Bilzz

Getting mentioned for all these big-time transfers makes me think the Billiken Victory Fund must've done alright.

The point was about his freshman year. Not how he played this year.

Also, to be fair, SLU was in very early on Kalkbrenner.

You comfortable with Jimmy Bell's 2019-20 stats being counted on as one of our top two bigs next year? All I'm saying is I think that should be production of your #3 big. If that can be Momo, Vice, or Zhang, great.

Also, read the post before the one you commented on. I acknowledged that French came in and contributed, but he was very physically advanced as a freshman. Can't say the same for Diarra, Hankton, Traore, Momo, or Lorenttsen. My point is Ford is making a mistake if he's counting on Vice, Zhang, or Momo to be the second best big on the team next year. They don't have the prospect pedigree of Cart'are or Hashan. I'd recruit two big transfers (hopefully a center and a stretch 4) and hope that one of the three can give you Jimmy Bell Jr. 2019-20 production. If they turn out better than expected, great.

It's possible. The bigs SLU has recruited in recent years have been nowhere near ready on Day 1. If you're Ford and you're coaching for job next season, I'd be concerned about counting on the three you have now for more than 5-10 minutes a game as freshman, or Cisse at all, to be honest. Maybe one of them pulls a Hughes Jr. and is more advanced then expected, but I'd rather not be counting on that to be competitive.

This is my concern. How many SLU bigs have had much impact as Freshman? French played a lot, but Vice and Zhang don't have near the body that he did at the age. I haven't seen much from Cisse, honestly. He had more fouls than points or rebounds this year. (14 v. 8/8). Should note that I think SLU's usually one passable big short every year in the Ford era. I think you need two good bigs (preferrably one with more of a stretch 4 profile) and another passable big for 5-10 minutes a game. 2020-21 with Linssen, Okoro, and JB Jr. was probably the closest SLU has been to the optimum arrangement.

You feel good about Cisse, Vice, and Zhang?

What's this story now?!?!

I know Cisse was only a freshman, but it's going to take a lot of work to get him servicable. I'd much rather see what Vice or Zhang can do if someone is getting pushed out. I also think SLU under-recruits bigs every year, but would be nice if we could find a stretch big.

Take this with a grain of salt, but a guy close to the program who feeds me info (sometimes correct, sometimes not) said about a month ago that SLU was vetting Blake Ahearn as a potential replacement if they moved on from Ford. Texted the guy today and he said he hadn't heard anything re: Ford.

I mean we can agree to disagree. I think Yuri overall took huge strides during the 2021-22 season. He entered the transfer portal amid rumors that Tennessee was offering him a $200k NIL deal right before SLU was set to have it's best season in a decade. Jimerson and Perkins unfollowed him on social media. He decides to come back with several NIL deals. Throughout the season he was constantly posting about one of his endorsement deals or clothing line. Again, maybe its just the new NIL landscape, but its a bad look when your team is underacheiving. Yuri is the best passer I've ever seen, but never struck me as an overly competitive player, at least no more so than the average college basketball player. This may be unpopular to say, but he did seem like he was phoning in at times this season, which I don't ever recall feeling during the 2021-22 season or during Goodwin's tenure. Is it fair to question the point guard and fourth year senior when a veteran team consistenlty blows 10+ point leads in the last ten minutes of a game? I think it's fair. The coaching staff's position should tell you everything you need to know. When he announced he was transferring last year, the staff was apocalyptic. This year they seem very okay with him moving on. The guys I talk to who are around the program consistently have gone a step further and said the staff is actively wanting him to move on. Again, I'm happy to agree to disagree, but I don't think my view of the situation is unfair.

Go back through his Twitter posts throughout the season and see how many times #Unknown shows up. It could be attributed to the new NIL atmosphere, but he wasn't worried about any of the crap in 2021-22 when he had his best season. Also, I don't really agree with your assertion that he was a "competitor and wants to win," at least no more than a typical basketball player. He was the de facto captain of an underacheiving that had a two-year habit of falling apart in the second half of games. He's not the gamer that someone like Goodwin was.

I'd be overjoyed if Gibson decided to come back. I don't know how anyone could want Gibson to leave. Yuri, I get. After he put his name in the transfer portal and the rumors with Tennessee started, I think he lost a lot of goodwill and was more focused on the clothing line than winning basketball games. This year also exposed a lot of issues with game management, even though he was still an elite passer.

Where was this reported?

I'd be okay if both sides moved on. He's a magician, but I think this year has really highlighted some issues with game management. Need some churn because the current group isn't operating at its peak.

Most of? Is Yuri gone for sure at this point? I know I heard him say that this would be his last college basketball season, but everytime I say that, I get people telling me he never said that.

Yep. I wonder if this is also geared towards getting Jimerson, Hargrove, and/or Yuri to stick around another year (or two in Gibby's case).

Roby has been at the summer practices.

Have to think it's not us given that we have one scholarship remaining and no back-up PG.

The 'ole Mizzou-Porter gambit.

Davion Bradford committing at 6:30 tonight.

He was sooooooooo slow in game action, though. He just never seemed like he could keep up with back end of the opponent's bench. I don't how we could justify giving him minutes on next year's team.

It still makes it hard to spread minutes out even if you subtract 5 from Okoro. Like I said above, I forgot Sincere Parker, so there's decent minutes there as well. I'm curious what others think the allocation would be if we devoted substantial minutes to another 4/5? Does this allocation keep everyone but Hargrove happy? Yuri: 35 Pickett: 20 Gibby: 25 Okoro: 25 Perkins: 30 Thatch: 20 Hargrove: 5 Parker: 10 Haase/Big: 25 Back-up PG: 5

That's kind of my point. I don't think Kramer, Hughes, or Thames get many minutes at all next year regardless of the big we bring in. I did forget Sincere Parker (who is expected to get minutes). I don't know how you can give 30 minutes to the new big without benching one of your contributors.