GW

Four games in, I'm thinking my expectations for the season were a little high. I predicted 26 and 9 as a final record in the prediction contest. The bills are 3 and 1, which is actually where I expected them to be when I made the prediction. So what's the problem? Well... it's appearing now that the learning curve for Majerus's system is going to be steeper than I thought it would be. I'm now thinking back to comments Majerus made a while ago that, basically, this season was going to be a learning process laying the foundation for future success. A lot of us, myself included, thought Majerus was saying this as a psychological motivational ploy, but now I'm thinking he was dead serious. For this season at least, I believe that winning will be a secondary goal to getting his system installed properly. I think Majerus would rather have a .500 season and get his system installed right, than win 20+ games and still have issues. Majerus's first season at ball state was .500- the next season they went 29 and 3. Here's the rub- I think that if Majerus wanted to he actually could produce a 26 and 9 record as I predicted. How would he do it? By leaving Brad's system in place with only minor tweakings. I believe that Majerus is such a talent that he could in fact run Brad's system better than Brad himself. Throw in Majerus's experience, game planning, game management, etc., with our more talented assistent coaches, and I think that 26 and 9 would be achievable. Should we be doing that? Well... over the short term (this season) that would probably be the way to maximize our wins. But for the long term, we will never make any serious noise in the tournament running a modified Brad system. If our goal is to compete for a national championship, we will have to deal with some short term pain for the long term gains. I should add that it is now too late to go back to Brad's system and expect to be successfull with it- talk about confusion. Majerus would have had to have left it in place from the beginning.

You have to understand the source. Mr. Liddell is going to be a Tommie fan first and a SLU fan second. Let's suppose there were 2 choices available to all of us. Choice 1- Soderberg stays, Tommie scores 30 PPG and is a first round NBA pick next spring, but the team finishes .500. Choice 2- Majerus arrives, Tommie rides the bench, SLU wins the national championship. I am using extreme unrealistic examples to make a point. 99.9% of us would choose "choice 2", but honestly, I couldn't blaim Mr. Liddell if he were to choose "choice 1". Perhaps over the long term, Tommie will become a better player under Majerus, but I have to agree that Tommie would probably be performing better under Soderberg, at least over the short term.

I agree with your 6 reasons on why the team is struggling with the new system. I will admit that I did not anticipate the learning curve to be this steep. That being said, it is clear that some players are adapting quicker than others. Eckerle particularily stands out among those getting it, because here is basically a walk on freshman who we were wondering if he would even make a contribution this season and now the possibility of him becoming a starter is being discussed. Since Eckerle has become the pronounced example of success, we are speculating on what Eckerle is doing which the others who are struggling are not. I do not believe it is a case of Eckerle randomly being the lucky one- he apparently is bringing something to the table. I believe my suggestion that these factors may include intelligence, motivation, and not having prior college experience to unlearn, is reasonable. I'll admit that to include the idea that some players may have resentment about the coaching change is pure speculation and questionable. Still, I think it would be inappropriate not to consider it as a possibility. There have been instances of Majerus's intensity rubbing some of his players the wrong way- Andrew Bogut is the most publicized example and he referred to him as "brutal". I honestly hope that I am way off base with this idea because really, this would be the only problem which can not be worked around- they are either going to do it Majerus's way or not at all. Everyone has said the right things thus far which is encouraging.... but if anyone did have issues I doubt they would be publicizing them. Sure the freshmen could have opted out and to their credit they did not, but I wonder if they really knew what they were getting into. Did they exercise due diligence in looking into Majerus's history when he was hired? Or did they figure "hey Majerus is a legendary coach. He really sounds like he knows what he's doing on TV. I'd love to play for him." Maybe they thought success would be a simple function of Majerus whipping out some spectacular X's and O's without any significant changes to their game required on their part. Did they realize that they would be going through the basketball boot camp from hell? That before Majerus could use his X's and O's effectively some of their games would have to be completely remade? What about the other returning players? Did they realize these things? I want to state that I like all of our players- as Majerus says they are "nice kids". But.... is there a reason why they came to SLU and agreed to play for Soderberg? I believe that Majerus's goal is to compete for a national championship. Sure, Brad stated the same goal.... but did anyone really take him seriously? You don't just get lucky and happen to win the thing. It takes a level of talent and commitment to winning that few would be willing to dedicate themselves to- I for one would not. Majerus is dealing with this now- he is stating how the competitive fire, the eye of the tiger, is not there. For a team like SLU, which is not neccesarily going to attract a blue chip level of talent, the dedication required is that much more extreme. Had any of the Soderberg recruits, past or present, had the true goal of competing on the highest level- would they have even come here? I'm not saying the guys are a bunch of losers who don't want to win. Rather that they never had an expectation and/or desire to become the best- or if they did they didn't realize what would be required to achieve it. Majerus is trying to make them into the best and now we are witnessing the growing pains. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I believe that Eckerle has a few things working in his favor. First is his intelligence. He was ranked #1 academically in his class and wants to go to med school. With the complexities of Majerus's system, being intelligent will allow one to pick it up quicker. Secondly, Eckerle has no previous college experience to "unlearn"- he has known no system but what he played in high school and what Majerus is now teaching. Majerus commented on how he wishes he could have been coaching everyone since the start of their college careers. Finally, Eckerle is a Majerus recruit. We don't know the mindset of the other players, but all of them but Eberhardt (who Soderberg was recruiting), even the other freshmen, were Soderberg recruits. Perhaps there is some resentment over the coaching change that is not being made public. Roy mentioned that maybe the problem isn't intelligence, but stubborness- perhaps this is part of the reason. Regardless, Eckerle would definately be 100% behind Majerus since if it were not for him, he would not be on the team and would have no scholarship. While others may be frustrated by changes they would prefer not to have to be making, Eckerle sees only opportunity for growth and learning. Consider as well that Eckerle is fighting for his scholarship to be continued- he thus has a huge incentive that others may lack. Worst case for everyone else, they transfer to another school and probably will not have a problem getting a scholarship somewhere. Eckerle has nowhere else he desires to go as he wishes to attend SLU's med school. This season is Eckerle's audition and he's making the most of it thus far.

