Femi John

[cheeseman]

Frank said today during his program that Femi John told RM that he wanted to commit to SLU right now but RM told him that he could not accept his committment until he had a chance to talk with his coaches and see tape of him playing. Frank said RM is looking at tape from some charter h.s. games that were televised and will let John know of his decision. Frank also said that Griffey told RM that if he can get Suggs and keeps getting players like John and Thompson that he will come to SLU. RM told Griffey that if he would committ then maybe players like Suggs will agree to come sooner. As Rammer said - funny how the worm is turning. He said that coaches would complain about Brad never being in their gyms to see players play so that was why they could not get excited about SLU but here is a case where RM has not seen players play either but that does not make a difference they still want to come and the coaches are excited. Frank also said that the Gateway coaches were at SLU the other evening for pizza and to talk. Frank said it went very well from what he was told by some coaches.

[kshoe]

I'd be thrilled to get Femi. With 6 to give and only 1 spoken for I believe the best policy is to take the guys that are ready to come and if the worst thing that happens is you have a shortage at the end then so be it. Its far better than the previous policy of chasing the dream and watching not quite as good, but still good enough talent end up elsewhere.

[billiken_roy]

first, i am a huge majerus booster thus far. i think if there was ever a man made to lead the billikens to the promised land, it is majerus.

that said, how is majerus refusing to accept a femi john willingness to commit because "he as to see tape of him playing" any different than soderberg telling stemler i want to watch him play more?

second, i am assuming majerus knew in advance that john was coming. i would think the possibility of john wanting to verbally commit had crossed coach rick's mind prior to that actual meeting. and thus, rick's concern of not having talked to coaches and seen tape would have been a previous thought as well. here's a thought, why not actually talk to the coaches and watch tape prior to that meeting?

it is the first "huh?" moment i have ever had about majerus. so i say mulligan. but my gosh, shouldnt a coach be prepared for meetings like this?

[Tonka]

Roy, that's a good point but probably easily defended by Majerus. I think RM's plate has been overflowing since he started. He may even be seeing if there's a guy we can still get for '07. I have no problem with him meeting with Femi prior to seeing tape or talking to Coaches. Maybe he wanted to start dialogue and form a relationship and see what the kid's personality was about. Maybe he knew just enough about him to want to have a meeting with him but not enough time to have done the other work. I am not saying you are wrong and you did say you give him a mulligan but I would save that mulligan as he just teed off the first hole.

[jjray]

I'll agree with Roy on this one. If Rick knew Femi John was coming to campus for an informal visit and SLU had previously offered, then he should have already made up his mind whether he still wants John. If not, delay the visit. My inference from the situation: RM is chasing other player(s) at the same position that RM wants more than John.

[shooter]

I agree Billiken_Roy. You would think Majerus would of seen tape on every possible recruit the Bills were interested in from the previous regime, so he could make a decision if he should continue to persue. Femi John is the type of athlete who would at the very least contribute some quality minutes by his soph. year, if not sooner.

[moytoy12]

"that said, how is majerus refusing to accept a femi john willingness to commit because "he as to see tape of him playing" any different than soderberg telling stemler i want to watch him play more?"

Because we defer to RM's ability to evaluate talent, Brad never gave us a reason to defer. Also, RM obviously has a lot of players' interest and therefore he has the leeway to think about which combination of players would best fit his system. Brad, without a perceived backup plan, took 7 evaluations for a player that fit our system.

"second, i am assuming majerus knew in advance that john was coming. i would think the possibility of john wanting to verbally commit had crossed coach rick's mind prior to that actual meeting. and thus, rick's concern of not having talked to coaches and seen tape would have been a previous thought as well. here's a thought, why not actually talk to the coaches and watch tape prior to that meeting?"

It sounds like RM has been a little busy. Maybe between speaking engagements and traveling and Brett Thompson and K. Mitchell and... he actually hasn't had a chance to sit down and review the tape.

[cheeseman]

Roy, first of all, Frank did not say that Femi was at his unofficial visit. What he said was that Femi went down and wanted to tell RM he wanted to commit so who knows what the sequence of it all was. Second, with RM having to be out town still finishing up business he committed to previously, it may simply be taking him time to get caught up. Third, maybe the tape he was given was not good enough for him to make a final decision so he asked for the Charter tape to see if it was any better. Finally, he may very well have spoken to some of his coaches previously but simply wanted to wait to talk to all the AAU coaches at once. I would not read too much into all of this other than that RM is making progress and will soon be closing some deals.

