Clock_Tower

Yes. Foreman was certainly a more unique player. I believe his hip (and other injuries) kept him from having an even better Senior year. I certainly thought/assumed his scoring would have been higher last year than it was. But Foreman essentially had no perimeter game. And yes, unfair to expect Perkins to equal the ability of Bess to play the 4 - where he used his strength and savvy Senior skills. Bess certainly did not do this when he first arrived at SLU. And yes, while I am pleased to have landed two 6'10" post men, and while I am pleased to hear about Bell's conditioning, weight loss and somewhat surprising early play, I have to believe that Coach Ford decided to go with a 4-1 when he did not land a graduate/Senior transfer. Maybe Hargrove grows into the position, maybe Bell gives us 15-20 minutes, maybe Yuri grows into the PG position as well ... but I am expecting us to play up tempo this year, for us to press some on defense, for Goodwin to run the PG and be flanked by 3 of the following (Thatch, Perkins, Weaver, Jimerson and Hargrove) with French playing inside. Yuri will then spell Goodwin, sometimes Bell will play alongside and French and Bell/Hargrove will have to fill in for French when he needs a break/gets in foul trouble.

Agree w needing production at the 1,4 and 5 but after Gordon left, didnt we play French and Foreman in the post?

Appears we won. Anyone with more details?

He will. But he is not ready for the professional ball. Instead, it appears he will play at the JUCO. But he won't graduate from JUCO - unless he is given a decree to just move him along. Instead, he will run out of eligibility or age another year, and then give professional ball a try.

This question is directed at Roy b/c he has known/seen Jordan for so long but I am also interested in the thoughts of everyone else. Jordan, of course, is 1 of our 2 best and most experienced players. Only French has logged more minutes - because Jordan did not play the last part of his Freshman season. I feel I know what French can do and what is best skills are and role on our team. But not with Jordan. Jordan was signed to play along with Bishop and Graves (with Roby, Johnson and Hines also in the mix). Instead, Jordan became our primary/starting PG from the start. Then, it was assumed that Graves, Bishop and Henriquez would be back along with Santos so no new guards were signed in the Fall. Then, in the Spring, we found out no - they weren't coming back -- and went after Isabell, Wiley and Ingvi -- and again Jordan was our primary/starting PG. Since Jordan has been with us, our offense had not run that well these past 2 years. Some say b/c Coach Ford cannot coach. Others because we had no outside shooting. Others b/c our guys were one dimensional -- similar strengths but also similar weaknesses. Others b/c our general talent level wasn't that high. But others b/c Jordan is talented but not a playmaking PG. But what position is Jordan best suited for success in college? not what would be best for his professional career? or what our team needed/needs from him? In an ideal world, what role should Jordan have played these past 2 years and what role should he play the next 2?

Yes. That's my starting 5... but I would want that group to run the floor -- not half court offense. And as to Jimerson vs. Hargrove, Jimerson has the extra year of experience at prep school plus I believe an outside shooter has an easier role to learn (offensively and defensively) than Hargrove trying to play the 3 and/or 4.

Yes but our bench v starters will change alot over the year. For instance, I don’t expect Yuri to be our starting PG but believe he will play alot and may end up our staring PG. I also don’t expect Bell, Hargove and Jimerson to be initial starters but would not be surprised if they carry the team and become starters. My game 1 starters are the first 5 I listed based initially on experience. Thereafter, all is up for grabs.

And not put the projected numbers under Pistol’s Summaries

Ok. It's just that I have not heard anyone say anything about Hankton but we have hear Coach Ford say positives his core being French and Goodwin also about Thatch, Bell and Jimerson. We have heard Bess say really good things about Perkins and we have heard from Doc B. Here's another eyeball: Collins Clock Goodwin 12.5 11 French 11 11 Thatch 2.5 7 Perkins 12. 9 Weaver 6.5 5 Hargrove 5.5 6 Jimerson 4.5 8 Bell 1.5 5 Yuri 4.5 5 Hankton 3 2 Jacobs 1 2 Diarra 0 0 64.5 71

What criteria did you use to come up with the projection figures? Not only Thatch with less ppg than last year but Hankton (3 points) with twice the points of Bell (1.5 points)? Do you have Hankton playing twice the minutes of Bell? Jimerson with less points than Weaver and Yuri? Point will roughly follow and correlate with minutes played, right? Do you have minutes played projections

By "a little less traffic" I assume you mean that we become enough of a threat from the perimeter that teams are finally required to defend French honestly. Collapsing the defense and putting 5 guys in the lane while getting little help from Foreman sure made it hard on French - as it would anyone. Hoping and expecting improvement from French for that reason alone.

So the numbers which say 2.5 ppg for Thatch, 5.5 for Hargrove, etc. belong to Collins? For the most part, great summaries and graphics - but the numbers are highly suspect. And to say the PG job was given to a guy who committed to us for less than 2 weeks is joke. Can we not put our high school biases aside?

Yes but don't forget we have an unused scholarship from this year as well - at least 2 for next year.

Yes. You are right about French and Goodwin. I just never gave much thought as to who our next top recruit might be. Hargove v. Yuri v. Perkins v. Jamison v. Bell. They each play different positions, bring different skill sets, different sizes, different backgrounds. Interesting that we have 8 guys in their top 68 with no mention of Weaver, Diarra, Hankton or Jacobs.

Taj. Thanks for the short summary. Will need to read the full article later. In the meantime, do you (and the rest of this Board) agree with the order of our ranked guys? Not if French should be #13 or not and Goodwin #19 or not but would you rank French ahead of Goodwin, and Goodwin ahead of Hargrove ... And Hargrove again appears to be our top ranked newcomer. Seems hard to rank guys who have never played a minute of a college game.