I feel they have a shot as well. If you simply looked at it on paper, you would think they have basically no chance. Pitt is ranked 22nd and playing at home, where they are 49 and 1 against non conference opponents. They have a deeper, more talented team overall. So, since SLU has no chance.... that is why they have a chance. Your hope is that you will be taken lightly by your opponent and thus suprise them. I am expecting SLU to play with such passion that you would think their very lives depended upon the outcome. Will Pitt be able to match our intensity? I can guarantee that the Pitt coaches will not be taking the game lightly- Dixon refers to Majerus as a "mentor" who has had the most influence on his program of anyone. The problem will be for Dixon to translate his respect for Majerus to his players- to get them to buy into the idea that SLU is no longer the team it was in the past but is now a team to be taken very seriously. How Pitt responds to us will be the key of the game. The game schedule of the tournament worked out perfect for us. Playing Pitt on the final day is to our advantage. We got a couple wins under our belt to build a little momentum and confidence. Every game they play, the team should be getting better learning the new system. This game is a wonderful opportunity for SLU. There is no shame in losing to the 22nd ranked team at their home. A loss is to be expected and does not hurt SLU's postseason chances. But a SLU win.... not only would we receive national recognition but the confidence it would produce could positively influence our entire season.

23 and 7 regular season, 2 and 1 conference tournament, 1 and 1 NCAA. 26 and 9 overall. Yes, I am very optimistic... Here's how I arrived at this. I feel that this year's team, talentwise, is comparable to last year's. The only significant loss to the team was Ian- a big loss to be sure- but this is balanced by better overall depth, an extra year experience for the remaining players, and (hopefully) better health. Last year's team won 19 games (not including quincy), but the conference is probably improved this year so let's say that a "comparable" team would now win 18. With Majerus, those 18 wins become 23. That's right, I am adding 5 wins for Majerus alone. 5 extra wins are not that hard to come by. Who sees a Majerus coached team losing to St. Bonaventure or Duquesne like last year? There are 2 wins right there. For what Majerus brings to the table, the additional 3 wins should be achievable. Come tournament time, the team will then have a season of experience in Majerus's system and will be far more capable than early on. With Majerus's post-season history and experience, it is quite possible to see them winning the conference tournament and/or sneaking into the sweet sixteen.

