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Recruiting - 2020 Class (Optimal Vision Class)


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I'm in a little disagreement with some of you guys. Imo we will have next year French, Bell, and Diarra as traditional back to the basket bigs. I think we're good as long as we have 2-3 others who are 6'5" to 6'8" who can play the 3/4. They will be able to guard most A10 4's. The following year we will have Jr's Bell and Diarra and can add a 3rd inside big as a frosh in that class. We don't need nor do I necessarily want 4 players in the French, Bell, Diarra mold on the roster at 1 time. I'm good with this last guy or the Scandinavian 3/4 guy as our last scholly for next year. 

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1 hour ago, NH said:

I’m going to have to disagree with you. We play flexible lineups, but we certainly don’t play positionless basketball. Almost all of our sets has a designated 1-5. 

Now, who plays which position varies widely, which is why I listed a litany of people at the 2-3. The positions are flexible, but there are certain attributes we’ll always have on the floor in every lineup. I don’t think we need more bigs because of a strict depth chart, I think we need more bigs because we need more shotblocking, length and rebounding.

That' fine.  We can agree to disagree.  We play a lot with 1(French) or 2 (Bell) inside, and 3 or 4 out.  Call them what you want.  The point is, the list of players you provided aren't limited to 2 spots on the floor.  Heck, Hargrove has been put into the paint, which for me, hasn't worked all that well.

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4 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

I'm in a little disagreement with some of you guys. Imo we will have next year French, Bell, and Diarra as traditional back to the basket bigs. I think we're good as long as we have 2-3 others who are 6'5" to 6'8" who can play the 3/4. They will be able to guard most A10 4's. The following year we will have Jr's Bell and Diarra and can add a 3rd inside big as a frosh in that class. We don't need nor do I necessarily want 4 players in the French, Bell, Diarra mold on the roster at 1 time. I'm good with this last guy or the Scandinavian 3/4 guy as our last scholly for next year. 

Unless Diarra makes a Grand Canyon size jump I wouldn’t count him being any sort of contributor. He’s going to have to prove he’s healthy then keep up at this level. 

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4 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

That' fine.  We can agree to disagree.  We play a lot with 1(French) or 2 (Bell) inside, and 3 or 4 out.  Call them what you want.  The point is, the list of players you provided aren't limited to 2 spots on the floor.  Heck, Hargrove has been put into the paint, which for me, hasn't worked all that well.

I didn’t say or imply that they only play two spots on the floor, only that they all do in fact play some minutes at the 2-3. Jordan plays four positions. Hargrove and Perkins both rotate between 3 and 4, with Hargrove getting some time at 5. I don’t think that’s the point.

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23 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

I'm in a little disagreement with some of you guys. Imo we will have next year French, Bell, and Diarra as traditional back to the basket bigs. I think we're good as long as we have 2-3 others who are 6'5" to 6'8" who can play the 3/4. They will be able to guard most A10 4's. The following year we will have Jr's Bell and Diarra and can add a 3rd inside big as a frosh in that class. We don't need nor do I necessarily want 4 players in the French, Bell, Diarra mold on the roster at 1 time. I'm good with this last guy or the Scandinavian 3/4 guy as our last scholly for next year. 

Diarra is a complete unknown, to us.  And I feel like hes a loooooong way away from being ready considering we've had several games where we could have used a big for at the very least 2 or 3 minutes and we never saw him. 

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20 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Positionless basketball just means having guys on the floor who can defend multiple positions and who can handle and stretch the floor on offense.  We fit on the defensive side of the equation but only partially on the offensive side.  

Even on the defensive end we’re significantly better with JBJ and French both on the floor together. 

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2 hours ago, Pistol said:

He's definitely a wing, and he's an elite shooter. He's just an inch shorter and has a bigger frame than Lorentsson. He's grown 2 inches in the past year. He's also exploding as a prospect.

He played four years at Beachwood HS in the Cleveland area, the last three as a varsity starter. He missed the first half of his junior year with a broken foot. He averaged 26.7 PPG as a senior and was named to the all-state team. He was thinking he'd be a JUCO prospect for a couple years but realized his grades were being hampered by undiagnosed learning disabilities - ADHD and dyslexia. He got medication and the resources he needed at school and his grades soared. Instead of going the JUCO route, he took a prep year. His first offers were in late November and early December before SLU offered. A ton of schools are interested and more will pull the trigger soon.

He's worked extensively with former Beachwood players who have gone D-I and come home for the summer. He's focused on ballhandling, shooting off the dribble, leaping ability, and more. That's showing in his Scotland Campus highlight videos this season.

He's a teammate of Abou Ousmane, a traditional center. They're not a package deal but SLU is actively recruiting both. Ousmane retweeted his SLU offer tweet with 👀.

He's had at least 12 games of 30+ points this season. He had 2 games where he hit 13 3-pointers. He's not a streaky shooter; he'll hit at any time to change momentum.

He's one of 13 siblings - 7 biological and 6 step-siblings after his mom remarried.

Favorite quote from my research on this kid: "Throw four people on me," Woodrich said, "I’ll still shoot right over you. I just feel like if I can get the ball off, the ball’s going in no matter what. That’s just how it’s been all year and I’ve got stats to show it."

Bottom line: Let's get him and Ousmane on campus for a visit. He and Jimerson together would change everything offensively.

I've got $29 in my wallet right now. Who's on briefcase duty?

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42 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Unless Diarra makes a Grand Canyon size jump I wouldn’t count him being any sort of contributor. He’s going to have to prove he’s healthy then keep up at this level. 

