Aquinas

I read through the Iowa thread on Cook. The interviewer may have been asking him about going pro, instead of coming back to Iowa next season, rather than transferring. Many think there is no way he burns a year sitting out. Iowa however is bad with no light at the end of the tunnel. There is a Mizzou rumor. About Cook, they generally agree he is their best player. Strong on offense, weak on defence, and doesn't box out. Some blame the coach for that. It certainly looks like Iowa was a mistake for him. I read an article that his St Louis based parents and brother struggle with the distance to make his games. If he transfers seems like a school close to home, where he can develop and show his NBA skills, win and have fun playing the game is what he would be looking for. If he wants to look at schools and Ford is interested, he would have to paint a picture where Cook can be a Billiken star in the o e or 2 yrs he would play.

Nice writeup.

Wiz posted a Maxprep link in page 3 of this thread.

Our team is paper thin, we go from competitive or even dominant to sub par very quickly. The drop of from our 5th man to our 6th and 7th man is huge. An injury, illness or foul trouble puts us in immediate jepardy, especially if it's French. We are also subject to matchup problems as Ford cant make a player change to address it. He is doing a masterful job of keeping the opposition of balance by changing defences. In our last loss, French was in foul trouble and that forced him to play softer on defence. Given how thin this team is, any win could be our last. I have been amazed that they have won this many games without Goodwin. It is a credit to coach Ford and these young men.

His highlights don't show much shooting, in part because his elevation and dunks are so spectacular. His stats this year show 40% from 3 point range, but the sample size with only 10 made shots is too small to get too excited about. His free throw shooting which has a good sample size is 87%. That number exceeds our best shooters with 75% by quite a bit. Not hard to imagine him as the goto inbound guy in the closing minutes of a close game. So while he may not have the shoot first mentality, his FT percentage is a good indicator that he can shoot. Good 3 point shooters are generally good FT shooters.

Any school recruiter especially a head coach would be a fool to say or imply their school is title 9 safe. A pitch like that would be a ticking time bomb. I don't think a university employee would touch it. Any high school or AAU coach who fails to advise players to be extremely careful with their sex life is setting them up for disaster. In this current environment men are guilty until proven innocent, and that is nearly impossible. This environment is not unique to SLU. I don't see S2 hurting SLU in recruiting that way. Where it has hurt is in the loss of the players and the missed opportunity to have a big season this year, as well as the air it took out of the program. We could have been sitting at the top of the A10 and talking about potential seeding with bigger crowds and better energy at the games. That is where S2 has hurt our recruiting.

What happened to Mark Smith this year? His stats look pedestrian.

A guard is going to get significant minutes here. With a team that is really solid at the forward positions. A great situation for a guard with range.

I doubt Ford wants 6 freshman in this class. Everything else being equal, 1 additional freshman, a juco and a senior transfer. Since jucos are tough to accept at SLU, a transfer that needs to sit out is another possibility. The opportunity to play right away should be attractive to available players. It's nice to be the last piece of a good team. I would really like to see a good senior transfer come in. A strong ball handler and 3 point shooter would be great and awesome if we get a player that does both. I dont think its a tough sell that this is an ncaa team next year that will be in the runnung for an A10 title.

Check out the 2018 recruiting thread. This one should be closed.

Agree. That said I am glad we have him as we would only be worse without him with this year's limited guard bench. I think it is harsh to say he isn't a div 1 player. I would say not an A10 player. I believe there are a lot of bottom third div 1 teams that he would do well on.

Pistol I want to thank you for the research and posts on records and recruits. I love reading your posts, especially in this year with S2. Hanging over our heads.

The real Survivors are any man who stays after facings SLUs Title 9 Hanging Judge.

Ford doesn't have many horses, so changing the chemistry when the team is flat, is tough. He has Forman going and that has given the team a shot in the arm. JJ can sometimes pick the team up with his 3s. He has effectively used timeouts to make adjustments and wake them up.

Bess has greatly improved his free throw percentage over his pre-Billiken years and appears to be extending his range to the 3 point line. He has obviously been working hard on his shooting. Unless s2 changes a lot on appeal he may be the best 2 guard option we have. He does however lead the team in turnovers.