[bauman]

Cheeseman, I heard the same comments and you did an excellent job of capturing Frank's comments, however I broadened the subject beyond FJ.

I found it interesting that the word on Billiken.com seemed to be that we were waiting for John to commit, while in actuality we have not offered and he is asking to come here. It will be of interest to judge RM's opinion of FJ's talent/ability to play at this level.

Whenever Frank starts a discussion on SLU basketball I find it strange that Rammer, who is paid by SLU, goes pretty silent. I think he might be too concerned with being labeled a "homer", but with 590, the voice of the Bills and with the c*@% which I hear still come from the Queen's mouth, why does Ramsey add little to Frank's comments?

[billiken_roy]

actually stemler didnt fit our need. we needed a true power forward and stemler was a 3 (but a great shooter) in a 4 body.

if he was too busy, he should have delayed the meeting.

i tend to agree with jjray. his reasoning was not true. he is stalling while he chases bigger fish is more likely the case.

majerus is too good to have made this mistake. i.e. it wasnt a mistake. he is covering. and if that is the case, he again should have put off the meeting.

[moytoy12]

I think Stemler did indeed fit a need. Agree to disagree.

Why delay the meeting? Meet with the kid, get to know him, etc.

I agree RM is probably chasing others.

[Tonka]

The way I look at it, is that when a new coach comes on board all is fair game for everyone. That means that if our program showed interest in a player prior to the new coach, the player should expect to have to win the new coach over if he wants to play for him. Likewise, the new coach should have to work to keep the players that were on the team and get new commitment from any player that signed an LOI. The game has changed and new work from both sides needs to be done.

I have no problem with RM talking to all kinds of players - stars, role players, etc. Isn't it his job to do that? A kid can show interest in more than one school and a coach can show interest in many players. If it was an unofficial visit, then I see nothing wrong with what RM did especially since John is a local guy. Had he traveled to get here, I would call foul. If it were an official visit, I would call foul. If it went down as explained, I have no problem with it and I think you'd have to be picking apart anything and everything to call foul on this.

[Box and Won]

OHMYGODIT'SBLAKEAHEARNALLOVERAGAIN!!!!!!

http://www.chipple.net/mt/archives/2005090...ikenhachiko.jpg

[bauman]

Tonka, I agree with you unless a kid has been offered and has accepted thereby turning down offers from other programs.

Roy and others who complained about RM "not being prepared" for the meeting with FJ, let me present a more likely scenario in which RM was in fact prepared.

In my opinion Femi John is a possible Plan B, in which case neither FJ nor RM (whoever leaked the story to Frank) would not have positioned the situation as that. Why would FJ be a Plan B? Consider this: Maybe Rick has another recruit for this year---maybe Dan Deane who has been talked about alot on this Board lately. If so, he would be slotted in the AM/MR class as a SOPH when he becomes eligible.

That leaves 5 scholarships for the 08 class of FR. We already have a verbal from BT, so that leaves 4 available. I see 5 more desirable targets for those 4 scholarships: SS, KM, JP, M Roth & JB. From what I have read here and elsewhere any 4 of those 5 would be ahead of FJ. I believe this story is more likely than Coach Rick not knowing enough about FJ.

Finally, if DD doesn't come here I can also see RM holding that scholarship for the 09 class so as not to have 6, 08 class FR.

[Schasz]

Last time I checked Coach Majerus has been to 11 freakin NCAA's. I believe I am going to sit back wait and see who Coach recruits for Nov. 2007 LOI date before I start throwing any darts his way. As he so eloquently put it in his first Press Conference...I don't think I forgot how to do this.

[Abe Froman]

>first, i am a huge majerus booster thus far. i think if

>there was ever a man made to lead the billikens to the

>promised land, it is majerus.

>

>that said, how is majerus refusing to accept a femi john

>willingness to commit because "he as to see tape of him

>playing" any different than soderberg telling stemler i want

>to watch him play more?

>

A) Soderberg telling Stemler "I get 7 evaluations, I'm going to use all of them and dick you around" is different than "I just got here, I don't know that much about you, let me do some research." It's not like Majerus had been out recruiting the last year and considering John was being recruited by the previous staff if I were Mejerus I'd be skeptical.

it isn't uncommon for kids to just show up for an "unofficial visit" and be ready to commit even if there is no offer out there.

