Transfers - 2024

[Bills By 40]

4 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

this is exciting, particularly Nitu from what i have read and watched utube videos.   Utube video are always typically over the top but even then, if the video's are generally accurate of Nitu's game, he would seem to fit into Schertz style perfectly.  

You read all of that and decide that the "particularly" exciting part is Nitu?! 

Nice bonus, sure...but come the fouck on. 

[TRN]

What is this Utube being talked about? Is it to YouTube like McDowell’s is to McDonald’s? 

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

4 minutes ago, Bills By 40 said:

You read all of that and decide that the "particularly" exciting part is Nitu?! 

Nice bonus, sure...but come the fouck on. 

We've seen the others. We haven't seen Nitu. I'm with him on this. He is really intriguing. 

[RUBillsFan]

1 hour ago, wgstl said:

And you could argue a few of the other nicknames are better. So many quality ones.

Here is an article that ranks the nicknames.  https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/robbie-avila-nicknames-cream-abdul-jabbar/df900acb04b9a2fef4662980#:~:text=Cream Abdul-Jabbar,-This one is&text=This will be the nickname,making those T-shirts first%3F

I have some quibbles with the article's rankings.  I'd put Larry Blurred/Blurrd above Larry Nerd.  Nerd feels too derogatory and not cheeky/fun to me.  I agree that Cream the best:

1. It matches his position.  Avila is a center & Abdul-Jabbar was a center.
2. Cream works on 2 levels both is complexion and his body type.
3. It is not ISU specific like Larry Blurred/Nerd so it can travel with him better to SLU.

That all being said, I'd love some SLU specific nicknames.  I was going to save this analysis for if/when he officially commits to SLU, but what the heck.  I'm excited about it now.  Some of these are admittedly terrible.  I'm just spitballin.

1. Wheezy Ed
2. Avilliken - H/T to MMP on Twitter
3. JordPair (of goggles) Jett
4. Specs Sinquefield - think we can get Rex to dump in some NIL if we pump this one up?
5. Willie Read - I actually love this one & it makes me even more sad that Willie's SLU tenure was cut short or it would be a phenomenal one
6. The St. Louis Ram(bis)
7. Anthony BonNerd
8. Jake For(eyes)ter
9. DJ For(eyes)man
10. Horace Grant Gehlen - former walk-on Grant Gehlen I think actually went by Gus, so probably no.
11. Horace (Grant) Dixon - anyone remember Ho Dixon?  Soderberg really couldn't recruit.
12. Darrin Clarke Kent - he's not from MN and not a huge disappointment, so probably not
13. Buddy Holly Brehmer - Brehmer was the coach after Bennington / before Bob Polk, probably a no on this one
14. Robbie Guillaume - Robert Guillaume (voice of Rafiki) attended SLU & wore glasses

[billikenfan05]

4 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

Here is an article that ranks the nicknames.  https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/robbie-avila-nicknames-cream-abdul-jabbar/df900acb04b9a2fef4662980#:~:text=Cream Abdul-Jabbar,-This one is&text=This will be the nickname,making those T-shirts first%3F

I have some quibbles with the article's rankings.  I'd put Larry Blurred/Blurrd above Larry Nerd.  Nerd feels too derogatory and not cheeky/fun to me.  I agree that Cream the best:

1. It matches his position.  Avila is a center & Abdul-Jabbar was a center.
2. Cream works on 2 levels both is complexion and his body type.
3. It is not ISU specific like Larry Blurred/Nerd so it can travel with him better to SLU.

That all being said, I'd love some SLU specific nicknames.  I was going to save this analysis for if/when he officially commits to SLU, but what the heck.  I'm excited about it now.  Some of these are admittedly terrible.  I'm just spitballin.

