Recruiting - 2013

[Box and Won]

There are plenty of fans who don't hit any of those bullet points. Is it open season for them?

I suppose so. I'm guessing students can basically do what they want.

It would seem that there could be a lot of gray area here. Say a non-booster tweets something to a player, and then I - a booster - retweet it. Does that count? I'm not directly communicating with the player, but he is included on the communication.

[Billboy1]

While true these kids enjoy the attention

[billiken_roy]

to be safe, it would be best to stay out of it. let our coaches do their job.

[Pistol]

to be safe, it would be best to stay out of it. let our coaches do their job.

[snaps nude cell phone self-photo in bathroom mirror, sends to 18-year-old.]

Yeah, I agree with Roy. Starting...now!

[billiken_roy]

that hurt pistol. and i thought we were buds. obc forever!

[brianstl]

Here are SLU's guidelines for boosters (if you're in the Billiken Club, you're a booster). No mention of social media, but it does say:

http://www.slubillikens.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27200&ATCLID=205241768

So Roy basically has us looking at the death penalty for talking to that recruit at the game. Thanks Roy.

[TheA_Bomb]

I think JC should implement a scholarship offer time limit decision matrix based on multiple factors. The first factor is the rating of the recruit which can be a composite rating definitely weighting the internal rating. The amount of time to wait for this athlete to accept an offer diminishes if the plan B is close to his rating. However, if the plan B is not close in rating the period of time for the offer can be longer. The staff should strive to have closely rated plan As and Bs so as to not have offers lingering and thus giving the image of SLU as a bridesmaid never a bride. The length of the offers can also be limited based on the coach's statements. IE the coach should not state that he will land 2 players in a week and then only land 1. If this occurs the coach should immediately release a statement to explain the change. The coach/program should definitely not go more than 5 days without updating insiders as to their internal goals and perhaps 10 work days between updating non-insiders with information that is not generally known. These information release guidelines should be adjusted if national or local media are very focused on the recruiting situaiton and there is a chance that it could backfire. All of these guidelines are subject to change based on the will of Fr. Biondi sj.

[HusakAttack]

I think JC should implement a scholarship offer time limit decision matrix based on multiple factors. The first factor is the rating of the recruit which can be a composite rating definitely weighting the internal rating. The amount of time to wait for this athlete to accept an offer diminishes if the plan B is close to his rating. However, if the plan B is not close in rating the period of time for the offer can be longer. The staff should strive to have closely rated plan As and Bs so as to not have offers lingering and thus giving the image of SLU as a bridesmaid never a bride. The length of the offers can also be limited based on the coach's statements. IE the coach should not state that he will land 2 players in a week and then only land 1. If this occurs the coach should immediately release a statement to explain the change. The coach/program should definitely not go more than 5 days without updating insiders as to their internal goals and perhaps 10 work days between updating non-insiders with information that is not generally known. These information release guidelines should be adjusted if national or local media are very focused on the recruiting situaiton and there is a chance that it could backfire. All of these guidelines are subject to change based on the will of Fr. Biondi sj.

If this was even a decent bad idea, I would waste time formulating a response...

[slu72]

I know a lot about Ohio State's booster practices, and, well, let's just say boosters are not kept at arm's length from a recruit. But will the NCAA ever punish OSU? Not in my lifetime. And as great a coach as Wooden was, Uncle Sam (not the gov't one) was keeping a lot of his players well clothed and fed. Be careful, it's dangerous out there, and one thing I can agree w/ Broy on is that we do it right.

[slu72]

As for the tweets, the NCAA ought to look into the one where the chick from ILL State said she'd take beads from Knight. Unless she was a bow wow, that's so not fair.

[kshoe]

I know a lot about Ohio State's booster practices, and, well, let's just say boosters are not kept at arm's length from a recruit. But will the NCAA ever punish OSU? Not in my lifetime. And as great a coach as Wooden was, Uncle Sam (not the gov't one) was keeping a lot of his players well clothed and fed. Be careful, it's dangerous out there, and one thing I can agree w/ Broy on is that we do it right.

Um, wasn't OSU on probation last year and banned from bowl games despite an undefeated season?

