Pistol

Hit him up. We're outnumbered by Memphis and Illinois fans but still doing all right replying to Nesbitt. We should show Kern love, too.

Very interesting. Based on Kern's arc, I've been expecting him to wait it out until spring. This could just be SLU trying to force the issue with him and keep him from blowing up this winter, which is what happened this past year with his teammate Kobe Clark.

A lot depends on how this season goes, but it looks like Goodwin will have made all those marks on the record book with 3 of 4 seasons shortened in some way. And French will be all over the record books with 2 of 4 cut short. (Don't forget about him.) What they've done in 3 years is absolutely remarkable.

No doubt, but recruiting over Nesbitt for us would mean chasing 5-star players. We're going to be recruiting complementary players for him, not replacements - the same way we built around French and Goodwin.

John Poulakidas committed to Yale. He didn't list finalists but Yale was in the mix with Minnesota, Butler, GW, and TCU, with a couple others outside the top five or so who prioritized him recently. Kok Yat committed to DePaul. We weren't on his list of finalists. Nisine Poplar committed to Miami last week. Also didn't make his finalists but I don't think I closed the loop when he committed.

I wouldn't count on that. I am counting on a final three of SLU, Illinois, and Memphis - anything else would be a big surprise at this point.

If we're able to keep anything close to our originally planned schedule, I would be 100% fine with no fans at any games. I'd much rather have a TV/streaming-only full season than a partial one with like 25% attendance.

Bishop had a SLU offer before picking LSU. That's actually a really nice starting five. I don't think they're as deep as the top-half A10 squads but they could be a spoiler this year and contender after that.

Updated the 2021 section of the recruiting lists thread today. A few highlights: -It looks like Nesbitt's most recent follows are Luke Goode (Illinois commit) on Instagram and Collins and Russell on Twitter. Read into that what you will. Scrolling through Twitter, chatter is heavily in favor of SLU and Illinois, with Memphis third. The analysts are all calling it for SLU. I'm cautiously optimistic here. -Illinois extended an offer to Wesley Cardet, a guard with very similar size to Nesbitt, about two weeks ago. Kind of an interesting offer if Nesbitt is a priority. Then again, Illinois may only have 1 scholarship to give on paper but will almost certainly have more room in the spring and the 2/3 position is arguably their only position of need, so I think both could coexist there. (SLU offered Cardet a while back and is not thought to be involved.) -Ola Ajiboye reiterated to a recruiting analyst that he wants to visit SLU's campus as soon as he's allowed. The guy tweeted it out, Ajiboye retweeted. He told another writer the same thing in August. Seems very interested in SLU. -Nothing new from P.J. Eason or Sekou Gassama, but along with Ajiboye, these appear to be the bigs with the most mutual interest with SLU. I don't know how to read Donte Houston now that he's thrown out his top 10 and gone to prep school. Quiet recruitment this summer. -Clarence Rupert is another big we've offered and for whom SLU would be among his best offers. He was rumored to have committed to Murray State in late August but tweeted in early September that his recruitment is open. -No update from Blackmon since his top 6 earlier this month - Houston, Murray State, UCF, Tulane, Grand Canyon, and SLU. -Nicholas Kern and K.J. Lee are both slowly gathering more interest but would've benefited from more looks and playing time this summer. I'd be surprised to see lists from either this fall. -Sean Pedulla listed his 8 finalists: Virginia Tech, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, SMU, Tulsa, Colorado State, Louisiana Tech, Wofford. Basically all of his offers except SLU and a couple others. -Deebo Coleman is down to 11 finalists: Virginia, Louisville, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Auburn, Ole Miss, Memphis, UCF, and - this is not a typo - Montana State. I've been to Bozeman and it's quite lovely.

This would make him Ford's highest-ranked recruit at SLU. Goodwin was 61 in 2017, Gordon was 68 in 2018 - granted, those are final rankings and Nesbitt's spot is subject to change. But it's a big deal. His continued rise with Rivals isn't surprising. Eric Bossi has been raving about him lately - he was at the BBE showcase a few weeks ago - and he must've sold some other analysts, or they've watched enough tape/events to have an opinion.

It's still 42 days before the official first game day. The first games were slated for 11/10, so that would mean most teams could start practicing in late September. However, with it looking like there will be a start date closer to Thanksgiving at the earliest, we'd be looking at mid-October on that timeline - again, subject to change.

I think both @3star_recruit and @courtside basically covered it. Keita was healthy all junior season, Gassama wasn't. Both of them look better with Gateway than with De Smet because as 3star and others have covered before, De Smet just doesn't do much to get them involved offensively. Keita looks like the better overall athlete right now, he's faster, looks like a better leaper, and has put together a few more eye opening highlights. Gassama is longer and a better shot blocker; he also runs the floor well but isn't as fast as Keita. He seems to have developed a nice little mid-range shot and has mostly been an at-the-basket scorer. He gives you some positional versatility and can guard the 4 or 5. He appears to be in great physical shape from recent Tweets this spring/summer. Can always add a little to his big frame but he's in a great spot for a rising HS senior. I would want to see him be a more aggressive rebounder this season and keep adding to his offensive skill set. He's going to be a bit limited if De Smet still doesn't do much to get him and Keita touches - he seems like he could have potential as an excellent high- or low-post passer, for example. I can't decide if it's good or bad we didn't see much of him in the past HS or AAU season because of injury and cancellations - not as many schools got involved as would have, but we also just haven't seen as much of what he can do. I like where SLU stands with him, from what I can tell. He seemed like he attended about half of our home games last season and appeared to know everyone in the few rows behind the bench when I was there and got to observe which recruits were in the house. Keita was not at nearly as many games. Projecting our frontcourt out a couple years, he would slot in nicely. We don't need him to be an instant impact player and his long-term potential is absolutely there. He hasn't said much about timing, lists, or any of that. My impression is that he's comfortable with SLU but probably waiting to see how strong his other options are before making a decision. Ideally we would just get a commitment without the fuss of a whittling-down process. If we are able to secure Nesbitt and then Gassama and either Blackmon or Kern, that would be an excellent 3-man class.

Mizzou needed a big and Keita appeared to be a priority, if not the priority, for that position. This leaves them with 1 scholarship left on paper, although the expectation is that a few guys are going to leave in the spring. Given that Mizzou has quickly filled a large class, we will probably see them less head-to-head for remaining 2021 recruits. The only common offer between the two schools is Shane Dezonie, and it appears Mizzou has prioritized him and SLU hasn't. Mizzou is interested in Kern and Lee but hasn't offered them and was never really in the mix for Nesbitt. So maybe we could see things heat up for Kern in the spring, but otherwise we can mostly ignore them for this class. I expect to see them head-to-head more with SLU in 2022, though. Mutual interest in a lot of local kids, although Reed is the only one with an offer from both (Avery Brown also has an offer from both but I don't think either will be a factor with him).

Frank was early on that Keita scoop. Let’s hope he gets Nesbitt right, too!

Hopefully he doesn't have to reclassify for that to be possible.