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Mike Lewis II - Coming Home


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4 minutes ago, JMM28 said:

It shouldn’t be hard to get him eligible immediately. Nice pickup. 

I agree to an extent. I don’t want SLU to be the “I can always transfer back there” school either though. 

I agree but I think this is different. Mike Lewis wanted to come to SLU but Jim Crews was a moron. 

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4 minutes ago, JMM28 said:

It shouldn’t be hard to get him eligible immediately. Nice pickup. 

I agree to an extent. I don’t want SLU to be the “I can always transfer back there” school either though. 

I don’t think that’s the play here. I think it’s “one of St. Louis finest products has been left stranded by a coaching change and were here for him. Take note St. Louis we care about our local kids”

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I like the Lewis move for 2 reasons; the STL angle and he makes us a better team next year when we have been worried about our lack of experienced players.  I could see Lewis getting lots of minutes , even starting along Goodwin.  The only problem, and it's a good one to have, is too much talent/players at the 1/2 positions.  Pretty crowded with Goodwin, Thatch, Jacobs, Collins and Lewis.  Maybe Goodwin and Thatch could fill some #3 position minutes, in effect playing 3 or 4 guards at a time, based on possible matchups.

We still need 1 or 2 GT bigs to help at the 4/5 spots. 

Just to review, we have the following positions/players considering some to be flexible with regard to position.  (If you can't handle initials pls stop reading at this point, but if you are a true Billiken fan you will know who each of these players are!)

1 and 2:  JG, FT Jr.; Jacobs, YC; M Lewis, Jimerson

3 :  Perkins; TH; KCH; Jimerson; JG; FT Jr.

4 and 5 :  HF; J Bell; Perkins; TH ; and 1 or 2 GTs

Come on TF-get us a couple of bigs that don't tie up more than one scholarship year

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17 minutes ago, Clocktoweraccords2004 said:

Ford wasn’t around when Lewis committed Or he already did or was brand new. 

Yes Mike Lewis can get a waiver after a coaching change. It’s textbook waiver. However he would rather play conference then play a year instead of play a year then be done next year December 

Huh? There is no scenario where he can play 1.5 more years. From the NCAA’s perspective he has already played 3 years.

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This year's Bess stats vs Lewis II career stats ( He didn't play a full season this year)

..............................FG%...............2P%..............3P%............FT%...........Reb...........Ast..............Stl.............Pts

Bess......................39...................45.................33................79.............6.8..........1.8.................1.4............15.3

Lewis II..................40...................45.................36................82.............2.1..........1.1.................0.8............14.1

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25 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

I agree but I think this is different. Mike Lewis wanted to come to SLU but Jim Crews was a moron. 

I’ll admit that at the time, I didn’t view it as a big miss because he wasn’t that highly touted; everyone cared about his teammates Tatum and Cook. I also never saw him play in high school. With that said, Crews had to have seen him play several dozen times just by his pursuit of Tatum. I can’t comprehend how he could’ve seen him play that many times and didn’t think he wasn’t good enough, but think that guys like Brett Jolly and Zeke Moore were good enough. Same goes for Jordan Barnes from CBC, who Crews has to have seen dozens of times on the AAU circuit.

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7 minutes ago, DeSmetBilliken said:

I’ll admit that at the time, I didn’t view it as a big miss because he wasn’t that highly touted; everyone cared about his teammates Tatum and Cook. With that said, Crews had to have seen him play several dozen times just by his pursuit of Tatum. I can’t comprehend how he could’ve seen him play that many times and didn’t think he wasn’t good enough, but think that guys like Brett Jolly and Zeke Moore were good enough. Same goes for the kid from CBC who went to Indiana State whose name escapes me now.

Jordan Barnes

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To those blaming Crews for missing him the first time around, I don't really think this case is a poor reflection on him - and I'm no Crews apologist. Granted, he was still better than most of the guys Crews brought in, but to me he looked like a limited recruit out of HS, basically an undersized shooter without a ton of all-around guard skills.

He bulked up immediately at Duquesne and was the leading returning scorer when Dambrot took over. He announced his intent to transfer when Ferry left, but stayed for Dambrot - and then left at the semester break when he wasn't a fit for him. I wish he had been able to transfer when he first wanted to, for his sake. Seems like Dambrot wasn't straight with him about his role there, or just didn't understand him.

Then he was the victim of another coaching change when Musselman left Nevada. He was a walk-on for this semester and apparently planned to sit 2019-2020 to play a full year in 2020-2021.

So the same plan will hold here at SLU - unless he's granted a waiver. My guess is that there's some confidence within the staff that he can get one, given that he's been screwed over by two coaching changes. That would make him an immediately eligible senior, basically a grad transfer, in which case he makes more sense for us. We need shooters and we need scholarships for 2020. If he has to sit this coming season, it's a bit more of a stretch because we have young guards to develop along with the need for 2020 scholarships.

