Aquinas

Its easy for a BE basketball fan to get excited about adding Gonzaga. Or a Gonzaga fan to get excited about joining the BE.... Until you pull up a map and look at the distances and time zones involved with Spokane Wa. And the BE. Even if it was just basketball, who wants to fly from the east coast to Spokane? It would add a lot of travel cost and time for all conference sports. Its just not practical.

Great Post!!!

Do we have evidence that Nesbitt is an average or above 3 point shooter? His high-school percentage was like 25%. He shot 71 percent from the free throw line, which is about average. I would like to know what his AAU 3 point percentage was. Personally, I will be very happy if he can shoot the NCAA Div 1 average of 33%, but I'm not expecting that in year one.

I think it cost Wichits st 2.5 million to join the AAC. THE AAC has a 10 million exit fee. I can't see Wichita St paying that to get back where they started. Their situation shows the folly of a basketball only school joining a football conference

I'm pro vacjne, but I don't think it should take more paper work to get into a sporting event than it does to enter the country.

Just watching the video, Kramer reminds me some of St. Joseph's Ryan Daly.

I typically post the new season thread with the players once the roster is fixed. Filling the roster took longer than normal this year. So I will restart the 20-21 season thread and suggest that it get folded back in later. Hopefully the player info and stats will prompt some good summer discussion. The height and weights are from SLUBillikens.com Position numbers mostly apply to defense and in the order that I see as there best position. The year is mostly relevant to seeing years remaining. So here is the team, Starting at the 5 position. Francis Okoro –Yr. 3, 6’9”, 235 – Pos 5-4, 3.3 ppg 4.2 rpg 54% from the field, 47% FT (Oregon) Modest Div 1 numbers with injuries. Surgery and a year to recover hopefully result in a big improvement. My view, As Okoro goes so go the Bills. If he has a big year, we will have a big year. He has an NBA body and will play the 5 for us. Ideally double digit points and rebounds. Martin Linssen – Yr. 3, 6’ 8”, 240 – Pos 5-4, 5.5 ppg 2.1 rpg. 64% from the field, 80% FT (SLU) He will play significant minutes probably following Okoro into the game. We don’t have another experienced post player so while Martin and Oko0ro might be a tough combination on the floor together, it seems unlikely that will occur very often. Andre Lorentsson – Yr. 1, 6’8” 215 – Pos 4-5. 20 ppg, 6 rpg – 45% 3 pt. 85% FT (Prep School) From Sweeden he arrived shortly before the Covid season last year and had little opportunity. It was a tough year to be a freshman. Have heard almost nothing about him in summer reports, so I don’t expect much. He is a stretch 4 who is an exceptional shooter. He is one of our 2 project bigs. Lassina Traore –Yr. 1, 6’9” 215 – Pos 4-5, No stats. A true freshman who is a late addition to the team. He is athletic but raw. He is probably a year or more from making significant game contributions. His big contribution this year will be as a practice body. Javonte Perkins – Yr. 4, 6’ 6” 215 – Pos 4-3, 17 ppg, 3.9 rpg - 38% 3pt, 87% FT, (SLU) The Blue Kool-aide has him with 20# of added muscle. He got banged up by year end and is on a mission to up his game to NBA draft level. While his ideal position may be the 3, he will almost always be defending the 4 and be the second biggest player on the floor. On offense he can do it all and will be all over the floor. Terrence Hargrove – Yr. 2, 6’ 4” 215, Pos 3-4, 4.2 ppg, 42% 3pt. (SLU) SLU lists him as a forward. He is super athletic and did a great job in the Covid year improving his outside shooting. He is undersized for a 4 and will have to improve his defense positioning to be effective. He can also improve his minutes with rebounding. He can get off the floor like nobody else and had 11 blocked shots last season. Markhi Strickland – Yr. 1, 6’5” 210. Pos 3-4, 2.6 ppg, 1.4 rpg, (SLU) A Covid Season freshman who really didn’t get much of a chance to show his potential. Unbelievably, he is similar athletically to Terrence Hargrove. Jordan Nesbitt – Yr.1, 6’6” 200, Pos 3,4,2,1. 16.6 ppg, 8.7 rpg 26% 3pt. 72% FT (St. Louis Christian Academy) 4* recruit ESPN 82 nationally. He is a physical player and I see him as more of a 3-4, than a 1-2, though a lot of people talk of him more as a 1-2. He might be our best 4 after Perkins. Ford says he is special in transition. In some ways, he is a taller version of Goodwin. Fred Thatch – Yr. 2, 6’3” 215, Pos 3-2. 5.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 31% 3pt, 82% FT. (SLU) A physical hard-nosed defender, probably the best on the team. Has yet to turn the corner as a scorer. Fred needs to start hitting those open 3s. Gibson Jimerson, Yr. 1 6’5” 200, Pos 2-3. 7.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 41% 3pt. 84% FT (2 seasons SLU) A shooter. He is working on his defense. If Jimerson gets comfortable he will be tough to keep out of the lineup. Rashad Williams – Yr. 3, 6’ 2” 185, Pos 2-1. 13.6 ppg, 34% 3pt, 79% FT (Oakland) Lead the nation with 277 3-point attempts. Fearless outside shooter. Hope is that by being more selective with his shooting, his accuracy will improve. Deandre Jones, Yr. 4, 5’11” 160, Pos 1-2, 10.5 ppg, 39% 3pt. 82% FT, Career (Central Ark.) He is probably our best point guard behind Yuri. He is undersized and will have to adjust to higher level div 1. If they play off of him, he will drill an open 3. He had injuries last season, but averaged over 12 ppg in his in his 2nd and 3rd years. Yuri Collins, Yr. 2, 6.0” 185, Pos 1. 5.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg. 30% 3pt 67% FT. 6.1 apg. 2.8 assist to turnover ratio (19th in the nation). (SLU) A true point guard and exceptional passer. The summer Kook-aide says Yuri is knocking down 3s. There are 13 players on scholarship. Perkins is under the Covid exception and does not count, so there is an additional scholarship. It could be used for a mid-year transfer or carried over to next year. Based on elegibility, we have 2 Sr, 3 Jrs, 3 So and 5 Fr.

I wait n see what his height is once we see what SLU publishes and we see him standing next to other Billkems. He is likely a better scorer than Bell,but defense remains to be seen, especially if he is more like 6,7. Bells size disrupted a lot on defense

He might be a player that can make money on name, image and likeness.

Nice analysis. When you use the phrase "physical tools", what do you mean?

I liked Jimmy his freshman year. I think the Covid year hurt him a lot. He failed to improve in either skills or physical development, from the end of his freshman year. I was hoping that the same discipline he showed dropping his initial weight would continue in further weight loss and improved conditioning. Not everyone can do that on their own. His size in the post presented problems for some other teams, and we are going to miss him. I wish him the best going forward.

This reminds me of the Nolan Berry recruitment years ago. Where the local big man chose Butler over SLU. For Turnbulls sake, I hope it turns out better him.

I would have thought French was our best rim protector, since he holds the blocked shots record and the vast majority of those were at the basket. So my question is whats the difference between a good shot blocker and a rim protector?

Reminds me of Proverbs 27:17: "as iron sharpens iron"

Those are all midwest schools. It looks like he wants to stay close to home.