TheChosenOne

Pistol just texted me that Western Kentucky landed a commitment from Rodney Howard, 6'11, 256 lb big from Georgia Tech. I think you can now cross off WKU as an option for Dandridge. I assume a lot of the schools listed as being the finalists a few weeks back (which did not include SLU) dried up on him which left WKU and SLU and "other" schools. So, I suppose we will find out soon how legitimate the other schools are.

If anyone wants to catch Vashon this coming season and wants company, let me know. I watched them in the playoffs at Lindenwood and they were so much fun to watch. It was obvious who Randall was (he looks the part of high-major forward at a young age), but I did not have a roster to identify the other kids who were impressing the hell out of me too and I know a group of them are also 2025 kids including Dierre Hill who is also an elite football recruit. They are awesome to watch, incredible watching them hawk the ball. And they just went at their opponent in waves, would have been interested in knowing how many kids played.

For sure, I avoided 2025 kids, but Nicholas Randall and PJ Farmer are certain to be above the level I referenced. I also did not even attempt to think through in state kids west of St. Louis as my knowledge is limited beyond kids like Jevon Porter and Kayden Fish and I don't get the sense we overly recruit much outside of St. Louis. Aaron Rowe would be another 2025 MO kid, but outside of St. Louis, who will be a highly sought after recruit. One other name I thought of is Darrion Sutton who is a class of 2024 kid who left the area and is now in Denver, but began his career in O'Fallon (Gateway City Elite which appears to be for kids who are home schooled). Might be worth checking in on, kid looks legit.

Right, it seems like Tarris Reed and John Bol (2024 who is obviously no longer at CBC and is not considering SLU) are the only recent local guys who fit as more elite 4-star top 50 type prospects. Macaleab Rich or Turnbull mentioned above would presumably be the next in line, but otherwise you are seeing a lot of mid-major plus type prospects. We landed a couple of those kids in 2022, but the other guys at that level have gone elsewhere with few producing a whole lot. I think of guys like Nicholas Kern, Yaya Keita, and Sekou Gassama in 2021, Connor Turnbull, Christian Jones, Braxton Stacker, Jalen Hampton, Damien Mayo, and Brian Taylor in 2022 (plus the 3 we signed), and Kennard Davis in 2023. I am not seeing much in 2024 (Bol being the guy originally), but I am not close enough to it to speak with any sort of knowledge on it. All of this to say, the recent talent locally has not been great.

I think some kind of saw this coming a couple of years back as the pipeline of local prospects looked a bit down especially with a kid like John Bol leaving the area. The past few local recruiting classes have largely been mid major plus type guys (Tarris Reed being the only recent 4 star I am aware of in the past three local classes and he did not seem to have much interest in SLU). Someone closer to it than me would have to let us know how the next few classes are looking, I know Vashon has some young studs and I know Chaminade had a strong freshmen class this past winter (unfortunately some are coming off of injuries). Anyways, not so much taking a shot at Tate or questioning his value, but more reason for needing to recruit outside of St. Louis the past few years and this coming year.

Our recruiting needs to pick up in general. I completely agree that Forte's recruiting ties to Texas and Oklahoma were a bad fit at SLU and unlikely to be overly productive, but why did it seem like so many of our prospects were guys he was tied to? What were the other coaches doing? Who are we even after in the 2024 class? I really like the addition of Harriman with his International ties since I think that is a market not pursued by all programs. But, I would also like to see an assistant tied in on the east coast in the league's footprint where the pitch to play in the Atlantic 10 is actually a positive (different discussion, but we see why Majerus did not care for SLU being a member of the conference as a geographical outlier). I don't think Ford has those roots, Tate is regional, Harriman International, so that would be a nice piece to add to the staff.

Obviously I am not a whale so the program has no reason to care that I would not kick $ to players, but the idea of having that conversation with my wife has me chuckling. 10 nieces and nephews, but you want to financially support a random basketball player? I'm already on her radar due to my continued interest in Chaminade basketball, this would certainly be the last straw.

It is so odd to me that boosters/fans are being asked to compensate the players directly in addition to so many other aspects of the program/athletic department that they are also funding (I saw someone above mentioning Ford's compensation being one, the locker room project, the champions center, etc.). Again, I am not pretending to know all of the factors at play nor do I care to learn them, but when the SEC and Big Ten bring in the media dollars they do it is beyond wild to me that the compensation of players isn't coming directly from that. Yeah, hard pass getting me to kick money directly for players. If a portion of the money I spend as a fan goes to the players, that is great, but beyond that just seems so silly.

I am talking about the initial decision to return for his 5th year of college, not the decision to return for his 6th year of college. At that point he had to return for a 6th year of college, I don’t think he would have had any other options at that point unfortunately. I know when he initially said he was returning towards the end of his senior season I didn’t think it made any sense for him to do so, but certainly it was a big boost to the team for the 2021-22 season. The risk/reward (prior to NIL where guys can potentially earn a comparable amount of money) was seldom there for a player not to go pro when that option was available to them especially at the age of ~23 and after 4 years of college.

My position would be that after 4 seasons of college basketball and nearing the age of 23, his draft stock was essentially what it was going to be. I am not aware of any prospect suddenly becoming a draftable player in their 5th season of college basketball. His draft stock was unlikely to improve. I could maybe understand the argument if he had been injured during his first two seasons at SLU, but that wasn't the case. His pros and cons as a prospect were known and could be seen. I think Perkins had limitations that prevented him from being a guy who would be drafted (same with Goodwin, French, and Yuri), but he should have followed the same path as Goodwin and begun his professional career trying to work his way into the league. The risk/reward was never there for him to return to college for a 5th season and that was the message that should have been delivered to him. Now, his future earnings have been tanked, really sad. I think if the coaches gave him advice that did not encourage him to at least be evaluated and hear from the NBA, they did not give him the advice he should have been given. As I recall he announced he would be returning prior to the end of the season, so he did not even go through the process. I don't think the coaches get a pass because a guy in his 6th year of college didn't return to his previous form. I will concede that my thoughts today are different than 2+ years ago with NIL allowing guys to be paid. I now can understand the argument for a guy returning for a 5th season of college basketball if that gets him paid more than if he were to play in the G League, but again that is not because it is going to help his draft stock.