He was better at Duquesne than I expected. I knew he was a good shooter but his production was greater than I expected. He's still not an all-around guard and could develop some more defensively, but he's got the strength to be an effective two-way player for us if he clicks with Ford and his system.

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20 minutes ago, Pistol said:

To those blaming Crews for missing him the first time around, I don't really think this case is a poor reflection on him - and I'm no Crews apologist. Granted, he was still better than most of the guys Crews brought in, but to me he looked like a limited recruit out of HS, basically an undersized shooter without a ton of all-around guard skills.

He bulked up immediately at Duquesne and was the leading returning scorer when Dambrot took over. He announced his intent to transfer when Ferry left, but stayed for Dambrot - and then left at the semester break when he wasn't a fit for him. I wish he had been able to transfer when he first wanted to, for his sake. Seems like Dambrot wasn't straight with him about his role there, or just didn't understand him.

Then he was the victim of another coaching change when Musselman left Nevada. He was a walk-on for this semester and apparently planned to sit 2019-2020 to play a full year in 2020-2021.

So the same plan will hold here at SLU - unless he's granted a waiver. My guess is that there's some confidence within the staff that he can get one, given that he's been screwed over by two coaching changes. That would make him an immediately eligible senior, basically a grad transfer, in which case he makes more sense for us. We need shooters and we need scholarships for 2020. If he has to sit this coming season, it's a bit more of a stretch because we have young guards to develop along with the need for 2020 scholarships.

 He was better at Duquesne than I expected. I knew he was a good shooter but his production was greater than I expected. He's still not an all-around guard and could develop some more defensively, but he's got the strength to be an effective two-way player for us if he clicks with Ford and his system.

I would be shocked if he is not granted a waiver. Guy went through two coaching changes, and was even a walk-on for a semester (i.e. he paid his own way). The NCAA would be foolish to reject a waiver and Nevada would be absolutely foolish to try and put up a fight. Only complicating factor could be that alford is a complete a s s h o l e. 

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2 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

If the staff was going to use a scholarship on a grad transfer guard, I'm glad they chose Lewis.  He wanted to come home and and understands how to play off the ball.  Can impact the game as a three point specialist even in limited minutes.

If he's not a grad transfer I don't understand the pickup.

I know we had a little debate about the merits of adding another guard, but with three scholarships to give, I'm not surprised by this at all. And if it wasn't Lewis, I suspect they would have been on the hunt for another experienced guard who is a proven shooter.

Look at our other guards - Goodwin, Yuri, Thatch, Jacobs and GJ - yes, GJ profiles as an excellent shooter, but who knows if he can do the other things to be anything more than a zone buster his freshman season. The other four, don't figure to be reliable 3-point threats, unless there is some major improvement. This team was still in big need of another shooter, so this is an ideal fit.

With two more scholarships, there is still opportunity to round out the frontcourt: French, Hankton, Bell, GT to be named, and werewolf freshman to be named. I like the way this team is shaping up.

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49 minutes ago, Pistol said:

To those blaming Crews for missing him the first time around, I don't really think this case is a poor reflection on him - and I'm no Crews apologist. Granted, he was still better than most of the guys Crews brought in, but to me he looked like a limited recruit out of HS, basically an undersized shooter without a ton of all-around guard skills.

He bulked up immediately at Duquesne and was the leading returning scorer when Dambrot took over. He announced his intent to transfer when Ferry left, but stayed for Dambrot - and then left at the semester break when he wasn't a fit for him. I wish he had been able to transfer when he first wanted to, for his sake. Seems like Dambrot wasn't straight with him about his role there, or just didn't understand him.

Then he was the victim of another coaching change when Musselman left Nevada. He was a walk-on for this semester and apparently planned to sit 2019-2020 to play a full year in 2020-2021.

So the same plan will hold here at SLU - unless he's granted a waiver. My guess is that there's some confidence within the staff that he can get one, given that he's been screwed over by two coaching changes. That would make him an immediately eligible senior, basically a grad transfer, in which case he makes more sense for us. We need shooters and we need scholarships for 2020. If he has to sit this coming season, it's a bit more of a stretch because we have young guards to develop along with the need for 2020 scholarships.

He was better at Duquesne than I expected. I knew he was a good shooter but his production was greater than I expected. He's still not an all-around guard and could develop some more defensively, but he's got the strength to be an effective two-way player for us if he clicks with Ford and his system.

It looks like coming out of HS his offers were limited to mid to low mid majors.  Verbal Recruits shows E. Illinois, SEMO, ESTU, Evansville, Central Michigan, UIC, Illinois State, Omaha, Wofford, and IUPUI.

