Billikens fans in St. Louis got their first chance to see the 2026-27 squad as the team hosted an open scrimmage this past Thursday. And while the expectations for which players would put on the biggest show in front of the fans took up much of the pre-scrimmage fan fare, it's those fans themselves that are the first big story of the night.
Pointed out by reporters, broadcasters and fans who have been around this program for decades, the Billikens packed in the largest crowd they've ever had for July basketball, with a conservation estimate of "a couple thousand" being the agreed-upon figure. It was a crowd that would've rivaled showings from the first few games of last season, or average showings under different regimes, and was the first sign from the night that Saint Louis has something special brewing for this season.
The format for Thursday nights scrimmage was three periods, the first two both 12 minutes long and then a final period with just 8 minutes on the clock. Schertz & Co. shifted around the teams between each of the periods, which meant a large sampling of different lineups and combinations for the Billikens to try out as they move into their second month on practice next week. Instead of breaking it up game-by-game, here's a rundown of observations player-by-player from the night:
Kellen Thames (25pts - 5rbd - 3ast- 0TO - 4stl) (11/13 FG | 1/3 3FG | 2/4 FT)
"Kellen Thames put on the best show of the night" was a common refrain from last season--where Thames put himself on multiple SC Top 10 lists--has been ever-present during the first few weeks of practice and was true again on Thursday (for the first 2/3 of the night, we'll get to the final 1/3 shortly). His efficiency always jumps off the box score and is highlighted once you break down the shots he took: a combination of breakaway plays started by his four steals, punctuated by at-least two highlight dunks that got the crowd out of their seats, and euro-step finishes where he glides between multiple levels of defenders and has a bag of different finishes once he gets to the hoop. And then there's the three-pointer he knocked down early in the 1st period: a step-back attempt taken after a previous miss was rebounded earlier in the possession, a combination of confidence & skill we didn't get to see much last season--Kellen went just 3/12 across the entire '25-26 season. He showed up this summer working through a three-point shooting stroke that has changed multiple times since he graduated from Pattonville, and seems to have changed already this summer, going from an added hitch in the first week of practice to a much smoother release over the last two weeks. Thames came out dominant in the 1st period, scoring 11 of his team's first 22 points, the second best start of the night. He also pulled off the most clutch moment of the night: with his Blue side down 26-23 with under a minute to play, they first got Sharma open from the corner to tie it at 26-26, got a stop and then a quick outlet to Thames, who was able to leg out the Gray squad and lay in the 2nd period winning bucket, 28-26.
Amari McCottry (21pts - 4rbd - 4ast - 6TO - 2stl) (8/16 FG | 1/4 3FG | 4/4 FT)
The best start of the night was owned by Amari McCottry, who came out blazing, and willed 12 of his teams first 19 points in the 1st period. Unfortunately that does mean he only scored 9 points across the final 20+ minutes of the scrimmage--and didn't do that with an overly-efficient line--and that goes hand-in-hand with an unfortunate amount of turnovers. Those giveaways will become a common theme in this writeup, as Thames and Freshman big Jamison White were the only Billikens to not tally a single turnover on the night as the team finished with 17 turnovers to just 13 assists. Amari still has moments where he needs to slow things down, but those continue to be overshadowed by the positive plays as McCottry continues towards becoming legitimately unstoppable on the drive. It's one thing when he's tossing coaches and grad assistants around on the block in driving drills, it's another when he's routinely doing it to his grown-ass teammates during scrimmages, which is exactly how McCottry scored early, and often, on Thursday night. His one-on-one defense is only getting better and, much like Thames, helped him turn his couple of steals into easy points. While the 1/4 from deep isn't what you wanted to see, the perfect 4/4 from the stripe is a better indicator of a player who is creating a compact, *repeatable* shooting motion that is going to see him improve at the line immediately and from the perimeter gradually. Stay tuned to this space, because we'll keep a close eye on how McCottry's shot develops all summer.
