Nate Latsch Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 > It's great to see Adam Knollmeyer sign with the Billikens. I like his game. He is skilled and plays hard. If he doesn't start this winter, he'll definitely push J.J. and Obi to become better players. But he might crack the starting lineup if he plays harder than those other two, which to this point doesn't appear hard to do. > I was concerned that SLU would whiff on all of its spring targets and end up signing just Dustin Maguire and an undersized wanna-be power forward in the mold of Newborne. Even if the Billikens don't land Lance Stemler, at least this will not be the case. > It's been mentioned here before, but I would like SLU's depth if the Bills can add Stemler to the mix. He could start at the 3 or the 4 (if none of those other options pan out), which would give Brad Soderberg a lot more flexibility with the lineup. > I'd like to see Ian, Tommie Liddell, Kevin Lisch, Stemler and Knollmeyer/J.J./Obi out there together. That's a well-balanced team with good size (three guys 6-7 or taller) and scorers. Plus, you have some decent options off the bench: Polk, Brown, Meyer, Husak, power forwards. I'd be surprised if that team wasn't one of the best in the A-10 and on the verge of making the tournament. > I know Ian can play pro ball — if not here than back overseas — but I can't imagine he's a first round pick right now. Unlike some other people, I do think he can play in the NBA even though he doesn't have great size. He's got skills. > Adding Knollmeyer to the mix should help balance out the recruiting numbers a little bit. Now, the Billikens won't be in desperate pursuit of power forwards (like everybody else) and can go for some of the best players available instead of recruiting for specific needs. - Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Thanks, Nate. I was concerned about Adam's footwork fundamentals, but if you think he can push JJ, Obi, and Bryce for PT, then we will be in decent shape in the paint this year. I still can't believe that Mizzou(and Pretty Quinn) tried to force Adam into going the prep route for a year. This is a kid that was lock, stock and barrel for attending Mizzou, so we got a big gift in snagging him, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Do we know for sure that Missouri asked AK to go the prep route? I thought I had read/heard that AK decommitted to Missouri because of Quin's status as coach for the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 nate, what a great post. i plan to send your comments to larry starks today if you dont mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Latsch Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Roy, Usually, it's not the job of the beat writer to give opinions on the team he is covering. That's what the columnists get paid to do ... or now some beat writers can do with blogs. The beat writers are supposed to focus on the day to day news. There are things I can write here that I wouldn't be able to get in the newspaper, for one reason or another. Stuff like what school's are looking at this recruit or that recruit or college coach sightings here and there — like that Illinois coach Bruce Weber is supposed to wave at Tyler Griffey during class soon. For years now I've tried to use some of these message boards to get extra information out there, the stuff that doesn't seem to have a place in the newspaper. I think more and more papers are going the blog route, which I think is a great idea, but there's only a couple sports blogs at the P-D right now (Gordo, Mizzou, Cardinals). - Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 on the Tigerboard well before last year started that Quin had asked him to go to prep school and that he didn't like that idea. Most did not believe that Knollmeyer would be a Tiger before last season started. I too read a similar comment in an article about Quin's status being part of the reason, but I think that was probably lazy reporting more than anything. The timeline of when he "decommited" suggests it had nothing to do with Quin's status. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Graham Watson worked as a blog writer for Mizzou both in Football and basketball... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Latsch Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Apparently Bruce Weber stopped by Lafayette to wave to Tyler Griffey yesterday. And today Kansas coach Bill Self is supposed to do the same. This is to see a high school freshman, mind you. - Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinfootes Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 too many people on here don't understand the role of a beat writer. We appreciate the extra work you do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 ...Nate is not the Bills' beat writer. Tom Timmerman is. But it would be nice if the P-D beat writer for the Bills was someone who had an enthusiasm and passion for the team and the sport more along the lines of Nate's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Wisher Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 exactly thicks. no i am not asking for the tommie timmie opinion column, but it would be nice to know what the hell is going on with the billikens on a more frequent basis. i dont have a post dispatch for today, but tell me if the billiken bs siu baseball game last nite at the grizzlies stadium is covered by more than two sentences (if that). the fact is, it was a nice game that went down to the last inning and carried local recruiting interest for area baseball players. however i am sure there are what6 or 7 articles about the nfl draft in there today? god i hope we get the middle nova scotia university cornerback with the 8th round pick this weekend. and like someone else commented in a different string, it will be interesting to see the post dispatch's reaction to the stemler choice. i tend to agree, if we win, page 4. if we lose out to marquette, at least one of the columnists and tommmie timmie both will hammer the billikens with the front of the sports page with the news. i would love larry starks to prove us wrong though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted April 27, 2006 Share Posted April 27, 2006 Nope, the baseball game only received a very short blurb. The article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel posted in another thread is a perfect example of the kind of stuff I'd like to see in the Post. I heard more about Stemler's visit from freaking Al Hrabosky during the Cardinals game than was mentioned in the Post-Dispatch. Just because we're not playing does not mean there isn't any news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinfootes Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 even if Nate were the beat writer, he'd still have to be objective when reporting on the team. I don't see what difference the so-called level of enthusiasm would bring when it comes to that. Unfortunately, we have to wait for Bernie or Burwell to give us any kind of opinion. I don't know Timmerman at all, never met him. Has he made comments about not liking his job as the Billiken beat writer? I'd also love to see SLU get better coverage from the Post. Page 5 on the morning after a game is pretty bad. However, there are a couple of things SLU can do to generate more coverage. #1, let's win more games. Then you don't have to hope for coverage, you command it. #2, let's get some kind of positive PR going. If Biondi wants to be a top 50 program, he has to put the resources behind it. I'm not sure about all of the work done by the AD & SID's office, but since I hear so little about it I can surmise that it isn't very succesful. SLU has a hard time bringing it's own students to the games, and has for many years. If we can't market the team to our own students, how can we expand interest elsewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 Watson had a nice writeup the other day, a quarter page on Mizzou basketball recruiting. Frankly SLU has more to write about recruiting wise and we get a paragraph the day they sign. Watson was talking about visits and had interviews with JUCO coaches. Obviously there is room for mizzou to ahve this coverage, why not SLU. I don't know who to blame, Starks, Tommy timmy or both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Julius Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 That very thing happened at Washington High School too. I wonder if they are being recruited by some of the same schools...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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