Jalensdad2002

No one is going to a team where he feels he will be the fifth or sixth guard. He will go to a team where he feels his talent will allow him to get extended minutes. You have to understand that Price was considered at one time to be one of the top players in Illinois. I'm sure he still feels that way. In Price's mind he probably feels one of those spots is his for the taking.

Price is a pretty good shooter when he gets his feet set. I'd take him in a minute. In complete agreement. He has some holes in his game as far as ballhandling and defense, but I think those things can be corrected. He is a great athlete and I believe he would grow and thrive around players like Liddell and Lisch. I never thought he would fit in the system at Purdue. At one time Cincy was high on him calling him the next Darius Miles on one of their websites. Xavier Price Class of 2004 Position: SG School: O'Fallon City: East St. Louis, IL, IL Height: 6-3 Interest: 1 5/21/03: Listed as the 6th best prospect in his class, in Illinois. - Chicago Hoops 7/20/00: The "next Darius Miles" may be upon us only months after the original left. Xavier Price, a 6-foot-3 freshman at O'Fallon High, is already the talk of the Southwestern Conference. Price may even be more hyped at a similar age than Miles was four years ago at East St. Louis. Price is ranked No. 2 among freshman-to-be players in Illinois on the highschoolelite.com website. It turns out that Price and Miles are good friends. "Darius is like a member of our family," Price said. "Our families have always known each other. He told me if he could (accomplish what he did), that he was sure I can." Miles went from the Southwestern Conference to the No. 3 pick in the NBA draft last month. "Xavier has exceptional skills and great instincts, things you can't teach," O'Fallon coach Kevin Kellerman said. "A lot of freshmen will draw back into their shell, but he is not afraid of performing. "He is already being compared to a lot of people, and he may grow to be 6-4 or 6-5. This kid has a lot of raw potential and natural talent. He has shown he can play on the varsity level. "Xavier definitely has the tools to be an impact player as a freshman." Price can play a shooting guard or either forward position with his muscular and still-developing frame. He is equally at ease facing or playing with his back to the basket. Kellerman said has huge hands. "He holds a basketball like it is a softball," Kellerman said. It gives Price an advantage in his ball-handling. Price was aware of the ranking. "It's a nice honor, but I don't think there is any extra pressure," he said. "This summer I have been working on my dribbling, my jump shot and attacking more on both offense and defense. "I have grown up playing against older players, including my dad. I learned early." - St Louis Post Dispatch

Illinois team who is in the final four and i really don't see them having any dominating post players. Don't be so dismissive of Illinois' bigs. They may not be lottery picks, but they are mobile and play with a lot of emotion. They rebound and defend. Powell being only 6'6 plays with a chip on his shoulder kinda how Newbourne should play. Augustine will come into his own after the departure of at least 2 of their great guards. I can't wait for Tommie to suit up for SLU. I believe Soderberg has a plan and I want to see it through. Tommie is home on spring break and I'm told the lowest grade he received this quarter was a C in some religious class(God help him). I tend to agree that he will enter SLU as a well-groomed Sophmore as his experiences at Hargrave on an off the court will be immeasurable. Will he be a 20ppg scorer, probably not, however he will make his teammates better.

Illinois was at the cusp of turning into a Duke, with a starting five that could have included Nick Anderson, Marcus Liberty, LaPhonso Ellis, Cuonzo Martin, and David Booth, if memory serves me right. Juwon Howard would have been coming off the bench! That is a staggering amount of talent. I watched Liberty and Ellis do battle in 87 for the state championship. Liberty went off for 40 points, but the frontline of Ellis, Harris, & Rodgers were too much. I'll write some more if there is interest, but I always find it interesting how the NCAA conducts bball investigations after living through this one. Keep it coming, these were some of the best times of my life

