Willie Leaving Early?

[JohnnyJumpUp]

What are you talking about? TLIII gave it 115% all of the time.

I've done studies. 60% of the time he tried, every time.

[GOSLU68]

What are you talking about? TLIII gave it 115% all of the time.

did he play ball professionally this year; anyone have any stats on how he did? strange thing his talents could have been used this year-a slasher who

could rebound and defend the opponent's small forward-another 10-15 poionts and 6 to 8 rebounds from a guy who could go 30 plus minutes would have helped.

[kcbilliken]

Actually heard this same rumor while I was back in Kansas City over Easter break from a bunch of Miege grads and parents of kids. I laughed at those comments though. Only draft Willie is ready for is the ABA. He's Kevin Durant's height and and a little heavier. He'd be eaten alive in the NBA Summer League IF he even got that far.

[JohnnyJumpUp]

did he play ball professionally this year; anyone have any stats on how he did? strange thing his talents could have been used this year-a slasher who

could rebound and defend the opponent's small forward-another 10-15 poionts and 6 to 8 rebounds from a guy who could go 30 plus minutes would have helped.

I thought TL was playing somewhere in South America

[billikenfan05]

argentina or uruguay, maybe...

[billikenfan05]

Double post

[NH]

did he play ball professionally this year; anyone have any stats on how he did? strange thing his talents could have been used this year-a slasher who

could rebound and defend the opponent's small forward-another 10-15 poionts and 6 to 8 rebounds from a guy who could go 30 plus minutes would have helped.

Tommie was putting up monster numbers in uruguay. People don't give Tommie enough credit. He was thrust into a very tough situation and still gave us good effort (despite what some may think). He was a legitimate NBA prospect under soderberg and then nothing under Majerus.

[kmbilliken]

Tommie was putting up monster numbers in uruguay. People don't give Tommie enough credit. He was thrust into a very tough situation and still gave us good effort (despite what some may think). He was a legitimate NBA prospect under soderberg and then nothing under Majerus.

His game was never close to NBA level when he was here. He may have been an NBA prospect if he worked hard and vastly improved his game. That didn't happen and it wasn't RM's fault. RM doesn't hold players back.

[cheeseman]

Didn't IV test these waters? and doesn't that mean you get to practice against some really good bigs?

I am all for Willie getting himself up to NBA quallity. As long as he doesn't do a Tommie Liddell the third and stop going to classes and forget to graduate. Basketball is a good way to go for 10 or 15 years but you need a degree if you want to stay in it as a business; Willie is well spoken and I would hate to see him buy a degree at Lindenwood like our other sportscasters just to get a job on TV although I have to say i would rather listen to

Willie than Ron Jacober, Rene Knott, or Randy Karriker or Martin Gilcoyne.

I think Rammer went to Lindenwood.

[cheeseman]

Tommie was putting up monster numbers in uruguay. People don't give Tommie enough credit. He was thrust into a very tough situation and still gave us good effort (despite what some may think). He was a legitimate NBA prospect under soderberg and then nothing under Majerus.

My guess is that if he was a legit NBA prospect as a sophomore that was based on a projection of what his future development would be. Now, when RM came he did not suddenly say lets thwart that development. Given that RM has sent more players to the NBA then BS did how can you blame RM for TL's not continuing to be a NBA player. I agree that TL did have to play out of position but that was a result of BS's lack of recruiting of inside players. My guess is that RM told TL what he had to do to become a NBA player and he decided that he was not going to work at it that hard - only a guess but that is what can happen when a player who got by on natural ability finally learns that that alone is not enough anymore.

[milwaukeebill]

willies fbook

"Sorry we couldn't bring St. Louis a tournament trip, but i promise next year if we as a team work hard this summer we will be there next year. Thanks for all the support!"

yeh.hell be back. this was just to stop the rumors...which were frivolous to begin with...

[Bizziken]

Kwamain Mitchell's facebook:

"Screw a mere trip to the NCAA tournament next year, we're going to win the whole fu**ing thing!"

Oh wait, that's MY facebook

[For-DaLove]

willies fbook

"Sorry we couldn't bring St. Louis a tournament trip, but i promise next year if we as a team work hard this summer we will be there next year. Thanks for all the support!"

yeh.hell be back. this was just to stop the rumors...which were frivolous to begin with...

I feel like this post wasn't in the past couple of days...and I know there are people on here with more insight and sources than Willie's facebook lol. I don't believe he will leave this year, but I do know these reports of him saying this stuff aren't false.

[kcbilliken]

I feel like this post wasn't in the past couple of days...and I know there are people on here with more insight and sources than Willie's facebook lol. I don't believe he will leave this year, but I do know these reports of him saying this stuff aren't false.

