Zink

We'll have five schollies to offer to next year's class (at least). I doubt we will miss out on anyone we really want/need because there isn't an open spot for them.

Austin McBroom will be eligible and will most likely be our third guard. Plus he would have to pass Jake Barnett, who can play a few minutes/game at the two. Plus Jared Drew will be competing for the same kind of minutes. That 2/3 spot will be rather backed up next season.And Carter wasn't even really part of the rotation during his short time here.

If there is a 50% chance that something will happen, there may or may not be be a 50% chance that it won't

welcome to the board! I think what you are seeing is a general reluctance to anoint any incoming player - being a Billiken fan is hard work, as you can see by carefully examining a number of the posters' mottoes/quotes sections. Also the "Show-Me" attitude is hard at work here. That said, I think a lot of us are really excited to see a proven winner join our team, and a guy who knows how to put the ball in the hoop. From the limited video I have seen of Mike, it looks like he scored mostly by attacking the basket. Does he have a reliable outside shot? That sort of shooting ability is more likely to translate at the next level, as in college he will definitely be up against tall, fast and strong players every game. If they can lay off him on the perimeter, he will have a harder time making an impact.

I am! Ed Davis threw me off for a second earlier; he runs like Willie and I have a very pixelated feed...

I see Mike as a high-floor player. Worst case scenario, he is a glue guy at the swingman position and a rotation player for his last two years. Best case, he is a mismatch at the 2/3, can stroke it from downtown and is a 3-4 year rotation player and 1-2 year starter. He will have a tough time breaking into the rotation this year, as will be the case for all of our frosh. We will have talent from top-to-bottom at every position, and the only place we might need help will be at the 4/5. Mike is another guy who I am excited to see develop over the next four years.

Posted a question on the live chat being held at ESPN.com with some of the leading college bball writers, got these replies... any idea on what to expect out of SLU? Reggie Agbeko verballed and Coach Crews mentioned that we should expect another signing in the coming week... AdamFinkelstein: Agbeko was a good late find for St. Louis. Will be able to rebound the ball in high volume from day one. davetelep: SLU has been searching for players. In terms of who they are going to sign, can't say. Know they were scowering best availables lists and that also could mean they got a little something cooking overseas.

Can't wait to see him play the next four years. Glad you're a Billiken, Reggie.

Most of those '14 players were highlighted in a post in the "Rammer" thread as higher ranked guys who we are going after.

Ibrahim Djambo is a possibility (although he previously stated that he would pick a school on 4/30 and has yet to visit SLU). Also, the Strawberry kid is coming (has come?) in for a visit. Daishon Knight is listed as having "high" interest in us on verbalcommits.com. I might still be missing someone, but I believe that sums up everyone on the radar.

This. He looks more like a stretch 4 on offense (based on his stats), and someone who would rely more on length than strength defensively. I think he would complement Agbeko nicely.

To add a point, we are actually going after some "higher caliber" recruits in this years Jr class. JP Macura is getting looked at by Big 10 schools and wants to sign before his Sr season starts (has been a recipe for past successes, eg MM). Sean O'Mara is just outside of the top 100 nationally, and is a top 10 center. Jordan Barnett is well within the top 100. Even if we don't sign any of these guys, we are competing locally and nationally for guys who fit the SLU ethos and have the talent to contribute over the four years they will be on campus. We are moving up the food chain, step-by-step.

Yeah, I can't find anything real that says he wasn't into recruiting. It was all stuff I read on here, which was probably conjecture. There was actually an article where RM said that Al was in on 3-4 recruits and that is one of the reasons why him leaving was going to hurt SLU. Can't link, I'm on a phone, but it is on the first page if you google search. So that would point toward him being a somewhat capable recruiter, although we can't be sure about his enthusiasm for it.

Pretty sure RM (and maybe even Jensen himself) cited his disinterest in recruiting as a major reason for why he decided to leave the college ranks.

