next year's class

[bk18]

http://collegebasketballnews.scout.com/a.z...2%2F920741.html

Kreuser pinned it down to Lafayette and SLU and picked Lafayette.

I bet the only players to get scholarships are Evans, McCall, and Loe.

I think Majerus is heavily recruiting some players who aren't on anyone else's radar who will play at SLU without an offer. Probably see some really good D3 (high school) players get looked at. They don't get the attention that D1 players get. Kwamain was a D3 player and probably would have had better offers available if he played at a D1 high school.

[kshoe]

http://collegebasketballnews.scout.com/a.z...2%2F920741.html

Kreuser pinned it down to Lafayette and SLU and picked Lafayette.

I bet the only players to get scholarships are Evans, McCall, and Loe.

I think Majerus is heavily recruiting some players who aren't on anyone else's radar who will play at SLU without an offer. Probably see some really good D3 (high school) players get looked at. They don't get the attention that D1 players get. Kwamain was a D3 player and probably would have had better offers available if he played at a D1 high school.

Kreuser was never given an offer to SLU.

I've never heard of D1 and D3 in highschool basketball. Is that a Wisconsin thing?

[bills10]

^^That's how it works in Ohio. D1 is for the largest schools, all the way down to D5.

[courtside]

Kreuser was never given an offer to SLU.

I've never heard of D1 and D3 in highschool basketball. Is that a Wisconsin thing?

Yes, that is how it works in WI and some other places. Whitefishbay Dominican, or Dominican for short, played in the third largest division, similar to a MICDS off of the top of my head in STL in terms of size. However, Ray Nixon and some others have come out of there. And, Mitchell played for the well known and very good Wisconsin Playground Warriors, or Playground Warriors for short. And that team is similar to the St. Louis Eagles. The year behind Mitchell won some big time prestigious National tourneys, and at times a couple of the younger players played up on Mitchell's team. Those players included Jamil Wilson at Oregon and Johnnie Lacy, at Providence. Evan Anderson, the 7footer UW and others have been through that program.

Mitchell was partly overlooked because his age team was overshadowed by the one below him. He's also a "quiet" player, and he improved a great deal later on and his offers improved and increased.

[MB73]

Not sure why people want to target Christian for as much criticism as they do.

The guy has started every game, which makes him the only player to do so. He hasn't been in and out of the starting lineup like some of the other guys. I'm guessing that means Majerus and the coaching staff like what he has done.

I'd like to see him shoot the ball better, but I like that he's confident enough to take shots — and he's hit a couple big ones this year as well. He's also averaging 7.8 points per game, while Cassity and John combine to score 9.2 points per contest.

Whoever has planted the idea that Christian was only recruited to get Cody to SLU is obviously just trying to cause trouble. Christian committed and signed with SLU before SLU was even able to get Ellis to take an official visit to campus. Which means that if Cody has no interest in SLU, Christian would still be coming to the US to play for the Billikens.

Personally, I can't wait to see what Salecich does over his four-year career at SLU. I like what he brings to the team.

Agree, I think Salecich has shown a lot for a first yr player and will start to hit the "3", it will come, he is still adjusting.

People that imply we took him to get CE are pathetic individuals, go way past "the line", totally inappropriate to say this about a kid. Get lost, creeps.

[GOSLU68]

Agree, I think Salecich has shown a lot for a first yr player and will start to hit the "3", it will come, he is still adjusting.

People that imply we took him to get CE are pathetic individuals, go way past "the line", totally inappropriate to say this about a kid. Get lost, creeps.

Every bit of CS game from dribbling, passing, breaking the press, etc has gotten better with the exception of his flat shot; one day he will wake up and trust that he can drop them in instead of pushing the ball to the back rim; he is plenty

strong to get it there and when he does that it will be like finding God

[cheeseman]

I saw him over the holiday period watching a Hayden (Topeka) basketball game. I think this was after his concussion. He looked a little listless. I could not find out much from people who were close to Jeff last year about his status. I hope that he stays at St. Louis and qualifies for a medical red shirt this year. I imagine that decision will come soon. Congratulations to everyone for beating Richmond. I still think that Reid could be a significant offensive threat for Saint Louis in the years to come and he might even play passable defense !

