MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Joevegas]

Found where 6'8 Grant Tucker teammate of Austin Guinn tweeted he will be attending Fontbonne. Two players from #15 Bishop Gorman HS, Las Vegas. Wow that's another big pick up.

New look Red Devils this year.  Not a lot of info, but looks like Marious and Marquis Lobdell are on board, both coming from Aurora U.

Marious: 6' 0" guard, AU's leading scorer last year at 16 ppg
Marquis: 6' 3" forward, bench player averaging 6.6 ppg and 4 rpg

I did some digging, originally just curious to see if Marious and Marquis were twins, brothers, cousins, whatever... can't answer that one, as both are in the same class (they were listed as juniors at Aurora), but they attended different high schools in Peoria.. Marious listed as Manuel HS, Marquis listed as Limestone HS. 

However, something else came to my attention... I looked up the All conference team, and Marious Lobdell, the leading scorer on the conference regular season and conference tournament championship team, did not make All Conference.. not 1st team, not 2nd team, not even Honorable Mention.  VERY strange... so I checked some Box Scores... Both Marious and Marquis played throughout the regular season, up through the final regular season game vs Dominican, played Feb.12.  Aurora won that game, but I do note that Marious fired up 15 shots in 19 minutes... he didn't sit for foul trouble... several other players played 23-30 minutes in that game for Aurora.   What followed is this:

Neither Marious nor Marquis played in any of three conference tourney wins, nor in the NCAA tourney loss to St. Thomas.

WHY?  Injury (to both?) or something else?          Surprisingly, nothing was mentioned about their absence for those games in the Nathcon room, and the couple articles I read about the games didn't mention the Lobdells.

Wonder if a Nathcon fan can shed some light........

[Joevegas]

Bishop Gorman was a loaded team in 2012-13.  Most of the 17 kids on varsity would have started for any other high school squad in Nevada.  Gorman was ranked 9th in prep nation also.  Both Guinn and Tucker played with shabazz muhammad and the 2015 number one player Stephen Zimmerman. The Chandler kid played at Bonanza high school in Vegas.  Not a good team but Chandler was their best player and should do well at Fontbonne  the upside on these kids is very big

[y_jack_lok]

Found where 6'8 Grant Tucker teammate of Austin Guinn tweeted he will be attending Fontbonne. Two players from #15 Bishop Gorman HS, Las Vegas. Wow that's another big pick up.

I love that we are now getting our information by finding the tweets of these guys. 

[ecreddevils]

EC:  Parker Gibson, 6' 5" F, St. John's NW Military Academy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpC3F8IuV6Q

[hopefan]

on Parker Gibson... nice workout tape, good looking form as a shooter.. of course, being a lefty, I'm partial to that left handed J..

Question.. I notice Parker was class of 2012 Pontiac HS, then attended St John's NW Military School this past school year... is that considered a year 13 Prep year (fairly typical out east), or is that a JC year that would count against his eligibility?  I haven't heard of any prep school kids taking that extra year out here in the midwest, so I'm curious if that rule still applies, and what is the case with Parker Gibson?

Regardless, looks like a great catch for EC..... Thanks Ecreddevils.....

[ecreddevils]

on Parker Gibson... nice workout tape, good looking form as a shooter.. of course, being a lefty, I'm partial to that left handed J..

Question.. I notice Parker was class of 2012 Pontiac HS, then attended St John's NW Military School this past school year... is that considered a year 13 Prep year (fairly typical out east), or is that a JC year that would count against his eligibility?  I haven't heard of any prep school kids taking that extra year out here in the midwest, so I'm curious if that rule still applies, and what is the case with Parker Gibson?

Regardless, looks like a great catch for EC..... Thanks Ecreddevils.....

No problem.  I'm not certain, but I think he was yr. 12 at SJNMS.  Parker is the (taller) younger brother of EC jr. guard, Nolan Gibson.

[newCCIWfan]

on Parker Gibson... nice workout tape, good looking form as a shooter.. of course, being a lefty, I'm partial to that left handed J..

Question.. I notice Parker was class of 2012 Pontiac HS, then attended St John's NW Military School this past school year... is that considered a year 13 Prep year (fairly typical out east), or is that a JC year that would count against his eligibility?  I haven't heard of any prep school kids taking that extra year out here in the midwest, so I'm curious if that rule still applies, and what is the case with Parker Gibson?

Regardless, looks like a great catch for EC..... Thanks Ecreddevils.....

