Aquinas Posted May 31 Posted May 31 I think our team is complete. I put together a summary description of the players and position projections of the players and at the bottom my opening day projection. I have school years listed, but don't assume that equals how many years of eligibility remain. I have not waded into that for each player. Centers: Robbie Avila 6’10” 240 Jr, Center, 33.9 Min, 17.3 Pts, 6.9 RB, 3Pt% 35.9, FT% 75, Ast 4, TO 3.3, Stl 1.2 Jax Kerr 6'11' 190, 247 Fr, 4 star recruit averaged 11.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. He shot better than 40 percent from the arc (high-school) He might be needed as Avila is our only veteran player over 6’8”. Badara Diakite 6’10” 205 Fr, 4 star ESPN and Rivals (127 National rank), 10 Pts, 5 RB, Signed with Iowa and decommitted following a coaching change in March. Iowa coach said: “He can stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting, he can guard any position. He might be needed as Avila is our only veteran player over 6’8”. Power Forwards: Paul Otieno 6’8” 225, Sr Forward, 31.1 Min, 10.4 Pts, 8.6 RB, 37.5 3Pt%, FT% 81.1, Ast 1.1, TO 1.3, Stl .7, from Quinnipiac Kalu Anya 6’8” 215, Sr, Forward, 27.9 Min, 6.5 Pts, 7.5 RB, 3Pt% 12.5, FT% 31.6, Ast 2.5, TO 1.5, Stl 1.1 Kellen Thames 6’6” 210, Jr, Guard, 16.3 Min, 6.2 Pts, 3.4 RB, 3 Pt% 30, FT% 62, Ast .6, TO .8, Stl .7 Big Health question. Can also play a small power forward. Wings: Quentin Jones 6’5” 170, Jr, Guard, 31.9 Min, 13.1 Pts, 4.8 RB, 3 Pt% 35.5, FT% 76.6, Ast 3.5, TO 2.5, Stl 1.3, from Northern Ill, MAC conference, Likes to attack the basket. Dylan Warlick 6’5” 210, So, Small Forward, 10.1 Min, 2.4 Pts, 1.6 RB, 3P% 38.5 FT% 75, Ast .4, TO .4, Stl .1 Brady Dunlap 6,7” 180, Jr, Small Forward, 16.5 Min, 5.7 Pts, 2.2 RB, 3Pt% 37.5, FT% 83.3, Ast .7, TO .3, Stl .4 (10 games) St. Johns, Big East conference (Had 2 significant injuries last season, high ceiling if healthy) Cameron Hutson 6’6” 190, Fr, 247 3*, 18.9 Pts, 7.2 RB, 45% 3pt Shooting Guards: Ishan Sharma 6’5” 192, So Guard, 12.8 Min, 3.4 Pts, 1.3 RB, 3 Pt% 33.3, FT% 93.8, Ast .8, TO .3, Stl .2, from Virginia, ACC conference. Likes to shoot 3s. Can also help bring the ball up the floor. Luke Dion Brown 6’3” 180, Sr Guard, 25.6 Min, 7.5 Pts, 3.9 RB, 3 Pt% 35, FT% 75.7, Ast 1.3, TO 1.0, Stl .5, from Boston College-ACC. Laczkowski 6’7” 200, Fr, 247 3*, 21.5 Pts, 8.5 RB, 2000 points for his high school. Considers himself shooting guard. Nickname Lach. Couldn’t find percentages. Point Guards Ball Handlers: Amari McCottry 6’6” 215, So, Guard, 14.5 Min, 4.6 Pts, 3.1 RB, 3pt% 38.5, FT% 58.7, Ast 1.0, TO 1.4, Stl 1.0. Can play any guard position or power forward in a pinch. Can bring the ball up the floor. Trey Green 6’0” 168, Jr, Guard, 13 Min, .5.5 Pts, 1RB, 3 Pt% 33, FT% 96.3, Ast 1.1, TO 1.1, Stl .5, from Xavier-Big East . Only played 9 games beginning of last year. Had undefined health issue. Ranked about 70 out of high school. Stats from combined first 2 years. He is a gamble with very high ceiling. These guys all want to start. The guys that played last year have the benefit of knowing the system. Kellen Thames and Brady Dunlap have to prove they are healthy. My projected starters for game one: Center: Robbie Avila – No question Power Forward: Paul Otieno played 31 min a game last year, shot 81% FT and 37% 3pt., 8.6 RB. In my view the biggest signing that we have this year. Small Forward: Quentin Jones played 32 min a game last year, 13.1 Pts, 4.8 RB, 3 Pt% 35.5, FT% 76.6. Likes to attack the basket Shooting Guard: Ishan Sharma I see Ishan as a Gibson like player who can also help bring the ball up the floor. He shot 94% FT. A lot of his 3pt attempts were a full step behind the line. He seems to read the floor well. I think he will be hard to keep off the floor. Would love to see Gibson coaching him. Point Guard: Amari McCottry knows the system and that will be important especially early, when all of the newbies are trying to figure the system out. Amari can play any of the guard positions and if Trey Green emerges and takes the point guard position Amari could be super valuable as the 6th man off the bench taking the spot of any guard who is having problems. SLURadioBoy, Zink, MusicCityBilliken and 2 others 5 Quote
slu72 Posted May 31 Posted May 31 Tx for the effort and rundown. Can’t recall if it’s Torch or 3Star who tout the portal as working with good nods moving up and P5 subs moving down, but it does seem we got our fair share of P5’s dropping down for a chance at getting more minutes. Dunlap is intriguing as he was a Pitino recruit, and Slick Rick knows talent. Hope he stays healthy. Go Bills. Hope springs eternal every June. Quote
