MU may be after Femi John now

[Nate Latsch]

>I don't think most of those kids could help the Bills. Two

>that could have Lawrence and Roundtree you got to be honest about.

I'm not saying any of the kids I mentioned are difference-makers, but each of them could have helped in some way. They would have added depth to the team — a big quesion mark — and contributed some minutes here and there.

Josh Harrellson could be solid as a back-up big man. I know SLU already had Obi and Horace, but shouldn't anyone have seen that Obi might never fully recover from his injuries and Horace may or may not have academic concerns.

Zack Plackemeier is a shooter with decent size. This is what Dustin Maguire was recruited to be, but a team can always use guys who can knock down perimeter jumpers.

From what I've heard, SLU wanted Alex Moosmann to walk on. They didn't think he was a scholarship-type player. Now, they'd love to have a point guard who can make shots. I don't know if Moosmann would start, but he's someone you could bring in for a couple minutes to handle the ball and give other guys rest.

Matt Lawrence took the first offer that came his way. Again, he's a really good shooter with good size — two attributes SLU needs more of.

Landon Shipley is similar to Moosmann. He's a shooter who can handle the ball. I think he averaged 8.8 points off the bench this year, on a team that qualified for the NIT tourney.

Alex Barnett is an athletic shooter with size and grades. Put some weight on him and he might be a nice fit as a backup shooting guard or small forward.

Justin Fuehrmeyer and Spencer Stewart are back-up point guard types.

Dane Brumagin averaged 9.6 points per game as a sophomore at U. Missouri-Kansas City this season. He's another shooter with good size.

Torres Roundtree didn't have an offer from SLU.

Ron Waller, who is committed to Western Kentucky, was arguably the most impressive player I watched at St. Louis Eagles tryouts a couple weeks ago. He's strong and athletic and poised for a big senior season.

- Nate

[Nate Latsch]

Roy,

Please stop with the talk about initiating contact.

You know how recruiting works and how schools find ways to contact kids.

You watched how SLU recruited Kevin Lisch, didn't you?

You know that SLU offered Tyler Griffey a scholarship before he even played a high school game.

SLU does the same things most other schools do.

This is a terrible excuse.

- Nate

[billiken_roy]

fuehrmeyer couldnt get off the bench at missouri state.

harrelson signed with the 327th school in the country. why didnt mi$$ouri offer him? did you go on tigerboard and tell them they missed on harrelson? what about the other 250 schools between us and western? if he is a miss, a lot of teams apparently missed.

lawrence would have come to slu? it has been written numerous times that mi$$ouri was the only place he would go. hell he walked on. we were never a choice of matt lawrence.

i know you love shipley. hell you incorrectly made him the poy his senior season when he wasnt even the best player on his own team.

but seriously, what would he have brought to the team? why should slu be recruiting low division one players? a roster of low division one players would yield a low division one team. i thought you were going to give us a list of players that would have made us better. loading the roster with the barely division one players doesnt make us a better team.

and on roundtree, he didnt want to come to slu. if he wanted to come to slu he would have waited until slu could legally initiate contact before verballing. that cant happen for 3 more months.

[billiken_roy]

so nate, you are advocating cheating now?

nate, how come i dont see you post on the tigerboard and tell them about their bad recruiting?

afterall, you only come here in the position as a sports reporter with no agenda or fan interest. it would seem you would be wanting to help those fans just as much.

[brianstl]

SLU let people around Roundtree know that they had a scholarship for him. They could not tell him that directly because of the NCAA rules. If this info ever made it back to Roundtree himself, I don't know.

Lawrence didn't get an offer from MU he walked on as a freshman. He was going to MU no matter what.

I agree with you about Moosman, but the others we will just have to disagree on. One name you did not mention that I think will come back to bite the staff is Lucas O'Rear.

[billiken_roy]

so nate, if we will have 4 scholarships to offer for next year and you have been told by thompson, allen, suggs, john, brandenberger, kramer they all have a lot of interest in the billikens. you would offer to roundtree who has academic concerns 11 months in advance of the signing date via a third party and not face to face?

i am glad you are not our recruiter.

[SLUDrew]

Most rational fans on this board appreciate your insight into recruiting and in no way think you are trying to hurt the program. I hope you are able to laugh off such comments.

