Robbie Avila - Verbal Commitment Announcement Thread

[The Wiz]

11 hours ago, Bridget said:

I wish him well, and hope he helps bring attendance for SLU, my concern for your team is he doesn’t have the rhythm with his other players from ISU.  I am sure he will still be fun to watch, but ISU was fun to watch because of the passing, the amazing timing and rhythm the starters had.  I was sad to see our players all leave, but I respect the want a cash grab since they won’t be NBA players.  Best of luck next year SLU, you are in for a fun ride! 

I think the key phrase in Robbie's video was...After the money, St. Louis U checked all the boxes. He had numerous offers, some maybe for more cash but he came here because we checked all the boxes. The same is true of Coach Schertz.  After the money, we checked all the boxes.

What does that mean? It means that SLU is a place you can come to and ...Grow, thrive and stay....ie check all the boxes.

Bottom line...Robbie's video explaining why he came to SLU does not only shed light as to why he came here but in turn will be a great recruiting tool for future players to watch and help them make their decision. He will not be the last player to check all the boxes.

 

[Fraz]

7 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

I think the key phrase in Robbie's video was...After the money, St. Louis U checked all the boxes. He had numerous offers, some maybe for more cash but he came here because we checked all the boxes. The same is true of Coach Schertz.  After the money, we checked all the boxes.

What does that mean? It means that SLU is a place you can come to and ...Grow, thrive and stay....ie check all the boxes.

Bottom line...Robbie's video explaining why he came to SLU does not only shed light as to why he came here but in turn will be a great recruiting tool for future players to watch and help them make their decision. He will not be the last player to check all the boxes.

 

Both have cited the city as well.  The great sports town we have, the opportunity in a big place.  Sleeping giant!

[billikenfan05]

2 minutes ago, Fraz said:

Both have cited the city as well.  The great sports town we have, the opportunity in a big place.  Sleeping giant!

It offers the best of both worlds. I'ts "big sports city" but it's also small enough to make an impact as a non-professional or "minor league" team

[Fraz]

6 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

It offers the best of both worlds. I'ts "big sports city" but it's also small enough to make an impact as a non-professional or "minor league" team

So damn excited.

2 months ago was the lowest in my SLU fandom.  Now it’s one of the highest.

New age

 

[Fraz]

Interested in the board’s take:

Many articles referencing Avila as the highest regarded commit since Larry Hughes.  Goodwin and Gordon were certainly in the convo.  Thoughts?

[thetorch]

7 minutes ago, Fraz said:

Interested in the board’s take:

Many articles referencing Avila as the highest regarded commit since Larry Hughes.  Goodwin and Gordon were certainly in the convo.  Thoughts?

Goodwin was a consensus top 100 recruit but not a national story when he signed.  More of a regional big deal.  Gordon even less so.  He had been as a high as top 10 player earlier in HS but his rating had fell significantly and he wasn't being recruited at a high rate anymore because of all of his red flags.

[Compton]

8 hours ago, Fraz said:

Interested in the board’s take:

Many articles referencing Avila as the highest regarded commit since Larry Hughes.  Goodwin and Gordon were certainly in the convo.  Thoughts?

Those seem right. Goodwin being the most direct comp as a first big/name signing under a new coach. It's kinda hard comparing HS commits with transfers. Highest regarded transfers might be Bess, Isabell, and Wiley. We'll never know, but Avila probably would have gotten better offers than those three, and comparable offers to Goodwin and Gordon (which is to say high level P6 offers).

[Bills By 40]

13 hours ago, Johnekess2 said:

If memory serves me right, didn’t I read where there were a lot of new players to ISU’s roster last several years and that is a lot of change.  Tells me this is more about the coach than the players.  So maybe they all did go for money on some level but the players that follow a coach recognize a leader that makes them better and follow them to become better. 
 

We are grateful for Robbie coming over, as well as the 9 other new players coming to the roster this year…

You're correct - both Ryan Conwell and Isaiah Swope were new to Indiana State this season. This Bridget lady just doesn't know ball. 

[Bills By 40]

19 minutes ago, Compton said:

Those seem right. Goodwin being the most direct comp as a first big/name signing under a new coach. It's kinda hard comparing HS commits with transfers. Highest regarded transfers might be Bess, Isabell, and Wiley. We'll never know, but Avila probably would have gotten better offers than those three, and comparable offers to Goodwin and Gordon (which is to say high level P6 offers).

