sludevil
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Posts posted by sludevil
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I fell asleep in the first half and just woke up to this thread. I take it we're not winning.
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Correct, there were a lot of people who had their doubts as you point out. I spent most of Crews' interim season advocating NOT hiring him as the permanent coach. It's easy to say now that he should not have been given the job, but if you look back at the timing of JC's interim season, it was a little more complicated. Biondi was a lame duck and there seemed to be a lot of uncertainty as to who was going to take charge. IF that team had flopped, not retaining Crews would have been a lot easier. Instead, the team wins the regular season and conference tournament titles... something that NEVER had happened at SLU. On top of that, he was named national coach of the year.
The topic about whether he should be the permanent coach was heavily debated during that season. I had suggested that SLU should have made it clear right from the start that JC was NOT going to be considered for the permanent head coaching job. A couple of people thought the downside was that it would take away any incentive JC and staff would have had during that season. I think that was a fair point. My first instinct that JC should not have been the permanent HC was correct, but under the circumstances, I'm not sure what were realistic options. Maybe they should have had a coach in waiting? Maybe my original thought declaring right from the start that JC would not be a candidate for the permanent job would have been the way to go?... or could that have undermined what turned out to be a great season?
This is spot-on. I wasn't a huge fan of hiring Crews either, based on his track record - but at the time, the guy was in the middle of winning coach-of-the-year awards and putting together a few very successful seasons (even if with Majerus' recruits). I don't think we can fault the administration for giving him the contract - hell, not giving him the contract may have been spun into its own negative headlines. ("SLU has the coach of the year and still they won't invest in him.")
Obviously, we see now that Crews is not the guy. So hopefully Pestello takes this opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to the program in hiring Crews' successor.
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Just to provide my two cents on the other side: Duke definitely seems optimistic about Tatum, but I don't think they've received any real indication that they're the favorite. From here, it seems like a coin toss between Duke and SLU. I think anyone taking a strong stance for Duke right now is basing it entirely on "we're Duke, and they're SLU."
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But seriously, Lebron > MJ.
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Haha, that was a pretty dumb post. The argument is that players like Davis, Wall, and Cousins were going to be big time pros regardless of what college they spent one season at. There is no question Duke and UK are "producing" NBA players and have an impressive list of players in the NBA, but when it is primarily with kids who are only in college for a season (for Cal and recently with K) because they have to be, is it really that big of an accomplishment. I can see why that pitch works with elite recruits (they all want to be in the NBA and make $), but it is obviously flawed. These elite recruits would be top 10 picks out of high school if they could enter the draft and that was being coached by high school, AAU, and youth coaches not Cal or K.
Agreed. I'm not convinced anyone at Tatum's skill level is going to see material improvement in their game from one year in college, whether they're practicing at SLU, Duke, Kentucky, or anywhere else. Tatum and players like him are ready for the NBA now, and the NBA is where they'll improve.
So at the end of the day I think the argument is the same as it ever was: the bright lights and vast resources of Duke v. the hometown legend at SLU. Two very different offerings - it'll depend on what he personally values more, as neither school can compete against the strength of the other.
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For what it's worth, a few generally reliable posters on other forums have indicated that Duke holds a sizeable lead, followed by SLU, followed by Kentucky. Not sure why UNC is on the list, other than as a nod to Giles and Smith. (Of course, all of this can pretty much be gleaned from the video posted above.)
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Tatum tweets that he'll be attendance again tonight
Hope we (team and fans) put on a good show for the kid. Maybe get some "Jayson Tatum come to SLU" chants going, too...
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We need to get sludevil and MB's opinion before we make any formal claims that Neufeld was their top target. He may have only been their second overall target behind that Diamond Stone guy.
Can confirm that Duke was planning to ride Neufeld to another championship, or at least the second round.
(We're also out of the hunt for Diamond Stone. It is a dark day in Durham.)
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Let's just pray he's not respectfully declining SLUs offer in person to coach Crews
I kinda doubt it, at least based on the perceived strength of SLU in his recruitment. But the timing here is less than ideal.
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The actual protestors are from all over, some SLU students have just joined in. During the Q&A two nights ago, a woman said that she was from Oakland and was part of the Occupy protests there a couple years back
I always wonder how those people support themselves. Traveling from one protest to another doesn't seem like it'd pay very well.
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Is this really something to get worked up about? It isn't hurting anyone and the fact SLU isn't cracking down on them makes the school more attractive to the age demographic the school recruits from.
I imagine it may be annoying or inconvenient for some students, but I tend to agree with this. This isn't the first protest to be held on a college campus, after all, and it seems a fair number of students are getting involved. If they want to peacefully protest in an academic setting in which the administration seems happy to accommodate them, then go for it. It's much more productive than what we've witnessed at some other protest locations, anyway.