[slu72]

Um, wasn't OSU on probation last year and banned from bowl games despite an undefeated season?

Yup, slap on the wrist. A far cry from what they should have been indicted for in past years... decades actually. Prime example is Clagget. He was the poster boy for what's wrong w/ boosters and college sports. And Pete Rose wasn't the only Ohioan betting on his team in the 80s.

[jbizzle09]

I am starting to worry that this thread may not make it to 100 pages...

[White Pelican]

I'm not really worried, more of a concern I guess.

[slu72]

I'm starting to worry about who's our next recruit.

[Pistol]

Updated a little since yesterday morning:

Offers:

Hakim Saintil, PG: 5-11, 170, Roselle Catholic HS, Roselle, NJ. Offers: SLU and Fairfield. Possible offers: Rutgers, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Cincinnati, and SMU. Prep school a possibility. Latest (5/1): Mostly a lot of feet dragging on the decision. Every once in a while he'll tweet something about not knowing yet. His AAU team has been playing in weekend tournaments, and playing well. He hit a clutch 3 to tie, followed by a steal and layup to win one of these tournaments a couple weekends ago.

Jordan Strawberry, PG: 6-1, 170, Mater Dei HS, Santa Ana, CA. Offers: SLU, UC-Riverside, and at least 2 others (UNCW likely). Claims interest from Arizona, Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, California, and Florida State. Latest (5/2): This list came out yesterday and Strawberry's name and picture is in it. Interestingly, Onwuasor and Lancona are not mentioned. He also told a buddy on Twitter that his visit "out there" went well and he's trying to make his decision. Previous: Visit to SLU (and dad) went very well. Since then, UNC-Wilmington has gotten in the mix and has one scholarship left to give after Addison Spruill, a shooting guard from Brevard CC, committed yesterday, 4/30. No confirmation on an offer from UNCW but it seems likely they've made one. He seems to be SLU's backup plan to Randy Onwuasor, but SLU seems like his best opportunity.

Daishon Knight, PG-SG: 6-1, 170, Odessa CC, Odessa, TX. Eligible immediately as junior. Offers: SLU, Murray State, Illinois State. Possible offers: Creighton, Colorado State. Interest from Texas State and Baylor. Latest (5/2): Decision day was supposed to be the afternoon of Tuesday, April 30th (his birthday) according to multiple sources (including him). But he still has not yet made an announcement and it's unclear why. Last week he said he's down to three schools and has a favorite. Illinois State and Murray State are clearly in the final three, but the third is not as obvious. It appears to just be a two-horse race. Illinois State and Murray State fans are anxiously awaiting the announcement.

Randy Onwuasor, PG: 6-3, 190, Inglewood HS, Inglewood, CA. Top Choices: SLU and Miami-Ohio. Other offers: UC-Irvine and Cal State-Fullerton. Interest from Seton Hall, Florida State, Arkansas, UNLV, Tulane, New Mexico State, Utah, and Pitt. Latest (5/2): One retweet yesterday, and it was a good one: @nerdyballer1121: "needs to go to SLU if he wants to win NCAA tourney games. Skill set is great for the team." Otherwise, pretty quiet on the Randy O front since the Miami visit. Previous: Onwuasor has visited SLU and Miami-Ohio. He was supposed to visit Seton Hall after those two, but never announced a visit date. In the meantime, Hall landed a commitment from Hakeem Harris. Utah was also said to be very interested of late, but also appears to have all 13 scholarships filled. SLU and Miami have both made in-home visits in the past 10 days and both have made it clear he's their #1 target at guard. His Twitter feed has gotten fairly quiet outside of retweets from SLU and Miami fans. All signs are it's a two-horse race, unless one of the programs on his Interest list (above) heats up.