He came back for his 5th season of college basketball and then got hurt in an exhibition game forcing him to essentially have to come back this past season (his 6th year of college), the risk/reward was never there for him to take advantage of that free COVID year. Now we are two years later and who knows what his professional opportunities look like.

I feel terrible for Perkins. The coaches selling him on returning to college and taking advantage of the free COVID year has ruined his professional opportunities and earnings potential. Really sad to see, but hard for me to let the coaches use him not returning to 100% as an excuse. With a straight face they sold him on the idea that taking advantage of his COVID year and playing a 5th season of college basketball at the age of 23 would somehow improve his draft stock. Now he is soon to be 25 still recovering from a knee injury. I really hope he gets fully healthy and is able to salvage a successful professional playing career overseas. Apparently Team Blue does not include the coaches giving honest advice that is in the best interest of their players, unfortunate their selfishness has had such a negative impact on the kid’s future. And then Yuri’s junior season we saw Ford regularly blame him for losses just completely throwing him under the bus. I didn’t get the sense he did that as much this season, but certainly not commentary you expect from a guy sold as a players coach. But please, blame the message board for recruits not wanting to play for these coaches. Do right by the players and produce on the court and you won’t have to worry about this message board. Hot takes on a Sunday.

I was texting with some friends yesterday and I was asking how the heck did the Big 12 seemingly rise from the ashes vs. the Pac-12 falling to this point where their survival is now in question. I candidly haven’t followed it closely enough (once Mizzou got into the SEC I just never cared what all was going on), but the leadership of the Big 12 really stepped up and apparently the leadership of the Pac-12 fell asleep at the wheel. Something I need to look into when I have time because it is wild to me that the Pac-12 (like you said) is at this point. And then on the other side of it, the Big 12 got real active. And obviously based on the above, I have no idea what SLU’s chances would be of getting a call from the Big East. I just haven’t followed any of the conference realignment closely at all. On paper I’d have to think we are on the short list and while I’m sure we can all point to the various factors likely to be considered who knows what the deciding factors become once they get into a room to make a decision. Ideally we are doing everything we can to lobby for a spot. This was our last season getting season tickets and my general disinterest in the conference is a big factor for no longer wanting to spend that sort of $ on tickets when so many games I have little to no interest in and based on our inability to find folks to give them away to we aren’t the only folks in St. Louis who feel the same way.

I candidly tuned out more last season than typical, but is everyone sold on Sincere Parker being an all conference caliber shooting guard? Again, I can't say I watched him closely enough, but it is interesting that Jimerson (his production as an all conference shooter is known) and Parker (averaged 5.9 points in 12.5 minutes per game) would be the top wing combo in any major league heading into the season.

Can you fill those of us in who have no clue what this means?

It is really sad how that happens, losers chasing clicks.

Right and he would have seen the worst case happen with Perkins returning for a final additional season. Not many players are improving their draft stock in their 5th year of college basketball.

His stats are interesting as he played 17.5 minutes per game (starting 15 of 28 games) at Cal as a freshman averaging 7.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks followed by 16.2 minutes (starting 27 of 29 games), 6.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in his sophomore season at Arkansas before a junior season that saw his playing time fall off of cliff to 7.5 minutes per game, so he played solid minutes in his first two seasons of high major college basketball before finding the end of the bench towards the end of his sophomore season and his junior season with the emergence of Jaylin Williams. And then last season he started all 34 games for Oral Roberts averaging 25.7 minutes, 12.7 points, 7.2 rebound, and 3.2 blocks playing in a much lesser league.

Right, I think with the current state of the league you could just about schedule yourself to 20 wins with a really weak nonconference schedule if that were the goal. There are some players on our roster that I am intrigued by and obviously the return of Jimerson was key in raising our floor, but damn we need all of our questions to be answered on the positive side at least where things stand today.

Yes, Vice and now Noland are a sign that our roster has gotten too strong.

Ah yes, his freshman season playing on a roster with Ryan Kalkbrenner (another recruiting miss for us) will be a good measuring stick for whether he was a miss. Very similar roster makeups and leagues between SLU and Creighton. I do commend you for continuing to carry water for the program on this site. Who cares if priority prep or transfer recruits decommit......

I don't think a combo guard who was a 4-star top 100 recruit playing in the Big 12 looks at our roster and questions whether he can find a role on our team. Certainly guys can and will develop and improve, but outside of Jimerson, there isn't much production returning. It remains to be seen whether losing Noland or Vice will be significant losses, but both certainly filled needs.

He did make the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and while Oklahoma was not a good team, they were #54 in Pomeroy (and #30 the prior season, a 1 seed in the NIT losing to St. Bonaventure by 2 in the 2nd round). For comparison, Georgetown was #219, Tulsa was #316, and SLU was #96. So while Oklahoma had a below .500 season a lot of that was due to playing in a loaded conference.

For sure. Initially I was thinking he has likely heard from programs that would be an opportunity to move back to the level he was at, but the other thought I had is that maybe Forte was a big factor in him committing here so early in the process. I assume we will find out fairly soon.

Don’t worry guys, we are well positioned to attack the transfer portal. When does that open?