HoosierPal Posted June 3 Posted June 3 Good to see Thames practicing. Old guy, Aquinas, MusicCityBilliken and 4 others 7 Quote
Aquinas Posted June 3 Author Posted June 3 Here is the Eligibility Robbie Avila Senior - Eligibility Remaining: 1 Badara Diakite Freshman - Eligibility Remaining: 4 Jax Kerr Freshman - Eligibility Remaining: 4 Power Forwards: Paul Otieno Senior - Eligibility Remaining: 1 Kalu Anya Senior Eligibility Remaining: 1 Kellen Thames Redshirt Junior - Eligibility Remaining: 2 Wings: Quentin Jones Junior - Eligibility Remaining: 2 Dylan Warlick Sophomore - Eligibility Remaining: 3 Brady Dunlap Redshirt Sophomore - Eligibility Remaining: 3 Cameron Hutson Freshman - Eligibility Remaining: 4 Shooting Guards: Ishan Sharma Sophomore - Eligibility Remaining: 3. Dion Brown Senior - Eligibility Remaining: 1 Luke Laczkowski Freshman - Eligibility Remaining: 4 Point Guards Ball Handlers: Amari McCottry Sophomore - Eligibility Remaining: 3. Trey Green Redshirt Sophomore - Eligibility Remaining: 3 SLUMedBilliken15 and SLURadioBoy 2 Quote
Aquinas Posted June 3 Author Posted June 3 Our Big Men: We have 3 seniors, 2 Freshman and Junior Kellen Thames. Thames at 6'6" is undersized for a forward, but his athleticism and physical play allow him to play the 4. With only 3 experienced bigs, we may need him. The big question is his health. Will he be able to stay healthy. Unfortunately when Thames minutes fell, his quality of play also fell. Avila and Otieno will be the starters and get most of the minutes. Otieno can stretch the floor, which should help open up the area under the basket. Last season Anya's lack of range got exposed and a number of teams parked a big in the paint. If Otieno can hit open 3s, the offense should click. The other problem we had last season is we had 2 guards in Gibson and Swope who had to be guarded, but the third guard on the floor was not consistent. This season we potentially have more outside threats, which should help the offense and Anya when he is on the floor. We only had 3 scoring threats last season. That brings us to the freshman. Ideally, at least one of them will have an impact. Otieno can probably hold his own as the biggest man on the floor, but he will be more effective if there is a bigger player with him. We will also be looking at our three experienced bigs leaving next year and it would be nice to have one of these freshmen poised to take on a starting roll. Then of course there is always the injury bug and games with foul trouble. I don't expect 20 min a game from either of the freshman, but 8 to 15 would be good for at least one of them. Last year when we brought the bigs of the bench, they didn't score. Some will argue that coach didn't play them enough, but players have to hit open shots when they get the chance to play. I would like to see one of the freshman push Anya for playing time. Unless Anya dramatically improves his FT shooting, he can't be on the floor late in close games. So there is an opportunity. Now if Thames fully recovers, then the path to playing time for the freshmen gets rougher. But the recovery of Thames is something that I will have to see to believe.... though I am hoping for the best. Robbie Avila, 6’10” 240 Sr, Center, 33.9 Min, 17.3 Pts, 6.9 RB, 3Pt% 35.9, FT% 75, Ast 4, TO 3.3, Stl 1.2 Paul Otieno 6’8” 225, Sr Forward, 31.1 Min, 10.4 Pts, 8.6 RB, 37.5 3Pt%, FT% 81.1, Ast 1.1, TO 1.3, Stl .7, from Quinnipiac Kalu Anya 6’8” 215, Sr, Forward, 27.9 Min, 6.5 Pts, 7.5 RB, 3Pt% 12.5, FT% 31.6, Ast 2.5, TO 1.5, Stl 1.1 Badara Diakite 6’10” 205 Fr, 4 star ESPN and Rivals (127 National rank), 10 Pts, 5 RB, Jax Kerr 6'11' 190, 247 Fr, 4 star recruit averaged 11.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. He shot better than 40 percent from the arc (high-school) Kellen Thames 6’6” 210, Jr, Guard, 16.3 Min, 6.2 Pts, 3.4 RB, 3 Pt% 30, FT% 62, Ast .6, TO .8, Stl .7 Big Health question. Can also play a small power forward. SLUMedBilliken15 and CenHudDude 2 Quote
Old guy Posted June 3 Posted June 3 I think it is too early to say anything or expect anything from Thames. When he manages to play significant minutes in actual games with no problems, that is when I will start thinking about him as active contributor to the team. Aquinas, Bills By 40 and VeniceMenace 2 1 Quote
WVBilliken Posted June 3 Posted June 3 20 hours ago, HoosierPal said: Good to see Thames practicing. So, anyone know if all players are on campus, if not, who's missing? Quote
crymdg2 Posted June 4 Posted June 4 I doubt they'd ever release the numbers, but my goodness Thames is really athletic!! brianstl, Zink and SLU_Lax 3 Quote
billikenfan05 Posted June 6 Posted June 6 https://open.substack.com/pub/stuonslu/p/with-more-depth-josh-schertz-already?r=4mgyee&utm_medium=ios Lord Elrond 1 Quote
