johnbj14

Really not sure on why you suspend a kid, sit him two days in practice (implying still suspended), and then play him. Perhaps it is because of thin roster but my goodness that is not consistent.

MY is injured/out for medical reasons.

While I would love SLU to consider reviving the program, it certainly would take a tremendous amount of capital backed by boosters. I don't know if they are interested in that, I would assume not. However, the school would be foolish to not at least examine the potential market for a team. Or at the very least see the potential for the basketball program to take a big slice of the television ratings if they return to prominence.

Ah I didn't know that we had offered Steve McElvene, probably because I was not yet a student here when he was being recruited. And as for the risk associated, I don't think next year will be much different that this one so what is the harm in trying to get a talented kid? (assuming he is worthy of a scholarship and all that good stuff)

I agree. It has worked out pretty well for Dayton with the PQ they took on. He has better size and what appears to be skill than our current bigs, so while there is risk the upside could be huge.

While the video of Draggs isn't against the best competition, this is very very intriguing. Yeah his history isn't the best, but something in me is telling me the Bills should take a chance on this guy. Flashes good athleticism, has a ton of size, and has very good court vision. Maybe Zeke could help out the recruiting effort. Even though he may not be qualified out of the gate, I really am intrigued by this.

Update:

There is a common topic that comes up in many threads on this board, that of recruiting. Recruiting is unquestionably vital to the success of a program, and when combined with good development that is where special teams are made. As a subset of this recruiting topic, many posters will echo some variant of the phrase "SLU needs to recuit locally." While I agree that the talent pool has seen a rapid growth in St. Louis recently, and that many of these players would be excellent for the program, I must admit that I do not fully agree with the crusade when the local kids spurn us. Let me explain my rationale on this point, because it is a little confusing. The growing trend in America is that the general population of college students are going away to school at a higher rate than before. Many students cannot wait to get out of the house and feel some form of independence. I find it interesting, then, that when it comes to athletics people expect athletes to be different. Fans pine for 18 year old kids to have a yearning to stay home when the general population is not demonstrating this same trait. It seems a little unjust to place this expectation that they are automatically wired differently, and placing entirety of blame on a coaching staff when local talent leaves. I must note: I am not using this as a defense of the current coaching staff. Rather, I believe that the inability to secure local kids is something that a new coach may not fix. We are not a blue blood, such as Kansas, that all of the in state players dream of playing for. A good parallel to our situation would be DePaul. Back in the day, they did recruit well locally (mainly because WGN carried their games nationally prior to ESPN) and had a great pipeline of talent. This was a different era, and today they struggle to recruit local talent because the elite Chicago players do not feel a pull to stay home, just as many students from Chicago leave when they make their college decisions. The point I am ultimately making is this: whoever the coaching staff happens to be should try and recruit the local talent if they believe that players will be right for the program and talented. However, we as a board must adjust our expectations for every time a local player leaves. SLU simply does not have the storied history to be the apple of young player's eye. That being said, I do truly hope that whoever the coach is can get the best players, local or otherwise.

Something I realized today: much was made of JT playing pick up with the current team at the rec. At the time, many people perceived that as an advantage. However, he may have seen the lack of talent and that could have ultimately been a negative. Granted, there's nothing to confirm this but I wouldn't be surprised.

First, I'm a big fan of Wiz's model and the unique analysis he can provide. Second, his model did not account for the lineup put out there tonight. I'm sure that info would have changed the projection a bit. Which direction, I cannot be sure. But his model did not anticipate JC making the decisions he did.

Check the GDT. Posted the tweets in there on accident. Edit: He didn't really address it.

JC not really giving a reason for the suspension, or duration, leads me to believe we won't be seeing him for a while. It wasn't even a "violation of team rules" answer which usually means it is short. Something to watch going forward I guess.

Had to split into two posts but here is the last nugget I found:

JC not really giving much info:

I would love to have Biancardi make a return to SLU, especially with all the connections he has from being ESPN's recruiting director. Probably knows every kid on the top lists inside and out, as well as what they want in their college choice. That ship passed long ago though.

wow

This would be a great recruiting strategy if the statements meant that for us.

The broadcast has shifted to talking about the action to the broadcasters recounting RickMa memories and building the program. Stopped short of saying what state it is in now.

Kind of a shame that Thompson spent his two D1 years at Mason, his game would play well at many places.

MN at the free throw line is an adventure.

If MC played with the sense of aggressiveness all the time that he has tonight and recently, he could without a doubt average 15-20 points a game and still be efficient.

Bishop might be a work in progress, but I love his aggressiveness on offense. He can make things happen, which is more than I can say about some of the other guys.

According to Stu, Crews will address after the game https://twitter.com/studurando/status/688809843155599360

Mason trotting out a lineup much bigger than ours could be an interesting beginning to the game seeing how MN handles being matched up with Shevon Thompson.

Not sure how to embed this tweet, but apparently Jolly is not playing today. https://twitter.com/studurando/status/688809232087384064