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Recruiting - 2017


RUBillsFan

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We all know how big and growing the 2017 offer list currently is, but I checked in with the interest list to see if SLU was being mentioned with any of them. Updates:

-Nana Akenten is up to 11 offers, with a ton of interest. Travis Ford has been in touch with him, and three Big Ten schools have also been out to see him lately.

-There doesn't appear to be much going on with Marvin Bateman's recruiting at the moment. Sorry, Roy, and correct me if I'm missing anything.

-Daniel Farris is a local kid drawing some interest, but he's small and offers have been slow. He led Vashon to its first state title in a decade.

-Noah Frederking is picking up a lot of Valley interest. I'm not seeing a lot of SLU activity with him, though.

-Chris Knight continues to slowly gain offers, but he appears to be going to the Horizon, MAC, or Ivy League based on his list.

-Ra Kpedi still sits on the line of having a lot of smaller conference offers and a lot of power conference interest. He's young for his class and might finally see those big-time offers come in later this year. It's unclear whether SLU is still involved.

-Brandon McKissic picked up offers from DePaul and Murray State this month. Missouri State and UMKC had previously offered. He's one I'm sure SLU is keeping an eye on, but hasn't been involved with much.

-Skyler Nash is taking a prep season to get one more year under his belt after having a cancerous tumor removed a year ago. K-State was his leader before this decision. He was friends with Miles Reynolds; it's unclear if SLU will be involved anymore.

-Christian Negron has emerged as one of Illinois' top 2017 targets, along with Tilmon and Goodwin. Butler, Iowa, DePaul, Virginia Tech, and UAB have all offered and all remain involved. SLU appears to be out of the running here.

-Jack Nunge has gone from looking like yet another Crews recruit (tall beanpole from Indiana) to a big-time recruit, with Iowa, Clemson, and Vanderbilt leading the way. He has a ton of interest, too, and should add more offers in the near future. SLU appears to be out of the running here, too.

-Alex O'Connell appears to be collecting offers for fun at this point. SLU is just one of a hundred "interested" schools, with nothing to show that's still the case.

-Charles Payton left Bloomington HS suddenly this February, transferring to Olympia in Stanford, IL to live with his dad. His departure screwed his previous team out of a playoff run, pretty much, and he'll be eligible in the fall. His recruitment has been quiet since this happened, which is odd timing because he was just starting to really emerge.

-Nathan Reuvers has received more offers from the A10 (St. Joe's), Big East (Marquette, Creighton), and Big Ten (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern), among others, since I last checked in with him. He's at 24 offers and counting. SLU isn't one, and appears to be out of this one.

-David Sloan moved to Louisville and is transferring to Ballard. His eligibility with KHSAA is pending. In the meantime, he's picked up a few more offers and has a lot of interest. Butler, Louisville, Tennessee, Iowa State, Memphis, and Mizzou are among the offers.

-Joey St. Pierre transferred back home to Richmond-Burton after a semester at La Lumiere Prep, due to "homesickness" - or possibly the arrival of Tilmon on campus. Offers have been slow, and sitting this semester didn't help, but he still has a lot of interest. SLU was very involved here before the staff change. Not sure if the new staff has been in touch.

-Collin Stallworth still hasn't picked football or basketball, but Central Michigan has offered him for both. So far, that's his best option on either side. SLU is probably not interested here.

-Levi Stockhard had a huge month. Marquette is apparently giving him the full push, and he also snagged offers from K-State, Cincinnati, New Mexico, Missouri State, and SIUC. I'd be surprised if Ford's staff hasn't at least reached out by this point.

-The weird saga of Alonzo Verge continues. He had transferred to Proviso West and ruled ineligible, so he transferred to a prep school in Florida and played most of a season before returning to Proviso West to finish his spring semester. He's uncertain where he'll attend or play in the fall; Proviso West and Proviso East are both possibilities, among others.

Names I'm removing from the interest list due to lack of apparent interest from SLU and/or minimal recruiting activity in general (unless something changes, of course): Jalen Clanton, Donald Duncan, Koray Gilbert, Javonte Perkins.

Names I'm leaving on the interest list even though I think SLU's interest is stale and/or don't have any updates on: Lenell Henry, Willie Herenton, Jamal Nixon, Manny Patterson, P.J. Pipes, T.J. Smith, Alec Spence, Ryan Stipanovich, Blake Williams.

