Pistol

Yeah, one of the top couple in the 2021 class, although he's talking about reclassifying to 2020. This kid is not without his complicating factors, but he's a blast to watch.

I need to get a better sense of other schools looking at him, but here's what I've got so far for Bell. Jimmy Bell, Jr. - C, 7-0, 280 - Saginaw, MI (Bella Vista Prep, AZ) - Twitter: @JimmyBellJr15 Offers: SLU, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Tulsa, UNLV, Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, SIUC, Oakland, IUPUI, Southern Utah. Interest: Tennessee-Martin. Latest News: Bell received an offer from SLU. (2/21/19) Scouting Report: Bell is a massive post player and a force in the paint. He scores effectively with his back to the basket in the low post and has a nice overall offensive skillset, with the ability to face up and make moves in either direction. He has nice soft touch when finishing, too, and could be a more above-the-rim player if he continues to transform his frame. He runs the floor well, is a strong rebounder and shot blocker, and passes well out of the low post. He lost 90 lbs. in the last offseason after committing to a program of cardio workouts, hiking, biking, and diet in addition to basketball workouts. He still has a long way to go before he reaches peak form, but his work ethic and a college strength and conditioning program should get him there. Bell was a 2018 recruit at Arthur Hill HS in Saginaw before transferring to BVP and reclassifying as a 2019 recruit. Rankings: 247Sports Composite - 393. It's also worth noting that his father passed away last year. He was in the middle of his major weight loss program at the time. He's dealt with some pretty tough stuff and has come a long way.

Yeah, seems like he'll be paying Carpenter a visit. He's heading there this weekend, right? The last two offers are both to Michigan kids playing at prep schools a long way from home. That part might be a coincidence; these teams sometimes show up at the same weekend events.

Interesting that we're offering a Bella Vista Prep kid, too. We've shown interest (allegedly, at some point) in Jeron Artest, the son of Metta World Peace f.k.a. Ron Artest, and a junior there. We've also offered Zion Harmon, who is playing for BVP on weekends (he attends Marshall County HS in KY). Profile for Jimmy Bell coming this afternoon. (Side note: I'm not liking the common names of the last two offers. Players are a lot easier to research when they have less common names like Gibson Jimerson.)

Yeah, this dude is filling it up lately for Mt. Zion Prep. Like 3star says, he can play a 3 or a 4. Robert Carpenter - SF, 6-7, 205 - Detroit, MI (Mt. Zion Prep, MD) - Twitter: @trillestrobb Offers: SLU, St. Joe's, St. Bonaventure, Temple, Tulane, North Texas, Youngstown State, Eastern Kentucky, Iona, Stony Brook, Southern. Interest: La Salle, Central Florida, Drexel, East Tennessee State, Cal State-Fullerton, Southern Utah, Mt. St. Mary's, NJIT, NC Central. Latest News: Carpenter received an offer from SLU. (2/21/19) Scouting Report: Carpenter is a tough, versatile forward who can play the wing or as a slightly undersized 4. He can score on all three levels and has a consistent stroke off the catch or the dribble. He rebounds aggressively at both ends and has a good sense of timing as a rebounder and shot blocker, aided by his leaping ability. He handles the ball well and is effective in transition. He was a 2018 recruit at Detroit Cornerstone but transferred to Mt. Zion Prep in 2017 and reclassified as a 2019 recruit.

Conklin is an amazing interview subject. So engaged and engaging. I can't believe you guys got him slapped with a $10 fine for being late to team meal, though. Amateur hour. My favorite takeaways: -The Conklin Summer is real, not a myth. -Cassity was a partier and his rural southern IL boys were his goofball entourage. -Conklin was more heavily recruited than most realize. -He has no problem dropping 4-letter words when talking about Cassity but then "holy heck" becomes his go-to phrase when talking about basketball. -His total recall of certain big games, like Washington and Duke (I was at both, and these are two of the games I remember best, but he knew them on every level). -The Humphrey's memories. -His and Majerus' perspectives on S1. -Conklin's enforcer persona in Australian basketball, including that great clip of him after a particularly controversial game. Anyway, I was into it from start to finish. Just a solid dude who has no interest in typical athlete interview cliches but wants to give you honest answers. He's totally self-aware, confident without being arrogant, and really smart. Great stuff. I'm proud that this guy was a Billiken.

This. He's a project but could be a nice piece in the long term. We have four scholarships to give. If we only had 1-2, he wouldn't be a priority.

Jitoboh had an offer from Tennessee. Tennessee was one of four finalists before he reopened his recruitment. It seemed like none of those finalists were going to work out in the end. He attended the Tennessee game this weekend, but there's no indication that they've refreshed their offer to him yet. His school is in Chattanooga, about 90 minutes from Knoxville. Tennessee is in a power position and can be patient in the spring. No need to write him off yet.

Except UD just lost a tough one at home to VCU, and do we really want to go into UD Arena this weekend with them coming off two losses? I can't decide.

Best guess: Probably mostly new names that I don't have yet, especially for 2019. From existing lists: 2019: Oton Jankovic (Montverde Academy, FL) 2020: Quincy Ademokoya (Dacula HS, GA) 2021: Wesley Cardet (Northeast HS, Oakland Park, FL), A.J. Neal (West Oaks Academy, FL) So given the few names there, he's probably seeing players that would be new to us. There are also some offers/interests in adjoining states, so maybe he'll see some of them.

Words evolve. "Fan" comes from "fanatic" but I think the word has been used long enough and in enough different ways to make the term "casual fan" acceptable. But what do I know, I'm just a casual grammarian.

Full line: 23 points (9-15, 2-5, 3-6), 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers. ESL closes the regular season at Collinsville on Friday. Nice to see Perkins back in form after his injury. 35 points (10-22, 6-9, 7-10), 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers. SWIC hosts Kaskasia tomorrow night. Yuri Collins had 17 points (6-9, 1-4, 4-5), 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals, and 4 turnovers in a 65-58 win over St. Dominic. Southside Catholic heads to Quincy Notre Dame this Friday. No Jimerson news from the weekend, so I'll just assume he hit a dozen 3-pointers.

We were probably his strongest offer for quite a while, too.

Tony Johnson is off the board to UCF. I'm a little surprised by the timing for both of these. Johnson just said in an interview recently that he was getting ready to schedule some more visits. Thomas said he wanted to get out to Arkansas, but I know they're in the mix for some other bigs, so maybe he got impatient. Anyway, I assumed both would be April commitments.

I don't see why the two forms of questions are mutually exclusive. There's no reason people can't ask about both his favorite pep band song and something specific to X's and O's. Both could make for potentially good radio, although I'm not sure how head-on he'd actually answer the more strategy-focused questions. (This is not to say I think the band song is a good question; when the band is playing, he's talking as loudly as he can to his players so they can hear him over the music. He probably shouldn't have strong opinions about their song list. Hell, they've been playing many of the same songs since I first started going to SLU games in the mid-90s and I don't know the song names.)