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Midwest senior rankings


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Terry Evans has all the physical tools to be a big-time basketball player. He needs a jumper -- plain and simple. With a reliable jump shot Evans would be one of the better prospects in the nation, say top 50 or so probably.

Evans was rated as one of the best players at the Nike Camp LAST summer, but he didn't do much during the high school season because of injuries. He averaged 10 points a game for Cardinal Ritter, but didn't look very good out there (at least in the games I watched).

I don't know what scholarship offers he has on the table, but there are probably a lot of major schools still interested in him. Evans didn't play much this summer -- if he played at all -- so its difficult to say what schools that were interested before are still willing to take a risk on him.

Depending on what his grades are like, Evans might need a year in prep school or might need to go the JUCO route to prove he still has what the Pac 10 and Big 12 schools want.

If Polk and Evans both ended up at SLU, Billiken fans could be really happy because they got two "steals." Or SLU could get two guys that could have been something special before severe knee injuries.

- Nate

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Tommie Liddell is kind of in the same boat as Terry Evans. While the knee injury has plagued Evans, grades have hampered Liddell.

Liddell would probably be a top 50 prospect if he was playing with the St. Louis Eagles all summer. He had a great junior year and could have built on that this summer.

Just like schools will be wondering about Evans' knee, some schools will worry that Liddell can't make the grades to play big-time college basketball.

Whatever school gets Liddell will get an absolute steal. He's a great player, can do it all and has a huge upside.

I think Liddell and Polk could help turn St. Louis U. into the type of program Billiken fans would sell their souls for. I'd be shocked if those two, along with Brad's collection of big men, couldn't lead the home school to the NCAA tournament for two or three straight seasons.

But... don't be surprised if Liddell turns out to be the next Dwyane Wade and leads Marquette to the Sweet 16.

- Nate

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Stay away from the Tigerboard and you will probably avoid most of the Post Dispatch conspiracy theory threads.

What are your duties with the post? Are you ever specifically assigned to cover the Billikens or do you focus on prep sports?

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Evans is a decent shooter. I would say Polk is better as well as Liddell. Evans is not terrible though. I am anxious to see what he does being the man at Ritter this year.

Curtis Muse has really improved his stock with some of his recent camp performances. Grades are still an issue.

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You mention Polk's shooting. I saw Polk play three or four times his sophomore year. The first time I saw Vashon that year, my wife went with me. I kept pointing out to her Kern and Mckinney, but she kept pointing out to me how that "little guard" was better than either of them. I don't remember who Vashon was playing that game (it was some so-so tournament at Fontbonne), but Polk kept picking the guy he was defending, dropping threes, and skying to the hoop on fast breaks. If Polk fully regains his health (he is expected to do so), we may have a special player.

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Terry Evans' jumper is the difference between him being a good high school player and a good (maybe great) college player.

His game is all about athleticism right now. He's 6-foot-3 (maybe an inch or two taller) and he has explosive athletic ability. In high school, that's good enough to get you 20 points a game. But that doesn't translate into success at the next level. Athletic ability will only get you so far.

I have talked to many coaches about this -- college coaches and high school coaches -- and everyone says the same thing: "He has a chance to be a really special player if he works on his jumper."

Hopefully Terry took this summer off from competition to shoot 1,000 jumpers a day. If he did, Evans could be the best player in St. Louis this winter -- better than Grimes, Polk, Liddell, etc.

- Nate

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d. nark, i was at the same game. it was the championship game against desmet. the guard that polk was picking all the time was blake ahearn. Polk hit a bunch of threes in the semifinal game against mccluer if my memory serves me right.

bad boyz for life

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.... must be some other Blake Ahearn because some other kid with the same name is going to light it up come college days at SMS. Seems to me there must be at least two of these Blake Ahearn's running amok through the St. Louis metro countryside .....

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