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Something that needs to be considered with all the sky-is-falling recruiting talk is that the Billikens could be better off not signing anyone this spring because there are several kids targeted in the junior class that SLU could sign.

There are several big wing players in the St. Louis area that the Bills are after that could fill several needs at the shooting guard, small forward and even (undersized) power forward spots. The more scholarships SLU has to offer to those kids, the better.

The list of juniors includes: 6-5 G Jarod Leonard (DeSmet), 6-6 F Bobby Hill (Vashon), 6-5 G-F Dustin Maguire (Civic Memorial), 6-6 G-F Mike Smith (Van-Far), 6-5 Jeremy Sharpe (CBC) and more.

Signing Xavier Price would make sense for SLU because he's got good size (6-3/6-4) is athletic, can play defense, is a local kid and has played with Tommie Liddell in the past. But other that Price it looks like the Billikens are hunting for some project somewhere that no one knows about. They'd be better off with more scholarships to offer to the juniors.

Nate

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Nate or anyone who knows,

Do you remember that small school center from outstate MO that was getting some looks from the Big 10 & 12 after a good state tournament. The Post article about him was after his school beat Wellston at state. Just wondering where he is ending up at and sorry I don't remember his name. Thanks.

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Thanks for the update. I can see leaving one schollie unused, but not two. If Price replaces Clarke, which I think is a good thing, we still have two available. I think it would make sense to use one on a 6-8 to 6-10 kid, even if it is a bit of a project. We haven't been a program that can attract bigs who can come and contribute right away. There aren't many of them out there and the higher profile programs grab them up. As a result, I think Brad will have to develop them. Getting another JJ type player, who has some raw ability and may need to redshirt, makes sense to me. VN will graduate after next year, so I think it makes sense to have somebody in the system who has a redshirt year under their belt, who will be able to step in and contribute in a reserve role in 06-07.

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i dont want another project right now. if we cant bring in an inside player that is as good or better than newborne and johnson, i am with nate completely.

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during the spring signing period then i would suspect that whoever Brad was going to see, is a Juco player. If I recall both TF and VN were "signed" later than the spring signing period. It may be that Brad figures this is the last year we need to go out and get a Juco.

Xavier makes sense, and will load up the team at guard. But we need to rebound if we are to fast break.

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>i dont want another project right now. if we cant bring in

>an inside player that is as good or better than newborne and

>johnson, i am with nate completely.

This talk of holding scholarships for something better to come along, never seems to pan out. We need to develop bigs in this program since we can't attract bigs who are ready to contribute right away. The sooner they are in the system, hitting the weights, etc., the better. I don't mind holding back one, but not two.

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leonard only lists slu and mi$$ouri on his bio at insiders.com.

we have heard the magwire and hill rumors for months and in fact i thought i remember irons even making the statement on a radio show that slu had already offered hill a scholarship. what i like about mcgwire is not only is he a nice shooter, he is depended on to play inside at civic memorial, thus he could spell minutes in the right setting at pf as well. i wish he was bigger, but of course if he was 6'8" with his shooting skills, we probably would be out of the running.

i hope we are pursuing rob rudy and lucas o'rear who are my two favorite sophomores in the area (besides powell of course who already has everyone's attention). i know it is early to be saying, but imo, fantastic sophomore athlete, jeremy felton is headed to juco land.

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saw in the belleville news democrat that siu signed a 6'7" pf from a prep school out east. i just dont understand why we cant find anyone.

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Roy, is the guy any good? Who else was recruiting him? I am not so worried that we can not get anybody but rather that we get somebody who can actually help - in the past we simply often got somebody just to say we go somebody. Also, this last season is going to be a real hill to climb over - we were making some strides the first 2 years but now we are back almost to square 1. Brad has a tall order ahead of him given what happened this year.

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>Nate or anyone who knows,

>

>Do you remember that small school center from outstate MO

>that was getting some looks from the Big 10 & 12 after a

>good state tournament. The Post article about him was after

>his school beat Wellston at state. Just wondering where he

>is ending up at and sorry I don't remember his name.

>Thanks.

Cody Stoneburner from North Shelby is the player you're thinking of.

I did a quick Google news search and found a Rivals.com article about him. Here is a direct quote from Stoneburner:

"Although I have a bunch of offers, I have had to cut off my list and now have a top four of Tulsa, Evansville, Quincy (IL) and Missouri Southern. I also had offers from Nebraska, UMKC and just today I got calls and received offers from Butler, Valparaiso and Southern Utah."

There are a couple decent Division I options there, and Stoneburner is more interested in Quincy and Missouri Southern.

Nate

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my point is that there are pf's as good or better than what we got being signed everywhere by teams that are supposed to be programs less than slu.

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You said it during the season and I agree, when Oral Roberts has better PFs, then we know we are bad.

I still hold the belief that we need to have a coach with PF experience to recruit and develop these players. Maybe it is AB, or maybe it is someone else, but what we have is clearly not working.

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Last year I was blasted when I said we were two recruiting classes away from having a good team. Everyone said I was dissing our recruits. We are still one recruiting class away from having a good team. It does us no good to have guards that can get up and down the floor if we don't have bigs that can run with them. We can have a center that is 6'8 or 6'9 if he can run the floor and rebound. I still don't like recruiting two different types of players that might do well in two different types of systems. Settle on a style of play and recruit to that style.

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