Recruiting - 2013

[West Pine Jim]

Be patient boys and Kitty, be patient. There are still some rabbits in the hat.

[brianstl]

Returning (briefly) after a few years absence...want to help this thread get to 200!

- From about 100 pages ago, if a coach is not trying to recruit over his current players, the coach is not winning (or won't be in a few years). I have never heard of a coach willingly passing on the most talented recruit because of an existing player.

- Lawyers are not technically doctors. The degree is a JD but JDs cannot put "Dr" in front of their name. Yes, there has been a court case on this about four decades ago.

- I transferred (over 20 years ago now), and no coach would even talk to me over the phone until I had my current coach fax them my release. I suppose third parties could have asked a hypothetical question of interest, but I didn't play that game. This seems the easy way around the tampering rule.

Thought you entered witness protection.

[JettFlight5]

The staff has done pretty well on limited time so far.

[Pistol]

Here, I can be positive. This is downright heartwarming:

Mike Crawford ‏@LikeMike32 27m

Can't wait to ball with @tjlancona in a few months #billikens

[William Iken]

Thought you entered witness protection.

Ha. More like workplace hell, combined with baby bliss ... and couldn't deal with the arrogance of some on the site.

[brianstl]

Ha. More like workplace hell, combined with baby bliss ... and couldn't deal with the arrogance of some on the site.

I here you on the baby bliss. Congrats.

[JettFlight5]

Here, I can be positive. This is downright heartwarming:

Mike Crawford ‏@LikeMike32 27m

Can't wait to ball with @tjlancona in a few months #billikens

Crawford, Tanner, and Reggie will be very good Billikens.

[WestCoastBilliken]

HA. Looks like Lancona is a big golfer. I know Crawford is as well. I am sure they will get along.

[JettFlight5]

HA. Looks like Lancona is a big golfer. I know Crawford is as well. I am sure they will get along.

At 6'9, Tanner would certainly stand out on the course.

[DirtyRican]

Paging Dr. Brad Bradshaw

[RUBillsFan]

Paul Jesperson ‏@pjuva29m

Down to USC nd UNI..

I guess we can cross another one off the list.

[jimbofive]

Paul Jesperson ‏@pjuva29m

Down to USC nd UNI..

I guess we can cross another one off the list.

that guy sucks dicks for pixie stix anyhau. go toss off in a bucket, buddy, you're going to be a scrub no matter where you go.

[gobillsgo]

Paul Jesperson ‏@pjuva29m

Down to USC nd UNI..

I guess we can cross another one off the list.

Oh well. Dude sounds like Cassity with worse hair. No big loss.

[jbizzle09]

Humphries is fine, clearly the most appropriate, the original, official one-and-only place for Billiken hoops.

And I agree that a Cardinal game would be better than watching the NBA HGH-mutants.

broy, we were discussing who would pick up the Conklin post up "O" and I said I hoped RL would evolve-grow-emerge down low (which he did not except for 2 or 3 games) but if not, Evans likely would be able to do it and you stated that you could not see Evans posting up. Bizzleboy will confirm. I am not too worried about it (Kruger).

I will PM you, broy, in the near future, pick a night or weekend afternoon that we can both make it, and then let the civilians know. Should be hilarious; almost looked you up on LinkedIn but then you would know who TF I am if you don't already.

I actually tried to look this up for you. I cannot confirm this at this point. I tried a number of different search options, but I couldn't find any real back-and-forth between you and Roy where you stated that Evans could be the one to take over for Conklin and Roy stating that he couldn't see him being a post-up player. I did see a lot of statements by you stating that Loe would have to step it up as a low-post player (which you stated you made), and I was able to find a post where you suggested that Ellis and Evans could be possible post options, but I could find no disagreements between you two about Evans's ability to be a post player. Part of the problem could be the use of initials for players, which you can't use in the search feature.

Also, what is the 'Humphries' place you speak of?

