GDT: Drake

[wgstl]

1 minute ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

 

What is the status of Zhang? Did he sign?

yep he signed.

[billikenfan05]

19 minutes ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

 

What is the status of Zhang? Did he sign?

My response was to the bold. The idea of thought.

[VeniceMenace]

2 hours ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

 

What is the status of Zhang? Did he sign?

Question whether he’s still on The Skills Factory roster. Not listed in game summaries, not pictured among the team on their recent overseas trip.

[Bills By 40]

2 hours ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

What is the status of Zhang? Did he sign?

Yes, as of now the expectation is that he'll be here in the fall. He's technically already graduated high school so some are hopeful he will waste a year of eligibility to come early and magically be the answer to all of our front court woes.  

[cheeseman]

5 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

You're assuming a lot here...

What am I assuming a lot of - the kid does not have any D1 experience simply a fact.  If he was ready for D1 ball right now the big boys would have been all over him.

[HoosierPal]

56 minutes ago, Bills By 40 said:

Yes, as of now the expectation is that he'll be here in the fall. He's technically already graduated high school so some are hopeful he will waste a year of eligibility to come early and magically be the answer to all of our front court woes.  

Good one.  Unless he is Yao Ming's offspring, he would absolutely waste on the bench.  Ford seems to be trending towards his 8 man rotation, with Parker as a +1, so might as well the games on a TV rather than on the Billiken's bench.

(With Perkins apparently getting back some minutes, I will be interested to see how much clock Parker receives in the next few games.  Parker is averaging 11mpg; see if that goes up or down in the next few games.)

[almaman]

wonder the % of folks attaining the lofty height of 7' pursue basketball? the ones I've in 60 years of watching the sport all have a built in chance of being servicable just by showing up, whereas  the average 6' dude has no chance of helping a team on the court.

[billikenfan05]

57 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

What am I assuming a lot of - the kid does not have any D1 experience simply a fact.  If he was ready for D1 ball right now the big boys would have been all over him.

No sorry, I bolded "think". I was saying you're assuming that thought was put into the posts regarding Zhang.

You and I are in agreement.

[Young Charles]

6 hours ago, cheeseman said:

Why would anybody think that Zhang would be better than anybody we have now.  He has no D1 experience.  Also why waste basically a year of his eligibility for a half semester.

If Purdue was on the second half of the schedule… you bring in Zhang. Edey wouldn't see the light of day.

[BIG BILL FAN]

6 hours ago, cheeseman said:

Why would anybody think that Zhang would be better than anybody we have now.  He has no D1 experience.  Also why waste basically a year of his eligibility for a half semester.

I think you’re missing the point. He would be redshirted for the rest of the season while gaining valuable experience working out with the team and acclimating himself to his new surroundings.

[willie]

1 hour ago, BIG BILL FAN said:

I think you’re missing the point. He would be redshirted for the rest of the season while gaining valuable experience working out with the team and acclimating himself to his new surroundings.

I don’t think this is an impossibility except we have no scholarships to give. 

[brianstl]

3 hours ago, Bills By 40 said:

Yes, as of now the expectation is that he'll be here in the fall. He's technically already graduated high school so some are hopeful he will waste a year of eligibility to come early and magically be the answer to all of our front court woes.  

Absolutely zero people are thinking this. Some people are hopeful that he might enroll in school early and practice with the team.  I am not aware of anyone who is hopeful he burns a year of eligibility on the second half of this season.

[cheeseman]

I don't think I missed the point.  The point was some said to bring him in so he could play now.  

[CenHudDude]

Speaking of Drake, they just beat undefeated Mississippi State.

[Old guy]

56 minutes ago, CenHudDude said:

Speaking of Drake, they just beat undefeated Mississippi State.

Nice development for us.

[VeniceMenace]

4 hours ago, brianstl said:

Absolutely zero people are thinking this. Some people are hopeful that he might enroll in school early and practice with the team.  I am not aware of anyone who is hopeful he burns a year of eligibility on the second half of this season.

