Should Maguire Redshirt?

[GameTime]

DM looks like he needs a lot of work and time to learn to play at this level. His foot speed needs to increase and his overall defense is poor. As a big SLU fan I don't see where this freshman can help us. My God, What is his shooting percentage?

[bluecrewprez]

I don't think he should. If you've seen him in practice, you know that he has the talent. He just needs some college-level play to give him that needed confidence to do during a game what he does during practice. How can he get the confidence that comes with playing during a real game if he doesn't play this season?

[Box and Won]

2-11 (18%)

[NashvilleBilliken]

I would imagine that his shooting percentage is due to his introduction to D-1. All reports are that his shot is beautiful and will start dropping soon.

However, I don't think redshirting him is a bad idea. With the gaurds we have right now, is he even going to get off the bench? And it appears we are focusing on PF's only for this class, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to add a gaurd to that lineup. Not sure if it's really necessary to redshirt him, but I could handle it.

[courtside]

In an ideal world DM would redshirt. Slu might have to suit him up 4 this season. He would be a redshirt on many high level D 1 teams.

[Billiken Rich]

I don't think so. Last night was a frantic, frenetic, free-for-all for long stretches. A good deal of time was spent with walk ons playing. Dustin didn't look horrific on defense, or any worse than any other non-starter. For a freshman in a wild exhibition game, I wasn't totally impressed but I wasn't worried either. Dustin will be fine, I think....

[cheeseman]

You normally redshirt a kid who needs to let his body catch up or he has had an injury that is slowing him down from being 100% or you clearly do not need him this year at all. Nothing that has been posted about Dustin would say he falls into any of these situations. We still need a shooter - to say we have that guy in Brown or Polk or Meyers is not necessarily true. Polk and Meyers are not the shooters we expected and Brown has the ability but can he deliver all season - he did not last year so I would hate to go into the season counting only on Danny as our other shooting option. Keeping Dustin around this year will give us a cover on our bet on Danny and help him grow rather than practicing only.

[willie]

I agree he is not the type of kid you redshirt. If he can play he'll help in certain games when we need shooting. If he can't play why keep him around for an extra year.

[bauman]

The best reason for him to play this year (for me) is my disappointment at this early stage, in the shooting of Luke Meyer. I thought he was going to be a Scott Highmark type player when we signed him. All the reports were that he was an excellent shooter. At his size, that is what you need to bring to the table. I understand that Luke does a lot of things better than average, BUT shooting is not one of them. If he is our 3-------he has to be able to contribute from 15-22 feet, as DB did against HS. If he is our 4, then, well then, we are not as good of team as we think we are.

I have no idea why Luke didn't spend the off-season improving his shot (like TL did). It's nice that he got stronger, but he needed to become the shooter we all thought he was.

Assuming DM can actually shoot (and doesn't pull a DP/LM on us) then we need him at the 2 and/or 3 when KL and DB need some rest.

[billiken_roy]

bauman, i dont remember luke being labeled a shooter as a high schooler. i do remember him being labeled a scorer. considering he played pivot a lot as a senior, why would you expect him to turn into scott highmark who was an outside shooter from day one?

what we have seen from luke thus far this year offensively is a more aggressive attitude. two years ago, there were times luke got the ball and got rid of it as fast as he could. he rarely even looked at the basket.

in these two exhibition game he has taken the ball to the basket with a level of confidence we have never seen from him.

i too would love to see a better shooting touch, but at this point, i will take the rebounding, screening, defense and putbacks.

does he deserve more time than danny brown? no way. and most of us are on record of agreeing he shouldnt be our power forward. i really think that will change as obi and horace get more comfortable and as justin johnson and knollmeyer find their way back. as someone else pointed out, remember, soderberg didnt even start kevin lisch last year at the beginning of the season. the rookies obviously arent handed anything at slu.

[GOSLU68]

if we have a scholarship left over why not split it between the walk ons? is that allowed it would sure be an incentive for more than one walk on. If the center from HS can read and write he could be in the mix for the 4 spot if it is split between OBI, JJ, LM, HD at this point

That kid ran for 40 minutes.

[Cowboy]

nashville - not all reports, i only saw the umsl game but his (dm's) form did not impress me, but if he can make it, get it to the goal anyway you can.

how many minutes are out there on the avg night for him? i think there are 3 possibilities

#1 he makes his first couple of shots in his first game and gets filled with confidence and gets 8-12 min a game as he continues to make

#2 he misses everything the first couple of shots and is buried on the bench only to see time in the last minutes of our blowout wins #3 ub never plays him as ub goes back to 7 player rotation

[Nate Latsch]

This is the capsule from when Luke was an All-Metro first-team selection:

Luke Meyer, 6-5, sr., forward, Borgia

A four-year starter, Meyer played on loaded Borgia teams for his first three seasons, but he was asked to do a lot more this year as a senior and he responded. With a young supporting cast around him and defenses keyed to his every move, the versatile lefthander averaged 28.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.97 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.6 blocks per game in helping Borgia to a 24-5 record and a trip to the Class 4 quarterfinals. Despite facing double- and triple-teams routinely, Meyer used his smooth mid-range pull-up jumper to score 829 points in 29 games this season. He finished his tremendous career with 2,192 points, becoming the first player in Borgia history to hit the 2,000-point plateau. Meyer signed with St. Louis University.

- Nate

[pompeytir]

Saw Dustin at EDW-ESL High School game last year...Here's what I saw

The Bad- Maguire is 6'5 and moves like a High School center. His lateral movement is severely lacking and he is far from a '2' or '3' guard. He will have problems guarding quicker players (ala Luke Meyer, maybe more). ESL players denied him the ball most of the game when he was posted in the block (he didn't work with his back to the basket in the low post). He didn't really get the ball on the perimeter to create, drive or shoot unless it was a kick out and shot. He did handle the basketball in the open court and his handle and his foot speed wasn't up to snuff against ESL, his forays in the open court didn't end pretty if he forced the issue. He shot release looked a bit slow as he continually brings the ball to his hip first before taking the shot up-even on spot up shooting.

The Good-He is an extremely accurate shooter with plenty of range(I didn't see Luke Meyer in High School so I can't say who was better-now I'd take Maguire). He was in the right place at the right time all game. He was the beneficiary of some really good passes from Spencer Stewart (U of I Chicago). I couldn't comment on his court vision (zero assists).

Overall-He is 6'5 and the SLU coaching staff will probably correct his habit of taking the ball down before he shoots. SLU definitely needs shooting and he can light it up from there.

In my mind, seeing him against such a quick team really highlights the Luke Meyer issue with SLU right now. Can a good shooter, who is somewhat limited athletically, but with the advantage of being tall, be able to get his jump shot off consistently and accurately enough? Along with playing adequate defense to keep the coaching staff happy?