[olldflame]

It's not like there's a bunch of 6'10" 280 lb guys on the low-mid d1 level out there. There's not that many guys like that period.

Are there guys out there who are 6'10 280 who can play and will come to LU? I believe there will be in the near future, and I'm pretty sure McKay and co. will welcome them with open arms. In the mean time I have a strong feeling we will get a lot more production out of McMasters and Smith than we did from Winters and Jones.

hey guys, we scooped up a 6'11 260 center in our 08 class at RU, im sure you guys can/will land one too.

Note the words in yellow poppa.

I wonder what the over/under will be on whether this guy plays more minutes in his career than Russell Monroe did?
Hey , I know it's a new staff and it looks like Greenburg is doing a good job, but hasn't Radford had a couple of 7 footers in the past few years who produced bupkus?

If he's half as good as Lynch-Flore, you've got something.

[SuperJon]

Man, this discussion about Joel Vander Pol is just riveting.

[ToTheLeft]

Man, this discussion about Joel Vander Pol is just riveting.

But taking backhanded shots at McKay and arguing about former players is more fun!!!

[olldflame]

Hey, I'll take my share of the blame, but we got off track because some people can't be happy/satisfied that we recruited a kid who is 6'10 and apparently still growing because he doesn't meet the "beef standard". What makes it sillier is we don't even know what Vander Pol weighs.

[ToTheLeft]

Hey, I'll take my share of the blame, but we got off track because some people can't be happy/satisfied that we recruited a kid who is 6'10 and apparently still growing because he doesn't meet the "beef standard". What makes it sillier is we don't even know what Vander Pol weighs.

Oh, I agree. I think this kid could be good for us. I am excited to see how he does. I can see Seth, Brolin, Carter, and this kid giving us some big time contributions, provided Vander Pol signs.

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

Hey, I'll take my share of the blame, but we got off track because some people can't be happy/satisfied that we recruited a kid who is 6'10 and apparently still growing because he doesn't meet the "beef standard". What makes it sillier is we don't even know what Vander Pol weighs.

Easy buddy


Im happy we are getting a kid that is 6'10" and Im pretty sure I asked how much he weighed and if he can do the "big man" thing then Im happy, I just stated that all I wanted was someone that was big and beefy and wanted to bang. That could be this kid... No one knows.... I never said it wasnt him.

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

Man, this discussion about Joel Vander Pol is just riveting.

But taking backhanded shots at McKay and arguing about former players is more fun!!!

Whats the difference in a backhanded shot and a front handed shot?

[paradox]

Thunder only happens when it's raining. Players only love you when they're playing

In other words... ah, forget it

[JK37]

Thunder only happens when it's raining.

really?

[ToTheLeft]

Thunder only happens when it's raining. Players only love you when they're playing

In other words... ah, forget it

Now here you go again, dox...
You say you want your freedom?
Well who am I to keep you down!

[Sly Fox]

Did I mention we received a verbal from a 6' 10" Floridian? I can't remember due to all of the extraneous discussion.

[Sly Fox]

An update on how Joel's season is going ...

Canterbury held Evangelical Christian forward Joel Vander Pol, who has signed with Liberty University, to 11 points en route to a 55-52, District 2A-12 home victory Friday night.

Canterbury double-teamed Vander Pol for most of the night. The 6-foot-11 senior entered the game averaging 24.2 points per contest.

The contest marked the 35th consecutive season that ECS and Canterbury have played.

“We didn’t want to let Joel kill us by himself,” Canterbury coach Lee Peters said. “We double-teamed him a little bit.”

“They wanted to take away the big guy,” ECS coach Nate Travis said. “They did a nice job doing that.”

Click Here for Full Story

And they had a couple pics of Joel up in a photo gallery from the game ...

[Fumblerooskies]

Looks like the young man has been hitting the weight room...nice definition on the arms. I was expecting more of a stringbean.

[kingaling42]

I've seen him in person- he's a tall, skinny guy (most High school guys are at that height!).. I think he's just over 200 pounds if I were to guess.. Actually here's what I can find..

Six-foot-10, 205-pound forward / center Joel Vander Pol of Evangelical Christian (Fort Myers, Fla.) has accepted a Class 2009 offer from Liberty. He averaged 16 points, 10.9 rebounds and 7.3 blocks as a junior.