No problem.  I'm not certain, but I think he was yr. 12 at SJNMS.  Parker is the (taller) younger brother of EC jr. guard, Nolan Gibson.

A prep year does not count towards NCAA eligibility.

[Gregory Sager]

Question.. I notice Parker was class of 2012 Pontiac HS, then attended St John's NW Military School this past school year... is that considered a year 13 Prep year (fairly typical out east), or is that a JC year that would count against his eligibility?  I haven't heard of any prep school kids taking that extra year out here in the midwest, so I'm curious if that rule still applies, and what is the case with Parker Gibson?

Going to a year of prep school after high school graduation isn't as common here in the midwest as it is in the northeast -- which is where most prep schools are located -- but more midwest players than you think end up deciding to avail themselves of prep school. It's an ideal alternative to junior college for players who feel that they should be playing at a higher level than that of the colleges that recruited them as high schoolers, since, as newCCIWfan said, prep school doesn't use up any college eligibility. Plus, it's only a one-year commitment rather than the two-year commitment that the juco path offers. It's also a good place for injured players to rehab, or for players who didn't get recruited at all coming out of high school to improve their stock among college recruiters.

We're seeing more and more midwestern kids go to prep school, although fewer midwestern prep schoolers end up in the D3 ranks than at the scholarship levels.

[AndOne]

New look Red Devils this year.  Not a lot of info, but looks like Marious and Marquis Lobdell are on board, both coming from Aurora U.

Marious: 6' 0" guard, AU's leading scorer last year at 16 ppg
Marquis: 6' 3" forward, bench player averaging 6.6 ppg and 4 rpg

I did some digging, originally just curious to see if Marious and Marquis were twins, brothers, cousins, whatever... can't answer that one, as both are in the same class (they were listed as juniors at Aurora), but they attended different high schools in Peoria.. Marious listed as Manuel HS, Marquis listed as Limestone HS. 

However, something else came to my attention... I looked up the All conference team, and Marious Lobdell, the leading scorer on the conference regular season and conference tournament championship team, did not make All Conference.. not 1st team, not 2nd team, not even Honorable Mention.  VERY strange... so I checked some Box Scores... Both Marious and Marquis played throughout the regular season, up through the final regular season game vs Dominican, played Feb.12.  Aurora won that game, but I do note that Marious fired up 15 shots in 19 minutes... he didn't sit for foul trouble... several other players played 23-30 minutes in that game for Aurora.   What followed is this:

Neither Marious nor Marquis played in any of three conference tourney wins, nor in the NCAA tourney loss to St. Thomas.

WHY?  Injury (to both?) or something else?          Surprisingly, nothing was mentioned about their absence for those games in the Nathcon room, and the couple articles I read about the games didn't mention the Lobdells.

Wonder if a Nathcon fan can shed some light........

The question at hand actually seems to have already been pretty thoroughly answered:

* Titan Q pointed out that Eureka will be Marious' 4th school (Ill Central, Judson, Aurora) in 4 years, and it will be Marquis' 3rd school (Elgin CC, Aurora) in 4 years. That, in itself, should raise a couple of red flags right off the bat.

* As was also previously reported, both players, along with a 3rd player, were dismissed from the team prior to the conference tournament, and did not play in either the conference tourney or in AU's 1st round NCAA tourney loss.

Sources available to me weeks ago indicated that the dismissals did indeed involve some "pretty heavy" stuff, the nature of which they did not care to elaborate on, and about which I respectfully did not push for additional details. The slant of the information I became privy to seemed to suggest that the problems encountered at AU were, to at least some degree, both academic and social in nature.

In summary, I hope all goes well for both the school and all the concerned parties this season. However, given both the twists and the bumps that have had to be negotiated in both players chosen roads to this point, it should surprise nobody should future roadblocks be encountered during this year's journey.   

[AndOne]

Question.. I notice Parker was class of 2012 Pontiac HS, then attended St John's NW Military School this past school year... is that considered a year 13 Prep year (fairly typical out east), or is that a JC year that would count against his eligibility?  I haven't heard of any prep school kids taking that extra year out here in the midwest, so I'm curious if that rule still applies, and what is the case with Parker Gibson?