Not to be creepy dalove but that post from willie was from 8 hours ago as of....now...yes there are more people with inside info but thats as good as any from a college student.

[slu72]

Not to be creepy dalove but that post from willie was from 8 hours ago as of....now...yes there are more people with inside info but thats as good as any from a college student.

Players are starting to announce their intentions, ie Turner from OSU, the fab five of KY. Some are saying w/ agents and w/o. Like Turner, who's projected as a top 5, has said he's going in naked. Strange since he's a lock for a lottery pick and a big $$ contract. If any of this WR talk is actually reality based, I'd guess he'd give it the IV type look to figure out what he needs to work on and come back next year to show the pros he learned his lessons well. Of course, IV came back and said no way can I play with these guys, so I'm mailing it in and hopping the first plane home after my sr season.

[Taj79]

If I were WR and KM, I'd declare, not hire an agent, go to the pre-draft camps and get evaluated. Once I had that, I'd come back to school and have three "to do" lists --- DO whatever it is keeps me eligible, DO what my coach RM wants me to do over the summer to improve me and my SLU team, and DO whatever it is I learn from the NBA experience. In that order if I DO all that, next year looks bright for SLU and the NBA potential for our two seniors-to-be --- strike notwithstanding. I know we have other seniors-to-be but I don't see the ame options exisitng for Conklin; Cassity could be a late bloomer.

Again I am asking someone in the know if anyone knows about this declaring stuff. The Wright case is most curious -- I am 99.9% certain he declared last year, went to all the draft camps as noted above, and came back to Dayton for his junior year because he was told so. I was under the impression that you can do that only once in your collegiate career. Now that he's declared again, I am of the thinking he can't go to through those camps and evaluations again so he'd be listening to who knows who about where they think he'll go and have to decide in or out on that advice. I see Wright's game similar to that of Chris Wilcox and Jason Maxiell and Gerald Wallace ---- not much on the offensive end but big hops and big physical talent. But isn't that a dime-a-dozen in the NBA?

[majerus mojo]

My friend talked to Willie at Fusz earlier. He said he wasn't declaring this year. Sorry for the bad rumor.

[JMM28]

If I were WR and KM, I'd declare, not hire an agent, go to the pre-draft camps and get evaluated. Once I had that, I'd come back to school and have three "to do" lists --- DO whatever it is keeps me eligible, DO what my coach RM wants me to do over the summer to improve me and my SLU team, and DO whatever it is I learn from the NBA experience. In that order if I DO all that, next year looks bright for SLU and the NBA potential for our two seniors-to-be --- strike notwithstanding. I know we have other seniors-to-be but I don't see the ame options exisitng for Conklin; Cassity could be a late bloomer.

The only problem with going to the draft camps is hearing something that doesn't mesh with Cockstrongs system. If this team makes the NCAA next year, Willie and KM will have 0 problem getting noticed. Stay at SLU this summer, get bigger, stronger, faster, shoot about 3000 free throws a day, and make the tournament next year.

[davidnark]

Had I known this was possible, I would have done it back in the day.

Unknown LSU student enters NBA draft

By Glenn Guilbeau, Gannett News Service

BATON ROUGE — Apparently, LSU has lost another basketball player to the NBA draft. First Brandon Bass, and now Curtis Heroman. Actually, Heroman declared first, back on April 15.

Only Heroman never played basketball at LSU. Well, actually he has. But he never played basketball for LSU, where he is a student. He played intramural ball. Yet Heroman, who is 6-foot-3, said he filled out all the necessary forms through the NBA office and wrote a letter to the league saying he wanted to declare himself eligible for the draft. He said he corresponded with Erica Ruiz in the NBA legal department. Such a person does work at the NBA office.

"It was a pretty lengthy process," Heroman said in a phone interview from his home last week. "It took well over a month. I had to fill out a lot of forms. There was a lot of work back and forth."

And under the "Transactions" head on a number of national Web sites on April 16, Heroman's name appeared as leaving LSU early for the NBA draft.

SI.com, the Web site for Sports Illustrated, had this: "Louisiana State — Announced guard Curtis Heroman will forgo his last year of college eligibility and enter the NBA draft."

MSNBC.com had Heroman on a list of early entries right before Jarrett Jack of Georgia Tech.

USATODAY.com also listed "Curtis Heroman, f, LSU" as an early entry right under "Chris Hernandez, g, Stanford."

There was Heroman, whose most recent basketball experience on a real team was as a starting guard at University High in Baton Rouge in the 2000-01 season, on the same list with Andrew Bogut of Utah, forward Sean May of North Carolina and, as of Friday, Bass of LSU. The deadline for entering the draft was Saturday at midnight.

