When the big man was hired for the SLU job, I thought that was going to be the end of STL recruits for MSU. Not the case, at all.
I remember saying this exact phrase out loud when Saint Louis University coach Rick Majerus was hired back in 2007.
“There is no way Missouri State will ever pull an impact player out of the St. Louis area again. It’s not going to happen.”
No way. Southern Illinois was, and is, still pulling the top Missouri Valley-level recruits and new Mizzou coach Mike Anderson was making statements about how he didn’t want the state’s top talent leaving the borders. Add in someone with Majerus’ national pedigree, and that meant MSU would have to settle for fourth-tier guys (with Barry Hinson, of course).
Do you think these girls would hang out at Ray's? (Yes, that was from some lingerie show at Icon.)
And who knows if that thinking extended to the entire state. If so, that’s like saying you wanted to pick up a hot, young coed from Icon, but had to settle for a last call hook up from the talent at Ray’s Lounge. (Or a Commercial Street pro.)
I even remember thinking that St. Louis was a lost cause and how Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and Arkansas might need to be panned as recruiting bases. But then, MSU hired Cuonzo Martin, an East St. Louis, Ill. native. I was still skeptical, and while I’m not praising current freshmen Keith Pickens and Jerome Jones as the next greatest MSU players, both look legit. Better than I ever imagined, assuming they were table scraps from SIU-SLU-Mizzou meals.
Needless to say, I’m shocked. Fast forward to the Bears’ 9-0 start and huge game at Saint Louis U today. It got me thinking about MSU’s perception in STL. Obviously, I don’t live in St. Louis or listen to STL talk radio, so I figured I’d go straight to Pickens and Jones and ask them about MSU’s STL perception.
Brace yourselves.
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If you’ve been wondering where all of the traditional RecSpecs commentary has been, it’s all at TagSGF.com right now.
Who could have predicted this as of Dec. 9?