Jalensdad2002

>nm Yes, at Vashon no less.

What time does the program airs

He will be a major prospect in about 16 years.

>Is he a friend or relative of Lidell. He seems to be a >knowledgeable poster, but how does he have this inside info? >If he's correct, I'll be doing cartwheels. Not related I attended school with one of his assistant coaches and I have watched Liddell play since he was about 13.

Jalensdad, since you seem to have the inside >track, maybe you have some idea as to the chances this kid >is eligible next season. From what I understand, Coach Soderberg and staff sat down during the visit and pretty much explained to Liddell and family what was needed to get Liddell qualified. He needs something like an 18 on the ACT and to maintain a C-Average this upcoming school year. These requirements should be well in Liddell's reach.

Today I had the opportunity to speak with Liddell and his family and I'm of the opinion that Tommie will give Coach Soderberg a verbal committment within the next couple of days. So if I were Coach Soderberg I would be calling Liddell's family to confirm this info.

You don't see Rose in Liddell, from the awkward looking left handed jump shot. Tommie is a spectacular ballhandler with ball skills that rivals players from that Mountain Dew/And1 video, but he is so fundamentally sound that you will never see it in a game unless it is necessary. You need to attend more of his games as I need to attend more of Lisch's games. I feel that I'm cheating myself by not seeing more of him.

One can only hope. I'm a big fan and I don't think he wants to stray too far from home. Coach Soderberg and his staff have been real impressive in their recruitment of Tom and I hope their efforts will be rewarded. He is the type of talent that you could build a program around and unlike Larry Hughes I don't believe he will be ready for the NBA after one year. I think not only fans will gravitate to see him play but also other outstanding basketball talent in and out of the area will want to play along side him and Polk. This could be a special time for SLU but Tom must do his part.

Although Tommie has all the physical gifts of a Maurice Jeffers he is quite capable of playing the point. He is virtually the de-facto point guard for East Side. A lot of people confuse his talents with Wade but I don't think he has that scorer's mentality. When I project his play at SLU I often see a Jalen Rose type of a player. A person who can slash as well as distibute and be a threat from the outside. The beauty of his game is that he is highly adaptable and coachable. He would fit no matter where you play him on the perimeter. Coach Soderberg is known as a defensive minded coach. I believe that is his main attraction to Liddell. A long lean guy such as Tom would be extremely bothersome to 3 point shooters in CUSA.

>Any rumors, gossip, facts on how Mr.Lidell's visit went this >weekend? Apparently everything went pretty good. From my understanding it was an unofficial visit and the Coach explain to him were he would play. Rumor has it that Soderberg would play Liddell at the 1. As far as the academics and what Tom would need to qualify my understanding is that they are attainable. The only barrier at this point is the ACT which should not be a problem if he buckles down.

I would have to look into that because frankly I don't recall young Sargent from last year. What number did he wear. If his father attended East Side I would have very little knowledge of his exploits because I'm descended from the Lincoln Tiger family tree. The team I remember from West is JB Jones, Darren Wilson, Mcpeak, Dumaka Turner, and Joe Gross. For the life of me I can't recall Sargent due to not having seen many JV games. If you have seen Xavier play over 20 times I would have to say your an expert. That's more than most people. What's the deal with Kellerman? You are one of many who have expressed doubts about his coaching abilities. I don't know much about him.

I hope no one takes this as a slight to Xavier Price because I do like his game, but everytime a site mentions Price the analysis is always foreworded with Price having won the IHSA slam dunk contest as a freshman. It's as though he hasn't done a thing since his freshman year. So when I see this info I know the analysis is most likely inaccurate. I don't think he should be elevated over Liddell or Lisch until he proves he can elevate the play of his teammates as JB Jones, Liddell, or Lisch. Imagine the types of teams East St Louis, Belleville West, or Althoff would put out if not for the play of their stars. If you move Price from O'fallon I sincerly doubt they would be much worser. Again please don't take this a slight to Price, I am a fan and I know we will see a tremendous improvement in his play this year. But if you look at the size of that O'fallon team I couldn't understand why they didn't pound the ball inside. o'fallon was often caught waiting for Price to do something. They won't have him this year so I expect them not to be great, but I think they will surprise some teams this year.

>"does he rate them by who recruits them?" > >That appears to be the case. He certainly had Ivan Renko, a >player from Bob Knight's imagination, ranked very highly. > >It may selfish thinking but I hope that Kevin Lisch >continues to be underrecruited and underranked. We know how >good he is. What you find when you investigate these purportedly unbiased recruiting website is that often times like big corporations they exchange and sometimes steal info from each other. The Illinois sites such as chicagohoops, cuttingedgehoops, highschoolelite.com, and ibca.org don't get an opportunity to see much of our fine talent in Southern Illinois. That's why you'll see a talent like a Kevin Lisch or a JB Jones undervalued despite leading a team of unknowns deep into the state playoffs. I also believe that our kids don't get notice by these analyst if either they don't face Chicago teams in season or compete on the AAU circuit. Tommie Liddell qualifies in both categories having averaged over 18ppg against Chicago Teams as well as competing on the AAU circuit. I think someone mentioned that Lisch doesn't play AAU, I don't think AAU ball would make Lisch any better having heard so many positives about him, but I think his stock would benefit from the exposure. In Illinois if your not from Northern Illinois it's almost as though you don't matter.

