Recruiting hotbeds

[slu72]

CNNSI had an article on the top cities for recruits. they named 20 sadly St.Louis not listed. LA, NYC, Chicago the obvious ones. Portland and Seattle were in there as well. Wonder why not St. Louis?

[bonwich]

We ran this list last week. Pretty instructive regarding the depth of the local talent pool, given the list of schools at which local players ended up:

The St. Louis metro area has 36 men and 34 women playing NCAA Division I basketball. The list:

Men

Player High school Vitals College

Blake Ahearn DeSmet 6-2, jr., G Missouri State

Alex Barnett Cardinal Ritter 6-5, fr., F Dartmouth

Eric Blancett DeSmet 6-4, sr., G Davidson

Tony Boyle De Soto 6-8, fr., F SIU Carbondale

Dane Brumagin Warrenton Christian 6-4, fr., G Missouri-KC

Jake Byrne Elsberry 6-8, so., C Eastern Illinois

Brian Cusworth Burroughs 7-0, jr., C Harvard

Terry Evans Cardinal Ritter 6-5, fr., G Wis.-Green Bay

Randal Falker Gateway Tech 6-7, so., F SIU Carbondale

Sky Frazier Borgia 6-10, so., C Missouri State

Justin Fuehrmeyer Howell Central 6-0, fr., G Missouri State

Kalen Grimes Hazelwood Central 6-8, so., C Missouri

Jason Guyette Freeburg 6-5, sr., G Lipscomb

David Johnson CBC 6-4, jr., G Southeast Missouri

Eric Jones Webster Groves 6-4, fr., G Southeast Missouri

Chris Kellerman O'Fallon 6-8, fr., F Central Michigan

Ron Kennedy Madison 6-9, so., C Murray State

Matt Lawrence Lafayette 6-6, fr., F Missouri

Brett Ledbetter Warrenton 6-3, jr., G Idaho

Tommie Liddell East St. Louis 6-4, fr., G St. Louis U.

Troy Lindbeck Collinsville 6-3, sr., G Central Florida

Kevin Lisch Althoff 6-2, fr., G St. Louis U.

Kareem Matthews Sumner 6-10, sr., C Austin Peay

Jimmy McKinney Vashon 6-3, sr., G Missouri

Luke Meyer Borgia 6-5, so., G St. Louis U.

Ted Morris Chaminade 6-10, jr., C Montana State

Jared Newson Belleville East 6-5, sr., G Tennessee-Martin

Dan Oppland Whitfield 6-8, sr., F Valparaiso

Paul Paradoski Vianney 6-0, so., G Southeast Missouri

Craig Phifer Staunton 6-6, jr., F Evansville

Dwayne Polk Vashon 5-9, so., G St. Louis U.

Xavier Price Belleville West 6-3, so., G Western Illinois

Landon Shipley Lafayette 6-0, fr., G Austin Peay

Lorenzo Taylor Alton 6-6, fr., F Western Illinois

Travis Wallace Jennings 6-0, sr., G Illinois State

Cleve Woodfork Riverview 6-9, jr., C Belleville East

Women

Player High school Vitals College

Jennifer Bowen St. James 5-8, fr., G North Florida

Lakrisha Brown Hazelwood East 6-3, jr., F Morehead State

Shardae Butler East St. Louis 5-3, so., G Western Kentucky

Mary Crews Rosary 6-1, sr., C Akron

Sonya Daugherty Hancock 5-7, fr., G Southeast Missouri

Katie Dierdorf Visitation 6-0, so., F Michigan

Kierra Goodwin Cahokia 5-9, fr., G Tennessee State

Tracie Harris Gateway Tech 6-1, jr., C Tennessee-Martin

Erin Hendrickson Incarnate Word 5-11, sr., C Indiana State

Jessie Hirsch Valmeyer 6-1, sr., F Murray State

Allison Jaskowiak Parkway West 5-11, jr., G Southern Cal

Emily Jaskowiak Parkway West 6-1, sr., F Tulsa

Amanda Kemzys Belleville East 6-4, fr., C St. Louis U.

Hannah Kirk Zumwalt West 6-3, sr., F Missouri State

Kari Koch Elsberry 5-8, sr., G Missouri State

Hayley Leake Silex 5-6, so., G St. Louis U.

Stephanie Lisch Althoff 5-10, jr., G Indiana State

Amy Loftus Collinsville 6-4, sr., C Nevada-Las Vegas

Dana Loveless Metro 6-1, fr., F Air Force

Cherice Mack St. Charles 6-2, sr., F Missouri

Erin McCarthy St. Joseph's* 6-5, fr., C Illinois

Jasmine McCullough Rosary 6-1, jr., F Marquette

Marquita McFarland Hazel. Central 6-0, sr., F St. Louis U.

