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Recruiting - 2020 Class (Optimal Vision Class)


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Just heard that a player had an exchange with Pitino that went like this, “Young man, my name is Rick Pitino, Iona College.” The player replied, “OK, which one?”

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15 hours ago, billikenbill said:

Just heard that a player had an exchange with Pitino that went like this, “Young man, my name is Rick Pitino, Iona College.” The player replied, “OK, which one?”

This was a good Jim Valvano zing back in the day

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21 hours ago, SLURadioBoy said:

Just heard Frank say he’s hearing from Vashon that other schools are after Russell and if SLU wants him to commit, they will need to offer soon.

I haven’t seen any reports of any other schools offering him yet.

Why would we want a 5’ 10” three point shooter (didn’t work so well w Weaver) when we already have 6’5” Jimerson, 6’5” Hargrove, 6’6” Perkins, 6’2” Jacobs and now 6’8” Lorentsson?   
 We need a big in 2020 and a PG in 2021 when Yuri is a JR. 

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49 minutes ago, SLU_Nick said:

This was a good Jim Valvano zing back in the day

I adapted the real Valvano zing. Valvano was 29 when he got the Iona job and the story is he said to the player, “I’m Jim Valvano, Iona College.” He said the reply was, “You look too young to own a college.”

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17 minutes ago, Clock_Tower said:

Why would we want a 5’ 10” three point shooter (didn’t work so well w Weaver) when we already have 6’5” Jimerson, 6’5” Hargrove, 6’6” Perkins, 6’2” Jacobs and now 6’8” Lorentsson?   
 We need a big in 2020 and a PG in 2021 when Yuri is a JR. 

Im with you in the fact we really dont really need him, but im thinking coaching is seeing it as:

Hargrove only shot 27%

Jimerson is coming off a foot injury

Jacobs will be a junior and has a history of disappearing

Lorentsson has rarely been seen(?)

Fred - who knows 

 

  • Plus the kid has ties to Kern/other STL 20/21 kids
  • He can also be a back up pg to Yuri and a upperclassmen Jacobs and goodwin.  Just when you think you have enough weapons, you can quickly find yourself with a short bench. Its happened 3 straight years here. 
  • He checks a lot of boxes. 

 

I also wouldn't say it didn't work for weaver. He was never asked to do much. 

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5 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

Weaver saved our skin a couple of times i wouldn’t say it didn’t work 

Aaron Hines saved our skin too but I would not offer a scholarship now to his clone.

Being a good backup contributor?  Yes, the scholarship to Weaver  did work. Glad we had him this year. But stretching the defense and keeping the defense honest? It did not work. Lanky guards could sag off  Weaver, pack the lane and then jump out and guard/block the shot of 5’10” Weaver as opposed to a taller 6’5” shooter. 
And defensively, Weaver sure got better, and I believe would be far better now had he been coached by Ford and played for us his prior 3 years,  but defense and his size/strength was an issue. So if a 5’10” Senior GT transfer gets pushed around, why would we expect 5’10” freshman to be any different?  
Yuri is good for 32 mpg and I would prefer a non-freshman handling the other 8 minutes. 
Now, if Sophomore Yuri (God forbid) were to break a bone in his foot and be out for the year, it would be a big blow and a replacement would be needed.  Would Russell be the answer as opposed to anyone else?  Not sure. We would at least have other options. 
But what if French (God forbid) were to break a bone in his foot,  who would his replacement be?  My point:  we need a big and I am not sure Hankton and Diara are the answer and not sure Bell can play 35 mpg, not foul out and we rely upon Hargrove to be our big man in the middle.  And even if no injuries, we need to replace French as he will be a Senior. 

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30 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Im with you in the fact we really dont really need him, but im thinking coaching is seeing it as:

Hargrove only shot 27%

Jimerson is coming off a foot injury

Jacobs will be a junior and has a history of disappearing

Lorentsson has rarely been seen(?)

