UAB recruiting class

[jjray]

This is something of old news but UAB landed two big men for next year including Marques Lewis whom the Bills had interest in. UAB with size up front to go with the speed / athleticism they exhibited last year results in a squad the rest of CUSA shall have to sit up and take notice of.

ATTALLABLAZE

UAB lands 2 Big men!!!

Men's Basketball Inks Two More Recruits

Blazers receive national letters of intent from Earnest Little and Marques Lewis

May 8, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- Alabama prep standout Earnest Little and junior college transfer Marques Lewis have signed national letters of intent to play basketball at UAB, head coach Mike Anderson has announced. Both players will begin attending school in the fall of 2003.

"I am very excited with this year's recruiting class," UAB head coach Mike Anderson said. "With the signing of these two athletes, we are getting two more players that fit into the things we are trying to do. We won't know how good they actually are until they get a chance to play, but both are very skilled, athletic forwards who have good size."

Little is a 6-9, 230-pound forward who played at Monroe County High School under coach Willie White. As a senior, Little averaged 15.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and four blocks per contest. Little was listed as the No. 6 player in southwest Alabama by the Mobile Press Register's "Super 16". He led his team to a class 4A runner-up finish in the region tournament and was named to the all-southwest region tournament team for his efforts. Little was also named MVP of the J.F. Shields Invitational and named to all-tournament teams at the Hub-City Classic and Clark County Invitational. Little chose UAB over Ole Miss, South Alabama and Jacksonville State, among others.

"Earnest is a young man who has his best basketball ahead of him," said Anderson. "He has good size, athletic ability, aggressiveness and his skill level will continue to get better. Most importantly, Earnest wants to be a Blazer."

Lewis, a 6-8, 250-pound forward, comes to UAB after playing the past season at Wabash Valley (Ind.) College under head coach Mark Nelson. While at Wabash, Lewis led the team with an average of 16.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per contest. He also shot 63-percent from the floor and 71-percent from the charity stripe. He earned several accolades at Wabash including being named to the GRAC (Great Rivers Athletic Conference) all-conference team and received the third-most votes when he was selected to the all-region team. Lewis played one year at SW Missouri-West Plains J.C. before going to Wabash. He is a native of Milwaukee, Wisc. where he attended Milwaukee Bradley Tech High School.

"Marques will be a great addition to our team," said Anderson. "He is a skillful player who has size, scoring ability, can block shots and is a good rebounder. He is going to help us inside the paint."

Little and Lewis join twin guards Donell and Ronell Taylor, who signed during the early signing period, as part of the 2003 recruiting class. Donell is a first-team NJCAA All-American and Panhandle Player of the Year performer last season, while Ronell finished runner-up to his brother for the Panhandle Player of the Year and earned first-team all-conference accolades.

http://www.cusa-talk.com/modules/newbb/vie...913&forum=58&10

[ACE]

Why did we shy away from this kid? He sounds like a better player to Frericks. Were there academic questions about him?

[davidnark]

nm = no message

[Billiken Law]

Under the new JUCO transfer rules some JUCO's would not be eligible at a school like SLU. JUCO's had to have 35% of the requirements for their major at their transfer school completed to be eligible. Most JUCO's take nothing but PE and similar classes that SLU does not offer (I know of one JUCO transfer to DePaul a few years ago who had nothing but credits in basketball and swimming). Since SLU does not have a PE major JUCO's who took those classes would not be eligible if they came to SLU. Let's face it, not many JUCO kids are taking philosophy, theology and other classes required for a degree at schools like SLU, Marquette, Xavier, etc.

[billiken_roy]

of course with a few well placed calls to a number of neighboring jucos and maybe 10 summer classes..........sorry, for a second i thought i was in columbia.

[StLouBlue]

If the player is qualified, but just chooses to go to a JUCO, I wouldn't think that rule would apply. Like Frericks, he was qualified to play as a freshman(passing grades & test scores) so I don't think he would also have to qualify under the JUCO rules. I think the JUCO rules only apply if the player was a non-qualifier. SLU can still get JUCO players just not the non-qualifiers that take PE courses.

