CJ Noland Decommits

[majerus mojo]

7 minutes ago, ACE said:

My biggest criticism of Ford was getting Forte in the first place - a bad fit that was never going to be here for long. 

Way too many extenuating circumstances for this to be anyone’s biggest criticism of Ford

[TheChosenOne]

10 hours ago, AnkielBreakers said:

I could not figure out how he would fit with this roster. Maybe he saw the same problem.

I don't think a combo guard who was a 4-star top 100 recruit playing in the Big 12 looks at our roster and questions whether he can find a role on our team. Certainly guys can and will develop and improve, but outside of Jimerson, there isn't much production returning. It remains to be seen whether losing Noland or Vice will be significant losses, but both certainly filled needs.

[gobillsgo]

Just now, brianstl said:

It is easy to want to write him off as someone who wouldn't have helped, but the staff made Noland their top target early in the transfer period.  Ford and company thought Noland could be a difference maker.  They could very well be wrong, but that then brings up a different issue.

Right, this is reminiscent of the “we stopped recruiting him comments” we used to see all the time.  Ford’s defenders hyped up Noland when he signed, pointing to it as a sign of Ford’s recruiting prowess.  Now, they’re saying things like “he must’ve practiced with the guys and realized he can’t get minutes” or “he barely played for Oklahoma.”   The 7’4” center from Oral Roberts barely played for Oklahoma the year before and he'd have been the best big we have had in like 8 years. The reality of it is kids don’t want to play for a program in decline, especially in this era of college free agency… and I don’t think anyone can argue we aren’t trending the wrong direction  

 

[gobillsgo]

36 minutes ago, Scoop said:

This was Forte’s recruit.  Program was concerned about him leaving after Forte left.

see Brock Vice

Was there nothing that could be done to prevent Forte from leaving is he was so integral to our top 2 recruits?  Find it hard to believe we couldn’t match the salary he’s getting at North Texas, but who knows?  And a promise to promote to associate head coach when Tate retires or leaves?

[JMM28]

4 minutes ago, gobillsgo said:

Was there nothing that could be done to prevent Forte from leaving is he was so integral to our top 2 recruits?  Find it hard to believe we couldn’t match the salary he’s getting at North Texas, but who knows?  And a promise to promote to associate head coach when Tate retires or leaves?

I assume he saw the writing on the wall, along with everyone else, that the Ford era was toast here. He also jumped to a (as much at it pains me to say) better program that just hired their top assistant to replace their departed-for-greener-pastures head coach. 

[WVBilliken]

14 minutes ago, gobillsgo said:

Was there nothing that could be done to prevent Forte from leaving is he was so integral to our top 2 recruits?  Find it hard to believe we couldn’t match the salary he’s getting at North Texas, but who knows?  And a promise to promote to associate head coach when Tate retires or leaves?

Top 2 recruits?  That's highly debatable.  I would put Ezewiro and Medley ahead of the two SLU lost.  Dalger and Zhang are at least equals to the 2 lost as well.  Now Bussell is a bit of a mystery. 

[johnbj14]

1 minute ago, WVBilliken said:

Top 2 recruits?  That's highly debatable.  I would put Ezewiro and Medley ahead of the two SLU lost.  Dalger and Zhang are at least equals to the 2 lost as well.  Now Bussell is a bit of a mystery. 

Vice just went to Creighton, which would be the highest offer any of the 4 players you named had this off-season. Offers aren’t an exact measure of success, but I think we lost a potentially really good big man, and the best of that group. 

[WVBilliken]

25 minutes ago, johnbj14 said:

Vice just went to Creighton, which would be the highest offer any of the 4 players you named had this off-season. Offers aren’t an exact measure of success, but I think we lost a potentially really good big man, and the best of that group. 

That is debatable as well.  When Ezewiro committed to SLU he also had interest from Memphis, Oregon State, Washington State, UNLV, etc.  Medley committed early before his senior season.  No telling what his recruiting stock would have been if he waited or if he had decommitted like Vice did.  Time will tell but will be surprised if Vice plays much at all next season for Creighton. 

[AnkielBreakers]

My main hopes this off season were that we would shake up the coaching staff, and get back to playing defense. Some players are going to leave when their favorite assistant leaves. That’s life. There is still enough talent to win. Talent has never been the problem under Ford. I expect Ford to get some good players in replacement.

Honestly, where did you see Noland playing? I saw a future point forward, like Thatch or Goodwin. However, that strategy struggled with Gibson and Parker on the court together. So, he would not play this year. Maybe the year after, we will see. 

[wgstl]

38 minutes ago, WVBilliken said:

Top 2 recruits?  That's highly debatable.  I would put Ezewiro and Medley ahead of the two SLU lost.  Dalger and Zhang are at least equals to the 2 lost as well.  Now Bussell is a bit of a mystery. 

Zhang?  The guy with virtually no tape or recruiting profile? Dalger was the 2nd worst defender on the 10th worth defensive team the country fwiw. Considering how last season went..

[TheChosenOne]

18 minutes ago, WVBilliken said:

Time will tell but will be surprised if Vice plays much at all next season for Creighton. 

Ah yes, his freshman season playing on a roster with Ryan Kalkbrenner (another recruiting miss for us) will be a good measuring stick for whether he was a miss. Very similar roster makeups and leagues between SLU and Creighton.

I do commend you for continuing to carry water for the program on this site. Who cares if priority prep or transfer recruits decommit......

[slufan13]

I love when we get to the point where Noland was brought it but he wasn't really going to play. That might give me even more concerns about the coaching staff. 