February 19, 1989 According to Deon, Jimmy Collins shook hands with him after the East St. Louis game and visited for a brief period of time. I was not present. It's funny how you find your place in time. We lost that game in Chicago. We felt we got jobbed by the officials. This was the game that got the players motivated to make state. We wanted another opportunity to face Simeon. At the time Counzo Martin was being heavily recruited by the Illini. These were the golden days of East St Louis hoops as Lute Olsen made a trip to watch Martin practice, Norm Stewart took in a game. Things were really going well and then Laphonso Ellis made the same accusations as Deon Thomas. Everyone wondered what prompted Ellis to make the statement. Immediately everyone began asking the question,"If he turned down all of this money from Illinois, "what did Notre Dame offer"? Things were never really the same as Ellis never really came back. Martin signed with Purdue which really angered the coaching staff as Purdue was perceived by Bennie Lewis as a football school. Illinois made the Final Four but lost to Michigan. I felt Ellis was the missing piece to that potential championship season. It's funny how seemingly innocuous choices have profound repercussions.

Why is it assumed that these guys wanted to come to SLU.

>These guys are good and they're handling a very pro-Okie >State crowd well. 46-39 Saluki's at the half...not bad. >Laury is a great coach and should be considered for the SLU >job 06-07. Yes Lowery is a good coach, but don't you think he benefitted from the success of Weber and Painter. SIU was almost the perfect job for an unproven coach. Contrast that to what Soderberg walked into. Totally different situation. I'm really impressed with how SIU gets out on defense. Consistently disrupt what an offense wants to do. Looking at the strengths of that team(guards-swing forwards), I'm thinking Soderberg may be going after similar talents. This may be why it is being reported that Soderberg is seemingly going after 6'5-6'7 guys as opposed to that 6'8+ monster.

This has been bugging me since the thread died down a few weeks ago. A lot of the notes I read talked about Lisch and Liddell ... and how much better we are going to be. After this past 9 win season one can only hope SLU will do better. I don't see all the negative things such as key injuries happening again. I don't expect a 20 win season, however I'm shooting for a .500 season. Anything above that is gravy. ______________________________________________________________________ Why? Some seem to belive that Liddell is the second coming of Hughes. One word: RickyCranford. Remember him? The poor man's Larry Hughes according to great talent evaluator Charlie Spoonhour. Frankly, when some like broy and Jalesndad say what they say about Tommie, I keep hearing this phrase from Spoon. You will never hear me compare Tommie to Larry Hughes. Totally different ballplayers. Larry as we know was playing with a mission. He had a younger brother with serious medical needs. So his play I believe was heavily influenced by that situation. Tommie is totally different. He is playing to his own beat, once he get into a real coaching environment you will then begin to see the results. Will he ever become the scorer of Hughes, don't know, but I believe Liddell to be the superior athlete as this stage of their careers. Ricky Cranford who the h is that. I have never heard of him. How tall is he,what position did he play. What was his stats coming out of HS. Do your own homework. Stop relying on the opinions of others. ______________________________________________________________________ I'll be the first to admit that I've never seen Tommie play. This is where your comments should have ended. If you haven't seen neither play how can you give an honest analysis. What criteria would you use to determine the potential abilities of a given player. 1.) Opinions from recruiting experts Do a google search and note how the experts from scout.com,rivals.com, & hoopmasters.com give him high marks. 2.)Performances in big time events Liddell has a proven track record from HS, AAU, Shoe camps,& now prep school that demonstrates his abilities to perform at a high level under pressure. 3.) Wins/losses The best thing I can say about Tommie is that he has never played on a team that didn't finish with at least a 10 game record over .500. As as starter from HS to Prep School Tommie's teams have a record of 94-24. I don't believe this to be by happenstance. ____________________________________________________________________ But given our track record, I again believe caution is the course of the jalopy here (and make no bones about it .. this ain't no cadillac in my eyes). I'm of the belief Soderberg is going after beter players than years past. So don't judged Soderberg so harshly this early in his career. No next years team is not a Caddy. Far from it, more like a Pontiac, and anyone from the inner-city knows what the acronym for Pontiac stands for. ______________________________________________________________________

>I've heard Lorenzo Romar say that he won't schedule SLU as >long as Brad Soderberg is the coach. Granted he has the option of scheduling SIUC, but did he make that statement before or after signing Dentmon.

