Recruiting - 2013

[kmbilliken]

I hope the recruiting takes advantage of the shellackings we took from a small number of teams including Oregon and Kansas. We need to bring it to a new level. Coaches get fired for getting in the NCAA field and not getting past the first two rounds.

They don't at SLU. They are praised for a good year as they should be.

[wgstl]

I just watched RA mixtape again, and damn the dude has nice speed and movement. hes not awkward fast like glaze, he looks like a Terrence Williams or melo

[Billikenswin]

I hope the recruiting takes advantage of the shellackings we took from a small number of teams including Oregon and Kansas. We need to bring it to a new level. Coaches get fired for getting in the NCAA field and not getting past the first two rounds.

I do not understand this post. Technically, we were in the third round two years in a row but regardless it seems to me that any school who wins as many games as we did and ended the season ranked in the top 16, with a team of real good people, with a program that does not cheat and where the players are real students the fans should be delighted with the progress--particularly because this was the second year in a row that the team excelled. At the end of the season I looked at how many "big name" schools did not even make the big dance and I was amazed. For gosh sake, even Kentucky with a roster of HS all americans did not get in the tournament. I attended almost every significant game, including KC, Brooklyn and San Jose, and those players played absolutely outstanding basketball in almost every game and even played pretty tough against Kansas. The games in Brooklyn were amazing as was the first game of the NCAA tournament. The only game in the last 20 or so that really sucked was the Oregon game and it was Villanova /Georgetown in reverse. We shot the ball terrible and thier highly touted guard who was being roundly criticized for his bad shooting decides to have the game of his life and hits bombs from all over the court so we lost and looked less than stellar. But it was still a fantastic season. Then the coach gets named the coach of the year by two national groups. No coach at any school would get fired for the job Crews did this year.

[almaman]

NO THREAD is passing me!!! We still have one scholly available for my year! Let's hope we use it wisely which could mean letting it rollover.

[HusakAttack]

Using it wisely would not mean let it rollover. Be patient and have confidence in our coach who is awful at recruiting and coaching.

[GOSLU68]

I do not understand this post. Technically, we were in the third round two years in a row but regardless it seems to me that any school who wins as many games as we did and ended the season ranked in the top 16, with a team of real good people, with a program that does not cheat and where the players are real students the fans should be delighted with the progress--particularly because this was the second year in a row that the team excelled. At the end of the season I looked at how many "big name" schools did not even make the big dance and I was amazed. For gosh sake, even Kentucky with a roster of HS all americans did not get in the tournament. I attended almost every significant game, including KC, Brooklyn and San Jose, and those players played absolutely outstanding basketball in almost every game and even played pretty tough against Kansas. The games in Brooklyn were amazing as was the first game of the NCAA tournament. The only game in the last 20 or so that really sucked was the Oregon game and it was Villanova /Georgetown in reverse. We shot the ball terrible and thier highly touted guard who was being roundly criticized for his bad shooting decides to have the game of his life and hits bombs from all over the court so we lost and looked less than stellar. But it was still a fantastic season. Then the coach gets named the coach of the year by two national groups. No coach at any school would get fired for the job Crews did this year.

What thread was the Goslu68 quote it seems out of context for this thread please tell me where it came from?

[almaman]

Good recruiting year, thanks to JC and his Krewe.

[Billikenboy]

Here is a fact I just found interesting to note. In this recruiting class we have three Mr. Basketball winners or finalists.

AY was Mr. Basketball New York in 2011, RA was one of six finalists for Mr. Basketball New York 2012 and MC was one of six finalists for Mr. Basketball Indiana 2013. Did not see TL on list for CA 2013 but that would have been interesting. Either way, very impressive to say the least.

[RUBillsFan]

Bringing this thread back from the dead to link this:

Report: Illinois State's Daishon Knight suspended indefinitely

Illinois State head coach Dan Muller has suspended JuCo transfer Daishon Knight indefinitely for a violation of team rules, according to a report.

