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Transfers - 2021


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Former SLU recruit Markquis Nowell, who opted out of the rest of the season for Little Rock in early February, is headed to K-State. He'll be a senior but should have two years left if he wants both.

Jack Nunge is leaving Iowa to go somewhere closer to home. He's from Newburgh, Indiana, just east of Evansville. That makes Evansville the obvious choice, but draw about a 2-hour radius from there and you get Bellarmine, Louisville, WKU, Murray State, SIUC, SEMO, Austin Peay, SIUE, EIU, Indiana, Indiana State - go a little farther out and you'd get STL, Indy, and Nashville, too. He was a Jim Crews recruit but never got an offer. 6-11, 245 and can stretch defenses with his shooting. However, he just finished a redshirt sophomore year early after tearing his meniscus. He played his freshman year in 2017-2018, redshirted the next season, played the first few games of 2019-2020 before tearing his ACL, and then 16 months later this season ended early for him. His dad died young (53) in November - so a lot of reasons to go closer to home.

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2 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

I think McKissic would start too because he's a better perimeter shooter than Thatch and better at creating his own shot and distributing than Thatch, Jimerson or Jacobs.  And he's an all-conference caliber defender.  Going to a Mizzou team that's losing 90% of its scoring would be such a waste.

Thatch was the best player on the team after the return from COVID. He had the highest offensive rating in conference games and the best win share per 40 minutes in conference games.  In conference games Thatch average 4.7 assists per 100 processions with almost a 5 to 1 assist to turnover ratio compared to Mckissic’s 5.8 per 100 pocessions with an assist to turnover ratio just above 1.  McKissic wasn’t even the best player on UMKC.  That was Josiah Allick.  Give me Fred over McKissic all day long.  They are basically the same type of player and Fred is much better at filling that role.

I will take pre COVID Jimerson as a floor spreading shooter over McKissic.

 

 

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50 minutes ago, brianstl said:

Thatch was the best player on the team after the return from COVID. He had the highest offensive rating in conference games and the best win share per 40 minutes in conference games.  In conference games Thatch average 4.7 assists per 100 processions with almost a 5 to 1 assist to turnover ratio compared to Mckissic’s 5.8 per 100 pocessions with an assist to turnover ratio just above 1.  McKissic wasn’t even the best player on UMKC.  That was Josiah Allick.  Give me Fred over McKissic all day long.  They are basically the same type of player and Fred is much better at filling that role.

I will take pre COVID Jimerson as a floor spreading shooter over McKissic.

 

 

Wait...so with a potential lineup of Francis, Javonte, Goodwin and Yuri...Brandon couldn't fill that last spot over Fred or Jimerson?

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12 minutes ago, Coach314 said:

Wait...so with a potential lineup of Francis, Javonte, Goodwin and Yuri...Brandon couldn't fill that last spot over Fred or Jimerson?

I think in that scenario all of those guards would play a lot of matchups and you’d have a lot of versatility. In a game where Jimerson is a good matchup it’s hard to take him off the floor. But there would be other scenarios where you’d need more defensive versatility and athleticism and Thatch or Mckissic would make more sense. I think it’s a little silly to argue who would get the last spots when all of them would play a ton of minutes.

Not to mention that if Goodwin were to return and Mckissic were to come, I have to imagine we’d see a guard or two transfer out.

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6 hours ago, NH said:

I think in that scenario all of those guards would play a lot of matchups and you’d have a lot of versatility. In a game where Jimerson is a good matchup it’s hard to take him off the floor. But there would be other scenarios where you’d need more defensive versatility and athleticism and Thatch or Mckissic would make more sense. I think it’s a little silly to argue who would get the last spots when all of them would play a ton of minutes.

Not to mention that if Goodwin were to return and Mckissic were to come, I have to imagine we’d see a guard or two transfer out.

Even if neither of those two happen, I don't think we'll go unscathed. But the numbers are getting so big whoever leaves may get lost in the crowd. Other than Javonte and possibly Yuri the rest don't have what would be called head turning stats. Still, there is always the potential they could contribute somewhere else. I'm just a little bummed we haven't inked any new blood so far. 

