Stemler

[Nate Latsch]

I was going to tack this on to my post on the pf thread, but I didn't want what I wrote there to be overlooked by the following:

If I'm Lance Stemler, I'm probably happy to read here on this board that the Billikens really don't really need him next year because he doesn't defend well enough or can't rebound effectively enough to earn playing time. That should allow him to cross SLU off his list and move on to the schools where he can play and contribute and have success.

- Nate

[BillsWin]

I hope Lance comes to help SLU.

[Billikenbooster]

Nate

If I'm a Bills fan, and Mr Stemler decides on which team to go to on the basis of our merry little band of crazies, then I really don't want him on our team.

My belief is that he has enough confidence in his abilities that he will want to play for the SCHOOL, not the chat room, that gives him the greatest possibility of completing his degree which he can use in the future while also getting to play competitive bball for a team on the rise with a great possibility of getting to post season.

I respect your opinions greatly, on this one I respectfully disagree.

mhg

[davidnark]

I would hope Lance is deferring to Brad and his staff, not a small number of old guys on this board, when determing what role he would play for the Billikens.

[Box and Won]

Especially considering that most of us have never seen him play! If it comes down to choosing between SLU, Northern Illinois and Kent State, he'd be crazy not to sign with SLU.

[OC]

I wouldn't dismiss Nate's point altogether. Lance and his HS coach have actively recruited SLU too...a 20yr old local kid reading into this stuff isnt far fetched.

I can't take all this "4", "5", "power forward" talk. When five players are on the floor, it hardly matters who the "4" is...we just need enough of all components necessary.

What is Liddell? 1, 2, 3? When he guarded Adam Morrison was he a "4"?

I say: who cares?

ALSO, I have it on pretty good authority that Obi is nowhere near helping next year's team. I hear they have to constantly push him just to get his conditioning in. (in fairness to him, this was also a characteristic of Ian, which he has clearly since fixed)

[courtside]

I will dismiss the point altogether. Nate, you may want to flip through and look at a thread from last week or so regarding the affects of internet message boards on players and others. Everything was covered there.

In short, you underestimate the intelligence of young men, and overestimate the power of message boards.

[billikenmetz]

Who knows, he might end up dead at Kent State and have a guy named Neil write a song about him.

[3star_recruit]

If you've got a pretty fast connection:

http://www.riverbendsports.com/win%20media...irst%20half.wmv

[JaleJarr]

In short, you underestimate the intelligence of young men,

and overestimate the power of message boards.

Unless Nate has heard it directly from Stemler that he reads the message board. I would agree with the poster who said Stem should be more concerned about Coach Soderberg's opinion. If you do have his ear Nate, just tell him to look at the development and production of freshman sensation Kevin Lisch. If he is the shooter that his rep speaks of, he would be crazy to cross out SLU based on a few posters.

[Billiken Rich]

Stemler is too much of a weeney to play the 4 in college. Roy also had problems with Ian's toughness and thought Deiner would be a terrific senior. I hope he's wrong on Stemler too (I'm sure Roy will hope this as well if we actually sign him.)

Nearly everyone else pretty much has images of Steve Novak dancing in their head. If that is not flattering, I don't know what would be.......

[jjray]

>If I'm Lance Stemler, I'm probably happy to read here on

>this board that the Billikens really don't really need him

>next year because he doesn't defend well enough or can't

>rebound effectively enough to earn playing time. That should

>allow him to cross SLU off his list and move on to the

>schools where he can play and contribute and have success.

This board is NOT a recruiting tool so I think the implication of this post is way off base. Message boards are a place for fans to juke and jive about their team. So now everyone is supposed to kiss the behinds of potential recruits and beg them to come to our fine institution? Stiffle our opinions about whether or not PT is available for this or that recruit? Or whether we even want this or that recruit? Again, way off base IMHO.

