Jimmy Barton- Walkon from DeSmet via Houston Baptist

[slufan13]

To clarify, and I admit its subtle, but I said meaningful game situations. Meaning, his only minutes aren't just mop up time but could include 3-5 minutes in the first half.

I would be quite surprised if he ever averaged over 10 minutes a game, which is my imaginary line for when a player gets into being a material contributor to the on court team.

Fair enough. Like I said I don't know a thing about him. I was just basing my comment on his stats it Houston Baptist and the fact that he wasn't a highly rated guy out of high school. Seems like a really good walk on for us

[cheeseman]

Cusumano also speculates that Yarbrough might make the biggest impact among the freshmen. He said Yarbrough's dad played at Illinois State when Platt was an assistant there and that was a big factor in SLU landing the kid. He also said that Berry's top three is UC-Davis, Loyola and Fla. Gulf Coast. He lamented that there was no room at SLU because all of the scholarships are accounted for.

That is the problem when you pass on the girl for the prom at first for someone more appealing - when that one does not work out there is no assurances that the first on will be waiting for you. He only has himself to blame - lesson learned I guess.

[slu72]

I know nothing about NB's skills, but the schools listed aren't exactly what I'd call impressive. Seems to me we're better off with TL and RA, who we likely would not have if he'd come to SLU. But again, I know nothing about him.

[bauman]

Cusumano also speculates that Yarbrough might make the biggest impact among the freshmen. He said Yarbrough's dad played at Illinois State when Platt was an assistant there and that was a big factor in SLU landing the kid. He also said that Berry's top three is UC-Davis, Loyola and Fla. Gulf Coast. He lamented that there was no room at SLU because all of the scholarships are accounted for.

Gosh, Nolan. There was one a year ago, but you opted for the bright lights of Indy. Play at one of the three mentioned above and never be heard about in St Louis ever again.

[kshoe]

Gosh, Nolan. There was one a year ago, but you opted for the bright lights of Indy. Play at one of the three mentioned above and never be heard about in St Louis ever again.

To be clear, it was Frank that was lamenting that there was no room. I suspect if Nolan really was dying to come back he would have made it clear when he met with Crews in early April and we might have a different story now.

[ACE]

To be clear, it was Frank that was lamenting that there was no room. I suspect if Nolan really was dying to come back he would have made it clear when he met with Crews in early April and we might have a different story now.

You are correct about the lamenting being on Frank's end, on the other hand, unless we have some real insiders on this board, we just don't know what was said between Berry and Crews. It is also possible that Berry said that he was very interested in playing for SLU, but Crews told him to wait to see how things played out with some of our other recruiting targets (like Yarbrough) before we could offer. It very well could be that adding a quality 3 was a bigger priority than adding another big, considering we already had Gillmann and Jolly signed for next year, plus a stretch 4 with Wellmer lined up for 2015.

[kshoe]

You are correct about the lementing being on Frank's end, on the other hand, unless we have some real insiders on this board, we just don't know what was said between Berry and Crews. It is also possible that Berry said that he was very interested in playing for SLU, but Crews told him to wait to see how things played out with some of our other recruiting targets (like Yarbrough) before we could offer. It very well could be that adding a quality 3 was a bigger priority than adding another big, considering we already had Gillmann and Jolly signed for next year.

It could be. But it also could be that we wanted Berry and would have taken him back in April but decided it wasn't worth the risk of waiting for him to make a decision after he finished out the school year.

The story that some might have you believe is that we flat out rejected him and he, along with other local kids that spurn SLU, should learn their lessons from this. Maybe, but maybe not.

[kshoe]

It could be. But it also could be that we wanted Berry and would have taken him back in April but decided it wasn't worth the risk of waiting for him to make a decision after he finished out the school year.

The story that some might have you believe is that we flat out rejected him and he, along with other local kids that spurn SLU, should learn their lessons from this. Maybe, but maybe not.

To further this thought, one thing I learned at the golf tourney was that sometimes we will continue to recruit a hi-level kid in highschool even if we are fairly sure he won't end up at SLU because we want to have a good relationship with him in case he goes off to school and later regrets it (not enough playing time, homesick, etc.) and decides to transfer. It's taking the long view on recruiting.

