TheRaginCajun

Funny that Sodie's best two seasons and NIT appearances came from that "###### storm" he inherited.

All I am saying is that Soderberg did not find diamonds in the rough with Ian and Tommie. Kevin would have had 10-20 offers had he played AAU ball. Kevin was receiving interest from some high-major programs including Illinois, Notre Dame, and someone on this board mentioned Kansas to some extent late in the game. Tommie had some academic issues, but I am sure still received his share of offers. I just think the complimenting of coach and his ability to evaluate talent based on these cases is a little misdirected. I credit him with signing these quality players, but it wasn't because he has a noise for finding talent. Anyone can evaluate a top 150-200 player in the country and determine that they have the talent to play for SLU. I understand recruiting and that its the job of the assistants to bring in the talent and then the headcoach makes a final decision on whether or not an offer should be extended, I know how it works trust me.

Not sure how this makes Soderberg great at evaluating talent. Ian Vouyoukas sent in game tape to SLU, the connection being Lance Randal. It is not like Brad went over to Greece and found this diamond in the rough. Ian signed with SLU pretty much blindly and having nothing to do with Brad Soderberg. As far as Tommie Liddell, how hard was it for the staff to evaluate his talent? The issue was not with his ability, but with his academics. Tommie would have been recruited by whoever the coach was at SLU. I usually measure a coach on his ability to evaluate talent by the guys he signs who were not highly regarded and actively recruited, but who come in and make an impact. Anyone could have seen that Tommie and Kevin were quality players.

Is there anyone who is close to the Suggs family that has any kind of gage on his interest in SLU? I realize it is early in the process, but a lot of times it is obvious if a kid wants to stay close to home for college or get far away. I had heard that Kramer and Suggs were pretty good friends, that would have to be a positive for us. Looks like we may need Kramer to reel us in a big time recruit.

I would be willing to bet you a large sum of money that Frasor will not be starting at the pg position. Reports are that Lawson is an absolute star and will immediately be the top one or two point guards in the ACC. Frasor is a solid player, but Lawson is supposedly the real deal.

Hunt was essentially grandfathered in. Hunt made the team as a walk-on under Romar and I believe his policy was once you made it you made it. Soderberg has his walk-ons tryout every year and they thus have to earn their spot each season. It was very classy of Soderberg to honor what Hunt had been promised from Romar (I am not saying Hunt would have been beat out).

I am not sure you could honestly say that SLU is holding out and only offering top quality talent. Quality talent isn't usually waiting around come spring and that seems to be where we have been doing our recruiting and signing since Soderberg has been here. Its like we are going to Macy's a week after Christmas after everything has been picked thru time after time and being left with the Cosby-esque sweaters. Tommie and Kevin have essentially bailed Soderberg out when it comes to the deficincies in recruiting that are definitely there. Anytime people call out recruiting on this board the only defense offered is well we got Liddell and Lisch. We are constantly taking gambles (Obi and his knee injury, Danny late in the game after transferring from the Academy, JJ after being let go by K-State, Adam Knollmeyer after being let go by Mizzou, Bryce after decommitting from Elon, Horace after gaining eligibilty, and Dustin offering nothing more than what Ahern could have years ago but we determined we were above).

Is there any word on how his visit went this past weekend? It would appear that the ball is in his court.

Metz, you are truly getting more pathetic by the minute. You're all over the place. You say we're hopeless, then criticize Brad for not landing top-tier recruits. You ask why anyone should care about SLU, then rip people for not going to the games. You are a fair-weather fan in every sense of the word. You're such a sucker for "history, tradition, and legacy," but without a spine. That's why your favorite teams are the Yankees in baseball and Notre Dame in college football- And you're from PEORIA, ILLINOIS! Wow, that's so original of you to be a Yankees and Irish fan. Maybe you can start cheering for the Lakers and Cowboys, too- that would be fresh. How about Duke or UNC? Makes sense for you- you seem to like "America's teams." You only care about the Illini when they're hot, you're all over the place with SLU, where you went, and in every other sport you just root for the hot team of the hour. If you're such an obvious sucker for history, tradition, and legacy, instead of just cheering for whatever teams have that already, why don't you push for SLU to build a winning tradition. Not that you have a real hand in it, but you can go to the games and be positive instead of pointing out what we don't have and others do. We're not getting there with "fans" like you.

I was surprised to see that there was no update of the recruit that was in town this weekend. There was a recruit in this past weekend from the Michigan area who is a junior college player. I was wonering if aynone knew of this info.

I am not sure of the NCAA rule concerning this, I am asking if you know 100% that Horace Dixon attended summer school courses at SLU. That may be the NCAA's rule and I am not doubting you on your knowledge of the rule, I am under the impression he was not on campus this summer and that would be further backed by him not being enrolled in his classes at the beginning of the school year. Apparently he was not approved to enroll until classes had already begun. That would seem strange if he had passed his summer school classes with flying colors as you elude to. I am asking you if you know for a fact that Horace was attending courses on campus this summer?

I was asking a question and wondering if anyone knew that to be fact that Horace Dixon was in fact enrolled in summer school. Being an employee at SLU I found it interesting that Horace was still having admittance issues up to the beginning of classes and actually was not enrolled in any courses on the 1st official day of school. I would have expected this to be a non-issue if he had been on campus and attending classes this summer. So I ask the question, do you know it to be fact that Mr. Dixon was on capus this summer taking classes?

Horace Dixon was enrolled in summer courses? Where did you hear of this information and his success in those reported courses?

Next time I am back home in Lafayette, LA I will have to get some gumbo and good ol cajun food and bring it up for all of the board members to enjoy prior to a game. I made no claim of being an insider, my opinions are based on what I see. I am not bashing the team, I just have seen some things and know some things about Mr. Dixon that would make me at least question his immediate impact, I honestly would not be surprised to see him red-shirt. I do not have much of an opinion on Obi yet, for me the book remains out on him. He appears to have very soft touch, but I have not gotten a real good feel for his game yet and if he is where he was prior to the injury. Anyone who had consistently seen JJ play would not have ever thought he would produce at this level. He was completely overmatched from day one and continues to be. There is more to making a quality basketball player than being able to dunk with authority running thru the layup line. JJ is what I would call an "All Airport" player. He looks like he should be good, but as soon as you see him run up and down the court a few times you realize he just is not a player. Anyone who saw Ian in practice, even early on, knew he was going to be a player. He showed flashes of being a great player from day 1. It took him time to adjust to the American game, but the upperclassmen pegged him as a potential NBA player early on.

Unfounded? If you only knew...

It is a cold fact my friend. Why do you think Horace was still available to us this summer? The answer is that few other schools thought he would become eligible and pursued other players, SLU is one of the few schools that saves all of its scholarships for just such a case. I just don't want you all to get your hopes up on this kid when he has similar ability to JJ and academic question marks.

Who has seen Horace Dixon play? From what I have seen he is nothing more than another JJ. He can jump, but he does not move real fluidly and seems to lack coordination. He is also extremely thin. This to go along with the fact that he is going to struggle to remain eligible throughout his career. I am not sure Horace is the answer at all. I would recommend people look to Adam Knollmeyer as a player who can contribute solid minutes at power forward.

I just wanted to introduce myself and say that I am really excited to become a part of the group. I am a recent graduate of Saint Louis University and enjoy nothing more than talking Billiken Hoops. I am more excited about the upcoming season than anyother season I can recall. However, I am not from St. Louis; so I have only been a real true fan for 6 seasons now. I look forward to some spirited discussion on here and enjoying one of the best Billiken teams in a long time.