Nate Latsch

>now you are insinuating that we shouldnt have signed polk, >maguire, mitchell? I didn't insinuate that. My point was that those are the kind of players SLU CAN get. I like the signings of Polk and Maguire and the commitment of Mitchell. With Polk, the Billikens got a quick point guard who had a lot of success at an area high school that produces college basketball prospects. With Maguire, the Billikens got a shooter with size — which is what they lacked for a couple years and still need more of. I'm not sold on Mitchell at the next level, but he does add athleticism and toughness to a roster lacking in both areas. - Nate

>i just dont understand his focus on saint louis university. >i do not see nate post on any other fan board except the >stltoday.com prep sports board. yet he says he is just >commenting as an unattached reporter and has no fan >interest. > >it sure seems that if that was true, he would also be on the >siu, mi$$ouri, missouri state and illini boards insighting >as well. instead he is only here ripping. Roy, I've said many times that I post here because I like the people here. I've met several people from this forum while I was out working. Some who post. Some who do not. There are a lot of great people here. I don't have time to post anywhere other than here or the stltoday.com prep board. I really don't have time to post at either board these days. I care about the future of the St. Louis University basketball program because I care about St. Louis area basketball. And I'm not just here ripping. I've posted many positive things on this board as well. I've even posted recruiting information on here once or twice before it hit the newspaper, which I got in trouble for. I am trying to provide information here. - Nate

>SLU let people around Roundtree know that they had a >scholarship for him. They could not tell him that directly >because of the NCAA rules. If this info ever made it back >to Roundtree himself, I don't know. > >Lawrence didn't get an offer from MU he walked on as a >freshman. He was going to MU no matter what. > >I agree with you about Moosman, but the others we will just >have to disagree on. One name you did not mention that I >think will come back to bite the staff is Lucas O'Rear. Brian, My sources, close to Roundtree, say that they told SLU that Roundtree wanted to go there and SLU didn't want to offer. Roundtree himself told me he wanted to go to SLU. We had a 1,000-post thread on this, which I don't want to start again. I trust my sources on this one — and I'll leave it at that. The Lawrence offer thing is interesting. He had one, then didn't have one (after Mizzou was hit with the restrictions) and then he had one again when the big kid from Chicago didn't qualify. Maybe he did only want to go to Missouri. I think if SLU would have offered before Missouri, SLU would have had a chance. It's been said on this board before, but I'm not a big O'Rear fan. The Billikens need inside players, so maybe he could have helped, but I still think he's too undersized to have much of an impact at the next level. - Nate

Roy, Please stop with the talk about initiating contact. You know how recruiting works and how schools find ways to contact kids. You watched how SLU recruited Kevin Lisch, didn't you? You know that SLU offered Tyler Griffey a scholarship before he even played a high school game. SLU does the same things most other schools do. This is a terrible excuse. - Nate

>I don't think most of those kids could help the Bills. Two >that could have Lawrence and Roundtree you got to be honest about. I'm not saying any of the kids I mentioned are difference-makers, but each of them could have helped in some way. They would have added depth to the team — a big quesion mark — and contributed some minutes here and there. Josh Harrellson could be solid as a back-up big man. I know SLU already had Obi and Horace, but shouldn't anyone have seen that Obi might never fully recover from his injuries and Horace may or may not have academic concerns. Zack Plackemeier is a shooter with decent size. This is what Dustin Maguire was recruited to be, but a team can always use guys who can knock down perimeter jumpers. From what I've heard, SLU wanted Alex Moosmann to walk on. They didn't think he was a scholarship-type player. Now, they'd love to have a point guard who can make shots. I don't know if Moosmann would start, but he's someone you could bring in for a couple minutes to handle the ball and give other guys rest. Matt Lawrence took the first offer that came his way. Again, he's a really good shooter with good size — two attributes SLU needs more of. Landon Shipley is similar to Moosmann. He's a shooter who can handle the ball. I think he averaged 8.8 points off the bench this year, on a team that qualified for the NIT tourney. Alex Barnett is an athletic shooter with size and grades. Put some weight on him and he might be a nice fit as a backup shooting guard or small forward. Justin Fuehrmeyer and Spencer Stewart are back-up point guard types. Dane Brumagin averaged 9.6 points per game as a sophomore at U. Missouri-Kansas City this season. He's another shooter with good size. Torres Roundtree didn't have an offer from SLU. Ron Waller, who is committed to Western Kentucky, was arguably the most impressive player I watched at St. Louis Eagles tryouts a couple weeks ago. He's strong and athletic and poised for a big senior season. - Nate

