3star_recruit Posted May 15, 2005 Share Posted May 15, 2005 - Somebody from Westbury Christian gave the staff a call about Obi. Obi was planning on going to prep school to but his recovery was coming along so well that he was having second thoughts. Came down to SLU with his mother, was convinced that this was a good situation for him and decided to take a four year scholarship now rather than wait another year. Brad didn't make any grand pronouncements but his excitement about this commitment was obvious. - In no hurry to fill the last scholarships. In fact, he won't sign another player in this class unless he's a program changer. - Understands Darren transferring. Basketball, Brad said, is meant to be played and since he prefers to play five guards, Darren -- our sixth guard -- wasn't getting the minutes he hoped to get. - Beginning to adopt John Chaney philophosphy: It's unnecessary to fill 13 scholarships. It will inevitably lead to situation where 2-3 guys are on the bench, unhappy about their minutes. Brad rather have 11 guys who know they will be expected to contribute, even at the risk of injuries making the roster pretty thin. - Has tried hard to bring "good kids". Hard enough to run a program with "good" kids without bringing in "bad" kids to disrupt the chemistry. Didn't really elaborate on what he meant be "good" and "bad" kids. - Forty-nine of 60 starters in the A-10 are returning so we're going to have our hands full. Brad is watching tape of A-10 teams to get acclimated. - Conventional recruiting methods have been enough to land quality guards: early contact, show them a lot of love. Have had to restort to unconventional methods for our bigs. Two came from halfway around the world, JJ was released from his LOI at KState and Frericks and Newborne came from juco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted May 15, 2005 Share Posted May 15, 2005 this part of the system about playing only 5 guards, I don't understand it -maybe his classification of a guard and a wing are distinctly different -so there is no way under this system you could have 6 stud guards (realize improbable if not impossible but you are limiting yourself with this 5 guard aspect) -if you are playing an up tempo game, and he said he wants to when he gets those type of players, do you risk getting tired only playing 5, esp in a tournament situation (isn't that the ultimate goal?) -where did this # come from, what analysis?? -huge IF here, if our current and projected roster doesn't change (not likely) we will have 2 years where someone sits (DP,LM,DB,TL,KL,DM) unless again he classifies wings and guards differently and then you have no one your roster that is playing to take the place of the 3 leaving seniors (incidently, I see more things alike between guards and wings than differences except a true point guard) -can he only establish trust with 5 guards, or maybe historically he has someone please educate me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted May 15, 2005 Share Posted May 15, 2005 I think he is counting the 1,2, and 3. I don't think you can keep more than 5 happy. There is 120 minutes to distribute between the 3 positions ... playing 5 players equally is only 24 min per player. I would think you would have a couple around 30 mpg and the other 60 divided between the last 3 ... with the 5th guy getting 12-15 mpg. That leaves the 3 and 4 guys around 22 mpg or so. 6 guards is just too many to keep all going and productive Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted May 15, 2005 Share Posted May 15, 2005 I agree Skip....Coach Soderberg is refering to all three perimeter players when he talks about his guards. I believe his thinking is that playing mostly five guards keeps them all sharp. Of course, nearly all five players must be able to get comfortable playing more than one perimeter spot. SLU is not going to play race-horse basketball, so I don't see conditioning as a problem. Yes, SLU will take advantage of transition opportunities. But, SLU is not going to get crazy on the court, because it is not Soderberg's style, and the opposition won't allow that to happen. Somebody will eventually sprain an ankle, or get banged-up somehow, to where the sixth guy will get some playing time. In addition, the 6th guy will always have his chance to move down a notch during the practice sessions. I'm looking forward to the day that the 12th and/or 13th scholarship players are redshirted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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