Luke Laczkowski (15pts - 3rbd - 0ast - 1TO - 1blk - 3stl) (6/10 FG | 3/7 3FG | 0/0 FT)
Our first newcomer makes their appearance! With a shooter like "Latch" we're tempted to focus on that "3/7 3FG" line from above, but let's move a couple space to the left and hone in on that "1blk- 3stl" section of the stat line. Laczkowski is listed, and appears to be, 6'8 with average to slightly-plus length on the wingspan. When you see that kind of build you don't expect the player to be chasing 6'1 PGs around a gaggle of screens as a defender, but you hope for two things: that he can switch onto thicker wings & forwards and contain them with his size. And that he can use that wingspan in the team defense to tip passes and get hands in the passing lanes. The latter was Luke's game all night. Midway through the 1st period he crashed the glass on defense, wasn't able to get the board, but did get his hand up to block the gray team's putback attempt. Fast forward to the first six minutes of the 2nd period and you'll see three different plays where Latch's 6'8 frame causes multiple tips that create two steals and a third manufactured by a long limb finding it's way between an inside pass. That defensive impact is massive going forward. Laczkowski showed the expected stroke later in the game, hitting a solid 3-of-7 from deep with perfect form, that has everyone envisioning a similar role as the departed Brady Dunlap. The difference could be in that little bit of extra defensive length, whereas Dunlap showed flashes last year with his own 6'6 frame we've already seen some early returns from Laczkowski. Also, don't forgot that the "Latch Cut" is reported a part of this Saint Louis offense, and while we didn't get to see if many times, at least one of Luke's three buckets from inside the arc came on a perfect back-door cut that was fed by Jax Kerr. It didn't look *too* much like Robbie-to-Gibson from two years ago, but it had a similar vibe...
Trey Green (14pts - 2rbd - 1ast - 3TO) (4/8 FG | 4/8 3FG | 2/2 FT)
Trey Green knocking down all his shots from deep has become pretty common and no longer bears being written down as a special note from a Billikens performance. And yet, a 4/8 performance from deep deserves plenty of credit. Green was fantastic at keeping the opposing team off balance whenever he had the ball in his hands. And that's while he's still working with mostly-new players. Green spent all of last season manipulating defenses with the constant motion, screen and hand-off game with Robbie Avila. Now he's running that same flow with Kerr, Pearson, Michaeli, Strong & White, and it looks like Green is slowly, but surely, getting more comfortable with the group. Especially Jax Kerr, who isn't going to fool anyone with a Robbie Avila fake ID. Green was using Kerr in a similar way, getting into 2-man actions with Kerr and then veering, darting and re-setting around him to set up bigs on the switch for drives or create more space for his shots against guards & wings having to run back and forth along the perimeter. His one trip to the line, where he knocked down both shots, was on a foul from transfer forward Elijah Strong. Strong caught an unfortunate switch on an on-ball screen, Green feinted left before dropping his shoulder and going right, driving past Strong and putting the big man in a no-win situation that ended with two the hard way for Trey. Green says that being more effective in the paint (touching paint AND being able to finish/draw contact) and becoming a better playmaker are the two biggest things he has to improve on to boost his pro potential. Check one box so far. The three turnovers to one assists looks more like a Xavier line for Green. He came into the season last year with more turnovers than assists in his career (48 turnovers to 46 assists) before breaking the streak with a solid 59 assists to just 23 turnovers. Can he improve on that total in 2026-27?
Ishan Sharma (13pts - 4rbd - 3ast - 1TO) (5/10 FG | 3/5 3FG | 0/0 FT)
What else can you ask for from Ishan Sharma? Sure, you probably want a little more efficiency and threat below the three-point line as Sharma continue to round out his game. But he hit 3-of-5 from deep, including one of his patented falling-away-into-the-corner-and-maybe-even-out-of-bounds move threes that brought the fans to their feet, so should we even be talking about anything else? I think that was the only play was wasn't a dunk from Thames or an alley-oop from Mel Thomas that moved the crowd that way. That's the power of Ishan Sharma's shooting prowess and somehow he still has the ability to shock us. Nothing else stood out too much from Sharma in the box score. But the eye test shows a player who added muscle for reasons, not just vanity, as he looked strong in the Billikens switch-heavy scheme that saw him guard players from Magic Mel all the way up to Elijah Strong. No blocks or steals to show for it, but the talking and the direction on defense is already beginning to carry over from the first week of practices. And with a solid 3 assists and just 1 turnover, Sharma had one of the better days on the roster with the ball in his hands. None of the assists made it into the notepad and probably missed the highlight reel, but it's another example of the all-around game that Sharma is starting to sharpen.