Tanner Lancona, PF: 6-9, 225, Tesoro HS, Las Flores, CA. Decommitted from Washington State. Top Choices: SLU, Kansas State, Colorado State, and BYU. Other fresh offers: Clemson and Penn State. Earlier offers: UC-Santa Barbara, Pacific, Pepperdine, Jacksonville, UC-Davis, San Francisco, Loyola-Marymount, Northern Arizona, Idaho, Idaho State, and Santa Clara. Latest (5/2): After being freaked out by some early May snow, Lancona seemed to settle in for a nice visit. Went through a team workout, toured facilities (including football), etc. Previous: CSU signed a 6-7 guy this spring and 6-10 player in the fall, so the frontcourt may be crowded (two HS guards have also signed). However, there are still 2 scholarships available. After CSU, he's heading to Kansas State this weekend. He and his family said May 5th would be decision day, but an article from a CSU source says he's also trying to get to BYU before making a decision. That might push the date back. As far as KSU goes, they just lost assistant coach Wayne McClain, who is taking the head coaching job at Champaign Central HS in Illinois. KSU has 3 bigs on the roster and Weber reportedly impressed the Lanconas a lot when he visited him after the WSU release. Along with the assistant, Weber has seen 3 guys transfer out, so he can sell recruits on minutes to go around. Rain is in the forecast for Manhattan.

Others:

Achraf Yacoubou, SG: 6-4, 210, Villanova. Transfer eligible as junior in 2014-2015. Interested in SLU, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Miami, and UNLV. Latest (5/3): Two Tweets from sportswriters on Friday (5/3) morning said that Yacoubou visited SLU and will be visiting Pitt and Georgia Tech next. Dates on the next two are TBA, as is the date for his announcement.

Brett Jolly, PF-C: 6-10, Carroll HS, Southlake, TX. Offers: Weber State. Interest from SLU, Air Force, Belmont, Bucknell, Lehigh, Furman, North Texas, Penn, Tulsa, Sam Houston State, and Wichita State. Latest (5/1): After visiting SLU, he made a visit to the Air Force Academy. He seemed to like both places a lot. But it isn't clear that any offers are coming in; what's clear is he's a project and the back-up plan at most places that have shown interest.

Alex Fitch, SG: 6-3, 180, Notre Dame HS, Quincy, IL. Possible walk-on. Latest (5/1): There isn't much out there recruiting-wise on Fitch. Most of what can be found are articles from small Quincy-based newspapers with game recaps that mention him. He's playing in a regional all-star game played at Quincy University's arena on June 8. It's not clear he has any offers.

[Pistol]

Also, two junior college players were supposed to visit this week. One, a guard, was on campus yesterday.

[almaman]

for some throw down to KTTA I was going to start a poll of which two picks would you take from supposed "in play" list but I can't decide my own. i guess Lancona is the Tiger of the list but who is most desired besides? and correct me if I'm wrong on TL. I guess I'd go with Randy for my second

[slu72]

for some throw down to KTTA I was going to start a poll of which two picks would you take from supposed "in play" list but I can't decide my own. i guess Lancona is the Tiger of the list but who is most desired besides? and correct me if I'm wrong on TL. I guess I'd go with Randy for my second

I think that's pretty much the general consensus for who we'd like to see in Billiken unis.

[RUBillsFan]

I think that's pretty much the general consensus for who we'd like to see in Billiken unis.

I'd like those two as well, but I am still intrigued by Yacoubou. He hasn't been discussed much because there hasn't really been any news or anything else to discuss. However, he was more much more highly touted than either RO or TL coming out of high school. Looking at his stats, he shot almost 40% from 3pt range last year for Villanova and also averaged 2.6 rebounds per game despite only playing 12 minutes per game.

[West Pine Jim]

I think that's pretty much the general consensus for who we'd like to see in Billiken unis.

I'll throw all caution to the winds and say +1 .

[TheA_Bomb]

Yeah definitely TJL then Y or O. Y highly touted shown some talent in a good conference. O is coming in with 4 years and has the right size.

[slufan13]

Agbeko is going to be a beast

[SLUMedBilliken15]

Hmmm.... An imaginary fight to the death always helps determine my choices. A knight eats a strawberry. The anaconda eats a Finch. Onwanasaurus Rex eats the jolly good fellow....All I really know is Saintilouis is the best team ever.....

[West Pine Jim]

This might be the most sensible post of the last week. Maybe. 50% chance.