Malik stith has given his verbal to st johns

happy to see it...we need another pg, and between him and armstead, im glad its him

Congrats to the brother on a happy day fo him and his fams.

Happy to have another Malik come aboard. I hope Boothe and Stith spit time and really create a lot of on the ball pressure. I know a lot of people were disappointed with Boothe play last year, but I give the kid so much credit for playing so many minutes with a bad hand.

It was a mistake not having a backup point guard last. Malik can now play aggressive on the ball defence which is what he does best. So many times last year he had to hold back to make sure he did not get in foul trouble.

I looked on the Bridgton (Me.) Academy site and they have some game photos of Stith. He looks so much like Boothe.

This was a good need pickup.

Welcome aboard Malik. Now Boothe can be more agressive on D.

Welcome aboard, Malik S... will they call him Stith, and Malik Boothe Boothe? 

After all these years, some depth at the point guard position.

Welcome aboard Malik. Now Boothe can be more agressive on D.

more like, now boothe can be more willing to work on his game...not to knock him, but i remember when hill from his frosh to soph year really improved his shot and overall game from his summer workouts...boothe was the same player last year as the year before (couldnt do &^$% offensively)...stith, from what ive read and heard, is boothe, slightly less skilled on defense, much better on offense...without a noticeable improvement on boothe's jump shot and overall offensive skill set over the summer, look for stith to start next year

btw, realize he hurt his hand...but how about before that, and his frosh year...good player, but def not one to have on the court 40 min...so again, glad to have stith

http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/04/28/malik-stith-to-st-johns/

Congrats to Malik Stith ... I hope he makes us all proud

With that being said, I still think it's pathetic we're competing against LaSalle and South Carolina for a prospect

I'm sure I'll get ripped for saying it, but I still don't know how this program is going to compete in the Big East with these under the radar players.  They haven't worked in the 5 recruiting classes prior, so why should we expect anything different this time around?

he verballed to us earlier and his recruitment shut down early...big schools didnt get involved, but hes regarded as a high major signee...same happened with justin...both would have gotten offeres from big time programs if they didnt commit early to st johns...and as for the other players in the class...hardy is regarded pretty highly as a scorer and shooter, and omari was recruited by ALOT of the big boys...i would like top 10 recruiting classes too , but lets not complain too much

Welcome aboard Malik Stith. I'm looking forward to watching you play next year.

Quote from: SJD on April 28, 2009, 04:40:06 PM

http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/04/28/malik-stith-to-st-johns/

Congrats to Malik Stith ... I hope he makes us all proud

With that being said, I still think it's pathetic we're competing against LaSalle and South Carolina for a prospect

I'm sure I'll get ripped for saying it, but I still don't know how this program is going to compete in the Big East with these under the radar players.  They haven't worked in the 5 recruiting classes prior, so why should we expect anything different this time around?

I agree.

he verballed to us earlier and his recruitment shut down early...big schools didnt get involved, but hes regarded as a high major signee...same happened with justin...both would have gotten offeres from big time programs if they didnt commit early to st johns...and as for the other players in the class...hardy is regarded pretty highly as a scorer and shooter, and omari was recruited by ALOT of the big boys...i would like top 10 recruiting classes too , but lets not complain too much

SJD, if someone was truly a high major talent, all of the top teams in the nation would not "shut down" the recruiting process.  Listen, I'm not trying to criticize these players.  In fact, I hope I am very wrong in my assessment.  But year in and year out, SJU has missed out on the top 100 recruits and had to settle on these under the radar prospects.  And everybody on the message boards gets all hyped up about it, not for once asking why every other high major program didn't bother to recruit the player.

At this point, it's a never ending pattern executed by Norm and his staff.  Last year, I saw all the posts on how Quincy Roberts, TyShawn Edmondson, and Phil Wait were solid additions to the team.  And then, surprise, all 3 of them proved to be ineffective.  And, even bigger surprise, 2 of the 3 transfer out.

Bottom line, until SJU starts to land some premium talent, they will continue to sit at the bottom of the conference.  Norm has proven himself to be such a small time coach that it's truly astounding he's still in charge.

he verballed to us earlier and his recruitment shut down early...big schools didnt get involved, but hes regarded as a high major signee...same happened with justin...both would have gotten offeres from big time programs if they didnt commit early to st johns...and as for the other players in the class...hardy is regarded pretty highly as a scorer and shooter, and omari was recruited by ALOT of the big boys...i would like top 10 recruiting classes too , but lets not complain too much

first off, a verbal commitment doesnt mean $hit nowadays and coaches still recruit players all the time that are verballed.  secondly, when he re-opened his recruitment high-major schools STILL werent involved.

