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Recruiting - 2019


Pistol

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37 minutes ago, ACE said:

Based on his videos - which I know don't always tell the whole story - I can't believe this guy is a TN level recruit. At nearly 7-ft, I don't recall ever seeing the kid dunk. It looked like he could jump about an inch off the ground. Comparing the videos, Bell actually looked like the better athlete - although he certainly doesn't look exceptional in that department either.  The videos don't tell the whole story and I'm sure there's a reason Jitoolboh is a much higher rated recruit, but I just don't see it.

Power 5 teams with open spots in the spring will take a flyer on a big body like Jitoboh.  Most likely he won't get off the bench his freshman year.  If he doesn't show any promise, they'll recruit over him and send him packing.

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25 minutes ago, Clock_Tower said:

 Not all kids develop, and develop properly, if thrown in and told to sink or swim.  Maybe, as good as Fred is, was simply not ready to be a starting 2 guard for us from the beginning of the season. Maybe Fred will be a better player because of Isabell taking the minutes and pressure. I am not concerned about Fred’s development and will point out that there are undoubtedly a number of other players  at other schools who have been given far less opportunity than Fred in their first year of college and they will turn out just fine too.

Good grief.  Thatch is the first man off the bench and getting lots of experience and PT.  Thrilled with his development.  "Starting is for High School".

 

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8 minutes ago, WVBilliken said:

Good grief.  Thatch is the first man off the bench and getting lots of experience and PT.  Thrilled with his development.  "Starting is for High School".

 

I think Fred is going to be an absolute star. This is not a knock on Goodwin but I see him in Fred,  but Fred has a better shot. 

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3 minutes ago, willie said:

I think Fred is going to be an absolute star. This is not a knock on Goodwin but I see him in Fred,  but Fred has a better shot. 

Goodwin is a better playmaker than Thatch will be IMO. With that said, Thatch has the ability to be an elite defender, good rebounder, and good shooter.  I’m glad we have them both for the next two years.  They’re studs. 

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28 minutes ago, willie said:

I think Fred is going to be an absolute star. This is not a knock on Goodwin but I see him in Fred,  but Fred has a better shot. 

fred's shot was awful last night.  at least goodwin has consistent rotation and his elbow stays in.   

i have all the confidence in thatch in the world, but he has as much if not more work to do on his outside shot as goodwin does.   neither is ready to film an instructional video.  

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With the exception of thatch's 3 point shot misses last night, i thought thatch played very well.    He had developed tremendously throughout the season.   To the point one has to think he is the favorite to be our other starting guard next year alongside goodwin

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9 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

fred's shot was awful last night.  at least goodwin has consistent rotation and his elbow stays in.   

i have all the confidence in thatch in the world, but he has as much if not more work to do on his outside shot as goodwin does.   neither is ready to film an instructional video.  

This might not be saying much but Ford has said Thatch is probably his best 3 point shooter. Makes them all in practice. 

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6 minutes ago, willie said:

This might not be saying much but Ford has said Thatch is probably his best 3 point shooter. Makes them all in practice. 

he also has said that french is the best free throw shooter in practice and makes them all.  credit ford with being a positive motivational leader.  

there is no way that thatch is anywhere near the 3 point shooter that the likes of bess is who has perfect form, rotation, etc every time.   if whoever took that quote about thatch being the best practice 3 point shooter would have immediately asked, "he's a better 3 point shooter than bess?"   my guess is that ford would have back tracked very quickly. 

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3 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

Ford has said that it is a head thing now with French.  

I think Rich might have been saying he doesn't remember Ford saying French is "the best" free throw shooter which I believe is true.  From @HoosierPal's recap that I remember, he said French makes 75 to 80% during practice, which doesn't mean he is the best.  Similar to Thatch, Ford said "he might be one of the best shooters", not that he 100% is the best shooter on the team.  Just don't want to take things Ford says too far out of context.  

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I used Thatch as a example to emphasize a more general point.  The A10 is poised to rebound next year because multiple coaches decided to take their lumps and play their freshmen.  We went all in on grad transfers and now we'll return very little scoring next year.  Again, I understand why Coach signed the grad transfers but we have posters that want to continue going the grad transfer route.  If you keep doing that, you'll always have a bunch of young unproven scorers and you'll be tempted to cover up that weakness with yet more grad transfers.

