Midtown Madness: S3E41 CJ Noland Decommits; Baseball Drops Championship; Gillen Makes NCAA Final Meet

[Podcast]

Season 3 of the Midtown Madness Podcast is brought to you by Two Men and a Garden! That’s right they are fueling this podcast with not only delicious pickles, but salsas and most recently Harissa sauce. They are the real deal! Their products are delicious and more importantly local to St. Louis. You can pick up their many products at any local grocery stores or online where they ship nationwide!

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On This Episode

• CJ Noland Decommits 

• The Offseason is dragging on

• Baseball drops 2 in a row to lose in A10 Championship Series

• Men’s Soccer is going to be very good

• Toby Gillen Qualifies for NCAA Championship Meet

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[Midtown Madness]

We got into the CJ Noland Decommit, the connection to Phil Forte, recapped baseball @ the A10 Tournament, major spring and summer soccer chatter, we talked Toby Gillen, his upcoming race and his entrance into the Transfer Portal and we finished off shooting the proverbial “sh!t” about the nonsensical choice by GW to change Colonials to Revolutionaries. 
 

We had some fun thought exercises on the Forte/Noland front as well as players on the bottom of the depth chart, one of my favorite things to do on the show. 
 

 https://tinyurl.com/mvppfns4

 

 https://tinyurl.com/2vpwn3yt

 

 https://youtu.be/R1ehSnpcQ6s

[Pistol]

Question of the week isn't so much a trivia question as a general opinion question that we're going to turn into a poll:

Which SLU MBB player showed the greatest improvement over the course of his career?

[Cowboy II]

17 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Question of the week isn't so much a trivia question as a general opinion question that we're going to turn into a poll:

Which SLU MBB player showed the greatest improvement over the course of his career?

-three players immediately come to mind, McCall, Loe and, of course, Conklin

[SluSignGuy]

21 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Question of the week isn't so much a trivia question as a general opinion question that we're going to turn into a poll:

Which SLU MBB player showed the greatest improvement over the course of his career?

John Redden?

[Dr Bird]

22 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Question of the week isn't so much a trivia question as a general opinion question that we're going to turn into a poll:

Which SLU MBB player showed the greatest improvement over the course of his career?

Charles Newberry, B Conklin, Carlos McCauley

[billiken_roy]

26 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Question of the week isn't so much a trivia question as a general opinion question that we're going to turn into a poll:

Which SLU MBB player showed the greatest improvement over the course of his career?

Jeff Luechtifeld followed by his brother Ryan

[Pistol]

10 minutes ago, SluSignGuy said:

John Redden?

No need for a question mark. There's no 'right' answer.

[SluSignGuy]

3 hours ago, Pistol said:

No need for a question mark. There's no 'right' answer.

Question mark was more that I was unsure.  I know he was a walk-on turned key player on the 2000 Miracle in Memphis team.  I just don't remember his early career well enough to identify improvement.

[2010andBeyond]

4 hours ago, Pistol said:

Question of the week isn't so much a trivia question as a general opinion question that we're going to turn into a poll:

Which SLU MBB player showed the greatest improvement over the course of his career?

Ian vouyoukas

[crymdg2]

Maurice Jeffers

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

19 minutes ago, 2010andBeyond said:

Ian vouyoukas

Second this ^ 

[brianstl]

51 minutes ago, 2010andBeyond said:

Ian vouyoukas

This is the correct answer

[thetorch]

Very interesting topic.  The kneejerk reaction is to give it to walk ons who became regular rotation players but even the best ones advanced through attrition, injuries or players leaving, or they are specialists and out on the court to do one thing ie shoot 3s or play defense.  They didn’t get better they are just good at a niche skill.  Also it is easy to give it to players who were stuck behind other players.  Also, these players didn’t necessarily improve huge amounts, they were just given more PT because another player graduated, it was just their turn.  The other easy one is a player who is consistently injured and suddenly when healthy is a better player.  They were probably that good but they were just injured.  Besides just incremental growth, sudden growth usually occurs in sophomore or junior year, surpassing all your peers is the best indicator of a player really improving.

Jeff Luechtefeld - Walk on redshirt candidate.  Was a complete scrub as a freshman.  Bad shooter.  Sophomore year he bought in defensively but was still at the end of the rotation.  Jr year became a regular rotation player and a shot appeared but was still just above average.  Senior year was a sharpshooter, set 3 point shooting records, played every perimeter position on both sides of the ball, 1st team all MCC, and was probably the best shooter and defender in that league.

