p diddy Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 did anybody see this week's st. louis american newspaper this week. it has a giant picture of marque scoring the winning basket against louisville last year to lead their year in review section. i love it. great win at dayton. from listening to the radio, it seems like izik is really buying in on the defensive end and rebounding. that's really good, because at 6'9" athletic and very long, he can be quite disruptive on that end. maybe that will help his offense come around. hopefully, ian can give us a boost now that he is eligible. we could use that extra size. when tom stays in the game, he can be a real factor. He had 10 rebounds against dayton after his double-double against butler. i was at the collinsville tournament. I thought lisch was sensational throughout the tournament. I watched three of his games. I thought peoria was going to run them out of the building when they went up 14-2, but kevin brought them back and they actually had the lead after three quarters. as for livingston, he may be the best player i've seen at the tournament since i started going there, save for maybe laphonso ellis of lincoln. that kid is special and he was supposedly injured going into the tournament. Tommie has a great tournament as well. He's so smooth, its unbelievable. there's still something missing with east side's team. there is a lot of talent there, but something still isn't clicking. belleville west blew out centralia in their own tournament in the championship game. that arthur sargent is really starting to blow up. what do you think of him b. roy. bad boyz for life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 I had no idea before the season started that Sargent could shoot from deep like he has. He's the best three point shooter on the team, rebounds well for his size (about 6'4) and is a very good defender. I'd make it a priority to sign Lisch, Sargent and the Marcus Landry kid out of Milwaukee to play power forward and call it a day. Landry lists Purdue, Wisconsin, Valpo and St. Louis but the first two don't appear to be recruiting him that hard. I saw him play this summer at Fontbonne -- he plays a lot like Matt Shaw and is roughly the same size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 p diddy, i have been touting arthur since i saw him playing in jv last year. it was obvious that he was the best player at west last year already. jb is a better basketball player, but arthur is the most talented. bigger, faster, more athletic, if he had jb's floor sense, he might be a top 10 area player right now and he is only a junior. i agree with everything you said about livingston. i have never compared a player to magic johnson before, but livingston appears to be the closest i have seen to him. what is really exciting about him is the way he took over weds. normally he seems content to being a point guard. but weds it became necessary for him to carry the team and he just was splendid. that said, i was also excited how kevin held his own with shaun. here is the reputed best player in all of high school basketball and kevin matching him play for play and probably making shaun work harder than what he has ever had to work before. when i saw kevin come out at the tipoff and take on livingston, i was afraid that was a mistake as surely livingston would foul the agressive lisch out. never happened. kevin guarded him most of the game. and really made livingston work hard. it was great to see him match him almost point for point. the block kevin had on livingston on the breakaway near the end of the third quarter was notice that he wasnt going to shy away either. it is a shame althoff doesnt have a big guy to go along with the four fine guards they have. the two skinny kids they play at forward would be fine as the 4, but they need a center. the ducey kid not playing really is a let down. had a long discussion this morning with an east side fan about the flyers. unfortunately, we both agree dennis brooks just isnt doing the job. to see all that standing around and one on one stuff when east side is so fast and athletic is just a shame imo. that team is every bit as athletic if not more than any team in the st louis area, but right now, i wouldnt give east side a ghost of a chance vs belleville west, althoff or probably vashon (i haven t seen them play). had a lot of people from belleville come up to me tues and weds to tell me how lucky slu will be to get kevin. i said to all, "i didnt know he had said he is coming to slu." apparently the community thinks kevin is going to be a billiken. p diddy, did you see the score of the belleville west vs centralia game? i was surprised that west dominated them at centralia as such. shaw was named mvp of the tourney though. it appears to me though that the belleville east tourney might really be a show with althoff, west, centralia and carbondale. there is a tip folks on the next great opportunity to see some great high school basketball. p diddy, we should get together at east and watch and talk the games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 3 star, what do you think about peoria central junior miranda? he is also roughly the size of shaw and appears to be very athletic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 I like him. He rebounds, plays tough D and can score on putbacks. Landry is a much more skilled offensive player, though, so that would be my 1st preference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 We find ourselves in kind of a nice position where we only have one scholie open for this class, so we can crystal ball into who we want for next year. I cannot recall that happening in quite awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Is Brad thinking of carrying that scholie over to next or is the 5 and 8 rule a problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Players on scholarship for 2004-05 and on: 2005 grads: Tom Frericks Reggie Bryant Izik Ohanon 2006 grads: Anthony Drejaj 2007 grads: Justin Johnson Darren Clarke Ian Vouyoukas 2008 grads: Bryce Husak Tommie Liddell Dwayne Polk Luke Meyer The Billikens are currently using 11 of their 13 allotted scholarships (actually 12, since Phillip Hunt has one). Next year there will be two open scholarships is Brad doesn't sign anyone else this spring. He signed four for 2003 and can sign four for 2004. In fact, he may be able to sign five, with one replacing Floyd McClain's schollie -- if that one can be replaced right away, the 5-8 rule is increased by one for as many as two years. Brad has said he plans to fill a scholarship during the spring signing period; if he does, he'll have four or five to use for 2005. If not, then he should be able to fill five scholarships for 2005 and leave one unused, if I'm not mistaken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikenbooster Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Thank you, thank you, thank you. Rammer kept saying that IO was a sophomore, and I was sure that he came in as a sophomore last year. Really see the need for CB to have his system in place for a while. In the future, we won't have juniors just learning how to play defense in the Coach's system. They'll know it cold and work on the fine tuning to make it work better. Official Billikens.com sponsor of John Duff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I never thought about replacing RB, TF, and IO all at one time ... I think we need Lisch badly ... TF ... by 2006 IV, and BH should be ready ... JJ or another 4 with this years slot RB ... we still need a perimeter player ... how good is Polk's shot? How does everybody see us for next year and the year after? 2004-2005 starters in parenthesis 1 ... Polk, Drejaj, Liddell ( Polk or Liddell ) 2 ... Bryant, Lidell, Drejaj, Meyer ( Bryant ) 3 ... Izik, Meyer, Liddell ( Izik ) 4 ... JJ, Ian ( new recruit or Ian ) 5 ... Tom, Ian, Bryce ( Tom ) We need another 4 with experience for this last recruit. That looks like a nice lineup Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 First of all, I don't think Anthony Drejaj is going to give up his spot has a key contributor/likely starter for any freshman, regardless of where he's from or how highly he's regarded. Second, you omitted Darren Clarke. Capital D has some ability and will have more experience than the newcomers (I'm still hoping he gets an opportuinity to shine and contribute this year), and Coach Soderberg has shown he prefers to go with experience (because the experienced players can play his system the way he wants without having to think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheA_Bomb Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I think we will see Drejaj starting at Point next year. He plays tough D can shoot the 3 (sometimes). He was a big part of one of the best teams in the nation at avoiding turn overs last year. I thik we were like #8 or something for least turn overs at like 10.8 per game. That is just my gut feeling. AD PG RB SG IO SF PF IV C TF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeSmetBilliken Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I did a little looking around and while I couldn't find anything about the Landry kid that was mentioned, I did come across a player named DeAndre Thomas, who is listed around 6'7-6'8 and weighs 250 lbs. He is from Chicago and attends Westinghouse High School, which is the school where former Billiken Quitman Dillard is now the head basketball coach. Does anyone know if we would have any chance with this guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I don't disagree with you on AD starting early in the year ... but by conference play ... I expect that either TL or Polk stepping up. As I see AD more as a come off the bench player with his intensity. I just think he is to inconsistent to start. Hopefully I will be wrong ... It will be nice to be discussing who should be playing instead of who shouldn't. Yes I did forget DC ... funny he is not even on my mind. I hope he develops into a player that can earn some minutes. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 drejaj plays madman defense every second he is in he game. he does a fine job of protecting the ball when he has it (how many times do any of you recall drejaj getting the ball stripped when dribbling the ball?) maybe his only downfall is his inconsistent shooting %. well he is only a sophomore. that is an aspect that should continue to improve as well as his confidence leading the team (see josh fisher over the last 4 years). i personally will be surprised to see drejaj not play monster minutes the last two seasons at slu. he might never sit out! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Polk's defense is legit. It will be an intense competition between Polk and Drejaj for the starting PG spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Roy, I agree with you - AD is an upgrade from Pulley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 My question is why is he still available? - can he qualify? Of course anything is possible whe found AD at the last minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 cheeseman, we are talking about juniors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Thanks but somebody above mentioned about this Spring or at least I thought that is what they said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 >Roy, I agree with you - AD is an upgrade from Pulley. Definitely agree as well--much better defense and a better outside shot even with AD's inconsistency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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