Thanks for the info but I have two questions that I think may very well clear up this red shirt issue - 1. If JR does not take his finals from first semester and continues to not have earned any credits then how can the NCAA give him a red shirt? For all intents and purposes he ate up a 1/2 year of eligibility but never made progress towards graduation. 2. Has he showed for second semester yet? If not then he has basically unenrolled on his own. Once again, how can the NCAA say that he can be red shirted if he is not even enrolled? My point is this - if for some reason and I hope not - he is unable to return this year, then his schollie is rescinded and available for next year unless he wants to reenroll and RM wants to risk rewarding him a schollie. His situation is very complicated and I am not sure how it can and will play out.

[jjray]

Not sure why people want to target Christian for as much criticism as they do.

The guy has started every game, which makes him the only player to do so. He hasn't been in and out of the starting lineup like some of the other guys. I'm guessing that means Majerus and the coaching staff like what he has done.

I'd like to see him shoot the ball better, but I like that he's confident enough to take shots — and he's hit a couple big ones this year as well. He's also averaging 7.8 points per game, while Cassity and John combine to score 9.2 points per contest.

Whoever has planted the idea that Christian was only recruited to get Cody to SLU is obviously just trying to cause trouble. Christian committed and signed with SLU before SLU was even able to get Ellis to take an official visit to campus. Which means that if Cody has no interest in SLU, Christian would still be coming to the US to play for the Billikens.

Personally, I can't wait to see what Salecich does over his four-year career at SLU. I like what he brings to the team.

+1 Christian has earned his keep.

[jjray]

Jeff Reid hang it up for good? Not many shooting guards get concussions - he'll have a great college career, even if it's not here. The guy's a gunslinger - if you give him an open look, he'll hurt you. Every team needs a pure shooter.

I hope Jeff Reid comes back. We need a shooter who can play the 3. All 13 players on the roster are not going to be starters or even give you big minutes. Having offense on the bench is important and SLU has always struggled with that.

[Clock_Tower]

Just to be clear, my previous post had nothing to do with CS. I thought I saw a boy becoming a man Saturday. It took a lot of courage to take the charge he did in the first half. He also got the rebound and hit his FTs at the end of the game. He gets better with every game.

I still think the original poster is right, though, that going deep in the NCAAs will naturally involve recruiting over some of our current team, as much as I admire each and every one of them.

You are absolutely wrong. Recruiting over is not needed to go deep in the NCAAs. Improvement, maturity and strength of the current players (plus next year's class) will do the job. If our players continue to develop at the rate they are developing, we will have success. If our players don't develop, then it's a given that we won't go the NCAA Tourney much less deep in it. Not very many true freshman can step in an hit the outside shot. So far, CS, FJ, JJ and KC are not getting it done. With improved play, and with the contributions of Evans and McCall, our Bills may, in fact, get the job done. Instead, your post implies that our current youngsters cannot and will not get the job done.

[Clock_Tower]

I too would love to see this roster remain intact and see just how far they can go. That being said our entire roster is basically condensed into two classes. At some point after this season I am sure that at least one player will not like what his future minutes look like and choose to look elsewhere. You can't blame a kid fo that. Or, even more likely, Jeff Reid decides to hang 'em up for good. I would say that the chances of at least one of these scenarios occurring is north of 50%. A true center like Loe would be a welcome addition to this team and the coaches would be silly to stop recruiting him at this point

Drew. Don't worry so much about the balance of the roster. With the loss of BT and RC and the redshirt of FJ, our Sophs are now down from 7 to 4. Count me in the camp that was "worried" about having too many players in that class. Also, don't forget that next year's Freshmen will most likely have 3 players (McCall, Evans and either the medical redshit of Jeff Ried his replacement).

For next year, that would make 4 Jrs, 6 Sophs and 3 Frosh - not 13 kids spread over 2 years.

Then, if one of the current Freshman/next year's Sophs were to leave, next year's Freshmen could have 4 - even though we were to only have 2 spots open. Or, RM could always pull a page from Brad's playbook and "save" the schollie for the next year and truly spread the 13 schollies over 4 years.