"I've never heard of him," said LSU assistant coach Butch Pierre, who handles the Tigers' recruiting.

"I didn't know my name was on those lists," Heroman said.

"I know Curtis Heroman," said former LSU player Collis Temple, whose son Collis Temple III played with Heroman at University High before moving on to LSU. "What is he doing in the draft?"

Evidently, it can be done. An ESPN researcher called LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette to ask about Heroman and said he was going to be mentioned in a story on the early entries for the NBA draft on Saturday's night's SportsCenter.

"I'd never heard of him," Bonnette said.

"He may be in the draft, but he won't come out of the draft," said long time NBA scout and talent consultant Marty Blake. "It sounds like he's playing a joke for his friends."

Tim Franks, who is the vice-president of communications for the NBA, said from his home Saturday night that there is no set of criteria for a person to enter the NBA draft.

"Our official draft list will not be released until later this week," Franks said.

Heroman said he did not do it for a publicity stunt, and he's not joking.

"It's something I never had the chance to do and something that I always thought I might've been able to do," he said. "I know I won't be drafted, but maybe I can turn somebody's head in a tryout or in a camp. I was always hurt or sick in high school. I'm just getting healthy again and want to see what I can do."

Heroman has diabetes and said he blew out his knee in high school.

"You name it, and I've had it," he said.

"He was a good role player," U-High coach Ari Fisher said. "He averaged maybe six or eight points a game. He understood the game. I tried him at point guard his sophomore year. He was a diabetic. He was thin, and there was a problem with his stamina. But he was as good as anybody for two or three minutes. He was a very intelligent kid, and Curtis was always very conscientious. He was also on the track team and could really jump."

Fisher said he has not spoken with Heroman in a few years.

"Is this a joke?" Fisher said when first told the news. "He's in the draft?"

[Clock_Tower]

Tommie was putting up monster numbers in uruguay. People don't give Tommie enough credit. He was thrust into a very tough situation and still gave us good effort (despite what some may think). He was a legitimate NBA prospect under soderberg and then nothing under Majerus.

Aside from Brad and the Post Dispatch saying nice things about local boy TLIII what do you base your comment that he was a "legitimate NBA prospect?" TL had a ton of talent but never put in the hard work to realize this talent. Brad ran his offense around TL. RM did not. TL, though, should be thanking RM for making him learn how to play defense and teaching him how to be more of a complete player.

[NH]

Aside from Brad and the Post Dispatch saying nice things about local boy TLIII what do you base your comment that he was a "legitimate NBA prospect?" TL had a ton of talent but never put in the hard work to realize this talent. Brad ran his offense around TL. RM did not. TL, though, should be thanking RM for making him learn how to play defense and teaching him how to be more of a complete player.

I base my comments off of discussions with NBA scouts who said Tommie was the best prospect in the A-10.

What do you base your comments that he "never put in the work"?

[dlarry]

Hmm. I would think he(or the coaching staff) would be smarter then this.

A 6'9 200 pounder without a jump shot or ball handling ability wont last long in the NBA.

He wouldnt be able to keep up with the Lebrons and Durrants and he isnt big enough to stop the Amare Stoudemires and Elton Brands.

What position does he think he will be able to play in the NBA right now?

PF not big enough

SF not a good enough shooter or handler

The power forwards in the league would eat him alive and the small forwards would run circles around him.

Not trying to be negative because he is already a great player but those are the facts.

[Clock_Tower]

I base my comments off of discussions with NBA scouts who said Tommie was the best prospect in the A-10.

What do you base your comments that he "never put in the work"?

I say bs to your claim about these unnamed NBA scouts. As to me my comments are based upon by observance of him as a season ticket holder who watched TL year after year after year after year. That would be 4 years if your counting. TL's first year showed us real but raw talent. His leaping and rebounding ability was great from the beginning. Plus, his style of play seemed fool opponents by lulling them to rest only to have TL blow past them. TL really improved his shot after his first year and had a good offensive season. At that time, his stock was rising and scouts were interested. His defense thought never really increased until RM. Also, by comparison, his dribbling never improved like his shot did. I say that in that TL still could not truly protect the ball his Senior year. Had he been able to play the point, he'd have been special. TL also never gained, IMO, sufficient strength and muscle. Remember that TL's Senior year was 5 years post-high school and he played with finesse and quickness but w/o strength and true power. Everyone's body is different but, IMO, TL did not put in the work to play defense, to protect the ball while dribbling and to gain sufficient strength. Without the strength, he was limited on the inside and his shooting range also was limited. TL, playing the 3, could not battle sufficiently inside with the bigs and could not provide enough of an outside threat. This really wasn't limited to just TL. Instead, and unfortunately, team strength, weightlifting and strength seemed to really decrease after Spoon and under both Romar and Brad. Next year, we will most likely really see what RM's off-season conditioning program will do to the team.

