Who is our Fab 5 for 08?

[davidnark]

I admit the Tatum reference was a mistake.

I don't believe the Snyder staff screwed up McKinney. What screwed up McKinney was an inconsistent outside shot and an inabiltiy to go strong to the hole when he wasn't the most athletic kid on the court. A lot of the Vashon kids struggle in these areas when they play in an environment in which they aren't the most athletic kids on the court; Irons' second-rate AAU program did nothing to help the situation.

[brianstl]

constant attempts to make him a point guard screwed him up? Nark you know better than that.

Would you have been excited about the Bills landing Rodney Alexander? If you would have been, then you should like Powell. They are the exact same type of player, except Powell is the better player out of high school.

[billiken_roy]

i am not including brandenberg because EVERYTHING we have ever read about him is he has no interest in slu. he wants to go to the acc. so let him.

suggs and thompson have given prior indication that they would at least consider slu. so considering they have bigtime talent and an expressed want to at least consider slu, i want them.

[billiken_roy]

if majerus is worth his weight in recruiting gold, i truly expect him to be able to reach up to a different level than just local.

while the 5 locals next year would be a very nice class, that would be a soderberg homerun, for majerus it would be a double. that might not sound fair, but the truth is we are paying him big bucks to take us to another level. i am not limiting my expectations to the public high league, metro catholic and the GAC north leagues here in st louis.

[billiken_roy]

david, i agree with your thinking. however, i would hope the "changing of the guard" might wake up the vashon athletes to realize that there is a different world out there and they have to be ready for college legitimately both on the court and off.

that said, it probably isnt a bad move to let that prove itself out before wasting time bringing those kids in.

[brianstl]

But, we don't know any of RM's national recruiting targets yet. All we can go on is the local kids and it just so happens that 2008 is loaded with kids that can play at this level.

[billiken_roy]

brian said,

"we don't know any of RM's national recruiting targets yet. All we can go on is the local kids and it just so happens that 2008 is loaded with kids that can play at this level."

well that is because our "insiders" only like to tell us who we wont get.

seriously, it is still very early. this question would be very appropriate in september, but at this point in time moser hasnt had a chance to even see a hoiday inn express yet wearing a slu golf shirt.

[moytoy12]

RM's prior teams haven't been dominated by top notch regional or national recruits, why would you expect that now?

[slufanskip]

I'm with Nark on Powell. I would bet that to play for RM even bigs, you had better be able to shoot. He seems more like a player to fit in at Mizzou under Anderson. With McKinney, 1 word quickness, he didn't have enough to stand out in the Big 12 and he wasn't strong enough to make up for it. The coaching under Quinn was bad, but Mckinney didn't have the atributes to excel at any level but the point and he wasn't a pg.

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[brianstl]

Form what I can tell it seems that some posters think we are now Duke and going to land All-Americans from across the country who will have perfect grades. This isn't going to happen folks, this team as RM has said will be built around area players and they will take chances on kids with an iffy academic background. That is the reason RM got concessions from Biondi on this very point. We are not the Havard of the midwest, that school is a few miles to the west.

[moytoy12]

Agreed Brian. I have trust in RM to put a good team out there, but the expectation that he will land top regional and national recruits is not warranted. In contrast to Sodie (who i don't think had much chance with the '08 class), I think RM puts us in the ball game with the top local recruits and even then we aren't guaranteed to land 'em.

[Tonka]

I have to rely on friends that are regulars at watching some of these kids play. That being said, I have watched videos of some of the names mentioned if they were available.

- I am in the camp of not taking Powell. Although, RM supposedly asked for more student tutors, so maybe that could make a difference.

- Suggs

- Thompson

- Don't think Roundtree will reconsider

- PG from out of the area

- 1 or 2 international players if one of RM's contacts can land them - would like a beast like Linus Kleiza

[billiken_roy]

first, i think st louis is a bigger city to sell than salt lake.

second and most important is that majerus' legend has grown since he hit jackpot at utah.

what national coaches are more celebrity than majerus? we cant name 10 without an argument.