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Elijah Joiner: PG, 6-3, 165, Chicago, IL (Curie)Offers: SLU, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, DePaul, UAB, Illinois State, Loyola-Chicago, Bradley, Ball State, UIC, Green Bay, Winthrop, Buffalo, UC-Davis, Cal Poly, Bethune-Cookman. Interest: Dayton, Creighton, Minnesota, New Mexico State. Latest News: SLU is the latest offer for Joiner. Scouting Report: Joiner is a smooth, skilled, tough-as-nails combo guard with good range and the ability to score in a number of ways. He was a major part of Curie’s 4A state title run his junior year. Twitter: @Slightwork11__

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A few thoughts on Joiner:

Ford really seems to like scoring combo guards over pure point guards. That's in line with what OSU fans said about him - that he seems to go for length, athleticism, and scoring in his recruits so he winds up with a lot of 2-4 wing-type players and not a lot of post players or true point guards. Joiner can play the point; it's just an observation. Coleman and Hollowell are probably the only true PGs he's offered in the 2017 class.

Joiner certainly has more interest than what I listed; that's just what I was able to confirm.

He played alongside DePaul commit Devin Gage this past season and they won a 4A state title for Curie. Gage is more of the true PG, so it'll be interesting to see how Joiner's position changes this next season. Gage is also trying to reinvigorate a Chicago pipeline for DePaul, so I'd imagine he's giving Joiner a hard sell. DePaul was actually one of Joiner's first offers.

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Elijah Joiner: PG, 6-3, 165, Chicago, IL (Curie)Offers: SLU, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, DePaul, UAB, Illinois State, Loyola-Chicago, Bradley, Ball State, UIC, Green Bay, Winthrop, Buffalo, UC-Davis, Cal Poly, Bethune-Cookman. Interest: Dayton, Creighton, Minnesota, New Mexico State. Latest News: SLU is the latest offer for Joiner. Scouting Report: Joiner is a smooth, skilled, tough-as-nails combo guard with good range and the ability to score in a number of ways. He was a major part of Curie’s 4A state title run his junior year. Twitter: @Slightwork11__

Kid looks pretty good on his video. Nice looking shot with quick release and can score in a variety of ways. Looks like a prototypical 2, but who knows... it was only a video. We need another guard who can play point.

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A few thoughts on Joiner:

Ford really seems to like scoring combo guards over pure point guards. That's in line with what OSU fans said about him - that he seems to go for length, athleticism, and scoring in his recruits so he winds up with a lot of 2-4 wing-type players and not a lot of post players or true point guards. Joiner can play the point; it's just an observation. Coleman and Hollowell are probably the only true PGs he's offered in the 2017 class.

Joiner certainly has more interest than what I listed; that's just what I was able to confirm.

He played alongside DePaul commit Devin Gage this past season and they won a 4A state title for Curie. Gage is more of the true PG, so it'll be interesting to see how Joiner's position changes this next season. Gage is also trying to reinvigorate a Chicago pipeline for DePaul, so I'd imagine he's giving Joiner a hard sell. DePaul was actually one of Joiner's first offers.

It kind of seems as this is the trend, relying more scoring guards that can play the point. Did the Bills have a true classic point in the last 5 or 6 years? I would call Kwamain, Jett, and McCall combo guards.

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I'd call KM a true point who could also fill it up. MM started that way but then seemed to play more 2 as JJ began to dominate the ball.

+1

his senior year vs some very good VCU defenses. he was challenged to the nth degree bringing the ball up and initiating offense and had to play an far more minutes than he should have because frankly jett and mccall couldnt do the job at his level. mitchell is probably either the second or third best point guard when just considering handling the ball and initiating the offense in the last 30 years of billiken basketball. waldman is the only one i would definitely put above him and newberry is the only other one i might consider.

of course his total game was better than both.

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Pretty early offer for Yess. Has anyone seen this kid play?

Does anyone know how Yess is playing this spring? I have heard he is a kid we have a strong chance of landing assuming we want him. His stats at Parkway West this past season were not overly impressive, but I have not had the chance to see him play. Is he a local Brett Jolly?

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It wouldn't write off Yess as a good D1 prospect at this time. There are people that would know far better than me on here, but I don't think Yess was playing at 100% this past high school season

That is certainly the wild card in the Yess discussion and that is why I was asking if anyone knew how he was playing this spring. I haven't seen the kid play, but from those who saw him last season he did not sound like a kid deserving of an offer from SLU. Again, if he was playing at less than 100% that may have been a factor and changes the discussion.

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I've heard that he's playing AAU this spring and has been playing well. I also heard the staff has seen him play recently in a tournament and liked what they saw.

I saw him play during his sophomore year and he's not Jolly. I didn't see one fade away.

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Is Yess planning on playing football again his senior year?

No football this year.

It may have been lost in the earlier posts but Ford and assistants have watched him play in AAU this year and have re-offered the scholarship. Presumably they wouldn't have done that if they didn't want him but who knows.

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