Billiken Law said-- "Well, considering Majerus was begging to get back into coaching and had made his interest known at Iowa, Long Beach and Creighton, knowing this was his last chance Biondi didn't take a calculated risk, he knew he could get him. I'm with Abe. With the depth in the STL area this year why should he start ignoring the local kids to go after outside kids that have shown no interest in SLU before? Take care of business locally first. You can't stretch youself too thin recruiting everyone and anyone." If you wish to disagree fine, but please don't put words in my mouth. I never said to "ignore the local kids" nor was it even implied. In my initial post, I specifically listed Thompson, Brandenburg and Suggs as worthwhile local talent. In reply #9 I stated "It sounds like Perry may be part of the deal with Suggs, which is fine as he is very good in his own right"- another local. In reply #9 I stated "I am not implying to disregard local recruiting and focus exclusively on my idea". In reply #10 I stated "This is not an either/or proposition. We should certainly continue our focus on the local recruits." How my statements in this regard can leave you the impression I wish to "ignore the locals" is beyond me. In my initial post I stated "If Majerus contacted a dozen or so of these blue chippers {top 100 non metro}, what's the chance that say 1 or 2 of them say yes just because of Majerus". That's 1 or 2 OK? We have 6 scholarships, so subtracting even 2 from that leaves 4 to use on locals. I never said anything like "hey we need 6 guys from out of the metro area because all these locals are slugs". You stated "You can't stretch youself too thin recruiting everyone and anyone." Is it your impression that my idea was "hey there are thousands of high school kids out there- lets recruit them all and see what we get!!"? I said contact a dozen- not "everyone"- top 100 kids- not just "anyone". For most of those dozen it will be a brief effort as they will have no interest. Yes, there may be a few remaining who have some interest and will yes require us to then expend some energy on them. To me, that is a very nice...problem... to have. OK here's the deal. Continue the focus on the locals. Expend 90+% of our effort toward them. I just don't see why having an assistant do some background research to screen for a dozen kids, then having Majerus call them to check for interest can not be done in combination with our local efforts. It may even progress the local situation if they see they are not our only option. Disagree that Majerus was "begging to get back in coaching". Sure, he was itching to but "begging"- no. Disagree that Biondi "knew he could get him". I think its more accurate that Biondi "knew he had a good chance". Disagree that this was Majerus's "last chance"- unless you are referring to this year only. For Biondi having Majerus in the bag, it was sure an intense slowww hiring process. I wish you would have let us know that Majerus was coming to Biondi "begging" (on his knees with his hat in hand as well?) for this job and we had nothing to worry about during those 2 weeks or whatever it took to hire him- it sure would have saved us a lot of anxiety... My whole point in bringing up Majerus was that we can get him to come here, but my idea that a non metro top 100 recruit may come as well is considered to be drug induced by Abe Froman. I stand by my statement that I believe Majerus coming here is more suprising than some recruit. I am dissapointed that only Four Seventeen agrees that expending the minimal efforts I am suggesting would be worthwhile and the belief is that they would actually be counterproductive by damaging our local efforts. If that's the case, so be it. Thanks for the responses.

Agree 100% that if Paul will come on academic scholarship alone that is the best deal. In reply #2, futurebilliken said that he spoke to Paul himself and Paul said that they offered 1/2 academic and 1/2 athletic. We were speculating on what that meant. I thought that perhaps they were going to offer him a 1 year scholarship for this year, since if they did there would be no cost playerwise- you would not be sacrificing another player to have Paul. If Paul has full academic all 4 years then this whole thing is moot.

I would think that the best scenario would be for this year. Since the 2 schollies are not being used, slotting Paul in doesn't really cost us in the sense of having Paul vs. having someone else. Then yes that would free up that schollie for use in 08 when it will of course be quite useful. Actually, giving Paul any 1 year other than this year does diminish the deal. Probably the next best year to spend, if one was required, would be on Paul's senior year. If we can give Paul any one year with the exception of 08 then I think its a great deal. Your getting possibly 4 years of use of the guy for 1 year scholarship cost and if its this year, then there is no cost playerwise.

