3star_recruit Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Kent would not have addressed our need at small forward at the time. Maurice could play the 2 or the 3, just like Darren Clarke can play the 2 or the 3. Randal Falker would not have addressed the need to replace Kenny Brown and Chris Braun at center. Besides Randal is majoring in civil engineering, which SLU doesn't have. As for Matt Shaw, I'm his biggest fan on this board. I'm just not sure what the staff's intentions are at the power forward position. If they are comfortable with Izik and JJ defending that position on defense, they may not sign a 4 this year. Darren Clarke is big enough to play some three, but signing a 6'5 kid to play that position would be nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Latsch Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 A couple things on this subject, which I hope goes away until the next time SLU and SMS play each other: > Someone said Blake Ahearn's "people" conspired to get a story about Blake in the Post-Dispatch. This is not true. There was a feature story on Ahearn in the boys basketball preview because he looked like the best St. Louis senior going into the season. > I don't see any way Darren Clarke can play small forward in college. He's 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3 with some athleticism, but not that much (based on what I saw Saturday). > I think SLU made a mistake by not offering Ahearn for a couple reasons: He's a good shooter and works as hard at his game as anybody in high school. He's a good student and would be a good representative of the university. While he is only 6-2 or 6-3, Ahearn is very athletic -- much more so than most guys his size. He's also a local kid who would spark interest in the Billikens. Darren Clarke could be a decent player at SLU. Or he could be a flop. Only time will tell. I hoped to see him do a lot more on Saturday night, because Clarke didn't appear to be a better player than anyone on the St. Louis roster. If the SLU coaching staffs is going to recruit players from other states instead of local kids, I would hope at least the players they bring in are better than those they are passing on. In my opinion, Ahearn and Brian Cusworth compare favorably to Clarke and Bryce Husak. - Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 you would have sacrificed one of the most exciting players in billiken history, maurice jeffers, for kent williams? explain that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 the fact that mo was considered worthy of a second round pick by the sacramento kings and was an all conference player his senior season in a much tougher conference than kent williams is enough for me. kent williams dreams of being the player that mo jeffers was in college basketball. my gosh, just admit you backed yourself in a corner on the williams vs perry or jeffers issue. there is no argument that can be made to have signed williams ahead of either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeSmetBilliken Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 While Kent Williams did have a great career at SIU, there is no way that in hindsight I would have taken him over Maurice Jeffers or Marque Perry. You could say that in hindsight SLU should should have gone with Williams over the late Vincent Hart, considering that Hart never wore the SLU uniform, but Hart was an inside player and rather highly regarded, so at the time it made more sense for SLU to go with Jeffers, Perry, and Hart. Now, onto Ahearn. Congrats to him on a great game last weekend and I wish him luck at SMS. At first I would have liked to have seen him sign with SLU because I would have liked to have seen a DeSmet grad play for SLU, but my mind changed after this past basketball season. While I only saw 1 DeSmet game this season, the game I saw was a microcosm of the entire season. For those who don't know, DeSmet had a very talented team that significantly underachieved, and the most common reason that I heard was that the team lacked heart. In the game I saw, a more talented DeSmet lost to a SLUH team that clearly wanted it more. By the way, that last statement was made by quite a few people who also saw the game. I saw Blake get outhustled, shoot poorly, and play poor defense, as did most of the rest of the team. As the season went on, I continued to hear that this team had no heart, which is inexcusable. Since Blake was the star and had been playng varsity since the end of his freshman year, he should have been the emotional leader of that team, which clearly needed a leader. I graduated from DeSmet in 2002, and the seniors on the basketball team that year didn't have the most talent, but they were great leaders and ended up leading a team that didn't make the preseason rankings to a second place finish in the state. I'll admit that I don't know much about Clarke, but I do have some concerns about Ahearn's play, and maybe his heart. Plus we did need a player to play the wing, as Clarke is supposed to be capable of doing. I hope Blake does well at SMS, but I can't say that I'm too depressed by the fact that he isn't coming to SLU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter 33 Posted July 1, 2003 Author Share Posted July 1, 2003 Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 so you are down to comparing ahearn to diener? congratulations, i am about the only drew diener defender on this board and that is damn difficult for me to do. since you obviously havent won me over, looks like you are in for quite the battle mr ahearn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 >>I think SLU made a mistake by not offering Ahearn for a couple reasons: He's a good shooter and works as hard at his game as anybody in high school. He's a good student and would be a good representative of the university. While he is only 6-2 or 6-3, Ahearn is very athletic -- much more so than most guys his size. He's also a local kid who would spark interest in the Billikens.