>Brad seems to lose out both when he offers early, and when >we waits to evaluate and then offers. I get the feeling he >just isn't that insprining and/or saying things kids want to >hear. > >It seems like a lot of mothers like Brad as we have heard >this about several visits he has had with kids and their >families. Why are the kids themselves not buying what he is >selling? I have the feeling he is very serious and all >business which is appealing to parents but not to kids, but >that is pure conjecture. > >Whatever he is doing isn't working, and this holds true for >local players as well. Do you hear anything about him >personally that is turning all these kids off? Off the top of my head, I can't recall anything negative that anyone has told me about Brad's personality. I think a lot of people like Brad on a personal level. The program is a tough sell to kids outside of St. Louis, because of the lack of success (NCAA tourney appearances), facilities (which is being improved) and conference affiliation. I don't expect SLU to get many kids from outside of the area, unless the coaches can find sleepers who don't have many other options (do Anthony Drejaj, Darren Clarke, Vashun Newborne, Justin Johnson, Bryce Husak, Danny Brown, Obi Ikeakor, Horace Dixon fit that description?) Even with the local guys, Polk, Dustin Maguire and Anthony Mitchell didn't have many other options. Polk had offers from SLU and Valparaiso when he committed. Maguire committed after receiving his first offer. Mitchell had one or two offers (Eastern Illinois? being the other). I liked what the staff did early last summer of trying to identify kids from all over that they thought they had a chance with. But then those kids boosted their stock on the summer circuit and started accumulating offers from several schools. It's hard to win recruiting battles for out-of-area kids against schools like Kansas State (Jacob Pullen) and Georgia (Zac Swansey) and Iowa. - Nate

>that insinutates that since we signed those four former all >metro players, that we have passed on local players that >wanted to play here. what local players that wanted to play >here in the last two years did we pass on that would have >bettered this team? How about Josh Harrellson, Zack Plackemeier, Alex Moosmann, Matt Lawrence, Landon Shipley, Alex Barnett, Justin Fuehrmeyer, Spencer Stewart, Dane Brumagin, Torres Roundtree and Ron Waller? Think any of those guys could help the Billikens? Please save your tired Western Illinois argument re: Harrellson. The kid is 6-feet-9 and 260 pounds and can rebound, pass, block shots and shoot. The chances of the Billikens finding a kid with that size and skill set in this recruiting class are slim. - Nate

> >Who is who in the fantasy baseball league. I'm >masterbatters. I know Torch is Husak's big feet and Nate is >marked by a star as the commish. > > Official Billikens.com sponsor of H >Waldman > >Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would >have helped club. I was trying to be the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, which is going to be the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies in the area where I grew up, but I couldn't fit Lehigh Valley in there. - Nate

>It seems everyone we pursue wants to wait to see if >something better comes along. Lowery got TWO commits from >Femi's teammates a couple of months ago. I think it is >pretty clear that Brad doesn't wow anybody. We seem to be >everyone's fallback. Drew, I'm going to get ripped for this, but I'll give you an answer. There are kids in the St. Louis area who have wanted to play at SLU, but SLU didn't want them. Instead SLU goes after players from other areas who, in many cases, already have schools in mind that they'd like to play for. To be successful in the long term, SLU needs to build its program with kids from the St. Louis area. That gets more people excited about the program in general, but specifically it gets more local recruits excited about possibly playing for the home town team. The Billikens made strides in this department with recruiting Dwayne Polk, Luke Meyer, Tommie Liddell and Kevin Lisch, but haven't been able to build on that. - Nate

I know Melvin Watkins was at the Hazelwood Central-McCluer North game, along with several other college coaches. Mike Anderson was at Mizzou Arena for the McCluer North-Rockhurst Class 5 championship game. His daughter was playing the same night. - Nate

>H to H is a much better format. It is easier to play all >season long and rewards you for having an entire roster of >quality players. > >As defending champion Husak's Big Feet I joined up to defend >my title. I almost caught up to you last year after starting out the season near the bottom of the league. - Nate