[Billiken Law]

I'm not positive if that is the case - I'll have to check my NCAA book. However, in the case of Fericks he likely was able to transfer his UAB credits which could transfer to SLU and probably focused enough on taking the right courses at his JUCO so he could qualify anywhere.

[StLouBlue]

I was thinking like Troy Slaten, he qualified, but decided to go the JUCO route to get offers from bigger/better schools. After one year at a JUCO, he is now transferring to Ark St/Ark Little Rock, or some Ark school. I wouldn't think transferring credits would matter.

[ACE]

Thanks Law. Better watch it, or pinhead AJ will defend Mizzou's "standards" for those desiring a PE degree.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Please keep in mind, folks, that SLU's coach, Brad Soderberg, got his degree in Physical Education.

[ACE]

Brad used his degree to make a living. Unfortunately, many athletes use majors like that simply as a means to remain eligible to play sports.

[ACE]

Also, Brad went on to get a Master's in PE, so he took it seriously. I wonder how many of these kids who attend D1 basketball factories go on to get master's degrees?

[Billiken Law]

And Coach Crean got his degree in something like Parks and Recreation Management because they knew what they wanted to do and that the degree would be useful to them. I am sure they also took other classes outside of basketball and swimming, which many JUCO's load up on. There is nothing wrong with taking PE classes or getting a PE degree, the problem is that that is all these kids take and as a result they are ineligible to come to a school like SLU without that major since they often haven't taken other classes that a freshman and sophomore at SLU would be required to take in order to graduate.

[billiken_roy]

i think what billiken law is saying is that if the prospective recruit would have taken at least the basic classes that would transfer to a 4 year school like math, english, history, etc., then there is still a chance that the recruit would be at that level needed to transfer the needed classes that would fit into a major program at slu. however too many of these kids waste their two years at jucoland taking basketball 101, bowling, archery, swimming, etc to have any of the transferrable credits needed to be on pace to graduate in the required time.

[3star_recruit]

I don't think it's unreasonable to demand that every kid we sign have at least a C+ average, or a 2.7 GPA. Stanford, the school I we hope we look to as a model, doesn't even bother recruiting a kid unless he has at least a 3.3 GPA.

One of the things that bugs me about Duke is that they routinely take poor students (Sean Dockery, William Avery) just because they can play basketball.

"However, a lot of Duke fans must be surprised by the fact that Dockery's academic situation is still very much in doubt, as his lastest SAT score was a 15 and his current grade point average in core classes is only a 2.3 (he needs a 17 on the ACT and a 2.5 gpa to be eligible)."

http://www.illiniboard.com/recruiting/player.php?ID=2

[courtside]

I have mentioned Duke many times here, not to pick on Duke, but to explain to some folks with blinders that Duke, of all academic powers, has a sociology of hoops degree set up for their hoopsters. Tom Crean has installed a P.E. major at Marquette. These are strong academic schools.

"Good kids," who work hard in school are not too tough to differentiate from those who aren't, regardless of major. Some never had to work hard since grade school and get pushed along, etc...all kinds of backgrounds and scenarios.

Andre Miller and Dwyane Wade come to mind off of the top of my head. Two academic non-qualifier good kids who received and will receive a degree. Both turned into all academic conference players.

[Billiken Law]

No PE major at MU (that was a rumor started by DePaul fans). Never has been and I doubt there ever will be. Most MU players are in the school of Communications, which means they still have to take the core curriculum all students at MU have to take. Probably the easiest school at MU (just about every Comm person I knew was on the Dean's List during my time there) but no cakewalk.

In addition, Duke's program is not "sociology of hoops" but rather just Sociology. However, it is considered the easiest major at Duke by the general student body and only 2% of gereral students major in Sociology.

[courtside]

A little toungue and cheek for the literal out there. Duke has offered classes in the independent study of sociology of hoops under their sociology major. Source, editor of Duke Newspaper. Jay Williams for example had several "independent studies" on some interesting topics, and we will leave it at that. As for Marquette, my apologies then...I know Tom Crean wanted to install one, that straight from his mouth... is the source there, guess that wasn't gonna fly in Jesuit nation. I should have checked that out first. Crean did say he wanted to install one, with that intention. That is true.