I agree. However, I'm taking the assumption that if Ford is recruiting more wings with size he has a decent handle on what he can expect from Diarra next year. Hell we are good inside this year with just French and Bell. We don't really have an issue defending inside or rebounding, so if we got a wing with size who could handle an A10 4 defensively I'm still good without even taking Diarra into account.  The following year we'd have Jr Bell plus we'd have to add a frosh big plus whatever Diarra brings. 

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28 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Diarra is a complete unknown, to us.  And I feel like hes a loooooong way away from being ready considering we've had several games where we could have used a big for at the very least 2 or 3 minutes and we never saw him. 

I get it. Next year we'll still have French and Bell and really how much would we use a 3rd big? I'd rather have a wing with size who can defend a little inside and rebound but can stretch the floor offensively. 

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Just now, slufanskip said:

I agree. However, I'm taking the assumption that if Ford is recruiting more wings with size he has a decent handle on what he can expect from Diarra next year. Hell we are good inside this year with just French and Bell. We don't really have an issue defending inside or rebounding, so if we got a wing with size who could handle an A10 4 defensively I'm still good without even taking Diarra into account.  The following year we'd have Jr Bell plus we'd have to add a frosh big plus whatever Diarra brings. 

I totally see everyone's point that Diarra is a complete unknown, but I don't think we should assume he can't or won't contribute next year. He had some leg issues coming in, and got started late because of them. I'd like to believe there's a reason Ford recruited him. And while nobody has 100% success rates on recruits, as long as he stays healthy, I don't think we should necessarily be so pessimistic that he can't be a quality player for us next year. 

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4 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

I totally see everyone's point that Diarra is a complete unknown, but I don't think we should assume he can't or won't contribute next year. He had some leg issues coming in, and got started late because of them. I'd like to believe there's a reason Ford recruited him. And while nobody has 100% success rates on recruits, as long as he stays healthy, I don't think we should necessarily be so pessimistic that he can't be a quality player for us next year. 

Agreed - Plus we don't need too much from him before French graduates. Maybe 5-8 MPG. Come in, play good defense and rebound. Set some screens on offense and try to get an offensive rebound or two. It would be nice to avoid some foul trouble on French/Bell next year.

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6 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

I get it. Next year we'll still have French and Bell and really how much would we use a 3rd big? I'd rather have a wing with size who can defend a little inside and rebound but can stretch the floor offensively. 

Need to be prepared if one of them gets injured.

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5 minutes ago, glazedandconfused said:

Agreed - Plus we don't need too much from him before French graduates. Maybe 5-8 MPG. Come in, play good defense and rebound. Set some screens on offense and try to get an offensive rebound or two. It would be nice to avoid some foul trouble on French/Bell next year.

Can he do that? That’s the real question.

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2 minutes ago, juniorbill76 said:

Need to be prepared if one of them gets injured.

and we have Diarra. Ford has a handle on what he has in Diarra. If he signs a wing rather than a big, my assumption would be he expects to get something from Diarra. Heck, if he's completely healthy, I wouldn't be shocked if we have more than just a serviceable back up there. 

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1 hour ago, slufanskip said:

I'm in a little disagreement with some of you guys. Imo we will have next year French, Bell, and Diarra as traditional back to the basket bigs. I think we're good as long as we have 2-3 others who are 6'5" to 6'8" who can play the 3/4. They will be able to guard most A10 4's. The following year we will have Jr's Bell and Diarra and can add a 3rd inside big as a frosh in that class. We don't need nor do I necessarily want 4 players in the French, Bell, Diarra mold on the roster at 1 time. I'm good with this last guy or the Scandinavian 3/4 guy as our last scholly for next year. 

if the difference in talent was much less i would agree with you skip.   However, french is way way above the other two and french is no all-american.......yet

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1 hour ago, billikenfan05 said:

Unless Diarra makes a Grand Canyon size jump I wouldn’t count him being any sort of contributor. He’s going to have to prove he’s healthy then keep up at this level. 

I wouldn't bet the ranch that he will be back. Not sure he has the talent to play at this level. Seems like a good teammate but sure seems buried to me. 

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8 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Can he do that? That’s the real question.

What makes you think he can't? Isn't it just as plausible that he hasn't played this year because he was behind the other guys because of getting a late start to practice due to getting over the injury he had coming in?

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1 minute ago, willie said:

I wouldn't bet the ranch that he will be back. Not sure he has the talent to play at this level. Seems like a good teammate but sure seems buried to me. 

How can you tell that? He's barely played. He had an injury coming in which means he was behind all the other guys going into the season. He's a freshman, so it's not like he already knew all the schemes. Things take time. I'm not saying he's for sure going to hit as a great player for SLU. But I'm not going to assume that he's not either. We have no idea what Diarra is yet. I don't know why everyone is so pessimistic with him.

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9 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

if the difference in talent was much less i would agree with you skip.   However, french is way way above the other two and french is no all-american.......yet

I wouldn't be surprised to see Jr level Bell equal to Jr level Has. Bell has made a lot of progress and by that time he'll have another full season and 2 off season's under his belt. 

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Just now, willie said:

I have no inside information but I believe if the coaches felt he has potential they would have found some minutes for him.To me giving him no minutes is saying we don't want you. Hope I'm wrong and he is the next coming of Shaq . 

That might be the case if you're healthy from the start. Diarra wasn't. How many blowouts have we played in recently where you think it would be a good time to try and find Diarra minutes? Honestly. There are other explanations for him not playing besides him not being any good.

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