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Recruiting - 2013


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Just checking in to see how some of our recruiting targets mentioned in this epic thread have done. Djambo, who was the subject who started this thread, has not done much for Clemson - averaging 10 minutes and 2 ppg for an average team. He would not have made much of an impact for us this year.

Jordan Price went to TCU. He has done very little for a bad team.

Saintil, signed with South Alabama. It was reported we had interest but never made an offer. He's averaging 7 ppg for a bad team. Would not have made much of an impact for us this year.

Randy O - averaging around 3 ppg for TTech. Reported by Ben that we never extended an offer. His playing time has decreased in conference play. He may develop into a solid player, but would not have helped us this season. I wouldn't be surprised if Tubby recruits over the kid.

Daishon Knight went to Illinois State. We were linked to him, but not sure if we ever offered or if the kid had mutual interest. There were questions about his grades and character. Sure enough, he was suspended for being arrested for battery just a few weeks into school. He has put up good numbers and seems like he could have made our rotation based on his talent, but based on his off court stuff, it is for the best we didn't sign him.

Strawberry - he visited us but we never offered. I believe he went to Prep school.

Lucas Stivrins - Our name was mentioned as recruiting him, but not sure we offered. He went to Utah State and has done nothing.

Leslee Smith - A juco big who we were mentioned as recruiting. I think we got involved too late in the process. He went to Nebraska. I have seen him play and he is probably the one guy who could have contributed for us this year.

A couple local players of note - Nolan Berry, he's done nothing on a below average Butler team. He hasn't even played in most of their conference games. He may have a nice career, but would not have helped us this year. When we signed Lancona, I suggested that based on his profile, he very well could wind up having similar or a better career than Berry. That opinion didn't go over very well with some Nolan Berry fans on this board, but based on a small sample size, it looks like Lancona could turn out to be better than Berry.

Keano Post - we sent a letter to this loser from SWIC, but never came close to landing him. Some local media including Cusumano and Burwell were singing this kid's praises. It's even a running joke on Burwell's radio show about how he predicted big things for Post. He has done absolutely nothing for a mediocre SPUMAC squad.

This is the thread where the legend of Jolly was born. We first learned about Lancona and the Yacoubou transfer and where we first saw the sick crossover by Agbeko. Pretty neat that we have seen that same crossover from Reggie several times this season.

Several people in this thread mentioned that they would be disappointed if one of the freshman didn't replace Grandy. Well, that hasn't happened but I'm sure as heck not "disappointed" in how this season has gone or in how the freshmen have performed. I have seen good flashes from all three and think each will get signifant playing time next season. Bottom line, I am very happy about the potential of the recruiting class of 2013 and don't feel like we missed out on anybody would have made a big impact for us this season.

Tools, the whole lot of them.

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And stiffs too!

"Stiffs" are what trolls are allowed to say about players who commit to us. Tools are recruiting targets who sign with OTHER programs. For some strange reason, it is ok to call one of our future players a stiff, but NOT ok to make fun of a player who chose NOT to play for SLU. It's a real oddity on this board.

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Several people in this thread mentioned that they would be disappointed if one of the freshman didn't replace Grandy. Well, that hasn't happened but I'm sure as heck not "disappointed" in how this season has gone or in how the freshmen have performed. I have seen good flashes from all three and think each will get signifant playing time next season.

Kind of a quibble, but Grandy has lost minutes, in part because Evans is playing the 4 more and Crawford is seeing some time as the 3. I still would've liked to have seen Agbeko get some more extended minutes at the 4 this year, but everything has certainly worked out as is.

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  • 5 months later...

It's not exactly comforting to me when players we were recruiting and really wanted to get, flame out at not-so-great programs.

Agreed. However, I'll throw it out there that I'm not 100% sure the staff actually really wanted to get him (or wanted him more than the guys we actually got) and this was during the time when the staff did minimal recruiting in the wake of Majerus passing away to focus on the current players.

The "really wanted to get" part is more a reflection of us MBMs than the staff.

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Agreed. However, I'll throw it out there that I'm not 100% sure the staff actually really wanted to get him (or wanted him more than the guys we actually got) and this was during the time when the staff did minimal recruiting in the wake of Majerus passing away to focus on the current players.

The "really wanted to get" part is more a reflection of us MBMs than the staff.

Maybe, but that's a bit of revisionist history to say we didn't really want him when all indications at the time were that we offered him a scholly and would have taken him if he had committed. Obviously we don't know everything that is going on and the subtleties are important, but I'd prefer to read that he was a key contributor and that our staff had done a real good job of evaluating and finding a hidden gem recruit. After all, for us to continue recent success we are going to depend on a bit of hidden gem magic.

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Maybe, but that's a bit of revisionist history to say we didn't really want him when all indications at the time were that we offered him a scholly and would have taken him if he had committed. Obviously we don't know everything that is going on and the subtleties are important, but I'd prefer to read that he was a key contributor and that our staff had done a real good job of evaluating and finding a hidden gem recruit. After all, for us to continue recent success we are going to depend on a bit of hidden gem magic.

Oh yeah. I'm not saying the staff didn't want him. I'm just saying we don't really know everything.

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Maybe, but that's a bit of revisionist history to say we didn't really want him when all indications at the time were that we offered him a scholly and would have taken him if he had committed. Obviously we don't know everything that is going on and the subtleties are important, but I'd prefer to read that he was a key contributor and that our staff had done a real good job of evaluating and finding a hidden gem recruit. After all, for us to continue recent success we are going to depend on a bit of hidden gem magic.

