dlarry

Trilly: Josiah Dotzler to SLU

I like Hochman but Toasted Avioli is the stupidest nickname in a long list of stupid nicknames. 

I like Hochman but Toasted Avioli is the stupidest nickname in a long list of stupid nicknames. 

Jimerson wouldn’t have stayed if both Avila and Swope had gone elsewhere.

Another Porter brother going to Mizzou?
I BET that makes JonTay happy, although he probably thinks it’s a GAMBLE playing so close to home. 

Another Porter brother going to Mizzou?
I BET that makes JonTay happy, although he probably thinks it’s a GAMBLE playing so close to home. 

Another Porter brother going to Mizzou?
I BET that makes JonTay happy, although he probably thinks it’s a GAMBLE playing so close to home. 

Another Porter brother going to Mizzou?
I BET that makes JonTay happy, although he probably thinks it’s a GAMBLE playing so close to home. 

Another Porter brother going to Mizzou?
I BET that makes JonTay happy, although he probably thinks it’s a GAMBLE playing so close to home. 

Another Porter brother going to Mizzou?
I BET that makes JonTay happy, although he probably thinks it’s a GAMBLE playing so close to home. 

I was there. About what I expected. 

Probably 60-70 people in total, wide age range. I'm 28 and was older than ~15% of the room. 

Schertz accidentally went to the downtown MAC and didn't get to the Des Peres location until about 6. Troy spoke a bit, Chris May spoke a bit, then Schertz took the wheel. Good speech, dude is very funny, then he took a Q&A. Most of the questions were pretty worthless but he did drop a couple of noteworthy things:

1) Last year's ISU team was paid a combined 80k in NIL. Their market value today is as much as 2 mill. 
2) One of the recent recruits on campus brought their 12YO sister who made a fat joke towards Schertz - he found it very funny (as did I).
3) Gibby was scheduled for a visit to UConn this coming weekend before recommitting to SLU. We beat the two-time reigning national champion out for a transfer portal player, and arguably more importantly the two-time reigning national champion was interested in our shooting guard. Think about that next time anyone wants to talk down on Gibby. 
4) Coach is still VERY confident that we get commitments from RA and IS this week. I'm very confident that those commitments will open the floodgates. 
5) I asked coach 1 on 1 afterwards what he thought of the Billiken vs. "Team Blue" and it sounds like we can finally but that bullshite boring @$$ moniker to rest.  
6) Charlie Gitto's is his favorite restaurant so far. Had it during the MVC tournament. 

Why waste the effort and money on HS players below the top 25 line? They will likely seek new homes after 1 year; eg Medley, Curcic, Zhang, and Bussell. While I didn’t dislike these players and thought there was some potential they really didn’t add much to last season. The focus for every team has to be on the portal. Calipari learned his lesson. Five 5 star FR didn’t do much against 20-21 year old experienced players. NIL and the Portal have created a whole new ball game. I don’t like it as has turned college sports into the professional arena. But you have to play the cards you’ve been dealt, so you learn to play the game. 

Maybe Willie can take him to Applebees. 

Maybe Willie can take him to Applebees. 

Maybe Willie can take him to Applebees. 

At 18 I was deciding between a career in the NBA or starting a company that produced electric vehicles. Figured those two schools were my best chance. 
Turns out neither options was close to realistic.

I graduated high school in 98 and reached out to two schools about playing ball for them, Kentucky and Harvard. 
They both told me to piss off.
So it doesn’t always work.

At 18 I was deciding between a career in the NBA or starting a company that produced electric vehicles. Figured those two schools were my best chance. 
Turns out neither options was close to realistic.

I don't know what to tell you.  I don't think you really understand how much some of SLU"s boosters are really worth.  These aren't the type of people that will be making NIL spends through a collective website. This isn't just Chaifetz that has stepped up.  I have heard two different numbers for what will be available for SLU to spend on NIL this season.  The lower of those two numbers would have put SLU among the very elite of P5 basketball NIL spending last season.  Will Texas spend more this coming season than SLU will?  Sure they could, I am sure they have the means to and they probably will.  Also just because the money is available that doesn't mean SLU will spend every last penny of it.  That still doesn't mean SLU won't be able spend just as much or more than Texas when it comes to what they are willing to spend on a specific player both programs are targeting.  Being willing to spend that money doesn't even mean that SLU would land that player.  There are many kids that would rather play for Texas at the end of the day.

Damn if Avila doesn't come here I am gonna look like a clown telling everyone around me that he was going to be playing for SLU next year.  

SLU isn’t losing any of their targets because they can’t compete with the dollars offered.  That doesn’t mean they will get everyone they target, but they won’t lose out because they couldn’t compete financially.  Plus, why does everyone forget SLU has their own oil money?

They can't compete.  But I didn't see anything regarding Avila visiting with Larry on Horns247 and they're a really active pay board with moderators/journalists on top of recruiting. 
Larry to UT makes sense as he's from Frisco, TX.
I don't see Avila fitting into Rodney Terry's offensive system (or lack there of).

I know everything said in that interview is the exact same thing every coach says to the media when they get a new job, probably said the exact same thing when he took the ISU gig, but it sure has me excited!