[slu72]

Ah the vagaries and mysteries surrounding recruiting. Here's one certainty; if NB wanted to come home and JC wanted to use that last scholie on him, he'd be a Billiken. So, either: A) NB was hemming and hawing, or JC was either undecided, or waiting to hear from Yarborough or someone else. Could he or JC have flat rejected one another? Sure, but we'll never know unless an insider comes forward, and those special few are zipped up tighter than JLo's jeans. I don't know of any poster's who's said we told him to take a hike, but I know a lot of folks do get satisfaction when a local rejects us then makes noise about coming back. I've been guilty of it, and it's kind of a petty way to think, because if the guy can really help us we should roll out the red carpet. I'm not so sure, though, if NB was bringing that much value to us. He pretty much disappeared at Butler and they weren't that good last year or this year.

[ACE]

It could be. But it also could be that we wanted Berry and would have taken him back in April but decided it wasn't worth the risk of waiting for him to make a decision after he finished out the school year.

The story that some might have you believe is that we flat out rejected him and he, along with other local kids that spurn SLU, should learn their lessons from this. Maybe, but maybe not.

When Berry first came on the market, I said that my hope was JC would make landing a 3 the top priority, because that appeared to be our biggest area of need. I was very happy that we were able to land MY. If we failed on some of our top targets or one of our players was to transfer, NB could have been a decent fallback. With five bigs (RA, TL, AG, BJ and EW) in the program for 2015, I just didn't see NB as a top priority. Not sure if JC saw at the same way, but I think he is pretty wise, so hopefully he did

Frankly, I would like it if the truth is that Berry wanted to play for us, but there was not enough room. I would like to think we made MY the top priority because we think he is a higher level player and more likely to make an impact at a position we need. But you're right, we don't know if that was the case or not.

[ACE]

Ah the vagaries and mysteries surrounding recruiting. Here's one certainty; if NB wanted to come home and JC wanted to use that last scholie on him, he'd be a Billiken. So, either: A) NB was hemming and hawing, or JC was either undecided, or waiting to hear from Yarborough or someone else. Could he or JC have flat rejected one another? Sure, but we'll never know unless an insider comes forward, and those special few are zipped up tighter than JLo's jeans. I don't know of any poster's who's said we told him to take a hike, but I know a lot of folks do get satisfaction when a local rejects us then makes noise about coming back. I've been guilty of it, and it's kind of a petty way to think, because if the guy can really help us we should roll out the red carpet. I'm not so sure, though, if NB was bringing that much value to us. He pretty much disappeared at Butler and they weren't that good last year or this year.

Cusumano is still providing a lot of updates about Nolan Berry. Clearly he is talking to a family member or a source fairly close to Berry. The fact that Cusumano is lamenting that nothing worked out with SLU, COULD be a sign that the family or Nolan were hoping to come home. Again, just message board speculation on my part. I would think that IF Berry did not want to play for SLU, Cusumano would have leaked that out there.

[JMM28]

It could be. But it also could be that we wanted Berry and would have taken him back in April but decided it wasn't worth the risk of waiting for him to make a decision after he finished out the school year.

The story that some might have you believe is that we flat out rejected him and he, along with other local kids that spurn SLU, should learn their lessons from this. Maybe, but maybe not.

Getting Yarbrough filled a glaring need, filled the last spot with an immediately eligible freshman, and a superior scorer. I think even if the staff was given the choice between Berry and Yarbrough, they take Yarbrough.

[NH]

Cusumano is still providing a lot of updates about Nolan Berry. Clearly he is talking to a family member or a source fairly close to Berry. The fact that Cusumano is lamenting that nothing worked out with SLU, COULD be a sign that the family or Nolan were hoping to come home. Again, just message board speculation on my part. I would think that IF Berry did not want to play for SLU, Cusumano would have leaked that out there.

He's also a fan of DeSmet basketball, which is why he is excited about Jimmy coming and why he may have been rooting for Nolan to come. My personal view is that it is no way indicative of what Nolan was thinking.

Regardless, I agree that from a depth perspective we are better off with Yarbrough than Berry.

[Billikenswin]

Ah the vagaries and mysteries surrounding recruiting. Here's one certainty; if NB wanted to come home and JC wanted to use that last scholie on him, he'd be a Billiken. So, either: A) NB was hemming and hawing, or JC was either undecided, or waiting to hear from Yarborough or someone else. Could he or JC have flat rejected one another? Sure, but we'll never know unless an insider comes forward, and those special few are zipped up tighter than JLo's jeans. I don't know of any poster's who's said we told him to take a hike, but I know a lot of folks do get satisfaction when a local rejects us then makes noise about coming back. I've been guilty of it, and it's kind of a petty way to think, because if the guy can really help us we should roll out the red carpet. I'm not so sure, though, if NB was bringing that much value to us. He pretty much disappeared at Butler and they weren't that good last year or this year.