[johnbj14]

18 minutes ago, WVBilliken said:

That is debatable as well.  When Ezewiro committed to SLU he also had interest from Memphis, Oregon State, Washington State, UNLV, etc.  Medley committed early before his senior season.  No telling what his recruiting stock would have been if he waited or if he had decommitted like Vice did.  Time will tell but will be surprised if Vice plays much at all next season for Creighton. 

Interest does not equal an offer. Vice won’t play much this year because Creighton has a top 5 big man in the country. He would have started here and been an immediate contributor. As excited as I am about Medley, he’s a slight of frame pass first guard. Don’t think his interest would have been in the same ballpark if he backed out. 

[Coach314]

1 minute ago, slufan13 said:

I love when we get to the point where Noland was brought it but he wasn't really going to play. That might give me even more concerns about the coaching staff. 

[TheChosenOne]

2 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

I love when we get to the point where Noland was brought it but he wasn't really going to play. That might give me even more concerns about the coaching staff. 

Yes, Vice and now Noland are a sign that our roster has gotten too strong.

[Brighton]

14 hours ago, Billiken Rich said:

We don't know the details.......go jump off a bridge if you want but I'll wait and see what happens next.......

That's exactly what a relative of Ford's would say. Or his bootlicker.

[cheeseman]

13 hours ago, WVBilliken said:

Boy, folks on this board worry too much.  SLU has a decent "core" of players.  Three spots to fill with many players still not committed.  I'm thinking I might start worrying, say in July, if SLU still hasn't filled some of the holes in this squad.  Until then, think I'll enjoy the developing story.  Don't think I'll stress over losing a guy that averaged 3.2 points a game.  He's totally replaceable.  Chill guys.  It's only a game.

This roster will struggle to win 20 games and finish in the top 4 of the A10.  Key word struggle.  Maybe a cupcake schedule could help them reach 20 but nothing like we need.

[TheChosenOne]

7 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

This roster will struggle to win 20 games and finish in the top 4 of the A10.  Key word struggle.  Maybe a cupcake schedule could help them reach 20 but nothing like we need.

Right, I think with the current state of the league you could just about schedule yourself to 20 wins with a really weak nonconference schedule if that were the goal. There are some players on our roster that I am intrigued by and obviously the return of Jimerson was key in raising our floor, but damn we need all of our questions to be answered on the positive side at least where things stand today.

[Dr Bird]

1 hour ago, gobillsgo said:

Right, this is reminiscent of the “we stopped recruiting him comments” we used to see all the time.  Ford’s defenders hyped up Noland when he signed, pointing to it as a sign of Ford’s recruiting prowess.  Now, they’re saying things like “he must’ve practiced with the guys and realized he can’t get minutes” or “he barely played for Oklahoma.”   The 7’4” center from Oral Roberts barely played for Oklahoma the year before and he'd have been the best big we have had in like 8 years. The reality of it is kids don’t want to play for a program in decline, especially in this era of college free agency… and I don’t think anyone can argue we aren’t trending the wrong direction  

 

Vanover was at Arkansas before ORU.   You are correct that he had minimal minutes as a Razorback.

[dlarry]

It doesn’t matter what Nolan’s ends up doing all that matters is that he was a TOP priority and the staff failed to keep him around. 
 

I wasn’t sold on him but the staff was.

I look at this roster now and I see a 500 team.  Now that doesn’t mean I don’t like some of the Freshmen and I really like Hughes but they are young and IMO still not ready to chase a top 4 finish  in the A10. 

[TheChosenOne]

31 minutes ago, Dr Bird said:

Vanover was at Arkansas before ORU.   You are correct that he had minimal minutes as a Razorback.

His stats are interesting as he played 17.5 minutes per game (starting 15 of 28 games) at Cal as a freshman averaging 7.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks followed by 16.2 minutes (starting 27 of 29 games), 6.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in his sophomore season at Arkansas before a junior season that saw his playing time fall off of cliff to 7.5 minutes per game, so he played solid minutes in his first two seasons of high major college basketball before finding the end of the bench towards the end of his sophomore season and his junior season with the emergence of Jaylin Williams. And then last season he started all 34 games for Oral Roberts averaging 25.7 minutes, 12.7 points, 7.2 rebound, and 3.2 blocks playing in a much lesser league.

[almaman]

1 hour ago, Brighton said:

That's exactly what a relative of Ford's would say. Or his bootlicker.

but we r sure never u

[WVBilliken]

4 hours ago, cheeseman said:

This roster will struggle to win 20 games and finish in the top 4 of the A10.  Key word struggle.  Maybe a cupcake schedule could help them reach 20 but nothing like we need.

I don't disagree with your statement as the roster stands today.  But given there are still three open roster spots, your statement is very possibly totally wrong. 

If Ford and staff can add three solid rotation type players to the roster, your prediction goes up in smoke.  And there are plenty of solid players still out there and available to make my premise very doable.

[WVBilliken]

4 hours ago, dlarry said:

It doesn’t matter what Nolan’s ends up doing all that matters is that he was a TOP priority and the staff failed to keep him around. 
 

I wasn’t sold on him but the staff was.

I look at this roster now and I see a 500 team.  Now that doesn’t mean I don’t like some of the Freshmen and I really like Hughes but they are young and IMO still not ready to chase a top 4 finish  in the A10. 

How do you know he was a top priority? Don't remember that being stated by Ford or staff anywhere.  He was just the first to commit.  Committing first and being a top priority are two completely different things. 

Yes, he was a piece of the puzzle ..... top priority, doubt it.  An experienced big was likely the top priority IMO, not a player that plays a position (2/3), that the roster already has multiple options in Hughes, Jimerson, Thames, etc.

[Quickdraw]

Except for graduate transfers, the portal closed a while back.  So is Noland now entering again?  Or is it a case of once entered you can come and go as you please?  I’m really feeling like there are no rules anymore.  It’s the NFL Relocation Guidelines!