2021-2022 Season

[Aquinas]

I typically post the new season thread with the players once the roster is fixed.   Filling the roster took longer than normal this year. So I will restart the 20-21 season thread and suggest that it get folded back in later. Hopefully the player info and stats will prompt some good summer discussion.

The height and weights are from SLUBillikens.com
Position numbers mostly apply to defense and in the order that I see as there best position.  The year is mostly relevant to seeing years remaining.  

So here is the team, Starting at the 5 position.

Francis Okoro –Yr. 3, 6’9”, 235 – Pos 5-4, 3.3 ppg 4.2 rpg 54% from the field, 47% FT (Oregon)
Modest Div 1 numbers with injuries. Surgery and a year to recover hopefully result in a big improvement. My view, As Okoro goes so go the Bills. If he has a big year, we will have a big year. He has an NBA body and will play the 5 for us.  Ideally double digit points and rebounds.

Martin Linssen – Yr. 3, 6’ 8”, 240 – Pos 5-4, 5.5 ppg 2.1 rpg. 64% from the field, 80% FT  (SLU)
He will play significant minutes probably following Okoro into the game.  We don’t have another experienced post player so while Martin and Oko0ro might be a tough combination on the floor together, it seems unlikely that will occur very often.

Andre Lorentsson – Yr. 1, 6’8” 215 – Pos 4-5. 20 ppg, 6 rpg – 45% 3 pt. 85% FT (Prep School)
From Sweeden he arrived shortly before the Covid season last year and had little opportunity. It was a tough year to be a freshman. Have heard almost nothing about him in summer reports, so I don’t expect much.  He is a stretch 4 who is an exceptional shooter.  He is one of our 2 project bigs.

Lassina Traore –Yr. 1,  6’9” 215 – Pos 4-5,  No stats.
A true freshman who is a late addition to the team.  He is athletic but raw.  He is probably a year or more from making significant game contributions.  His big contribution this year will be as a practice body.

Javonte Perkins – Yr. 4, 6’ 6” 215 – Pos 4-3, 17 ppg, 3.9 rpg - 38% 3pt, 87% FT, (SLU)
The Blue Kool-aide has him with 20# of added muscle.  He got banged up by year end and is on a mission to up his game to NBA draft level.  While his ideal position may be the 3, he will almost always be defending the 4 and be the second biggest player on the floor.  On offense he can do it all and will be all over the floor.

Terrence Hargrove – Yr. 2, 6’ 4” 215, Pos 3-4, 4.2 ppg, 42% 3pt. (SLU)
SLU lists him as a forward.  He is super athletic and did a great job in the Covid year improving his outside shooting.  He is undersized for a 4 and will have to improve his defense positioning to be effective.  He can also improve his minutes with rebounding.   He can get off the floor like nobody else and had 11 blocked shots last season.

Markhi Strickland – Yr. 1, 6’5” 210. Pos 3-4, 2.6 ppg, 1.4 rpg, (SLU)
A Covid Season freshman who really didn’t get much of a chance to show his potential. Unbelievably, he is similar athletically to Terrence Hargrove. 

Jordan Nesbitt – Yr.1, 6’6” 200, Pos 3,4,2,1. 16.6 ppg, 8.7 rpg 26% 3pt. 72% FT (St. Louis Christian Academy)
4* recruit ESPN 82 nationally. He is a physical player and I see him as more of a 3-4, than a 1-2, though a lot of people talk of him more as a 1-2. He might be our best 4 after Perkins. Ford says he is special in transition. In some ways, he is a taller version of Goodwin. 

Fred Thatch – Yr. 2, 6’3” 215, Pos 3-2. 5.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 31% 3pt, 82% FT. (SLU)
A physical hard-nosed defender, probably the best on the team. Has yet to turn the corner as a scorer. Fred needs to start hitting those open 3s.

Gibson Jimerson, Yr. 1 6’5” 200, Pos 2-3. 7.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 41% 3pt. 84% FT (2 seasons SLU)
A shooter. He is working on his defense.  If Jimerson gets comfortable he will be tough to keep out of the lineup.

Rashad Williams – Yr. 3, 6’ 2” 185, Pos 2-1. 13.6 ppg, 34% 3pt, 79% FT (Oakland)
Lead the nation with 277 3-point attempts. Fearless outside shooter. Hope is that by being more selective with his shooting, his accuracy will improve.