I think this situation really emphasizes how smart our head coach and assistant coaches are about recruiting. Berry basically gave us the back of his hand out of high school and went off to Butler where he played no minutes of consequence for a losing team until the last few games of the season and then he did not impress. But even then, and with other bigs in the fold, Jim Crews was willing to make a trip and talk to Berry about his interest in SLU. But at the same time Crews and staff were still working hard on other prospects, particularly MY who they thought was an outstanding scorer and potentially excellent player all around. Berry never could pull the trigger and even if he had the staff would have had to make a very tough call because they really wanted MY and the jury was out about Berry in terms of his interest and intensity. MY then decides to commit to SLU much to the delight of the entire staff so we are then out of schollies. Berry then has to look elsewhere which really seems to be the best for all concerned because he never really showed an intense interest in SLU and we got a recruit we really like who will fit in perfectly with our team.

[NH]

I think this situation really emphasizes how smart our head coach and assistant coaches are about recruiting. Berry basically gave us the back of his hand out of high school and went off to Butler where he played no minutes of consequence for a losing team until the last few games of the season and then he did not impress. But even then, and with other bigs in the fold, Jim Crews was willing to make a trip and talk to Berry about his interest in SLU. But at the same time Crews and staff were still working hard on other prospects, particularly MY who they thought was an outstanding scorer and potentially excellent player all around. Berry never could pull the trigger and even if he had the staff would have had to make a very tough call because they really wanted MY and the jury was out about Berry in terms of his interest and intensity. MY then decides to commit to SLU much to the delight of the entire staff so we are then out of schollies. Berry then has to look elsewhere which really seems to be the best for all concerned because he never really showed an intense interest in SLU and we got a recruit we really like who will fit in perfectly with our team.

Berry DID NOT give us "the back of his hand" out of high school. Butler made him more of a priority than we did. I'm not saying SLU messed up there. But for whatever reasons we did not recruit Berry as hard as other schools did and Nolan did not show as much interest in SLU as he did in other schools. It doesn't need to be this narrative of a recruit disrespecting our program by choosing to go somewhere else. If your son or daughter felt that a school besides SLU was a better fit for him/her, I hope you would not see their decision to go elsewhere as giving "the back of his hand" to SLU.

These are 17 and 18-year olds trying to make the best decision for their college career. Not sure why we on this board feel the need to vilify them when they choose to go somewhere else. I'm not calling out you in particular but this seems to be the overall sentiment amongst a lot of posters.

I also don't know if this necessarily shows "how smart our head coach and assistant coaches are about recruiting" as much as it is just a representation of the nature of college basketball recruiting these days. Commitments fly fast and roster spots are very fluid. You recruit a wide array of players and when one of your targets wants to come, like MY, you fill that slot. It's not like this situation is one that is exclusive to SLU.

[JettFlight5]

Berry DID NOT give us "the back of his hand" out of high school. Butler made him more of a priority than we did. I'm not saying SLU messed up there. But for whatever reasons we did not recruit Berry as hard as other schools did and Nolan did not show as much interest in SLU as he did in other schools. It doesn't need to be this narrative of a recruit disrespecting our program by choosing to go somewhere else. If your son or daughter felt that a school besides SLU was a better fit for him/her, I hope you would not see their decision to go elsewhere as giving "the back of his hand" to SLU.

These are 17 and 18-year olds trying to make the best decision for their college career. Not sure why we on this board feel the need to vilify them when they choose to go somewhere else. I'm not calling out you in particular but this seems to be the overall sentiment amongst a lot of posters.

I also don't know if this necessarily shows "how smart our head coach and assistant coaches are about recruiting" as much as it is just a representation of the nature of college basketball recruiting these days. Commitments fly fast and roster spots are very fluid. You recruit a wide array of players and when one of your targets wants to come, like MY, you fill that slot. It's not like this situation is one that is exclusive to SLU.

I think the reason is that most of us that post are hard-core Billikens fans and don't like when guys turn us down. Same as many other schools. Berry thought his best chance was Butler at the time...not much else to cover there. MY fills a bigger need than Berry for this roster, so it worked out for SLU.