Send me an e-mail at [email protected]. I will be more than happy to send you a Highlight DVD and or game disc of one of his games.

the this thread has taken. I am not anti-Drejaj or anti-anyone who is returning to the program. But you can't turn a blind eye to the results of this past season. This team had some bad things happen, they lost some very close games, games were an improvement in the talent level possibly could have made a difference. I'm not saying the newcomers will translate into an additional 9-10 wins on the season. I'm saying build towards the future. Play the young guys to include Luke and Danny heavy minutes. Make them prove their worth. If you do this one or three things will happen: 1. The youngster will develop and come back better the next season. 2. They won't develop and you as the coach will know what you need to recruit the following season. 3. What better recruiting tool could you have than having a proven track record of playing incoming talent. Look at Coach Romar at Washington. He heavily recruited Tommie at SLU and continued to send out feelers at UW. I remember thinking no way would Tommie go to that program. Within 2 years I'm forced to do a 180. He has turned that program into one of the jewels of the PAC10. Possibly supplanting Arizona after the eventual retirement of Lute Olsen. It can be done. Good coaches and programs proved that on a yearly basis.

I think vices may be too strong of a word to use. Tommie has the requisite score to qualify.It's just a matter of waiting for the final grades, and what exactly do you mean by the tables could be turned. Are you so east coast biased that you can't see the major flaws in Drejaj's game? I thought we were discussing on the court issues.If I'm Coach Soderberg I hope my new recruits come in with a superior attitude. I wouldn't recruit kids who expected to take a backseat to returning players who only won 9 games. If anything this team needs that attitude. One of the things that has kept SLU from moving foward is their recruitment of borderline talent. It's wrong to recruit these types of talent and throw them to the wolves(Cincy & Louisville). I'm still trying to find all the great things Drejaj has done for the program. I'm sure he is a great kid, but where are the results. Hell I worked with a guy by the name of Harry Rogers who still has records that stands with the program. He is not receiving the homage you seemed to want to point at Drejaj. You point out that they are newcomers as if that is a defect. You think that mattered to Jimmy Boeheim in relation to Carmelo Anthony. Now Liddell is not Anthony, although he did better in some of the skills test at the 2003 NBPA Camp. As far as having problems with Drejaj minutes, if Drejaj is earning his minutes by being productive, fine no one can argue with productivity, however if Drejaj is playing simply because he has been around the longest, who wouldn't take exception. You say you know Soderberg, if that is the case talk to him about the type of player he believes Tommie Liddell to be. He knows Tommie is a program maker, otherwise he would have moved on when Tommie failed to qualify. You think he would have stayed on when it was reported that Tommie had switched his committment to UNLV, which was by the way an ill-conceived PR stunt to garner attention for the upcoming Las Vegas Big Time Event. These actions speaks volume. As long as Tommie does his part academically as well as athletically he will play heavy minutes from day one. Get used to it and support it.

In reference to the word "check" I mean exactly that..U stated the guys may question what Drejaj has proven..etc.., my thing is that shouldn't even be an issue if they're team players as u say, if they're trying to fit into the system. ______________________________________________________________________ You make it seem as though the new guys are plotting an uprising. I simply pointed out that a true leader words must be followed by positive actions. If Drejaj or anyone for that matter cannot back up their words with action, eventually those words will begin to fall on deaf ears. It has nothing to do with grade classifications. ______________________________________________________________________ U can't just come onto the team and just think u have free reign, if nothing else Drejaj paid his dues, and they'll have to pay theirs, that's what I mean by check. That's respect for Drejaj, even as a support player to the team as u say..he deserves to be respected. ______________________________________________________________________ I doubt anyone will come on the team with that attitude, however this team undoubtedly needs someone who is more than one dimensional. Drejaj for all the accolades you want to heap upon him is not the type of player who can carry a team. He deserves respect, but not homage. ______________________________________________________________________ I know Soderberg very well too and I can almost assure u that he will put Drejaj in a leadership role, because he at least knows what he's getting from the kid and he's already a vocal leader...He doesn't have to earn the freshmans respect, they have to accept his position and respect him for what he has done for SLU... ______________________________________________________________________ I can't claim to know Soderberg, but I hope he is intelligent enough to know that a changing of guard is in order as far as the backcourt is concerned. I believe he knows exactly what he has in Drejaj. With that in mind, I don't think Drejaj will have the minutes to bust azz as you say. ______________________________________________________________________ U're wrong about my comment for next year, not hoping they'll fail, hoping Drejaj bust azz and u'll eat your words. ______________________________________________________________________ I've been wrong before and if Drejaj can make a Mo Jeffers-like transformations great, but highly unlikely. ______________________________________________________________________