[DoctorB]

this thread is quite amusing. like so many other threads, it is really a tempest in a teapot, for a number of reasons.

1] I am amused at how everyone seems so willing to trust every little detail leaked by Frank C.--whom I do respect, but let's face it, we know from last month his tendency to make mistakes in reporting.

2] I am also amazed that folks on here are kind of still thinking like last year, when we would all be thrilled with a verbal from Femi John. It is very possible that there are other, top 150-type guards out there, who have been in communication with RM and staff and who may want to come. Not only might Femi be a plan B, it is certainly conceivable that he is a plan C or below. Not trying to be negative about this, but I just think it is OK at this point to aim much higher in our collective imagination than previously. Femi, if you do get the offer, great, welcome to SLU. But I have to go with RM's best judgment on this topic, sorry.

3] I really really liked the SI article posted on here about a week or 2 ago, about the veritable obseesions with recruiting among fans. This thread is evidence of amazing and almost a lurid fascination with the thought patterns of 17-year-olds.

4} I am thinking with nostalgia about the old days, not 20 years back, when all we had were local news on TV and the newspapers--remember them?? Now, every single day, there are tips about on-campus visits or tips from semi-reliable sources on radio talk shows. It is just getting a little bit to unsavory for me, at times--just an observation.

[VTIME]

Why is everyone so sold that Femi isnt a big time prospect. Missouri and Illinios are recruiting him and I dont understand why all of a sudden he's not good enough for Majerus. Majerus never said that. He had the kid in for a reason. He's a great fit athletically and academically and I would be happy if he committed. How many top 100-150 guys are you expecting to sign? There are high majors and good mid majors that have made in-roads those types already.

[billiken_roy]

abe, when the now famous and often misquoted soderberg statement of i want to use my evaluations on stemler was made was in november of stemler's final year of swic.

at that time, stemler's track record was:

a freshman year at swic where he redshirted because of injury and never played,

a redshirt freshmen season at bradley where he was 13th man on the team and rarely played.

thus, he had played a couple of games and had zero track record at slu to base an offer on.

as to just "showing up". how is it this board knew for days that john was just going to "show up" that weekend and majerus didnt?

[brianstl]

Me and at least one other person said last week we believed FJ was a plan B guy right now. I also think we got ripped for saying that. He is a plan B kid right now. It could change when the staff gets more time to review tape, but the only people they want to take committments from right now are top of the line recruits(ie Suggs, Thompson, and Brandenburg). From what I understand there are a couple others they will take right now from outside the area, but those are guys that Moser has been on for awhile and he considers top flight.

[billiken_roy]

vtime, to be fair to the board, few on this board were sold on john when soderberg was the coach as well. john took a pounding during the roundtree wintertime 11 month in advance verbal debates here. so i dont think there were but a handful of us that wanted john more than roundtree.

[VTIME]

I dont favor either. They are both very good. I cant wait to see who wins state next year between McCluer North (Booker, Roundtree, John) and Gateway Tech (Perry, Belger, Harris, Hobbs).

[brianstl]

I like John and think he right now is a more complete player than Roundtree, but Roundtree has the bigger upside. I just think that the staff has set it's sights very high for the next class and based on the response it has got from recruits so far believes that it can do better than John.

[DoctorB]

Brian, I think we are in agreement about that. And if they extend the offer to Femi, and he agrees, then great, welcome, we want you to come.

V, I mean no disrespect to Femi. I think the idea is that right now, the offers are out for really big-time guys making national noise, like Suggs, and although we have 5 or 6 for next year (depending on if another guy comes on for this fall or not), then it is prudent to hold off on guys farther down the list. 6 sounds like a lot but who knows? Maybe we can snare a few more top 150 talents?? Why not?

And lay off RM is he did not evaluate John yet. He knows most of the nation's talent, he's 2 weeks into a new job, and you think he is worrying about this one local recruit? Give me a break. I am hoping he has other fish to fry. Anyway, how do you know how much advance notice he got about an unofficial visit? maybe they just drove down one day and walked in.

It is really nice to be on the other side of the table, btw. Meaning -- it is nice to be the one holding the chips, it is nice that SLU is being coveted by the players just as much, if not more, than the player is being coveted by the coach. What a switch!!

[moytoy12]

Good points Doc.