Ian Voyoukas - Freshman year was fat, slow, and clumsy.  Sophomore year a little bit more time but still a backup.  By the end of that season you saw some flashes.  Jr year put it all together on offense, and was in great shape.  Sr year was dissappointing because of the team dynamics but he became a very good defender, could shoot from deep, and even took guys off the dribble and dunked in traffic.

Jordair Jett - He was a decent freshman, but struggled with ballhandling and shooting which plagued him all his career. Still was at the bottom of his class. Sophomore took a leap defensively and started to leap a couple of guys in the rotation.  Jr year became the super sub and could close out games, expanded his offensive game and we saw flashes of athleticism but still wasn’t a regular thing.  Was kind of a defensive specialist.  Still behind Evans and McCall in the class hierarchy.  Sr year he took over.  The rumors started in the offseason that he would be the star.  He went from 6th man to best player in the conference on both ends of the floor.  Flew past his peers on the team.

Harold Alcorn - Benchwarmer his sophomore year.  Supporting player his jr year on good teams.  Senior year took over like no Billiken had before.  Doubled his scoring output and was the first Billiken to average 20 points a game.  In 3 seasons he went from barely in rotation to 1st team all mvc and all american

Erwin Claggett - Freshman fell in and out of the lineup.  Was out of shape.  No handles.  Didn’t shoot well but took a ton of shots.  Came back his sophomore year in shape, improved his shooting percentages by 100 points.  Was an all time great for 3 seasons and even learned to play defense.

John Duff - Luechtefeld light.  Almost was cut after his freshman year but some other recruits didn’t pan out.  Still by jr year he was the Billikens Craig Hodges, just came in to shoot 3s.  Early on in his career he couldn’t really shoot.  Even his Jr year he was just an above average shooter and he was constantly hurt. Senior year goes from 5 minute specialist to clear cut 30 minute starter, top 3 point shooter and even showed some handles.  He also picked it way up on defense.

Jesse Leonard - Dominated on the freshman team but his sophomore year he had no position and no PT.  Came out his Jr year like Scottie Pippen.  Was the teams defensive stopper inside and out, top rebounder and defender and was the secondary offense to Harry Rogers.

Rich Niemann - Top recruit out of HS, he looked like Bryce Husak his first two season.  Wasn’t even good on the freshman team.  The original Conklin summer.  Went from couldn’t walk a chew gum to 17 points a game as a jr.  Went from scrub to pro player in 2 seasons.

Chris Sloan - Awful as a freshman.  Wanted to be a guard.  No shot, no handle.  He would play a little D.  Romar was loathe to play him and looked like a huge reach local recruit.  Never became a star but he redefined his game.  Changed from a perimeter player to a 4 and became a solid starter on some good teams.  Watching him as a freshman would never think this scrub would dunk on Channing Frye.

[brianstl]

Ian is the correct answer in my lifetime, but no one has named a sneaky good candidate in Jeff Harris.  Harris went from averaging 4.5 ppg and 3.9 rpg his first two years to averaging 13.2 ppg and 7.5 rpg over his final two seasons.  He lead the team in scoring and rebounding in both his junior and senior seasons.  His senior season he made 3rd team All-CUSA and stands as one of only six Billikens to make an All-CUSA team.  Reggie Bryant, Marque Perry twice, Maurice Jeffers, Justin Love and Larry Hughes were the others.

[billikenfan05]

21 minutes ago, brianstl said:

Ian is the correct answer in my lifetime, but no one has named a sneaky good candidate in Jeff Harris.  Harris went from averaging 4.5 ppg and 3.9 rpg his first two years to averaging 13.2 ppg and 7.5 rpg over his final two seasons.  He lead the team in scoring and rebounding in both his junior and senior seasons.  His senior season he made 3rd team All-CUSA and stands as one of only six Billikens to make an All-CUSA team.  Reggie Bryant, Marque Perry twice, Maurice Jeffers, Justin Love and Larry Hughes were the others.

Nobody has mentioned Dwayne Evans. I feel like he's a sneaky good candidate as well. I don't really have numbers to back it up, just felt like he became a complete player and leader by the end of his career.

[2010andBeyond]

Though both certainly improved, I feel like Evans and Loe were good enough from day 1 to exclude them from consideration 

[wgstl]

Perry

[cgeldmacher]

Chris Heinrich - I know he wasn't a star at the end, but he was looking like an uncoordinated, dud of a big when he arrived, and then finished his career with a spectacular performance against Kentucky in the tournament.