Thank you for the update. My horrible bad. After recieving this information, I was going to edit what I had sent in reply 22, but I figured I'd just leave it as is and issue an apology to slufanskip instead for getting testy with him. Sorry, my man. I did agree with everything else which you said about Paul being a great pickup- see my reply #25.

cheeseman said-- "The schollie used goes against your budget so why give it out if the player is not worthy of a full ride. Save the money and use it for recruiting or something else for the team." I was suggesting that perhaps they were only offering 1 year of scholarship to him if this was possible. If we had to give 4 years for him then no it probably wouldn't be the best. But to only expend 1 year on a possible 4 year player who has some skills sounds like a great get to me- especially at this point where we still have depth issues with the 2 unused schollies and not a lot of experience on the team beyond the starters. If maguire does not advance his game this year or we have some injuries we will be very happy to have Paul. I like the fact that he is a great student (#1 in his class). Majerus is a great teacher so maybe this guy will really suprise us when he soaks up Majerus's teachings like a sponge. Being the cousin of Luke Meyer is an added bonus- he might have been hanging around the team and maybe even playing some pickup with the guys. I don't see that the money we would save from 1 year of scholarship will do that much for the team- maybe that would be different if we still had Soderberg operating on a shoestring, but Majerus already has pretty much everything he wants. The risk to reward here appears quite favorable imo if it is only a 1 year deal.

Slufanskip said-- "How did anyone not get it. It was pretty clear he is coming on an academic scholarship." I guess I "did not get it" because futurebilliken in reply 2 said he talked to Paul himself and he said that it was half athletic and half academic. Maybe you should contact Paul and let him know how things are actually going to work for him- I'm sure he'd be grateful to hear from an informed expert. The oldie in reply 19 says that Paul was offered an athletic scholarship for his senior year, which fits with what Paul stated. But I guess oldie "doesn't get it" either.

Is it possible to offer the scholarship for 1 year only? We still have the 2 for this year that will probably be unfilled. If we gave him a year of 1 of those it probably wouldn't hurt us.

stlsfinest said-- "Why do you all of a sudden want talent from outside the metro area. In 2003, you had one area talent on team I think in Chris Sloan. The program got better through the additions of area players, 4 of them started for SLU last year on the 20 win team. Now the area talent is about to hit its zenith and you want to go outside! Lock up the local guys first, then go outside. Brandenburg, Thompson, Perry, Suggs, Roth, and Mitchell is fine by me with the 6 scholarships. If you can get those 6, why go outside. Those local guys get you to the Sweet 16 at worst." You know what, I would be very happy to have the class you mentioned and that probably is the direction we are heading. I had mentioned Brandenburg, Thompson and Suggs as local talent that was already top 100, so yeah they are great. It sounds like Perry may be part of the deal with Suggs, which is fine as he is very good in his own right. Roth and Mitchell? As good as they are, if we could have 2 other out of the area top 100 in their stead would that not be an improvement? We only have the verbal of Thompson at this point. What's the plan B if Suggs and Brandenburg or others go elsewhere. I don't think it would be a bad idea to be working other avenues. This is not an either/or proposition. We should certainly continue our focus on the local recruits. Having Majerus contact a dozen or so other guys is not going to impede this. Out of those dozen, we'd probably only have a chance on a couple. Work on these guys in addition to the locals and see what we wind up with. I'm thinking that this is the key recruiting class for Majerus. He has a buzz about him now that may wane by the next class (unless he has great results this season). The newness might wear off. Also consider that as time progresses, Majerus's health and age are going to be of more concern to recruits. If you come in on this next class you stand a good chance of having Majerus as your coach all 4 years. A couple years from now will that be the same? Hopefully it is, but who knows? You have the first season of the new arena to market to the kids now- I can see the idea of "the house that the class of 08 built" being appealing. Also, with the exception of Lisch and Lidell- who will be seniors when 08's class are freshman- the talent level on the team is not very high. This means that you can expect to be given a lot of playing time even as freshman. Given these reasons, I just see now as a great window of opportunity and we would be best served maximizing it.