Fred - who knows 

 

  • Plus the kid has ties to Kern/other STL 20/21 kids
  • He can also be a back up pg to Yuri and a upperclassmen Jacobs and goodwin.  Just when you think you have enough weapons, you can quickly find yourself with a short bench. Its happened 3 straight years here. 
  • He checks a lot of boxes. 

 

I also wouldn't say it didn't work for weaver. He was never asked to do much. 

Don’t forget Perkins has been know to hit the occasional 3 too. (I’m not sure if his omission was a mistake, or you were implying that his shooting is a given. Either way, just throwing his name into the hat too.)

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3 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

Don’t forget Perkins has been know to hit the occasional 3 too. (I’m not sure if his omission was a mistake, or you were implying that his shooting is a given. Either way, just throwing his name into the hat too.)

I excluded him because he was a more of a sure thing for next year.  All the other names have something attached to them such as injury, or haven't proven anything. 

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5 minutes ago, Clock_Tower said:

Aaron Hines saved our skin too but I would not offer a scholarship now to his clone.

Being a good backup contributor?  Yes, the scholarship to Weaver  did work. Glad we had him this year. But stretching the defense and keeping the defense honest? It did not work. Lanky guards could sag off  Weaver, pack the lane and then jump out and guard/block the shot of 5’10” Weaver as opposed to a taller 6’5” shooter. 
And defensively, Weaver sure got better, and I believe would be far better now had he been coached by Ford and played for us his prior 3 years,  but defense and his size/strength was an issue. So if a 5’10” Senior GT transfer gets pushed around, why would we expect 5’10” freshman to be any different?  
Yuri is good for 32 mpg and I would prefer a non-freshman handling the other 8 minutes. 
Now, if Sophomore Yuri (God forbid) were to break a bone in his foot and be out for the year, it would be a big blow and a replacement would be needed.  Would Russell be the answer as opposed to anyone else?  Not sure. We would at least have other options. 
But what if French (God forbid) were to break a bone in his foot,  who would his replacement be?  My point:  we need a big and I am not sure Hankton and Diara are the answer and not sure Bell can play 35 mpg, not foul out and we rely upon Hargrove to be our big man in the middle.  And even if no injuries, we need to replace French as he will be a Senior. 

Again, I’m not sure why people are so down on Diarra. Everyone knows he had an injury. If you were excited about him when he signed, you should be just as excited about him now. If you weren’t excited about him when he signed, ok, nothing has happened to change your opinion. I get that. I’m not going to go back and look up everyone’s opinion of him when committed. But to write a kid off because he didn’t play much his freshman year, when he came in with a knee injury, just seems kinda dumb to me.

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1 minute ago, wgstl said:

I excluded him because he was a more of a sure thing for next year.  All the other names have something attached to them such as injury, or haven't proven anything. 

I figured. All good. I wasn’t calling you out. Just clarifying.

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18 minutes ago, Clock_Tower said:

Aaron Hines saved our skin too but I would not offer a scholarship now to his clone.

Being a good backup contributor?  Yes, the scholarship to Weaver  did work. Glad we had him this year. But stretching the defense and keeping the defense honest? It did not work. Lanky guards could sag off  Weaver, pack the lane and then jump out and guard/block the shot of 5’10” Weaver as opposed to a taller 6’5” shooter. 
And defensively, Weaver sure got better, and I believe would be far better now had he been coached by Ford and played for us his prior 3 years,  but defense and his size/strength was an issue. So if a 5’10” Senior GT transfer gets pushed around, why would we expect 5’10” freshman to be any different?  
Yuri is good for 32 mpg and I would prefer a non-freshman handling the other 8 minutes. 
Now, if Sophomore Yuri (God forbid) were to break a bone in his foot and be out for the year, it would be a big blow and a replacement would be needed.  Would Russell be the answer as opposed to anyone else?  Not sure. We would at least have other options. 
But what if French (God forbid) were to break a bone in his foot,  who would his replacement be?  My point:  we need a big and I am not sure Hankton and Diara are the answer and not sure Bell can play 35 mpg, not foul out and we rely upon Hargrove to be our big man in the middle.  And even if no injuries, we need to replace French as he will be a Senior. 