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21 hours ago, SLURadioBoy said:

Goodwin is on Frank’s show right now. He said he will meet with agents to see what his chances are of going pro. If they say he will benefit from playing another year in college, he will come back to SLU as long as Ford will let him.

Highmark was on the Press Box after Goodwin.  He had a few good comments.  He reminded (me) that Ford, or any of the staff, could help the players in the summer.  So they spent little to no time working with Goodwin on his shot.  Yes, he needs to improve it to make the next step, but Highmark feels that a summer with Ford can accomplish that.  

He had almost the same comment on Collins.  Yes, he needs to be a threat from the outside to prevent his defender from sagging way back into the paint.  But again, there was no instruction time last summer.  Hopefully he can raise his offensive potential with a full summer with the staff.

Both Frank and Highmark discussed that this 'extra year' is killing this year's group of HS Seniors, at least those not in the top tier.  They aren't getting any looks.

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6 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Highmark was on the Press Box after Goodwin.  He had a few good comments.  He reminded (me) that Ford, or any of the staff, could help the players in the summer.  So they spent little to no time working with Goodwin on his shot.  Yes, he needs to improve it to make the next step, but Highmark feels that a summer with Ford can accomplish that.  

He had almost the same comment on Collins.  Yes, he needs to be a threat from the outside to prevent his defender from sagging way back into the paint.  But again, there was no instruction time last summer.  Hopefully he can raise his offensive potential with a full summer with the staff.

Both Frank and Highmark discussed that this 'extra year' is killing this year's group of HS Seniors, at least those not in the top tier.  They aren't getting any looks.

like ford has helped anyone with their shot since becoming the billiken head coach.   development is not coach ford's strong suit.  

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22 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

like ford has helped anyone with their shot since becoming the billiken head coach.   development is not coach ford's strong suit.  

I would say the shooting of Bess certainly improved. And Goodwin improved from his freshman year where he shot 23% from 3, to his senior year 31%.

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12 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Ouch!

hoosier, i am all about coach ford's recruting.   my gosh, no billiken coach in my lifetime has put together the talented roster that he has top to bottom.   and i would not trade that for just about any coach (those that i would trade for arent even reasonable to discuss it is such pie in the sky talk.  ford is that good of a recruiter imo).   but there is no denying he hasnt developed players particularly shooters.   

any shooting gains in his billiken era was pretty much done on their own or with someone else's assistance (thinking of bess and goodwin)  the truth is most of the players are what they are when they arrive.   we will look back on some of these players years from now and just wonder what if.   but again, i will take the talent.   assuming he continues his excellent recruiting, the billikens will always be in the conversation in early march and we wont necessarily be focused on spring training or spring break trips to the beach.  at this point in my fandom, i will take that over starting over again.  god knows our track record of hiring coaches isnt all that stellar as well.   let's keep what we got and hope the very good talent we bring in just gels and we just keep getting better and better players.    

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1 minute ago, ACE said:

I would say the shooting of Bess certainly improved. And Goodwin improved from his freshman year where he shot 23% from 3, to his senior year 31%.

i agree.   look at my response post.   i specifically mention both.   we all have read the stories of bess spending 6 hours alone in the gym shooting by himself learning techniques on his own.   we all read the story of goodwin spending his summer with his father and his father breaking down his shot both from the field and the free throw line to improve jordan's game.   

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24 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

like ford has helped anyone with their shot since becoming the billiken head coach.   development is not coach ford's strong suit.  

I am not sure that’s fair... but how many guys spend their summer shooting with their D1 head coach?