Cam Hutson (10pts - 2rbd - 3ast - 3TO - 1stl) (4/10 FG | 2/7 3FG | 0/0 FT)
It took Cam Hutson a little bit to get going on Thursday night. Most of those misses came in the first two periods and saw him settle down to hit some shots in the later half of the night. The biggest one that stood out were the two threes that Hutson knocked down, both showcasing the clean, compact stroke that we've already talked about. The three assists from the box score jump out as well, balanced by the three turnovers, and all came with some of the Billikens later, more experimental lineups. These lineups saw Hutson running some point for the Billikens and he showed an improved dribble that was tight and low to the ground. His handle has looked much better in drills this summer on the drive than it has in the open court but Hutson impressed with his patience when running the show. No defensive moments made it to the notebook, but he continues to be ahead of the other young players in that facet of the game. In fact, he was involved in the second most defensive possessions on the night, behind only Thames & Sharma.
Badara Diakite (10pts - 5rbd - 1ast - 2TO - 1blk - 3stl) (4/6 FG | 1/1 3FG | 1/2FT)
Badara feels like the biggest mystery on the roster because of his late addition last year and a skillset/build combo that makes him the definition of "position-less". He's got the frame of a lanky wing, the shooting stroke of a guard and the defensive instincts of a big man. And all three were on display on Thursday. Diakite pounced on a busted play to pick us his block--he was one of two Billikens on this play, but his wingspan meant an extra 3-4 inches above his fellow defender--got his hand on multiple passes in the lane, knocked down the one three he took CLEAN, and got to the rack multiple times for easy finishes thanks to his 7-foot+ wingspan. While the blocks+steals showed some very strong on-ball play for Badara, there was a play on defense where he decided to help OFF of Sharma in the corner. That went exactly how you would expect. It's hard to judge where Badara is on the current depth chart, but that's mostly because we're not sure which position group he should go with. Was he the most impressive big from the scrimmage? Or is he fighting against a couple of very strong wing performances for minutes? Maybe it won't matter at all. As always with Schertz, talent plays, no matter what shape it comes in.
Alon Michaeli (10pts - 4rbd - 2ast - 2TO) (4/6 FG | 0/1 3FG | 2/2 FT)
On a night where the overall group of bigs failed to impact the scrimmage to the extent that most fans expected, Michaeli ended up as the most involved. And the only one to finish with double-digits in points. Michaeli's offensive bag is undeniable. He's shifty in the paint, keeping the ball high away from extra hands but still controllable, and has a really good touch around the rim. His three-point stroke doesn't have the quickest release, to the point where quicker defenders will be able to recover and contest some open looks, but he'll hit more than a few this season. The flow of the offense is still working up to pace, so maybe that is to blame, but there were multiple instances of over-dribbling on the block or settling for a mid-range attempt. Those plays just feel out of place in a Schertz offense. Like pretty much every big on the roster right now, his awareness defensively and his physicality on the glass needs to take a big leap.
Quentin Jones (8pts - 2rbd - 4ast - 4TO - 2stl) (3/6 FG | 0/1 3FG | 2/2 FT)
Not a lot from Q made it into the notebook from this scrimmage. He had a solid, if unspectacular, night according to the box score and that tracks. He got caught up in the sloppiness that permeated throughout the entire roster, but also made some smooth plays in the flow offense and in transition to rack up an even amount of assists for the night. His big standout play was helping even out the soon-to-be-talked-about star of the night, "Magic" Mel Thomas, with a clean drive that left the freshman watching as Jones rolled the ball into the hoop for an easy two.
