johnbj14

I believe that the Cardinals are going to open up the checkbook to retain JHey. Piscotty and Grichuk look to be good young players and should take away time from veterans such as Adams, Holliday, and Jay. If Grichuk can cut down on the strikeouts I think that he could be an extremely valuable player on this team. Pham has the look of a 4th outfielder based simply on his power alone, but he may be a late bloomer. The two areas of concern with the Cardinals going forward are their catching and pitching. Now, you may be thinking, "the cardinals have the best defensive catcher in the game and just had a historical year as a starting rotation." While this is true, Molina has seen a drastic decline in his offense and is not getting any younger. His defense is incredible, but now is the time for organizational scouts to find his heir apparent. Catchers take time to hone their skills, and they won't find his replacement on the free agent market. Now, the pitching during the regular season was excellent. However, the concerning thing in this series was the pitch selection. The cubs are a team of young hitters who key in on fastballs. They were top 10 in the league in HRs during the regular season and bottom 10 in batting average, a mark of an opportunistic young bunch of major leaguers. Knowing this, the game plan should have been a blend of pitches, mixing speeds and changing eye level for the Cubs' hitters. Unfortunately, the Cardinals utilized a fastball heavy approach to the pitch sequences, especially in games 3 and 4, and got punished for it. Going forward, there needs to be an organizational adjustment when it comes to pitching to other teams' weaknesses, because that series was an improper representation of this pitching staff.

It might be a sliding scale that Crews is grading on.

My apologies I thought the 16000 was referring to SLU. I believe we are in the 8500-9500 range but I'm not sure on the specific number.

That number of undergrads is fairly off base. I know that my class was the highest rated class in the school's history and allegedly passed by the new freshmen. (I am a sophomore by the way). Our class average was somewhere around a 27 ACT. We were also one of, if not the largest class. Now, this could be lip service by the university, but I believe it to be true. I don't think the university is diminishing it's standards when trying to increase enrollment.

I'll take a gulp of the kool-aid and say 20 total wins. Bahamas coupled with the preseason practice (which I know everyone has) should have everyone on the same page. I think we are going to shock some teams this year, and if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

Oddly enough, one of my friends is on a committee of athletes that are involved in the re-branding. It isn't all of the athletes who are providing input, but from all the information he has given me there are some real odd opinions being expressed by the athlete representation. Yes, they wear the new logos and that's great, but I would love to know who else is involved in the changing in brand.

Based on the quality of this picture, clearly not.

Campus looks nothing like that today. Gray as far as the eye can see.

I'm not sure exactly what the reasoning is, but there is obviously something behind why SLU is getting involved now. Similar to a recruit's recruitment blowing up, the flip side of that coin is someone who is hyped fairly early and then slips a bit. Eastern is certainly someone who had plenty of hype early, as he was a day one varsity starter (or pretty close to it) in a pretty competitive conference. He was easily his team's best player from the onset of his high school career. Perhaps there is a potential for slipping in this case, but I think there is a reason the staff is choosing to get involved at this time.

Noel Eastern is a player that would be a major get for this coaching staff. This is regardless of his ranking. Having seen him play in person a few times I can be confident in my assessment that he would be a matchup nightmare in just about every conference. Does not shy away from contact, uses his body, and has a nice outside stroke to go with it. Plays predominantly on the perimeter as a PG, but Evanston runs sets with him in the high and low post. I would love to land a player of his skill set. I have no problem going after him, but am also realistic that there will be huge competition and that we are most likely not on his short list.

I am very interested to try and get out to see Moore play this season. He will be the focal point of the defensive game plan for the opposition once again. It will be interesting to see if his efficiency remains as exceptional as it has to this point. While there will undoubtedly be a drop off when he does make the jump to college, it will be a positive if he shows the same level of production this upcoming season.

A 6'7 SF that is an elite shooter is still fine in my book. He does not have to be a ball dominant player to be a threat for this team.

As BillikensBlog stated, this rule change will affect those who transfer for the 5th year. However, if a player stays at the same school they will not be affected. I was under the assumption that they had passed this closing of the loophole, but apparently it is still not completed. It should be done within the next couple of years from what I have heard.

From what I recall, this season is the last with the 5th year automatically eligible rule. EW wouldn't be able to take advantage of it as he would have to sit out.

Not sure his exact status but I saw him on campus today walking without a boot. Didn't appear to be limping at all.

I know it isn't the same thing but NBA players still have development in their 20s so Reggie could too. Granted, he isn't receiving NBA coaching but his age is not as big of a concern as it can be made out to be.

GOSEETHEOLDKIDSPLAY. Doesn't sound so good but still.

I think that Crawford is going to be an important part of them being a potential sleeper. I can't put my finger on why I feel he is going to have a great year as an upperclassman.

Yes, that money is guaranteed. He should be able to carve out a decent role for himself in New Jersey. They lack depth at the power forward and center positions. He most likely will be able to provide minutes at the 4, but if he can make it at the 5 he could stick around for a while I would guess.

Picklemans would be fine considering the business they do on weekends after midnight. And the normal hours from students on campus.

Obviously he wouldn't come back as an assistant, but whenever the SLU job is open I would reach out to Porter Moser. He has great knowledge of the Midwest and is a link to the Majerus success.

Perhaps Welmer is better than we expect coming in and can contribute at the 4 to give RA some rest.

In semi optimistic news, Ash looks like he is in even better shape this year. Appears from SLU basketball Twitter that he has spent some time in the weight room this summer.

Can't find a date on the offer, but multiple sites show them as having interest. Probably occurred at one of the peaks of Tatum frenzy so it was just missed.

Goodwin would be a huge acquistion for this staff. I think him plus improvement from the young guys by their senior year would be solid. I'm still in the minority that these guys are going to improve and be a good core. Hopefully there are Eagles connections now to help tap this pipeline of talent.