<< I do not consider Blake Ahearn to be someone described as "very athletic" for his size. Let us assume he is 6'2". I saw him miss a clean dunk (in a close game) at the high school shoot-out at the Savvis last year and missed another one at Fontbonne last weekend. Also, he's got slow feet on defense. That one is pretty clear in my mind. Not sure what you saw Nate which accounts for the "very athletic" comment. Superior shooter ... not doubt. Superior athlete? Let's check him out in D1 next season and see how that one stands up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 slu and utah and purdue all pursued williams and all wanted him to wait till spring to sign. he would have had plenty of high d-1 offers had he waited. his own fault he was stuck in the valley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Latsch Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Ahearn can dunk the ball pretty easily for someone his size. Yes, he's missed dunks before -- but so have lots of guys. David Ward, a 6-foot-6 forward for DeSmet, missed a dunk at the Shootout as well. There were a couple missed dunks on Saturday. - Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 I think butter is the same guy who showed up after the RFT article hyping Blake's game. The fact is that our coach had a chance to sign Ahearn and let him go. I respect his bball knowledge over mine. That said I thought Blake was a marginal D-1 player, a diener or troy robertson type guy that SLU doesn't need and cannot recruit anymore to be successful at a top level. Why does SLU always have to take on the area charity cases? I hope Butter that you are on the Mizzou, Illini, SIU-C boards saying the same thing as you are doing here. No other area programs get critisized for not looking at this kid. Why does SLU? Ahearn has shown his true colors, he had stories planted in the post and RFT ripping on SLU. That is not the type of player we need no matter how talented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_arete Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 I'm not worried about his dunking ability. At least, he didn't come up short with his dunk, like Justin Johnson did twice last year. Admittedly, I can't answer whether Ahearn has the quickness to play in CUSA. But from what I can see, I think he has the shooting or ballhandling skills to play there. I've always felt the choice was between Morris or Ahearn. I've never seen Morris, but I was not impressed with his stats at JUCO or the fact that no other Div I school offered him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 I remember the game we played Louisville and Mo completely dominated. Some of the dunks in that game were absolutely unbelievable. Our own team was even quoted as saying they had no idea he could do that. I still remember watching SportsCenter and seeing our very own Mo in THREE plays of the week. Ah, that was fun.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 torch, i am sending you a private message on this board. please read and let me know you got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 I for one wouldn't mind seeing BA at SLU. But I really think the timing for a player of his skill just isn't right at this time. We are trying to upgrade the athleticism on the roster right now and don't have the luxury of signing someone like BA this year. I do believe there is a spot for a guy who can really shoot the ball in Conference USA though. Would he start and play 25-30 min a game probably not, but I have seen him play twice, and he is much more athletic than Diener is on his very best day. Yes he is a little lazy on D... but he's what 17 or 18. I think a good coach can help that situation along. He would fill a role at SLU and we sure could have used him last year. I don't know how many times Drew enterd the game and wouldn't shoot .. no matter how open he was. With that said ... I still don't see how we could have made him an offer this year. We needed size and a true point guard, so the only other spot available was the schollie given to Clarke. I've never seen him play as I couldn't attend Sat. night, but i wouldn't swap him for BA. Maybe to steal an NBA term DC just has more upside potential than BA. To suggest that he instigated a smear campaign against SLU ... shouldn't we have proof before we make accusations like that? Maybe he did want to go and was as someone else said, was recruited by Romar ... than Brad took over and didn't want him ... if he was asked about it he may have had sour grapes ... if I was in his shoes I may have also. He's a kid ... I hope he does very well at SMS ... but no matter what he does ... he doesn't fill our need this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter 33 Posted July 2, 2003 Author Share Posted July 2, 2003 Very interesting post. I am not sure I agree with everything but your points are very well articulated. The only comment I would make is IMO you can never have enough shooters. If you watched the game last night on TV the only reason the St. Louis