All star game

[Billikenbooster]

I hate all star games. Only thing they do is give you a glimpse of what someone can do, a face to put with a name if you haven't seen them before. That said, let the "How did we ever let Blake Ahearn get away?" song begin. this kid just was all over the court shooting, trash talking, mixing it up with anyone they put out there to guard him. Thought Darren Clarke did as well as anyone else.

Bryce Husak started. It just goes downhill from there, I'm afraid. Got a few easy rebounds, but has no hands, size (mass), ball skills, but was fine beyond that. Really needs to be red shirted to improve his size and get up to speed. Didn't seem to have his heart in it. I hope that was it, cause if this is what we are going to see for four years, this may be S Barentine all over again.

The kid from Mizzou, Gardner, put his body on Ahearn and threw him off a little. Gardner will be tough. I Think we'll hear a lot of Randal Falker from SIU as well. Good floor presence, knew what to do with and without the ball. The other Mizou recruit, Spencer Laurie, didn't show, due to injury.

Game was well attended, crowd really got into it whenever Ahearn did his thing. Ahearn and a kid from Tampa, Fla Renaldo Balkman, going to S Carolina, got into it at the end of the game. Balkman was taken out and never came back. Other than that nothing extra special non-basketball wise.

Darren 'clarke held his own, but didn't stand out very well. Got his shots off, but they didn't fall. The local kids cleraly outplayed the national team from an overall perspective, but the national guys were all better athletes. If they had time to play together and gel as a team, they would do very well.

[tseugnekillib]

I agree that most all-star games are difficult to watch. I could only stomach the first half of this one. I arrived early to catch the shoot arounds and warm ups.

Husak is probably your typical high school seven footer. Keep in mind, there is a reason he was not one of the four or so high schoolers drafted by the NBA on Thursday, nor was he recruited by his top home state schools Iowa or Iowa State. He has the 7'0 size, carries some weight, and as I expected, is a typical 7-0 project. It will be interesting to see how he develops over the next 2-3 years in Coach Brad's style. Just from his pre-game facial expressions, I got the feeling that he anticipated the typical run-n-gun guard dominated allstar game that was to follow. I can't say that he looked excited to be there. But then again, maybe he is one of those kids that don't show much expression about anything.

Darren Clarke will come to West Pine with a decent 6-4 freshman body. Assuming he can add the usual 5-10 pounds of strength per year, Clarke will be a nice addition. He forced a couple of long 3's in the first half, but looked to be a capable ballhandler.

Husak and Clarke should be playing in West Pine most weekdays during the summer session that starts on June 30.

Ahearn had a strong game, even with a few forced passes. Blake should be successful at SMS, it will be fun watching him in true game conditions at the annual Valley post-season tournament next March. Sometimes you wonder why all the Big 12, all the Big 10, and all the C-USA schools passed on Ahearn. What is it that those 37 schools didn't like about Ahearn?

The National team had a real jerk in #7 LaKeith Blanks. I was hoping that a local player would pop him! Unfortunately, I expecting the same type of game next year.

[3star_recruit]

"The National team had a real jerk in #7 LaKeith Blanks."

He was rather . . demonstrative, wasn't he? Lots of screaming, scowling and strutting. Must be a fan of the NBA.

[billiken_roy]

sighhhhhh.........i wish i had been wrong.

i only hope there are not two more sighs coming.

[tseugnekillib]

3star.....it's too bad Blanks is going to Texas A&M rather than Texas Tech. If he went to Texas Tech that head coach would flush the bullshst out of his game in about four days and then Blanks would be a very good four year college player.

[kshoe]

are as bad as Husak was last night then we are in big trouble. I have a feeling one of them will be able to play.

Clarke impressed me with his dribbling skills and court vision. He was more of a point guard then I expected but he obviously had an off-night shooting. I doubt he will contribute much to us next year but think he'll be a decent role player during his career.

Still, I'd rather have Ahearn. We are going to regret him the same way we regret Kent Williams. Plus, I suspect Blake will play out of his mind against us every year and he'll probably end up going 3-1 against us during his career.

I'm hopeful our current coaching staff knows what its doing and if Matt Shaw really wants to come here they won't make the same mistake twice. Good MVC players can play with just about anybody in the country.

[jjray]

>>I'm hopeful our current coaching staff knows what its doing and if Matt Shaw really wants to come here they won't make the same mistake twice.<<

I say "amen" to that. It's fine when we pass on local players for clearly better players from elsewhere ... but that has not been the recent Billiken history with its scholarship choices. I was glad to hear that Darren can handle the ball; however, it was my impression that he was going to be a 2-3 with wing ability rather than a combo guard. I did hold out hope that he would really be 6'4" as listed by his AAU team (but 1 inch exaggeration is to be expected). I suspect he just had an off night shooting.