Abe Froman said-- "wow, can I get a little of what you're smoking. Must be some sweet Sao Paulo trip weed or something. With most of those guys the inroads have already been made, Majerus himself will not be enough to move our mid-major program in a mid-major conference into contention with a lof of those guys. It's one thing to get a Thompson or Suggs or other local kids who know all about SLU and still listed us despite the incompetant of Soderberg, but east coast kids? Nope. Inside out is the way they have to do it, lock up the area kids first, then branch out to other areas." Do you possess a crystal ball that tells you what recruits will or will not do? You say "Majerus himself will not be enough". How are we to know unless we try? I am not implying to disregard local recruiting and focus exclusively on my idea. How much effort is required to do a little background research on a dozen or so players (an assistant can do this) and then have Majerus call the guys and see if there is any interest? There is a high potential reward here for MINIMAL EFFORT. If Majerus calls these guys and they are not interested our program is not going to be in shambles because he wasted a few minutes of his time. I agree that Majerus alone probably will not bring us "into contention with a lot of those guys". I am not looking for a 100% acceptance nor even a majority. As I stated, I was hoping for a chance on 1 or 2 of them. Only 3 of the 12 I listed are from the east coast. If they say no we simply move on. I'm glad you were not an advisor to Biondi when he was trying to bring in Majerus. Applying your standards, your advice may have been "a guy of Majerus's stature is not going to come to our mid-major school in our mid-major conference. What are you smoking Father?" If we were asked 2 months ago what would suprise us more- that we would hire Majerus as our coach or that we would get a top 100 recruit from outside the metro area- I think most of us would have been more suprised by Majerus than a recruit. We can get Majerus to come out of retirement and leave ESPN to come here, but getting a high school kid to change his college choice is a wacky idea that could only be inspired by drugs? Perhaps I set myself up for that by prefacing my idea with "this may be crazy and unrealistic", but it was still unneccesary. After further consideration, I don't believe this idea to be crazy after all. Worst case, we waste a little effort. How can you not try this considering the potential reward. If Majerus does land one of these guys or someone similar would that be so shocking? I believe Majerus has more capability than you seem to think.

I've been thinking how Majerus in the last month has thrown the traditional recruiting guidebook out the window. You know the one where is says you need to develop a relationship with the recruit over years of time. Majerus arrives and recruits that were not on SLU's radar are coming in on an almost daily basis. I was wondering if there was a way to take advantage of the buzz, momentum and new reality. This idea may be crazy and unrealistic but here it is. Target a dozen or so 4 and 5 star recruits that have not yet considered SLU and are still uncommitted. Focus on those living in the region (few hundred mile radius), and/or considering schools in the area, and/or catholic high school students, and/or considering catholic Universities. Screen those down to players who would be compatible to Majerus's system. I think that Majerus could talk to these kids and because of who he is potentially get his foot in the door. Obviously this late in the game we'd be behind and if we had some generic coach it would be a complete pipe dream- but seeing Majerus in operation lately I'm starting to think anything is possible. If Majerus contacted a dozen or so of these blue chippers, what's the chance that say 1 or 2 of them say yes just because of Majerus? Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but wouldn't it be worth the effort? I have not seen any of these recruits play and don't know a thing about them except for their ranking and don't know if they would be compatible in Majerus's system but here are a few names from scout.com in order of ranking. 1)Samardo Samuels #6 C went to catholic(?) high school considering georgetown among others. 2)Iman Shumpert #15 SG from Oak park, IL. Considering Marquette and Illionois among others. 3)Elliot Williams #17 SG from Collierville,Tn. Catholic(?) high school. 4)Angel Garcia #18 PF from East Chicago. 5)Michael Dunigan #20 C from Chicago. 6)Sylven Landesberg #21 SF considering Georgetown and Villanova. Catholic(?) high school. 7)Travis Releford #24 SG from Shawnee Mission, Ks. Catholic(?) high school. Considering Illinois and Missouri. 8)Tyler Zeller #25 PF from Washington, In. 9)DeAndre Liggins #31 SF from Chicago. Considering Illinois. 10)Sean Mosley #42 SG Catholic(?) high school. Considering Georgetown and Villanova. 11)Matthew Humphrey #78 SG from Chicago. Catholic(?) high school. considering Illinois and Marquette. 12)Verdell Jones #84 PG from Champaign, IL. Considering southern Illinois, Illinois, Xavier and Depaul. The question marks after the catholic high schools means that the name sounds Catholic, but I did not research to ensure that it was. This list is not conclusive and like I said would need to be screened further but I'm just trying to throw some names out there so you can see what I'm getting at. One thing that stands out is that there is a lot of uncommitted talent (half of those above) in the Chicago area. Majerus could probably work in trips there while he was visiting his mother in Milwaukee. Porter Moser may have some connections there as well. I wouldn't be suprised if Majerus has not already been working on a similar idea- not that he needs me or anyone else to tell him how to do his business. It seems like there has been a lot of "mystery" recruits coming around. I think by not extending the offer to Femi John shows they are looking at higher talent. Porter Moser stated that they were expecting a "monster" class in 08. By past SLU standards we would ALREADY have a "monster" class with Brett Thompson alone along with a few role players. I'm thinking Porter means monster by national standards which would mean adding Suggs and others of similar caliber. With the exception of Brandenburg, Thompson and Suggs, to get this level of talent means recruiting beyond the metro area.