[Taj79]

While I do not rcall getting into a tete-a-tete with you, MB73, over this, this does sound like one of my issues going into last season. I was adamently worried about who we would have to replace the interior game we lost with Conklin and spoke about it quite often. I remember at least a few occassions where the discussion of Evans came up. In those discussions, I expressed a conern of mine with Evans was his ability to miss what I thought were a whole bunch of bunnies. Layups. Put backs. Etc. I attributed this to the fact that maybe he too considered himself small among the trees and was rushing it. I thought he had great potential, and even advocated that I wished he'd rise us and just slam them all down. But he did lay those fears to rest, especially as the season wore down in February and March. I also recall folks saying names like Glaze, Manning and Remekun as potential Conklin replacements. That did not happen.

I know I believed it would not be Rob Loe or Cody Ellis as their games were exterior big shooters and I think that played out to form.

Standing at this point now and comparing it to last year, I have totally different concerns, which are to be expected. I really don't see any pressing fears, other than once again sustainability. In that context, I mean development of Manning and Glaze (still/we want more, we want more) and the development of the 3/4/5 newcomers. I want crawford to be th enew Hmark. Lancona to be the new Ellis. And Agbeko to get close to the next Bonner.

Right now, while 2013-14 look sgood, we need to add some guards going forward. All we have is a current unknown in Austin McBroom.

[Pistol]

Update for the last two spots. The list is shortening, now that Jesperson has narrowed it to UNI and USC:

Randy Onwuasor, PG: 6-3, 190, Inglewood HS, Inglewood, CA. Top Choices: SLU, Miami-Ohio, LSU, and Pitt. Other offers: UC-Irvine, UC-Riverside, and Cal State-Fullerton. Interest from Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Seton Hall, Florida State, Arkansas, UNLV, Tulane, New Mexico State, and Utah. Latest (5/20): Told Ben Weixlmann he will go on one more visit this week and make a decision by the end of the month. Previous: Onwuasor has visited SLU and Miami-Ohio. SLU and Miami have both made in-home visits. He will be playing in the Nike Global Challenge in DC in July. He has been retweeting SLU fans a lot, but more recent tweets feature Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, and LSU. A TTU assistant apparently visited, and he now says he plans to visit Knoxville soon. No word on offers from either. Onwuasor has picked up an offer from LSU and has already visited there. What looked like a SLU-Miami race has now opened back up.

Jordan Strawberry, PG: 6-1, 170, Mater Dei HS, Santa Ana, CA. Offers: SLU, UC-Riverside, and UNC-Wilmington. Claims interest from Arizona, Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, California, and Florida State, but that appears to be stale. Latest (5/16): Darryl Strawberry told Frank Cusamano that SLU "looked at" Jordan but that he's considering prep school in Connecticut. 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 on 4/30. He seems to be SLU's backup plan to Randy Onwuasor, but SLU seems like his best opportunity if he doesn't reclassify as a 2014 recruit. This list came out on 5/1 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.

JaQuail Townser, PG: 6-3, 185, SWIC. Juco transfer eligible as sophomore in 2013-2014. Unclear whether SLU has offered or who else has. Latest (5/19): Townser has already visited SLU multiple times, at least once with another teammate. Townser averaged 8.8 PPG at SWIC this season along with 4.8 APG and 3.2 RPG on 42.5% shooting (26.0% from 3 and 78.7% from FT). The Telegraph on May 2 said, "Look for former Alton High standouts JaQuail Townser and Tony Bradley, both at SWIC in Belleville, to sign soon with four-year colleges." Here's a

of some high school (2012) highlights.

Achraf Yacoubou, SG: 6-4, 210, Villanova. Transfer eligible as junior in 2014-2015. Interested in SLU, Pitt, and Georgia Tech. Latest (5/22): Yacoubou will be visiting Pitt this coming Sunday, 5/26. Kane has reopened his recruitment after changing his mind about Pitt and Vanderbilt will not be allowing Sheldon Jeter to transfer to Pitt, so Yacoubou is Pitt's top transfer target. Previous: Two Tweets from sportswriters on Friday, 5/3 said that Yacoubou visited SLU and will be visiting Pitt and Georgia Tech next. UNLV and Miami are out of contention. According to pantherlair.com writer Matthew Steinbrink, Pitt is focused on Yacoubou, Sheldon Jeter (if he decides to transfer), and DeAndre Kane.