>i think twice in summer games. You think or do you know. I believe they did meet as 8th and 9th graders at the sportsplex. I think I have a game tape of that, but I'm not sure if that is Lisch or not. I also believe that his sister Stephanie competed.

>yeah, the lisch ranking is just astounding. let's say he is >right. kevin is the 203rd best junior in the country. isnt >it amazing that he has outplayed ranked seniors price, >dentman, and liddell every time they have met? i too love >the fact he is under the radar somewhat, but that said, >there are plenty of "enemies" that know of him already. >soon the negative recruiting starts. I would agree Lisch should be ranked higher, but how often have Liddell and Lisch have met.

>actually if you think about the level he is playing in high >school, imo, only hughes, winfield and maybe douglas sr >exceed the young mr liddell. remember, bonner was a late >bloomer and claggett was somewhat an unknown outside of the >area when in high school, edwin was coming off of a senior >season he didnt even play. liddell would be a huge pickup >imo. i would love to see him wear billiken blue even if we >have to wait an additional year via prep or prop status. I'll concede Larry Hughes because after all he was a Mcdonald's All-American, but I did compete against Claggett and Winfield, although Winfield was extremely athletic he did not have the overall talent of Liddell. He was about 6'3 and could jump out of the gym but his skills were limited to that of a small forward. Liddell could legitimately play the 1 to the 3 in college. If he played the 2 exclusively he would be dominate with his shot blocking ability.

SLU is very much in the hunt for Liddell. I believe he has a campus visit for Sept.13. I hear that Coach Soderberg and Co. are pulling out all the stops. For selfish reasons I would love to have Liddell's games only a Metrolink ticket away.

There is a ton of information about Ellis on these sites. chicagohoops.com, hoopmasters.com, and theinsiders.com Apparently he chosed not to play much summer ball.

I think you have to give the defense a little credit. Tommie is not going to have the types of games against Vashon every time out. You do know that team are geared to stop him. East Side was not blessed with good shooters. Teams know that if you stop Liddell more times than not you will beat East Side. Check the stats.

Yeah I did see that game and I've been telling anyone who would listen that Liddell is the best player in the area. I think had Bennie Lewis played him as a freshman they would have finished at least 2 games over .500 as opposed to 10-17. I do believe we will see an improvement in Price at West. He won't have the pressures of leading a team. I think Price is the type of player that will do well feeding off a player like Jones. He can just concentrate on scoring and playing defense. But in the end Tommie Liddell, Darius Luster, Demario Smith, Steven Andrews, and Will Rogers will be too much to deal with.

How could you not be impressed with JB Jones? He led a team full of role players to the state finals. He so smart and everytime West faces East Side he always accept the challenge of facing Liddell. He is the truth.

>jalensdad, i was envisioning luster playing the opposite >wing. let smith and steven andrews handle the inside. >andrews isnt as big, but his game is more suited for the >inside than luster who has guard skills. at least on >offense anyway luster can always guard the taller player if >necessary. i agree east side is now the team to beat on the >east side imo. luster is a huge get. that regional semi >will be interesting with belleville west, east st louis, >althoff, carbondale and centralia. those are 5 very good >teams imo. I didn't fully complete my thought. I believe Coach Brooks will have him playing the small forward position where he can crash for offensive rebounds as well give weak side interior defensive help. I have watched Luster since his incoming freshman year, during that summer he and Liddell often played together and I was duly impressed with his toughness. The kid always sought out contact never shied away as Andre Brown and Demario Smith did. I felt bad for him in that lost to East Side in the Regional Finals, but he did have a draw dropping rejection of a Liddell breakaway. I can't wait for the season to begin I think I posted on the All-Star Forum Board that Coach Karvinen was playing Luster out of position by having Luster play at the 2-guard. He was in a sense effectively neutralizing Luster greatest asset. His strength and toughness. Now with his athleticism matched with Liddell's watch out for highlight reel dunks.

I recently read a post from you about Darius Luster transferring from Cahokia to East Side. I have spoken to 2 different sources and each have confirmed that to be the truth. This caught me by total surprise. I had all but written off the SWC to Belle-West. I think Luster will give them the interior toughness that has been missing since Brandon Stallings graduated. East Side could conceiveably start 4 players 6'4 or above. I think Luster could turn out to be good prospect for a mid-major. Speaking of Brandon Stallings I saw him in early summer and he has stretched to about 6'7 inches. When he graduated he was only 6'5 inches. Give him a look Soderberg.

> > jd2002, mizzou seems to be recruting every big combo guard >in the country. mckinney, gardner, conley will be there next >year with crawford supposedly leaning towards there after >changing his mind on his michigan commitment. that's a >crowded situation there. I couldn't agree more. I also have come full circle with Liddell possibly attended SLU. In my opinion SLU would be the perfect fit for Liddell. He would have the opportunity to compete immediately. I think he would benefit from an intense coach like Soderberg who won't accept less than 100% effort from Tommie. He could also con- tinue to be a role model for his younger brothers.

>torch said, "All indications are that we are going after >Matt Shaw" > >i tend to agree. i dont know who else for the eagles the >billikens would be watching unless liddell is in orlando as >well. tommie has not been traveling with the eagles as much >this summer though it seems and none of the reports we got >mentioned liddell, so i am assuming he isnt there. Liddell departed East St Louis a day late for Orlando. He had to finish a summer class on the 23rd.