[Billikenswin]

Berry DID NOT give us "the back of his hand" out of high school. Butler made him more of a priority than we did. I'm not saying SLU messed up there. But for whatever reasons we did not recruit Berry as hard as other schools did and Nolan did not show as much interest in SLU as he did in other schools. It doesn't need to be this narrative of a recruit disrespecting our program by choosing to go somewhere else. If your son or daughter felt that a school besides SLU was a better fit for him/her, I hope you would not see their decision to go elsewhere as giving "the back of his hand" to SLU.

These are 17 and 18-year olds trying to make the best decision for their college career. Not sure why we on this board feel the need to vilify them when they choose to go somewhere else. I'm not calling out you in particular but this seems to be the overall sentiment amongst a lot of posters.

I also don't know if this necessarily shows "how smart our head coach and assistant coaches are about recruiting" as much as it is just a representation of the nature of college basketball recruiting these days. Commitments fly fast and roster spots are very fluid. You recruit a wide array of players and when one of your targets wants to come, like MY, you fill that slot. It's not like this situation is one that is exclusive to SLU.

I assume that you must be a good friend of NB and that is the reason for the reaction. The truth is that SLU expressed an interest in NB and reached out to him but RM always had the view that if a recruit did not have an interest in his team then he would just move on. Berry never showed any interest in coming to SLU and Rick and staff moved on at that time. I say he gave us the back of his hand because he never showed any interest at all even though the Bills were really starting to show that they would be a really good team. He did what he wanted and rejected us out of hand and yet Jim Crews was still professional enough to go up to meet with him after he announced he was leaving Butler. But the coaches were smart enough to really carefully evaluate our true needs at the time and they did a great job in getting AY to enthusiastically join our Billiken family. Berry was lukewarm and never really showed intensity of interest in SLU. Now we all move on.

[The Wiz]

Hou Bap-- a Top 10 team....Top 10 of the worst teams (#9)...Bills by 28

As for Barton....5'10...160.......per game stats--.Pts 3....FG 34.7%...FT 66.7%....3pt 28%...Reb 1.1....Stl 0.5....Ast1.8......TO 1,4......Min 16.6

[Tonka]

Jimmy Barton is small as Wiz just noted. I believe he set the all time assists record at DeSmet. His Mom was a good athlete and his sister currently plays for St. Joe's. As our program grows, I doubt we will have any walk ons that get significant minutes. That being said, it would be nice to have a local kid as a walk on.

[almaman]

i hope it's off season boredom but this is a lot of talk about a walk on, back in the day having a walk on contribute wasn't out of the realm of possibility and often we were shtty enough to need some such input. now it would be major step backwards.

[Aquinas]

"Berry's top three is UC-Davis, Loyola and Fla. Gulf Coast." that is not exactly a who is who in college basketball, it appears his stock as fallen. I hope he finds a situation that is a good match for him. I wish him the best.

[AlumniFan]

"Berry's top three is UC-Davis, Loyola and Fla. Gulf Coast." that is not exactly a who is who in college basketball, it appears his stock as fallen. I hope he finds a situation that is a good match for him. I wish him the best.

UC-Davis is just about 30 minutes from Napa. I would go there in a heartbeat! Hope he is going to study viticulture.

[NH]

Hou Bap-- a Top 10 team....Top 10 of the worst teams (#9)...Bills by 28

As for Barton....5'10...160.......per game stats--.Pts 3....FG 34.7%...FT 66.7%....3pt 28%...Reb 1.1....Stl 0.5....Ast1.8......TO 1,4......Min 16.6

He is well short of 5'10"

[TheA_Bomb]

UC-Davis is just about 30 minutes from Napa. I would go there in a heartbeat! Hope he is going to study viticulture.

I visited Trefethen Winery in Napa last year the guy pouring studied Wine Agribusiness at Napa College or something. Get Trefethen Reisling if you see it very dry and can be had a good value. The largest family owned vineyards in Napa that are continguous acres.

Anyway he didn't go to SLU later dude.

As for the walk on sounds like a good pick up. Hopefully we get him some minutes at the end of games next year.

[doowop]

I saw DeSmet play a few times and the first time I saw them I wondered who the little guard was. It was Barton and he was impressive. Every time I watched them play he impressed me a lot more than Berry did. He should at the very least help in practice. If he has to sit out a year he may be a good substitute after learning the system.