1. Wheezy Ed
2. Avilliken - H/T to MMP on Twitter
3. JordPair (of goggles) Jett
4. Specs Sinquefield - think we can get Rex to dump in some NIL if we pump this one up?
5. Willie Read - I actually love this one & it makes me even more sad that Willie's SLU tenure was cut short or it would be a phenomenal one
6. The St. Louis Ram(bis)
7. Anthony BonNerd
8. Jake For(eyes)ter
9. DJ For(eyes)man
10. Horace Grant Gehlen - former walk-on Grant Gehlen I think actually went by Gus, so probably no.
11. Horace (Grant) Dixon - anyone remember Ho Dixon?  Soderberg really couldn't recruit.
12. Darrin Clarke Kent - he's not from MN and not a huge disappointment, so probably not
13. Buddy Holly Brehmer - Brehmer was the coach after Bennington / before Bob Polk, probably a no on this one
14. Robbie Guillaume - Robert Guillaume (voice of Rafiki) attended SLU & wore glasses

Some deep cuts

[RUBillsFan]

1 minute ago, billikenfan05 said:

Some deep cuts

I may have dipped into the History & Record Book player listing for an assist.

[TheA_Bomb]

https://247sports.com/college/indiana/article/indiana-hoosiers-basketball-transfer-portal-indiana-state-guard-ryan-conwell-announces-transfer-230167625/amp/

 

This article thinks IU will push for Conwell.  Good data on his analytics in Schertz's offense.  

"Conwell's three-point shooting jumped to 40.7 percent on 7.1 attempts per game. He also made 85.5 percent of his free throws. Indiana State wanted to take threes and layups, and Conwell executed that to a tee. He took 260 three-pointers this season and 119 shots at the rim but only 31 two-point shots away from the basket, according to BartTorvik.com."

[HoosierPal]

8 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

https://247sports.com/college/indiana/article/indiana-hoosiers-basketball-transfer-portal-indiana-state-guard-ryan-conwell-announces-transfer-230167625/amp/

 

This article thinks IU will push for Conwell.  Good data on his analytics in Schertz's offense.  

"Conwell's three-point shooting jumped to 40.7 percent on 7.1 attempts per game. He also made 85.5 percent of his free throws. Indiana State wanted to take threes and layups, and Conwell executed that to a tee. He took 260 three-pointers this season and 119 shots at the rim but only 31 two-point shots away from the basket, according to BartTorvik.com."

The IU Indy Star beat writer had Conwell listed this morning on the "good fit" list, along with several other shooting guards.  The dead period ends tomorrow, so visits will resume.  Conwell is from Pike HS in Indy, will/has transferred after each of his two seasons, so look for him to set up multiple visits.  Will he stop by SLU?  I'd guess that he would.

[billikenfan05]

Old friend alert Kesean Pryor is back in the portal/NBA Draft.

[billikenbill]

15 hours ago, RUBillsFan said:

Here is an article that ranks the nicknames.  https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/robbie-avila-nicknames-cream-abdul-jabbar/df900acb04b9a2fef4662980#:~:text=Cream Abdul-Jabbar,-This one is&text=This will be the nickname,making those T-shirts first%3F

I have some quibbles with the article's rankings.  I'd put Larry Blurred/Blurrd above Larry Nerd.  Nerd feels too derogatory and not cheeky/fun to me.  I agree that Cream the best:

1. It matches his position.  Avila is a center & Abdul-Jabbar was a center.
2. Cream works on 2 levels both is complexion and his body type.
3. It is not ISU specific like Larry Blurred/Nerd so it can travel with him better to SLU.

That all being said, I'd love some SLU specific nicknames.  I was going to save this analysis for if/when he officially commits to SLU, but what the heck.  I'm excited about it now.  Some of these are admittedly terrible.  I'm just spitballin.

1. Wheezy Ed
2. Avilliken - H/T to MMP on Twitter
3. JordPair (of goggles) Jett
4. Specs Sinquefield - think we can get Rex to dump in some NIL if we pump this one up?
5. Willie Read - I actually love this one & it makes me even more sad that Willie's SLU tenure was cut short or it would be a phenomenal one
6. The St. Louis Ram(bis)
7. Anthony BonNerd
8. Jake For(eyes)ter
9. DJ For(eyes)man
10. Horace Grant Gehlen - former walk-on Grant Gehlen I think actually went by Gus, so probably no.
11. Horace (Grant) Dixon - anyone remember Ho Dixon?  Soderberg really couldn't recruit.
12. Darrin Clarke Kent - he's not from MN and not a huge disappointment, so probably not
13. Buddy Holly Brehmer - Brehmer was the coach after Bennington / before Bob Polk, probably a no on this one
14. Robbie Guillaume - Robert Guillaume (voice of Rafiki) attended SLU & wore glasses

Well done through #6. The rest, think not.

