Not sure how far will get with this, but interested to see what the rest of the league is doing. With the portal/NIL era it really is a wild west, and almost a re-set every season - as we saw last season how far down we were predicted and finished T-1st.
New Coach: Schertz from SLU. I was a little skeptical at first with all the hype. However I love his background building a D2 power, and then turning Indiana State around into a national story in short order. I think this guy is good.

Roster:
Stealing this capsule from the SLU Board:

Gibson Jimerson 6’5” Sr, 215, Guard Wing, 36 Min, 16 Pts, 2.9 RB, 3Pt% 36, FT% 86, 2.1 Asst, .66 Stls, Billikens-A10

Robbie Avila 6’10”240 Jr, Center, 31 Min, 17 Pts, 7 RB, 3Pt% 39m FT% 81, 4.1 Asst, .67 Stls, Indiana State– Missouri Valley,
Shertz: Makes everyone around him better.

Isaiah Swope 5’10” 170, SR, Guard, 33 Min, 16 Pts, 3 RB, 3Pt% 36, FT% 74, 2.1 Asst, 1.3 Stls, Indiana State, Schertz His quickness and shooting are at elite levels and is one of the best scorers in all of college basketball.

Larry Hughes II 6’4” 185 Jr, Guard, 23 Min, 7 Pts, 2.7 RB, 3 Pt% 35, FT% 77, 1.5 Asst, Billikens

Kellen Thames 6’5” 205, SO, Guard, 19 Min, 6 Pts, 3.7 RB, 3 Pt% 36, FT% 55, .8 Asst, .9 Stls, 1.2 Stls, Billikens

Josiah Dotzler 6’3” 185, SO, Guard, 4Min, 1 Pts, 0 RB, 3Pt% 18, FT% 60, .2 Asst, .3 Stls, Creighton – Big East, Schertz: I recruited him out of high school.

A J Casey 6’9” 221, JR, Forward, 9 Min, 2 Pts, 2 RB, 3Pt% 0, FT% 59, .3 Asst, .1 Stls, Miami – ACC,
Schertz: Can play with a big and operate as small ball 5. Defensively can guard 1-5.

Kalu Anya 6’8” 215, JR, Forward, 27 Min, 9.6 Pts, 7.4 RB, 3Pt% 27, FT% 51, 1.7 Asst, 1.2 Stls, Brown-Ivy League, Schertz: Can guard 1-5.

Kobe Johnson 6’3”, SR, Guard, 26 Min 6 Pts, 2 RB, 3pt% 28, FT% 79, 2.2 Asst, .55 Stls, West Virginia

Freshman:

Max Pikaar 6’11” 205, FR, Power Forward, Double/Double, 3Pt% 40, FT% ? Netherlands - Sunrise Christian Academy (Kansas) Schertz – Can handle, pass and shoot at the highest levels Defensively can guard 1 – 4.

Amari McCottry 6’6” 180, FR, Guard Wing, 22 Pts, 9 RB, St. Thomas More, 247 3*,
Schertz: His size, skill and explosiveness are all at the very highest level.

Looks to have the dogs to compete for top of the A10. Obviously we all know Robbie Avila. Also brought in top guard Swope from ISU, and got Jimerson to return.

Also a proponent of position less hoops, again from the SLU board:
Schertz doesn't use the old player position terms anymore. In several of his intervals, he has said he has a Center + four positionless players. He uses Creators, Shooters, Swings, Hybrids and Bigs as his terms. The old 1-4 are interchangeable players. His Center, Avila, is the decision maker.

Other interesting note, apparently hired an assistant known for implementing zone defense, last piece of plagiarism:
Schertz hired Phil Gaetano from Merrimak, a team recognized for their zone defense. It's been called the no 3 zone or no fun zone. In any event, Shertz described Geatano as an Xs and Os servant. It makes me wonder if we will be running the no 3 zone?

Last thing of interest, as usual the itsy bitsy Spiders not getting much respect. The SLU board mentions Dayton and Loyola as prime suspects to be at the top of the league, with other contenders TBD, this is after all our pick ups. Will be interesting to see where we are picked in preseason. I would not mind being lower again 6-8 something like that - but I think based on last season success and our filling the roster in the portal we will be seen as top 4 by the media.

I think - unless Holmes comes back for another massive NIL payday - SLU may very well be the media darlings and pre-season favorites with much slobbering over, Larry Nerd/Milk Chamberlain/Steph Blurry/Cream Abdul- Jabbar Avila

Figured we should start a fresh thread .. a few are beginning to trickle out with coaching changes mainly.

3 year starter for Pepperdine ..

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Disclaimer, by guards I am including Hunt, Tyne, GW3, and B. Artis
For now I would categorize guys that guys like Apostolos, Roche and even Tanner more as wings. The four above I see as guys that can act as primary ball handler, and guard quick guards on the opposition.

I was excited to have Tyne and Hunt back. Really like what they bring to the table, with defense, intensity, ball handling. Both aggressive and fearless. Both can score the ball. However neither has yet been a real big time scorer at this level yet. Hunt exceeded my expectations this past season, and shot a career best 38.6%. Tyne also exceeded expectations, as a true freshman, reclass backwards at that, he came in and looked like he belonged, but again - offense
not that consistent yet.

