Majerus recruiting idea- realistic?

[GW]

I've been thinking how Majerus in the last month has thrown the traditional recruiting guidebook out the window. You know the one where is says you need to develop a relationship with the recruit over years of time. Majerus arrives and recruits that were not on SLU's radar are coming in on an almost daily basis. I was wondering if there was a way to take advantage of the buzz, momentum and new reality. This idea may be crazy and unrealistic but here it is. Target a dozen or so 4 and 5 star recruits that have not yet considered SLU and are still uncommitted. Focus on those living in the region (few hundred mile radius), and/or considering schools in the area, and/or catholic high school students, and/or considering catholic Universities. Screen those down to players who would be compatible to Majerus's system. I think that Majerus could talk to these kids and because of who he is potentially get his foot in the door. Obviously this late in the game we'd be behind and if we had some generic coach it would be a complete pipe dream- but seeing Majerus in operation lately I'm starting to think anything is possible. If Majerus contacted a dozen or so of these blue chippers, what's the chance that say 1 or 2 of them say yes just because of Majerus? Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but wouldn't it be worth the effort?

I have not seen any of these recruits play and don't know a thing about them except for their ranking and don't know if they would be compatible in Majerus's system but here are a few names from scout.com in order of ranking.

1)Samardo Samuels #6 C went to catholic(?) high school considering georgetown among others.

2)Iman Shumpert #15 SG from Oak park, IL. Considering Marquette and Illionois among others.

3)Elliot Williams #17 SG from Collierville,Tn. Catholic(?) high school.

4)Angel Garcia #18 PF from East Chicago.

5)Michael Dunigan #20 C from Chicago.

6)Sylven Landesberg #21 SF considering Georgetown and Villanova. Catholic(?) high school.

7)Travis Releford #24 SG from Shawnee Mission, Ks. Catholic(?) high school. Considering Illinois and Missouri.

8)Tyler Zeller #25 PF from Washington, In.

9)DeAndre Liggins #31 SF from Chicago. Considering Illinois.

10)Sean Mosley #42 SG Catholic(?) high school. Considering Georgetown and Villanova.

11)Matthew Humphrey #78 SG from Chicago. Catholic(?) high school. considering Illinois and Marquette.

12)Verdell Jones #84 PG from Champaign, IL. Considering southern Illinois, Illinois, Xavier and Depaul.

The question marks after the catholic high schools means that the name sounds Catholic, but I did not research to ensure that it was. This list is not conclusive and like I said would need to be screened further but I'm just trying to throw some names out there so you can see what I'm getting at.

One thing that stands out is that there is a lot of uncommitted talent (half of those above) in the Chicago area. Majerus could probably work in trips there while he was visiting his mother in Milwaukee. Porter Moser may have some connections there as well.

I wouldn't be suprised if Majerus has not already been working on a similar idea- not that he needs me or anyone else to tell him how to do his business. It seems like there has been a lot of "mystery" recruits coming around. I think by not extending the offer to Femi John shows they are looking at higher talent. Porter Moser stated that they were expecting a "monster" class in 08. By past SLU standards we would ALREADY have a "monster" class with Brett Thompson alone along with a few role players. I'm thinking Porter means monster by national standards which would mean adding Suggs and others of similar caliber. With the exception of Brandenburg, Thompson and Suggs, to get this level of talent means recruiting beyond the metro area.

[Dungeon Yankee]

The Majerus magic has all Billiken fans thinking and dreaming

[Four Seventeen]

It's about time we started getting talent from outside the "metro area." Look at BC, GeeTown -- no one on the roster from Chestnut Hill or the Georgetown district of Washington, D.C.

Biondi wants SLU to be a national player --- let's start recruiting the CaliKids and the InnerCityKids.

[stlsfinest]

Why do you all of a sudden want talent from outside the metro area. In 2003, you had one area talent on team I think in Chris Sloan. The program got better through the additions of area players, 4 of them started for SLU last year on the 20 win team. Now the area talent is about to hit its zenith and you want to go outside! Lock up the local guys first, then go outside. Brandenburg, Thompson, Perry, Suggs, Roth, and Mitchell is fine by me with the 6 scholarships. If you can get those 6, why go outside. Those local guys get you to the Sweet 16 at worst.

[Abe Froman]

wow, can I get a little of what you're smoking. Must be some sweet Sao Paulo trip weed or something.