[billiken_roy]

it is my understanding slu asked o'rear to wait. at that time slu had only 2 scholarships to offer and they were still very much in the hunt for the kids that ended up at kansas state, iowa, georgia and central michigan. had o'rear waited until signing date to commit he would have had a slu scholarship. again, he didnt want to come to slu. or he would have waited for that.

[billiken_roy]

i just dont understand his focus on saint louis university. i do not see nate post on any other fan board except the stltoday.com prep sports board. yet he says he is just commenting as an unattached reporter and has no fan interest.

it sure seems that if that was true, he would also be on the siu, mi$$ouri, missouri state and illini boards insighting as well. instead he is only here ripping.

[Nate Latsch]

>SLU let people around Roundtree know that they had a

>scholarship for him. They could not tell him that directly

>because of the NCAA rules. If this info ever made it back

>to Roundtree himself, I don't know.

>

>Lawrence didn't get an offer from MU he walked on as a

>freshman. He was going to MU no matter what.

>

>I agree with you about Moosman, but the others we will just

>have to disagree on. One name you did not mention that I

>think will come back to bite the staff is Lucas O'Rear.

Brian,

My sources, close to Roundtree, say that they told SLU that Roundtree wanted to go there and SLU didn't want to offer. Roundtree himself told me he wanted to go to SLU.

We had a 1,000-post thread on this, which I don't want to start again. I trust my sources on this one — and I'll leave it at that.

The Lawrence offer thing is interesting. He had one, then didn't have one (after Mizzou was hit with the restrictions) and then he had one again when the big kid from Chicago didn't qualify. Maybe he did only want to go to Missouri. I think if SLU would have offered before Missouri, SLU would have had a chance.

It's been said on this board before, but I'm not a big O'Rear fan. The Billikens need inside players, so maybe he could have helped, but I still think he's too undersized to have much of an impact at the next level.

- Nate

[slufanskip]

you may be able to pick out a couple of those kids that could have helped a little, but I don't see one that would have made us better. Also I keep hearing the insinuation that these kids wanted to come to SLU. It is silly to say that Roundtree wanted to come to SLU, the fact that he signed with SIU in the spring before his Sr season makes it pretty (no absolutely) clear that he didn't prefer SLU. Same with Stemler.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman

Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would have helped club.

[billiken_roy]

interesting post. in above posts you rip the billikens for not signing local guys with few other options.

now you are insinuating that we shouldnt have signed polk, maguire, mitchell?

second, many folks here cant understand us not getting the pullen and swansey's out there. and demand we find that level of recruit, but then when we finish second best on such we are questioned why we even chase them? sounds like a no win.

[SLUDrew]

wouldn't you rather hear Nate's honest assessment of the sitaution than him be a shill and just tell us what we want to hear? I would.

Nate is a St. Louis reporter. Just by proximity alone I am sure he has a better handle on the sitaution at SLU than the other schools you mentioned, hence he may feel more compelled to comment on SLU than the other schools.

Personally, I would much rather him comment on here than not.

[Nate Latsch]

>i just dont understand his focus on saint louis university.

>i do not see nate post on any other fan board except the

>stltoday.com prep sports board. yet he says he is just

>commenting as an unattached reporter and has no fan

>interest.

>

>it sure seems that if that was true, he would also be on the

>siu, mi$$ouri, missouri state and illini boards insighting

>as well. instead he is only here ripping.

Roy,

I've said many times that I post here because I like the people here.

I've met several people from this forum while I was out working. Some who post. Some who do not. There are a lot of great people here.

I don't have time to post anywhere other than here or the stltoday.com prep board. I really don't have time to post at either board these days.

I care about the future of the St. Louis University basketball program because I care about St. Louis area basketball.

And I'm not just here ripping. I've posted many positive things on this board as well. I've even posted recruiting information on here once or twice before it hit the newspaper, which I got in trouble for. I am trying to provide information here.

- Nate

[billiken_roy]

o'rear is a shaw clone. he will do fine.

[billiken_roy]

if nate was doing the same elsewhere i would agree. but it is almost as though nate has a special interest/vendetta in slu and in particular coach soderberg. i think it is especially interesting that he seems to think we should take all the low major players from the area. almost like he wants us to be the safehaven for the leftovers.