Really nice job to add two more guys into this rotation. B. Artis looks like a proven commodity to me, can hit shots, quick, can make plays for other guys. GW3 - probably the most interesting player of the group. Super high ceiling guy. Can do a little of everything - but has yet to do it or have the opportunity at the college level. As others have said, likely one of the most celebrated guys we have recruited - based on high school rankings. I love the possibilities of this group. I kind of feel like the floor is that B. Artis and Hunt play big minutes and are very good A10 players. Ceiling is that GW3 steps in and has a Jordan King like year and Hunt and B. Artis play as well as last season, and Tyne adds consistency with his shot. I think if all play well there are minutes to go around, and with GW3's size and athleticism I could very well see some rotations with 3 of the 4 on the court for stretches. Exciting outlook for our backcourt next season.

Wow .. Go Spiders. 3 years of eligibility I think.

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Curtis Blair officiating playoff game tonite Dallas Mavs hosting OC Thunder.

Anyone have any information on the Spider Collective NIL and what is has been up to? How much money have they raised? How much have they given out, etc.

Or is this still a secret Fight Club situation where the first rule of Spider NIL is not to talk about Spider NIL. Just thinking with the transfer portal being open and trying to get guys, this is where NIL money could really have an impact IF the school wanted to go that direction.

And we're off! Paying VMI $82,000 to come visit December 21. I forget where we are in the multi-year deal.

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As we had been expecting for a few days now, UConn transfer Apostolos 'Tolo' Roumoglou is officially on board.

6'8 G/Wing, two years of eligibility.

Two days, two transfers from Michigan and UConn respectively. Let's go!

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I expect Hunt, Dji, and Walz to start with 2 incoming transfers/freshman. We lose our top two 3 point guys in King and Bigs and likely have to replace them with 3 point guys if we are to match the success of this season.

PG...we saw what King did for us. Hopefully, the right transfer PG saw that too and will be the perfect fit like King was. Tyne showed some promise, but I'm not sure he is ready to be a big minute PG, so our best option is probably the portal.

Hunt. I really liked what he brought and think he had a solid year. He also showed what a great leader he is, and should be an even bigger leader next year. We might need a little more scoring from him next year, and I would like to see him shoot more 3s. He made 22 of 57 (38.6%). So doubling that would help us tremendously.

Dji. He had a really good year at both ends of the court. He is really good at driving and did a good job finishing at the basket. He needs to dramatically improve his FT shooting, and I still think he needs to find a way to at least be a threat from 3 if left open. He averaged 31 minutes a game, but only shot 38 3s ( 12-38 for 31.6%). Regardless of who we land in the portal, I'm not sure they will match the volume and percentage from 3 that King (84-203 for 41.4%) and Bigs ( 48-128 for 37.2%) gave us. So, Dji has to work and work and work that much more on becoming a 3 point threat.

Walz. I liked what I saw this year. He is physical, he can block some shots, doesn't back down from anyone, and thank goodness he doesn't shoot the floater. I appreciate everything Quinn gave us, and he had some huge games for us, but I was never a fan of his floaters and push shots. Even when he made a few, I think our opponents were more than happy to give him those all game long. When he shot those, we weren't shooting 3s, weren't shooting lay ups, and weren't drawing fouls. It's just not an efficient shot and I hope we never see it again. At 7 feet tall, I just never understood why he couldn't take one or two more dribbles for the layup or slam, or draw a foul at the rim, especially considering he rarely got doubled. But, he did a lot of real good things for us this year, so just because I didn't like his floaters and push shots doesn't mean he wasn't a good player for us. He absolutely was and we will miss him. Back to Walz, I think he is ready for good minutes. I like how active and physical he is, and with more minutes, he will need to stay out of foul trouble and be a key inside presence for us.

Bench: Roche. Need a bounce back year from him. I would never count him out. If you can shoot, you can shoot, and we all know he can shoot. It wouldn't surprise me to see him get his confidence back next year and be a key piece for us.

Tyne. Love his quickness and confidence with the ball. Needs to be much better from 3 point land. He got a lot of good looks and needs to knock more of them down.

Everything else is too much of a guess right now. Not sure how many minutes our current freshman will get next year. Hopefully, Soulis is ready to get minutes and back up Walz. Hard to tell what roles Tanner, Smith, and Graham will have without seeing much of them yet. I think Noyes might be exactly who we saw this year, so not sure if I expect him to be a rotation guy. Maybe he can prove me wrong, kind of like Dji did this year. I'm excited about Robinson and McGlothin coming in and McGlothin looks like he could get some minutes from day 1. Who knows? Maybe even start, because the minutes will be there to grab.

We're getting a visit this weekend from Matt Becht out of D-II Southern New Hampshire. This would be his sixth year total...he played a handful of games in two seasons at Mount St. Mary's then three seasons at SNHU. Averaged 16.4 ppg and 44.8% from deep this season.

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OK, feel free to delete if you think this will get too messy - but feel like anyone we get a visit from should get a thread.

Really like his size / skills / steals / bball IQ combination. As Sman noted, would fit great on the wing next to Dji or hopefully not in place of Dji. Does a little bit of everything. As a 6'5 guard, knows how to use his size to get to the rim it appears from highlights. Sounds like there will be some high level competition for him obviously. But to me seems like a super fit on both fronts.

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Following 23's lead of giving visit guys their own threads, pulling Albany's Jonathan Beagle out for discussion. 6'10", 240 lb. F with two years remaining.

America East ROY in 2022–23 with 9x ROW awards.

Stepped away from the team in early February this year for personal reasons, with Killings saying he "wasn't feeling right about playing."



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