Cowboy Posted June 6 Posted June 6 -this is something I expect to get over shortly but don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. Was that a load of crap last season about the players are in such great shape to get them through the season and there are enough time outs to keep them fresh during games? It sure doesn't square with the comment of the Bills were severly fatigued by the time they reached their bye week. Yeah, I remember the injuries and defection as a cause, a big reason, but I guess it was also the case where Max and Killian couldn't gain the confidence of CJS to get minutes. -that Indiana St team with 10 guys averaging over 11mpg was 23-13 and 13-7, at one point lost 5 conf games in a row, I'll expect there has been learning since then -okay, mostly over it Quote
Dr. Holly Hills Posted June 6 Posted June 6 1 hour ago, billikenfan05 said: https://open.substack.com/pub/stuonslu/p/with-more-depth-josh-schertz-already?r=4mgyee&utm_medium=ios Is Brady Dunlap still rehabilitating his abdominal surgery?? I thought he was ready to go... Quote
MusicCityBilliken Posted June 6 Posted June 6 11 minutes ago, Dr. Holly Hills said: Is Brady Dunlap still rehabilitating his abdominal surgery?? I thought he was ready to go... According to Stu's article, not till next week. Let's hope Brady fully rehabilitated, he could be important piece in the rotation with instant offense. Quote
HoosierPal Posted June 6 Posted June 6 On 6/4/2025 at 4:02 PM, crymdg2 said: I doubt they'd ever release the numbers, but my goodness Thames is really athletic!! Quote
HoosierPal Posted June 6 Posted June 6 https://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/article_c1839b73-e6d2-471b-9d47-3120b4bd98fc.html Interesting discussion on Diakite. Thames all positive, so far. Quote
SLUMS81 Posted June 7 Posted June 7 Coach said that the 21 bench presses Paul Otieno did were 22 more than Robbie Avila could do. Bills By 40 1 Quote
VeniceMenace Posted June 7 Posted June 7 6 hours ago, HoosierPal said: https://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/article_c1839b73-e6d2-471b-9d47-3120b4bd98fc.html Interesting discussion on Diakite. Thames all positive, so far. That's what they were saying last year at this time about Thames, right? Quote
cgeldmacher Posted June 9 Posted June 9 They get me every year. Nearly every season, I go away disappointed, and then the next season, I'm excited again. I would say that some day I will learn the lesson, but the reality is that I probably won't. CenHudDude, gobillsgo, White Pelican and 6 others 9 Quote
Bills By 40 Posted June 9 Posted June 9 35 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said: They get me every year. Nearly every season, I go away disappointed, and then the next season, I'm excited again. I would say that some day I will learn the lesson, but the reality is that I probably won't. And that makes you a true Billiken fan. We share that curse, you and I. cgeldmacher 1 Quote
White Pelican Posted June 9 Posted June 9 4 hours ago, cgeldmacher said: They get me every year. Nearly every season, I go away disappointed, and then the next season, I'm excited again. I would say that some day I will learn the lesson, but the reality is that I probably won't. I couldn't have said it better. Quote
Old guy Posted June 10 Posted June 10 On 6/7/2025 at 12:18 AM, VeniceMenace said: That's what they were saying last year at this time about Thames, right? Yep, and they were also saying similar things about Perkins. Reality must be based upon reality. Perkins was a major disappointment when he came back into play, he could play, but he could never play consistently at the level he was expected to play. The best we can hope for Thames at this time is that he does not disappoint all the expectations that are held by many fans at this time. Let us hope our expectations become reality in Thames' case, not disappointments as happened with Perkins. We will find out when the season starts, not before. VeniceMenace 1 Quote
cgeldmacher Posted June 10 Posted June 10 16 hours ago, Old guy said: Reality must be based upon reality. This is going to go down as one of my all time favorite Old Guy quotes. VeniceMenace, BuiltFordBills, Old guy and 1 other 2 2 Quote
Cowboy Posted June 12 Posted June 12 -on Tuesday there was an email that the season ticket renewal deadline is July 11, today an email that the deadline is July 9 Quote
White Pelican Posted June 12 Posted June 12 2 hours ago, Cowboy said: -on Tuesday there was an email that the season ticket renewal deadline is July 11, today an email that the deadline is July 9 SLU gonna SLU. The date is probably the 10th. Quote
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