Deandre Jones, Yr. 4, 5’11” 160, Pos 1-2, 10.5 ppg, 39% 3pt. 82% FT, Career (Central Ark.)
He is probably our best point guard behind Yuri. He is undersized and will have to adjust to higher level div 1. If they play off of him, he will drill an open 3. He had injuries last season, but averaged over 12 ppg in his in his 2^nd and 3^rd years.

Yuri Collins, Yr. 2, 6.0” 185, Pos 1. 5.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg. 30% 3pt 67% FT. 6.1 apg.  2.8 assist to turnover ratio (19^th in the nation). (SLU) A true point guard and exceptional passer. The summer Kook-aide says Yuri is knocking down 3s.

There are 13 players on scholarship. Perkins is under the Covid exception and does not count, so there is an additional scholarship. It could be used for a mid-year transfer or carried over to next year. Based on elegibility, we have 2 Sr, 3 Jrs, 3 So and 5 Fr. 
 

[3star_recruit]

Excellent writeup.  Nesbitt can play positions 1-4.  We've already got Perkins logging the majority of the minutes of the 4 so that frees up Nesbitt to be more of a secondary ballhandler alongside Yuri.  When Yuri, Williams and Nesbitt all play together we'll have three guys who are slick ballhandlers.  Our best defensive lineup at positions 1-3 is Williams, Thatch and Nesbitt.

[NH]

15 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Excellent writeup.  Nesbitt can play positions 1-4.  We've already got Perkins logging the majority of the minutes of the 4 so that frees up Nesbitt to be more of a secondary ballhandler alongside Yuri.  When Yuri, Williams and Nesbitt all play together we'll have three guys who are slick ballhandlers.  Our best defensive lineup at positions 1-3 is Williams, Thatch and Nesbitt.

I know that coach seemed high on Williams' defense, but he was not a good defender at his previous school. He is also not particularly big or quick. I am more of a "wait-and-see" approach with him defensively. We've seen Yuri show flashes of being a plus defender already; I have more confidence in is defense at this point in time.

[3star_recruit]

38 minutes ago, NH said:

I know that coach seemed high on Williams' defense, but he was not a good defender at his previous school. He is also not particularly big or quick. I am more of a "wait-and-see" approach with him defensively. We've seen Yuri show flashes of being a plus defender already; I have more confidence in is defense at this point in time.

Yuri is a good defender when guarding guys his size or smaller but he's been abused the past couple of years when he goes up against big guards.

[wgstl]

It’s only right to follow up your post with a Billikens MBM favorite…….

 

starting 5

 

still think we’re best with 

yuri 

Nesbitt 

Fred

perkins 

okoro

 

 

[willie]

18 minutes ago, wgstl said:

It’s only right to follow up your post with a Billikens MBM favorite…….

 

starting 5

 

still think we’re best with 

yuri 

Nesbitt 

Fred

perkins 

okoro

 

 

This is a good lineup but I hope they can’t keep TJ out of starting. 

[3star_recruit]

Here's some next level speculation:

Perkins     18.0 ppg
Nesbitt     11.5 ppg (29.5)
Okoro         9.0 ppg (38.5)
Jimerson    8.0 ppg (46.5)
Williams      7.0 ppg (53.5)
Linssen       6.5 ppg (60.0)
Collins         6.0 ppg (66.0)
Hargrove     5.5 ppg (71.5)
Thatch         5.0 ppg (76.5)
Others         2.5 ppg (79.0)

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

Here's some next level speculation:

Perkins     18.0 ppg
Nesbitt     11.5 ppg (29.5)
Okoro         9.0 ppg (38.5)
Jimerson    8.0 ppg (46.5)
Williams      7.0 ppg (53.5)
Linssen       6.5 ppg (60.0)
Collins         6.0 ppg (66.0)
Hargrove     5.5 ppg (71.5)
Thatch         5.0 ppg (76.5)
Others         2.5 ppg (79.0)

Always fun to speculate on points, minutes and rebounds. 

I see you are pretty much writing off Jones, lumping him in with Strickland, Lorentsson and Lassina as "Other". 

I anticipate Jimerson to make more of an improvement over last season's 7.8 ppg.  Same with Thatch, I'm expecting an improvement over last season's 5.4 ppg.  His rebounding prowess should keep him on the floor longer than last season, provided he controls his fouling.

