Has Success Spoiled Roger Levesque?

http://www.mlsnet.com/content/02/mls1030draft.html

Round One
6. San Jose Earthquakes

Round Two
16. San Jose Earthquakes

Round Three
23. San Jose Earthquakes (from KC)

Round Four
36. San Jose Earthquakes
39. San Jose Earthquakes (from NE)

Round Five
46. San Jose Earthquakes

Round Six
56. San Jose Earthquakes
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10 picks in each round. So we have the 6th pick in each round unless noted otherwise.

 

I wasn't impressed by Levesque in the Colleg Cup final. Gregorio (UCLA) was an obvious draft pick. The supersub asian from UCLA was pretty good. A MAC Hermann finalist I believe.

 

I don't want him. A French-Canadian from Maine (the East)? Ya gotta be kiddin'.

 

You forgot e) great passing vision.

I would love the Quakes to get him, but not with the 6th pick. Hopefully he's still around by number 16.

 

I think if the Quakes take a Stanford player at No. 6 it will be D/MF Todd Dunivant. Nice left foot, good passer, good tactical sense, not much pace or athleticism.

 

Forget Levesque. I want Chad Marshall.

 

Forget all these jokers- I want Jean Pierre Nobaldi or Kiptenstein Frictosian.

 

Yup, but he's only a freshman. Most likely won't enter the draft.

 

Re: Re: Has Success Spoiled Roger Levesque?

Perhaps you saw him play more than I did the past couple years (I saw four live games, a scrimmage vs. the Quakes, and a couple televised playoffs). Levesque definitely seems better against weaker opponents, which means he may totally disappear against MLS-level competition (then again, he may improve instead).

Boy, watching the final four games, I was really unimpressed with the overall level of play this year (all players, not just Roger). Perhaps the field/weather had something to do with it.

But there were way too many:

* WUSA-style wild clearing blasts (to no one in particular) by defenders

* Two-touch traps

* Botched passes, including most one-timers

* Screwed up set pieces (the winning goal in the final was the exception, not the rule)

Even if we do draft Levesque, I doubt he'll be ready to make a contribution in the 2003 season. Then again, I guess we have to draft someone... ...unless we can trade the pick (yeah!).

 

BM, I agree with your observations on the Final Four this year.

Although Stanford was quite good at set pieces.

I think Levesque will be good in MLS. But he won't be a starter right away and would take some time to adjust and develope. Since he wouldn't be roster exempt if he was drafted that is another knock against him.

With the number 6 pick the Quakes should (now more than ever because of the cap) take a P-40 roster/cap exempt player.

There is a slight chance that Chad Marshall would sign as P-40 with MLS. If so I would love the Quakes to take him.

 

If Chad signs P-40 he won't likely be available at pick No. 6. He'll go well before then.

 

I agree with BMs observations of this years College Cup.

I stsated earlier that Chad Marshall would be a great pick up, but he's only a freshman, no? He'd probably stay another year before entering the draft at least I would think. Maybe not. He would definitely go before #6.

 

Surprised no one has responded to this thread.

Levesque was selected (32nd overall) by the Richmond Kickers of the A-League in their draft today.

http://www.a-league.com/news/2002/news,2002,0798.shtml

I recognized only 3 or 4 other names in the draft.

 

Levesque was hobbled much of the year...

I covered Stanford all year for QuakeMagic, so I've had a chance to watch Levesque many times. While I agree with much of what has been posted, one thing that has been overlooked about Levesque is that he was not healthy for much of the year. He had a back injury that forced him to sit out all of the summer. After overcoming that injury he injured his knee in the middle of the season and was finally held out of Stanford's final two regular season games. To top it all off he was briefly hospitalized after the first NCAA tournament game against Portland due to some mystery stomach ailment that was never really nailed down. Regardless, he definitely did not seem as quick compared to the start of the season. It will be interesting to see how much of a difference it makes if/when he heals up.

I agree with Sandon. I think Dunivant will make the better pro, but time will tell.

Regards,

Jefe

 

1) Is there anyone who's leaving the NCAA who could have an impact on the Quakes in the upcoming season? We need a right back and a midfielder or two.

2) Does Roger pronounce his name "le-VESK" or "le-VECK"?

 

1) I think that's unlikely. We had last year's Herman Trophy winner (Luchi) and look at the impact he had (not much). Grant you, I still think he's a good player, but you are looking for impact players, so there you go.

Having said that, I was impressed with UCLA's back on the three occasions when I saw them. Scot Thompson is the only senior and he just played with the U-23s. He might be a possibility, but UCLA plays with a 3-back system so I'm not sure if he would fit the need for a right back. I have no idea if the other two (Leonard Griffin and Tony Lawson) will be in the draft, but they are both juniors, so it's possible.

2) It's pronounced le-VECK.

Regards,

Jefe

 

1) I can count on one hand the number of fullbacks who have made significant contributions as rookies out of college. Hopefully we'll get the next one.

2) I wonder if he's related to (totally sucky) current WWE champion HHH, whose real name is Paul Levesque?

 

Yeah, that's what I thought. Was it that big dummy Ty Keough who kept saying "le-VESK" during the College Cup final? Idiot...