Robbie is an exponentially bigger deal than Goodwin or Gordon. Neither of them held nationally streamed commitment announcement live streams. 

Robbie was a top 10 transfer in the nation and he's more marketable and recognizable than maybe any of those guys ahead of him. Don't undersell this. 

[slu72]

Let’s not overlook Gibby coming home. Basically we got two of the top 50 guys in the portal. I don’t know where Swope stands in the rankings. Of course he hasn’t committed anywhere yet. But if he chooses SLU and Turnbull commits, we have mined the portal successfully. 

[majerus mojo]

1 hour ago, slu72 said:

Let’s not overlook Gibby coming home. Basically we got two of the top 50 guys in the portal. I don’t know where Swope stands in the rankings. Of course he hasn’t committed anywhere yet. But if he chooses SLU and Turnbull commits, we have mined the portal successfully. 

I think someone noted The Athletic had Avila #3 and Jimerson #7 in their portal rankings. 

[SLURadioBoy]

1 hour ago, slu72 said:

Let’s not overlook Gibby coming home. Basically we got two of the top 50 guys in the portal. I don’t know where Swope stands in the rankings. Of course he hasn’t committed anywhere yet. But if he chooses SLU and Turnbull commits, we have mined the portal successfully. 

According to The Athletics rankings, Avila is 3, Jimerson is 28 and Swope is 31. From what I can tell, they would join Indiana as being the only schools to get 3 players in the top 35 so far.

[slu72]

4 minutes ago, SLURadioBoy said:

According to The Athletics rankings, Avila is 3, Jimerson is 28 and Swope is 31. From what I can tell, they would join Indiana as being the only schools to get 3 players in the top 35 so far.

What’s Turnbull’s rating? 

[SLURadioBoy]

10 minutes ago, slu72 said:

What’s Turnbull’s rating? 

It only goes to 145 on their list and he isn’t on there.

[MusicCityBilliken]

On 4/20/2024 at 5:10 PM, David King said:

What about Swope?

The media has him as a given. Below is one many articles I seen mention this:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/robbie-avila-one-of-the-biggest-names-in-the-transfer-portal-following-josh-schertz-to-saint-louis/

Just curious, is Conwell in the Portal? Any chance?  I seen that Aaron Gray removed his name.

[SLURadioBoy]

1 minute ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

The media has him as a given. Below is one many articles I seen mention this:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/robbie-avila-one-of-the-biggest-names-in-the-transfer-portal-following-josh-schertz-to-saint-louis/

Just curious, is Conwell in the Portal? Any chance?  I seen that Aaron Gray removed his name.

Conwell committed to Xavier last week.

[MusicCityBilliken]

5 minutes ago, SLURadioBoy said:

Conwell committed to Xavier last week.

Darn

Do we still need a point guard? I am guessing McCottery plays point but being a freshman I am a little leery. Shoot for a one-year eligible experienced point guard out the portal would be nice to break in McCottery.

[TheA_Bomb]

Portal ranking is tough and so new.  Personally I think 247sports does the best portal coverage. 

https://247sports.com/season/2024-basketball/transferportal/

Regardless, of the ranking nice to see SLU getting top rated talent. It'll translate to some publicity and top 25 mentions. 

Also nice to see logical roster construction not last minute take what you can get, then surprise when no one is cleared to play.

[wgstl]

Adding Swope would be like adding a Khalil Brantley or Rahsool Diggins.  Rated just ahead of Chad Venning, kyle Rose, Cam Brown .  And right behind Joe Bamisile.  This would have given us 3 in the t35.   Solid start but still away to go to feel really good about that being a difference.  4 teams this year had 3+ in the t35 player ranking. 

[Cowboy II]

56 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

Portal ranking is tough and so new.  Personally I think 247sports does the best portal coverage. 

https://247sports.com/season/2024-basketball/transferportal/

Regardless, of the ranking nice to see SLU getting top rated talent. It'll translate to some publicity and top 25 mentions. 

Also nice to see logical roster construction not last minute take what you can get, then surprise when no one is cleared to play.

-a lot of spots yet to fill but I have confidence your take will become real

[Fraz]

[RUBillsFan]

Just to hammer home the impact Robbie can have and how massive this is for the program.  Google searches for Robbie Avila the past 90 days are the blue line and Google searches for Billikens are the red line.