Orange Julius

>OJ, this sounds great on its surface but SMS offers every >high major St. Louis player earlier than SLU yet they sign >none of them. SMS did sign Justin Fuehrmeyer and Blake Ahearn, and SLU didn't. The last time I checked Blake lit SLU up and Justin and Lisch went toe to toe and came out pretty much even, I would give the edge to Justin since his team won. It is easy to score thirty and lose but to score thirty and win, now that is the player I want on my team.

>SLU has to recruit players who will help them compete in the >top tier of the A-10. How does offering mid-major recruits >like Chris Stokes, Adam Kiel and Marvin McNutt this early >accomplish this? We're already landing that caliber of >talent. Now Leon Powell deserves early recruitment -- and >he's getting it. First of all you don't know what impact offering a kid early has. I cannot really think of anyone over the past few years who SMS has offered early and didn't get. But at least people know SMS is on the map. SLU needs to get on the map somehow. Whatever SMS is doing it is working. Now Stokes, Kiel and McNutt are players that having great summers and doing damage against the top talent in he country. I cannot think of one reason why those guys can't play at SLU and contribute to make the Bills better down the road. I am tired of talking about Leon Powell. What has he done to deserve early recruitment?

Call it silly call it whatever you want. Odds are he is going to be 7 foot and athletic. We currently have a 7 foot stiff in our program, and if you look down the road the earlier we get onto kids the better our chances of recruiting them to SLU. These other schools feel the same way as well. What does it hurt to offer a kid early absolutely nothing especially if the guarantee is he is going to be 7 foot. But if other recruits see someone they think is a high level recruit being recruited somewhere they are more likely to keep that school in mind when it comes time for them to look for a school. Recruiting should start inside out, regionally speaking. SLU is doing that for the most part and if they were to go after some of the top players in the area sooner, i.e. John Brandenburg, Tyler Griffey, Chris Stokes, Adam Kiel, Marvin McNutt, Mike Tisdale, and so on they might be able to nab a couple of the better local talent but they need to get after it early and stay on them. Kids, players, heck people want to go where they are wanted and if the SLU community can make these kids feel wanted longer, offer them as soon as you think he is going to be a legit player. You may not get that player but at least you can say you were there in the beginning.

>Yes, we all know Tommie is smart. That's why you cant put >too much weight into the ACT and SAT. Standardized test are >unfair because there is no standard curriculum in every >school all the schools are doing different things and using >different teaching methods. His GPA must have been horrible. Because of the NCAA D1 regulations the higher your GPA the lower your ACT score can be. So the alleged bias that the ACT contains is a mute point. The GPA is based on a core group of classes that every school offers.

___________FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 32 Hill, Bobby 1-3 0-1 2-2 0 2 2 1 4 1 2 1 1 20 vs Kickapoo 32 Hill, Bobby 1-5 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 3 2 1 1 0 2 14 vs Poplar Bluff Who did he play agianst in the Midwest Showdown, no one. How did Bobby do against the top teams in the summer circuit, who knows. The deal is Bobby puts up numbers against nobody. Also when someone outside of the Vashon family does stats it is drastically different from what the rest of his numbers would lead you to believe. I can't hate on a kid with a 3.8 that is great so when he gets his ACT score he should have a lot of options available to him. But he is not the prime time player you think he is. His amazing dunk on a 6'6" Balaiff come on that kid is going to Lindenwood. Who are you trying to fool.

>I don't see Jarod Leonard on this list and he should be >there. I'm not sure what class he is going to end up in >though given the transfer. I like Jarod Leonard a lot, but is he going to play basketball again? Have you seen him anywhere? I haven't seen him anywhere. Does he even care about basketball? Does he even know what one looks like? I like the kid a lot and I truly want the best for him, but I think basketball is the farthest thing from his mind.

>How could you leave off Torres Roundtree and Kramer >Soderberg, the top two freshman in the area? How could I leave Torres and Kramer off of the list. Torres has to show me some things, before I would put him on the SLU list and Kramer is a given. > >Bobby Hill is 3 stars, Mike Smith isnt even listed. Hill is >the better athlete and a standout defender. Might be the >better shooter as well. He also proved himself against top >10 2006 player Paul Harris of Niagara Fall as he scored 18 >to lead Vashon to the victory over the nationally ranked >team. If Bobby Hill is 3 stars then Mike Smith is at least that. I have been to a lot of other sites that don't even have Bobby Hill listed. I know Mike Smith has played top level competition and I know he can handle playing the best the nation has to offer. I cannot say that about Bobby Hill. Furthermore Hill is not a better athlete than Smith, and I don't care what planet you are on. Mike Smith is a much better athlete than Hill and he shoots a whole lot better than Hill. Just so you know that I am not vashon bashing I have watched Powell play against the best talent the country has to offer and I know he is legit. I have been waiting for Hill to show me something for a couple of years now, and he hasn't shown to be much more than a supporting player who is along for the ride.

In my opinion here is what the SLU recruiting board should look like and these are the guys they should be going after big time: 2006 Dustin Maguire Mike Smith Casey Crawford Karolis Petrukonis 2007 George Goode II Leon Powell Chris Stokes Matt Dorlack Evan Schmidt 2008 Travis Relaford John Brandenburg Alex Vouyoukas Courtney Belcher