The Firm

I just read RM's book "My Life On A Napkin". The book is a narrative from RM with quotes from the people he's talking about interspersed telling their sides of the same story. He talks about his recruiting philosophies, how tough he is on players, his coaching influences. The book lets you into his world and gives great insight into how he's wired. I came away very impressed by how devoted he is to his players academics and his commitment to them as people both when they're playing and after their eligibility is over. It's a very good read. I found it for $1.86 at amazon.com.

Having said all that there's no way in the world RM will not go after the the 4 and 5 star players if he thinks there is a chance they'll come. I hope SS is the first of many he convinces to sign and then follow it up the next year by signing TG.

I think the rankings are for the fans more than the coaches. Coaches, like the fans know who the best high school players are,(most people could have told you Larry Hughes was a great player and would make an immediate impact his freshman year at SLU). Good coaches know about the Al Thornton's, the Wally Szczerbiaks, the Darren Brooks' and the Michael Doleacs. They can identify players who haven't reached their potential physically or athletically and make them good if not great college players. I think being able to identify and develop the non 4 and 5 star players is the best thing RM brings to the Billikens. His recruits may not be the sexy choice for some of the fans, but his results will make them happy.

I think a lot depends on who is signed this year with the remaining scholarships. If you sign 2 more 2G's (FJ, SS, MR), there would be a lot of players vying for 80 minutes of playing time per game. Of course that scenario would change if RM wants to run a 3 guard offense.

I agree with you 100% as to who should be the # 1 recruiting target. However, with PG arguably being the most important position in college basketball, and not having an upperclassmen in place as a quality backup it makes me a little nervous. I don't like that we would be putting all of our eggs in one KM basket.

With the expectation that KM will see the majority of minutes at PG, and with both KL and TL gone after the 2008/2009 season, what kind of PG can we attract to SLU for the class of 2009 recruiting class? It seems that whomever is brought in will not see much playing time unless KM gets injured. If you're a talented PG do you come to SLU? If KM does get injured and SLU has signed a developmental player and not one who is ready to play right away, how many wins could the injury cost the team? To me a perfect world scenario has us signing Scott Suggs this year and signing someone who would not be expected to conribute immediately his first year with the program as part of the class of 2009. Suggs would be able to spell KM and be the emergency PG in case of injury and the 2009 recruit would be able to redshirt his first year, continue to develop under RM and be able to contribute during the 2010/2011 season. Any thoughts?

Either PE goes back to an academic scholarship or someone will leave like Dandridge did at MU.