Elijah Strong (6pts - 3rbd - 5ast - 2TO - 2stl) (3/9 FG | 0/4 3FG | 0/0 FT)
Your assist leader for most of the night! Just like we all expected...Strong did a good job of kicking out to open shooters and moving the ball ahead of the defense in transition, picking up all five of his assists across that profile. The rest of Strong's game won't blow anyone away: inefficient from the floor, including the cardinal sin of taking and missing multiple mid-range shots, and only three rebounds. (His shot is interesting as well--it has a little push to it that appears in both his mid-range ball and his shots from deep.) Strong showed great movement on both offense and defense, setting solid screens both on- and off-ball and showing the best spatial awareness on defense among the bigs. He doesn't have the height or hops that some on the roster have, but his positioning gave his team a shot in the majority of possessions. Right now his consistency, hustle and awareness has him higher up the depth chart than some might expect.
Jax Kerr (5pts - 0rbd - 1ast - 1TO - 2blk - 2stl) (2/5 FG | 1/4 3FG | 0/1 FT)
That wasn't exactly the night you wanted to see from your potential starting center. The zero on the rebounding numbers is going to stand out, and it should. "Does Jax have a rebound" was wondered about among the observers multiple times throughout the night. They never received positive answer to the query. The 7-footer has added over 20 pounds since he arrived last season but needs to start putting it to use in the paint. Speaking of the paint, the defensive side of things got much better as the night progressed. Jax's first block of the night, in the 2nd 12-minute period, was the first real impact play that any of the big men had made defensively. Kerr added another one in the 3rd period and stacked another pair of steals together in the 2nd half of the night. There were also a couple plays during the hectic parts of the scrimmage where Kerr was slower than you would like getting back. The offensive numbers aren't gonna blow you away, but Kerr's shot is solid and borderline un-blockable because he shoots it high in his titanic reach. The points will come. And don't let the 1:1 TO:Assist ratio fool you--Kerr is showing a lot of skill with the ball in his hand at Avila's old "trigger" spot. As mentioned earlier in the Trey Green rundown, he was being used a lot like Robbie in the Billikens top-of-the-key DHO-heavy flow offense and he looked comfortable. He snapped off a low bounce pass on a backdoor baseline cut that should have fans seeing deja vu for a couple reasons.
Jamison White (5pts - 2rbd - 2ast - 2TO - 1stl) (2/2 FG | 1/1 3FG | 0/0 FT)
Other than fellow freshman Yousaf Ahmad, Jamison White was involved in the lowest amount of possessions on the night but still found plenty of time with the ball in the hands to make an impact. One of two players with no turnovers on the night, Jamo also had the chance to add in a couple assists as well. He did get some extra coaching during an extended period during the scrimmage that might've included some emphasis on the ball sticking a little too much. He continued doing what has stood out so much through his first month of college basketball: an unbelievable smoothness for a player of his size and raw athleticism. Once he figures out the spatial awareness of things, the two-way player who would single-handedly take over games in high school is going to start popping up. He looks deadly in the short roll off the pick-and-roll, with the vision to snap off passes to the corner, the handle to create his best look, the skill to go to his jumper and the athleticism to dunk from almost anywhere. And then there's the switching on defense. We're going to talk about Magic Mel soon, but we need to say that the only big man who had a PRAYER of staying in front of the freshman PG is Jamison White. He picked up Mel on a switch and completely shut down his drive and causing his side to reset the play. Forgetting any other big doing that, almost every player on the roster was unable to do that on Thursday. Give the bigs time, everybody, the sky is the limit.
Sheek Pearson (4pts - 5rdb - 1ast - 1TO - 1stl) (2/4 FG | 0/1 3FG | 0/0 FT)
Don't want to be too harsh about a scrimmage on July 2nd, but it was just hard to pull a ton of positives from the group of big men. It's the group that has the least returning minutes, no returning veterans and handful of super raw piece of uber-talented clay. It's going to take some time. And we're toss in the cross-sport cliche that bigs are like left-handed pitchers or goalies; they take a little longer to develop. Sheek Pearson hits every piece of that. You can see it's obviously there. It's just going to take some time on the potters wheel. Pearson's three-point shot doesn't look to be falling the way he wanted in warm-ups or some drills this summer but there's no denying it's a beautiful shooting form. It'll catch up. He moves well on both sides of the ball, but there's still some baby-giraffe moments that waste the energy in his movements and cause his him to be *just* late on a weak-side defensive slide or box out. That'll catch up, too. On a night where no one over 6'8 rebounded well, Pearson skied for boards over the other bigs, putting up a solid five on the night despite not yet having the muscle mass of Michaeli, Strong or Kerr. His best play of the night was easily crashing the glass, pulling down an offensive board and then snapping a quick pass to a cutting Amari McCottry to tally his one assist on the night.