The bias in the system is that those interested enough to go through the training and meetings are going to be those passionate about women's issues. Everything else being equal they are going to view the female as credible and the victim. There is a reason our legal system calls for a jury of our peers. Add to that a weak standard of proof and the guy starts in a handicapped position. The T9 person interviewed referenced times when the VICTIMS thought the penalty was too severe. I don't think they put any weight on the punishment of not playing for a division. 1 player hoping to play pro bb after college.

This audio is worth listening to if you want a better understanding of title 9 at SLU. I was struck by a few things. The penalties are severe. The standard is not guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but rather a preponderance of the evidence, which was described as, more likely than not. At SLU, taking and sharing pics or videos of a sexual nature without permission is sexual exploitation. The person assigned to the case is essentially judge and jury. My concern is not with the interview process, but rather the bias of the person in judgement and the severity of the punishment.

In my view once a suspension goes beyond 6 months and certainly a year, it ends up punishing the program, school and fans, rather than the player, as the player simply leaves. I don't think anything constructive is achieved once the penalty exceeds 6 months. 2 year suspensions are like multiple life sentences. No one is going to do that, you might just as well expell them. If i thought these players really posed a threat to other students I would view it differently.

Do we know who the expelled player is?

I would say, son you put yourself in this situation. Once you get caught in a legal system or a university code of conduct or a government process like Title 9 you have given control of your future to other people. Now if the university was listening i would say the suspensions have been significant and more than enough to discourage any repeat by these players and enough to discourage future events by other players. No amount of punisment guarantees these kinds of events will never happen again. At this point continued suspensions are punishing the school, its reputation, the athletic department, the basketball program, innocent players, coach Ford and booster support for the university. A strong fun basketball program attracts students to the school, a potentially good program, losing because of extended suspensions is frustrating and discourages potential students who like college athletics and want to have fun at games. It's time to bring this to a close.

After watching the broadcast he clearly is not a one and done. He is however a very solid big man with ball handling and passing skills. He did not have much support in that game and tried to do more than he is able to do. He has a great frame for a high school senior. Good coaching, weight training and maturity will allow him to become a great player. Next year coach will have enough quality big men to let these guys go all out and create some healthy competition for playing time.

I am a former high school/college Catholic youth minister. A little Christian morality that night would have saved a lot of pain. People are obviously free to ignore our call to love one another and follow the teachings of Jesus. When we embrace the theology of the German Shepherd - (I want what I want when I want it AND If it feels good do it), people get hurt. In this situation a very large number of people have been hurt. Assuming our understanding of the events is reasonably accurate, the girls at the very least were not happy with what happened shortly after the fact. Clearly our young men didn't care about the girls, let alone love them. By love I don't mean a stars in their eyes, I mean putting the interest of another person ahead of our own. I am not excusing the responsibility of the girls either, it would not have taken much thought or courage to change the events of that night. It really would be nice if we all looked out for one another instead of looking to take advantage of each other. Our young men did not stop to think of the potential consequences that their actions might have on the girls, the team, the school, the fans, the basketball program, coach Ford, their season and their future. These young men and women put the school in a very tough place. Yes I know they are young and beautiful girls are tempting. Sadly when all of the young people involved look back on their college years this will be an unavoidable memory. On the bright side, another big part of Catholic teaching is forgiveness. My hope is all of the young people involved and the school keep that in mind. I know attorneys restrict dialog, but it would be nice if the players could genuinely apologize for their actions and the damage that has resulted from those actions. Some of you may think it is superstitious or a wast of time, but I have been praying for these young men and women. It is my hope that they have learned a life lesson and take a higher road next time.

Hines brings the ball up well, but does not recognize his limitations, either going to the hole or shooting. Our freshman and offense overall would be greatly improved with AD and Bishop in the rotation.

I’m out of town with no access to fox Midwest, any online broadcast?

Our players who shot poorly from the free throw line will probably improve some in that area, but their 3 point Numbers will probably drop from this exhibition game. Poor to average free throw shooters are rarely good thee point Shooters.