Signed Recruit Thread

[Zink]

5 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Reminder about SLU signees in Missouri district action tonight:

Thatch and Sikeston play Dexter in the Class 4 District 1 semifinal at 6:00 at Dexter.

Gordon and Webster Groves play Lindbergh in the Class 5 District 6 semifinal at 7:00 at Oakville.

Most Class 4 and 5 district semifinals are tonight, so there are a lot of good ones featuring plenty of SLU recruits.

Pearson and John Hardin play tomorrow night against Caverna in the Region 5 quarterfinals.

Do you know if any of these are streamed online? MSHSAA (through the NFHS) only does the state semifinals and final games...

[Pistol]

1 hour ago, Zink said:

Do you know if any of these are streamed online? MSHSAA (through the NFHS) only does the state semifinals and final games...

I'm not sure. I would check the individual schools' Twitter feeds.

[STLsportsfan]

nice little highlight from tonight’s game 

[almaman]

With the skying possible with next years team backboard becomes 6th man on offense.

[Pistol]

Webster Groves beat Lindbergh 69-36. They were up 22-4 after the first quarter, so this one was ugly out of the gate. Lindbergh scored first and WG went on a 23-2 run that included the highlight dunk above and a barrage of 3-pointers (Ramey was 4-4 from beyond the arc and finished with 26; WG shot 10-17 from 3, but 10-13 if you take out Adams, who's normally a good shooter but was the only guy not feeling it). Gordon didn't do much overall, but didn't need to. He finished with 8 on 3-6 shooting from the field and 2-2 from the line.

The district final will be a tougher test, but still shouldn't be too much of a problem, as Gordon faces his former school. Vianney is 15-11 with some good wins (Chaminade, for example). They play Friday at 7:00 at Oakville.

[Pistol]

Sikeston will be playing in a district championship for the 13th straight year, after rolling over Dexter 62-32. Last year, Sikeston beat Dexter 56-54 in the district semis, so they must not have forgotten that scare. Dexter took the air out of the ball from the opening tip, and it was 7-3 after the first quarter. Sikeston's pressure was eventually too much, forcing 23 Dexter turnovers. Dexter played a box and one on Thatch, who finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals.

Sikeston will have Cape Central in the district final tomorrow night at 7:30 at Dexter. Sikeston beat Central 87-63 on 2/9 and Thatch had 36 in that one. They played in the SEMO Tournament in December, and Sikeston won 92-87; Thatch had 31. Hopefully he can dominate them a third time.

[wgstl]

1 hour ago, Pistol said:

 

The district final will be a tougher test, but still shouldn't be too much of a problem, as Gordon faces his former school. Vianney is 15-11 with some good wins (Chaminade, for example). They play Friday at 7:00 at Oakville.

Vianney played us tough last year in the district final.  CG played awful in that final(missed 3(!) breakaway dunks/layups), hopefully he goes off this time around. 

[Pistol]

John Hardin defeated Caverna 88-53 in the first round of the Region 5 tournament. The running clock started in the third quarter. Caverna also ran a box and one on Pearson, who finished with 19 and 9, with 7 assists. They had a few guys out with the flu, and Pearson is still recovering from it.

“I tried not to think about it,” said Pearson, who had 19 points and nine rebounds. “I felt sick at school the whole day but I knew my teammates were counting on me. I just drank plenty of fluids.”

Next up, JH has Campbellsville (16-15) on March 5th. Campbellsville is pretty mediocre, marginally better than Caverna, so I would expect another win for Pearson & Co. They'll have a tougher test in the Region 5 final, depending on how things shake out on the other half of the bracket.

And just in case these didn't make it in last time:

 

[Billiken4life5]

Updated rankings from Prep Hoops today have Carte at #58 and Thatch at #177.  Not sure how that compares to the previous rankings for either.  Ramey the top in MO at #25, followed by Watson in the 70's and Helms just outside the top 100. 

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

21 minutes ago, Billiken4life5 said:

Updated rankings from Prep Hoops today have Carte at #58 and Thatch at #177.  Not sure how that compares to the previous rankings for either.  Ramey the top in MO at #25, followed by Watson in the 70's and Helms just outside the top 100. 

Nice. Glad to see Thatch making an appearance. 

[billikentim]

[Littlebill]

3 hours ago, billikentim said:

Sikeston ended up winning 47-46 and Thatch finished with 27

[RiseAndGrind]

Thatch developing a consistent outside game?

[Pistol]

25 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

Thatch developing a consistent outside game?

Huge if true.

In all seriousness, he seems to have really been working on his shot and this is a really welcome development.