[Nate Latsch]

>now you are insinuating that we shouldnt have signed polk,

>maguire, mitchell?

I didn't insinuate that. My point was that those are the kind of players SLU CAN get.

I like the signings of Polk and Maguire and the commitment of Mitchell.

With Polk, the Billikens got a quick point guard who had a lot of success at an area high school that produces college basketball prospects.

With Maguire, the Billikens got a shooter with size — which is what they lacked for a couple years and still need more of.

I'm not sold on Mitchell at the next level, but he does add athleticism and toughness to a roster lacking in both areas.

- Nate

[Nate Latsch]

> i think it is especially interesting that he seems to think we should take

>all the low major players from the area.

Not ALL.

SOME.

That way the team has some depth in certain areas, and isn't counting on walk-ons to provide significant minutes in big games.

- Nate

[Cowboy]

stemler was offered by slu before anyone but akron. so he doesnt fit the description. - i thought we were talking about local kids that slu missed, not sure how this doesn't fit

harrelson signed with the 327th team in the country. if we missed so did a lot of teams. - so if everyone else jumped off a bridge you would too? that's good. so no one playing on a team with an rpi below slu's could help slu??

torres and booker committed to siu, is siu on probation from the ncaa? are there issues anywhere with how they are recruting against the ncaa rules? not that i have seen, but they (siu) are getting it done, we are not at this point. my sincere hope is that changes.

i suggest we do something different in our recruitng to get these or these type of kids to play at slu, i do not know what can or cannot be done, i and none of us know what has been done, but whatever it needs to improve.

[billiken_roy]

cowboy the point was slu didnt offer players that wanted to come to slu.

slu did offer stemler. before anyone else but akron.

harrelson, my point is that i am not convinced he is midmajor to high major quality and the fact no one else did as well bears that out. i.e. i have no problem with not offering him.

roundtree, he says he wanted to come to slu, but then commits earlier than 99.999999% of any other junior in the country to a school that would have either been approached by roundtree first or it was offered via a third party. if roundtree wanted to come to slu then he should have waited at least until early summer when contact can easily and freely be initiated by slu to discuss. i.e. i aint buyin it. anyone want to bet that roundtree and john arent best friends? ironic the word is that slu wants john.

[Cowboy]

i have no idea why nate's posts seem to incite you so much

if this is the way you are going to argue points, go on hiatus again, this time stay away

[Schasz]

Nate,

This non-Kool Aid Drinker does appreciate your insight especially seeing as I live 1,000 miles away from my favorite college team. I also understand that you would like to see SLU succeed and get out of the mediocrity that we have experienced lately. For the record, I consider an 8-8 A10 record as mediocre.

[Nate Latsch]

>roundtree, he says he wanted to come to slu, but then

>commits earlier than 99.999999% of any other junior in the

>country to a school that would have either been approached

>by roundtree first or it was offered via a third party. if

>roundtree wanted to come to slu then he should have waited

>at least until early summer when contact can easily and

>freely be initiated by slu to discuss. i.e. i aint buyin

>it.

You keep making this argument. If Soderberg wanted to offer Roundtree, he would have.

Soderberg offered John a scholarship.

By your argument, SLU must have been cheating to offer John a scholarship.

Please keep insinuating other schools are cheating for doing the same thing SLU is doing.

>anyone want to bet that roundtree and john arent best

>friends? ironic the word is that slu wants john.

What does Roundtree and John being friends have to do with the situation?

- Nate

[Cowboy]

it is not about the offer, it is about the acceptance

i can call tyra banks and offer to take her out, the key is me getting her to accept, without the acceptance i am home with rosy

i can't believe i am saying this one, but we may have to take vtime's approach of offering everybody since we seemingly get so few acceptances

[3star_recruit]

I understand that Polk had a disappointing season but I fail to see how Moose's 4.3 ppg 40% FG and 2.8 apg in 26 mpg would have been an upgrade last year. Those are practically the same as Polk's numbers. Moose has a better outside shot but he was afraid to shoot it last year. If we don't sign a point in the spring I'd rather take my chances with Lisch at the point.

I agree that O'Rear will be a good one eventually. He's not quite the athlete Shaw is so it might be his sophomore year before he has a similar impact.