MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

now yjak  -  that might be a little over the top....

[y_jack_lok]

I'm rambling.....

It's what you do best. 

[hopefan]

a dagger to my heart!!!!!

[Titan Q]

Westminster has landed a good player from here in Columbia, Mo – Charlie Henderson, a 6-5 "combo forward" from Rock Bridge High School.  Charlie will join former Rock Bridge teammates Skylar Tolson and Briton Rudd in Fulton.

Charlie is a legitimate 6-5...maybe closer to 6-6 actually.  As a junior at Rock Bridge, he came off the bench and played the 4 on the loaded 28-3 Bruins team that lost in the state semifinal game of the largest division in Missouri.  He played behind 6-8 F Jordan Dressler, who just finished his freshman season at D1 Toledo.  This year Charlie was the starting 3, but did play quite a bit of 4 as well.  He is long and very athletic (great leaper), and he runs the floor extremely well.  He is not a pure 3-point shooter, but he can knock down open 3's.  He is not a pure back-to-the-basket player, but he scores very effectively in the low post due to his athleticism.  He is one of those kids that just knows how to play, regardless of what position you ask him to play.  A comparison that comes to mind - Wash U senior Cameron Smith.  Or IWU forward John Koschnitzky.

Charlie averaged 9.7 points per game as a senior, and I'm guessing added 5 or 6 rebounds per game.  He played on a Rock Bridge team where everything flowed through 6-6 2-guard Ricky Kreklow, a 1st team all-stater and a Mizzou recruit.  A lot of the Rock Bridge offense consisted of Kreklow shooting from 25 feet (and making more than he missed).  The other 4 players on the floor were really just role players, and because of that, a very talented kid like Charlie Henderson stayed completely under the radar.

I work with Charlie's father at State Farm, so I took special interest in his recruiting this season.  I watched him play several times and would always find myself evaluating him as a potential CCIW player (since that is the league I'm obviously the most familiar with).  I left every game sold that Charlie would be a very good CCIW small forward as JR and SR.  I felt so strongly about it, in fact, that I tried my best to connect Charlie and IWU head coach Ron Rose.   Ron did pursue and there was a lot of dialogue with Charlie and family this season, but in the end I think Bloomington, IL was just a little farther away than Charlie wanted to go.

In the end, Charlie had a full-ride to Mid-America Nazarene, a very good NAIA I program.  He also had significant interest from NCAA Division II Northwest Missouri State.  What I love is that he picked Westminster because of the balance between academics and athletics...something all hardcore D3 believers should appreciate.

Another factor that I think was big in Charlie picking Westminster is how well the Blue Jays played in the NCAA tournament.  When the brackets came out, seeing that Westminster (which was all over Charlie at this point) was playing the two-time defending national champs and #1-ranked Wash U Bears, and that Illinois Wesleyan (recruiting Charlie as well at this point) was also playing under that same roof, I encouraged Charlie and his dad to drive over to St. Louis to get a great feel for Division III basketball.  They did and I think it is safe to say they drove west that night very impressed with a) the caliber of play in D3, and b) how well Westminster played Wash U.  The Blue Jays were in that game from start to finish.  I really think this helped Charlie feel good about Westminster...knowing they can play with the big boys.  (Charlie was a popular guy at Wash U that night with Westminster coaching staff on him during the IWU/Central game and the IWU staff on him during the Wash U/Westminster game.)

As I told his father,  if Charlie played his high school basketball in, say, Naperville, Illinois, he'd be on everyone's radar and would have had about 6 CCIW schools on him and several other D3's.  Or if he played at Delavan H.S. in central Illinois, a Class 1A (smallest schools) high school that IWU recruit Brady Zimmer starred at, he would have averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds,  been an all-state player, and had 10 D3's on him.   But Columbia, Mo. is in what I'm finding to be "D3 no-man's land."  Westminster is the only D3 school within a 2-hour drive of Rock Bridge H.S, which is a powerhouse in the largest Missouri class.  Kids from mid-Missouri don't really know much about Division III because there just isn't a presence here.  The same caliber of kids who get recruited by 10 D3's in suburban Chicago are really only pursued by NAIA's and maybe D2's here.  And since NAIA I and D2 are higher levels than your average D3, I'm guessing many perfect D3 prospects here are completely under-recruited.  Again, only two D3 schools recruited Henderson (one simply because I happen to live in Columbia, Mo)...and this is a kid good enough to play for Wash U or Illinois Wesleyan or Wooster.

I'll be very surprised if Charlie Henderson does not end up being a very good player at Westminster.  In high school he was really only used as a "role player", with DI players around him.  And I think he views himself as a "role player."  I'm confident though that if put in a system that really takes advantage of his talents, he will shine. Charlie is a good player and an absolutely first-class, high-character kid.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/media/multimedia/2009/03/14/media/031409_RBBoysBball_01__t_w300_h600.jpg
(#40)

http://www.waynesvilledailyguide.com/sports/highschools/x1664774778/Area-players-fill-all-district-hoops-team

[hopefan]

Great writeup TQ .....  I'm looking forward to seeing Charlie play, and hope to meet Mr. Henderson!!!!