From ur webpage it looks like all he does is dunk the ball against weak teams, that does not translate into a good college career i've seen it myself . Only a person with a limited amount of b-ball knowledge would infer that dunking is a true measure of basketball talent. That page was made to dispel the belief that Tommie was only an average athlete. I don't know why I continue to fall into these traps but the 1st photo page featured: Edwardsville(pix1&5)-Yearly puts out solid teams. Coach Waldo one of the best prep coaches in the area with over 400 career victories. Alton(pic #3) Lost in their Regional Finals Collinsville(pic#4)-See Edwardsville Lincoln(pix 6-7) 32 game winner that year. Vashon(pic8) No explanations needed. Hardly weak teams. Most of the photos were prior to his senior season also.

Everyone seems ready to just hand over the team to new guys who has to learn Brad's system which we all know "takes a minute". ______________________________________________________________________ I think is goes without saying that Soderberg is not going to hand over spots to undeserving players, however I hold the belief that Liddell will step in and contribute immediately. ______________________________________________________________________ To guys who also have to deserve to start just like Drejaj, just like any of the other guys. I think Luke and Danny Brown showed tremendous efforts this season, why would they not even be considered, why assume that Kevin and Tommie will "immediately" turn the team around. ______________________________________________________________________ You can't really compare the games of Drejaj, Meyer, & Danny Brown. They all bring different skillsets. Tommie brings a totally different game. He has the abiltity to play from the 1-3. He rebounds, he defends, he passes, and most importantly he has the ability to create his own offense. I don't think the same can be said of the three guys you mentioned above. Outside of Meyers none of the three you mentioned were must haves for Soderberg. I think he pulled Drejaj at the last minute. Danny Brown under similar circumstances. Tommie however was being pursued since his sophmore year by the staff of SLU. You gotta believe that Liddell will be given the opportunity to prove himself. ______________________________________________________________________ Afterall it's a team. ______________________________________________________________________ You won't find a better team player than Tommie. A guy who tends to be unselfish to a fault. ______________________________________________________________________ If these guys came onto the team with an attitude as u suggest Jalensdad, as an Upperclassmen and probably captain or co-captain (Drejaj) I would check them right from the beginning. Make sure they understand that I'm a leader. ______________________________________________________________________ I never suggested the new guys would come in as prima donna's, but leadership is earned not given. If Drejaj is the leader you seem to think he is, he won't have to say a word. He will earn that respect with his play. SLU for lack of a better comparison is not DUKE. Checking other players came quite easy for guys like Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, and Grant Hill due to the fact that they were not only winners, but big time winners. Who on SLU's roster can remotely claim that. So be very careful about the use of the word checking, especially if the new guys, specifically Liddell comes in and dominates in practices. ______________________________________________________________________ How will the kids learn if it's just given to them? ______________________________________________________________________ I think Lisch said it best when he accepted the scholarship from SLU. Lisch stated the thing that most impressed him about Soderberg was that Soderberg made no promises about playing time. ______________________________________________________________________ This is College...then if the kids do start over Drejaj and doesn't perform as everyone expects we'll be reading threads about their inefficiencies...or not so supportive comments... ______________________________________________________________________ You won't hear it from me. I expect the kids to have an up and down year. I'm wishing for a .500 season. Anything above that is gravy. I think Tommie is proving that he should be able to handle the jump in competition. He has proven it at every level that he has competed. I don't expect that to change. ______________________________________________________________________ What if Drejaj is the man next year, if he's the glue that keeps this team winning? ______________________________________________________________________ Great but not likely. ______________________________________________________________________ Everyone will be singing his praises..we're comparing these Freshman to other SLU players but then if for some reason they can't live up to that, we're ready to drop them..I can't wait until next year..I will remember this thread. ______________________________________________________________________ Again these are freshmen. I expect an up and down year. Drejaj on the other hand has been in the system for 3 years. He has proven to be a support player. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Lucas Johnson played great for U of I in that role a couple of years back. As for the I can't wait for next year comment, I hope I'm wrong, but it sounds as though you are hoping for them to fail. ____________________________________________________________________ I agree with Taj..it doesn't mean Drejaj will be leading scorer etc..but I guarantee you, he will be the one who vocally and mentally keep this team tight. If I'm wrong next season, I'll admit it then. But until then, I don't care how good guys were before the team, in high school, in juco, in prep school, it's how they play WITH!! the team that counts. Reg was good in prep school, high school, he didn't get a pass from scruitiny, But Kevin and Tommie does..is it because Reg wasn't from St. Louis..what's the deal.. ______________________________________________________________________ If Drejaj steps up as a leader off the court as far as mentoring the young guys on what to expect. Then great for Drejaj. It would show a level of maturity that most kids don't display. Who has given Tommie or Kevin a pass? But can you really compare the situations of Tommie and Kevin(2 incoming freshmen) to that of Drejaj and Reggie(2 established upperclassmen) If Reggie received unfair scrutiny in your eyes it was more than likely due to Reggie's strong play the previous year. People were expecting some big things from Reggie, unfortunately a lot of the posters are weekend warriors. They may not have the understanding of how an injury can effect a players all-around game. A lot of people were not understanding of the injuries he was dealing with and a lot of people were unaware of the off the court crisis(sp) Reggie had to endure. ______________________________________________________________________

