Jordan signs with SLU
Well, the commenters on the previous post don’t seem to sold on Justin Jordan, whose signing with SLU became official on Wednesday when his letter of intent arrived. First off, if you think SLU is going to start landing McDonald’s All-Americans, I don’t think that’s very likely unless he happened to go to SLU High. As George Raveling used to say, some schools recruit McDonald’s All-Americans. I recruit guys who eat at McDonald’s.
Secondly, Jordan got an 87 rating from ESPN. Interestingly, he was a 40, which means he didn’t have a rating, yesterday, but now he’s got an 87. Don’t know if someone over there went through their files or what happened. Here’s their analysis:
Jordan was a highly recruited guard out of North Side H.S in Fort Wayne, Ind. He is an explosive point guard with tremendous quickness plus the ability to score. As the second leading scorer this year in the state of Indiana at 27 ppg he has shown that he can make shots but Jordan also possess this ability to penetrate in the lane and find teammates. An extremely competitive and talented guard as shown in his recent selection to the Indiana HIgh School All-Star team, he will have the opportunity to contibute immediately for the Bilikens.
(Jordan’s father, by the way, is a former college basketball player. For IUP Fort Wayne.)
Lastly, here’s Majerus’ take:
“Justin Jordan gives us someone who is a quality young man as evidenced by his willingness to share the ball. Although he was the second-highest scorer in the state of Indiana this season, we never questioned his shot selection or his willingness to hit the open man.
“We want the Billikens to move more toward a three-guard offense, and in doing so, we plan to play two bigs and three men in perimeter spots. Justin sees the floor, stretches the D with his three-ball, feeds the post very well although he was not able to play with one in high school, and has an understanding of the game. We are excited about his commitment to basketball. For the first time, since becoming the coach of the Billikens, we have 13 scholarship players with which to work. Our intrasquad scrimmages won’t have to be comprised of coaches. It is our intent to push the ball more on offense, so Justin will provide depth, speed and quickness.
“Justin’s dad was an outstanding first-team All-Conference player at IUPU-Fort Wayne, and Justin has that competitive gene, ‘know-how’ and feel for the game, and desire to win that his father portrayed as a player. We want to play with at least a nine-man rotation, extend our pickup point, and with renewed emphasis on the fast break, this signing is very timely for us. I was fortunate to sit alongside the great coach Al McGuire and that famous St. Louisan Hank Raymonds as we competed for the 1974 national championship. Justin reminds me very much of a guard we had on that team, Lloyd Walton, who was an integral part of our success. We can only hope that Justin has the fire in the belly, and the commitment and drive Lloyd brought to our national championship runner-up ‘74 Warrior team.”
So with a three-guard offense, the starting lineup could be Kwamain Mitchell, Jordan/Jeff Reid/Femi John, Christian Salecich, Cody Ellis and Willie Reed next season, though that will obviously depend on how quickly the freshmen get up to speed and injuries and things like that. But the potential is there to have three freshmen starting again. The difference would be more experienced depth off the bench.
Of course, Paul Biancardi provides recruiting information to ESPN, so I’m sure he had something to do with Jordan’s new rating and mention of him being “highly recruited.”
That would certainly be a valid inference.
TT — Why do you believe freshmen (or a redshirt freshman) will start over Cassity at guard and over Conklin or Thompson down low? I am not saying they won’t, but I would be surprised if the sophomores didn’t improve, and they have the experience on their side.
Obviously I haven’t seen the Australians play, but I’m kind of reading between the lines on what the coaches say about them, their sizes and their experience. They’re really high on Salecich and Ellis, especially Ellis. If Cassity and Thompson make big progress over the summer, both could potentially start, but I think both are clearly works in progress. Majerus has said he thinks Cassity will be a dependable player by his junior season. Again, I haven’t seen him, but Ellis appears to be a player who can do a little more away from the basket. (Not that Thompson can’t hit a trey.) As we’ve seen, freshmen have a lot to learn in Majerus’ program, and experience could work strongly in the sophomores’ favor next season. But I also think Ellis, Salecich, Reid and Jordan should get a lot of playing time.
I saw Femi John at the Billiken Golf Classic. My gosh, he has the physique we usually see on the Xavier bench. He looks like an NFL safety. If his game has elevated to the point where he can contribute on the offensive side, he could see major minutes. He should be our defensive stopper on any opponent playing on the outside.
I know that Justin Johnson from Merrillville IN was a PreSeason Indiana High School All Star (he did not make the post season All Star Team) and did not contribute what we thought he would, but Justin Jordan’s resume is quite impressive. Ft. Wayne North is a major HS in Indiana and he ended up as their second all time leading scorer. They play the major schools in Indiana, so he did not have too many games against smaller opponents. He also slipped into the All Star mix over some other highly regarded Ft. Wayne HS stars. Getting a pipeline into Ft. Wayne certainly will help the Billikens.