slu72 Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 SLU being a fall back school for a lot of the people we're going after? If so, I think I see an iceberg off the starboard bow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 I think the Titanic reference is a little overused. '72 It's time to go rearrange your patio furniture (and so forth.) Come up with something more original for your hand-wringing. How about, "Hey Steve, is that a boat dock?" "I dunno Tim." Crack! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billfan4life Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Except for MG, we seem to be plan B or C for most of the other recruits left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUDrew Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 SLU is not and should not be a first choice for top tier players ever. This has nothing to do with Brad mind you, even though countless other schools, including many A-10 schools, have been successful at recruiting top tier talent with far less to offer than SLU does. I would love to read one of the just once say, "Brad just didn't get it done" isntead of the endless list of excuses. Personally I will be first in line to give Brad credit if he can land a couple big spring signings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 What does SLU have to offer that other schools don't? I think SLU has a lot to offer. But since you keep on saying that SLU has more to offer than these other schools, what are these advantages? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted April 9, 2007 Author Share Posted April 9, 2007 Ooooh, the humanity of it! Great expectations? Nah, not their cup of kool aid, Drew. By the way Brich, funny you should bring up patio furniture. My wife just informed me that's how my Saturday will be spent, buying and assembling. Which means I'm going to have to miss the weekend shuffleboard tournament. Damn, I hate it when that happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUDrew Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 That statement was referring to the other A-10 schools that have just this year gotten commitments from top tier guys while we continue to pin our hopes on other coaches rescinding offers, or guys breaking an ankle so we can come in and pick them up as rehab projects. Duquesne plays in a high school gym and plays down the street from Big East power, Pitt. We play in a 22,000 seat arena and have our own 10,500 seat arena being built. We play down the street from Fontbonne (in other words, no competition for headlines or basketball fans) Fordham plays in another antequated facility, and I think come in around 4,356 in terms of the priority list in NYC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 What does SLU offer that the is better than the other A-10 schools? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted April 9, 2007 Author Share Posted April 9, 2007 Uh, top 75 academics, one of the nicer urban campus', metro area w/lots to do, brand new out of the box arena with state of the art training facilities, connections upon graduation, solid fan base of 7-8,000 per game, Hockey the only winter competition for publicity. Show the recruits what it was like under Spoon. You ever been to Duquense, Brian? I had a nephew graduate from there two years ago. If Pettigrew selects DU over SLU to play in the A-10, we have a much bigger problem than we think we do. And remember when we played there in '05-'06, there were about 200 people at the game. Now that would be a sales job for a kid who loves UK where they average 25,000 a game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StLouBlue Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 For the high school kids, yes, it seems SLU is a fallback option. Peterson, Pettigrew and maybe Kennedy and Nixon all have other schools they would rather be at than SLU, but from the sounds of it all 4 are very talented and could be contributors next year if the came to SLU. I have to give the coaching staff some credit for identifying and getting this close with these players. The only local kid left that might sign this year is Powell and we are waiting on his grades along with a few other schools. As far as JUCOs go, this is the time they start taking their recruiting visits. It is really hard to get much info on recruiting JUCO players until after their team is eliminated. I think it was a very good sign that we were the first school MG visited. It is hard to say on JUCOs which schools are the fallbacks, because immediate playing time probably matters more than school size--with only 2 years to go sitting on a bench is just not appealing. I also think from names thrown out there are some talented JUCOs in the picture--Eberhardt, Davis, Chia-Kur, Alexander, Walker and a couple more. It would be good to know if and or when any of these players are visiting and who else is getting a visit--of course I would rather just hear about an LOI from a couple of them as well. I guess then overall I would say sure we are a fallback for the high school kids, but to me that is no big deal. I would rather the coaches swing big for a hs player ready to play than a project. If we don't get a hs player this Spring, no big deal because that just an extra scholarship for the '08 class or a transfer opportunity. I do still expect 2 players to be added to the Spring class--probably 2 JUCOs but maybe 1 JUCO and 1 high schooler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 When was the last time you heard a recruit say he went to a school because it was ranked in the top 75 in education? If that was the case Pterson would have never backed out on Princeton. Do you mean that campus that is surrounded by some of highest crime neighborhoods in the nation's most violent city? Do you mean that hole on Compton? The building that isn't done yet? That building that isn't fully funded yet? The building that construction was begun on years after it was promised? The building that no one knows if it will be completed on time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Do you mean the connections you get upon graduation that you don't build in DC, Philly, Cincinatti, Charlotte, or New York? They all have either more vibrant business communities or just happen to be nation's capitol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 A major reason Ian came was academics. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would have helped club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikan Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 You and SLU72 will be the first to say that anyone we sign has issues, problems, is not rated in the top 100, etc. All new signings for you will do nothing more than bring new types of complaints. I cannot believe you two can, over and over and over and over just post the same negative stuff which is all pure speculation about what will happen in the future. Why not let it all play out and then you can develop you new complaints. We have sure heard the current ones hundreds of times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted April 10, 2007 Author Share Posted April 10, 2007 I don't expect UB to signe anyone in the top 100. I will not complain about any of the following recruits, in fact I would be estatic: Peterson, Eberhardt, MG, Pettigrew, Walker, Powell, and there are a couple of others whose name I forget. Don't really know anything about them other than what has been posted here by more astute observers. But the fact that other decent D1 programs are after them gives me hope. I never complained about Obi or HD, until they flopped big time. Although, a red flag should have been seen when no one else was going hard after them. Billikan, it is not the player's fault if he can't contribute at this level, it's the coach's for signing them. Even UB said when asked about 0 fall recruits, "I'm not bringing in players to save face." Great, I'd agree, we've seen enough of those. Now show us you can bring in some real players, not top 100's, just kids that can help us get to the dance. Yes, if after this period is over, and we land two more kids who are completely off anyone's radar, we are going to be suspect. But the real issue is why couldn't he win any of the battles for the more hightly touted recruits we're going after now. It's his job to do that. Why is that so hard for you to grasp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 slu72 you do know that prior to his knee injury, obi was recruited hard by minnesota and georgia tech and they both begged obi to go to prep school and let his knee heel and come the next year instead of signing with slu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Obi was a decent calculated gamble. It just didn't work out. The real problem was scrambling very late last spring into summer and picking up Dixon and then saving a scholarship. We needed to land a player or two who was ready to contribute right away and we didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 actually, from an athletic standpoint, dixon was indeed a good gamble as well and who knows if he would have eventually come around. it was my understanding from the news release at the time of dixon's departure that dixon's problem was in the classroom not on the court. i still say the obi failure is soderberg's biggest miss. a lot rode on that slot and obi's promise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Roy, it's ok to have one gamble on your roster. It's not good strategy to have two gambles plus an open scholarship on a roster that lacks depth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 the obi thing shouldnt have been a "gamble" this year. i have always said a players character and guts is the hardest aspect of a player to make a judgement on. we missed on that with obi bigtime. from all we read, there was no reason obi wasnt ready to play this year, yet he was obviously still badly out of shape and the rumors of his attitude towards the coaches and team are just not good. if the problem would have been that obi never recovered from the injury medically, i agree that is a gamble. the truth is it wasnt his knee that sent him back to texas. it was his head and attitude. has anyone read where he has landed anywhere since? i am betting he will spend a year at a juco just to rebuild his reputation he himself trashed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 I warned about this last year around this time. It was a gamble to expect Obi to be a big contributer after not playing for two years. That's exactly why we needed to do better in last year's recruiting period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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