From the Pantagraph:

According to McLean County Circuit Court records, Knight was arraigned last Friday on one count of aggravated battery in a public place, which is a Class 3 felony, and one count of resisting a police officer, which is a misdemeanor. He did not enter a plea. A status hearing is set for Oct. 4.

Knight averaged 19.4 points for Odessa College last season and was expected to compete for time in the back court for the Redbirds this season.

“We are still getting all of the details, and we will continue to handle the situation internally moving forward,” Muller said.

Knight was the No. 52 JuCo recruit in the country, according to JuCoRecruiting.com.

I am sure glad he didn't wind up at SLU. Thank heavens for the slutty co-eds that lured him to Illinois State.

[Pistol]

Wow. Yeah, I definitely had misgivings about him; I can't remember what it was now but I think I saw he had some academic issues and other off-the-court stuff. Hopefully he didn't do anything too stupid.

[almaman]

All four year threads now in top ten current threads. Hot stove deluxe.

[GOSLU68]

These words are someone else's and copied a part of a reply from someone who eliminated what I wrote

[ACE]

I got a little of Texas Tech and Texas Southern on ESPNU last night. The amazing Randy O. played a little. He had a couple of costly turnovers, got some rebounds, but didn't play a whole lot. An athletic looking kid, but he wouldn't have helped us this year. When we either backed off or lost him, I said I was confident we would land better players this year... well Randy was a two-star and the three big guards we got were all three-stars, so there you go. Plus, we signed Yacoubou right before Randy went to TTech, so I don't doubt we backed off him. Besides, the kids is clearly a tool!

A few more observations... I know some like to complain about our early non-conference season attendance, but you should have seen the TTech crowd. In the box score it said - 4,600 - what a joke. They probably took actual people in the building including the band, cheerleaders, ushers and concession workers and multiplied it by 4. Tech is not good and Southern had a legit chance to win before completely falling apart. TSouthern is coached by Mike Davis, former IU coach. Imagine that, poorly coached down the stretch, stupid fouls and bad turnovers. Also, former LaSalle/West Virginia center Aaric Murray was playing for Southern. What a strange career that kid has had. He started out as an NBA prospect and is ending his college career playing in an empty building in the middle of nowhere in Texas and playing like poop. What a waste.

[Box and Won]

Also, former LaSalle/West Virginia center Aaric Murray was playing for Southern. What a strange career that kid has had. He started out as an NBA prospect and is ending his college career playing in an empty building in the middle of nowhere in Texas and playing like poop. What a waste.

Weird. What happened to him? Illegal stuff?

[almaman]

It is amazing how many players there are playing that plyed on another team these days. It seems like there were a handful a year across the country back in 80's now some teams have that many on single team. maybe I have fuzzy memory, help me out if way off olt timers.

[Taj79]

According to the Philly pundits, Murray was associated with a bad crowd in terms of having an entourage telling him how great he was, how he was being misused, and how Giannini was ruining his pro potential. Giannini,who has taken all sorts of transfer head cases at La Salle (Pettis, Galloway, Garland, etc.)basically told him to hit the road. He then transferred out to join the Staten kid from Dayton and moving to Morgantown, WV, to play for the other mother confessor coaches in college hoops, Huggy Bear. You can imagine how much patience Huggy had for what appears to be a pretty unique malcontent in Murray.

I did not know he transferred out of WVU and went to Southern but if you consider he was out of options for Division 1 (one transfer/five years to play four) going the smaller school route ala Thompson made him eligible to play right away. I'd think Philly to Morgantown must've been quite a shock to the old prima donna system. Where the hell is Texas Southern?

