WVBilliken

Thames seems real intriguing. 6'6" kid, can handle the ball, father who was high D1, very athletic, perhaps still growing. A year of strength training, maturity ...... could be real find.

Perhaps. but being a first team all-state player does not mean the kid is a D1 player. My son was 1st team all-state but was only a fringe level D1, D2 recruit.

Need some opinions; just curious as a SLU grad who lives elsewhere, not in the St. Louis area .... how good are Thames and Kramer compared to some of the highly ranked local players? Neither seem to have much "love' from 247, Rivals and other recruiting services. I trust Ford and staff but find their lack of recruitng ranking/notoriety odd.

My son was nominated for the MCD game. Now he was a nice player, but not a D1 level player. Seems each state gets kids nominated, regardless of talent level. So it's a nice honor, but don't confuse it with talent level of most of the players nominated.

Will be interesting how much he "shrinks" once he gets to SLU. Remember Hargrove ..... He was listed way taller than his 6'4" true height. I remember some were saying he was 6'7" or even taller. All kidding aside, hope Thames is truly close to 6'7", but I suspect he is more like 6'5".

Who in the heck is jb??????

Dang, he's 24 next August ..... I'd be surprised unless he's academicly driven and going for MBA or whatever.

Some may have been cleared to play just before the game.

And players performing as coached .... a few less bone-headed plays here and there BY THE PLAYERS, and the team is 9-1. The players can't be completely excused for games going south. You absolutely cannot know when a bad play is coaching or player screw-up.

Seems UAB did okay .....

There were well over a 1000 D1 transfers on the market last Spring. So your point is debatable. Ford would of had a prime front court starting position open ..... a very good recruiting tool.

Not true. Perkins stated his intention to stay in February 2021, long before Ford filled the open roster spots/Spring recruiting. I dare say Ford would have had a lot more to sell Spring recruits if Perkins had said he was not returning. https://www.a10talk.com/slus-perkins-to-return-for-2021-2022-season/

Amazing the folks who get on Ford after a couple of losses. SLU LOST a first team all conference player, maybe player of the year!!!! He will not be replaced this year and his loss likely resulted in two of the team's losses this year. Ford is doing his job, but this is not like pro sports where you can make a trade or call up a hot prospect. The loss of Perkins puts a huge hole in this roster that can't be fixed short-term. Am I happy with the three losses? Of course not, but 7-3 is not bad given the loss of Perkins.

And the 2 missed FT's by Okoro in the last couple of minutes really hurt.

That's just sour grapes. UAB out-rebounded SLU. Lot of balls that bounced their way. A couple more bounces going SLU's way and the final score would have been different .... a SLU win. Just learn from this game and get better.

Francis!!!

Will be surprised to see him play more than a few minutes. Seems he is at about 9 or 10 on the depth chart.

Figured with next week being NLI week, we have a thread to follow the exploits of our three likely signees ..... Thames, Kramer. Parker.

Loved Goodwin as a Billiken, but after watching him for 4 years, I do not see much of a chance his 3 or shot will improve even to a mediocre level by NBA standards. Some things you just can't teach, you got it or you don't. He's going to make it or not on his other skills.

Yadi

Disagree. I expect Lorentsson to play as Big #3. 10 minutes or so a game. He came in last year really late. So learning the system, the defensive and offensive schemes, had to be learned DURING the season. One season, a workout Summer, and he should be comfortable with the team, plays, his surroundings, etc. You can't teach 6'8". Hargroves tried playing the 4 at times last year and was exposed on defense because of his size. Can see Lorentsson taking some of those minutes if he can adequately defend.

In that Twitter post from Hargrove dunking, looks like he has put on some good weight and muscle this off-season. Could be a game-changer for TJ.

Way too early for the coaches to put out a projected top 5 or 6 ..... they are mixing it up.

Well, if both Linnsen and Okoro both have a good mid-range game, and if Okoro can also put the ball on the floor and go to the basket like French ..... spacing will not be an issue. Linnsen has a good mid-range game for sure. Now does that mean SLU will play them at the same time? Probably not unless Traore surprises and can play some quality minutes.

Raw eggs and that's it. Just like Rocky Balboa.