Courtnie McKinnie University City 6-3, fr., F Hampton

Jackie Parker Kirkwood 5-7, jr., G Illinois-Chicago

Erin Pauk Lutheran-SC 5-6, so., G SIU Carbondale

Rachel Pierson Incarnate Word 6-3, fr., C Iowa State

Jordann Plummer Cardinal Ritter 5-6, fr., G Drake

EeTisha Riddle O'Fallon 6-3, jr., F Missouri

Laura Rudolphi Carlyle 6-2, so., F Indiana State

Evelyn Ruff Gateway Tech 5-7, fr., G St. Louis U.

Kara Schilli Valle Catholic 5-10, fr., G Indiana State

Erica Smith Hazelwood West 5-7, fr., G SIU Carbondale

Rachel Viehmann St. Charles West 6-4, fr., C Lipscomb

*Played senior season in Tulsa, Okla.

[Billsboys]

St. Louis is not a reruiting hotbed!! The article and imo is fairly accurate. The problem with most people on this board is that they think St. Louis and /or SLU is the end all of end all. Sure St.Louis has some kids that play ball but I can think of many more cities that would be a head of Stl. I can appreciate a little hometown pride but some of you are absolutely out of hand with homerism.

[cheeseman]

I don't care if St. Louis is a hotbed for recruiting or not - every year there are at least 1-2 who would be good recruits for most D1 teams - I want to make sure we get them or at least one of them each year. That is what will form the foundation for the SLU bb program.

[Box and Won]

Agreed. While St. Louis kids alone won't save the program they do play a key role in its future. If we can lock down the St. Louis area from a recruiting standpoint and then fill in any gaps with talented kids from elsewhere, we'll be sitting pretty.

[billikenman]

Don't forget Monroe Douglas who is now playing for Dayton.....Or David Lee and Larry Hughes who are recent pros from the area.

[VTIME]

monroe has been saying since 2004 he was going to walk-on at Dayton and never made the team. http://daytonflyers.collegesports.com/spor...baskbl-mtt.html

either they never list their walk-ons or he didnt make it again this year.

[True Baller]

Monroe has made the team at Dayton this season. I know this for a fact.

[StLouBlue]

Here is a link where it mentions he made the team as a walk-on. Read the very last line of the article.

http://daytonflyers.collegesports.com/spor.../110505aaa.html

Wasn't it Douglas' mom who posted on this board a couple years ago calling him Money and saying he wasn't walking on anywhere or something to that affect. I remember something like that but not to clearly obviously.

[StLouBlue]

Here is a link to the article.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writ....bag/index.html

A couple of points about this ranking. The rankings are based off: (1)the past 4 years top 100 recruiting rankings from Scout, (2)past 5 years preseason Wooden nominees and (3)past 4 years of NBA 1st round picks. This number totaled around 500 for the study.

The article is not a bad read, but the basic point is they are really only looking for the elite players/future NBA players. I don't think the article really reflects each areas contribution to college basketball. The study only had 500 kids in it, while there are over 3k Div 1 players and lots more if JUCOs figured in.

To me this article shows St Louis is not producing a lot of NBA players in the last 4-5 years, I think we all knew that without the help of the article. I would also say that the St Louis market does produce some very good college level players each year and to me this is what matters for SLU.

[Nate Latsch]

Monroe's mom is registered at this site.

I believe she posted a couple times to correct some of the things that were being said about Monroe.

Monroe's nickname is/was Money.

Monroe's little sister, Monai (I think that's her name), is a freshman point guard at Berkeley this year. I've heard she's a nice player. Maybe Shimmy will recruit her in a couple years.

- Nate

[tseugnekillib]

To get the best picture of the greater/greater metro St. Louis area, I believe you need to divide the men's number of 36 by 4 since the data included freshmen, sophs, juniors and seniors (plus a redshirt or two).

Nine academically eligible D1 players per year isn't a great number considering all of the high schools in the measured area. What really hurts is the limited number of high D1 players being produced annually. I think Cheese's estimate of 1 to 2 high D1 players per year is pretty accurate.

[billiken_roy]

i tend to side with billsboys. the problem is that st louis rarely has a drop dead cant miss prospect. even the better ones have a flaw to make one reconsider (polk small, and coming off knee injury, lisch hides in the summer and with knee injury, liddell, academics and periods of hiding on the floor). we rarely have anyone of size AND skill. when we do, they run off to the coast.

and sure we can use hindsight and say, saint louis had talent (the likes of darren brooks). but i doubt one can just camp out in st louis and fill an all american team as can be done in the likes of chicago, new york, los angeles, detroit, etc.

[Douglass]

Nate - Monroe Jr. will always be "Money" to his family and friends. This is what I said back in July 2003 "As far as giving up a scholarship to play college ball and be a walk-on, that's not going to happen."

Money didn't give up a scholarship to play ball, he received an academic scholarship and chose to walk-on. Last year, he tried out and the roster was already full. He worked hard this past summer and tried out again. Also, with the transfer of Trent Meachem and the departure of another walk-on, it opened up an additional opportunity for him to walk-on. Since Nate mentioned it...My daughter, Monai, is a freshmen playing on Berkeley's Varsity squad this year. I'm looking forward to watching high school basketball again and hopefully some college games also. Thanks!