[billiken_roy]

i just watched the half of a game that three star provided the link for on stemler. i think it demonstrates exactly what i have said about stemler.

if what you want is a shooter/scorer deluxe. a zone busting sf, lance is your man. he scored pretty much at will in those instances where he was given the ball uncontested.

however, if you are looking for a power forward that will defend, and rebound. someone that can put misses back up under duress, then he isnt.

the opposing inside players out played lance under basket. got most of the contested rebounds and looked more like power forwards. even the skinny lawrence blackledge who plays forward along side lance at swic, did more inside damage than stemler.

one thing i just realized, folks if you think i am saying lance isnt d-1 worthy, that isnt necessarily true. i think he could be a good role playing sf for the billikens. make some big threes, even fill in for short spurts down low. he is as good as newborne likely.

what i am saying is that he isnt our answer for power forward. and if that is truly what we are recruiting him as, then i think it is a mistake. he is an excellent shooter and will convert uncontested midrange stuff, but he isnt going to give us enough underneath presense imo. so the question i ask, "why or what position are we recruiting for?" if it is as a sf, and it is deemed we need that as a higher priority, then it is a good recruit. but if it is truly as a power forward, i'm shaking my head. as a power forward (block out of your mind the open threes he hits and little 5 footers when the opposing inside guys arent there, i would just as soon have the 3 guys from 3 rivers or even blackledge as he rebounded and defended better than stemler, even as skinny as he is.

it just depends on what our vision is for stemler imo.

[ACE]

Roy, I think Coach has a very clear vision of what Stemler can do. He has stated that our number 1 priority is a 4 who can hit threes. He thinks this will really open up driving lanes for Tommie and open up the middle for Ian. He has also said that he wants to recruit offensive skill first and foremost and then try to teach defense. It sounds like this kid fills exactly what coach wants. Remember that while he may not be the ideal power 4 on the defensive end, he will create a lot of match-up problems on offense. Also, keep in mind that Tommie puts up rebounding numbers that most 4s would like to have. If we need to go bigger on the frontline, we have the twin towers, Obi and JJ to choose from.

[SShoe]

>Stemler is too much of a weeney to play the 4 in college.

>Roy also had problems with Ian's toughness and thought

>Deiner would be a terrific senior. I hope he's wrong on

>Stemler too (I'm sure Roy will hope this as well if we

>actually sign him.)

>

>Nearly everyone else pretty much has images of Steve Novak

>dancing in their head. If that is not flattering, I don't

>know what would be.......

I would take a player like Novak in a heart beat. Defense or not.

[Box and Won]

Agreed - Lance, if you're reading this, come join us!

[courtside]

This is the problem as well. People need to really settle down. Steve Novak? Ryan Amoroso maybe. I posted this the other day. Marquette may lose Amoroso due to transfer and looking for a replacement. Novak is 4 inches taller, has been named top 15 senior in nation by some...should make first team all Big East conference, is his school's all time leading 3 pt shooter, leads the nation in free throw shooting percentage, and has highest all time in that category this year. His shooting percentage is also extremely high. And he will be single season all time 3 point shooter this year in Big East conference surpassing Ray Allen. He was top 50 out of high school, chose Marquette over a who's who of top traditional hoops schools.

Could we please not compare Stemler to Novak? Come back to earth people. He is more like Amoroso. I realize Roy compared Braun to Novak a few years ago, laughably. Novak will be drafted, has improved many aspects of his game.

The caution was there with Lisch and Liddell, top 100 kids, something SLU hasn't seen in a while...but not saviors. Let's keep SOME perspective on this.

Is he good enough to play for SLU and contribute? Is he a better option than others being looked at? Those are the questions.

SLU isn't all of a sudden a ....we only recruit top players palce because we had one good class of two kids. That isn't realistic. Takes time to build something. Role players will be recruited and needed.

If Stemler has quick enough feet, quick release, great accuracy, ability to get off shots, ability to play a little taller than he is...he will add value.

Obviously when a kid goes from juco, to unproductive D-I, injury, back to juco...etc...it is a different rout to take.

Let's not dismiss him, and let's not over-hype him either.

[billiken_roy]

courtside, respectively, your unobjective view of marquette over the past few years is about the only thing that you post that is not in perspective as well. you should take your own advice when lecturing us on marquette and their players and coaches. here's a hint, we aint buying that they are the second coming of the 60's and 70's ucla teams and players.

[kshoe]

is to say who a player's game reminds you of. It does not mean that one thinks the player is as good as him, just that they play the game similarly. Nobody said Stemmler was as good as Novack, they only said he plays the game similarly.