[Basketbill]

is puzzling, lets put it in perspective. Ahearn has probably been waiting for this game all summer, and I would not be surprised if he and his teamates were practicing at fontbonne frequently. Nevertheless congrat on a good game.

As for Husak four points and some boards. I will trust that Brad can coach this kid into a contributor if not a force. He had two years to work with Kenny Brown and he became a great defender. Lets look at him after a year or two of Brad coaching him.

Clarke will play the 2 gaurd, it is great to hear he has a handle, because the motion offense Brad runs requires every one on the court to handle it well. I think it is too early to think he will just be a role player in the future. After the first game or two of wathcing Drejaj, I loved his hustle but thought his shot sucked, and later he was tearing it up. Darren will play this year more so at the end of the season, after he learns the system.

As for the two additional "sighs" coming,

[Nate Latsch]

>is puzzling, lets put it in perspective. Ahearn has

>probably been waiting for this game all summer, and I would

>not be surprised if he and his teamates were practicing at

>fontbonne frequently. Nevertheless congrat on a good

>game.

I'm sure Ahearn has been waiting for this game for a long time. He didn't play well in DeSmet's season-ending loss to Parkway Central and he wasn't able to play in the two postseason all-star games he was invited to.

You don't think Ahearn wouldn't have something to prove against someone like Darren Clarke? Of course he does. The St. Louis U. coaching staff stopped recruiting Ahearn last summer and instead signed this kid from Minnesota that no one knew about -- who happens to be the same type of player as a kid from St. Louis.

If the Billiken coaching staff is serious about recruiting local kids, you take a kid like Ahearn who probably grew up wanting to play for SLU and you don't recruit the kid who probably grew up wanting to be a Golden Gopher.

After seeing Clarke and "Legally Blonde" Husak last night, I think SLU would have been much better off offering scholarships to Ahearn and former John Burroughs 6-foot-11 post player Brian Cusworth. Cusworth, who signed with Harvard (I believe) was a project as well, but he was a local project who was still growing.

You can talk about this all-star game not being a proper showcase for Husak, but when 6-6 guys are talking the ball past him and scoring over him it doesn't make him look very good. He wasn't a factor on the defensive end -- even when he was covering guys half a foot shorter -- and whatever rebounds he caught fell into his lap. Husak is at least three years away from contributing to a Division I basketball team.

- Nate

[Quality Is Job 1]

I wouldn't draw a direct comparison between Blake Ahearn and Darren Clarke based on that one all-star game. Were they guarding each other? Even if they were, defensive effort was mostly one-sided in favor of the proud St. Louis Metropolitan squad.

Ahearn played a great game, and it sure seems like he should have been signed by SLU, but I'm not ready to say it should have been in exchange for Clarke. Despite the disparity in scoring last night, I think Clarke brings more to the table than Ahearn. He's more athletic and versatile, qualities that play into Brad Soderberg's scheme.

Soderberg knows that he needs to win, and he probably wants to win even more than he is expected to; therefore, he's trying to upgrade all skill levels of his squad. I'm not sure, though, how that translates into offering a schollie to Bryce Husak. Maybe Husak will surprise me, but right now I wonder if he'll be as good as Pat Schumacher -- just because a guy is seven feet tall doesn't mean he has to be a good basketball player. I'll defer to Brad, though; if he says he's coordinated, I'll wait to see the results -- it's just that I'll have to wait longer.

[tseugnekillib]

Nate, as a long-time SLU season ticket holder, I want the best bball players we can find, as long as they are legitimate college students as well. If they are local players fine, if they come from California, Maryland, Texas or Serbia/Montenegro that's fine as well.

Just because a kid grows up in metro St. Louis and wants to come to SLU, I don't feel obligated to take him or her. Would I like to have a David Lee or a Jimmy McKinney, of course I would. But if they pass on SLU, then just go after the next best player wherever he comes from.

I am confident that in addition to Vashon's Polk, the SLU staff would like to sign locals such as Grimes/Meyer/Liddell/Shaw. However,

if these players pass on SLU, then I vote for going wherever for the next best player.

Regarding Bryce Husak, if he is a contributing seven-foot center in his junior and senior seasons, as you suggested, that's will be fine with me. Maybe we get lucky and he is contributing late in his sophmore year, who knows.