SJD, if someone was truly a high major talent, all of the top teams in the nation would not "shut down" the recruiting process.  Listen, I'm not trying to criticize these players.  In fact, I hope I am very wrong in my assessment.  But year in and year out, SJU has missed out on the top 100 recruits and had to settle on these under the radar prospects.  And everybody on the message boards gets all hyped up about it, not for once asking why every other high major program didn't bother to recruit the player.

At this point, it's a never ending pattern executed by Norm and his staff.  Last year, I saw all the posts on how Quincy Roberts, TyShawn Edmondson, and Phil Wait were solid additions to the team.  And then, surprise, all 3 of them proved to be ineffective.  And, even bigger surprise, 2 of the 3 transfer out.

Bottom line, until SJU starts to land some premium talent, they will continue to sit at the bottom of the conference.  Norm has proven himself to be such a small time coach that it's truly astounding he's still in charge.

You're right, Doody!  I do not wanna knock these kids, either.  They are also amateurs, as well.

I hope I'm also wrong, but we're always hoping we've found a a kid who might've slipped under the radar.  Reason being, cause Roberts can't land the kid(s) who are clearly STANDING on the radar.  It's becoming par for the course and my fandom dwindles each and every year.

I do not recall Stith recruitment being ratcheted up after he reneged on the Johnnies earlier.  I could be wrong, but I have a hunch Stith would have never re-committed (to St. John's), if a few high majors had come knocking on his door.   He probably came back to St. John's due to the better choice of other schools who were recruiting him.

I wouldn't be surprised, if that final scholarship was used on some other "under the radar" player in a couple of weeks.  This player will be so, far under the radar (due to never hearing much, if any about him) that we'll think he's from another planet. 

Stay tuned! 

Another planet... or England via Spain. 

You know, I wouldn't beef with the under the radar recruiting if they were molded into a force that could actually score points and challenge the top teams.  Or if the roster showed signs of being put together by a thoughtful architect.  Not that Providence or Michigan (under Bielein) has done much yet, but those teams look like someone is coming up with a plan for their team with their under-recruited ballers.

I hope it is open competition to be the starting PG, Boothe did very little to be penciled in as a starter. Boothe plays very hard on D, but he has yet prove he is a good defender on the college level.

Malik,

Welcome and good luck.

obviously the teams that win every year get top 10 recruiting classes every year...and if you look back at my previous posts in other threads you'll see my opinions on the matter, which are, how can we compete with the classes we've been getting when, even if we land lance, other schools are getting two or three lances every year...but i still believe malik stith and hardy and omari arent the same players as the last few years...omari is a solid 4 star recruit if he didnt get injured and have the recruiting services scared, hardy has been a dangerous scorer and shooter for the last two years, and stith is a better version of boothe who gave us nearly 30 min per game last year...if we get lance and have a good year next year hopefully recruits like lance make st johns a yearly thing again

obviously the teams that win every year get top 10 recruiting classes every year...and if you look back at my previous posts in other threads you'll see my opinions on the matter, which are, how can we compete with the classes we've been getting when, even if we land lance, other schools are getting two or three lances every year...but i still believe malik stith and hardy and omari arent the same players as the last few years...omari is a solid 4 star recruit if he didnt get injured and have the recruiting services scared, hardy has been a dangerous scorer and shooter for the last two years, and stith is a better version of boothe who gave us nearly 30 min per game last year...if we get lance and have a good year next year hopefully recruits like lance make st johns a yearly thing again

SJD, I truly hope you're right.  But looking from afar, this recruiting class looks no different than the ones that have been brought in over the last 5 years.  I heard the same things regarding Jermaine Maybank, Ricky Torres, Avery Patterson, Derwin Kitchen, Larry Wright, and Mike Cavataio.  Listen, I'm not here to bash these players.  For God's sake, I hope they make me look like a nice person.  But whenever I hear people applaud these 1 and 2 star prospects, I have to admit it sounds like a broken record.  Maybe it's just the natural pessimist in me, but when I hear that we're competing with LaSalle and South Carolina for a prospect (and no one else is involved), that's usually a red flag to me.

Again, I can be wrong on this.  Paris Horne wasn't recruited by a lot of the bigger schools and he has turned out to be a pretty good Big East player.  And I'll be the first to admit the scouting services can be dead wrong on a player.  Look no further than Torin Francis for evidence of that.  But they are usually a good indicator of the talent teams are bringing in.  Now, maybe Hardy and Stith turn out to be great for SJU.  Maybe they come in and change this program.  But I'm not gonna lie ... I really doubt it.  Other programs make it their business to know who will thrive on a particular level and who will struggle.  And I'm going with the odds in saying that if every high major didn't even give these players the time of day, it doesn't bold well for this program.