Source: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiti ... Id%3d68848

Hope that helps-

[Ed Dantes]

True centers who played for LU (In chronological order)

George Sweet 6'8 and about 250 back in the pioneer days
Cliff Webber 6'8 240
Mike Coleman 6'8 240
Julius Nwosu 6'9 240
Peter Aluma 6'9 260 as an overweight senior. He arrived on campus at maybe 215 soaking wet. He was SKINNY. Best playing weight about 240 as a junior.
Jeremy Day 6'9 215 Only played 1 year due to back injuries and was not a banger, but was a true post player.
Sarchet/Sneed Really more PFs, but we'll count them. Sneed was about 250 as a senior.
Alex McClain 6'8 235 also more of a PF, but could certainly get it done inside in the BSC.

That's a total of 9 in 36 years, and some of those are really borderline.

Are there guys out there who are 6'10 280 who can play and will come to LU? I believe there will be in the near future, and I'm pretty sure McKay and co. will welcome them with open arms. In the mean time I have a strong feeling we will get a lot more production out of McMasters and Smith than we did from Winters and Jones.

Kenneth Ananbonam (spelling?)

[Ed Dantes]

I've seen him in person- he's a tall, skinny guy (most High school guys are at that height!).. I think he's just over 200 pounds if I were to guess.. Actually here's what I can find..

Six-foot-10, 205-pound forward / center Joel Vander Pol of Evangelical Christian (Fort Myers, Fla.) has accepted a Class 2009 offer from Liberty. He averaged 16 points, 10.9 rebounds and 7.3 blocks as a junior.

Source: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiti ... Id%3d68848

Hope that helps-

Vander Pol is rated an 80, McMasters was an 87 last year. (And Seth Curry was in the 80s)

You can't fault McKay for the lack of big man on the team right now, because it wasn't his fault that McMasters got hurt. Should be interesting to see how Vander Pol and McMasters gel over the next four years.

Apparently, we also signed this SF named Tre Lee, who's supposed to be a stud, as well.

By all accounts, it looks like McKay's recruiting classes are shaping up to be as good as Hankinson's!*

*For those who don't know, Hankinson recruited top guys and got them to commit... he just couldn't get them to walk onto LU's campus. Or in to a classroom.*
**I noticed two names on last year's Liberty signees that I'm not familiar with -- Mike Lewis and Sammy Jackson. What happened to them?

[Sly Fox]

They had issues that resulted in them not being able to land on campus. That is how we were able to squeeze in our last two signees.

We have a thread on Tre as well.

[olldflame]

I've seen him in person- he's a tall, skinny guy (most High school guys are at that height!).. I think he's just over 200 pounds if I were to guess.. Actually here's what I can find..

Six-foot-10, 205-pound forward / center Joel Vander Pol of Evangelical Christian (Fort Myers, Fla.) has accepted a Class 2009 offer from Liberty. He averaged 16 points, 10.9 rebounds and 7.3 blocks as a junior.

Source: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiti ... Id%3d68848

Hope that helps-

Vander Pol is rated an 80, McMasters was an 87 last year. (And Seth Curry was in the 80s)

You can't fault McKay for the lack of big man on the team right now, because it wasn't his fault that McMasters got hurt. Should be interesting to see how Vander Pol and McMasters gel over the next four years.

Apparently, we also signed this SF named Tre Lee, who's supposed to be a stud, as well.

By all accounts, it looks like McKay's recruiting classes are shaping up to be as good as Hankinson's!*

*For those who don't know, Hankinson recruited top guys and got them to commit... he just couldn't get them to walk onto LU's campus. Or in to a classroom.*
**I noticed two names on last year's Liberty signees that I'm not familiar with -- Mike Lewis and Sammy Jackson. What happened to them?

I haven't heard anything but rumors about why Lewis and Jackson did not come. We do know however that they were quickly replaced with Jesse Sanders and Bill Weaver, and I think we are all happy about that.

Hankinson signed Chip Richmond and Antonio Burks knowing full well neither was going to qualify academically, nor would they even consider paying their way to come to LU as non-qualifiers (but he also knew it would make his recruiting class look good).

BTW, you are right about Kenneth A. He wasn't a great player, but he belongs on that list.

[ToTheLeft]

**I noticed two names on last year's Liberty signees that I'm not familiar with -- Mike Lewis and Sammy Jackson. What happened to them?

I believe Mike had academic issues, and Sammy supposedly was going to Marquette with Layer, but he isn't on the roster there, either.

Turns out he's at Texas A&M-Commerce. Go figure... http://lionathletics.com/sports/m-baskb ... kson_Sammy

He's getting 9 points and 4 boards a game there.

