HoosierPal

That Stats Handbook was a fun read. Thanks. At the end of the assist section, I found this note interesting: Note: While a fair amount of latitude exists in deciding whether to award an assist, an attempt has been made to achieve some level of consistency. It is impossible to specify how many assists should be given during a game. However, from game analysis, about 50-60 percent of a team’s field goals involve the crediting of an assist. Does the home team supply the statistician or is he/she brought in with the referee crew as an independent?

Assists are a relatively new statistic in college basketball, having only become an official statistic beginning with the 1983–84 season. According to the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball media guide, however, there were two seasons in the early 1950s in which assists were recorded: 1950–51 and 1951–52. Copied from the always reliable Wikipedia. But I do agree, assists are somewhat subjective and likely the view of what is an assist has changed over the 3+ decades that assists have been tallied. I will always be amazed that Roder had 235 dimes in the 86-87 season. The team did play 35 games that season, so he had more games than normal to hit that total.

Add Long to the list.

I read an article on the TP industry earlier this week. The US based factories are running at full capacity. The raw wood chips are still coming in. Yes, distribution has had some speed bumps, and those need to be worked out. What the industry fears is that soon everyone will have more than enough TP (is your garage full?) and stop buying, resulting in a glut of TP in their warehouses. And people, some with 9 months supply, won't be buying any too soon.

Maybe. Check out his Channel 4 interview.

Yes, that was an interesting response....at about 3:30. I took it that he was evaluating his option of going pro.

Noah Fernandez is a player from Woodstock, same prep school as Mitchell, Santos, Weeks and Walker (and Coach Bergeron.) Let's hope this is all per NCAA protocol. We apparently offered him out of Woodstock. UMass offered Fernandes in high school, as did Rhode Island, Fordham, DePaul, East Carolina, St. Louis and St. Bonaventure. He signed with Wichita State in Nov. 2018.

Bonner's 45/20 at Loyola.

The way I read as he hasn't had any talks. The team dispersed from NY, each going his own way.....French staying there?....Hankton heading to NC....Jacobs to Chicago....Diarra to wherever he went. Perhaps he had some time on the flight home to talk to the STL based players, but I'm guessing he never had the 'end of season' talks. The way I read this is that no one said to him, prior to the tourney, of any alternate plans. I could be wrong.....it won't be the first time. And I am with Billiken Roy in the belief that only if a player decides on his own to leave should he do so. No running off players who commited to you, the coach, during recruiting. I have no problem with a coach telling a player his playing time is questionable, but end the conversation there.

https://www.ksdk.com/video/sports/college/slu/slu-basketball/the-woman-behind-slus-best-scorer/63-14c18faa-997b-4c18-b822-5f479d17132b Maybe the story of the year.

A second official who worked a league tourney has tested positive. First one was in the Colonial tourney and now a second in the Northeast Conference final on March 10.

It is. Chaifetz, Dec 5, 2020. You missed the semicolon in Stu's message.

Today Verbal Commits lists 351 who have entered the Transfer Portal. http://www.verbalcommits.com/transfers/2020 Some of these were a mid season. There are 13 from A10 schools, none of them high profile - except maybe Croswell if you want to count him as high profile. The count will grow Duquesne -1 GW - 4 LaSalle - 1 UMass - 3 Rhode Island - 2 Richmond - 1 St. Joe -1

Ok, my last post on this. I'm not looking to convert anyone else's opinion. Your Part 2 is not relative to my comments. Yes, we have been told they both have excellent cases for redshirts. If they don't get a waiver, then they won't be five year students. Their status or value to the team can go both ways. Assume Jimerson has a break out year. Wouldn't you think others, like UVA, would be in his ear, saying come home-you are the one piece we need for a national championship. This will occur more often in the upcoming free transfer era and the likely pay to play tacked onto it down the road. Many teams have great comradery, as we saw this season with Team Blue. When French, Goodwin and Pekins graduate, how will that change? No one knows. Will the remaining athletes bond stronger, or will some decide to leave on they might see as a high note. I am aware of only a handful of players, this season, who spent five years at the same university. With the popularity of Graduate Transfers, this is another option that wasn't popular until the past five or so seasons. Players who spend four years at one school sometimes simply like a change of scenery for their final season. Don't get carried away with this. I'll repeat my initial point in that the odds are against both staying five years. I think we have found Mitchell, Husak and Johnson as three who have stayed five years, playing our, over the past 18 years. For the purpose of my statements, the names of our two players aren't important. I'm looking at the statistics of this nationwide, and saying the odds are that they both won't stay. I hope I am wrong.