Or the new guys will look at him and ask,"What have you proven on this level"? Guys talk the talk all the time, but if Drejaj is not backing it up and is still logging heavy minutes look for disention to develop on next year's team. I hope this is not the case, but Drejaj has never proven, at least in my eyes to be a starter at this level. He would be a great support player if he played within those confines, unfortunately at least once during a crucial point in the game, Drejaj goes for the flash and either takes a bad shot or commits a costly turnover. If he became a better distributor of the ball on the perimeter and begins to take the uncontested jumpshot, Drejaj then could be invaluable. A very big if.

>Then UB needs to sit him down and change his nature. Would be the biggest mistake Soderberg could make. Tommie's value at SLU will not be as a scorer but as a distributor. When Tommie looks to score, his overall game suffers as his assist totals tend to drop. The optimal statline for Tommie at SLU should be between 15-17 points, 6 rebounds, and 4-6 assists. If he's attempting to be Larry Hughes like, good for Tommie, but bad for SLU.

>TL only averaged 16 in high school where he was free to take >as many shots as he wanted.. He is not going to score 13 a >game as a college freshman. That's just not his nature. There is a lot of truth in that statement, however realize that Tommie was also his team's leading rebounder. This meant that on most occasion he was not out on the wing finishing the break, but coming down with rebounds surrounded by multiple defenders. I have followed his high school coach for the past 3 years. His teams very rarely got anything cheap due to the fact that the Flyers on most occasion walked the ball up. During Tommie Sr year they had 3 games where they ran the competition off the floor. It should come as no surprise that Coach Brooks sat out those games due to illness. In addition to that I expect the college game to be a little more open. He will play longer minutes which should translate into at least a 13ppg average. If the players at SLU take the approach of taking ill-advised shots like his high school teammates as opposed to allowing Tommie to create for others then of course his numbers will suffers as well as those of the team. 3 star you need to look at his numbers. Don't get caught up in his overall scoring average. Liddell's numbers will always suffer overall due to the fact that he doesn't dominate weaker competition. He simply doesn't look to score vs weaker teams. Put the bright lights on and present some stiff competition, this is where the true measuring of Liddell begins. Look at his stats within the last 2 years when confronted by equal competition. I dare say All-American like: Sr Year vs Peoria Manuel-Lincoln Thanksgiving Tourney Championship 23 points, 11 assists, & 6 rebounds Sr Year vs Belleville West-Top 5 IHSA ranked team 29 points, 12/18fgs,& 9 rebounds after West held him to 3/17 fgs and 9 points in the 1st meeting. Sr year vs Vashon-no explanations needed 25 points, 15 rebounds(Miklasz numbers), & 4 blocks Sr Year vs Carbondale-IHSA Supers 27 points, 11/15fgs, 7 rebounds, & 4 steals _____________________________________________________________________ At Hargrave In the three championship games Hargrave competed in Tommie averaged 20.3ppg, 5.6apg, & 5rpg. Sorry for the long post, but stop throwing stuff against the wall and waiting to see what sticks. Back up statements with data. Oh, one other thing, guys got away with bloody murder when defending a great penetrator such as Tommie Liddell during his high school career. He simply did not get the calls most players received. Once he establishes that he can break down defenders, I expect Tommie to spend quite some time at the line. I hope he is practicing. This should translate into 4-5 points a game.