[hopefan]

In the last couple of weeks I've received several emails detailing a double digit number of recruits for Fontbonne.  It was a good job by the Fontbonne staff... returning underclassmen will have to get better this year...  a number of the recruits appear to be a quality that could surpass the existing guys....  enough to be a top 4?   time will tell.....    Unfortunately, the SLIAC room isn't supplying any comments on the recruiting efforts of other schools......

[y_jack_lok]

No one else who posts here is as close to a school's program as the FU source, so it's unrealistic to expect much, if any, information. Recruits with gaudy numbers still have to perform at the next level. This will all settle itself on the court starting in November.

Hope, dinner and cards sometime?

[Titan Q]

A kid heading to Greenville - 5-5 PG Alex Mumphard (Belleville Althoff H.S.)...

http://earlaustinjr.com/recruiting-news/3202.html

[Titan Q]

Someone close to the MacMurray program sent me a note with their recruiting class...

Dylan Burton 6'4" G/F Girard HS
IBCA 2nd Team All State
AP Honorable Mention All State
All Tournament Team New Berlin Tip Off Tournament
All Tournament Team Waverly Holiday Tournament
Macoupin County Tournament MVP
2010 Stats 22.5 PPG, 9RPG, 4APG

Brian Suckow 6'6" G/F Altamont HS
IBCA Special Mention All State
National Trail Conference 1st Team All Conference
All Tournament Team St. Elmo
All Tournament Team Vandalia Holiday Tournament
All Tournament Team National Trail Conference Tournament
2010 Stats 18PPG, 7.5RPG, 57 Blocked Shots

Kyle Fore 6'4" F Macon Meridian HS
Started on 2009 1A State Championship team
2010 Stats 11PPG, 7RPG, 4APG
Okaw Valley 2nd Team All Conference
Decatur Herald and Review 2nd Team All Macon County

Wyatt Washburn 6'0" PG Maroa Forsyth HS
Okaw Valley 1st Team All Conference
All Tournament Team Watseka Christmas Tournament
All Tournament Team Macon County Tournament
Member of Maroas 2007 State Championship team(Only Freshman to dress)
2010 Stats 14PPG, 5RPG, 5APG

Zeke Asher 6'0" SG St. Elmo HS
2010 State Three Point Qualifier
Egyptian Illini 2nd Team All Conference
National Trail Honorable Mention All Conference
Decatur Herald and Review Honorable Mention All Area
2010 Stats 14.4 PPG 1.7 APG


Transfers:
Colton Pettyjohn 6'5 PF Mattoon HS 2009 from Lakeland Community College
2009 Big 12 1st Team All Conference
2009 HS Stats 15PPG 6RPG 60%FG

Morgan Bond 6'6" F Decatur MacArthur HS 2007 from Concordia University Chicago

Cody Best 6'3" SF Staunton HS 2009 from Lewis and Clark Community College


It looks like Todd Creal and staff have done very well.  In terms of the freshmen, Burton and Suckow are the headliners - they will probably get a lot of time next year.  The 3 transfers should get immediate time as well.

MacMurray might be right there with Westminster in 2010-11.

[Titan Q]

Springfield Journal-Register All-Area Team (Dylan Burton)...

http://blogs.sj-r.com/podcasts/wp-content/uploads/04022010allareaboyshoops.pdf


And a website that had Suckow 1st Team 1A All-South Team...

http://www.abaselineview.com/

[hopefan]

Thanks to TQ for the additional recruiting news...

I looked up the 3 transfers to Mac and the info available leaves question marks..

LakeLand site tells next to nothing, so Pettyjohn's performance there is unknown.... he was on the roster.

Bond played in 2007-2008 at Concordia Chicago   10 games, 5.5 ppg...  no stats in 2008-09 or 2009-10

Best played in only a couple of games at Lewis and Clark with 2 ppg

The Mac Frosh list looks good  let's hope the 3 6'4"  6'6"kids are rebounders....   Mac needs that with their graduation losses.

If Earl Austin likes Mumphard, then I do too - Earl is the most knowlegeable high school hoops guy around here.   Greenville too desparately need some size in this year's recruiting class.

[dansand]

LakeLand site tells next to nothing, so Pettyjohn's performance there is unknown.... he was on the roster.

Here you go Hopefan:

2 points and 6 rebounds in five games

http://www.njcaa.org/colleges_college_player.cfm?sid=4&collegeid=1576&category=Roster&slid=2&teamid=92438&athleteid=279500

[hopefan]

ugh.....  thanks dansand......   these are the kind of situations where you wish you couuld be a fly on the wall....   why didn't it work out for these guys the first time around....  can Coach Creol work a little magic to bring the best out of them.....  If TQ heard they could contribute right away, someone thinks they'll fit in well....

[HCACBBALL]

Hopefan,

Ugh? Really?

Pettyjohn played behind a 6'7 ft soph and 7'0 ft frosh that scored 16 and 11 respectively at the NJCAA Division I level.  The soph is going to UIC.  Pettyjohn will do just fine.  Best played on a very good Lewis and Clark team.  I think Creal (not Creol) knows what he is doing.  I sure people had doubts about Sichting, Randle and McClellan when he brought them in a few years ago.  Those three have worked out well for Mac.  Look for Mac to stay near the top again this year. 

[hopefan]

hcac  -   ugh to the disappointing stats - but from the rest of my paragraph I obviously have hope and optimism - based on TQ's Comments and Coach Creols success that these guys may help...