NH. Did you hear that Rob Loe actually said he'd play for SLU? Didn't you say we had no chance? Also, still think CE will be CR's backup? BTW, you never did explain your anti-foreign player bias from the other thread.

[jimbofive]

I say bs to your claim about these unnamed NBA scouts. As to me my comments are based upon by observance of him as a season ticket holder who watched TL year after year after year after year. That would be 4 years if your counting. TL's first year showed us real but raw talent. His leaping and rebounding ability was great from the beginning. Plus, his style of play seemed fool opponents by lulling them to rest only to have TL blow past them. TL really improved his shot after his first year and had a good offensive season. At that time, his stock was rising and scouts were interested. His defense thought never really increased until RM. Also, by comparison, his dribbling never improved like his shot did. I say that in that TL still could not truly protect the ball his Senior year. Had he been able to play the point, he'd have been special. TL also never gained, IMO, sufficient strength and muscle. Remember that TL's Senior year was 5 years post-high school and he played with finesse and quickness but w/o strength and true power. Everyone's body is different but, IMO, TL did not put in the work to play defense, to protect the ball while dribbling and to gain sufficient strength. Without the strength, he was limited on the inside and his shooting range also was limited. TL, playing the 3, could not battle sufficiently inside with the bigs and could not provide enough of an outside threat. This really wasn't limited to just TL. Instead, and unfortunately, team strength, weightlifting and strength seemed to really decrease after Spoon and under both Romar and Brad. Next year, we will most likely really see what RM's off-season conditioning program will do to the team.

NH. Did you hear that Rob Loe actually said he'd play for SLU? Didn't you say we had no chance? Also, still think CE will be CR's backup? BTW, you never did explain your anti-foreign player bias from the other thread.

EXCELLENT critique of TL3. i loved dat dude, but man, he could have been special. as my grandpa used to say, ho well.

[NH]

I say bs to your claim about these unnamed NBA scouts. As to me my comments are based upon by observance of him as a season ticket holder who watched TL year after year after year after year. That would be 4 years if your counting. TL's first year showed us real but raw talent. His leaping and rebounding ability was great from the beginning. Plus, his style of play seemed fool opponents by lulling them to rest only to have TL blow past them. TL really improved his shot after his first year and had a good offensive season. At that time, his stock was rising and scouts were interested. His defense thought never really increased until RM. Also, by comparison, his dribbling never improved like his shot did. I say that in that TL still could not truly protect the ball his Senior year. Had he been able to play the point, he'd have been special. TL also never gained, IMO, sufficient strength and muscle. Remember that TL's Senior year was 5 years post-high school and he played with finesse and quickness but w/o strength and true power. Everyone's body is different but, IMO, TL did not put in the work to play defense, to protect the ball while dribbling and to gain sufficient strength. Without the strength, he was limited on the inside and his shooting range also was limited. TL, playing the 3, could not battle sufficiently inside with the bigs and could not provide enough of an outside threat. This really wasn't limited to just TL. Instead, and unfortunately, team strength, weightlifting and strength seemed to really decrease after Spoon and under both Romar and Brad. Next year, we will most likely really see what RM's off-season conditioning program will do to the team.

NH. Did you hear that Rob Loe actually said he'd play for SLU? Didn't you say we had no chance? Also, still think CE will be CR's backup? BTW, you never did explain your anti-foreign player bias from the other thread.

Fine, call BS on the NBA scouts. It was in Atlantic City for the conference tournament, Majerus' first year. We sat in not the best seats during the first half of the SLU-Dayton game, so we (my father and I) decided to move closer. Since there was hardly anyone there, we got great seats. In fact, they were just in front of Chris May (who I believe was pretty new at the time) and Kosha Irby. he game was a great comeback by the Bills, but we fell short in over time.

But during the second half of the game, some tall guy who was sitting in front of us leaned over and made a comment to me, I said something back and we started talking about the game. He said Lisch didn't have a shot at the league because he couldn't get his shot off against more athletic defenders. He also said that TL3 was, after his sophomore year, the best prospect in the A-10 and probably would have gone in the late first round. He worked for the Cleveland Cavaliers and he said I would be a good scout (which was pretty awesome to hear as a 13 year old). HE gave me his card, but I'm not sure If I still have it.

As for Loe, About 5-10 days before he committed I proposed (on the BIllikenreport.com premium board) a theory that he had already committed and they were keeping it quiet until someone left. I may have been worried he wouldn't come a while ago, but I realized that we were still in the hunt.

And I don't have a bias against foreign players so I can't "explain it". In many ways I was dead on about Cody and in many others I was also wrong.