[RUBillsFan]

According to the Philly pundits, Murray was associated with a bad crowd in terms of having an entourage telling him how great he was, how he was being misused, and how Giannini was ruining his pro potential. Giannini,who has taken all sorts of transfer head cases at La Salle (Pettis, Galloway, Garland, etc.)basically told him to hit the road. He then transferred out to join the Staten kid from Dayton and moving to Morgantown, WV, to play for the other mother confessor coaches in college hoops, Huggy Bear. You can imagine how much patience Huggy had for what appears to be a pretty unique malcontent in Murray.

I did not know he transferred out of WVU and went to Southern but if you consider he was out of options for Division 1 (one transfer/five years to play four) going the smaller school route ala Thompson made him eligible to play right away. I'd think Philly to Morgantown must've been quite a shock to the old prima donna system. Where the hell is Texas Southern?

Texas Southern is still Division I. Murray did not have to sit out a year after transferring there because of the graduate transfer rule. Lord only knows how he was able to graduate. I guess Huggy Bear has to keep that APR rating up at WVU somehow.

Embattled big man Aaric Murray picks Texas Southern

Also for the record Texas Southern is in Houston, TX. SLU beat them back in December 2011 by a score of 71 - 39.

[moytoy12]

The amazing Randy O. played a little. He had a couple of costly turnovers, got some rebounds, but didn't play a whole lot. An athletic looking kid, but he wouldn't have helped us this year.

After watching a kid play in an early season game for a couple of minutes you're sure he wouldn't have helped us? Seems a little unfair to conclude.

[NextYearBill]

tatum

[ACE]

After watching a kid play in an early season game for a couple of minutes you're sure he wouldn't have helped us? Seems a little unfair to conclude.

Yes, I think it is fair to say that RO would not have helped us THIS season. He's not getting many minutes yet on a subpar TTech team, so I don't think he was going to see the court much for our veteran squad. That doesn't mean the kid won't go on to have a decent career. He is a 2/1 type guard who seemed to be mostly playing on the wing in the limited minutes I saw. He had a nice rebound, looks big and fairly athletic, so I'm sure he has some potential.

My point was that we'd also be just fine without him. There is reason to believe that we backed off the kid anyway - we had just signed Ash and the need was not as great to have a guard for 2014. Any guard we were going to get late in the spring of 2013 was not likely to help this season. The fact that RO signed so late supports speculation that the kid may have been a late qualifier. When we were recruiting RO, I said I felt confident that we would land better quality guards in the fall because we would have more to choose from. I think mission accomplished with Bartley, Roby and Reynolds. They all appear to be better fits academically and hopefully academically. Bartley in particular is that big pure point guard that many have wanted, which I don't think RO is, PLUS Bartley had better offers and is much stronger academically, considering one of his offers was from Northwestern. I think Roby might be more similar to RO, just a better version... a big athletic 2/1 with better offers than Randy got.

[Pistol]

I think Roby might be more similar to RO, just a better version.

I'm kind of thinking this might be the case. They look fairly similar in videos I've seen.

[ACE]

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.

[Taj79]

Disappointed in how the season has gone? Absolutely not. Win Saturday and we are in the Top Ten. Disappointed that one of the freshmen did not replace Grandy? Not really but still wanted a little more. Been told my expectations might have been unmeetable. I can accept that. All three show promise that I can accept. Not a one is a bust, IMHO. "Each will get significant playing time next season." Duh ----- a game is 40 mpg times five players. Our current seniors take up 137.6 of those 200 available minutes per game. That's almost 70% of all available game minutes.

Somebody somewhere is going to get those. Can we go from one of the "oldest" teams in the NCAA to one of the "youngest" again? Not to the same degree but the point is there.

[moytoy12]

I'm really high on our freshman, but I'm not sure comparing Freshmen years is really all that instructive (not suggesting you said that either). I suspect our freshmen probably have similar numbers to the ones above. I was probably hoping for too much, but was hoping for RA to earn more time. However, GG has played much better ball the last 10 or so games. Still has moments of over-exuberance, but has been solid.

[Old guy]

I have trust that despite the graduation of 5 seniors this year we will be able to field a creditable team for 2014-2015.