Gyms, spring/summer leagues were affected last year for all due to covid

And Yuri needs to work on finishing in the lane and among the trees as well  

Hard to get a fair read on Coach Ford. He inherited nothing, then devastated for 2 years by S2 and then 2 MORE years by COVID

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2 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

hoosier, i am all about coach ford's recruting.   my gosh, no billiken coach in my lifetime has put together the talented roster that he has top to bottom.   and i would not trade that for just about any coach (those that i would trade for arent even reasonable to discuss it is such pie in the sky talk.  ford is that good of a recruiter imo).   but there is no denying he hasnt developed players particularly shooters.   

any shooting gains in his billiken era was pretty much done on their own or with someone else's assistance (thinking of bess and goodwin)  the truth is most of the players are what they are when they arrive.   we will look back on some of these players years from now and just wonder what if.   but again, i will take the talent.   assuming he continues his excellent recruiting, the billikens will always be in the conversation in early march and we wont necessarily be focused on spring training or spring break trips to the beach.  at this point in my fandom, i will take that over starting over again.  god knows our track record of hiring coaches isnt all that stellar as well.   let's keep what we got and hope the very good talent we bring in just gels and we just keep getting better and better players.    

I agree wholeheartedly with nearly everything said; Coach Ford has been able to recruit two players who would become All-Americans in his time as a head coach. 99.9% of college basketball coaches will never recruit one such player. However, he has only won one NCAA tournament game in his 20 year coaching career. I think the above two facts encapsulate what he is; an exceptional recruiter whose teams never quite live up to the lofty expectations that are heaped on talented teams. 

Like Roy, I think he is absolutely the best man for this job right now. As an alum and season-ticket I would rather get excited about the talent he is amassing, watch exciting athletes play the game and accept that there will be some bewildering losses than go back to Sodie ball when we had a bunch of kids who played their hearts out but just didn't belong at this level. 

I am not saying Ford is the best we can ever hope for. I do, however, feel strongly that if we cut him loose right now none of us would be happy with his replacement. 

 

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6 minutes ago, SLUDrew said:

I agree wholeheartedly with nearly everything said; Coach Ford has been able to recruit two players who would become All-Americans in his time as a head coach. 99.9% of college basketball coaches will never recruit one such player. However, he has only won one NCAA tournament game in his 20 year coaching career. I think the above two facts encapsulate what he is; an exceptional recruiter whose teams never quite live up to the lofty expectations that are heaped on talented teams. 

Like Roy, I think he is absolutely the best man for this job right now. As an alum and season-ticket I would rather get excited about the talent he is amassing, watch exciting athletes play the game and accept that there will be some bewildering losses than go back to Sodie ball when we had a bunch of kids who played their hearts out but just didn't belong at this level. 

I am not saying Ford is the best we can ever hope for. I do, however, feel strongly that if we cut him loose right now none of us would be happy with his replacement. 

 

To this point, Ford has (nearly) equaled Rick Majerus in accomplishments. I personally only count making the tournament, anything more is mostly luck. He also started from a much worse position. Anyone who complains today is irrational. We will see where we go.

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I'm leaning towards roy on this one .... with hopefully eating my words come this season.  The COVID summer pause makes tons of sense and I'm adding it into my understanding of all things Billikens.  Was Ford with Bess those mornings in the gym?  I don't know but kudos to him if he was.  The improvement from Goodwin this year, which I have is credited to hsi father, seems like it should have happened sooner, like his sophomore year.  But that's picking nits.

My damning evidence is the free throw percentages put up by both Goodwin and French for their four years here.  Goodwin went 69/51/54/64 from the line his four years.  So he achieved his best his freshman year.  Someone once told me players got better with age in the program.  For all his improvement this year, Goodwin was still 5 points shy on his best year which was his first year.  Ouch.  Goodwin's FG% went up over four years going 37/40/47/43.  His 3FG% went 23/26/28/31.  Incremental to say the least.  Of course, what he lacked in skills were drastically overcome by his heart.  A true warrior.