[davidnark]

Tommie doesn't have both size and skill?

[tseugnekillib]

When I think of SIU-C hitting the jackpot with Darren Brooks, I think of the Cardinals hitting the jackpot with Albert Pujols.

Brooks signs his first legitimate offer in the spring signing period following his senior year. If SIU-C was confident that Darren Brooks was going to become THE Darren Brooks, one of the all-time SIU-C great players, then perhaps they would have offered Darren a scholarship the previous November, in the early Fall signing period.

Likewise, with the Cardinals and Albert Pujols. The Cardinals drafted Pujols in the 13th round after 400+ other players had been picked. The thought of 29 teams passing on Pujols 12-13 times is just crazy. Hell, the Cardinals themselves said "no thanks" to Albert 12 times over a two-day period. How wild is that!

Oh, the beauty of hindsight!

[VTIME]

>Here is a link where it mentions he made the team as a

>walk-on. Read the very last line of the article.

>

>http://daytonflyers.collegesports.com/spor.../110505aaa.html

>

>Wasn't it Douglas' mom who posted on this board a couple

>years ago calling him Money and saying he wasn't walking on

>anywhere or something to that affect. I remember something

>like that but not to clearly obviously.

Contrary to what you may think, I'm glad to hear that he is playing Div 1 ball and will make St.Louis proud. I hope he can earn a scholarship, so he doesnt have to work so hard in the books in addition to working extra hard as a walk-on on the court. SLU actually was recruiting him at one time and invited him along with Liddell and Meyer to the Louisville game, a game in which we pulled off a huge upset. I'm guessing that landing Polk took his spot away. What about Vaughn West and Tommy Williams? Werent they supposed to join Monroe at Dayton and walk-on?

[Douglass]

>Contrary to what you may think, I'm glad to hear that he is

>playing Div 1 ball and will make St.Louis proud. I hope he

>can earn a scholarship, so he doesnt have to work so hard in

>the books in addition to working extra hard as a walk-on on

>the court. SLU actually was recruiting him at one time and

>invited him along with Liddell and Meyer to the Louisville

>game, a game in which we pulled off a huge upset. I'm

>guessing that landing Polk took his spot away. What about

>Vaughn West and Tommy Williams? Werent they supposed to

>join Monroe at Dayton and walk-on?

VTime, did I say that I thought otherwise of your posting? Did he really have a spot? I know they were interested, it just didn't work out. SLU made a fine choice in choosing Dwayne. He's a good, hard-working, and bright young man. I've watched a lot of these guys grow up in the gym playing with or alongside Money, and wish all of them the best.

Vaughn & Tommy are doing well. All 3 guys are sharing a quad apartment, along with a friend they've welcomed into their circle from Cinncinati, OH. I don't know what Vaughn's & Tommy's plans were for walking on, but Monroe was the only one to actually tryout last year and this year.

[Sheltiedave]

If you want a basketball hotbed, hit Peoria. Chicago will fill all the all-star game rosters, but Peoria will turn out the players that will drive a college team deep into the Dance, and they have a can't miss NBA player every ten years.

The Chicago press ofttimes is LUDICROUS in hyping players. We often forget that clippings don't amount to a hill of beans on the floor. St. Louis has been decimated by the Vashon supremacy- the PHL used to have some great player development. While I respect the bball program Irons has produced, I have seen a marked decline in the number of Div 1 academic qualifiers coming out of the PHL since Vashon rose to power.

[StLouBlue]

Thanks for the update. I thought he had received some offers from smaller schools and was surprised to hear that he had walked on at Dayton. A full ride is a lot to walk away from, glad to hear he got the money on the academic side. Best of luck to him in both school and bb, except when playing SLU or Creighton.

[VTIME]

>Here is a link to the article.

>

>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writ....bag/index.html

>

>A couple of points about this ranking. The rankings are

>based off: (1)the past 4 years top 100 recruiting rankings

>from Scout, (2)past 5 years preseason Wooden nominees and

>(3)past 4 years of NBA 1st round picks. This number totaled

>around 500 for the study.

>

>The article is not a bad read, but the basic point is they

>are really only looking for the elite players/future NBA

>players. I don't think the article really reflects each

>areas contribution to college basketball. The study only

>had 500 kids in it, while there are over 3k Div 1 players

>and lots more if JUCOs figured in.

>

>To me this article shows St Louis is not producing a lot of

>NBA players in the last 4-5 years, I think we all knew that

>without the help of the article. I would also say that the

>St Louis market does produce some very good college level

>players each year and to me this is what matters for SLU.

The St. Louis Metro Area has supplied the NBA with 5 NBA players over the last 5 years and probably more than 10 over the last 10 years. I think that's good for a city our size. We aren't supposed to supply as many guys to league and college as much larger cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago etc.