Aquinas

With quality depth at every position Ford can be picky. We missed a high impact freshman in Nesbitt. With the growing transfer market however, Ford can wait and see if our younger players continue to develop. If our season is as good as we expect it to be, SLU will be easier to sell to high school recruits and transfers, especially if we spend time in the top 25.

For what it is worth, Kern is rated as a 3 Star recruit by 247 and Rivals.

I like that. J Good is a good example of a position free player. The important thing is he is free to maximize his skills at both ends of the floor.

A big in this class that needs a year to develop his body and adjust to div 1 (most freshman bigs), would be perfect. In other words the staff could take a chance on a player with potential. A freshman would be able to measure and adjust his game against our current bigs and you never know who is going to get hurt.

I would love to see both of them become Billikens and make Team Blue history. Not many people get the chance in life to become home town heros. They will be loved and appreciated in this city long after they graduate. If Nesbitt goes to Illinois or Memphis he will just be another player and forgotten a year after he graduates.

With Perkins in the starting lineup, the first player off of the bench is not nearly as predictable. An early foul could dictate the first sub. The need for a shutdown guard could bring Thatch or Hargrove in. The need for an outside shooter would bring in Jimmmerson. An extra ball handler could bring in Jacobs. Ford has a lot of options to respond to early game situations.

My bad. I meant Linssen.

I think Lorentson is going to get some minutes in most games. He is our third big man, so he will see minutes in games where we want to play a big lineup and could pick up significant minutes in games where French gets into foul trouble. He allows French and Bell to continue to play aggressively, even when they pick up fouls.

What doesn't belong is a football discussion in the 22 recruiting thread. Please start an off topic thread if you want to continue.

The 5 Billiken starters listed are a little deceptive because they are not the top 5 in average minutes. I think most board members and probably coach Ford, if they had to pick just 5 Billikens to play a game, without regard to a specific opponent, would choose French, Perkins, Goodwin, Jimerson and Yuri. It still leaves a lot of talent.

Looking at the numbers. Hopefully I have done the right: The largest seed would be a 64 seed. It would take 2 games or an extra week to get from the round of 256 to the traditional round of 64. To have every team in the tournament, there would need to be a preceding Play In week, where the teams ranked 257 to 356+ play to fill in the bottom half of the opening weekend. In other words, the Play In weekend helps fill in the bottom 32 teams, seeds 33-64 in each quadrant. Over all, the tournament would be 2 weeks longer. After the Play In week, the 1 seeds would square off with 64 seeds

Backing up, 2 extra games gets you from 64 teams to 128 to 256. I imagine there would have to be a play in round to get the 347 teams down to 256.

That would be a small closing lineup. I think Bell disrupts a lot on defense and can hit his free throws. I think end game lineups will be dictated by matches and the situation, what team is up and by how much and who is hot. Ford has a lot of flexibility.

Don't forget our fast breaks. We have the ability to put a lot of pressure on a team and exploit almost any weakness.

I would like to see that third scholarship go to a big Freshman. A year to hit the weights, catch up to div 1 and play spot minutes would seem to fit really well. A sit out transfer would also work, as long as there are 2 or more years of eligibility. We don't need another 2 year transfer big, that plays right away and graduates with Bell and Okoro.