Yes, I know of Thatch's condition and Jimerson's foot. Not sure why you mentioned their issues as that is common knowledge. Why slim odds? I look at the landscape. How many 5 year players staying at one school in D1 were there this year? I don' t know either, but not many. With free transfer coming up, more and more will likely explore other options. I truly hope BOTH Fred and Gibson stay five years. But I wouldn't bet the weekly paycheck on it, not with what is happening in the NCAA.

I assume you meant to include Thatch. Odds are slim though that we will have two five year players after none for 15+ years.

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/2020/03/13/give-seniors-extra-eligibility-after-coronavirus-took-ncaa-tournament/5045474002/ Here is an interesting read on this subject from Greg Doyle of he Indianapolis Star. He talks about unintended consequences. Remember the 5 and 8 rule? Unintended consequence. Like the old “five-and-eight” scholarship limits for college basketball, back when jerks like Tim Floyd of Iowa State were over-recruiting every year and solving that problem by running off players already on roster, already on scholarship. To stop schools from doing that — coaches called it “the Tim Floyd rule,” but the problem was more widespread than that — the NCAA mandated in 2001 that schools could sign no more than five players in one year, and eight over a two-year period. Unintended consequence: Thanks to injuries, transfers and other attrition, within three years almost half the schools in the country — 160 of them, according to the National Association of Basketball Coaches — were unable to use their 13 allowed scholarships because of the five-and-eight restrictions. That led to a rash of college football players being rushed into emergency double-duty. In 2004 the NCAA rescinded the “Tim Fl—” … sorry, the “five-and-eight” rule.

So Johnson sat out is 2002-2003 and Husak 2003-2004. Will those two be the last 5 year Billikens?

So no KSU, as some had assumed.

Weave is an interesting case, one we are familiar with. Just play what if, and don't get into numerical or positional player comparisons. But what if Ford says to Tay, sure you can come back, but your minutes are probably going to Jimerson, Jacobs and Thatch. Would Tay be okay with primarily sitting?

Just checked and yes he redshirted the 2003-2004 season. So he spent 5 years here. That's been a while. Good find.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/coaches-want-the-ncaa-to-allow-senior-basketball-players-to-return-next-season-but-its-a-complicated-issue/ Spring sports athletes have been given an extra year. Should hoopster's have the same granted? The link is to an interesting article. Here are some highlights. Around 1000 basketball players might be in the scope of an extra year. The article suggests half might be interested. What about those players whose season was already over? The article suggests you shouldn't discard those, let them have the year also. Who pays for these extra scholarships. All P5+ schools should be able to handle, but I imagine the budgets for some of the lower level schools are tighter. What if the coach really doesn't want the senior back? Maybe he wasn't a significant contributor, or maybe the coach just wants to move on. Roster sizes would have to expand. There couldn't be a cap. Teams like Texas (and Richmond) had no seniors. So would they be playing with 13 while others with 15, 18, 19 rosters? Would that be fair? So I assume that these seniors would have to be actual students, enrolled in some form of academic program, and remain eligible. That isn't discussed in the article. Not discussed is the impact on incoming freshmen. Playing time would likely be less than with no returnee's. Would these 5th year seniors be eligible to transfer? Immediate eligibility at their new school? Hmmm. Set up a new rule and see how it impacts a lot of other issues. This isn't an easy decision.

Full credit to David Pavlakovich

That's an interesting take that I hadn't thought about. I have posted several times that we have averaged 2.6 eligible player departures over the last decade. I hadn't looked at it this other way. Can you recall the last player that stayed five years at SLU, through a redshirt year? There are very few nation wide this year that have stayed at the same school for five years.

Frank was asked "compare Russell to someone on the SLU team". "There isn't anyone. This kid can shoot." "I think they (SLU) are going to take this kid." "Told by more than one, this kid was under recruited." https://590thefan.com/radio-shows/press-box/ Today's Segment 1, 21:30.