What’s the next deadline again for each of us to submit our thoughts to you, BrianSTL?

[brianstl]

44 minutes ago, VeniceMenace said:

What’s the next deadline again for each of us to submit our thoughts to you, BrianSTL?

So you have seen people clamoring for Bruce to burn a year of eligibility by playing this season on the board?  I haven’t. I have seen people pointing out that he could enroll for the spring semester if he wanted to and that it appears that he quit he quit his prep program.  Enrolling in school and joining the program isn’t burning a year of eligibility by playing. 
 

Will it happen? Probably not unless something creative comes together to cover his tuition.

[Old guy]

The old soviet societies (Russia and China at least) placed a lot of importance and prestige upon sports and athletics as well as upon arts and science. Children and young people that showed promise in those fields were chosen early and placed in special schools to create great athletes, sports players, and artists (for example ballet dancers) or scientists. Initially this was done in special schools within the countries the students came from. However, after the fall of the wall, there has been more and more use of certain schools in other countries to provide the training desired for specially suited students like I described. Prior to the fall of the wall, the Arab oil countries used to send and pay all expenses of selected students at the top US schools. I met a lot of Arabs at Harvard in the 70s. This is nothing new.

China has been sending very large numbers of students to all kinds of US and European schools to learn specific types of disciplines. I believe they pay for the tuition of these students as long as the expected net result is what they want to achieve. This happens at all major universities in the US.

If the Chinese are interested in developing basketball as a sport they are competitive in, and I do not know if this is the case, there is a possibility that the tuition money for this kid will not be an issue. The Saudis and Kuwaitis certainly engage in this kind of thing, but I do not think they are interested in sports.

[MusicCityBilliken]

4 hours ago, brianstl said:

So you have seen people clamoring for Bruce to burn a year of eligibility by playing this season on the board?  I haven’t. I have seen people pointing out that he could enroll for the spring semester if he wanted to and that it appears that he quit he quit his prep program.  Enrolling in school and joining the program isn’t burning a year of eligibility by playing. 
 

Will it happen? Probably not unless something creative comes together to cover his tuition.

I always regretted that Cody Ellis came in mid-season and burned a year. Would have preferred he started his eligibility in the class with Evans/Loe/Jett/McCall. Recall he hung around that Fall semester he was not eligible to get his degree.

[Bills By 40]

15 hours ago, brianstl said:

Absolutely zero people are thinking this. Some people are hopeful that he might enroll in school early and practice with the team.  I am not aware of anyone who is hopeful he burns a year of eligibility on the second half of this season.

"aBsOlUtElY zErO pEoPlE aRe ThInKiNg ThIs" dude stfu. 

In this one, not only was it quoting a response of yours - you even called it a good post! (I acknowledge that in other posts you recommend against him playing and instead redshirting, nonetheless):

Another one:

[Taj79]

My problem with Zhang playing right now is easily reflected in Lassina Traore and Momo Cisse.  Both were/are tall projects who came to SLU and got anchored squarely on the end of the bench. 

Traore is now at least playing at Long Beach State to the tune of 11 gp, 25 mpg, 9.9 ppg and 8.5 rpg.  Long Beach State is currently 5 and 6 and doesn't really play anyone of note in their OOC.  Anyone with an opinion care to think we might have missed some on this kid?  I really don't know.

Cisse has been in 7 games, all mop up times mostly, for 3 mpg, 0.4 ppg and 0.3 rpg.  It's nothing to really compare favorably but both players will likely have done nothing in their first year at SLU (Traore's only year).

What makes anyone think Zhang's prospects are any different?  I would like to see him enroll and just get into the daily rigors of a college basketball season at least as far as practice is concerned.  Going against Okoro and Forrester every day would only seem to help in his development.  I would never suggest we waste a year of his eligibilty otherwise.

 

[JMM28]

I think the chances of Zhang ever seeing the SLU campus diminish if he isn’t on campus soon. For what it’s worth.