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2 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

It looks like coming out of HS his offers were limited to mid to low mid majors.  Verbal Recruits shows E. Illinois, SEMO, ESTU, Evansville, Central Michigan, UIC, Illinois State, Omaha, Wofford, and IUPUI.

Let’s be true about his recruitment, he was over shadowed by Tatum, Cook and even Gladsen on that Red Devil team. Not enough balls to go around to truly show his talents. Even as a Chaminade alum, I didn’t believe he would be this good. He was going to be our guard shooters next year. If you were counting on FT & JG, you have higher expectations than me. They will improve, but by how much?

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8 hours ago, Franchise_08 said:

Let’s be true about his recruitment, he was over shadowed by Tatum, Cook and even Gladsen on that Red Devil team. Not enough balls to go around to truly show his talents. Even as a Chaminade alum, I didn’t believe he would be this good. He was going to be our guard shooters next year. If you were counting on FT & JG, you have higher expectations than me. They will improve, but by how much?

Every kid that does well at another school is not a miss.  After his junior season at Chaminade, Lewis was a 6-1 guard who was an average defender, didn't rebound and lacked point guard skills. 

Those are a lot of flaws and it's why so many mid-major programs passed on him. Duquesne gave him a chance to play anyway. He put up good stats on a bad team where defense was optional. 

To a large degree, Lewis has the same holes in his game that he had in high school. But because he got a chance to play, he now has valuable experience that he likely would not have had if he played at a better program.  That is a good thing.

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22 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Every kid that does well at another school is not a miss.  After his junior season at Chaminade, Lewis was a 6-1 guard who was an average defender, didn't rebound and lacked point guard skills. 

Those are a lot of flaws and it's why so many mid-major programs passed on him. Duquesne gave him a chance to play anyway. He put up good stats on a bad team where defense was optional. 

To a large degree, Lewis has the same holes in his game that he had in high school. But because he got a chance to play, he now has valuable experience that he likely would not have had if he played at a better program.  That is a good thing.

Do you foresee Lewis playing minutes at PG for SLU?  That would be an added benefit if he can.  You can never have too many ball handlers, or shooter, or defenders, or.......... 

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13 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

He certainly has a stronger case to play immediately than some recent waivers we've seen.

This was posted on the Duquesne Board.

This is interesting from a rules perspective.  First, the NCAA rules state that if you play a minute you have played an entire season (unless a special medical waiver is granted).  So the most Mike will have is one year of eligibility left, not one and a half year as some on social media have speculated.  Secondly, Mike was never on the Nevada roster, therefore  his last basketball school was Duquesne, so A10 rules should apply unless a special waiver is granted or he graduates.  I do not see a special; waiver being granted as a kid would only have to drop out and go to another school for a semester to defeat this rule.  An interesting question is what happens if he gets his degree this summer and becomes a grad student.  I am not clear on that but I think he can both be eligible this fall and the league two year rule would not apply.  Any rule gurus on  this board who can clarify?

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I, for one, see no problem with having too many good guards.

 A few years ago, Illinois put a team on the floor with three college point guards - and no one had an answer for the flexibility, shooting, and passing that level of talent provided. Deron Williams, Luther Head, and Dee Brown were all NBA level talent, and they were coached up as well.

Ford can scheme and coach well enough to integrate this situation over the course of a season - heck, he coached them well enough that he got them into the top quarter of the league with one shooter and no point guard last year, and now he has a pg and multiple shooters. Watch out, A10.

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7 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Do you foresee Lewis playing minutes at PG for SLU?  That would be an added benefit if he can.  You can never have too many ball handlers, or shooter, or defenders, or.......... 

Yes, he will play significant minutes at pg, which will help ease YC into the mix. You can’t have enough ball handlers at the end of the game especially one that shoots 80% from FT. How many times did JG or FT get fouled at the end of the game—I cringed. 

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Lewis was enrolled in school and on the roster.  He was practicing with the team and on the bench for home games.  He did not count against the scholarship limit since he was paying his own way.  He was technically a walk-on last semester, but the same eligibility rules apply to walk-ons. 

Edited by brianstl
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51 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

Can someone please post pit bull????   Sleeping on this has me even more excited. I think he’s going to get a waiver and be the additional shooter we are looking for. 

 

 

FIREBALL! 

Shout out to the grandkids that introduced me to this pitbull song.

Welcome home Mr. Lewis I am happy for you and your friends and family that will get to see you play at the Fetz how exciting that must be for you.

I like the mix of local kids on our team however I understand it must be a mix because we don’t want to miss out on players like French.

If he is able to play next season we are strong at the guard position.

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