stating the obvious, there aren't many quality big men available.....one thing that is obvious to me. is that Ford likes player who can be elite at doing at least 1 thing.....Russell, may have his deficiencies, but he is an elite shooter, described by Frank Cusumano as the best in the state, by far.....skill plays, yet is continually overlooked by many....if he can hit 40+ percent of his 3's, he would be a very valuable asset.....and lastly, Weaver was a poor ball handler, Russell is apparently pretty good at handling and distributing the ball, and doesn't seem to have a problem being a complimentary player....

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Fats Russell is 5-10, 160 lbs, similar to this Russell. I'm not suggesting this kid is as good as Fats, but a kid that size can certainly have some success in the A-10.  Hell, that size isn't much smaller than Kwamain. Also, Gilyard at 5-9 is one of the better players in the league.

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7 minutes ago, ACE said:

Fats Russell is 5-10, 160 lbs, similar to this Russell. I'm not suggesting this kid is as good as Fats, but a kid that size can certainly have some success in the A-10.  Hell, that size isn't much smaller than Kwamain. Also, Gilyard at 5-9 is one of the better players in the league.

See Tavian Dunn-Martin

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4 minutes ago, wgstl said:

See Tavian Dunn-Martin

Is he the most-hated guy in this league? I was never really sure if it was a league-wide opinion, but I remember Bona's podcast talked about it in their episode leading up to the beatdown we gave them

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Not sure if Phil will be offered here. But I defintiely would be excited to see him here. He's a winner. Ice cold and can shoot the lights out. Plays hard defense. Was an integral piece to the Vashon team. 

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6 minutes ago, Littlebill said:

Is he the most-hated guy in this league? I was never really sure if it was a league-wide opinion, but I remember Bona's podcast talked about it in their episode leading up to the beatdown we gave them

could be. His stats arent overall impressive, but he seems to be many teams killer.  Weird.

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20 minutes ago, BIG BILL FAN said:

stating the obvious, there aren't many quality big men available.....one thing that is obvious to me. is that Ford likes player who can be elite at doing at least 1 thing.....Russell, may have his deficiencies, but he is an elite shooter, described by Frank Cusumano as the best in the state, by far.....skill plays, yet is continually overlooked by many....if he can hit 40+ percent of his 3's, he would be a very valuable asset.....and lastly, Weaver was a poor ball handler, Russell is apparently pretty good at handling and distributing the ball, and doesn't seem to have a problem being a complimentary player....

This is the key. How good does he shoot. Weaver had other deficiencies and was just an ok 3 pt shooter.  If Russell can be high 30's low 40's from 3 he can play in the A10. I know 3 star said he really doesn't get to the rim, but with added strength that could play. He finished and even shot a floater with both hands.  We've never been in danger of having too many 3 point shooters and we aren't in danger now. 

I'd like another big also but if I'm not able to sign one that I think will develop into a starter level player for a good team in the A10, I'd be ok with signing a great shooter with potential to develop into a more rounded player

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18 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

I love recruiting talk. I hope we get some news soon. 

You and me both.

The Recruiting Lists got a full update yesterday and this morning. That's just known names; I'm doing a little more research later to see if there's anything new floating out there.

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Weaver was a perfect get as a end of the grad transfer pipeline puzzle piece.

He was a 3 pt shooter guard who was a known element to Ford. Energy, known commodity, hardworking, and as a guard with solid but limited skill set, he was the perfect practice player, and a great yardstick for all our new guards to be measured against.

Outside of Collins, what guard would you want bringing the ball up court 80% of gametime? 
We need a big thumper bad, but we also need a guard who can backfill Collins’ ballhandling, and one who can fill in at 40% from 3 pt land offsets Collins main criticism - scoring.

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