I'm as concerned about rebounds as I am points.  Have a huge hole to make up with Goodwin's 10 and French's 9.  Rebound by committee sounds nice, but that is a lot of work to make up.

[3star_recruit]

1 minute ago, HoosierPal said:

Always fun to speculate on points, minutes and rebounds. 

I see you are pretty much writing off Jones, lumping him in with Strickland, Lorentsson and Lassina as "Other". 

I anticipate Jimerson to make more of an improvement over last season's 7.8 ppg.  Same with Thatch, I'm expecting an improvement over last season's 5.4 ppg.  His rebounding prowess should keep him on the floor longer than last season, provided he controls his fouling.

I'm as concerned about rebounds as I am points.  Have a huge hole to make up with Goodwin's 10 and French's 9.  Rebound by committee sounds nice, but that is a lot of work to make up.

Unless you're projecting the team averages well over 80 ppg, you're expecting other players to score less than what I'm suggesting.  When you have time, I'd love to see your per-player estimates.  There are actually more quallity players vying for playing time at positions 2 and 3 than there were last year.  A guy could be a better player than he was last year and still play less minutes.

[HoosierPal]

7 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Unless you're projecting the team averages well over 80 ppg, you're expecting other players to score less than what I'm suggesting.  When you have time, I'd love to see your per-player estimates.  There are actually more quallity players vying for playing time at positions 2 and 3 than there were last year.  A guy could be a better player than he was last year and still play less minutes.

I don't do per player estimates, I just criticize others. 

It's all guess work at this point, but fun to talk about with nothing else going on. 

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

Here's some next level speculation:

Perkins     18.0 ppg
Nesbitt     11.5 ppg (29.5)
Okoro         9.0 ppg (38.5)
Jimerson    8.0 ppg (46.5)
Williams      7.0 ppg (53.5)
Linssen       6.5 ppg (60.0)
Collins         6.0 ppg (66.0)
Hargrove     5.5 ppg (71.5)
Thatch         5.0 ppg (76.5)
Others         2.5 ppg (79.0)

I definitely don't expect Thatch to score less than he did last season.

[Compton]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

Here's some next level speculation:

Perkins     18.0 ppg
Nesbitt     11.5 ppg (29.5)
Okoro         9.0 ppg (38.5)
Jimerson    8.0 ppg (46.5)
Williams      7.0 ppg (53.5)
Linssen       6.5 ppg (60.0)
Collins         6.0 ppg (66.0)
Hargrove     5.5 ppg (71.5)
Thatch         5.0 ppg (76.5)
Others         2.5 ppg (79.0)

That'd be welcome surprise if Williams comes in at 7.0 ppg. I think Tay Weaver's 4.5 ppg are probably a good comp. 

[wgstl]

2 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

Here's some next level speculation:

Perkins     18.0 ppg
Nesbitt     11.5 ppg (29.5)
Okoro         9.0 ppg (38.5)
Jimerson    8.0 ppg (46.5)
Williams      7.0 ppg (53.5)
Linssen       6.5 ppg (60.0)
Collins         6.0 ppg (66.0)
Hargrove     5.5 ppg (71.5)
Thatch         5.0 ppg (76.5)
Others         2.5 ppg (79.0)

My guess is:

Perkins     17.0 ppg / 6.5 Reb

Jimerson    9.0 ppg / +40% from 3

Okoro         8.5 ppg / 9.8 reb

Williams      8.0 ppg / +40% from 3

Thatch         8.0 ppg 
Nesbitt      7.5 ppg

Hargrove     7.0 ppg  / +40% from 3
Linssen       6.0 ppg 
Collins         5.5 ppg  / 6.8 ast
Others         2.5 ppg 

[Pistol]

Not to derail this but the A10 schedule drops at 2:00 STL time today, so we'll have a whole season's worth of dates at that time.

[NH]

3 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

Here's some next level speculation:

Perkins     18.0 ppg
Nesbitt     11.5 ppg (29.5)
Okoro         9.0 ppg (38.5)
Jimerson    8.0 ppg (46.5)
Williams      7.0 ppg (53.5)
Linssen       6.5 ppg (60.0)
Collins         6.0 ppg (66.0)
Hargrove     5.5 ppg (71.5)
Thatch         5.0 ppg (76.5)
Others         2.5 ppg (79.0)

This is always a fruitless exercise, but below is my best guess. If you add up all of the ppg figures from last season you get 81.8 (even though we scored less than that on average some guys will miss games, etc.). The below gets to 83, so I'm assuming we play just a little faster on offense than we did last year.