From the article linked below: “I trust in my jump shot now,” Thatch said. “If people just want to let me shoot the ball I’m not even thinking anymore. I’m just pulling it.”

8 hours ago, Littlebill said:

Sikeston ended up winning 47-46 and Thatch finished with 27

That's too close for comfort, but that third matchup against a team is often the kiss of death. The good team you beat twice in conference and then play again in the playoffs. Cape Central was top-10 in a lot of Class 4 polls, and 2 of their 4 losses were to Sikeston. Glad that Sikeston escaped.

The Semoball write-up is a great recap (side note: I'm genuinely going to miss having a player from the SEMO area because this site does such a nice job of covering HS hoops). Thatch ended up with 7 rebounds to go with his 27 points, going 7-9 from the field, 5-7 from 3 (5-5 in the first half, as mentioned above, so he didn't have the hot hand in the second), and hitting 8 free throws, 4 in the closing minute. It wasn't just Thatch whose shooting dried up in the second half, as Sikeston went 0-10 from 3 to let Central back in it. Thatch went to the line with Sikeston up 45-44 with 11 seconds and hit both. He had an 11-0 run by himself at one point in the first half.

After tying the game at 43-all with two free throws, Thatch poked a ball away from Caleb Oswald, which ended up in Parker Long’s hands. Long lifted a looping pass to Thatch who put Sikeston ahead 45-43 with 50 seconds left.

After Reddin made it a one point game again at the charity stripe, the Tigers had a chance to take the lead inside the final 20 seconds, but was thwarted by Thatch. The senior came up with another clutch steal and looked to seal the game with what would have been a clear lane to the other end of the court. But as Thatch turned for the breakaway, his dribble fell right on the toe of an official, giving the ball back to Cape Central during a jaw-dropping turn of events.

“That was about to be a dunk or something nasty,” Thatch said. “Somehow, some way, they got the ball back.”

Do yourself a favor and read the whole article. Thatch is a great quote, as usual, and this article shows what a competitor he is.

[RUBillsFan]

12 minutes ago, Pistol said:

But as Thatch turned for the breakaway, his dribble fell right on the toe of an official, giving the ball back to Cape Central during a jaw-dropping turn of events.

Oh man.  I'm glad Sikeston won the game.  Can you imagine losing your final HS game because of a costly turnover that wasn't even really your fault?  Get out of the way zebra!

[ACE]

12 hours ago, billikentim said:

There will be available playing time for anybody who can hit a 3-point shot next year. Hopefully Thatch can be a consistent threat.

[kshoe]

1 hour ago, Pistol said:

Huge if true.

In all seriousness, he seems to have really been working on his shot and this is a really welcome development.

From the article linked below: “I trust in my jump shot now,” Thatch said. “If people just want to let me shoot the ball I’m not even thinking anymore. I’m just pulling it.”

That's too close for comfort, but that third matchup against a team is often the kiss of death. The good team you beat twice in conference and then play again in the playoffs. Cape Central was top-10 in a lot of Class 4 polls, and 2 of their 4 losses were to Sikeston. Glad that Sikeston escaped.

The Semoball write-up is a great recap (side note: I'm genuinely going to miss having a player from the SEMO area because this site does such a nice job of covering HS hoops). Thatch ended up with 7 rebounds to go with his 27 points, going 7-9 from the field, 5-7 from 3 (5-5 in the first half, as mentioned above, so he didn't have the hot hand in the second), and hitting 8 free throws, 4 in the closing minute. It wasn't just Thatch whose shooting dried up in the second half, as Sikeston went 0-10 from 3 to let Central back in it. Thatch went to the line with Sikeston up 45-44 with 11 seconds and hit both. He had an 11-0 run by himself at one point in the first half.

After tying the game at 43-all with two free throws, Thatch poked a ball away from Caleb Oswald, which ended up in Parker Long’s hands. Long lifted a looping pass to Thatch who put Sikeston ahead 45-43 with 50 seconds left.

After Reddin made it a one point game again at the charity stripe, the Tigers had a chance to take the lead inside the final 20 seconds, but was thwarted by Thatch. The senior came up with another clutch steal and looked to seal the game with what would have been a clear lane to the other end of the court. But as Thatch turned for the breakaway, his dribble fell right on the toe of an official, giving the ball back to Cape Central during a jaw-dropping turn of events.

“That was about to be a dunk or something nasty,” Thatch said. “Somehow, some way, they got the ball back.”

Do yourself a favor and read the whole article. Thatch is a great quote, as usual, and this article shows what a competitor he is.

Great article. Impossible not to be pumped about Thatch after reading that. He scored 27 points on 9 shot attempts, including 8 made fts. Talk about efficient!