Most likely, though, we'd have 13 spots spread - relatively equally - over 3 years instead of 4 but that really isn't all that unusual.

[ACE]

Drew. Don't worry so much about the balance of the roster. With the loss of BT and RC and the redshirt of FJ, our Sophs are now down from 7 to 4. Count me in the camp that was "worried" about having too many players in that class. Also, don't forget that next year's Freshmen will most likely have 3 players (McCall, Evans and either the medical redshit of Jeff Ried his replacement).

For next year, that would make 4 Jrs, 6 Sophs and 3 Frosh - not 13 kids spread over 2 years.

Then, if one of the current Freshman/next year's Sophs were to leave, next year's Freshmen could have 4 - even though we were to only have 2 spots open. Or, RM could always pull a page from Brad's playbook and "save" the schollie for the next year and truly spread the 13 schollies over 4 years.

Most likely, though, we'd have 13 spots spread - relatively equally - over 3 years instead of 4 but that really isn't all that unusual.

Good breakdown. Also, redshirting Corey or JS would spread the classes this way: 4 Jrs., 5 Sophs, 4 Fr.

[Clock_Tower]

Good breakdown. Also, redshirting Corey or JS would spread the classes this way: 4 Jrs., 5 Sophs, 4 Fr.

You're right. I believe that is what RM expected this year - but the NCAA messed that up with their handling of CE. In short, the NCAA's actions probably cost either/both CR and JS a year of eligibility.

[billiken_roy]

You're right. I believe that is what RM expected this year - but the NCAA messed that up with their handling of CE. In short, the NCAA's actions probably cost either/both CR and JS a year of eligibility.

correction they cost them a year of college. they will still get 4 years of "eligibility".

[Clock_Tower]

correction they cost them a year of college. they will still get 4 years of "eligibility".

Agreed.

[bsheldon]

Boyaa--thanks.

Tourist and others:

I am sorry if the tone of the original post came off mean spirited--it was not intended as that. I thought I was pretty clear that I really like current group we have and am excited to see them progress. I also didn't mean that CS has no value beside being friends with CE. He has progressed nicely. Again, though I just wish he could knock down a few more 3's a game--20% isn't exactly anythng to write home about. I was real high on him before the season and kept telling my friends to watch out for him. (I was having Highmark and Clagget flashbacks with threes dropping in from everywhere this side of half court.) That may be my fault to have had such high expectations for him, but he is not shooting well. I love the fact that we have one guy who is money from the line though and he is VERY valuable in that role. I hope to see him stay too. I simply meant I didn't see anyway that he is going to leave. I know I may have worded it poorly.

Another thing I would like to point out about our young guys is this: I saw Willie last year and almost immediately said--that kid is going to awesome in two years if he starts eating, hits the weight room and sticks with it. Sometimes you can just tell when a player has it or not. I haven't really had that same level of excitement about any of freshman besides CE this year. Of course there are exceptions and I am hoping mightily that we have a whole batch of them right now--guys that are not great in their first year or two, but turn into great players by their Jr and Sr years--again fingers crossed. I see absolutely no harm to the program in recruiting players that will immediately challenge for playing time. Isn't that the whole point? Why would we purposely recruit players worse than the ones we have? It hasn't panned out well for the Rams. Plus having real good players competeing for floor time does two additional poistive things for the program. It makes everone put out absolutely 100% effort and it makes the guys you practice against everyday on the scout team that much better. It's a win-win. Again, my expectations or more correctly, what I was lead to believe by the Majerus hiring is that Biondi was serious about being a big-time program. That is what is takes--recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. You could give the worst 1st year middle school coach 8 all americans and he is going to destroy any coach in america who is coaching D2 pine riders. You have to have talent to win at the highest level. Did anyone see the link in here about the turnover of players at Kentucky? Calipari's record shows he knows how to win. Of course I am not saying that this is what I want to have happen, but there may be some collteral damage along the way. Again, I know it sucks--big time for those players. I don't want anyone to be forced off the team, but rules are rules and you are only allowed so many scholarships and I think some may leave on their own accord if they see no way to get any court time. And then there are the wildcards, like injuries and players that quit or transfer for any number of reasons. I really do like our current players and do hope to see them all playing together 3 years from now, but I don't know, nor does anyone, if that is going to get us where we all want to be--a perenial sweet 16 team.