[jjray]

>>If the Billiken coaching staff is serious about recruiting local kids, you take a kid like Ahearn who probably grew up wanting to play for SLU and you don't recruit the kid who probably grew up wanting to be a Golden Gopher.<<

Ahearn is a pure shooter ... but he's not much of a defender and he needs upperbody strength. Clarke has a better D1 body but only time will tell what kind of shooter or defender he is as compared with Ahearn. For the Bill's sake, I hope Darren learns to be a superior defender who also is an shooter. If I had to guess, I would say the reason Brad did not take Ahearn was watching him play defense for DeSmet.

Grawer took the St. Louis kids in all cases and the program was never able to get over the hump. What you are suggesting is a return to the Grawer recruiting strategy which I do not approve of. We need to recruit the best players from wherever and give the nod to the St. Louis player when recruits are of similar ability. The fact that we have solid recruits coming from the east coast and europe (which previously was not the case with SLU) is a testament to the hard work Brad's staff is putting in beating the bushes to find quality players who have been overlooked by others. Also, I like the move with Polk even though he is coming off an injury and some may argue that we should have waited until later with the offer to see how his recovery progresses.

[Basketbill]

>You don't think Ahearn wouldn't have something to prove

>against someone like Darren Clarke? Of course he does.

That is what I implied.....

The

>St. Louis U. coaching staff stopped recruiting Ahearn last

>summer and instead signed this kid from Minnesota that no

>one knew about -- who happens to be the same type of player

>as a kid from St. Louis.

The same type of player.....Nate have you lost perspective?? Ahearn is a shooter. Slow of footer, Brad took a guy he thought was a better all round player...time will tell.

>

>If the Billiken coaching staff is serious about recruiting

>local kids, you take a kid like Ahearn who probably grew up

>wanting to play for SLU and you don't recruit the kid who

>probably grew up wanting to be a Golden Gopher.

How serious does it appear when a local kid breaks his knee cap and the staff says we still want you our offer stands!!

>

"Legally Blonde" Husak last night, I

>think SLU would have been much better off offering

>scholarships to Ahearn and former John Burroughs 6-foot-11

>post player Brian Cusworth. Cusworth, who signed with

>Harvard (I believe) was a project as well, but he was a

>local project who was still growing.

Cusworht if I am not mistaken was a potential Romar recruit not Husak's class.

>

Husak is at least

>three years away from contributing to a Division I

>basketball team.

We will see, I cannot make an assessment of husak based on one game that I did not see. However based on Brad's decisions thus far I will wait and see.

[Mobile-iken]

No need to sigh Roy...Repeat after me...It was just an all-star game, it was just an all-star game, it was just an all-star game.

Give the kid a chance Roy!

[thetorch]

Husak is a PROJECT. We all know that. He will be redshirted. Lets put this in perspective though. Look at KB. I have seen elephants at the circus with more agility and better footwork than KB had coming out of HS. The guy worked hard, had good coaching and was a credible D-1 center by the time his career was over. I expect the same of Husak. We will not need any type of minutes from him for two years. We have plenty of time to mold thei 7 footer into a good player.

Now Ahearn and Clarke. Why are we already lamenting the loss of Ahearn? So he puts up 40 in a 100 point all-star game. Big deal. We all know the reasons Brad did not take him. He plays defense as well as a potted plant, and is not much faster than the aforementioned potted plant. Clarke may not be as good of a shooter, but already we see that he has superior ballhandling and passing skills. Ahearn wanted to come here, he was po'ed that we didn't give him a scholarship, so much that he instigated a media backlash against SLU, how quickly we are forgetting the RFT articles and Bernie spewings of a few months ago.

My opinion, SLU will be in a state of the art arena, in a high profile catholic conference, making NCAA tourney appearances annually with help from a 2 guard from Minnesota and a shotblocking big man from Iowa, while Blake and the bears will be playing for fourth place in the Mo Valley.

[billiken_roy]

your point about kenny brown also needing a couple of years to become a credible basketball player is well taken. but let's also point out that kenny's two years of preparation to get to the player he will be remembered as a billiken came at the expense of a roster spot at an iowa juco and not on the billiken bench that needs frontcourt players now. as i stated before, i have no problem saying husak needs time to develop. and in another time and situation, i would welcome bryce on the billiken roster, but i fail to see how the current version of the billikens has the luxury to park a couple of inside projects and still be able to compete at the same level the billikens have been at the last two seasons.

