Signed Recruit Thread 2018-19

[3star_recruit]

39 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Okay make it a 16 footer. Unclog the lane!!  That’s the point. Move bodies out of the lane. Let Bess, Goodwin and Foreman have space to drive. Let French (or Gordon) have a chance to move. Having two to three defenders in the lane hasn’t worked all that well for us. 

The problem is we're shooting under 60% on uncontested 15 footers (free throws). Put a defender on them and it's probably closer to 40%. Again, guys just need to start hitting perimeter shots, whatever the distance. The guys who were specifically brought in to hit those shots - Isabell, Wiley - haven't done it thus far.  The best shooter among the freshmen, Thor, has been playing catch-up all season.

It's only been 12 games. There's still time for our shooting fortunes to turn.

[Pistol]

10 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

I’m amazed that Cairo has enough kids to put a team on the court.

Yeah, pretty bleak picture down there. Looks like enrollment is <200.

They lost to Marion yesterday, 73-53. I think they're 5-9, from what I can tell, so they're not great but seem to hold their own against fellow small schools.

[brianstl]

48 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

I’m amazed that Cairo has enough kids to put a team on the court.

It might be the most depressing place I have ever drove through.  

[willie]

27 minutes ago, brianstl said:

It might be the most depressing place I have ever drove through.  

Worse than East St. Louis? 

[Quality Is Job 1]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

The problem is we're shooting under 60% on uncontested 15 footers (free throws). Put a defender on them and it's probably closer to 40%. Again, guys just need to start hitting perimeter shots, whatever the distance. The guys who were specifically brought in to hit those shots - Isabell, Wiley - haven't done it thus far.  The best shooter among the freshmen, Thor, has been playing catch-up all season.

It's only been 12 games. There's still time for our shooting fortunes to turn.

There's a difference between a standard structured free throw and a 15-foot jumper.

[Pistol]

25 minutes ago, brianstl said:

It might be the most depressing place I have ever drove through.  

Also @Box and Won, just found this article from the aftermath of last season. Turns out last season, the school had 97 students and still went 23-6 in basketball, finishing four games short of a state final (sectional semifinals). Their star senior, Demarius Taylor, is at Lincoln College now, on the JV team. The article makes last season sound like the last gasp for the program and school as families continue to leave Cairo. It's still there, but it's hard to say for how much longer. Sad stuff, but a good read.

Anyway, they tip in an hour against St. Mary's. I'd think Collins won't have much trouble with them, but hey, they're used to being the underdogs.

[Billiken Rich]

5 minutes ago, willie said:

Worse than East St. Louis? 

Think a more rural East St. Louis without the wherewithal of being next to a bigger more successful city.....both are pretty depressing for sure.... 

[Pistol]

1 minute ago, willie said:

Worse than East St. Louis? 

Yes, actually, in terms of poverty. When using the same data, ESL's poverty rate is 44.7% and Cairo's is 46.5%. For kids, those percentages are 48.6% in ESL and 60.6% in Cairo (highest in IL, 15th in the US).

The violent crime rate is much worse in ESL, but property crime is much worse in Cairo, probably on account of the level of abandoned buildings there.

Still, in terms of hopelessness, I'd give the edge to Cairo. ESL is at least surrounded by decent suburbs and right across the river from a major city. There is opportunity for employment. Cairo has nothing. The school is the town's largest employer and could shut down if trends continue. There's a public housing crisis, as 1/6 of the town's residents were forced to move after two public housing complexes were closed last year. Peak population was over 15,000 a hundred years ago and it's just over 2,000 (and possibly under) today. There's no grocery store, hospital, or community center. There's a very real chance it could become a ghost town within a few decades, especially if there's another big flood.

[3star_recruit]

14 minutes ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

There's a difference between a standard structured free throw and a 15-foot jumper.

Agreed, but the two skills are related.  Have you ever seen a player who consistently hit 15 foot jumpers that shot under 60% from the line?