Skip, I kept the scoring categories as Yahoo recommends them: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, SV, K, ERA, K/BB Here is what I pulled off of Yahoo's help page on head-to-head scoring: How does scoring work in Head-to-Head Leagues? In a Head-to-Head League, your team will square off in a weekly matchup against another fantasy team to see who can compile the best stats across a number of different categories. A new weekly matchup begins every Monday and will consist of a set number of games based on your league's statistical categories. Each stat category counts as one game, with the win going to the team that finishes the week with the highest total in that category (the cumulative total after each Sunday's games). So, if in a given week, your team hits more home runs than your opponent's, you would be credited with a victory. However, if your opponent's team ended the week with more saves than your team, you would be charged with a loss. If the two teams end up tied in a given category, each will receive credit for a tied game. This weekly win-loss total will be added to a cumulative season record, which will be used to determine standings and playoff seedings. These standings will be based on your team's overall winning percentage, which is calculated by taking your win total and adding one-half of your tie total and dividing the sum by the total number of games your team has played. - Nate

I set it up as a head-to-head league. We did that two years ago, then switched to a rotisserie-style scoring system last year. If we get enough people, we can vote on which way we want to go. - Nate

bump

>Glad I can be your role model. And I'm glad you can spell "role" correctly.

I don't know how much interest there is, but since we're running out of time I started a fantasy baseball league on Yahoo.com. The league name is Billikens.com The password is Billikens The league ID is 279503 http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/279503 There is a limit of 12 teams. I set up a live draft for Saturday (March 31) at 10 a.m. CT. If we don't fill the league, I'll delete it. - Nate

>He said he recognized the kid from the film and he was >wearing a Vandalia high school shirt Nate. Why try to >convince him otherwise? Does the kid in the video play for the St. Louis Eagles?

>I saw this kid at the simon rec center this past saturday >practicing for the Eagles and I was thinking to myself this >kid is an awesome athlete and looked like he was playing >real well within their practice/scrimmage they were having. >I didn't know who he was or where he was from but he was >wearing a Vandalia shirt, I'm pretty sure it was the same >kid. You might be talking about Sean Rakers from Wesclin or David Ruckman from Freeburg. Those are two big kids (both around 6-7) who are playing for the Eagles 17s this summer. - Nate

Thanks for posting those links V. I found this on there: - Nate

Rachel would be a great pickup for Shimmy. Ryan Pierson will probably be a SLU recruiting target in the next year or two. He is a 6-foot-8 freshman at CBC who is almost a clone of Tyler Hansbrough. That is he LOOKS like Tyler Hansbrough. Pierson doesn't play like him. Of course, when Hansbrough was a freshman he was 6-5 or 6-6. - Nate

Taj, Mustafa's final two choices were UCLA and Harvard. He didn't have many other options, that I know of, but I think it says a lot about the kid that he had those two specific options. You can rail against basketball players from Missouri all you want, but you also have to consider that Southern Illinois went to the Sweet 16 with four kids that St. Louis University probably could have had if they wanted them: Tatum, Shaw, Falker and Tony Boyle (De Soto). How's that for proof in the pudding? - Nate

>I was introduced to you last night at the Eagles Fundraising >Event at JBucks. You were sitting next to Big Lou and I was >about the fourth one to the table. You jumped up to get >some food and never came back. That table was the prime >table to be at but I figured your view wasn't as good. Next >thing I know, somebody asked for you and Lou said you had >left. Nice to meet you. I was waiting for a contract to be faxed to my office, so I knew I would have to leave early. I got there at about 5:45 and ended up leaving before 6:30. I would have liked to have hung out a little bit and watch the game, but I couldn't. - Nate

>it is my understanding lusk is a relentless recruiter. i >have seen lusk at a lot of games that's for sure. I'll second that. I've seen Lusk several times in the St. Louis area this season. - Nate

>paul lusk, who is an assistant that went with painter from >siu to purdue, would likely be a candidate. however, lusk >is still fairly young. > >the point is siu can continue the continuity of weber's >reign if they so desire. I heard Lusk applied for the head coaching job at Illinois State. - Nate

>I dont understand why he would leave. He just took the team >to the Sweet 16. He has Justin Bocot coming in who could >start right away at the sg. He has a stud 6'11 center >coming in Nick Evans. He's gonna be an MVC all-time great >and you have another big guy that according to many scouts >is supposed to be better than Evans in Carlton Fay. You >return 5 of your top 7. 08 class already has 3 commits. >This is his alma mater. I don't know if Lowery would leave Southern Illinois, but he has told people he'd be interested in coaching at SLU because he thinks SLU, with its market, could develop into a good program. The Michigan job might be a good fit for him. - Nate