Having been at one time an Illinois commitment, David Palmer, of Oak Hill Academy by way of Nashville, Tenn., will not be suiting up for the Fighting Illini next year. After failing to gain early admittance to Illinois in the fall, Palmer and Illinois have mutually parted ways according to Oak Hill head coach Steve Smith. It now looks likely that the 6-foot-8, 230-pound power forward will end up at a mid-major unless a Pac-10 school in need of post players pursues him. Palmer is one of a few big men left in the class of 2005. "Illinois has not been involved lately with David to my knowledge," said Coach Smith. "He wouldn't go there anyway. He felt like he was left hanging when they wouldn't let him in school this fall. They knew his grade situation all along." Palmer, who had an up and down year at best at Oak Hill, should have some options this spring. "Schools like St. Louis and East Tennessee State have shown interest," said Smith. "St. Bonaventure's and Niagara have also expressed interest, but David is not going to go to a school up there. USC came in to watch him practice, and he only played okay. They are supposed to get back with me later, so I don't know what they are going to do." USC did just recently land a commitment from post player Rousean Cromwell, but the Trojans are in need of more than just one big man. Coach Smith noted that Palmer has had days in practice where he looked very good but has not been able to consistently perform at a high level. Nonetheless, Coach Smith feels that Palmer could eventually be a successful player at the mid-major level. "I've told David to hang in there," said Smith. "A lot of people as late as April will be coming into watch him. Offensively, he can do it. He can score on the block and rebound at the mid-major level. "There were some days in practice when he was one of our five best players. He just is not in good enough shape yet. He is getting stronger, though. He maxed out at 290-pounds the other day. He is the strongest guy on the team in the weight room." Palmer is expected to qualify academically.