[paradox]

True centers who played for LU (In chronological order)

George Sweet 6'8 and about 250 back in the pioneer days
Cliff Webber 6'8 240
Mike Coleman 6'8 240
Julius Nwosu 6'9 240
Peter Aluma 6'9 260 as an overweight senior. He arrived on campus at maybe 215 soaking wet. He was SKINNY. Best playing weight about 240 as a junior.
Jeremy Day 6'9 215 Only played 1 year due to back injuries and was not a banger, but was a true post player.
Sarchet/Sneed Really more PFs, but we'll count them. Sneed was about 250 as a senior.
Alex McClain 6'8 235 also more of a PF, but could certainly get it done inside in the BSC.

That's a total of 9 in 36 years, and some of those are really borderline.

Are there guys out there who are 6'10 280 who can play and will come to LU? I believe there will be in the near future, and I'm pretty sure McKay and co. will welcome them with open arms. In the mean time I have a strong feeling we will get a lot more production out of McMasters and Smith than we did from Winters and Jones.

Kenneth Ananbonam (spelling?)

Jason Dixon, at 6-10, may have been the most physical big-man to play the post for LU. IMO, on the shortlist of top LU centers.

David Watson may have been one of Hank's top guys, but like Jeremy Day, he was injury-prone.



As far as Vander Pol goes, they say he's a good fit for an up-tempo four-gaurd line-up.

[kingaling42]

Peter Aluma was physical, trust me the elbow in the head is distinctly memorable- even though he was better as a junior- but as a senior I could be mistaken but didn't he end up 2nd in the nation in blocked shots behind Marcus Camby?? Or am I missing something??

[kel varson]

True centers who played for LU (In chronological order)

George Sweet 6'8 and about 250 back in the pioneer days
Cliff Webber 6'8 240
Mike Coleman 6'8 240
Julius Nwosu 6'9 240
Peter Aluma 6'9 260 as an overweight senior. He arrived on campus at maybe 215 soaking wet. He was SKINNY. Best playing weight about 240 as a junior.
Jeremy Day 6'9 215 Only played 1 year due to back injuries and was not a banger, but was a true post player.
Sarchet/Sneed Really more PFs, but we'll count them. Sneed was about 250 as a senior.
Alex McClain 6'8 235 also more of a PF, but could certainly get it done inside in the BSC.

That's a total of 9 in 36 years, and some of those are really borderline.

Are there guys out there who are 6'10 280 who can play and will come to LU? I believe there will be in the near future, and I'm pretty sure McKay and co. will welcome them with open arms. In the mean time I have a strong feeling we will get a lot more production out of McMasters and Smith than we did from Winters and Jones.

Kenneth Ananbonam (spelling?)

Jason Dixon, at 6-10, may have been the most physical big-man to play the post for LU. IMO, on the shortlist of top LU centers.

David Watson may have been one of Hank's top guys, but like Jeremy Day, he was injury-prone.



As far as Vander Pol goes, they say he's a good fit for an up-tempo four-gaurd line-up.

Adam Hopkins was a true center but didn't play a whole lot. He was a transfer from Auburn by in the years 97-99.

David Watson, I totally forgot about. Could have been much better with good coaching. Watson was a defensive stud but was injury prone.

Also, lets not forget big Russ.

[kel varson]

Peter Aluma was physical, trust me the elbow in the head is distinctly memorable- even though he was better as a junior- but as a senior I could be mistaken but didn't he end up 2nd in the nation in blocked shots behind Marcus Camby?? Or am I missing something??

Yeah, he was mentioned already. See Ed's post.

[SumItUp]

Trying to keep it on topic, it will be interesting to see if Vander Pol will be a contributor over the next 4-5 years. He appears to have an athletic frame and not just a big body.

I tend to disagree with the quote that Jason Dixon was the most physical center in LU history. He was a good role player, but I would put him at #3 behind Julius & Peter. We can discuss this further if someone wants to start a thread about how the centers from Liberty rank.

[olldflame]

Trying to keep it on topic, it will be interesting to see if Vander Pol will be a contributor over the next 4-5 years. He appears to have an athletic frame and not just a big body.

I tend to disagree with the quote that Jason Dixon was the most physical center in LU history. He was a good role player, but I would put him at #3 behind Julius & Peter. We can discuss this further if someone wants to start a thread about how the centers from Liberty rank.

Because of the Presence of Aluma, Jason only played the post for about half a season. Once Peter won a starting job, Jason smoothly transitioned to the power forward position, and on the offensive end he played primarily facing the basket. Defensively, he frequently found himself guarding much smaller players, often on the perimeter. He was one of the few players his size we have had who were capable of doing this effectively. It is for this reason I did not include him in the list of post players, although in another era, he could have been a really good one. Like.................... NOW!!