part of a national championship.

Finally! A good thread that is somewhat objecive about our chances this upcoming season. First though, I hope MB 73 doesn't go into exile. Although, I disagree with the idea that the loss of WR is going to doom us to the CBI. At a minimum this team has got to be NIT material. At the maximum, a potential run to the sweet 16. What supports this after only an 11 win season? In large part it is due to the return of KM. Granted he's no Legend, but he maybe the best player we've had since him in terms of leadership, guts, and talent. And unlike KL and TL, he does have a better supporting cast around him. Yes, no doubt, having WR in that cast would have been huge. With WR this would have been a very strong team. But he's gone. But all is not lost. RM will have these guys playing good D regardless of who's on the floor. And college ball isn't loaded with a bunch of good bigs who can dominate even a good defensive team. We will probably run up against maybe 5-6 teams this year that will cause us major problems with their inside game like Portland did last year. And keep in mind, toward the end of last season we saw more of RL playing ineterior D and showing progress. No, he's not a WR and never will be, but he doesn't need to be either. The way I see it is KM is a given as far as being a quality PG, KC is a given as far as an efficient manager of the floor. BC is a given as to a tough interior guy who will grab some boards and on occassion provide some inside scoring. The expectations come from the development of the rest of the team. Have MM DE, JJ, CE, and RL all improved over the summer will determine whether we are NCAA caliber. Will JB live up to the RM hype as being all conference caliber? No doubt if JB, CE, RL, and KM prove effective from 3 pt land that will more than offset the loss of any points we're sacrificing from WR's departure. As for our frosh, temper your expectations early and hope for development with 1/3 of the season left. Bottom line is we don't have a game changer Frosh. The guy who would really be a surprise and an added bonus would be CR really stepping up and giving us valuable inside minutes. But he's a believe it when I see it factor at this time. So, while I disagree with MB 73's projection, I can see where he has justifiable doubts about how well this season will go. But if all these pieces fall into place as we expect, and they are not unreasonable expectations, we should be dancing.

To Captain Buzzkill: aka TajMahal79 I understand where you're coming from, Cap BK. Too many years of "wait until you see Vashon Newborne, the guy's a vocal leader and a stud in pickup games at WP!" followed by "why is the stud riding the pine?" But we are talking about a different breed of cat here. We're talking about a guy who was all Freshman A-10 and a 2nd team A-10 his soph year. We're also talking about a guy that could have easily have told SLU to f off after being caned,, not canned, for one night of consensual sex with a friend of a big donor. I'm counting my blessings, and that of SLU, that KM isn't wearing the maroon and gold of the Minnesota Gophers this season. Bottom line is KM had the cujones to take his undeserved punishment like a man, got his butt back to SLU after a semester of exile, helped the youg'uns in practice, and will be wearing Billiken blue and white for 2 more years. KM seems to be a driven young man who's ready to make a lot of people forget about that unfortunate May night. So, stop pi**ing in our blue kool aid. If none of our preseason great expectations come to fruition this year, at least we will have had these past few months of grandiose dreams of greatness to come. Hell, it won't be the first time Billiken fans have looked down at the water from a high vantage point and considered making that final leap because of unfulfilled expectations.

This past season got off to a bad start when everyone knew our top 2 players were basically done for the year. Once the L's started piling up apathy set in. Why go to a game when they're likely to lose. No one likes watching the home team lose again and again and again. Once more, it only takes racking up W's to cure a program's ills. And unrelated to SLU the guy on a really hot seat is Cuonzo Martin, if UT loses and they revert to their 4,000 fans of Buzz Peteson days, the new AD, who didn't hire CM, may be tempted to pull the plug on his tenure real quick. We have a lot of UT alum here and to a man everyone of them thought CM was beneath a UT standards hire.

Glaze may have come as a surprise to the coaching staff since he was released from his commitment to UNLV. I don't know how JHB is finding out who we're recruiting, which would seem to be the difficult part, the follow up phone calls not so hard as I think a lot of these kids enjoy the celebrity type treatment.

Yeah, as in, gee why didn't I think to do it since I'm such an objective and credible journalist.

Still want the 6'8" 240 true PF slasher. We could get by with RL and JM manning the 5 with a beast PF.

Yeah, and Metz is such a reliable source.

When was the last time, if ever, we got this much recruiting info about the Bills for free (sorry, Nate)? Way to go HTB and keep it up. Much appreciated.

I don't know that move along the baseline looked strong. The kid's obviously done his work in the weight room.

Jimbo, she taking 'em off or pulling 'em on because she saw you snapping her with your cell phone?