I hadn’t seen Milk Chamberlain before. Really like that one.

[wgstl]

11 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Old friend alert Kesean Pryor is back in the portal/NBA Draft.

Had a good season, the type of player that would have kept the previous coach here had he committed last spring. 

[TheA_Bomb]

15 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

The IU Indy Star beat writer had Conwell listed this morning on the "good fit" list, along with several other shooting guards.  The dead period ends tomorrow, so visits will resume.  Conwell is from Pike HS in Indy, will/has transferred after each of his two seasons, so look for him to set up multiple visits.  Will he stop by SLU?  I'd guess that he would.

Might be hard to overcome IU if they offer. But we already have a 6'5 3PT shooter already at SLU that can be as good or better offensively than Conwell. Not sure on how Jimmerson's Defense compares.

[wgstl]

15 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

Might be hard to overcome IU if they offer. But we already have a 6'5 3PT shooter already at SLU that can be as good or better offensively than Conwell. Not sure on how Jimmerson's Defense compares.

Conwell has better numbers around the rim, but I think the open looks he got may have doubled the open drives Gibby got. But I agree you just need one of Gibson or Conwell. 

[ACE]

47 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Old friend alert Kesean Pryor is back in the portal/NBA Draft.

If I recall, Tate had a connection - Pryor spent a year at JUCO. He actually would seem like a Schertz player, but probably not a role here if Avila and Kent are on the way.

The churning continues! USF actually had a pretty decent season. This was the opening line from a Tampa article about South Florida hoops: In the span of less than a week, the USF men’s basketball program has transitioned from resurgent to rebuilding mode.

 

[JohnnyJumpUp]

15 hours ago, RUBillsFan said:

Here is an article that ranks the nicknames.  https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/robbie-avila-nicknames-cream-abdul-jabbar/df900acb04b9a2fef4662980#:~:text=Cream Abdul-Jabbar,-This one is&text=This will be the nickname,making those T-shirts first%3F

I have some quibbles with the article's rankings.  I'd put Larry Blurred/Blurrd above Larry Nerd.  Nerd feels too derogatory and not cheeky/fun to me.  I agree that Cream the best:

1. It matches his position.  Avila is a center & Abdul-Jabbar was a center.
2. Cream works on 2 levels both is complexion and his body type.
3. It is not ISU specific like Larry Blurred/Nerd so it can travel with him better to SLU.

That all being said, I'd love some SLU specific nicknames.  I was going to save this analysis for if/when he officially commits to SLU, but what the heck.  I'm excited about it now.  Some of these are admittedly terrible.  I'm just spitballin.

1. Wheezy Ed
2. Avilliken - H/T to MMP on Twitter
3. JordPair (of goggles) Jett
4. Specs Sinquefield - think we can get Rex to dump in some NIL if we pump this one up?
5. Willie Read - I actually love this one & it makes me even more sad that Willie's SLU tenure was cut short or it would be a phenomenal one
6. The St. Louis Ram(bis)
7. Anthony BonNerd
8. Jake For(eyes)ter
9. DJ For(eyes)man
10. Horace Grant Gehlen - former walk-on Grant Gehlen I think actually went by Gus, so probably no.
11. Horace (Grant) Dixon - anyone remember Ho Dixon?  Soderberg really couldn't recruit.
12. Darrin Clarke Kent - he's not from MN and not a huge disappointment, so probably not
13. Buddy Holly Brehmer - Brehmer was the coach after Bennington / before Bob Polk, probably a no on this one
14. Robbie Guillaume - Robert Guillaume (voice of Rafiki) attended SLU & wore glasses

forgot..... Jahidi White

[gobillsgo]

1 hour ago, wgstl said:

Conwell has better numbers around the rim, but I think the open looks he got may have doubled the open drives Gibby got. But I agree you just need one of Gibson or Conwell. 