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You mean like the exact opposite of what K did with Jabari last year...
Dude wat. Did you watch any Duke games last season? Duke had a lot of flaws, but marginalizing Jabari was not one of them. (For what it's worth, this very point is part of the recruiting pitch to Tatum.)
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I remember a conversation in 1997 at the Shoe dinner table that included a player on the 96-97 team. The player was adamant that Larry Hughes was going to be "just a freshman" and wasn't guaranteed to start. It was an absurd discussion at the time and looks even more absurd as time passed and he led us to the NCAA tourney. I'd say calling Tatum "a good addition" is a similar level of absurdity.
No kidding. The kid's at the top for a reason. And he's not going to be pushed out or underutilized by a team's system; any coach worth his salt is going to redesign that system to cater to Tatum's strengths.
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Pretty bummed I didn't get a picture shoutout.
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Is your memory short?
http://www.billikens.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24410&view=findpost&p=423734
http://www.billikens.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24410&view=findpost&p=423721
Both in this same topic. Just because you lack faith doesn't mean I'm joking around.
Jayson won't be the only very good to great player on the Billikens in 2016-17. Agbeko and Crawford will be seniors and Yarbrough and Reynolds will be juniors. There won't be many teams in the country who will enjoy playing against that team!
Dude, you're projecting a championship-caliber team from players that have little or no experience on a college basketball court, and who were not otherwise top-rated recruits. I hope we're good, too, but let's see how the kids play and develop before we start scheduling the victory parade.
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SLU (10 seed) lost to Kentucky (2 seed) 88-61 ("clobbered"). Based on the stat sheet, it looks like Kentucky was definitely making Hughes a defensive priority (.235 FG%); probably because of the attention UK was paying him, Hughes' stats were decent but not great.
Full game stats: http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1998-03-15-kentucky.html
Re: Tatum: if his priority is maximizing his shot at a title, he will not be at SLU. But hopefully our recruiting pitch is centering more around the unique benefits of playing for the hometown team, and less around trying to go head-to-head with the blue bloods.
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New Tatum blog: http://usatodayhss.com/2014/09/08/jayson-tatum-blogs-about-winning-gold-with-team-usa-recruiting-and-more/
Not much in the way of new information. Seems the package deal with Giles (and Smith) is losing momentum. Says Duke talks with him the most. Will also be going to someone's Midnight Madness, but hasn't made plans yet.
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What is a little bit surprising, given the Chaminade/Billy Donovan connection, is that he left U of FLA off his list.
Very surprising. They seemed to be losing a lot of ground leading up to Tatum's top 10 announcement, but it's still a bit of a shock to see them knocked out by the likes of UConn (?) and Wake (even with the Giles connection). Though it seems the real race is shaping up between us, Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, and (maybe to a lesser extent) UNC.
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This list reads like the author pulled names out of a hat.
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For anyone interested, Tatum and the USA U17 team have a bunch of games coming up. First one (v. Greece) is tomorrow at noon on ESPN3, with the replay at 11pm on ESPNU. (They'll probably win by a lot, but it'll still be a good chance to see the kid in action.)
The full schedule: http://archive.usab.com/mens/u17/schedule.html
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Edit: Double post
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Will be very interesting to see where this goes next. On its face, this looks like it'll be great for the kids (and great for Power 5 recruiting). But count me in the camp that believes this is merely the first step in what will be a substantial power-grab/separation by the major conferences.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/magazine/in-search-of-the-next-andrew-wiggins.html
For those who haven't seen it already, it offers an in-depth look inside the world of EYBL/AAU basketball (including some of the more unsavory aspects of elite high-school-level hoops). Great read if you have the time.
A New Conference?
in Billikens.com Main Board
Posted
For what it's worth, there are some rumblings that Brett Yormark may be looking to add one or more schools to the Big 12 as basketball-only members, which may include Villanova, St. John's and/or UConn. The idea here is that Yormark believes basketball is undervalued in the current media landscape and may look to sell basketball as a separate package in the Big 12's next deal. In support of these rumblings are (i) the Big 12's confirmed talks with Gonzaga, (ii) Yormark's statements regarding his view of basketball's value and (iii) the Big 12's newly-announced partnership with Rucker Park.
Obviously just Twitter rumblings for now - and it isn't clear how, if at all, any PAC-12 defections to the Big 12 might impact the Big 12's appetite for basketball-only schools - but it's an interesting thought exercise if nothing else. I've gotta believe SLU (and Dayton?) would be at the top of the list if the Big East needs to backfill.