[billiken_roy]

bigmac, i understand what you are saying, my sigh is in relation to those masses that a couple of weeks ago were just so sure that we were going to have a better record than last year. i said i was hesitant to say anything near that since we were losing marque and kenny brown and i wasnt sure we had replacements for either. i was slapped around for a number of days for having the audacity to think that kenny brown would be difficult to replace and it was inferred that our inside recruits, would all be ample replacements. i said it sounded to me they wouldnt even be the equal of heinrich let alone kenny brown again i was all but crucified. all i am saying is that the first of 3 revelations of our actual inside position has been uncovered. that is my sigh.

i truly understand that bryce has to be developed. hell, if brad wants me to, i will visit the gym daily and throw the needed thousands of entry passes to him in the pivot to get to that point. but i hope we are done fantasizing that the current billiken team is a lock for the ncaa tourney. i prefer to say "let's wait and see how the other two inside players and reggie bryant pan out before making any predictions".

[kshoe]

is we may be playing in a state of the art arena and all that but we will lose 3 of the next 4 to SMS (which is nothing new) because Ahearn will have a major chip on his shoulder and will light us up every year the same way Kent Williams did. They've got a pretty nice recruiting class coming in this year so I expect them to put the hurt on us for a while.

[3star_recruit]

This 41 point All-Star game performance has really spooked you, hasn't it?

[3star_recruit]

"all i am saying is that the first of 3 revelations of our actual inside position has been uncovered. that is my sigh."

What revelation? Frericks, Vouyoukas and JJ are replacing Brown and Braun. We've pretty much agreed that Husak would be a redshirt for almost two months now. So why the concern about Husak?

[cheeseman]

This year will be much like last - if it turns out that way then we should consider ourselves fortunate (4th in CUSA and a NIT Bid - going to the NCAA would be great but a long run in the NIT would still be a plus). Brad is not going to turn this around in one year - BH is a project and everybody should not expect him to be anything more than that. Lets wait and see what the team looks like in early December to see if Brad has the horses or not.

[billiken_roy]

no the way i had heard it was that one of either husak or the greek would redshirt, however brad would wait until the fall to decide which would sit this year. so i had held out hope that maybe one or both would be credible right away and they were just using the luxury of having two big guys to pick from. now i have to wonder if it is a question who to redshirt, and we know husak isnt capable of playing now, is the greek also that green? if so, that leaves fericks to pick up the slack and that scares the hell out of me.

[jjray]

>"all i am saying is that the first of 3 revelations of our

>actual inside position has been uncovered. that is my sigh."

>

>What revelation? Frericks, Vouyoukas and JJ are replacing

>Brown and Braun. We've pretty much agreed that Husak would

>be a redshirt for almost two months now. So why the concern

>about Husak?

Agreed. Why all the hand-ringing? So we have a 7-footer who can shoot from the outside, is currently soft on the inside, but is not a total twig. Sounds like a bigger, beefier version of Chris Braun when he showed up on campus. Didn't it take Chris Braun 2 years before he started contributing? Sure, we all would have been pleased if some 7 foot bruiser showed himself in St. Louis; however, he certainly would not have been loitering around in the late signing period for us to grab him if this were the case. Coach Brad said this kid has desire. Let's take him at his word for now and check back on Husak next summer to see what kind of physical development he has made.

I'm much more interested / concerned how Frericks and JJ are going to look this coming season.

[slufanskip]

I didn't go to the game, first one I've missed in a while, but I don't get what the big deal is. We are not going to play 12 players anyway. Bryce will probably redshirt this year and lets let BS do his thing. If he is a strong contributor by his Junior year I'll be happy. Remember 7 footers with skill are a rare commodity, if he didn't need some work ... he probably wouldn't be at SLU. Exceptionally skilled 7 footers now go straight to the NBA. Brad saw something, and we do have room on the roster to develop big men, we have to.

As for projections for next year ..if we duplicate last years record i won't be surprised, thats about what I expect. If Brad does the job he did this year we may improve ... that won't surprise me either.

If Clarke played as reported .. our perimiter game will be improved over last year. We had Marque and a couple of great games from Drejaj.

This year we should be more balanced ... Bryant, Clarke, and hopefully a more consistent Drejaj, plus the same Fisher. I think we will be harder to stop.

I'm excited and ready for the soccer season to start, but I can't wait for BBall to get underway.

[3star_recruit]

"no the way i had heard it was that one of either husak or the greek would redshirt, however brad would wait until the fall to decide which would sit this year."

And Brad has never said anything different. But I knew better when I compared Coach's comments regarding both players. Bryce's fundamentals are "good". Ian's fundamentals are "tremendous" and "excellent". Ian has a chance to be "special". Read between the lines.