Going to a year of prep school after high school graduation isn't as common here in the midwest as it is in the northeast -- which is where most prep schools are located -- but more midwest players than you think end up deciding to avail themselves of prep school. It's an ideal alternative to junior college for players who feel that they should be playing at a higher level than that of the colleges that recruited them as high schoolers, since, as newCCIWfan said, prep school doesn't use up any college eligibility. Plus, it's only a one-year commitment rather than the two-year commitment that the juco path offers. It's also a good place for injured players to rehab, or for players who didn't get recruited at all coming out of high school to improve their stock among college recruiters.

We're seeing more and more midwestern kids go to prep school, although fewer midwestern prep schoolers end up in the D3 ranks than at the scholarship levels.

Speaking of prep schools in general, and St. John's NW Military School in particular, an interesting recent occurrence concerning a SJNWMS attendee.......

Unfortunately, some "prep" schools aren't always the cathedrals of learning, responsibility, development, and virtue that they often hold themselves up to be. In fact, one of the attendees at the above mentioned St. John's NW Military Academy in Wisconsin this past year was a well known and highly recruited basketball player from the western suburbs of Chicago who was a candidate for Illinois Mr. Basketball in 2012. During his HS career he was suspended from his team several times for a variety of academic and athletic missteps. He was unable to qualify at the next level, and was forced to go the prep school route. Given his HS issues a military style school was likely his only option. While I have no idea of his record at St. John's, in March of this year he and 2 acquaintances were arrested for Class 2 Felony Robbery of a juvenile. Charges were subsequently upgraded, and on 6/3/13 he pled guilty to aggravated robbery, a Class 1 Felony and received a plea-bargained sentence of 180 days in jail followed by 2 years of probation.

While prep schools may be a good option, and the attendees upstanding young adults in the vast majority of cases as I'm sure pertains to the EC recruit, the fact remains that from an athletic standpoint a prep school often will accept all comers despite whatever the number and seriousness of their past transgressions.
As Greg Sager indicated, there are a variety of good reasons to attend such a school. However, when an athlete is either highly recruited or thinks he should be, situations can easily exist that preclude attendance at anything other than a prep school. I believe the bottom line here is that when you see "prep" school, keep your eyes and ears open. Also, I'm pretty sure that whatever the number of problems that do arise with prep school athletes, the vast majority involve D1 as opposed to D3 level players.

[y_jack_lok]

Webster 2013-14 is posted: http://websterathletics.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball&

[hopefan]

Thanks for the notice Yjack....  wow, the Gorlocks have 19 new names listed as freshmen (though at least one on them graduated prior to last year.. not sure where he was in the gap of time) and 3 transfers.... many played at big schools and averaged low double figures... very excited to hear how some of these new faces might fit in....

Also happy to see Aaron Griffin's name back on the roster... a very active presence around the basket...   did surprisingly well in the first semester last season..... disappointed that Jordan Roland didn't return.. he didn't get many minutes last year, but I really thought he would be a key backup guard this year.   Well, with that recruiting class, Coach Bunch has a slew of potential backup guards to choose from now....

[y_jack_lok]

One of the "new" names is actually an old name -- Kevin Miller who was a freshman in 2008-2009 and is now listed as a sophomore.

[hopefan]

One of the "new" names is actually an old name -- Kevin Miller who was a freshman in 2008-2009 and is now listed as a sophomore.

That was a Loooooonnnnnngggggg freshman year

Seriously, wonder how the 'clock' works is his case?  If it really started ticking in 08-09, that's already 5 complete years....

Last time I saw Kevin Miller, it seemed to me he would need a lot of work to get back into basketball shape....       He was not one on the counted 22 faces I mentioned.. I also recognized he was a 'returning' player....

[y_jack_lok]

One of the "new" names is actually an old name -- Kevin Miller who was a freshman in 2008-2009 and is now listed as a sophomore.

That was a Loooooonnnnnngggggg freshman year

Seriously, wonder how the 'clock' works is his case?  If it really started ticking in 08-09, that's already 5 complete years....

Last time I saw Kevin Miller, it seemed to me he would need a lot of work to get back into basketball shape....       He was not one on the counted 22 faces I mentioned.. I also recognized he was a 'returning' player....

I've seen reference to this issue of the duration of eligibility on other boards. These quotes are from the ODAC football board on Wednesday 9/3/13 and Thursday 9/4/13: "unlike d1 (and maybe d2) which has a "clock" that starts when a student-athlete enrolls in college, eligibility is only used at the d3 level when you play/practice" and "Guilford had a 45 yo on the roster about 12 years ago.  He had played some out of HS and always regretted not using all his eligibility."

Nobody posted anything to contradict that so I'll assume it's accurate.