Nate Latsch

Roy, Thanks. Ironically, I "found" Billikens.com when some of the members here thought I made up that Luke Meyer had been offered a scholarship by SLU. The news of Kyle Kirk leaving Fort Zumwalt West is very surprising, but it does involve a school that he was rumored to be heading to. - Nate

I spoke with Kyle Kirk on Sunday night and he will be at a new school this year. I can't reveal the destination just yet, but a small brief on it will be in the P-D tomorrow. - Nate

I've always enjoyed dealing with Barry Hinson. - Nate

I voted for Aaron Jackson, but my vote isn't counted on the poll. What is this, the Florida presidential election? I DEMAND a recount. Just kidding. One thing I have learned in covering college recruiting the last few years is that each coaching staff has its own methods for evaluating talent. And those coaching staffs believe in their respective systems, so whoever the Billikens end up signing with that scholarship should be a decent player. - Nate

So, accorinding to Prepstars, Jackson is "hearing" from St. Louis U.?

Roy, Based on potential, I would take Jackson before Murkey or Jones. Cam Murkey is a nice kid and is more consistent than Jackson, but he needs to be more aggressive on the offensive end. He has the talent, but he plays too tentative. I haven't seen Jones play enough to make a decent evaluation, but the times I've seen him he didn't show much. 3Star, As last season went on Jackson went from being a non-factor to a guy that could drop 30 on you in a heartbeat. You're right about his consistency, but he has the potential to be as good as anybody coming out of St. Louis this year. I don't know if he is the kind of player SLU wants, but whoever takes a chance on him is going to end up with a great talent. - Nate

Can we start a poll about whether or not the Bills should offer Aaron Jackson a scholarship? - Nate

I've only watched Luster play for a couple minutes, but isn't he a power forward? I saw him at Day 2 of the St. Louis Eagles tryouts at West Pine Gym and he looked like a good power player, with strength and quickness. Liddell and Luster are probably a better duo than X. Price and J.B. Jones. I wrote "probably" because we'll see what happens this winter. I like Tommie Liddell's game a lot, though I haven't seen him play very much. Luster, like I mentioned, looks like a strong kid that can be a difference-maker inside. Price didn't do much in the three or four games I saw him last season -- I think he had one point in a loss to Belleville West -- and I haven't been too impressed with Jones. Belleville West might be a better team, however. Sean McPeak is a big bruiser who can do the dirty work, score and rebound. I think B West has another starter returning, but I'm drawing a blank now. I don't know what East St. Louis has returning, but that will definitely be a marquee matchup. - Nate

You're right. If Meyer really wants to go to SLU, he should have committed already. But it looks like he has enough options -- and a variety, at that -- to wait, and still go to a decent school where he'll get a chance to contribute. Right now, I'd rank the St. Louis area senior class, potential-wise, as: 1. Grimes; 2. Liddell; 3. Evans; 4. Polk; 5. X. Price; 6. Aaron Jackson; 7. Meyer; 8. Curtis Muse; 9. Monroe Douglass Jr.; 10. ?????? I'm sure I'm missing somebody. There are a lot of fringe guys -- like a Vaughn West (Chaminade), who is a tweener at 6-6 but may have grown -- that are tough to figure. - Nate

Meyer told me he took an official visit to Stanford. He did say, however, that he is not assured of a scholarship offer from Stanford if he is accepted to the school. He said the coaching staff would look at the scholarship situation again at that time and figure out what to do from there. The scholarship offer from Stanford might not come, but Meyer still has a lot of options. He could end up in the Pac 10, Conference USA, Big 12, Ivy League or Missouri Valley. He listed a number of factors that will influence his decision, including the conference the school plays in, how good the team is and how much he could play right away. Basically, he seems to be wide open right now. - Nate