[kshoe]

nm

[courtside]

Lol....I merely responded to off base comments comparing Novak to Stemler....this isn't the first post I have seen it. I posted nothing on Marquette's team. I did ask around as I do all the time with different coaches/players/school officials/fans etc...and aded the Amoroso thing, something I didn't know until it was proved to me...because it didn't make a lot of sense. Stemler is physically non-comparable to Novak. I didn't see the comparison. Playing ability as well.

I actually have no opinion on their team either way on this board. Certainly no different from any other team. THREE years ago(when Marquette was more relevant due to their same conference and final four spotlight at the time)_ you posted that you thought Justin Love was as good as Dwyane Wade. I disagreed. You also said that Chris Braun was as good as Steve Novak. I disagreed. I happened to disagree with you both times. I also believed another of their players would make all conference, when you thought otherwise. This was three years ago.

The other part of the post dealt with expectations. It was/is my belief that expectations were too high with this year's Frosh. I was hoping some would learn from that. You for one, grossly over-hyped Kevin Lisch and how well he would do his Frosh year. I didn't single you out afte rthe fact...I merely cautioned everyone the danger of possible let down when that occurs.

I think it is ridiculous to compare Stemler with a player of that caliber....only sets him up for failure according to this board. A more realistic comparison would have seemed more appropriate considering how this board runs with that stuff.

I don't care about the team, the sport, etc...if I disagree with something, I'll do it. I will gladly standby my handful of times over the course of 3 years of posts in which I disagree on something when the comparison were of those above. I for one can seperate biases. The funny part is, when I do it over the course of a three year period with other topics, or other schools, or other players...they don't get brought up. The issue here is one that you have with Marquette, and what other people have with them...conference stuff etc...that is your deal. Funny I don't get these complaints when I talk about other schools too. I will always be objective regardless of school or player etc....and if it is a school you don't like every once in a while, tough. I'd rather be objective.

I certainly think my posts speak for themselves over the course of years.

[kshoe]

I know you are talking to Roy in most of your comments but this just struck me

"The other part of the post dealt with expectations. It was/is my belief that expectations were too high with this year's Frosh. I was hoping some would learn from that. You for one, grossly over-hyped Kevin Lisch and how well he would do his Frosh year. I didn't single you out afte rthe fact...I merely cautioned everyone the danger of possible let down when that occurs."

What are you talking about? KL and TL have been as good as advertised if not better. They have exceeded expectations and are two of the top 3 players on a team that is right now playing at an NCAA caliber. And they are only freshmen. If you want to blast the board for expecting too much out of Polk be my guest but at this time all those that predicted big things from KL and TL have been dead on. Its the people that didn't expect much out of them that should be apologizing.

If anybody besides Courtside feels "let-down" by the performance of TL and KL this year please let me know.

[TheA_Bomb]

The video link is 45 min long it is the first half of SWIC v. 3 Rivers. Stemler has 17 in the half. He got his points in a variety of ways, I didn't watch it that closely but he at least got 4 pts on garbage put backs, he has a quick catch and shoot three and can move with the ball well. His D is not Tenacious but he could be taught, I think. But that was just one half of ball.

In the past it seems like we were always chasing JUCOs that didn't have that great of numbers. I always thought that the recruits should have guady numbers at their level showing that could perfrom at the next level. That is probably a very over-simplified view of it. However, Stemler can score and last I checked whoever scored more won.

The Dude is just like Novak.

[courtside]

Kshoe,

Please point out where I said "Courtside" was disappointed. KL and TL have played exactly to my expectattions, ...promising Frosh who will need some time to adjust to the college game, KL more so than TL, and it happened exactly that way. How soon we forget all of the posts and threads by others earlier in the season. Not my posts or threads, but they did exist. I always said they will be as expected top 100 level players, and SLU would be a solid NIT team. You can't take away the mistakes of the early games, just as you can't take away the good things of later games.

Unless you were in a coma, you missed the many threads about these players earlier in the season. If they were better than advertised, SLU would be an NCAA lock team. They aren't.

Do I think KL has done well as a Frosh, sure. So I think based on Roy's endless hype, he was as good or better than Roy hyped him, nope. KL met my expectations. And he met the expectations of the general public. He didn't meet Roy's based on his posts.

So, if you are going to attribute something to me, get it right.

[3star_recruit]

Novak is 6'10 and is one of the best college shooters I've ever seen. I'd be ecstatic if Stemler is a reasonable facsimile of former Kentucky player Deron Feldhaus.