With most of those guys the inroads have already been made, Majerus himself will not be enough to move our mid-major program in a mid-major conference into contention with a lof of those guys. It's one thing to get a Thompson or Suggs or other local kids who know all about SLU and still listed us despite the incompetant of Soderberg, but east coast kids? Nope. Inside out is the way they have to do it, lock up the area kids first, then branch out to other areas.

Oh, by the way, Metz, Georgetown is chock full of kids from DC and DC metro. Roy Hibbert went to Georgetown Prep. The more you post the dumber we all get.

[Four Seventeen]

Whatever, dude.

[Abe Froman]

>Whatever, dude.

6 guys out of 12 from VA or MD, 2 coming in next year from Metro DC, class of 08 all 3 so far from Metro DC (yes, I count Baltimore as Metro DC). Whatever dude indeed.

[Four Seventeen]

I was just saying that SLU doesn't need local talent. We need tough kids from across the country. Do what you have to do to win, Majerus. That's all I want. Who cares if the kid is from New Zealand -- get him here. Let's get to the Tournament and tell Marquette to shove it.

[GW]

Abe Froman said-- "wow, can I get a little of what you're smoking. Must be some sweet Sao Paulo trip weed or something.

With most of those guys the inroads have already been made, Majerus himself will not be enough to move our mid-major program in a mid-major conference into contention with a lof of those guys. It's one thing to get a Thompson or Suggs or other local kids who know all about SLU and still listed us despite the incompetant of Soderberg, but east coast kids? Nope. Inside out is the way they have to do it, lock up the area kids first, then branch out to other areas."

Do you possess a crystal ball that tells you what recruits will or will not do? You say "Majerus himself will not be enough". How are we to know unless we try? I am not implying to disregard local recruiting and focus exclusively on my idea. How much effort is required to do a little background research on a dozen or so players (an assistant can do this) and then have Majerus call the guys and see if there is any interest? There is a high potential reward here for MINIMAL EFFORT. If Majerus calls these guys and they are not interested our program is not going to be in shambles because he wasted a few minutes of his time.

I agree that Majerus alone probably will not bring us "into contention with a lot of those guys". I am not looking for a 100% acceptance nor even a majority. As I stated, I was hoping for a chance on 1 or 2 of them.

Only 3 of the 12 I listed are from the east coast. If they say no we simply move on.

I'm glad you were not an advisor to Biondi when he was trying to bring in Majerus. Applying your standards, your advice may have been "a guy of Majerus's stature is not going to come to our mid-major school in our mid-major conference. What are you smoking Father?" If we were asked 2 months ago what would suprise us more- that we would hire Majerus as our coach or that we would get a top 100 recruit from outside the metro area- I think most of us would have been more suprised by Majerus than a recruit. We can get Majerus to come out of retirement and leave ESPN to come here, but getting a high school kid to change his college choice is a wacky idea that could only be inspired by drugs? Perhaps I set myself up for that by prefacing my idea with "this may be crazy and unrealistic", but it was still unneccesary.

After further consideration, I don't believe this idea to be crazy after all. Worst case, we waste a little effort. How can you not try this considering the potential reward. If Majerus does land one of these guys or someone similar would that be so shocking? I believe Majerus has more capability than you seem to think.

[GW]

stlsfinest said-- "Why do you all of a sudden want talent from outside the metro area. In 2003, you had one area talent on team I think in Chris Sloan. The program got better through the additions of area players, 4 of them started for SLU last year on the 20 win team. Now the area talent is about to hit its zenith and you want to go outside! Lock up the local guys first, then go outside. Brandenburg, Thompson, Perry, Suggs, Roth, and Mitchell is fine by me with the 6 scholarships. If you can get those 6, why go outside. Those local guys get you to the Sweet 16 at worst."

You know what, I would be very happy to have the class you mentioned and that probably is the direction we are heading. I had mentioned Brandenburg, Thompson and Suggs as local talent that was already top 100, so yeah they are great. It sounds like Perry may be part of the deal with Suggs, which is fine as he is very good in his own right. Roth and Mitchell? As good as they are, if we could have 2 other out of the area top 100 in their stead would that not be an improvement?

We only have the verbal of Thompson at this point. What's the plan B if Suggs and Brandenburg or others go elsewhere. I don't think it would be a bad idea to be working other avenues.

This is not an either/or proposition. We should certainly continue our focus on the local recruits. Having Majerus contact a dozen or so other guys is not going to impede this. Out of those dozen, we'd probably only have a chance on a couple. Work on these guys in addition to the locals and see what we wind up with.

