A three-point plan for shooting SLU hoops to the big time
By Hal Bush
Photograph courtesy of the Saint Louis University Athletic Department
NCAA Tournament exposure? A snazzy new stadium? Fancy shoe contracts? What does it take to create a national program and compete with the Dukes, North Carolinas, Kentuckys and Indianas of the college basketball universe? Saint Louis University coach Brad Soderberg has that lofty goal in mind, and this is how he plans to do it.
Get top recruits: It is the classic “chicken and egg” dilemma: Schools want top players so they can gain national exposure and tournament success, and top players want to play for teams that have national exposure and tournament success. “Number one, they want to play for a team that they’re pretty sure is going to be in the NCAA Tournament three out of the four years they’re in college,” Soderberg says. “Number two, they want to know they’re going to play. And number three—and maybe this is connected to the other two—they want to be on TV.”
Get to know top recruits early: These days, luring top players can begin when they’re in middle school: “If there’s a kid that clearly will be a Division I player and he’s in St. Louis and he’s a freshman, or he’s an eighth-grader, I’ll try to get in front of him,” the coach says. That does not mean bending the rules, but landing the big recruit can mean building a friendship early: Soderberg got to know Tommie Liddell and Kevin Lisch when they were freshmen in high school.
Find top recruits who love the game: Sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not always easy, Soderberg says: “There are a lot of guys who do it because they’re getting their schooling paid for, and they’re difficult to coach—not because they’re bad kids but because you’re always begging them to put in that extra time in the gym.