[almaman]

1 hour ago, Pistol said:

Huge if true.

In all seriousness, he seems to have really been working on his shot and this is a really welcome development.

From the article linked below: “I trust in my jump shot now,” Thatch said. “If people just want to let me shoot the ball I’m not even thinking anymore. I’m just pulling it.”

That's too close for comfort, but that third matchup against a team is often the kiss of death. The good team you beat twice in conference and then play again in the playoffs. Cape Central was top-10 in a lot of Class 4 polls, and 2 of their 4 losses were to Sikeston. Glad that Sikeston escaped.

The Semoball write-up is a great recap (side note: I'm genuinely going to miss having a player from the SEMO area because this site does such a nice job of covering HS hoops). Thatch ended up with 7 rebounds to go with his 27 points, going 7-9 from the field, 5-7 from 3 (5-5 in the first half, as mentioned above, so he didn't have the hot hand in the second), and hitting 8 free throws, 4 in the closing minute. It wasn't just Thatch whose shooting dried up in the second half, as Sikeston went 0-10 from 3 to let Central back in it. Thatch went to the line with Sikeston up 45-44 with 11 seconds and hit both. He had an 11-0 run by himself at one point in the first half.

After tying the game at 43-all with two free throws, Thatch poked a ball away from Caleb Oswald, which ended up in Parker Long’s hands. Long lifted a looping pass to Thatch who put Sikeston ahead 45-43 with 50 seconds left.

After Reddin made it a one point game again at the charity stripe, the Tigers had a chance to take the lead inside the final 20 seconds, but was thwarted by Thatch. The senior came up with another clutch steal and looked to seal the game with what would have been a clear lane to the other end of the court. But as Thatch turned for the breakaway, his dribble fell right on the toe of an official, giving the ball back to Cape Central during a jaw-dropping turn of events.

“That was about to be a dunk or something nasty,” Thatch said. “Somehow, some way, they got the ball back.”

Do yourself a favor and read the whole article. Thatch is a great quote, as usual, and this article shows what a competitor he is.

thanks good read. Any other studs in area who we can get and keep us interested in Semoball?

[Cowboy]

-thanks for the article, that comment on his jump shot is very good news about Thatch

[Pistol]

30 minutes ago, almaman said:

thanks good read. Any other studs in area who we can get and keep us interested in Semoball?

Marcedus Leech? Although his status in SEMO is up in the air at the moment. He's been out all year with an injury and I'm not sure he's still playing at Poplar Bluff when he's healthy, either.

[Cowboy]

31 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Marcedus Leech? Although his status in SEMO is up in the air at the moment. He's been out all year with an injury and I'm not sure he's still playing at Poplar Bluff when he's healthy, either.

-was it Leech that had a great summer last year and his stock was rising? I wonder what happened to him if he is not playing, hope the kid is alright

[Pistol]

12 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

-was it Leech that had a great summer last year and his stock was rising? I wonder what happened to him if he is not playing, hope the kid is alright

No, he was a top-50 kid before last summer but has steadily gone downward in the rankings since then (now in the 70s) because he hasn't played. He's one of those long, lean, super athletic wings with a high ceiling but his recruitment has more or less been on pause for the past several months. As of December, the schools working the hardest for him were Mizzou, LSU, and Nebraska. Iowa State, Texas Tech, and a few more are in the mix, too. But I think everyone is waiting to see how his knee holds up, and I've also heard rumors about some off-the-court stuff and possibly not returning to Poplar Bluff but haven't been able to confirm.

[Cowboy]

2 hours ago, Pistol said:

No, he was a top-50 kid before last summer but has steadily gone downward in the rankings since then (now in the 70s) because he hasn't played. He's one of those long, lean, super athletic wings with a high ceiling but his recruitment has more or less been on pause for the past several months. As of December, the schools working the hardest for him were Mizzou, LSU, and Nebraska. Iowa State, Texas Tech, and a few more are in the mix, too. But I think everyone is waiting to see how his knee holds up, and I've also heard rumors about some off-the-court stuff and possibly not returning to Poplar Bluff but haven't been able to confirm.

-hope he gets healthy and wants to Be A Billiken

[TheChosenOne]

2 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

-hope he gets healthy and wants to Be A Billiken

From what I have heard, he might be one I wouldn't be too upset to see get away.

[Pistol]

Gordon didn't do much last night in a 60-32 win over Vianney. 3 points on 1-4 shooting and 1-2 from the line. He had 4 fouls, so he may have gotten in foul trouble early and then stashed on the bench because he wasn't needed. Ramey only had 6, and R.J. Wright got to be the man for WG, with 28.