I'm thinking that this is the key recruiting class for Majerus. He has a buzz about him now that may wane by the next class (unless he has great results this season). The newness might wear off. Also consider that as time progresses, Majerus's health and age are going to be of more concern to recruits. If you come in on this next class you stand a good chance of having Majerus as your coach all 4 years. A couple years from now will that be the same? Hopefully it is, but who knows? You have the first season of the new arena to market to the kids now- I can see the idea of "the house that the class of 08 built" being appealing. Also, with the exception of Lisch and Lidell- who will be seniors when 08's class are freshman- the talent level on the team is not very high. This means that you can expect to be given a lot of playing time even as freshman. Given these reasons, I just see now as a great window of opportunity and we would be best served maximizing it.

[Billiken Law]

Well, considering Majerus was begging to get back into coaching and had made his interest known at Iowa, Long Beach and Creighton, knowing this was his last chance Biondi didn't take a calculated risk, he knew he could get him.

I'm with Abe. With the depth in the STL area this year why should he start ignoring the local kids to go after outside kids that have shown no interest in SLU before? Take care of business locally first. You can't stretch youself too thin recruiting everyone and anyone.

[GW]

Billiken Law said-- "Well, considering Majerus was begging to get back into coaching and had made his interest known at Iowa, Long Beach and Creighton, knowing this was his last chance Biondi didn't take a calculated risk, he knew he could get him.

I'm with Abe. With the depth in the STL area this year why should he start ignoring the local kids to go after outside kids that have shown no interest in SLU before? Take care of business locally first. You can't stretch youself too thin recruiting everyone and anyone."

If you wish to disagree fine, but please don't put words in my mouth. I never said to "ignore the local kids" nor was it even implied. In my initial post, I specifically listed Thompson, Brandenburg and Suggs as worthwhile local talent. In reply #9 I stated "It sounds like Perry may be part of the deal with Suggs, which is fine as he is very good in his own right"- another local. In reply #9 I stated "I am not implying to disregard local recruiting and focus exclusively on my idea". In reply #10 I stated "This is not an either/or proposition. We should certainly continue our focus on the local recruits." How my statements in this regard can leave you the impression I wish to "ignore the locals" is beyond me. In my initial post I stated "If Majerus contacted a dozen or so of these blue chippers {top 100 non metro}, what's the chance that say 1 or 2 of them say yes just because of Majerus". That's 1 or 2 OK? We have 6 scholarships, so subtracting even 2 from that leaves 4 to use on locals. I never said anything like "hey we need 6 guys from out of the metro area because all these locals are slugs".

You stated "You can't stretch youself too thin recruiting everyone and anyone." Is it your impression that my idea was "hey there are thousands of high school kids out there- lets recruit them all and see what we get!!"? I said contact a dozen- not "everyone"- top 100 kids- not just "anyone". For most of those dozen it will be a brief effort as they will have no interest. Yes, there may be a few remaining who have some interest and will yes require us to then expend some energy on them. To me, that is a very nice...problem... to have.

OK here's the deal. Continue the focus on the locals. Expend 90+% of our effort toward them. I just don't see why having an assistant do some background research to screen for a dozen kids, then having Majerus call them to check for interest can not be done in combination with our local efforts. It may even progress the local situation if they see they are not our only option.

Disagree that Majerus was "begging to get back in coaching". Sure, he was itching to but "begging"- no. Disagree that Biondi "knew he could get him". I think its more accurate that Biondi "knew he had a good chance". Disagree that this was Majerus's "last chance"- unless you are referring to this year only. For Biondi having Majerus in the bag, it was sure an intense slowww hiring process. I wish you would have let us know that Majerus was coming to Biondi "begging" (on his knees with his hat in hand as well?) for this job and we had nothing to worry about during those 2 weeks or whatever it took to hire him- it sure would have saved us a lot of anxiety... My whole point in bringing up Majerus was that we can get him to come here, but my idea that a non metro top 100 recruit may come as well is considered to be drug induced by Abe Froman. I stand by my statement that I believe Majerus coming here is more suprising than some recruit.

I am dissapointed that only Four Seventeen agrees that expending the minimal efforts I am suggesting would be worthwhile and the belief is that they would actually be counterproductive by damaging our local efforts. If that's the case, so be it. Thanks for the responses.