[billiken_roy]

we arent duke, but we are immediately at a higher level visibilitywise than we were a month ago by A LOT.

if moser, majerus, thorpe and yet to be named cant capitalize on that immediately, then they dont deserve the big money. slow and over time was soderberg. majerus is NOW.

[STLfan]

According to a rivals article Denmon's recruitment has picked up because of his play. He already has offers from all of the Valley schools and Missouri just offered. He is also being recruited but not yet offered now by UNLV, Arizona, Texas, Kansas, Clemson, and Kansas State. If SLU is still after him we are going to have some serious competition.

[brianstl]

Well according to Griffster, Tyler didn't know who he was off the top of his head. These kids are playing games, praticing and doing homework when he was on TV. He will have to rely alot on his connections at first to reestablish himself. Roy just don't make the same mistake Romar and Brad did, thinking kids from outside of the area are better than the kids in town just because they are from outside the area.

[billiken_roy]

the national players that romar chased and almost won were without a doubt better than the players that went elsewhere.

i believe a majerus has the juice to win a travis deiner or jamal sampson or taj gray.

[brianstl]

I would have took Brooks in a heart beat over those guys. Hey they all were good college players, Brooks put a program on the map.

[mcglotherirvin]

what about swopshire?

i'm suprised by how impressed everyone is with perry. i saw him play and do not think he's very good.

[VTIME]

My local 5 in order, minus Roundtree and Booker who are committed and Powell as it is unknown whether he will enroll at D1 or choose prep school.

1. Thompson

2. Suggs

3. Harrellson

4. Jesse Perry

5. Kenny Harris/Femi John/Josh McCoy

There are local pg's in 2008 who can definitely play at this level. For starters, Kenny Leverette of O'Fallon is 6'3 and chiseled at over 200lbs. Strong penetrator and finisher who also rebounds very well for a guard. Jesse Perry is the definition of a point forward. The 6'6 guard Kenny Harris is a sleeper because he keeps changing high school teams and AAU teams. If he would've stayed at Soldan he would've been the PHL leading scorer and would be one of the main guys on the Eagles. Instead he's transferred twice, once to Vashon where he won a state title in 2006, and then to Gateway where he averaged 14ppg in the opening tourney and then was ruled ineligible for transferring. He's grown from a 5'11 8th grader to a 6'6 junior and kept all his guards skills while steadily adjusting to his new size. Jesse Perry hit a similar growth spurt from a 6'1 freshman pg to the 6'8 guard/forward he is today. I'm interested in seeing how far Drew Hanlen comes as a pg this summer as well. He could be a big sleeper. Great jumpshot, great quickness of the dribble. Crafty. I like his game. Not saying he's in the conversation for SLU, I'll be tracking his progress. I like Abel Tillman. Ridiculous athlete. Unreal leaping ability. Devastating shotblocker.

[billiken_roy]

you would have taken brooks over the likes of travis deiner? jamal sampson? those guys are in the nba.

brooks did a great job at siu, but he wasnt as good as those players.

[brianstl]

Just because a player's game doesn't translate to the NBA doesn't make him any less of a college player. I would take Brooks and Melvin Booker both over them. They were better all around college players and I love Travis Diener. Roy just because Christian Latner was nothing special in the NBA does that mean he is not one of the greatest college ball players of all time? It is two different games and you can not use success at the NBA level to bolster what type of college player someone was or vice versa.

[slufanskip]

You said there are local pg's in 2008 who can play at this level and then didn't name any pg atributes on any player you named including calling one a pf. We don't need guys who could play the point. Imo a good pg just has that natural feel for the game and sees the floor different than everyone else. You can put a 2 guard with good handles at the point, but he will just be average. We need a real pg, not a bunch of wanna be pg's.

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[kevinfootes]

You don't understand summer recruiting rules, you don't know how many schollies are available, and you don't konw how much $$$ it takes to bring in a big name coach. Thanks for your insight.

Outstanding!

[VTIME]

Kenny Leverette is definitely a very good pg. He's 6'3 well over 200lbs, strong, physical. He can distribute, pass, use his strength and speed to get to the basket at will, and use his strength to keep opposing guards out of the paint. Lead his team to the championship game in Illinois this season only to lose to Derrick Rose, the nations top pg.