Billiken4life5

The 17U Brad Beal team will be interesting to follow this summer. They've got a lot of 2-3 star local guys (Collins, Walsh, Terron Garret, Nick Randall) and not as many 5 stars like Nick Smith, Brandon Miller, etc. They're really banking on the fact that Zyree is underrated because he's being asked to carry a heavy load. If that team overachieves it would be a pretty positive indicator for Zyree's ability in college.

Don't think we'd be able to lure Bucky away from his home turf and Moser seems to be staying for at least one more year. Loved Brey at ND but not sure he's the answer in the new era of NIL and portal. One of the low major guys would be the preference for me in that situation.

If I had to guess it would be that Tony Irons wants to make the jump to college coaching and that would be much more likely with Blake Ahearn at SLU. Rumor was he put his name out there for an assistant gig when Lindenwood went D1. Not like he has much left to prove at the HS level w/ their 5th consecutive state title last month.

The tempo they play at is a lot of fun…and if they can run this much on an athletic big 12 team then the A10 is in trouble.

The offense is the perfect balance of spacing and movement…the defense leaves a lot to be desired.

Believe when he was the head coach at Mount Brook HS he played some local teams in the City of Palms Tournament in Ft. Lauderdale. Pretty sure he was doing poker tournaments on the side to supplement his income back then. He's very into analytics, know he used to ban his teams from shooting midrange. Don't know if he's carried that into college.

Or intentionally not making the hire official until end of Summer so the coach can recruit free of rules and regulations the next few months. Tomorrow starts the first live period of the spring AAU session. Although think we all think our post savior will come from the portal and not the HS ranks.

Agree with all of them except PG. I totally agree we need to move on from such a Yuri dependent offense but calling Hughes an upgrade is a stretch. He was never a PG in HS because of Rob Martin and the feel for the game for a true point takes a long time to develop. That being said, we all know that we had some atrocious decision making in the last 4 minutes of games from our guards last season. Hopefully Hughes having a more consistent 3 pt shot provides more spacing and counteracts some of his inexperience.

His son is a soph guard at Vianney I believe.

It seems like Brad Beal Elite has a connection with The Skills Factory where Zhang goes b/c Dez White (George Mason commit) transferred there from Helias. Think at least one of their returning 17U kids plays there as well. Wonder if we have the same connection?

OT: Does anyone know if SLU is requiring proof of vaccination for games this season?

Lot of talent on display at the Ramey league this weekend. Be interesting to see who stands out.

He played well at the Edwardsville Live Period event this weekend with Vashon. Vashon's depth is overwhelming and as of now them and Staley are the two best MO HS teams. Staley's two studs are definitely one to keep an eye on. Kayden Fish just got an offer from Xavier after mainly low major interest and Kyan Evans is a dynamic point guard. Jordan Pickett from Belleville East, Iziah Purvey from Webster Groves, and Bradley Longcor III from Quincy were other guys who stood out.

Believe he has a relative who played for UAB as well. Think Kramer is a more physical player than Crawford, he'll post up quite a bit for SLUH when the matchup presents itself.

There's an old coaching saying that they only make all 3 FT's 33% of the time. Obviously not very statistically based but if you take Wiz's 71.1% FT shooter you end up with a 36% chance of making all 3.

If we weren't so deep at the wing I'd find Watson tempting. Such a weird case because he tried to completely change his style in college. He was a slasher with an inconsistent jump shot in high school who excelled because he's got length and athleticism. In college he's relegated himself to a spot up shooter and been inconsistent. With our current roster he's not worth taking over a Hargrove or Strickland

Yeah Gassama, I was impressed with his improvement this year. 9-16 from 3 and over 70% from the FT line. 9 rebounds a game, plays hard and physical. Especially when you consider DeSmet hasn't played a ton of games so been hard to find a rhythm. Big time rematch on Friday against Cardinal Ritter that will probably turn out to be the Class 5 State Championship I forgot Turnbull was 2022 though, was thinking he was a senior. Especially offer him now with that in mind.

Turnbull has had one of the biggest single season improvements in recent years in Stl. Averaged 4 pts per game last year as a 6"4 kid. Grows 6 inches and starts dunking everything. He is a good athlete with good lateral movement for his size. Think he can handle it some and has shot the 3 better this year (37%). I'd prefer him over his teammate Lee. Not sure who I'd take between him and the DeSmet big who is also having a nice season (though didn't play in their sectional win this week).

Looks like it's now official they won't get their visits https://247sports.com/Article/NCAA-recruiting-dead-period-extended-April-15-2021-all-Division-I-sports-COVID-19-154997658/

Man did that team Pickett was on at Belleville East underachieve. Most evident when the PG transferred to West the next year.

Agree and disagree with this. What makes JG so special is his motor and how relentless he is. Nesbitt has been the opposite up to this point in his career. Talented as hell but doesn't play half as hard. Now maybe he just hasn't ran into the right coach to get him going (Like Jordan and Travis). His ceiling is higher than JG if he ever puts it all together but he wasn't going to walk in on day 1 and change the culture with his work ethic like JG did.

Rivals has him at 6"2 haha maybe all the length at the MoKan camp had my scale messed up.

No doubt he's explosive as any local guard. Didn't look like he hit a growth spurt during quarantine to me though, still somewhere in the 5"11 or 6"0 range

Couple Billiken targets at the MoKan training camp last weekend/this week. Tarris Reed (playing up with 17U most of the time) and Larry Hughes Jr. (there but banged up with a minor injury). Lot of Stl kids there overall...Damien Mayo from Chaminade, Matt Enright from WG, Thomas Redmond from DeSmet among others.

Live Periods Official recommendation from the coaches association yesterday for the NCAA will cancel the live periods for June & July. This essentially cancels the legitimate AAU circuits (Nike, Adidas, Under Armour). No EYBL, Peach Jam, etc. I could still see somebody convincing a rec center to let them host a tournament and then streaming it online for college coaches to see. Similar to what's going on with baseball in St. Charles right now. Could potentially see live periods in the Fall. Seems like the pendulum swings a little back towards HS coaches being important instead of AAU with this development.