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Why isn't Leon Powell a Billiken yet?


SLUDrew

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Here we have one of the nation's top unsigned seniors (I know ESPN for one has him in their top 150 for the class of 07) who plays in our own backyard, is the type of player we DESPERATELY need, and is coached by arguably the most popular Billiken of the modern era.

Why is his coming here not a lay-up? What are the behind the scenes issues I may not be aware of? Were we not on him early enough and he has since garnered some higher-level attention? As much as I follow Billiken recruiting and try to keep myself in the know, there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there surrounding Leon and I wondered if anyone in the know could shed some light on the situation?

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Numerous posters with credibility have stated that Leon has an offer. Many believe he is waiting for a Mizzou offer as he favors that type of play. Brad and staff have an offer and have been to mant of Vashon's games as posted on here in the past. Seems like he wants to be a Tiger and SLU is his "fall back". From reading about the recruit on campus this past weekend, sounds as if they are mirror images of one another as far as build 6'7 210 and like to play on the wing and are slashers.

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According to pdiddy, we offered Powell long ago and the ball's been in his court the whole time. The gossip I heard was that Floyd's still in his ear and doesn't want him at SLU, but rather at Mizzou with Anderson. That could be nonsense, but who knows. It's hard to discern garbage from fact on this board.

Tx beat me to it.

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"sounds as if they are mirror images of one another as far as build 6'7 210 and like to play on the wing and are slashers."

How nice would it be to have both of 'em? I can't remember the last time SLU had 2 guys like this (not to mention a guy named Liddell playing with 'em). I know we need pf's, but these 2 guys plus a juco or 2 at the pf position would be quite a coup at this point for Brad.

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You mean Brad couldn't convince him that he would like to turn SLU into a running team also?

If he is waiting on Mizzou, then I am not surprised. As soon as he was hired I said Mike Anderson is going to wind up killing Soderberg when it comes to getting players like Powell, Suggs, and the like. Why wouldn't they want to play in that system?

I do have to say though, I don't like the idea of being a recruit's fall back. Give me a kid who is a little less highly-regarded, possibly like this kid who came through this weekend, but is passionate about being a Billiken.

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It sort of makes sense to wait if we are leaving the offer out. Powell knows that SLU has tons of scholarships to be handed out.

If he really wants to go to Mizzou, why not wait as long as possible. If no offer, take the garuntee that SLU gives. It sort of stinks for us, but that is the situation we are in.

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I was in my car last night driving home and had the Mike Anderson show on KFNS. Anderson was talking about some 6-8 JUCO player that was on campus. Unless Anderson runs someone off Powell is not going to get an offer from Missouri. That said I've got a bad feeling about Powell. If he wanted to be a Billiken he would have already been one.

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>

>If he is waiting on Mizzou, then I am not surprised. As soon

>as he was hired I said Mike Anderson is going to wind up

>killing Soderberg when it comes to getting players like

>Powell, Suggs, and the like. Why wouldn't they want to play

>in that system?

>

You know, I don't necessarily agree with this. Anderson's system is a team-based, 10-guys, helter-skelter system that doesn't always translate well for guys with strong individual talents. Sure, a player from the "Floyd-Irons" system would be perfect for Anderson. But, a guy like Suggs, who may be more inclined to break guys down in the half court set won't necessarily be good fits with this system.

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The argument could be made that a kid with NBA aspirations may want to play in more of a halfcourt system that runs an offense as opposed to 40 minutes of hell.

However, as has been evident this year, Anderson is willing to adjust his sytem to the talent he has. They are not playing 40 minutes of hell at Mizzou this year. In fact, they seem to press only about 25% of the time. This team gets into theit halfcourt offense quite a bit. In my opinion they are weak in the halfcourt, but they do do it. My point being that if he got a kid like Suggs, I am sure he would use him as a centerpiece to his offense and run sets best suited to his talents

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a word about Mizzou recruiting Powell. As of right now, Mizzou only has 1 scholarship available for next year. The Tigerboard gossip that they are looking at a 6'9" prep player from North Carolina, a 6'8" juco guy named Charlie Coley (sp?), and a 6'2" guard from New Jersey.

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>The argument could be made that a kid with NBA aspirations

>may want to play in more of a halfcourt system that runs an

>offense as opposed to 40 minutes of hell.

>However, as has been evident this year, Anderson is willing

>to adjust his sytem to the talent he has. They are not

>playing 40 minutes of hell at Mizzou this year. In fact,

>they seem to press only about 25% of the time. This team

>gets into theit halfcourt offense quite a bit. In my opinion

>they are weak in the halfcourt, but they do do it. My point

>being that if he got a kid like Suggs, I am sure he would

>use him as a centerpiece to his offense and run sets best

>suited to his talents

Sure, I'll buy that if Anderson is willing to adjust, that would be a fit. I just don't buy that the "40-minutes of hell" system is what all kids want to play.

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Carroll is a good player. Tough player, very popular....played out of position at the 4 much of his first two years....ans he was always going to play behind Byars and Foster on the perimeter there. No shame in that because Foster and Byars are big time players for Vandy. He will help Mizzou quite a bit.

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He only has one scholarship open now, but it could be as many as 4 because Anderson Jr, Carroll, and Lawrence are all on basketball scholarship, but they dont have to be because they can go for free. Matt Lawrence came to Mizzou as a preferred walk-on an academic scholarship. Carroll and Anderson are relatives of the coaches.

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http://www.cstv.com/chat/010807aab.html

Scott: I saw Leon Powell from Vashon play this weekend. He was dominant. What schools is he looking at right now?

Van Coleman: Right now I think he's got to qualify. He's had interest from the A-10, MoValley and C-USA. I think if he had his academics in line he would have had some Big Ten's and other things.

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