If you are trying to evaluate a "hidden gem" recruit then you cannot compare how he would have fared with one program with another after only one year. How a player is coached and how he fits in with the team and the style of play are big elements of how well a player might do in different situations. You really cannot judge how he might have performed here based upon what he did at Clemson. It was this board that seemed to annoint him as a superstar. I never heard a single coach refer to him in that way.

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If you are trying to evaluate a "hidden gem" recruit then you cannot compare how he would have fared with one program with another after only one year. How a player is coached and how he fits in with the team and the style of play are big elements of how well a player might do in different situations. You really cannot judge how he might have performed here based upon what he did at Clemson. It was this board that seemed to annoint him as a superstar. I never heard a single coach refer to him in that way.

Sounds good. I'm sure if he had come here he would have averaged 9 and 7.

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  • 2 years later...

Please don't bite my head off for resuscitating this thread after three years of lying fallow, but now that the 2013 class has graduated/completed their eligibility, it might be interesting to weigh in with conclusive assessments of the class.  At the time, this was the longest thread on billikens.com, and it has been surpassed by only the 2016 recruiting thread, which is filled mostly with the hullabaloo of our hopes that Jayson Tatum would stay home and play for his dad's alma mater, and it is still the third-most viewed thread of all time (the 2017 recruiting thread is now second).  Therefore, there must have been some significance to this class in our minds.  Let's kick it around a bit.

This thread, the first of what has become an annual series of threads covering recruiting, began after the conclusion of the 2012-2013 regular season.  Rick Majerus had fallen gravely ill and hand the reins over to Jim Crews (who, up until then [summer, 2012], was probably more of a consultant or special advisor to the coach and had not been involved in building or maintaining the program), the interim head coach.  Though it had yet to be determined whether Crews would be retained or even want the full-time job and the staff had supposedly suspended recruiting efforts during that season, Mike Crawford had signed a letter of intent.  There were two additional scholarships to fill, as Kwamain Mitchell, Cody Ellis, and Corey Remekun would be completing their eligibility following the team's run to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.  (On the way, they added an Atlantic 10 Tournament championship to the regular season title they had already clinched at least a share of when the thread began.)

Without going back to read all of the names of players Crews and the staff pursued or whom posters were interested in, I will begin my analysis with the fact that Reggie Agbeko and Tanner Lancona wound up completing the class.

Agbeko was supposed to be something of a replacement for Remekun.  I'll give him a grade of C.  Remekun was a serviceable role player who wasn't expected to be a star, and he was part of a deeper and better frontcourt.  Reggie's numbers exceeded Corey's, but only because the frontcourt has been sorely lacking in depth and talent since Ellis and Remekun, and then Rob Loe, departed.  Reggie had injury issues early in his career, and by the end he was a big man lacking athleticism.

Crawford was the only guard in the class, but he was in no way a replacement for Mitchell, who Crews never adequately replaced (and whom SLU has yet to find a player comparable to, pending seeing the contributions of Ty Graves and/or Jordan Goodwin or getting improvement from Jermaine Bishop).  Mike played his heart out, but he wasn't really equipped to be a leading scorer.  I give him a grade of B-.

Lancona was supposed to be a replacement for Ellis.  That never materialized.  He hit a few threes on occasion as a freshman for the 2013-14 team that reached the NCAA Round of 32 after a second consecutive A-10 Title but getting bounced by cheating refs and a last-second bucket by St. Bonaventure in the tourney quarterfinal.  The next year, he'd lost all confidence and played sparingly and then transferred out to a Div. 2 program.  I'll give him a grade of D.

Your turn.

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9 minutes ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

Your turn.

This is an interesting off-season topic.  I pretty much agree with your assessments on the guys who wound up at SLU.  I do think it would be interesting to pull some of the names that didn't choose SLU and see if Crews missed the boat or just couldn't close the deal with some of them.  It is always fun to play the what-if game when you need conversation fodder, right?  I don't have time for such an exercise right now, but it will be a long off-season.

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2 minutes ago, JMM28 said:

I remember being pissed about losing out on Nolan Berry. That guy has done nothing. He's at Maryville now after a stop at UC Davis after transferring from Butler. Whoops. 

I looked up Maryville's stats and roster for this season and they list Berry as a redshirt junior.  He had to sit out a year at UC Davis.   Can you redshirt a second time for DII?  Here is his bio from the Saint's site.

Prior to Maryville: Berry played the 2015-16 season at UC Davis. He appeared in 10 games and scored 92 points while grabbing 40 rebounds. Berry originally signed with Butler and played in 16 games as a freshman and averaged 2.1 ppg. At DeSmet, he graduated in second place on the program’s all-time scoring list. He helped the Spartans to a state runners-up finish in 2013 and was a three-time first-team All-State selection.

 

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17 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

I looked up Maryville's stats and roster for this season and they list Berry as a redshirt junior.  He had to sit out a year at UC Davis.   Can you redshirt a second time for DII?  Here is his bio from the Saint's site.

Prior to Maryville: Berry played the 2015-16 season at UC Davis. He appeared in 10 games and scored 92 points while grabbing 40 rebounds. Berry originally signed with Butler and played in 16 games as a freshman and averaged 2.1 ppg. At DeSmet, he graduated in second place on the program’s all-time scoring list. He helped the Spartans to a state runners-up finish in 2013 and was a three-time first-team All-State selection.

 

Isn't where Jolly ended, Ark Ft Smith, Div 2? He didn't red shirt. Maybe it's a medical reason.

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7 minutes ago, tarheelbilliken said:

Isn't where Jolly ended, Ark Ft Smith, Div 2? He didn't red shirt. Maybe it's a medical reason.

Could be a medical waiver, particularly considering what Torch just posted about a HS injury. You don't have to redshirt moving from DI down to DII.

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