Recruiting

[Billikan]

I see from the ESPN website that they say that Louisville, Memphis and Cinn. are rated 5, 6 and 7 nationally in this year's recruiting class and that DePaul is in the top 15. this is great for conf USA-- if it stays together.

As to the Bills recruiting, I think this is the most interesting and unpredictable class we have had in many years. coach brad has shown his ability to find diamonds in the rough--i.e Drejaj and Ohannon-- on short notice. I find his comment about the 2 freshman big men to be very instructive. He emphasizes that they can run and have some skills. We have not had a tall center with skills for at least 20 years. Heinrich, as a senior, was a tough defender and rebounder but he was not skilled by anyone's description. Kenny Brown was a wonderful defender but he had no real skills on the offensive end. If even one of these guys develops into a skilled low post player it would be a huge lift to this team over the next 4 years. My guess is that Fredricks will man the post most of the time next year and he sounds more like Heinrich--not a bad thing if he is tough and can rebound and defend--just limited on the offensive end.

Morris sounds like a perfect man to run the motion offense but he will fight for time with Fisher and Drejaj. He will need to show he can defend-- a must for Coach Brad. Clarke could be a great find--or the addition of another overhyped swing man. I hope 3star is right about him.

I love the fact that we are getting Polk even though I think it is a high risk use of a scholarship because of his knee problems. If he can come back and play like he did as a sophomore--with some seasoning--we will have a very nice player. The fact that he is local and from vashon is also a plus.

A wuestion for those of you who have seen Shaw play--How does he compare to Chris Sloan? He sounds a lot like chris in his first 2 years at SLU before he starting shooting the 3ball. He also sounds like the kind of personality who would be a perfect fit for coah Brad. In my opinion, every team needs a player like Sloan who will leave his guts on the floor every night! Shaw coming in as Chris is leaving might be a perfect situation because you probably cannot afford to have two of this type of player.

[billiken_roy]

shaw is a pure power forward. the problem is he is only 6'6" tall. but as a comparison to sloan, even now i dont consider sloan a power forward. he is a wing playing underneath and giving it his all. shaw is much more physically ready to play under the boards than maybe chris sloan is right now let alone as a freshman. the advantage sloan has is his out court ability and the quickness to guard the guards as well as the forwards. i dont think matt could cover conference usa guards.

last, i dont want this to be taken as a swipe at chris sloan. chris sloan is one of my favorite players. i love his attitude and savy. if it needs to be done, count on chris to take it on. if only everyone had chris sloan's mental approach.

[Quality Is Job 1]

>>Clarke could be a great find--or the addition of another overhyped swing man. I hope 3star is right about him.

Earl Austin Jr. told me back in December that Darren Clarke can really shoot and he's very athletic. Furthermore, he hasn't gotten enough hype to be overhyped. I'm thinking we may have a sort of poor-man's Dwayne Wade (or, at worst, another version of Jason Edwin -- hopefully one who'll play all out).

In a month, I believe we'll all know more.

[Billikan]

With all due respect, if he had not been hyped before I think your comments raise the bar significantly--a poor man's Wade of a more dedicated Edwin--that would be an outstanding player! I hope you and the others are right about this guy. We have not had a really effective high flier 2/3 who could shoot from outside effectively in a long time. Love and Jeffers could at times fill that bill but Love was affected by his injury and was never the player he might have been and Jeffers was very inconsistant in his shooting. It will be fun to watch these new guys in practice!!

[3star_recruit]

Let me bring down your expectations somewhat. Clarke is a 6'3 shooter who can get his own shot. If he is alone on the fast break in Demetrius Johnson's all-star game, I expect he will dunk the ball. However, most 6'3 guards in CUSA can also create their own shot and dunk the ball on the fast break. It will be kinda cool of seeing a guy on our team doing those things, though.

[billiken_roy]

my interpretation of clarke (i admittedly havent seen him play, but based on the reports read at recruiting sites) is a vision of what maurice jeffers might have been as a freshman. before he matured for two years in juco ball. of course that means clarke probably too has a little maturing to do with his game.

[Basketbill]

I like Mo Jeffers and all but, I got the impression from Brad that he would be a better shooter, and in his pictures he looks bigger as a freshman, although a little shorter. I also recall Brad saying he is a difference maker.......do I recall correctly.?

[Quality Is Job 1]

I don't know what Coach Soderberg said about Darren Clarke, but if he did say that he will be a difference maker, then what I'd like to envision is that, by the time he is a junior or senior, he'll be a dangerous scorer who can get his and help his teammates get some, too -- someone who makes his teammates better. I'm not, however, expecting waves from him in 2003-04.

[billiken_roy]

first off, jeffers wasnt a bad shooter. he is a better outside shooter than anyone we had on the team last year. second, i always took brad's statements about clarke being a difference maker as an eventual difference maker. a freshman difference maker would mean he is the equal of larry hughes. nothing i have read leads me to believe clarke is on that level now. he has the physical abilities to lead us to believe he can be mo jeffers or claggett or love someday. at least that is the approach i am taking with young mr clarke. now if he comes in next year and is the conference usa newcomer of the year, i will be happy to take back my comments, but personally, i expect him to be a typical very good freshman next year. moments of thrills but just as many times where you wonder why he is on the floor. think of drejaj last year. that would be a good typical good freshman season.

[Basketbill]

As for Mo he was a good shooter but did not look for his shot untilhe was a senior, he however needed open looks from three.

I would agree with the "eventual difference maker" label. However, I would hardly have expected drejaj to have the freshman year he had after he was recruited, but he went on to make a difference in a few games by the end of the season. I hope Clarke is able to do that by the end of his freshman year.....I expect more from clarke going in than I did of Drejaj going in.

[billiken_roy]

basketbill said, "I expect more from clarke going in than I did of Drejaj going in."

i dont simply because the wing spots are full with returnee's drejaj and fisher and upper classmen newbies, bryant and morris. plus brad is on record saying that between sloan and izik, they will man the 3 and the 4 spot as well quite often. clarke will have to be very special to get a lot of minutes imo. i am not saying clarke isnt capable of that, we dont know. but the fact is we have a lot of folks coming back that will expect to get major minutes at the 3 guard/wing spots available. clarke is the obvious guy to see spotty time imo.

[thetorch]

I think Clarke can fill a role for this team, but we have tons of depth at guard, he will probably be the fifth guard in the game. He is definetly more long term. For right now I hpoe he plays solid defense and can fill in for the nova transfer when he needs a rest and put up similar numbers in much smaller minutes.