Sure you only NEED one, but I WANT both 

[cgeldmacher]

21 hours ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I understand but here's a reason for optimism.

Avila and Conwell were only Sophomores.

Kent, Swope, Larry were Juniors.

Not 1 Senior in the starting 5.

If he gets the band back together, there's some room for improvement physically and technically.

In the day and age of free agency, saying guys are only juniors or sophomores has much less meaning.  If a kid comes here, we are only guaranteed to have him for one year.

[Bilzz]

Question for people more knowledgeable than me at xs and os. Given that Avila is a true stretch 4 is it out the question that another similar type (Pryor/Turnbull/etc..) could also get significant minutes with them both on the floor? Or does that hurt too much defensively?

[TheA_Bomb]

11 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

In the day and age of free agency, saying guys are only juniors or sophomores has much less meaning.  If a kid comes here, we are only guaranteed to have him for one year.

Huh? You're missing the point. Avila is a sophomore and next year will be a junior.  One more year of physical development, college weight room, trainers.  That's a reason for optimism that the ISU MVC Tournament 2nd place team could be better next year.  All 5 starters have another year of experience. 

That's next season, not the season after. I'm not projecting them any further into the future.

[cgeldmacher]

5 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

Huh? You're missing the point. Avila is a sophomore and next year will be a junior.  One more year of physical development, college weight room, trainers.  That's a reason for optimism that the ISU MVC Tournament 2nd place team could be better next year.  All 5 starters have another year of experience. 

That's next season, not the season after. I'm not projecting them any further into the future.

Gotcha.  Along those lines, I would assume our nutrition specialists, strength and conditioning coach, and facilities will help all of that more than what ISU was able to offer him last year.

[TheA_Bomb]

2 minutes ago, Bilzz said:

Question for people more knowledgeable than me at xs and os. Given that Avila is a true stretch 4 is it out the question that another similar type (Pryor/Turnbull/etc..) could also get significant minutes with them both on the floor? Or does that hurt too much defensively?

I think it helps defensively.  5 out on the offense is kinda positionless, everyone needs to be able to pass, screen, cut, shoot 3s.  On defense you noticed Avila basically stationary under the basket.  He's not the quickest dude so that helps him not get beat off the dribble.  Another big man could help vs teams with size at 4 & 5.  Also Avila was playing 75.7% of the minutes available need some quality depth.  Kent is 6'8, if Turnbull came and we had Avila that's who plays in the front court.

[TheA_Bomb]

3 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

Gotcha.  Along those lines, I would assume our nutrition specialists, strength and conditioning coach, and facilities will help all of that more than what ISU was able to offer him last year.

Yeah I hope so. Seemed like we had a lot of injuries. So I'm hopeful the support staff is upgraded too.

[David King]

3 hours ago, TheA_Bomb said:

Huh? You're missing the point. Avila is a sophomore and next year will be a junior.  One more year of physical development, college weight room, trainers.  That's a reason for optimism that the ISU MVC Tournament 2nd place team could be better next year.  All 5 starters have another year of experience. 

That's next season, not the season after. I'm not projecting them any further into the future.

Coach don't do weights, summer conditioning, running, etc.

"I never condition them," Schertz said after a recent MVC tournament game. "We don't do any summer conditioning, no conditioning in the fall. I never run them."

No Conklin summers.

[billikens747]

6-5 guard who shot 42.5% from 3P. Averaged 12.6 this past season. 

 

[Compton]

On 4/8/2024 at 10:54 PM, davidnark said:

LHJ, shot 35% from 3, which is very average for a D1 combo guard. He was also a starter on one of the worst defensive teams in the country. I don't recall him shutting down anyone, and he didn't light up the steal stats, so I am not sold on the good defender narrative. 

Did Curcic or Thames shut anyone down or light up the steal stats? LHJ played similar mpg as Curcic in 2022-23 and had a similar 3pt%. LHJ had a similar 3pt% as Thames this year. I don't see the case for them being in a more select class than LHJ.