[brianstl]

I hope Jeff Reid comes back. We need a shooter who can play the 3. All 13 players on the roster are not going to be starters or even give you big minutes. Having offense on the bench is important and SLU has always struggled with that.

+1

[Clock_Tower]

Boyaa--thanks.

Tourist and others:

I am sorry if the tone of the original post came off mean spirited--it was not intended as that. I thought I was pretty clear that I really like current group we have and am excited to see them progress. I also didn't mean that CS has no value beside being friends with CE. He has progressed nicely. Again, though I just wish he could knock down a few more 3's a game--20% isn't exactly anythng to write home about. I was real high on him before the season and kept telling my friends to watch out for him. (I was having Highmark and Clagget flashbacks with threes dropping in from everywhere this side of half court.) That may be my fault to have had such high expectations for him, but he is not shooting well. I love the fact that we have one guy who is money from the line though and he is VERY valuable in that role. I hope to see him stay too. I simply meant I didn't see anyway that he is going to leave. I know I may have worded it poorly.

Another thing I would like to point out about our young guys is this: I saw Willie last year and almost immediately said--that kid is going to awesome in two years if he starts eating, hits the weight room and sticks with it. Sometimes you can just tell when a player has it or not. I haven't really had that same level of excitement about any of freshman besides CE this year. Of course there are exceptions and I am hoping mightily that we have a whole batch of them right now--guys that are not great in their first year or two, but turn into great players by their Jr and Sr years--again fingers crossed. I see absolutely no harm to the program in recruiting players that will immediately challenge for playing time. Isn't that the whole point? Why would we purposely recruit players worse than the ones we have? It hasn't panned out well for the Rams. Plus having real good players competeing for floor time does two additional poistive things for the program. It makes everone put out absolutely 100% effort and it makes the guys you practice against everyday on the scout team that much better. It's a win-win. Again, my expectations or more correctly, what I was lead to believe by the Majerus hiring is that Biondi was serious about being a big-time program. That is what is takes--recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. You could give the worst 1st year middle school coach 8 all americans and he is going to destroy any coach in america who is coaching D2 pine riders. You have to have talent to win at the highest level. Did anyone see the link in here about the turnover of players at Kentucky? Calipari's record shows he knows how to win. Of course I am not saying that this is what I want to have happen, but there may be some collteral damage along the way. Again, I know it sucks--big time for those players. I don't want anyone to be forced off the team, but rules are rules and you are only allowed so many scholarships and I think some may leave on their own accord if they see no way to get any court time. And then there are the wildcards, like injuries and players that quit or transfer for any number of reasons. I really do like our current players and do hope to see them all playing together 3 years from now, but I don't know, nor does anyone, if that is going to get us where we all want to be--a perenial sweet 16 team.

Sheldon. You're memory is not as accurate as you think. Highmark and Claggett DID NOT "drop in from everywhere this side of half court" when they were Freshmen. They mostly played their Freshman year as back-ups until the upper class exodus occurred -- Melvin Robinson, Carlos Skinner, etc. After the exodus, Grawer played (he had to) the young kids. In short, both of your emails contain the same flaw - you are comparing this team's youngsters to prior team's veterans.

[bsheldon]

Clock tower: Fair enough. That sounds right. I have just been so eager for RM to bring in some really stellar talent I hope for too much and set my expectations a bit too high I guess.

+1 on the JR situation.

[Clock_Tower]

Clock tower: Fair enough. That sounds right. I have just been so eager for RM to bring in some really stellar talent I hope for too much and set my expectations a bit too high I guess.

+1 on the JR situation.

