cheesycow Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 Word on the street is that Matt Lawrence out of Lafayette has committed to Missouri. Had SLU shown interest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 I don't know much of anything about him but here is what Nate Lasch said in a post I found in the archives. "If Brumagin is as good as his supporters (Gateway folks and his Warrenton Christian coach) suggest, he would be a mid-major Division I prospect. I doubt he is better than guys like Matt Lawrence (Lafayette), Arthur Sargent (Belleville West) and Eric Jones (Webster Groves), who are all similar type players and mid-major prospects and have proven themselves more at the high school level." Plus, check this link: http://www.billikens.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/d...orum=DCForumID3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 In that string of posts, Nate also added the following: "I've seen Matt Lawrence several times this year. He's had a great year but he's still got a lot of things to work on. I see him being a Missouri Valley/Division II type player right now. Same thing with his teammate, point guard Landen Shipley." Nate, feel free to amend/update your prior post if your opinion of Matt has changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Latsch Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Here is what I recently posted on the stltoday.com boards: http://forums.stltoday.com/viewtopic.php?t=167341 Nark, The only thing that changed since I wrote that was Quin Snyder saw Lawrence at a pair of camps -- an individual camp and a team camp -- a couple weeks ago and must have fallen in love with the kid's game. Lawrence is a lanky 6-foot-6 and shoots the ball very well. I figured he would end up as a really good player in the Missouri Valley Conference so I was surprised when I heard Missouri offered him (especially because Missouri is stock-piling tall shooting guards who can shoot with Thomas Gardner, Glen Dandridge and now Lawrence). He needs to add strength and weight and will have to prove he can defend opposing shooting guards to be an effective player in the Big 12. I said he might be a Division II type guy because a lot of people weren't sure he had a true position in college -- maybe he would be a shooting guard, a small forward or even a power forward if he added strength and a couple inches -- but Lawrence said he was recruited as a shooting guard. I think the bottom line is Missouri sees a kid with a lot of potential who has improved each of the last few years and is still growing a little bit. Matt is also a high character kid, which there may be a new emphasis on in Columbia these days. I think Lawrence is different than the typical Mizzou recruit over the last few years because he won't be highly ranked (maybe top 100 after next season) but he should be a good addition. Matt did not mention that St. Louis University was recruiting him at all. He said he had a lot of interest from Missouri Valley and Ivy League schools but no other scholarships at this point. - Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 If Tommie is indeed honoring his commitment and with Luke already in the fold, there isn't any room for Lawrence. But I really like the kid's game and that ain't gonna change just because he has committed to the Shady One. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p diddy Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 i think he has a nice game. it's a good get for mizzou, although it seems out of the ordinary since they usually chase only recruits with high rankings. sounds like a little tyler hansbrough damage control. bad boyz for life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLURadioBoy Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Lawrence sounds like a decent player, but I doubt he'd be able to play over Tommie or Luke. Besides, our biggest need is obviously big men. I think we have enough solid guards/wings that we wouldn't have to worry about not getting this one. We already got the #1 player in Stl anyway in Lisch. "Praises we sing, to you our alma mater, Praise to the white and blue. Our hymn shall ring, in tribute strong to you, We hail Saint Louis U." Official Billikens.com sponsor of Andrew Latimer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 obviously lawrence's biggest strength is the fact he is 6'6" with some perimeter skills. imo on pure basketball skills, i would rather have his teamate shipley, however, shipley is only 6 feet tall. i think it is ironic that of the area wings of note, the 3 with the most upside are either in the billiken fold (liddell and meyer) or slu leads in the recruiting (leonard) and missouri is taking the also ran. i hope that trend continues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Lawrence has some grit and will stick his nose in things, but his is not the Matt Shaw grit. Mizzou will still be a team whose big men are happier with a good entry pass into the paint wing from the top of the key, predicating taller guards who can pass over the top. A lot of recruiting strategy is based on how you can negate the better team strengths in your league. Lawrence falls in line with Kroenke from five years ago, only Kroenke was a superior shooter. There will always be a role for a combo guard who can pass into the paint well and provide quality hardnosed play in limited time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 so you use one of your limited scholarships in june to "nab" this supposed future limited role bench player? seems extreme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Latsch Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 >so you use one of your limited scholarships in june to "nab" >this supposed future limited role bench player? seems >extreme. Roy, What it comes down to is that beauty is in the eye of beholder. Quin Snyder must like Matt Lawrence a lot to offer him so early in the process. The only people who have to agree on a prospect is the coaching staff who decides to offer the scholarship. Brad Soderberg didn't think Blake Ahearn would be a good fit with SLU, so the Billikens didn't offer him a scholarship. The same coaching staff thought Luke Meyer was a good fit, and offered him. - Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 nate, my only point is that for the last few seasons, pretty q $nyder has been recruiting nationally. if he wasnt on every expert's list, the tigers werent interested. at least not 5 months before the signing date. i have nothing against matt lawrence. my post was in response to sheltie's comment where he sees lawrence as the next josh kroenke. if that is true, then one would think the next josh kroenke (bank account excluded) would be there a year from now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 MU has had too many all stars and not enough cohesion for the past few years, and it has hurt them greatly. The major reason Q has not teams that could run the Duke system is due to an almost total disregard for defensive play. The laissez faire offense Q likes does not function well when playing from behind. Lawrence will bring some of the glue and team concept that Q apparently has a hard time teaching, which makes sense. If you can't coach it, recruit it so you don't need to coach it. Visit the Illiniboard and catch up with the conversation Jalen'sDad is having in the Tommie thread. Besides some Illini fans taking note of SLU's progress in recruiting, Dad makes an interesting observation on our need for a real 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 and suddenly realized that you Win with tough hardnosed players, who play well as a TEAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Jimmy McKinney was one of the best team-oriented high school players I've ever seen. He was also Vashon's best defender. Quin and company have managed to turn him into an average basketball player. Watkins' Texas A&M squad looked clueless last year even though they had just as much talent as say, Nebraska, who finished much higher in the standings. If Mizzou's players don't figure it out for themselves, I'm not sure where team concept is going to come from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 http://tinyurl.com/35bgc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 Illinois fans have a bit of class. This thread would've been blown apart with F-Bombs on the Tigerboard, then half of the posts would've disappeared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted July 3, 2004 Share Posted July 3, 2004 Lafayette's coach is Dave Porter - very good basketball coach. However, he is very and I stress very pro MU. He is a long time Norm supporter and I am not the least bit surprised to see Lawerence commit to MU. Porter would probably not stand in any of his players way if they wanted to go to SLU but he clearly would encourage them to go to MU instead. From what I have seen of the player and heard, this might be a reach for MU or he is a great find - hard to believe that other big time schools have not recruited him and MU offered early. I know he can grow as a senior but as much as this area is recruited, he should have been on somebody's radar screen other than MVC and Ivy League schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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