[ACE]

Update for the last two spots. The list is shortening, now that Jesperson has narrowed it to UNI and USC:

Randy Onwuasor, PG: 6-3, 190, Inglewood HS, Inglewood, CA. Top Choices: SLU, Miami-Ohio, LSU, and Pitt. Other offers: UC-Irvine, UC-Riverside, and Cal State-Fullerton. Interest from Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Seton Hall, Florida State, Arkansas, UNLV, Tulane, New Mexico State, and Utah. Latest (5/20): Told Ben Weixlmann he will go on one more visit this week and make a decision by the end of the month. Previous: Onwuasor has visited SLU and Miami-Ohio. SLU and Miami have both made in-home visits. He will be playing in the Nike Global Challenge in DC in July. He has been retweeting SLU fans a lot, but more recent tweets feature Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, and LSU. A TTU assistant apparently visited, and he now says he plans to visit Knoxville soon. No word on offers from either. Onwuasor has picked up an offer from LSU and has already visited there. What looked like a SLU-Miami race has now opened back up.

Jordan Strawberry, PG: 6-1, 170, Mater Dei HS, Santa Ana, CA. Offers: SLU, UC-Riverside, and UNC-Wilmington. Claims interest from Arizona, Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, California, and Florida State, but that appears to be stale. Latest (5/16): Darryl Strawberry told Frank Cusamano that SLU "looked at" Jordan but that he's considering prep school in Connecticut. 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 on 4/30. He seems to be SLU's backup plan to Randy Onwuasor, but SLU seems like his best opportunity if he doesn't reclassify as a 2014 recruit. This list came out on 5/1 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.

JaQuail Townser, PG: 6-3, 185, SWIC. Juco transfer eligible as sophomore in 2013-2014. Unclear whether SLU has offered or who else has. Latest (5/19): Townser has already visited SLU multiple times, at least once with another teammate. Townser averaged 8.8 PPG at SWIC this season along with 4.8 APG and 3.2 RPG on 42.5% shooting (26.0% from 3 and 78.7% from FT). The Telegraph on May 2 said, "Look for former Alton High standouts JaQuail Townser and Tony Bradley, both at SWIC in Belleville, to sign soon with four-year colleges." Here's a

of some high school (2012) highlights.

Achraf Yacoubou, SG: 6-4, 210, Villanova. Transfer eligible as junior in 2014-2015. Interested in SLU, Pitt, and Georgia Tech. Latest (5/22): Yacoubou will be visiting Pitt this coming Sunday, 5/26. Kane has reopened his recruitment after changing his mind about Pitt and Vanderbilt will not be allowing Sheldon Jeter to transfer to Pitt, so Yacoubou is Pitt's top transfer target. Previous: Two Tweets from sportswriters on Friday, 5/3 said that Yacoubou visited SLU and will be visiting Pitt and Georgia Tech next. UNLV and Miami are out of contention. According to pantherlair.com writer Matthew Steinbrink, Pitt is focused on Yacoubou, Sheldon Jeter (if he decides to transfer), and DeAndre Kane.

In an attempt to keep this thread moving, I predict we will not land any of these guys, a combination of us not being interested in them and in the case of Yacoubou, him not being interested in us. I certainly hope I am wrong about Yacoubou because I think he would be a nice addition.

I predict we will get one player not on this list and have one unused scholarship. Any other predictions out there?

BTW, it is looking more ane more like Drew was NOT forced out to land a player we had lined up.

[HusakAttack]

In an attempt to keep this thread moving, I predict we will not land any of these guys, a combination of us not being interested in them and in the case of Yacoubou, him not being interested in us. I certainly hope I am wrong about Yacoubou because I think he would be a nice addition.