[Cowboy]

7 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Yes, actually, in terms of poverty. When using the same data, ESL's poverty rate is 44.7% and Cairo's is 46.5%. For kids, those percentages are 48.6% in ESL and 60.6% in Cairo (highest in IL, 15th in the US).

The violent crime rate is much worse in ESL, but property crime is much worse in Cairo, probably on account of the level of abandoned buildings there.

Still, in terms of hopelessness, I'd give the edge to Cairo. ESL is at least surrounded by decent suburbs and right across the river from a major city. There is opportunity for employment. Cairo has nothing. The school is the town's largest employer and could shut down if trends continue. There's a public housing crisis, as 1/6 of the town's residents were forced to move after two public housing complexes were closed last year. Peak population was over 15,000 a hundred years ago and it's just over 2,000 (and possibly under) today. There's no grocery store, hospital, or community center. There's a very real chance it could become a ghost town within a few decades, especially if there's another big flood.

-during WWII StL Cardinals held spring training in Cairo

[billiken_roy]

3 hours ago, Billiken Rich said:

Think a more rural East St. Louis without the wherewithal of being next to a bigger more successful city.....both are pretty depressing for sure.... 

This is a very clear description

[jimbofive]

On 12/14/2018 at 7:04 PM, BIG BILL FAN said:

 

 

 

 

At Hoop Group NJ Tip Off at Elizabeth Dunn Center & after 3 Montverde CBD leads Blair 52-46. St Louis bound Gibson Jimerson is playing best I have ever seen him with 17 in third quarter alone. Needless to say he is burying ever single jumper.

It's going to be so depressing when he comes to SLU and shoots 32% from 3 and 66% from FT.

Hold onto that jumper, kid.  Spend time with it.  Remember it.  It's going to DIE soon...

[Pistol]

On 12/28/2018 at 10:34 AM, Pistol said:

Finally got some stats on St. Mary's second game in Akron, a loss to Chaminade (CA). Collins had 20, with 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals.

In a 63-60 loss to New Madrid Central at SIUC yesterday, he had 8 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, and 7 steals.

He's averaging 20.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 4.0 steals through his first 3 games. He's lost his shooting form a bit after the first game (33 points) and is at a slashline of .444/.267/.567.

St. Mary's will play Cairo at SIUC today.

St. Mary's is starting to turn things around with YC back in command, now up to 7-7 on the season.

They beat Cairo, 74-52. Collins: 20 points (9-11 FG, 2-3 FT), 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 4 TO.

Then the next day they beat both Covington (TN) (65-62) and McCluer South-Berkeley (62-34) at SIUC.

Against Covington, Collins had 18 points (9-17 FG, 0-2 FT), 6 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals, and 4 TO.

Against MSB, he had 10 points (3-? FG, 4-4 FT) and I don't have his other numbers yet.

Side note: I had never heard of McCluer South-Berkeley before but apparently it has been open since 2004 and replaced Berkeley HS. The BOE apparently voted two months ago and decided to close the school and replace it with a STEAM school. I have to imagine it's hard to win many basketball games with impending school closure hanging over your head.

[Pistol]

East St. Louis went 3-1 for a fifth place finish at the Collinsville Holiday Tournament. After beating Althoff and losing to Rockford East, they beat both Edwardsville (57-49) and Granite City (77-58).

Hargrove had 7 (2-4 FG, 3-5 FT), with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks, and 3 TO against Edwardsville.

Against GC, he had 22 (9-18 FG, 4-8 FT), with 10 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block.

ESL is now 11-4. Stats are available for all but one game at STLToday, and Hargrove is averaging 18.3 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 2.9 blocks with a slashline of .435/.220/.678.

[Quality Is Job 1]

3 hours ago, Pistol said:

Side note: I had never heard of McCluer South-Berkeley before but apparently it has been open since 2004 and replaced Berkeley HS. The BOE apparently voted two months ago and decided to close the school and replace it with a STEAM school. I have to imagine it's hard to win many basketball games with impending school closure hanging over your head.