That is not how the successful programs are using grad transfers.  They get one if he's the missing piece to a tournament run, not just to avoid starting a young player.  

We'll have a lot of freshmen on the roster next year.  We're probably not going to be picked to finish in the top half of the conference.  It's not what Coach intended but circumstances beyond his control brought us here.  Once again, we will have the highest rated recruiting class in the league. What better time to include a couple of them in your top 6?

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3 hours ago, Pistol said:

First there were four, then there were none, and now there are three:

 

It was rather obvious, at least to me, that Jitoboh was aiming for bigger fish. We were in the list because he needed a "safe." Now we have his finalists and it is obvious we are not in. Not a loss, this one, he never wanted to come here, he thinks he is too good for us. Fine with me. Now all he needs is to have one of his three finalists agreeing that he belongs at their program. If I understand the situation correctly he already went through this song and dance once before visiting SLU. This current episode may be a repeat of the prior one. Before you know it he will be going to prep school. This reminds me of Pierson, however with a lot more honesty in Jitoboh's approach than in Pierson's.

I would not take him, however I am not the coach.

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granted i only have his recruiting video to fall back on, but it seemed to me that Jitoboh was softer than bell.  if we were only going to get one or the other,  i am more than satisfied we got bell instead of Jitoboh.  either way, i dont think they figured heavy into what happens next season.   projects.  Jitoboh will be the same at either florida or tennessee likely so i am betting he picks central florida who might not have quite the inside talent next year as the two big power 5 programs.

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11 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

That is not how the successful programs are using grad transfers.  They get one if he's the missing piece to a tournament run, not just to avoid starting a young player.  

I'd imagine Ford (and many in the fan base) thought Wiley and Isabell were the missing pieces to a tourney run. 

Now, I do concede that having Thatch on the court more (maybe at the expense of Foreman instead of Isabell) would have been best for his and the team's long term development.

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2 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

I'd imagine Ford (and many in the fan base) thought Wiley and Isabell were the missing pieces to a tourney run. 

Agreed.  But we've got posters saying we should sign two more grad transfers in the spring.  The bar for success will be pretty modest next year. If you can't develop your freshmen next year, when can you do it?

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1 minute ago, 3star_recruit said:

Agreed.  But we've got posters saying we should sign two more grad transfers in the spring.  The bar for success will be pretty modest next year. If you can't develop your freshmen next year, when can you do it?

You have convinced me about the freshmen development so I am all in with two more freshman and stay away from the GT's.

 I would love to see Jankovic and Carpenter commit soon.

Who of the viable offers would you like to see commit?

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1 hour ago, billiken_roy said:

he also has said that french is the best free throw shooter in practice and makes them all.  credit ford with being a positive motivational leader.  

there is no way that thatch is anywhere near the 3 point shooter that the likes of bess is who has perfect form, rotation, etc every time.   if whoever took that quote about thatch being the best practice 3 point shooter would have immediately asked, "he's a better 3 point shooter than bess?"   my guess is that ford would have back tracked very quickly. 

1 hour ago, Billiken Rich said:

I must've missed that interview.....

Splitting hairs here, but Coach did not call French the best FT shooter in practice, but he DID say he hits 70 to 80% in practice.  And yes, he has said twice, that I recall, that Thatch is the best three point shooter (in practice). 

(FWIW, Bess has shot 15% from the arc in the last five games 4 of 27, and is down to 31.7% in 17 conference games.  Thatch, with has a smaller sample size-1/3 of the attempts as Bess-is 30.0% in those 17 conference games. )

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A GT big would not upset me as he won't take playing time from anyone but Bell. A retread PG, 2, or 3 is not needed and should be discouraged. Time to develop the FR like we did w/ Goodwin, French, and Thatch. Besides if you develop a pattern of brining in GTs as immediate fixes at the expense of your young guys it might be hard to attract younger players. 