French went 36/35/33/32 at the line which is an obvious downward trend.  These numbers are under a guy who was like 90% from the line in his playing days.  While Goodwin percentages moved around, Hasahn was extremely consistent from the floor at 54/49/52/53.  The issue there is outside of the five-foot hook shot, Hasahn's game never took the next to a 10 or 15-foot level.  Why did Osunniyi throttle us in the A10 semifinal game?  Because all he had to do was stand in the restricted arc and swat French and Collins and Goodwin and Thatch and Linssen when they ventured into the paint.  To me, this is another development failure French's mid-range game.

Now here comes next year.  We have a lot of guys who have certain portions of their games that are, at best, projects and in need of work.  The COVID summer is one of the best uplifting things I have heard since the season ended.  What's the plan for Jimmy Bell, Jr.?  Are we sending him to 'Big Man Camp?'  I can't see Ford, Tate or Stuen being able to impart big man wisdom to him as it is now.  What about Gibson Jimerson?  The Lee kid at Davidson impressed me because not only could he shoot, but he created off the bounce.  Will Jimerson be able to do this?  Will Terrence Hargrove Jr. be developed enough to start and wow us all with his monster atleticism?  I sure hope so.  He's a junior, time to shine!  And of course Collins.  If Yuri can't go the distance to the hoop and score, he'd better be able to make a few threes and mid-rangers to keep the defense honest.  And I hope someday to see the real Demarius Jacobs --- night in and night out.

As roy said, the talent is there.  Development is key.

Edit:  add --- Ford is the best coach for the program.  Now and in the foreseeable future.  

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1 hour ago, billiken_roy said:

like ford has helped anyone with their shot since becoming the billiken head coach.   development is not coach ford's strong suit.  

THAT is an opinion.  So, no instruction all last Summer due to covid.  And of course, some blame goes to the player.  You really think any amount of instruction would improve French's FT's?  I don't.  Ford has done just fine developing players and putting a winning team on the floor IMO.  

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1 minute ago, 3star_recruit said:

Jacobs and Hargrove are much better three point shooters than they were as freshmen.  Unless the media tells us what happens in their summer workouts, it's all speculation.

Yeah a lot of this is baseless complaining just for the sake of complaining

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The way I look at it is this: SLU likely won’t attract a coach that will recruit big time talent AND be a master tactician, simply because there are only so many of those guys. Travis isn’t perfect, but he brings in talented players who will have SLU in the conversation for a tournament appearance annually. What happens in the NCAA tournament is partially controllable, but there is a degree of luck with matchups. A couple seasons and Travis could go from one win in the dance to 5, just as easily as he could stay at 1. I trust Travis to give us a team with a high floor, at the exchange of maybe not fully reaching the high ceiling. 

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31 minutes ago, WVBilliken said:

THAT is an opinion.  So, no instruction all last Summer due to covid.  And of course, some blame goes to the player.  You really think any amount of instruction would improve French's FT's?  I don't.  Ford has done just fine developing players and putting a winning team on the floor IMO.  

i think i could teach my mother (she's gonna be 93) to shoot 50% free throws.   the fact a 90+ lifetime free throw shooter couldnt get french even above 40% screams he either didnt try or he isnt a very good teacher.    taking 15 minutes and telling a player, "watch me" and then hitting 23 out of 25 free throws and then flipping the ball to the player and telling him, "there you go". isnt teaching.   not saying that is what he did, but man i just dont see the results.   as taj points out, there just arent examples.

we rag on soderberg all the time, but i harken back to that summer between liddell's freshman and sophomore years.   soderberg used his ncaa allotted time per player the entire summer to sit across from tommie as they talked about life and they would flip the ball back and forth with soderberg interjecting hints about shooting as tommie used the tips to refine his shot.    amazingly tommie's sophomore year shooting percentagewise went off the chart improvement.   that's development.   soderberg though couldnt do much of anything else right though and now is in the position he was born to be, an assistant coach working on individual development and scouting for a real head coach.  

again, i dont want this to become a rip on ford thread.   i dont want anyone else to be the billiken coach but travis ford, but we all need to face up to what he is or i promise at some point we will all boil over on our true feelings.   i accept what he is and i think the positives outweigh the negatives.   there are a lot of fun billiken days ahead.  

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