You are right, my bad. I would prefer the Nova transfer, seems like a guy who can step in and be a star for us after we lose this year's big senior class. That said, I wouldn't mind most of the guys we are talking about, including Saintil and Onwuasor. Djambo (at least from the tiny bits of video and stats available) seems like a long athletic player. He averaged nearly 9rpg (6.28 defensive boards/g) and 1.4bpg, so nothing remarkable either way. He might be more polished on O, but seems like he at the very least has the tools to play good D.

+1 Onwuasor seems like he just got stuck at 'Nova (coach, depth chart, etc). Great athlete, good shooter. He will guard those bigger wings we have sturggled with and provide some class balance. Will be a surefire starter after he sits out the mandatory year. Djambo looks like a stretch big on offense and an intimidator in the paint on the other end. Pretty unique skill-set, would fit well with our system and compliment Agbeko, Manning, Glaze and Evans by opening up the lane for them. We will miss not having a single player like CE/RL after next year, and Djambo would fill that need.

That is a good point - I guess what I am trying to say is that it is better to have Frosh/Soph EARN their playing time rather than play because there are no upperclassmen at their positions. If Glaze, McBroom and Manning can hold together what would otherwise be a young team, then great. But I don't want frosh/soph to be forced into a starting/major role if they aren't ready (i.e. Brett Thompson, Justin Jordan, Jon Smith - even the guys who have become great players here such as Jordair, he had a very frustrating first year). Most good programs in college basketball rely primarily on upperclassmen, and I think that having older players making up the bulk of the rotation only helps.

But remember that the year most of these guys received all of that extra playing time was the only losing season of RMs career and one of SLU's worst in recent memory. If we want to avoid 'rebuilding mode' then it would make sense to have some players even out the classes a bit. Youth is great, but inexperience is not. Another guy to graduate with McBroom in the class of '16 wouldn't hurt. Djambo -- pretty sure he's just one year out of HS -- or a soph transfer would definitely help us out in the short term and wouldn't kill us over the long haul either.

If you actually pay attention to the content of these supposedly laughable Withey comparisons then they make a whole lot of sense. No need to go building straw men.

No one is saying that JM and GG are going to be All-Americans. The point is that the logic "Big Man X has not contributed in his first 2 years and therefore can not be expected to perform well as an upperclassman" is flawed. The jury isn't out just yet.Edit: See dlarry for the same points

Withey played about 3mpg his freshman year and 6.5mpg as a soph. Olynyk played about 13mpg each of his first two years. So you could say that Withey was a benchwarmer those two seasons while Olynyk was a borderline rotation player. Using these two as exemplars, there is no reason to give up hope on JM or GG simply because they have struggled to find playing time as underclassmen on a top 25 team.

The other 6'10" plus guys don't play anywhere near as much as Sim. A 6'2" turnover prone PG and a 6'8" scorer who takes too many 3's seem to be the two main guys. I don't see how they match our backcourt, and our stretch bigs will come in handy. Defensively, we can throw bodies at their bigs all day and make them earn their inside points. Not a great 3pt shooting team, either so we can pack it in to some extent as well. They are probably the weakest 13 seed, and if we keep our heads this should be a W. I'm really looking forward to JJ shutting down OSU's Fr G Marcus Smart to send us to the Sweet 16...

Why so worried? Defensively, the only guys he can guard are CR and JM. He is going to be pulled out of position if they man him against RL or CE, as will their other bigs. Also, he shoots 46% from the stripe so we can use JM's 5 fouls if need be.

Let's not forget that Fox now has Gus Johnson on board as a play-by-play man. One would think that he would get to call the "game of the week" at the very least. Why hasn't this been mentioned in the thread all about recruiting under Crews? What high school kid would turn down the opportunity to have Gus Johnson say their name on a weekly basis?

Yup. The easy part is to know these things - the hard part is to create a system to implement them, and that was RM's genius