Javonte Perkins	21
Francis Okoro	9
Jordan Nesbitt	9
Gibson Jimerson	8
TJ Hargrove	7
Fred Thatch	7
Martin Linssen	7
Yuri Collins	6
Rashad Williams	4
Markhi Strickland	3
Deandre Jones	1
Lorentsson	1
Traore	0

 

[3star_recruit]

The only real debate appears to be whether Jordan Nesbitt lives up to his ranking and whether Rashad Williams is more than just Taj Weaver.  We all seem to be agreement that the team will improve enough in the halfcourt and in transition to average near 80 ppg.

[HoosierPal]

25 minutes ago, NH said:

This is always a fruitless exercise, but below is my best guess. If you add up all of the ppg figures from last season you get 81.8 (even though we scored less than that on average some guys will miss games, etc.). The below gets to 83, so I'm assuming we play just a little faster on offense than we did last year.

Javonte Perkins	21
Francis Okoro	9
Jordan Nesbitt	9
Gibson Jimerson	8
TJ Hargrove	7
Fred Thatch	7
Martin Linssen	7
Yuri Collins	6
Rashad Williams	4
Markhi Strickland	3
Deandre Jones	1
Lorentsson	1
Traore	0

 

Always interesting. I doubt if Jones came here to basically not play, as in 1 ppg. 

[billiken_roy]

2 hours ago, Compton said:

That'd be welcome surprise if Williams comes in at 7.0 ppg. I think Tay Weaver's 4.5 ppg are probably a good comp. 

as we get closer to the season and enthusiasm grows, i believe williams might indeed be more (not as much) isabell like than weaver like.  so i like 3 star's 7 ppg.   hey at this point we havent seen any of these newbies play so we are all just spit balling.  

[ACE]

2 hours ago, wgstl said:

My guess is:

Perkins     17.0 ppg / 6.5 Reb

Jimerson    9.0 ppg / +40% from 3

Okoro         8.5 ppg / 9.8 reb

Williams      8.0 ppg / +40% from 3

Thatch         8.0 ppg 
Nesbitt      7.5 ppg

Hargrove     7.0 ppg  / +40% from 3
Linssen       6.0 ppg 
Collins         5.5 ppg  / 6.8 ast
Others         2.5 ppg 

Perkins- 18

Nesbitt - 10

Williams - 8

Okoro - 8

Jimmer - 7

Yuri - 7

Hargrove - 6

Linnsen - 5

Thatch - 5

Jones - 4

Others - 1

79 PPG

[AnkielBreakers]

I hope Nesbitt is a great player, but I am surprised at how many (how consistently) posters expect him to be a second leading scorer. 

[wgstl]

2 minutes ago, AnkielBreakers said:

I hope Nesbitt is a great player, but I am surprised at how many (how consistently) posters expect him to be a second leading scorer. 

Agreed, I have him at around 7ppg which is outstanding for a frosh 

[willie]

16 minutes ago, AnkielBreakers said:

I hope Nesbitt is a great player, but I am surprised at how many (how consistently) posters expect him to be a second leading scorer. 

I also agree. If he is our second leader scorer that means he is really good which also means we will be really good. 

[WVBilliken]

24 minutes ago, willie said:

I also agree. If he is our second leader scorer that means he is really good which also means we will be really good. 

Okoro will be the second leading scorer.  Mark it down.  Ford likes to feed a skilled big and so does Yuri ...  so feed him the ball!

[Reinert310]

I know the whole point of the exercise is to guess per game averages, but outside of Perkins and Yuri and maybe Okoro, it’s going to depend on matchups. There will be games where Jimerson scores 20 and there will be games where he scores 5. There will be games where TJ scores 15 and games where he scores 4. And that’s fine, because we have the depth and versatility to beat you in any number of ways.

[3star_recruit]

56 minutes ago, AnkielBreakers said:

I hope Nesbitt is a great player, but I am surprised at how many (how consistently) posters expect him to be a second leading scorer. 

There aren't many recruits we've had where you can just give him the ball and get out of the way.  Nesbitt will have to learn what a good shot is, but he has that ability.