I thought I'd discussed MS-Berkeley on here over the years.  I graduated from Berkeley and later worked and "coached" there and at MS-Berkeley.

As for the plummeting quality of athletics at MSB, I think it's more because of a lack of good coaching than apathy because of the impending conversion.  It may also stem from a diminishing population base in Berkeley.  (Ferg-Flor is also closing Berkeley's most central elementary school — and, I've heard, its middle school.)

As the newest and nicest facility in the school district, the building that's currently MS -Berkeley will house the STEAM school.  I don't know if the name will change, but I have talked to a MSB employee who told me that there will be no athletics.

Stinks for Berkeley.

[JohnnyJumpUp]

19 minutes ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

I thought I'd discussed MS-Berkeley on here over the years.  I graduated from Berkeley and later worked and "coached" there and at MS-Berkeley.

As for the plummeting quality of athletics at MSB, I think it's more because of a lack of good coaching than apathy because of the impending conversion.  It may also stem from a diminishing population base in Berkeley.  (Ferg-Flor is also closing Berkeley's most central elementary school — and, I've heard, its middle school.)

As the newest and nicest facility in the school district, the building that's currently MS -Berkeley will house the STEAM school.  I don't know if the name will change, but I have talked to a MSB employee who told me that there will be no athletics.

Stinks for Berkeley.

It is the newest and nicest facility, and that's why I didn't understand why they wouldn't decide to move the McCluer students to MSB instead of moving MSB students to McCluer.

[Coach314]

3 hours ago, Pistol said:

East St. Louis went 3-1 for a fifth place finish at the Collinsville Holiday Tournament. After beating Althoff and losing to Rockford East, they beat both Edwardsville (57-49) and Granite City (77-58).

Hargrove had 7 (2-4 FG, 3-5 FT), with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks, and 3 TO against Edwardsville.

Against GC, he had 22 (9-18 FG, 4-8 FT), with 10 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block.

ESL is now 11-4. Stats are available for all but one game at STLToday, and Hargrove is averaging 18.3 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 2.9 blocks with a slashline of .435/.220/.678.

Big game next week.  East Side vs Vashon

[Cowboy]

20 minutes ago, Coach314 said:

Big game next week.  East Side vs Vashon

-yep, Jan 11 at ESL

[Quality Is Job 1]

54 minutes ago, JohnnyJumpUp said:

It is the newest and nicest facility, and that's why I didn't understand why they wouldn't decide to move the McCluer students to MSB instead of moving MSB students to McCluer.

Well, the capacity is too small.  As a Berkeley alumnus, I dislike the decision, but if the consensus opinion is to go from three high schools to two high schools and one specialty school, then the only scenario that makes sense is to use the smallest facility for the specialty school.

[thetorch]

The closure of MSB may not last. Their have been rumblings about closing McCluer altogether as the building is too costly to maintain and the campus is outdated. Then just keeping North and MSB. North and McCluer both have enrollments of about 1000-1200 now. MCCluer at one time had that much for single classes and North is easily capable of having a 2000+ enrollment.

At the very least the athletic programs will be combined. Ferg-Flor is tired of losing all their athletes to the MCC and now Lutheran North and Trinity. Desperately need to be competitive again.

[almaman]

4 hours ago, thetorch said:

The closure of MSB may not last. Their have been rumblings about closing McCluer altogether as the building is too costly to maintain and the campus is outdated. Then just keeping North and MSB. North and McCluer both have enrollments of about 1000-1200 now. MCCluer at one time had that much for single classes and North is easily capable of having a 2000+ enrollment.

At the very least the athletic programs will be combined. Ferg-Flor is tired of losing all their athletes to the MCC and now Lutheran North and Trinity. Desperately need to be competitive again.

That spot has value real estate wise I'm guessing and right next to 270.

[VeniceMenace]

1 hour ago, almaman said:

That spot has value real estate wise I'm guessing and right next to 270.

