Billikenbooster Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 Went through the roster with my son the other day, and realized there were no JUCOs on the roster at all. We are still a very young team, with only two seniors, and the juniors are DP, DB, BH, and LM. Can't remember too many times we have had NO junior college players on the roster. Plus we have two red shirted players on the roster, which has not happened in a while either. mhg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 I think the no JUCO route is the wave of the future. By the fact that we won't accept PE credits a lot of the Juco world is eliminated, or at least it makes admittance more difficult. I would like to see our ace in the hole become the prep market to fill those spots we can't fill under normal recruiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I believe SLU's current roster of 12 players has five players who will be fifth year seniors due to redshirting at SLU or due to attending a year at prep school prior to enrolling at SLU. JJ - SLU redshirt BH - SLU redshirt OI - SLU redshirt DB - Air Force Academy Prep School TL - Hargrove Military Academy Prep School. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikenbooster Posted July 11, 2006 Author Share Posted July 11, 2006 cool. forgot about DB and TL, but they still technically have the ability to redshirt one year in college as well, but your point is well taken. My observation is that there are no JUCOs on our roster, and it hasn't happened for a while. mhg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveforVouk Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 We had one last year and two the year before that with VN and Tom Frericks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 loveforvouk, i think what billikenbooster meant when he wrote, "it hasnt happened for awhile" was that it has been a long time since our roster had zero juco's on it. i personally cant remember our roster never having a juco player on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StLouBlue Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I think Brad has it figured out now on JUCOs in that two of the key JUCOs we were recruiting were kids that qualified out of high school, Stemler and Walls. Reggie Larry and Kaba were two other JUCOs that we looked at, not sure about them being qualified or not but it seemed both were fallbacks or plans B or C if you prefer. With Jamal Walker coaching at a JUCO fairly recently, I would expect that we will still look for JUCO players. I also expect that our focus will probably be on the qualified JUCOs. Another option would be to help and advise a kid going to JUCO what classes he should take in order to transfer to SLU after 2 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveforVouk Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Thanks for the pick up. I also think that we don't have any JUCOs because of our recent experiences. Neither Tom or V contributed what we expected. Tom was great his Junior year but injured his whole senior year and didn't contribute much. VN just never worked out. He was a nice kid and decent player but we didn't get what we wanted from him. JUCOs are hard because you have a limited time to teach them your offense and defense and to mold them into the player you're looking for. With the project players like Obi and Bryce, they get to come in for 5 years (with the redshirt) and the coaches get to teach them their offense and defense as well as practice with the team. I think it makes more sense to have a project player who you can coach and work with rather then a player who might be gone before they can learn the system. Prep schoolers are also a great deal. They get another year to grow and work on their game before coming to SLU. Going to a great prep school like Tommie did gave him a great year to work on his game and his body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I fail to see any correlation between junior college and multiple concussions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 It made sense to me: just that we haven't had good luck with our most recent JUCOs, in addition to the fact that Brad would rather sign four-year players. JUCOs have to be instant-impact players like Love or Jeffers to be meaningful signings. I think Tom was a good pickup if he could have stayed healthy. Unfortunately, when you're only there for two years and also have health problems, the program is screwed. And VN wasn't the player we thought he'd be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Tom didn't have a heart condition or something he brought into the program with him. He shouldn't be in the same catagory as Newbourn. Period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Jeffers was OK his first year but I don't think I would really classify 6.5 ppg as "instant impact". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FromGreeceWithLove Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I think you would have to put Frericks and Newborne into the same category; they were both junior college transfers that did not work out for us. Tom did not work out due more to injuries, but many people questioned Tom's heart and whether he really put in the effort to make himself the best player he could be. Vas'Shun just was not the player we thought we were getting, that happens in recruiting. I don't think we should completely ignore looking at juco kids, but unless the kid fills an immediate need I would prefer going with a kid out of highschool who the coaches can teach and work with for four seasons. I would like to look at recruiting juco's as a last resort, unless you find an absolute gem or have a hole in your roster. Brad came in needing to fill a hole at center and Tom fit that bill, a kid who could step in and compete physically at that position in C-USA. V came in to fill a hole we had at the 4 spot. I like that our roster is full for the most part and we don't need to look to a juco to come in and fill a gapping hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 it was always my opinion that jeffers could have been the man from day one but deferred to justin love and concentrated on defense more than scoring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I'm not sure I buy that Roy. Dave Friggin' Ferguson outscored Jeffers that year, and in less minutes. Jeffers just wasn't a very good shooter his first year, be it from the perimeter or the free throw line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I don't think anyone who watched Tom play questioned his heart. You are mistaken sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FromGreeceWithLove Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Ask the players and coaching staff what they thought of Tom's "conditioning" over the summer before his senior season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 >it was always my opinion that jeffers could have been the >man from day one but deferred to justin love and >concentrated on defense more than scoring. Love was hurt (bad back) the first 5 games or so of the season and we struggled. MO didn't appear to me to have a scorer's mentality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 when he was hurt. He played all 32 games his senior year. In my opinion, there is some truth to Roy's assertion that Jeffers deffered but also a lot of truth that he significantly improved his shooting and game in general between his junior and senior seasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 from greece, i think you and rich are making two separate points. sure tom might have been able to come to pre-season practice in better shape, but in the same sense that doesnt diminish the effort he put in from that point forward. no arguing what condition he should have been in, but i fail to see that means he wasnt putting out 100% thereafter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 i think he was told his role and he accepted that. ferguson came in with a scorer's attitude from day one. mo jeffers was just a good team player to have on the roster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FromGreeceWithLove Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 In my original post I made reference to that last statement of yours, but decided to edit it out. I had heard things concerning Tom's commitment and decided it was in poor judgement and taste to post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Love was the man when Mo Jeffers came in, and he knew that. When it was his turn, he took full advantage of it and was a very good player as a senior. I referred to them both as "instant impact" from a historical standpoint- both were solid contributors in their two years at SLU, and did not take much time for seasoning or to adjust. They were everything you hope for in JUCO recruits. As for Ferg, he was one of those guys who progressively got better throughout his career, and by the end, he would rather have been the man. He had a great senior season, and was our most improved player that year. I think he was even better after he graduated. He played a lot of scrimmages after he was done, and was flat-out dominant. He could bury threes from NBA range with ease, and really spread the floor out well. Sure, those were just scrimmages, but he put on a clinic for guys currently on the roster at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p diddy Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Mo really put the time and work in to improving his offensive game between his junior and senior years. He came back with an improved jumper, 3-point range while still being the defensive stopper. Despite not being invited to any postseason pre-draft camps, Mo was still drafted by the kings in the second round. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had he not broken his hand the summer he was drafted. by the end of his billiken career, mo jeffers was special. bad boyz for life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 A lot of people close to Mo and the program were certain that he was going to make the Kings' roster until he broke his hand. Sadly, he was never able to get back to 100% of the player he was before that. The Kings very well may have had a hidden gem at the end of the draft that year. He wasn't going to be an all-star, but could have been an asset to a pro squad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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