CE no doubt showed us lot of promise his FR year. In fact, there were games where I thought he was playing with a lot more BB savvy than everyone except KM. I don't think a lot of you are taking into consideration the effect mono has on an individual. You are tired 100% of the time and all you want to do is sleep. It literally saps all your energy. That plus the firecracker thing combined to set back CE's development in the offseason. I'm sure he was benched early in he year due to his lack of energy and conditioning. Also, maybe he figured he'd coast into games because he found it so easy his FR year. Still, from a skill set and talent pov I see CE as being the third or fourth best player on the team. Hopefully, he's putting in the work to improve his conditioning, skill set, and bulk this offseason. If he puts his mind to it, CE should be a real competitor to start at the 3 or 4. With him in there we offer difficult matchups for opponents. CE started to come around, albeit his shot still left something to be desired, in the latter 1/3 of the season. A good sign since it showed despite the setbacks he wanted to be more than a role player. I hope this is the attitude he brings to the court this fall. If so, he's going to be a real difference maker for us. Think of the kid from Butler if you will. I can't imagine that his father is not preaching this to him over and over again this summer, as this is now a pride and self confidence issue much more so than a talent or skill level issue.

RM was the best one to advise him on his potential future in the NBA. Surprised, he didn't bring in one of his friends like Karl or Nelson to talk to WR and his dad to inject some reality into their thinking. His best shot now at some $$ is to go European or somewhere on the International scene and make a splash. Sadly, I get the feeling he thinks his talent is such that he doesn't need to put in the work to make it to the next level. If he displays the same attitude in Europe he'll be cut quicker than you can say, Passport please.

WR was offered a huge second chance by SLU and he basically shrugged it off thinking he was NBA material and didn't need an extra year or two to prove it. Clearly if he ever is going to make it to the next level he needs a whole lot more discipline in his life than he's shown to date. Good luck, WR, but you should have stayed at SLU and hit the damn books.

I have no idea what WR is like as a person, but looking from the outside in at the various situations he's created over the years he strikes me as immature and hoping for an easy route to success. Note to WR, there isn't any easy route to success in life. Whether it be the NBA, a marriage, or a career outside of bb. People who are successful work damn hard to reach their objectives. As RM said, WR hasn't shown him he's learned this lesson. Does WR possess all the physical tools to play in the NBA? Obviously he does or we wouldn't even be discussing his future prospects. But that's only part of the equation. The other part is attitude and I don't know if anyone is born with an attitude gene. The fact that WR didn't take advantage of the second chance SLU gave him in January would be a red flag if I was an NBA scout. WR hadn't accomplished that much in his first two years here that would guarantee him a slot in the draft. He needed that 3rd year, but sadly he wasn't willing to put forth the effort to get it. It would be good for WR and SLU if he makes an NBA roster, unfortunately I don't think it's going to happen next year. And won't happen until WR realizes he need more than just physical talent to make it to that level.

WR's made another mistake in his bb career I'm afraid. First, the HS snafu he got into and losing out on his SR year of hoops.. Second, the whole thing about leaving SLU and transferring. Third, not hitting the books in order to play one more year to clear up the character concerns and further hone his skills. He's got the raw talent to play at a higher level but not the maturity.

WR's resume both in HS and college is so full of holes, he'll really need to impress in practices and exhibition games if he hopes to land a spot in the show. That said, good luck Willie.

This is a fair assessment of Broy's and NH"s differing takes on RM. The problem I think most of us have w/ Broy's attitude about RM is Broy always argued to support the HC because he's SLU's head coach. He did it for Zo and UB, but because he thinks RM's a poor excuse for human being he won't give him any props. Ironic in a way since RM's a much better coach than either Zo or UB and stands the best chance of making SLU a relevant program.

Wow! I hope you're right, Westy. Everyone on here would like to see CE succeed. I liked his attitude last year when he was benched in the early going. He admitted he wasn't doing what was required on D and suffered the consequences with a determination to get better on D. Which he did. Having a healthy and more rounded CE would be big for this team.

Redshirting's a luxury we couldn't afford. Most teams will do it if they are loaded at a particular position to give a gem in the rough type an extra year that is not spent on the bench. CR was tossed right into the fire and should have developed faster because of the actual game experience. He was coming on the latter part of his FR season but definitely regressed last year. Why? Who knows. Like CE, he has to come thru for us this year in order to make the dance.

25 w's would be great. But let's not get too excited about Glaze as he's a freshman. It will take time. Still, he's a better choice for us than Bruenig at this point.

Well, you're certainly making the most of your 5 posts a day restriction. One question: When you visit St. Louis are you a guest of Broy?

The one I'd like to see is KM, MM, DE, CE, and RL. Now that assumes CE is back to his FR form and last year was just a really bad case of soph jinx (mono, shoulder, fireworks). This gives us good height, outside shooters,penetrators, some speed, albeit not much, and some good D. I'm also figuring RM had CE and RL working on their inside games this past off season

If this was the UB era we'd be salivating over a kid like this. As a walkon he appears to be a steal for that lazy SOB of a coach we've got.

Unless Gramps steps in and pulls the, "i'd really love to see you at SLU in my old jersey", we'd better start wininng big. He's got some good offers already and has two more years to draw attention of the Dukes, UNC's, and KU's of the world.