I'm thinking it's a function of Majerus's celebrity status. When you have the recruits initiating the contact and lining up to see you because of who you are it sure makes recruiting look easy. For all we know, Brad may have devoted an equal amount of effort towards recruiting. Brad however, lacking the same celebrity status, saw his efforts come up empty. Here's a contrast of how a recruit's mindset may be- "I can't wait to meet Majerus! If he don't call me I'm calling him!" as opposed to "that Sodersomething guy wants me to come in for a visit... I don't know know that I want to". No disrespect to Brad, but Majerus is in a league of his own. I believe that Brad could have devoted himself to recruiting 24/7 and never achieved Majerus-like results. Whatever the difference is, I am thrilled to see it. Majerus has already surpassed my high expections. It seems like ancient history now, but before the hire there were questions whether Majerus would be able to devote the energy required to recruiting. I guess this is one thing we happily no longer need concern ourselves with.

nm

Ya, I don't really see a lot of "Clooney-ness" there either. Maybe you could make a case for it in the face, but definately not the hair... Still, we may have got too caught up in this whole Clooney thing. The Clooney speculation is what caused Nark and others to look around to find a match, where it was discovered that these 2 big men had been released from Utah. Even if neither is the Clooney guy, this still seems to be an opportunity for us. You're released from Utah so where are you going to go? Why not go play for the "Utah legend" Majerus? I think the case of Deane is especially compelling. Given that Deane's father played for the Utah Utes and Jazz and sent his son to a catholic high school in Utah, I just see a real potential for a connection between this family and Majerus dating from the days when Majerus was the Utah HC.

Deane graduated from a catholic high school with honors and a 3.75 GPA, so it seems he has the potential to be a fine student. We don't know the story of why he was having academic problems at Utah, but if he is the "Clooney look alike" we have been speculating on it may explain why Majerus would be spending 3 days with him to sort out those issues. This sounds like the scenario from the Majerus negotiations where Majerus wanted the flexibility to be able to bring in a kid who had academic issues, if Majerus felt he could turn things around if given a second chance.

It's pretty much impossible to find a picture of this guy but here is a link of his JUCO team. http://www.midland.edu/athletics/basketbal...alchampions.php Calasan is listed on the roster as 6'8" 240. They have 2 other players in his size range on the team- a 6'8" and a 6'9", both 215. The beefiest guy there appears to be the one on the right holding up the trophy (look at his arms) and as an added bonus he does have a Clooney-like resemblance. I think Deane makes more sense as it fits well that Majerus would have a link with the family (Daniel's Father played at Utah and for the Jazz- bluecrewprez says Majerus "loves this guy like a son"), but who knows where Majerus has connections. Even if neither Calasan or Deane turn out to be the specific Clooney-like guy, both of them being released from Utah seems to be an opportunity for us. If you can not play for Utah, then playing for the "Utah legend" Majerus may be the next best thing. And as A_Bomb pointed out, we do have 2 scholarships still available and at this late date, these 2 big men would look awful nice at SLU next year...

Daniel's Father, Greg Deane, played for utah in the 70's and was with the NBA's Jazz for 3 seasons. It is easy to envision that Greg Deane would have been a big supporter of the Utah program while Majerus was there. They are surely acquaintances if not friends. You have the Utah link, NBA link, and both are catholic. When bluecrewprez says that Majerus "loves him like a son" that implies a long history with the family, so this kid being the guy makes a lot of sense. Even if he is not the specific "Clooney look alike", I could still see us potenitally being in the mix for him. http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/m...e_daniel00.html