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55 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

I used Thatch as a example to emphasize a more general point.  The A10 is poised to rebound next year because multiple coaches decided to take their lumps and play their freshmen.  We went all in on grad transfers and now we'll return very little scoring next year.  Again, I understand why Coach signed the grad transfers but we have posters that want to continue going the grad transfer route.  If you keep doing that, you'll always have a bunch of young unproven scorers and you'll be tempted to cover up that weakness with yet more grad transfers.

That is not how the successful programs are using grad transfers.  They get one if he's the missing piece to a tournament run, not just to avoid starting a young player.  

We'll have a lot of freshmen on the roster next year.  We're probably not going to be picked to finish in the top half of the conference.  It's not what Coach intended but circumstances beyond his control brought us here.  Once again, we will have the highest rated recruiting class in the league. What better time to include a couple of them in your top 6?

I see your point and agree with you about not stunting the growth of our stable of young guards.  However, I would rather get a GT big that can give us depth at the 5 than bring in more freshman.  Too many freshmen also leads to our younger players not getting enough playing time to develop and leads to transfers more so than would a GT you bring in for depth.  Freshmen expect to play.  A GT that knows what your are expecting his role to be will be fine getting 5-10 minutes and then opens up another scholarship the next year.

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56 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

I used Thatch as a example to emphasize a more general point.  The A10 is poised to rebound next year because multiple coaches decided to take their lumps and play their freshmen.  We went all in on grad transfers and now we'll return very little scoring next year.  Again, I understand why Coach signed the grad transfers but we have posters that want to continue going the grad transfer route.  If you keep doing that, you'll always have a bunch of young unproven scorers and you'll be tempted to cover up that weakness with yet more grad transfers.

That is not how the successful programs are using grad transfers.  They get one if he's the missing piece to a tournament run, not just to avoid starting a young player.  

We'll have a lot of freshmen on the roster next year.  We're probably not going to be picked to finish in the top half of the conference.  It's not what Coach intended but circumstances beyond his control brought us here.  Once again, we will have the highest rated recruiting class in the league. What better time to include a couple of them in your top 6?

The two grad transfers Ford brought in last summer (Isabell and Wiley) were indeed supposed to be filling in pieces for a Tournament run.

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36 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Agreed.  But we've got posters saying we should sign two more grad transfers in the spring.  The bar for success will be pretty modest next year. If you can't develop your freshmen next year, when can you do it?

im just not sure of that.  SLU has a good enough core returning that if we luck out and get the "right" GT we could be successful next year.  I don't think anyone's saying we need just any GT.

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3 Star.

Now wait a second.  First, it was you who said we cannot have too many Freshmen next year for class balance and then have only 1 scholarship the next year.   In response to your concern, I suggested  possible GT as a shooting or 2 guard so that we don't simply "save" a scholarship and so that we have at least 2 scholarships for next year (more if 1 or more transfers).  Second, while others have personal watched and are very familiar with out incoming 5 recruits, most of us respect the opinions of you and Roy as to their ability to start/contribute from Day 1 -- and while many have Yuri already set to be our starting PG next year from Day 1, both you and Roy believe he won't start next year.  In fact, you suggested he may not start until his JR year b/c of his perimeter shooting skills.  Third, while most everyone agrees with you basic premise that we should not use short-term fixes of GTs to hinder otherwise good and ready Freshmen.  This year, it does not appear like Jacobs was ready to start and be a major contributor.   Fred was much closer, but again, it is debatable if he was/is ready.    Next year, I still have concerns at our 2 guard.  I don't see Fred every day at practice to know if he can be the 2 from Day 1 next year.  If concerns are still present, maybe Ford uses one of his remaining scholarships on another guard but Yuri appears to be a 1, Jimerson and Hargrove both to be a 3, Perkins either a 3 or 4 and Bell is certainly a 5.  Not sure we have seen enough of Jacobs to know if he can perform next year -- or if we need more help.  Personally, I want shooters -- and assuming Jimerson and Perkins can both shoot it, then we are good at the 3 and 4 -- but what about the 1 and 2?  And if Yuri is not ready to start until his JR as you suggest, then what's wrong with another 1-2 combo guard.

 

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