Sheltiedave Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 A bird on the wire says we have some interest in Paul Bayer, a junior guard out of Moline, Illinois. More to come out of Ptown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bauman Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 I gotta tell you I am tired of hearing about us recruiting Guards. We are going to be up to our ears in Smalls-what we need is some bigs who can compete at the level we hope to play in because we don't have them on our roster now or on our projected team next year. I have been a big Brad supporter, but if we don't start getting some big, strong, athletic Bigs then we better start looking at the Horizon league. I still am holding out hope, but we better start getting some size to go with TL and KL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 i too am disappointed with this tidbit on the surface. now if you tell me he is some sort of top 20 cant miss guy, then i might swallow it. but otherwise, it makes no sense. especially considering that leonard and hill are also quality guards and right here at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Agreed. All I have heard about is recruiting gaurds. Have we even had our name mentioned with a guy over 6'4"? After this years debacle, you'd thing Brad would be all over every eligible big in America...but all we hear about are gaurds. We have two fantastic gaurds coming in next year...enough already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Maybe the thought is that with AD gone and DC not stepping up that there is room for another shooting guard. I am not defending this situation but simply pointing out a possible scenerio. I also agree, we need some quality big men more than guards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 >>All I have heard about is recruiting gaurds. Have we even had our name mentioned with a guy over 6'4"?<< Leonard is 6'6" or 6'7" ... but he is not a low post player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Leonard is a Jr. so we would not be looking to sign him with one of the two scholies that we have for the April '05 signing period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Good point. But you know what I mean... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 schasz, the recruit that sheltiedave is talking about is also a junior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 if leonard or hill is available i would take them to replace drejaj, but anyone outside of st louis better be just a stud if we are taking guards with the next class or two. our roster is becoming unbalanced imo. and couple that with the fact that the bigs we have are ineffective and no guarantee to be reliable producers in the future makes it crazy to continue to only recruit guards. i just dont understand the thinking. coach soderberg is rolling the dice bigtime on vouyoukas and husak imo. it is my belief that if in three years those two are labeled as "busts" and we havent really brought anything more than newborne like other inside players, it may cost him his job. someone has to be able to rebound and play inside defense at least. for now we have to assume he has a plan and knows where this train is going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 What about Sanjay Watts at Jennings? Is he a DI recruit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Not to be a trouble maker but don't you think Brad had a plan this year and you can see the results of that. I agree Roy, Brad better get a big man this year who can play and line one up for the following year. Like I said earlier - do you think he knows that he will have some defections after this year? and if so does that impact the new graduation rule that the NCAA is putting in place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 he is also only 6'4" at most (probably smaller). he is a power forward in a shooting guards body. while i loved donnie dobbs and jeff harris, what are the odds that watts is their equal? give me 4-5 more inches please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 first i have no information that tells me what happened or what his plan or plan is. second, i really think we are paying for the fact that morris and alexander did not qualify. had they, polk isnt trust into the lead spot as quickly and the transition from one of the best point guards in billiken history, josh fisher, to our point guard of the future, apparently dwayne polk, is much smoother. second, gotta believe that there were high hopes for frericks. and why wouldnt everyone including the coaching staff assume such? he just came off of a year where he led the conference in shooting percentage and showed a heart as big as secretariat. couple that with the fact it was all accomplished with a variety of illnesses and injuries, one would assume a healthy frericks would be stellar. we never had near the same man in the middle from the opening bell due to the now known concussions. third, the foot/ankle/eye ailments of reggie bryant. who would have thought that as well. if the above three cases of "not going our way" dont occur, then the focus for drejaj to become a true point guard, polk to mature quickly, vouyoukas, husak, and johnson to perform, are minor. instead they all magnify. i think the season is an example of living on the edge. most of the top teams have established depth to be able to deal with happenings a little easier than what the billikens had. too bad for us. but that sure as hell makes it all the more important to cover the exposed weaknesses asap. be it we find the needed recruits or the training needed for husak, vouyoukas and johnson to get up to needed level of production has to happen. if not, we are sure putting a lot of pressure on lisch, liddell and polk in the future and probably setting ourselves up. personally, i gotta believe there are plans in place. soderberg has shown he is far too smart to let it continue on imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 I agree with all that you have written but it is too late to cry over spilled milk. Hopefully, Coach Soderberg has gotten a good taste of how it feels to lose. Not being able to fill large holes or needs adequately at any school and especially at SLU is career threatening to say the least. It will be extremely interesting to see how the two remaining scholies are filled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 I wish Soderberg would tap that Peoria pipeline for even some mediocre DI players. It's always the Bruce Webers and Steve Alfords of the world who rape and pillage my hometown talent. For example, Mitch Gilfillan,a product of my alma mater, Peoria Notre Dame, who as a junior starts at PG for Lehigh of the PatLeague, is probably ten times quicker as a defender as Drejaj and doesn't take the shots that AD takes. He got a ride at Lehigh, but I wish our entire SLU coaching staff wouldn't recruit in just a 100 mile radius from