Terry Evans' jumper is the difference between him being a good high school player and a good (maybe great) college player. His game is all about athleticism right now. He's 6-foot-3 (maybe an inch or two taller) and he has explosive athletic ability. In high school, that's good enough to get you 20 points a game. But that doesn't translate into success at the next level. Athletic ability will only get you so far. I have talked to many coaches about this -- college coaches and high school coaches -- and everyone says the same thing: "He has a chance to be a really special player if he works on his jumper." Hopefully Terry took this summer off from competition to shoot 1,000 jumpers a day. If he did, Evans could be the best player in St. Louis this winter -- better than Grimes, Polk, Liddell, etc. - Nate

My work with the P-D is exclusively prep sports. I am working on a lot of high school football preview stuff right now. - Nate

Thanks. I appreciate it. Whenever I have anything to offer, I make sure to pass it along to those who are interested. I just try to stay away from the Post-Dispatch conspiracy-theory threads. - Nate

Tommie Liddell is kind of in the same boat as Terry Evans. While the knee injury has plagued Evans, grades have hampered Liddell. Liddell would probably be a top 50 prospect if he was playing with the St. Louis Eagles all summer. He had a great junior year and could have built on that this summer. Just like schools will be wondering about Evans' knee, some schools will worry that Liddell can't make the grades to play big-time college basketball. Whatever school gets Liddell will get an absolute steal. He's a great player, can do it all and has a huge upside. I think Liddell and Polk could help turn St. Louis U. into the type of program Billiken fans would sell their souls for. I'd be shocked if those two, along with Brad's collection of big men, couldn't lead the home school to the NCAA tournament for two or three straight seasons. But... don't be surprised if Liddell turns out to be the next Dwyane Wade and leads Marquette to the Sweet 16. - Nate

Terry Evans has all the physical tools to be a big-time basketball player. He needs a jumper -- plain and simple. With a reliable jump shot Evans would be one of the better prospects in the nation, say top 50 or so probably. Evans was rated as one of the best players at the Nike Camp LAST summer, but he didn't do much during the high school season because of injuries. He averaged 10 points a game for Cardinal Ritter, but didn't look very good out there (at least in the games I watched). I don't know what scholarship offers he has on the table, but there are probably a lot of major schools still interested in him. Evans didn't play much this summer -- if he played at all -- so its difficult to say what schools that were interested before are still willing to take a risk on him. Depending on what his grades are like, Evans might need a year in prep school or might need to go the JUCO route to prove he still has what the Pac 10 and Big 12 schools want. If Polk and Evans both ended up at SLU, Billiken fans could be really happy because they got two "steals." Or SLU could get two guys that could have been something special before severe knee injuries. - Nate

I spoke with Luke Meyer tonight and figured some people here might be interested. He said he has scholarship offers from SLU, Nebraska, Evansville and Indiana State. He has been talking to Stanford, Princeton and Columbia. He is waiting to see if he is accepted to Stanford, which is a prerequisite before they can offer a scholarship, and should find out by the end of August. Meyer made an official visit to Stanford already, and has made unofficial visits to SLU and Nebraska. He said he plans to make a decision before the start of the basketball season, but he is pretty wide open right now. - Nate

If Dwayne Polk hadn't been injured, he would be much higher on the list. But he might not have ended up at SLU then. - Nate

>There's a reason Mizzou held on to Clemons so long. It had >nothing to do with mentoring BS. They don't want him to >talk. Ace, good post. Mizzou fans were wondering why anybody would want to request the court documents related to the Ricky Clemons case. Well, you now have your answer. Don't forget that the coaches were desperate for a junior college point guard last spring after Wesley Stokes transferred. As up and down as Clemons was last season, imagine what the Tigers would have done without him -- maybe they don't even make the NCAA tournament. If Mizzou would have had a mediocre season, would Paulding have stayed around for his senior season? Would Klieza still have committed? A lot was riding on the recruitment of a junior college point guard. It's really not surprising to think the team could have broken some rules to get him to Columbia and into a jersey. - Nate

