Billiken4life5

Yess has an older brother who is a junior at SLU so might have just been visiting for homecoming. Purdue was in to see Yess this week and Mizzou is also very interested.

What were we ranked last year? Hopefully we stopped the slide.

Been hyped up on FSMidwest quite a bit lately. I was at Mizzou night couple weeks back and hopefully we can blow them out of the water. Nice hat included. http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/ticketing/group_theme.jsp?partnerId=23Q616ZG1-4G2

Whitt's mother was good friends with Melvin Watkin's wife when he was an assistant at Mizzou. That was Arkansas's "in" that helped them lure Whitt away. Mizzou is very interested in the kid from Jeff City, O.G. Anunoby

Think it was more just the fact that it was his first D1 offer. He thought for sure he was going to SLU not too long ago but he's more unsure now

Watched Barton several times and he was an absolutely fantastic high school point guard. Completely controlled the game. Against CBC in the district championship his senior year they pressured him w/ the McCaw kid we recruited for a while and Jordan Barnes who will also go D1 and it didn't even phase him. Can shoot it, great basketball IQ, and good vision. One of those kids who have fantastic high school careers but don't quite have the athleticism/size to play D1. Houston Baptist was actually a last minute offer and he was planning on going D2 until then (Rockhurst I think). Don't see him pushing for minutes next year unless something goes terribly wrong but he'll be a great practice player because he'll quickly pick up on other team's schemes that the scout team simulates.

From my perspective he has done a ton to reach out to the high school coaches in the area. This was non existent during the Majerus years and I'm sure something that Crews wanted to emphasize and Mike became the point man for that.

Sometimes its a blessing and a curse. Everyone always loves bringing in more talent but sometimes you can lose your program's identity. My mind always turns to Chris Lowery at SIUC when he brought in Booker and Roundtree. More talented than his previous core but his team lost its identity as a tough, hard working team. Eventually cost him his job. For the record, not saying you don't recruit high level kids just pointing out you have to stick to your high character guys too.

+1. Coach K probably, his predictions about ACC teams in the tourney have never been wrong

Last night's game may have set some kind of record for most decisions one coach has ever had to make on the fly. The last five minutes Crews was constantly trying to decide when to use timeouts, when to deploy hack a pack, when to guard straight up, who to put on Warren with Evans and Barnett fouled out, when to press, and our offense. Overall: 1) I had my doubts about Barnett on Warren but Jake was really really good. Made him work for everything. 2) Deciding with three minutes left to extend it early turned out be a great move with their ft shooting 3) Offense for defense with Tanner and Grandy turned out great when Grandy got the steal. My only complaints: 1) When we cut it to 3 with a hair over a minute left I would have played our straight man in the half court rather than staying in the press but we picked up and Warren ended up with the and 1. With the way the press was going I see why he did it. 2) The turnover in OT we had tanner inbounding to Austin. In that scenario Jett and Mccall have to be the two in the front court coming to get the ball. I would guess he wanted Austin to catch for ft shooting but don't think NC state was going to foul instantly with how much time was left. 3) Up 3 with under 10 seconds to play FOUL!!!! As soon as they crossed half court I would've hacked to keep them from getting a look. Some coaches don't believe in it but numbers support it. Overall going to hack a pack super early was the key decision in the game and Crews deserves tons of credit. Anytime you have to make that many decisions you're not going to coach a perfect game and when we ran out of timeouts there is only so much coaching you can do.

I would much much much rather play Xavier but that doesn't look promising right now.

Same, anyone seeing anything cheaper?

6"6 and starting to get some looks for D1. Floresca also had 14-10 that game. To answer NH's question about bigs who were better last year, off the top of my head: Berry, Martin from Central, Doby from CBC, Marquette had a good one who is playing baseball at Harvard, Floresca is about even with AG, and the big from Vianney has a similar build to AG and went to Central Missouri. However, in the long run I'll take AG over Martin and Vianney's center because of his ability to shoot it. Has a lot better head on his shoulders than Doby so I like AG more than him. Basically Berry is the only one I'd trade him for. He's not a force yet but I see where the staff projects him to be a good player in 3 years.

Not excited about this at all. Coached against him and wasn't particurally impressed. I know what they see (length, shooting touch) but if you are physical with him you can take him out of the game.

Agreed. As a high school coach in STL the book on him was to play him super physical because he doesn't like to play in a bruising type of game. Finished 10 pts below his average in their sectional loss against a super athletic Hickman team. That being said, if he's willing to put in the work in the weightroom he could be a very nice player at the next level.

Ben tweeted yesterday that Jordan Barnett was at the game. He has had Izzo, Bruce Weber, and coaches from Louisville and Kentucky in to watch his games this year. The fact that we are in the picture still with those names is impressive. Unbelievable talent tho needs to play harder.

Crews gets a mention on ESPN today. Little premature. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8801398/king-court-examines-most-critical-players-conference-season-college-basketball

I wasn't trying to present it as fact that he was for sure gone. The circumstances just seem really murky and it's rare that you lose a coach and 0 players transfer so wouldn't be surprised if he was gone. My bad if it came across that he was for sure out the door.

I suggested this was but was chastised for it

Possible that KC doesn't want to play. He could take a redshirt and then transfer with our current coaching uncertainty.

It would have been nice to seen it streamed live since it was at such an odd time. I'm guessing the 3:30 start was due to Batman Live at Chaifetz that night.

Anyone else worried about our zone offense? SIU slowed us down with it and when NT went to it last night they made their run in the first half to get back in it. We don't get the ball swung fast enough and we absolutely refuse to get it to the high post. Loe's favorite past time is leaning against the guard covering the elbow instead of demanding the ball.

Was Tony Young really run off? I have no inside knowledge on the situation but I had not heard this explanation before. Majerus spoke highly of him in interviews this summer but with Tanner no longer being a Grad Assistant and a new Director of Basketball Operations coming in was Tony the odd man out?

Also it wouldn't shock me if by February or March that Majerus is in communication with coaches and possibly breaking down film. Not in Stl but I could him being in contact by the end of the season if his health improves. Just a theory.

Yes and no. He was all freshman team for the valley his first year but struggled last year. Of course, Cuonzo leaving didn't help I'm sure. Either way does not appear one we should be too overly upset over.