Interesting game article concerning Missouri recruit Leo Criswell towards the bottom of the page. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Gibbons RivalsHoops.com Recruiting Analyst Rivals.com Tommie Liddell of Hargrave In a hard fought battle between two bitter rival Virginia-based military prep schools, Hargrave Military Academy defeated Fork Union Military Academy 94-83 in overtime in the championship game of the First Piedmont Invitational Tournament Saturday afternoon in Chatham, Va. St. Louis U. signee, Tommie Liddell led Hargrave with 26 points. For more details click to Rivals.com Ultimate Ticket. In an intense struggle between two arch-rivals with identical 27-1 records this season, it all came down to a last second shot that missed, and then a tip-in that seemed to balance on the rim for an eternity before falling off, that could have given Coach Fletcher Arritt's relentless Fork Union Blue Devils the win they wanted so badly, but could not get. With the score tied at 76-76 and 14.4 seconds on the clock, Fork Union called successive timeouts to set up a play for the winning basket. FUMA's stellar point guard, unsigned 5-foot-11 Kyle Savely, from Floyds Knob, Ind., got the ball inside to leading scorer, unsigned 6-foot-5, 215-pound forward Julian Sullinger of Columbus, Ohio. However, Sullinger, who made 10-14 field goals during the game, missed this one from close range; and teammate, unsigned 6-foot-6, 190-pound forward Mantoris Robinson, of Charlotte, N.C., leaped above the crowd for a tip that almost went in, but just rolled off the rim as the horn sounded.That is how close Fork Union came to victory. Instead, the game went into overtime. During the overtime period Hargrave outscored Fork Union 18 to 7 to win their second consecutive First Piedmont Invitational Championship 94-83; and more importantly, to sweep both games this season against Fork Union. Hargrave Military defeated FUMA 83-64 in the championship game of the Fork Union Invitational Tournament last December. A key advantage for Hargrave in the championship game on Saturday was the wide disparity in fouls called. Hargrave made an incredible 48 of 65 free throw attempts, while Fork Union made 14 of 21 free throws. Obviously, that was the difference in the game. Not to take anything away from Hargrave coach Kevin Keatts, and his players, because they "refused to lose," and prevailed in this very competitive, physical contest. 6-foot-5 point guard Tommie Liddell led Hargrave with 26 points (8-14 FG, 10-15 FT); Richmond recruit, 6-foot-6 guard/forward A.D. Vassallo had 25 points (5-11 FG, 14-15 FT), 9 rebounds, and 5 assists; Maryland-bound, 6-foot-7 wing forward Shane Clark, contributed 18 points (5-9 FG, 7-8 FT), and 8 rebounds; and Pittsburgh signee, 6-foot-7 forward Sam Young had 10 points, 10 rebounds. Fork Union was led by Julian Sullinger with 23 points, 12 rebounds; Air Force Academy recruit, 6-foot-7 forward Mason Wooldridge with 15 points; cerebral floor leader, Kyle Savely with 12 points, and 10 assists; competitive Chattanooga, Tenn., native, 6-foot-6 forward Jon Cook with 11 points; and Mantoris Robinson with 10 points, and 8 rebounds. Incidentally, all of the aforementioned FUMA players fouled out. In the Third Place game Virginia Beach, Va., Coastal Christian Academy defeated Woodstock, Va., Massanutten Military Academy 69-63. Coach Walter Webb's Coastal Christian team was led by talented Georgia recruit, 6-foot-7 forward Terrance Woodbury with 19 points, and 14 rebounds. Unsigned 6-foot-4 second guard Brandon Smalls of Charleston, S.C., had 18 points; and unsigned 5-foot-9 point guard Lloyd Phillips of Washington, D.C., had 13 points, and 6 assists. Missouri signee, 6-foot-9 Leo Criswell scored 5 points, before being sent to the locker room early in the second half for alledged "disciplinary reasons." The top performers for Coach Bruce Kreutzer's Massanutten Military Academy team were unsigned 6-foot-8 Xavier Kilby, a resident of Phoeniz, Ariz., with 21 points, and 12 rebounds; unsigned 6-foot-5 guard/forward Tre' Cunningham of Greenville, S.C., with 19 points; and unsigned 6-foot-7 forward Tyler Benson of Morgantown, W.Va., with 15 points, all coming in the first half. In opening round action on Friday night, both game were "blowouts." Fork Union Military Academy trounced Coastal Christian Academy 74-42. Julian Sullinger again led the FUMA attack with 15 points. Terrance Woodbury was the scoring leader for Coastal Christian with 14 points. With A.D. Vassallo and Shane Clark each scoring 18 points, and 6-foot-4 wing guard Jason Flagler adding 13 points, Hargrave Military Academy rolled over Massanutten Military Academy 108-56. Tre' Cunningham led the losers with 11 points.

"While the pictures are a tad grainy, they are amazing". Forgive me, I'm kind of new at this. The pictures came from a WinDVD capture disc, which were recorded from a VHS long play tape. I shall endeavor to do better :-)

Tommie Liddell finished his basketball season at Hargrave with an impressive 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists vs Fork Union Military Academy in the First Piedmont Invitational. Hargrave finished the season 28-1. As is his nature, Tommie continues to step up in big games. In 3 championship games on the season Tommie posted averages of 20.3 ppg, 5.3 apg, & 5 rpg. Hopefully these stats will comfort those questioning Liddell's scoring abilities. At the Division 1 level Tommie will be challenged on most nights. I expect him to respond in kind.

