Recruiting is frustrating even in the best of times

[Billikan]

Can you imagine how frustrated our coaches must be at the fact that one of our recruits does not have the tenacity or desire necessary to pass ONE course in JUCO! Just that fact alone may be a good reason why he is not going to be in a Billiken uniform. With the ability to concentrate on only one JUCO course full time and he can't pass there is no way he could handle upper division courses at SLU. Riduculous!

With Polk on the way for next year and Fischer, Drejaj and Clarke on the team for this year I do not see this as a major problem. But does this cause us any problems because of the limitations of scholarships, etc.

Does anyone think that Morris may have been affected in his attitude because of the signing of Polk? He must have known that in the coming year he would not be the "man" because of Fisher and Drejaj but I bet he thought--when he was recruited-- that he would be the point guard and team leader in his senior year. That was before Polk announced-- a local star, etc. Under normal circumstances I would think a guy like Morris would have the self confidence to believe that he would excell in any situation and he would force his coach to play him with his toughness and team play.

Some time ago Coach Brad said that we would not be able to recruit jucos after next year because of the new rules. I would guess that our coaches have given up on that source for players. I sure hope that we have 6-8 high school players of quality that we are in tight with at this point in order to fill the remaining scholarships. We know that we will not get all of those we seek so we need a deep group to make sure that the players we get are of a caliber to compete in our league. I may be overstating it but I think this year's recruiting is extremely important to the team. A couple of really talented recruits--at least one a local player if possible- could make all the difference for next year and beyond!

[Quality Is Job 1]

During the spring, I was a fairly vocal advocate of saving one of the five available 2003 scholarships for the deep 2004 local class. I felt that it would be better to have four roster spots available to this bunch than just three. But then Brad Soderberg got Ian Vouyoukas, who may develop into a steal.

From what I've read here, in addition to what i saw with my own eyes at the DJCF all-star game, Darren Clarke has been successfully converted into a point guard, having played that position during his senior season in high school, teaming with the recruits who reneged on committments to Duke and Boston College. Capital D may wind up being somewhat like Missouri's Keyon Dooling.

This year Clarke will see time backing up the point behind Josh Fisher and Anthony Drejaj, and there will frequently be times where two of the three are on the floor at the same time. Really, I don't know if Brad knows how much Clarke is a point guard, and if he's disappointed that Morris didn't qualify (as far as we "know"), then I think his spirits will be lifted when he sees what Capital D can do.

[Quality Is Job 1]

(Silly me! I forgot to make, in the last post, one of the most significant points I intended to make.)

The failure of Brandon Morris to qualify could be a blessing in disguise because it could help to balance out the Bills' classes.

Due to graduate in:

2004 (3)

Chris Sloan

Josh Fisher

Ross Varner

2005 (4)

Floyd McClain (assuming the NCAA doesn't grant him a hardship)

Reggie Bryant

Izik Ohanon

Tom Frericks

2006 (1)

Anthony Drejaj

2007 (4)

Justin Johnson

Darren Clarke

Ian Vouyoukas

Bryce Husak (if he doesn't redshirt)

2008 (4?)

Dwayne Polk

other recruits (?)

If Morris had come, there could have been as many as five players completing their eligibility in 2005, meaning that Brad Soderberg would have had to fill five scholarships that year. If Husak redshirts and no member of the 2004 recruiting class redshirts (assuming they're all high-school recruits), that would make five players in that class for Soderberg to replace.

How does Brad balance out the classes so that every year he's going after just three or four players?

[billiken_roy]

if balancing the graduating classes was important, that would make it important to cover the next couple of scholarships this year with jucos to graduate with drejaj.

[Basketbill]

how good is the guy who was headed to BC?? Perhaps St. Louis is a little closer to home?

[3star_recruit]

Dan Coleman has announced his attention to transfer to Minnesota.

I really hope pdiddy's report isn't true. If it is, this is an opportunity for Polk to see significant minutes next year and for the staff to pick up a Reggie Bryant-like transfer in the spring.

[tseugnekillib]

What makes you think that Brandon Morris only had to take one summer session course to be eligible at SLU? My guess is that he had to take two and probably three courses? Then again, perhaps I missed something in the paper.

IMHO, losing Morris will cost SLU a few games this year as I think he would have been a starter. However, having that extra scholarship can turn this matter into a long-term positive if SLU finds a quality high school player or gets lucky with a transfer.

Building something solid takes time!

[thetorch]

He may have had to take more than one course in the summer, but I have heard Coach Soderberg say he has one more class to pass to be eligible. You can take 3 classes in the summer and have none of them at the same time. I am pretty sure Soderberg said Morris needed one more class to graduate and be able to play here.

[tseugnekillib]

Thank for relaying Coach Soderberg's comments. Evidently Morris passed one or two courses, but couldn't handle the last one.