All Stars won is becuase they had 5-6 shooters. The national all-stars were much more athletic but could not shoot the ball (with the exception of Gardner). Sometimes I think coaches put to much emphasis on athlectism and not enough on skill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 2, 2003 Share Posted July 2, 2003 That seems to be a simple answer ... Morris is suppossed to be a true point guard ...who can step in and play this year which we need very badly. Is he I don't know but Brad seems to think so. But I do know this ... NO WAY NO CHANCE Ahearn is a true point guard. Especially not one who is able to step in and play this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 2, 2003 Share Posted July 2, 2003 the dunk vs st bonnie where he simply jumped over the top of the sf from st b ironically with the name "messiah" that garnered the comment from bullet bob ramsey on the radio, "where is your messiah now"? might have been the single greatest dunk in billiken history. i cannot think of one that compares. a distant second on the all-time billiken dunk list imo was larry hughes out of bounds bounces the ball off the back of sumaki walker's head while taking it out, steps in bounds, catches the ball and slams over a stunned walker. that was fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted July 2, 2003 Share Posted July 2, 2003 I got it and I sent you one back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StLouBlue Posted July 2, 2003 Share Posted July 2, 2003 A choice between Morris & Ahearn doesn't make sense. Morris is a true point guard, something this team does not have. Fischer & AD can play the point, but they are not true point guards. Ahearn from what has been said about him is not a point guard, he is a 2. If you already have Bryant, Fischer, AD & Clarke getting time at 2/3, why would you add another player here. By the way Morris was being recruited by other Division 1 schools, I don't know if he had any offers yet though. It is normal for schools to wait on JUCOs until the spring signing period to have another season to evaluate the players as well as make sure they will qualify academically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 2, 2003 Share Posted July 2, 2003 aj, let's not forget that morris committed very early and the big boys never had a chance to see him run the point last year. i have specifically talked about each recruit with different members of our coaching staff and morris is the one that gets them charged up the most. the others get "wait and see" "we have hopes" "the potential" like comments. if morris doesnt turn out to be our best point guard since h, i will be surprised and disappointed with our coaches. they havent said that, but he is the one player i have expectations of contributing next year of the newbies other than bryant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted July 2, 2003 Share Posted July 2, 2003 I have seen Morris play three juco jamboree games and I have seen Blake Ahearn play 10-12 times. They are two different players. Morris is a true point guard, while Ahearn is a strictly a 2G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted July 2, 2003 Share Posted July 2, 2003 A bball friend, normally a quasi-reliable source, told me recently that the St.Louis Eagles (a Nike sponsored AAU team) got Matt Shaw an invitation to the big summer Nike exposure camp. I'm sure the SLU coaches will watch Shaw closely at Nike to see how he competes against the good, bigger bodied post players. Hopefully Matt plays well, he is fun to watch. I apologize if this info was previously posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted July 2, 2003 Share Posted July 2, 2003 Ahearn will shoot as well as Diener, but has a much quicker release. If he's nothing but a spot up shooter, he'd beat Drew's numbers just based on getting his shot off quicker...and be willing to take it. There's a place for a spot up shooter on any team that has the other bases covered. Ahearn will be an asset to any team that takes the ball inside, and then can pass it back out to the open man. There was never a question that Blake could shoot it, nor was there any that Troy Slaten could shoot it. I'm rooting for Blake at SMS, and we'll revisit this topic a few years from now - with better evidence to back our opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted July 2, 2003 Share Posted July 2, 2003 implying that you are a Billiken fan. You have the right to post anything you want on the board, but you must expect a response to your stated opinions. It is my opinion that since you joined the Board on 6/30/03 and started your posts about Blake Ahearn, I think it is clear you have some bias towards him and some affiliation with him. I do not care what it is, but it has colored your observations, and I doubt you are serious about your concern for the Bills. Facts remain Mr Ahearn had a great game at this DJF game. But one game does not mean that SLU's decision to pursue other players instead of Blake is wrong. It also does not mean it was right either. Time will tell, but you cannot ignore the facts that SLU stopped recruiting Ahearn when Drejaj was signed, so it did not make sense to go after another 6-1 or 6-2 shooting gaurd. Sure I wish Drejaj shot better, but his 3 pt average was not bad for a freshamn. The timing was right for drejaj and not for Ahearn. Things will work out for both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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