Following the Hargrave- Laurinburg Prep game 3-star posted the thread titled "Liddell finally has a double figure game". I found an article on the game, and just as I expected Tommie probably played his best game of the year vs Laurinburg. According to the article Tommie scored 16 points on just 7 shots. Along with those 16 points, Tommie dished 7 assists and grabbed 7 rebounds. I'm pretty sure the bulk of those 7 shots came in the 2nd half after Hargrave fell behind by 10 points. "Fighting Tigers: Laurinburg Prep stakes claim to title". By Steve Behr This is what happens when two heavyweights fight for the championship belt. Only this time, the sport was basketball and the combatants were overwhelmingly regarded as the two top teams in prep basketball. It took No. 1-ranked Laurinburg Institute Prep a while to land its knockout blow, but the Tigers eventually landed enough punches, many of them late in the game, and pulled away from No. 2 Hargrave Military Academy, claiming a 95-83 victory Friday night in front of about 2,000 at the Holmes Center. Laurinburg capped a 40-0 season and left little doubt that it captured the national championship of prep (post-graduate) basketball. The Tigers led by 10 at halftime, saw that lead disappear when Hargrave (25-1) took a 72-69 lead with 5:45 left in the game, then pulled away for good with a 9-0 run late in the game The shots sparked a 16-6 run that was capped by a three-point play by Tommie Liddell and tied the game at 56-56. From there, neither team led by more than three points until a 9-0 Laurinburg run gave the Tigers an 84-75 lead they would not lose the rest of the game. Vassallo, the game’s Most Outstanding Player, finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Sam Young added 19 points and 11 rebounds for Hargrave. Liddell scored 16 points while Takayo Siddle and Clark each chipped in 10. Liddell 4-7 fgs 16 points National recruiting guru Bob Gibbons stated Liddell missed some critical shots in crunch times. He only missed 3 shots the whole game. He had teammates missed 3 times the shots he missed. Yet no mention of them were made. I keep stating SLU has a legitimate top 50 basketball prospect in Tommie Liddell, yet no one seems to know it. I will admit Liddell needs to change his mental approach as far as facing weaker competition. He seems to approach those games as games to build the confidence of teammates as opposed to game to sharpen his skills. The true challenge for Coach Soderberg is to change this mindset. If you are good enough to score 16 points on just 7 shots against the best team on your level, clearly you are not taking enough shots.

Statline vs Laurinburg: 16 points, 7 rebounds, & 7assists Despite putting together the above solid statline, I was kind of caught off-guard by the statement of Bob Gibbons of Rivals.com. Mr Gibbons covered the game and perhaps unknowingly singled out Liddell for the loss with the statement,"Tommie Liddell(SLU) had 16 points, but missed some key baskets at crunch time". Now bear in mind that Tommie's roommate AD Vassallo was named Hargrave's game MVP. AD scored 19 points but was only 6-15 from the field. Sam Young the team's likely MVP for the season scored 19 points, but he also struggled from the field by shooting 6-16 fgs. No mention of these two missing key baskets. As is his nature, Tommie has come on strong during the latter part of the year. Liddell has scored double figures in his last 3 games and just missed a 4th by scoring 9 against UNC's JV squad. Tommie is averaging 12ppg, 6rpg, & 4.2apg in his last 4 outings. Hargrave rebounded quite nicely by pounding Louisburg JC by the score of 107-64. Tommie had a nice floor game by scoring 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. Hargrave improves to 26-1.

3Star reports what, for him, is a positive development, yet you see a negative report. It's the manner 3-star reports that may have offended Billikan. Truth be told this was Tommie's 2nd straight game of scoring in double figures as he had 10 points and 4 assists in his team's 61 point blowout of VMI. p.s. If you knew Tommie's game, you would understand that he thinks like a point guard but is wrapped in the body of a wing. Scoring has never been his focus and those of us thinking ahead to next year have been wondering who is going to score with so many pass-first types in the rotation. If you really knew Tommie's game, you would know that he steps up his level of play when challenged by equal competition. This is evidenced by his 16 points vs Laurinburg Prep, a team that went 40-0, with 14 players who signed Division 1 LOI's and 3 additional players who are expected to sign this fall. In Hargrave's matchup with Fork Union Military Academy in the FUMA Championship Game, Tommie went for 19 points, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds. Don't worry about Tommie's offense as it would be asinine for Tommie to look for his offense in the role of a PG when surrounded by so much talent at Hargrave. This team had been defeating teams by 50+ points margin the last couple of outings. Tommie knows what lies ahead at SLU as he took in a game and noted how all the players seemed to look to pass the ball as opposed to attacking the basket. He will have an entirely different role at SLU.