Just to add. With many freshman we have had over the years, one or two looks at them and it is relatively easy to say that while they have some talent, they are still projects at the upper D1 level and that they will have little to truly contribute until their upperclassmen years. (most Billiken recruits). Quite a few former Billiken players never developed and turned out to be busts. Prior to RM, most of our guys were, in fact, projects. Others can contribute right away a Frosh (KL and TL come to mind). Before them, Hughes and Baniak. Before them, there was AB, Gray and Douglas. No doubt I am missing players but my point is that we'd often completely "rebuild" with youngsters, not follow them up with consequetive recruiting years, slowly grow and mature as a team, get close to our goals and then be faced with a complete rebuild situation again. With RM, he is not only following-up each class with another really good recruiting class but none of his guys truly appear to be "projects" as we have used that term in the past. Will every player RM has recruited turn out to be as good as the guys I listed? Probably not. But at this point, I see few, if any busts.

For instance, CR was to be a redshirt this year. He wasn't even expected to play this year (but did/has in part due to the CE saga) and is developing into what appears to be a really good post player. In comparison, if Brad had recruited CR (projected redshirt and back-up for RM), he would have been the best power forward in his 5 year tenure. Possibly the same could be said for JS.

[tourist]

Clock tower: Fair enough. That sounds right. I have just been so eager for RM to bring in some really stellar talent I hope for too much and set my expectations a bit too high I guess.

+1 on the JR situation.

So KM & WR are not stellar talent ??

Might be time to crawl back under the rock you came from,

[Cowboy]

Just to add. With many freshman we have had over the years, one or two looks at them and it is relatively easy to say that while they have some talent, they are still projects at the upper D1 level and that they will have little to truly contribute until their upperclassmen years. (most Billiken recruits). Quite a few former Billiken players never developed and turned out to be busts. Prior to RM, most of our guys were, in fact, projects. Others can contribute right away a Frosh (KL and TL come to mind). Before them, Hughes and Baniak. Before them, there was AB, Gray and Douglas. No doubt I am missing players but my point is that we'd often completely "rebuild" with youngsters, not follow them up with consequetive recruiting years, slowly grow and mature as a team, get close to our goals and then be faced with a complete rebuild situation again. With RM, he is not only following-up each class with another really good recruiting class but none of his guys truly appear to be "projects" as we have used that term in the past. Will every player RM has recruited turn out to be as good as the guys I listed? Probably not. But at this point, I see few, if any busts.

For instance, CR was to be a redshirt this year. He wasn't even expected to play this year (but did/has in part due to the CE saga) and is developing into what appears to be a really good post player. In comparison, if Brad had recruited CR (projected redshirt and back-up for RM), he would have been the best power forward in his 5 year tenure. Possibly the same could be said for JS.

-clock, if you are saying we have more potential talent on this roster than we have had in years, +1

-if you are saying we are recruiting much better than we have, +1

-of course, these two go hand in hand

-i like this '+1' thing, not that it matters

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

So KM & WR are not stellar talent ??

Might be time to crawl back under the rock you came from,

Im getting fired up. KM took over the Richmond game end of the 1st half and really whenever he wanted to in the 2nd half, to the point that they doubled him a couple times up top just to get the ball out of his hands.

IM ENRAGED

[jimbofive]

Im getting fired up. KM took over the Richmond game end of the 1st half and really whenever he wanted to in the 2nd half, to the point that they doubled him a couple times up top just to get the ball out of his hands.

IM ENRAGED

Just like a lion trapped inside a cage?

What is this, amateur night at the Apollo?

[Clock_Tower]

So KM & WR are not stellar talent ??

Might be time to crawl back under the rock you came from,

No, not at all. I said, "prior to RM" we had, as you say, a handful of stellar talent (guys like KM and WR) who would come every 5 years or so. Prior to RM, guys like KM and WR would star all 4 years with little help from the rest of the team. How good would our team with KL and TL have been with more help? How good would the AB, Gray and Douglas team be if Grawer had added a pg like KM and another forward like Upchurch. How good would the H, Clags and Highmark team be if Spoon added guys like WR and CE.

Now, RM is adding guys equivalent to KM and WR each year -- CE, CS and CR this year, McCall, Evans and ? next year.

Still, I am amazed that many don't realize how good these young guys are and will be. These youngster just need to mature and develop. RM doesn't need to recruit over them (though who could really argue with this concept).