St. Louis. Peoria, Quad Cities, maybe even Indy or Chicago don't even make it on the radar. We're a disgusting team right now, and since we're joining the A-10, we're going to be spending more $$ on travel and less on recruiting. From a logical standpoint, I'd rather play Bradley and Wichita State every year than host St. Bonnaventure, LaSalle and Fordham and draw 800 people at Savvis. Doug Woolard left our University in shambles and we should all go to South Florida and lynch him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 If Brad is sticking to his guns -- screening and passing in search of the open 17-20 footer -- then an interest in Paul Bayer makes perfect sense. Bayer's rep is that of a 6'5 spot up marksman. Haven't seen him play, though. Brad's never said anything about bringing in the next Bonner. That's what we may want, but the fans don't always get what they want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 what makes you think that bradley and wichita state would draw more? even though in most years we have hosted at least two mvc teams at home over the last 20 years, why is it that no mvc teams show up in our top attended home games? instead the games that show up are national teams and conference usa rivals. if we were in the mvc, you can kiss national games goodbye. the mvc's current and past out of conference schedules prove that. the a-10 on the other hand annually hosts far tougher opponents and in fact this year has the #1 out of conference schedule of all conferences in the land. plus, the top of the a-10 is every bit as good if not better than the overall top teams of the mvc. proof of that is consistently more teams in the ncaa tourney. you can claim all you want that the fans would rather see the nearby evansville, bradley, etc. and not want to see st bonnies, lasalle and fordham, but the truth is that if we arent winning like this year, no one is coming. if we are winning like claggett through love, everyone is coming. but the bigger payoff in attendance will always be the national teams. and if we are in the mvc, those teams wont even schedule us at home. to believe a rivalry cannot be developed with out of the area teams is also naive. i think we have a fine rivalry with charlotte now for example. they are by no means in our back yard. rivalries develop because of history and experience. who knows, a rhode island team might stride into the savvis and start a fight the coach says some ugly things about coach soderberg, you can bet we cant wait to play them again. the next game goes into double overtime and just like that the makings of a rivalry. to label our university "in shambles" shows how much of a typical casual fan you are. were we in a shambles just two years ago or even last year? the difference is one or two players. one or two plays. we make a couple of putbacks or hit a three or two in our pre-conference schedule we could just as easily be 10-4. we really have played bad to the point of being out of the game three times, gonzaga, siu and semo. two of those three teams are going to the ncaa tourney. sure we arent gonzaga yet, but we arent sacramento state by god either. and we have better recruits coming in than we have had in a long time. all programs go through up and down periods, and this is one of them. i also think it is amusing that now that coach soderberg has changed the recruiting focus to midwest and as close to home as possible, you scream we need to go national. when romar was here and recruiting nationally, fans screamed he needed to stay local. the bottom line we just want good players and good students. last, for the record, mitch gilfillan is 5'11" and 175 lbs. i.e. phillip hunt size. to think while mitch might indeed be quicker than anthony drejaj, it would be interesting to see him guard the likes of armain kirkland. as good of an athlete that dwayne polk is, i would hazard to guess he wouldnt have a chance against bigger wings either due to his size. i would love to have someone a half step quicker than drejaj, but that person also has to be strong enough to compete at a little higher level than the patriot league. the patriot league is the 24th ranked conference (there are only 31 conferences) and has a strength of schedule ranked 28th. conference usa and soon to be the a-10 are annual top 10 conferences. i.e. not really comparing apples to apples are we? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 You are right we didn't have depth ... but it takes a while to aquire depth ... it seems to me that is what we are working on ... next year we will have alot of depth at the guard positions, be ok at center ... and still looking to get the pf position filled. I think it was to early and UB did not have time to be set for a season in which his best returning scorer has been injured all year, and his best big man can barely get on the floor due to concussions. The positive side is some younger guys are getting more playing time than would have been expected ... Ian for one and that can only help in the future. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 >If Brad is sticking to his guns -- screening and passing in >search of the open 17-20 footer -- then an interest in Paul >Bayer makes perfect sense. Bayer's rep is that of a 6'5 >spot up marksman. Haven't seen him play, though. Brad's >never said anything about bringing in the next Bonner. >That's what we may want, but the fans don't always get what >they want. Wasn't Luke Meyer supposed to a 6'5" spot up shooter? I assume Bayer has more range ... but you have to wonder if they are looking for an improved version of Meyer already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Sorry 3 Star - while Brad may have not spoken the words out of his mouth about wanting to get a PF who can rebound and finish around the basket, I have heard his asst. coaches say it so I can assume that if they are saying it then it must be what Brad is thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 "Hopefully, Coach Soderberg has gotten a good taste of how it feels to lose." Unless the Billikens go on a spectacular run, it looks like Brad will wind up with his first ever losing record as a coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Thicks, I'm afraid for this year that is a slam dunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 If we were members of the MVC and focusing on conference teams like Ill State, Evansville, and Wichita, I'd stop going to the games. We could probably do without the new arena and play the games at West Pine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 The Luke Meyer I saw for three years in high school was a slasher and mid-range jump shooter who could could spot up from time to time when he was feeling it. I'd say he was 70% slash, 30% spot up. If you believe the Illinois hoop sites, Bayer is a three-point specialist who can slash a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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