johnbj14

Whoever comes in has to be able to recruit or scheme X's and O's at a high level. Selfishly hoping it isn't a former player unless they have college coaching experience.

Assistant coach Jim Crews has a terrible ring to it

Updated the original post, as I somehow confused their titles. I think that Coordinator position is the additional role that the NCAA allowed last summer with a change in legislation, but could be wrong. Essentially you can have 4 assistants right now but one has a slightly lesser amount of responsibilities they can take on.

Why would we need a new DOBO @brianstl? The rumor is that Will Bailey is leaving, not Thomas Dziagwa? As for Brian Gregory, there is nothing he'd add to this staff that Ford doesn't already succeed at, so pass.

Hasn't been an assistant since 2003 and has largely stunk since leaving Dayton. That would be extremely underwhelming.

In the disappointment in 2021/2022 of not making the tournament, it feels like it gets overlooked that a primary reason SLU still had a chance to dance was because Yuri took this massive step forward. It sucked because a few close losses were the difference, but I'm not sure those near misses would have been so near without Yuri playing as well as he did.

Prefacing this with the fact I think LHJ is going to take a huge step forward, I'm not really sure we can say if Larry was a better shooter last season than Yuri. Yuri had a higher FG% overall, but lower 3 point %. Larry was only taking 2 shots per game though, with 1 of them being a 3. Larry usually had the weakest perimeter defender from the opponent as well. I'm excited to see a lot more of Larry this coming season, but also think we won't truly appreciate how good Yuri was until we see what the team looks like without him.

I think two things can be true. 1. Travis has historically been a good recruiter. 2. It’s not clear how well that translates to this era, where NIL can allow other programs to level the playing field. I have serious concerns based on how this off-season is playing out so far that next year’s roster will be an above average one. There are quite a few holes and not a ton of momentum (that’s public) on the recruiting trail.

If there’s actually a lot of interest, I’d be beyond disappointed with Cuonzo.

He didn’t de-commit because people don’t like the coach. Even the strongest voices aren’t tweeting at recruits “the coach sucks don’t play for him.” He spelled it out in his graphic when he explicitly thanked Phil Forte why he’s leaving. Brock is close with Forte, and he’s no longer here. Apologies that doesn’t fit your narrative, but it’s the truth.

I can’t believe the revisionist history with Marten right now. He was rock solid on offense and defense, only tailing off after a bad ankle injury that he dealt with the back half of his senior season. Give me a big man rotation of 3 Linssens and I’d be thrilled.

We don’t travel. On court success is one thing, but travel packages are the name of the game for good MTEs.

As others have said, TJ can play the 4 but I certainly don’t feel great about him doing it. He’s athletic, but gives up quite a bit size wise. 6’4 215 pounds is not ideal for a starting 4. Hopefully we can land Jennings and have a more natural fit. Side note: it sure would have been nice to land Kachi Nzeh last fall. He would have been an ideal 4 in the A-10…

CJ Noland is an old-school addition that might not jump off the page, but I’m actually very excited for. Came very highly regarded out of HS as a top 100 recruit, and can help give next year’s team a real identity. Had pretty good shooting splits as a freshman at Oklahoma, and some regression this year. If it works out, he could be a really big time addition. Looking forward to defense being back on the menu in Midtown!

Yuri said in this article he won’t use his final year. He can sign with a certified agent and return, but he won’t be coming back.

Have heard the walk-on status was a one year agreement. No reason to doubt the people I’ve heard it from.

Only 3 by my count. Larry is on scholarship for next season.

This is just a minor gripe, but it keeps being thrown around. His win % the last 5 years is 66%. To get to 70% it would have required an extra 5 wins total. It might not seem like a huge deal but that extra win per season would have made a difference in 2020-2021, for example when SLU was the first team out.

SLU is in the final 5 for Camren Hunter, a transfer from Central Arkansas with 2 years to play. He’s a point guard who is very physical, while being good on offense and defense. Would be a major add!

I’m with @brianstl I just want an answer one way or the other. Just want better results going forward. If it’s with Ford? Great! If it’s with someone else? Great! But this continuing to linger is just frustrating. The window to make a move is incredibly tight with the portal.

Depends on the player. I’m generally a fan of physical power conference transfer downs who were highly rated recruits to be an impact player. It feels like the transfer up guys can fill a smaller role better though. So depends on what need this staff is looking to fill.

While @courtside has a strong track record and doesn’t typically post something if he hasn’t heard it, the timing just feels weird. Travis and staff are out recruiting already for next season. Seems like the AD wouldn’t authorize them to go out and do so if they were on the chopping block.

While there isn’t a 100% correlation between money spent and wins, it certainly helps. SLU has the highest paid coach in the league, and a top 3 budget with Dayton and VCU. Top 3 finish should be the goal every single year. Period.

I truly could not care less about what slogan they choose to go with if they don’t win at a higher level.

Yeah, the financial commitments and public expectations that have come from the department are the reasons I’m personally of the belief we can do better.