Cannot close McCluer North because Dick Missavage played there

[billiCAN]

Still some tickets left for Saturday in Highland:

https://sites.google.com/view/highlandshootout/home

 

Game 1 (8:30am) - East St. Louis (IL) Girls vs. Highland (IL) Girls

Game 2 (10:00am) - Normal West (IL) vs. Edwardsville (IL)

Nathan Duckworth - 6'0" Senior, Normal West

Ethan Young - 6'1" Junior, Edwardsville

Game 3 (11:30pm) - Nashville (IL) vs. Effingham (IL)

Bryce Bultman - 6'5" Senior, Nashville - Offers from SIU, SEMO, McKendree

Tanner Bergman - 6'5" Senior, Nashville

Carson Parker - 6'5" Junior - Offer from McKendree

Landon Wolfe - 6'5" Senior Effingham - Offer from Truman State

Game 4 (1:00pm) - Bloomington (IL) vs. East St. Louis (IL)

Chris Payton - 6'7" Senior, Bloomington - Committed to SIU Carbondale - Nationally ranked #135

Terrance Hargrove - 6'7" Senior, East St. Louis - Committed to SLU - Nationally ranked #132

Game 5 (3:00pm) - Poplar Bluff (MO) vs. Highland (IL)

Dominique Hardimon -6'4" Senior, Poplar Bluff

Sam LaPorta - 6'4" Senior, Highland

Stephen Torre - 6'9" Senior, Highland

Game 6 (4:45pm) - CBC (MO) vs. Columbia Rock Bridge (MO)

Caleb Love - 6'3" Junior, CBC - Offers from Illinois, Mizzou, Florida, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, etc. - Nationally ranked #33

Josh Wallce - 6'7" Senior, CBC - Offers from Bradley, SIU-E

Isaiah Mosley - 6'6" Senior, Rock Bridge - Offers from Mizzou, Purdue, Virginia, Nebraska - Nationally ranked #75

Dajuan Harris - 6'2" Senior, Rock Bridge - Committed to Missouri State

Jamonta Black - 6'4" Senior, Rock Bridge - comitted to Missouri State

Game 7 (6:30pm) - Chaminade (MO) vs. Milwaukee Nicolet (WI)

Luke Kasubke - 6'5" Junior, Chaminade - offers from Illinois, Wisconsin, SLU, Mizzou - Nationally ranked #102

Keyyaun Batchman - 6'2" Senior, Chaminade - offer from Drury

Jalen Johnson - 6'7" Junior, Nicolet - offers from Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, etc. - Nationally ranked #4

Jamari Sibley - 6'9" Junior, Nicolet - offers from Illnois, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota, Iowa State, etc. - Nationally ranked #78

James Graham - 6'6" Sophomore, Nicolet - offers from Rutgers, DePaul

Kobe Johnson - 6'1" Sophomore, Nicolet - Offer from DePaul

Game 8 (8:15pm) - Belleville West (IL) vs. Vashon (MO)

EJ Liddell - 6'7" Senior, Belleville West - List narrowed to Illinois, Mizzou, Ohio State - Nationally Ranked #38

Keith Randolph - 6'5" Senior - Division 1 Football Prospect

Mario McKinney - 6'2" Senior, Vashon - Committed to Mizzou - Nationally Ranked #79

Camron Fletcher - 6'5" Junior, Vashon - offers from Illinois, Iowa, Mizzou, SLU, etc. - Nationally Ranked #42

Kobe Clark - 6'4" Junior, Vashon - offers from SLU, Missouri State - Nationally Ranked #247

Nick Kern - 6'5" Sophomore, Vashon - offer from DePaul - Nationally Ranked #140

Donyae McKaskill - 6'2" Senior, Vashon - Committed to Portland

Phillip Russell - 5'10" Junior, Vashon - Offers from Valparaiso, UMKC

Akor Yor - 6'9" Senior, Vashon - Offer from SEMO

 

[moytoy12]

Watching MSU-OSU and envisioning Jimerson being our version of MSU’s McQuaid.

[billiCAN]

At Highland. Hargrove vs Chris Payton/East vs Bloomington getting ready to tip.