Torch, When I talked to Kyle Kirk at the Nike Hoop Jamboree I asked him about all the rumors he was transferring to DeSmet. He told me he was going to go to CBC, and then soon after told me he was just kidding and that he isn't planning on changing schools. I've heard a couple times now that Kirk is going to CBC, but I doubt it. He'd had to sit out an entire year and would then be eligible for his final two years of high school. CBC might need Kyle Kirk, but he doesn't need CBC. - Nate

SLU was recruiting Monroe Douglass Jr. last season. I know this because I talked with two Billiken assistant coaches about him. The coaches started following him when Chaminade played at DeSmet -- the second meeting of the two teams -- and watched him a couple times after that, at least that I know about. Monroe has good size for a point guard, with long arms, and can play defense. He's probably still growing and the one thing you have to remember with him is that he has a lot of potential. His jumper looks good -- but it never seems to go down for him. If he keeps working on it, his jumper could be a weapon. As is, he's a point guard with some size, quickness and really good passing ability. If he redshirts his freshman season, he could be a 6-foot-4 point guard by the time he starts playing in college. If Dwayne Polk didn't get hurt, I think he would have ended up somewhere other than SLU. If Polk doesn't go to SLU, Monroe might have ended up there. One school that was really interested in MD Jr. was Dayton, but after the coaching change I don't think the new regime liked him as much. I know Monroe wants to stay close to home, so I'd guess he ends up in the Missouri Valley Conference somewhere. - Nate Latsch

When I talked to Tyler at the Nike Hoop Jamboree, he said the schools that had already offered him a scholarship are Mizzou, Illinois, Arkansas and Marquette. I just read a Frank Burlison article that said Hansbrough might be the top recruit in the Midwest next year. He's a big-time prospect and he'll end up at a top basketball program. I don't know if Tyler and Grimes are close, but Hansbrough could end up with Grimes at Mizzou. - Nate

I talked to Kalen Grimes about his commitment to Missouri. He said his decision came down to Missouri, Kansas and Illinois and that "almost every major Division I school in the nation, except Duke" had offered him a scholarship. Grimes said the distance from St. Louis to Columbia was one of his main reasons for picking the Tigers. I asked him if St. Louis University was one of the schools he considered. "I think Coach Romar, when he was there, and coach Soderberg, they kind of knew I would go somewhere else," he said. "That’s a little bit too close for home. That’s a great program, but that didn’t fit what I was looking for.†- Nate

In an article on Prepstars.com, Matt Shaw said there are three schools that are showing a lot of interest in him. "The schools are mostly St. Louis, Carbondale and Creighton," Shaw said. "And Stanford, Minnesota, Mississippi and Texas Tech area also in there." The article also said that Shaw and St. Louis Eagles' teammate Tyler Hansbrough shaved their heads before the Peach Jam Tournament. - Nate

I don't really know anything about his grades. He's just a kid to keep in mind. If the SLU coaches think he has what it takes to play for the Billikens, he's already one of their targets. With Polk already committed to the Bills and SLU's desire to recruit Vashon kids, I'd say SLU has as good a chance as anybody to get Muse -- if he has the grades. He's always been described as a "project" because few can match his size and athleticism. My guess is that he ends up in JUCO and turns out to be a good prospect after gaining weight, strength and experience. He has the tools. - Nate

From prepstars.com: Exactly who was that 6-9 jumping jack of activity sending coaches scrambling for their rosters? It was none other than St. Louis (MO) Vashon product Curtis Muse, who has turned a lot of heads with his activity level. He seemed to be running out of gas a little bit late on Wednesday, but that doesn't take away from the outstanding camp that he's had. While Muse is pretty raw on the offensive end, he has a wiry strong frame and loves to fight for rebounds and tips lots of shots on the defensive end. Virtually nobody outside of St. Louis knew about Muse heading into this week, but he just might be a high major prospect. - Nate