I predict we will get one player not on this list and have one unused scholarship. Any other predictions out there?

BTW, it is looking more ane more like Drew was NOT forced out to land a player we had lined up.

I predict that we will fill both scholarships from players not on this list.

[billiken_roy]

While I do not rcall getting into a tete-a-tete with you, MB73, over this, this does sound like one of my issues going into last season. I was adamently worried about who we would have to replace the interior game we lost with Conklin and spoke about it quite often. I remember at least a few occassions where the discussion of Evans came up. In those discussions, I expressed a conern of mine with Evans was his ability to miss what I thought were a whole bunch of bunnies. Layups. Put backs. Etc. I attributed this to the fact that maybe he too considered himself small among the trees and was rushing it. I thought he had great potential, and even advocated that I wished he'd rise us and just slam them all down. But he did lay those fears to rest, especially as the season wore down in February and March. I also recall folks saying names like Glaze, Manning and Remekun as potential Conklin replacements. That did not happen.

I know I believed it would not be Rob Loe or Cody Ellis as their games were exterior big shooters and I think that played out to form.

Standing at this point now and comparing it to last year, I have totally different concerns, which are to be expected. I really don't see any pressing fears, other than once again sustainability. In that context, I mean development of Manning and Glaze (still/we want more, we want more) and the development of the 3/4/5 newcomers. I want crawford to be th enew Hmark. Lancona to be the new Ellis. And Agbeko to get close to the next Bonner.

Right now, while 2013-14 look sgood, we need to add some guards going forward. All we have is a current unknown in Austin McBroom.

i will say i consider it an honor and a compliment to be mistaken with the legendary taj.

[MB73]

I actually tried to look this up for you. I cannot confirm this at this point. I tried a number of different search options, but I couldn't find any real back-and-forth between you and Roy where you stated that Evans could be the one to take over for Conklin and Roy stating that he couldn't see him being a post-up player. I did see a lot of statements by you stating that Loe would have to step it up as a low-post player (which you stated you made), and I was able to find a post where you suggested that Ellis and Evans could be possible post options, but I could find no disagreements between you two about Evans's ability to be a post player. Part of the problem could be the use of initials for players, which you can't use in the search feature.

Also, what is the 'Humphries' place you speak of?

What, do you work for the government?

Before last season I pointed out on several threads that though Conklin was no Lew Alcindor, he was our absolute 100% go-to post up player in crunch time, and that made our dynamics such that it took so much pressure off the rest of the team. I said we needed that "one guy"; many said we could do it "by committee". I said physically RL would be the best if he would post up, take it to the hoop, hit the short jump shot, draw some fouls, but he would have to toughen up and change his game a LOT. I remember saying Ellis might be possible but that Evans would be the most likely if RL did not evolve... though an inch shorter and many pounds lighter than Conk, Ellis was long and strong for his weight and had the finesse and touch to get in there and post up effectively. broy say he could not see Evans posting up effectively. He did. There were tons of threads. But, that is behind us. I am not too worried about it.

NOW it would be nice to get a quality high potential guard or two, a freshman and a transfer would be optimal.

But we should not sign a guard unless he is high potential. The problem is most recruits know they will not play next year with MM-JJ-McBroom so we are at a disadvantage. I am not naming names but I think a few players on the original Pistol list are not KM-MM-JJ potential. A few are. I think Crews is smart and will not sign a guard who is not high potential and will wait for next year. A risk, yes.

[Box and Won]

I predict we will not land any of these guys

I think you may be right. I don't feel terribly optimistic about our prospects right now.

[billiken_roy]

I think you may be right. I don't feel terribly optimistic about our prospects right now.

i am 50-50

[slu72]

I think you may be right. I don't feel terribly optimistic about our prospects right now.

Agree. I also think a couple of insiders on here (wink... wink you know who you are) have intimated the two guys we'll sign are not on anyone's radar.

[jimbofive]

I think you may be right. I don't feel terribly optimistic about our prospects right now.

yurp.

[b.hayes]

Come on Achraf.