Jermel Thomas (4pts - 2rbd - 6ast - 1TO - 2stl) (2/4 FG | 0/2 3FG | 0/0 FT)
I'm sure there were a few Billikens fans out there who were questioning where their squad's freshman point guard recruit already had such a lofty nickname. C'mon...a point guard who goes by "Magic"?! Jermel Thomas doesn't do the full "Cher" thing, going by "Magic" Mel and not just the mononym. Still. Seems like a lot of dip on your chip. That is, of course, unless you can step on the court in front of college fans for the first time and throw not one, not two, but THREE alley-oops. And also break down one of the team's best defenders with an in-and-out dribble that looks like it came off an And1 mixtape. Suffice to say, Mel put on a show on Thursday night. Whisper quiet for the majority of the 1st period, he got involved late with his first steal--jumping the passing lane--and then putting it up for Thames to lay it in easy form above the rim. Then we fast forward to the 3rd, shorter, period of the night. Mel weaved his way into the paint, went to that highlight dribble to drop Amari McCottry and then dropped it off to Elijah Strong for an easy two. And that led us to Thomas' two-legged coup de grace. Another transition chance and Mel feeds the pass OFF THE GLASS for an easy dunk by Badara Diakite. Two possessions later, Mel snaps out a gorgeous no look pass for a corner three, which is missed. On the ensuing transition chance after that miss, Mel picks off his second one of the night, takes three steps and puts it off the glass for the SECOND time in just three trips. The dunk is flushed, the crowd goes wild, everyone starts whispering the name "Yuri Collins" to each other. "Magic" Mel indeed.
Yousaf Ahmad (0 pts - 5rdb - 0ast - 1TO - 1blk) (0/1 FG | 0/0 3FG | 0/0 FT)
Ahmad's the only guy we can confidently say, right now, will redshirt. There's just too many guards/wings for the minutes to go around. Until then, we can appreciate that Ahmad knows how to use his plus-positional size. Listed as a point guard but also at 6'7, Ahmad pulled down two offensive boards in this scrimmage. His playing time might have been slightly affected by him having worked out to the side late last week.
That should just about cover it all! One big question people had going into the scrimmage was where does the starting 5 stand right now?
Right now, it's fair to break up the Billikens roster into a couple of different tiers:
Top 6 LOCKS: Jones, Green, McCottry, Thames, Sharma
Potential Center Starter: Kerr, Michaeli
Next Off the Bench: Laczkowski, Hutson, Strong
Big Swings: Diakite, Pearson, White, Thomas
Redshirt: Ahmad
Which one of the wings/guards doesn't start? Do Kerr & Michaeli show enough to both start? Is Amari the starting "4" either way?
There's too many questions to ask for now and a clear "starting 5" doesn't really seem to exist...
And for those who really want to get into the nitty-gritty, here's most of the five-man combinations the Billikens used across the scrimmage:
Jones - Thames - Hutson - Strong - Pearson
Green - Sharma - McCottry - Michaeli - Kerr
McCottry - Sharma - Diakite - White - Michaeli
Thomas - Ahmad - Jones - Laczkowski - Pearson
Thomas - Ahmad - Thames - Laczkowski - Strong
Jones - Sharma - Thames - Diakite - Michaeli
Thomas - Jones - Sharma - Diakite - Strong
Jones - Sharma - Tjames - Diakite - Michaeli
Green - Laczkowski - McCottry - Pearson - Kerr
McCottry - Green - Hutson - Laczkowski - Pearson
Green - Hutson - Laczkowski - Pearson - Kerr
Ahmad - Green - Huston - White - Kerr
Thomas - Hutson - Lazckowski - Strong - White
Thomas - Hutson - Diakite - White - Michaeli
Jones - Green - Thames - McCottry - Kerr (Is the closest we saw to a starting 5?)
Jones - Green - Sharma - Thames - Pearson