Observations on the Richmond game

[bills16]

8% body fat! That is very lean. I doubt that more than 5% of the posters on this board are at or below 8% body fat.

Kangaroo must be a very lean meat

[Box and Won]

8% body fat! That is very lean. I doubt that more than 5% of the posters on this board are at or below 8% body fat.

Not since that one poster got banned.

[Box and Won]

BTW, I LOVED seeing the highlights of the 89-90 team played on the video screens - games vs. Illinois State and Bradley at the old Kiel, the NIT games against Bucky and New Mexico, the player intros at Madison Square Garden, etc. I could have watched that stuff all night.

[Billikan]

you think we have any posters playing D1 ball? I also hope Ellis is ashamed of his free throw shooting 3 of 7

except maybe the last one where it forced a rebound instead of stopping the clock for an inbound play. If that

was a real attempt on his part he had no legs under him on 2 or 3 shots hitting the bottom front of the rim in

what looked like exhaustion. Same to be said on two lost buckets called charges by KM. He has had at least 2

calls against him for charging the last 2 or 3 games; that has to be on the tapes our fellow conference members

are previewing

One thing I thought was very reassuring is that even though he missed a number of free throws and 3 point shots his form looked excellent with many just barely short or going in and out. Some night those will almost all go in and he will be a big time scorer. The fact that we won with him shooting poorly is a great indication of what we might do in the future when we are at full strength and he is fully acclimated to the US and the team. Go Bills!

[Box and Won]

Was it just me, or did it look like Conklin changed his FT shooting form? He looked much more fluid.

[AlumniFan]

you think we have any posters playing D1 ball?

That's obviously not the point, but calling someone with 8% body fat "fleshy" is silly. I would guess that Christian, Brian, Kyle, and Paul are all about the same in terms of body fat and last time I checked, they were playing D1 ball. Eberhart and Thompson were both probably closer to 10% body fat if not higher. Ellis is not Willie Reed skinny, but is that what we want? Didn't think so.

Bottom line: I do not think Ellis is in bad shape at all and I think Majerus' comments to the contrary were part lowering expectations and part posturing for last night's game.

[Guest BillikenReport]

I would guess that Christian, Brian, Kyle, and Paul are all about the same in terms of body fat and last time I checked, they were playing D1 ball.

If I remember correctly, I heard last summer that Eckerle had something like 3 percent body fat.

I don't remember the exact number, but basically his percentage was about as low as someone could go and still be considered healthy and fit.

The new strength and conditioning program at SLU has paid off for the guys who have stuck around and put in the work.

BTW, how many people here saw the pre-game dunk fest by Richmond yesterday? They had several guys with impressive athleticism. I don't know how many of those guys played in the game, but they looked good before the game.

[AlumniFan]

If I remember correctly, I heard last summer that Eckerle had something like 3 percent body fat.

I don't remember the exact number, but basically his percentage was about as low as someone could go and still be considered healthy and fit.

The new strength and conditioning program at SLU has paid off for the guys who have stuck around and put in the work.

BTW, how many people here saw the pre-game dunk fest by Richmond yesterday? They had several guys with impressive athleticism. I don't know how many of those guys played in the game, but they looked good before the game.

You are absolutely right about Paul before his injury, but I doubt he is in he same shape now. I could be wrong though - the kid is tough as nails.

[billiken_roy]

ellis was better in every way than what i expected. thought he was ready to play and thought he was in better shape. that said, both can be improved. he appeared lost at times and a couple of times in the first half conklin was screaming out directions on offense for him. and i seriously doubt his body fat is 8%. he could still be in better shape. maybe that was a reading over the summmer or something.

but the main point to be taken away is that ellis helps now. wew likely lose that game without cody ellis there. however, maybe rickma tempers his punishment on reed if he didnt have cody in hand. and reed playing might have resulted in the same end result as well.

regardless what a fun game. the team played very well especially conklin in the first half. conklin was pure energy the first half. not sure where that went the second half.

while many are screaming at the refs, imo only the carl yazstremski lookalike sucked. he single handedly kept richmond in the game imo. i thought the other two were fine.

maybe one of the reasons reed was able to blend in so well is he matched up well with geriot imo. same style, same skill set. geriot getting the two first half fouls sure helped our cause yesterday, and the job that mitchell and cassity did on gonvazles (or whatever his name is) and especially anderson was the real game difference.

john smith again played good minutes. and cory was fine as well.

mitchell is mitchell. the jab step fadeaway he made on the left baseline in the second half was pure art. the shoes got a great view of that.

i thought the crowd was good. i noticed a different attitude from the concession stand as well. i visited two different stands and both stands seemed happy and appreciative of me. i never got that feeling before. cant comment on the food. only bought coke zeroes.

probably the worst game of the year for guy phillips. as others have said, his introductions of the halftime honors was downright embarrassing. probably one of our two or three greatest teams ever and he f'd up so much. cant the man at least be asked to do some homework? how about some flashcard work with an athletic dept employee. they can go over facial and number recognition with him. i mean shouldnt he know that we dont have a kevn smith on the team? twice he announced remekun into the game and he was still on the bench. man he is bad.

[eastsidejoe]

why does guy phillips coninue his speel at least 5 seconds after the free throw shooter has the ball? friggin rude.

[billiken_roy]

p.s. cody ellis reminds me of the legenday ryan grant. same size, body type and most importantly game.

for those of you that are too young or not yet a billiken hardcore, imo, grant was actually the recruiting prize of the claggett highmark class. he only played his freshmen season that ended early with a horrible knee injury. i have many times wondered what that team could have been with ryan grant growing up with erwin and scott.

[kshoe]

I haven't read every post in this thread or the game day one, but I hope people noticed there were at least two stretches where 3 bigs were on the court together. Considering our best big wasn't even playing in this game, I think it s pretty fair indication RM plans on playing 3 bigs a fair amount going forward. I'd think maybe 10-15 minutes a game this year of the 3 big combo with that number going up to as much as 20 mpg next year if we are lucky enough to land Loe.

[NH]

I haven't read every post in this thread or the game day one, but I hope people noticed there were at least two stretches where 3 bigs were on the court together. Considering our best big wasn't even playing in this game, I think it s pretty fair indication RM plans on playing 3 bigs a fair amount going forward. I'd think maybe 10-15 minutes a game this year of the 3 big combo with that number going up to as much as 20 mpg next year if we are lucky enough to land Loe.

It also depends on who we are playing. We could do it against Richmond because they rarely went with three true guards. Butler, Martel, Harper etc. are all guys that a forward could match up with, but imagine if they had another gonzalavez in there and cody had to cover him, it would be a nightmare. Itss something RickMa can pull out based on matchups

[billiken_roy]

both times we did it did not work very well. i agree it is a sign that he wants to do it, but it will take the right opponent to successfully employ. the difference yesterday was that other than anderson and gonzalveliez richmond did not have a third player on the court with ball skills. they had decent small forward shooters, but whomever they put out there at the three didnt have any take it to the basket fears to deal with.

[MB73]

One thing I thought was very reassuring is that even though he missed a number of free throws and 3 point shots his form looked excellent with many just barely short or going in and out. Some night those will almost all go in and he will be a big time scorer. The fact that we won with him shooting poorly is a great indication of what we might do in the future when we are at full strength and he is fully acclimated to the US and the team. Go Bills!

IMO and hopefully, Ellis was playing below "full speed basketball shape". So free throws came up a little short, so did a few shots, he was on somewhat tired legs. But he still contributed "big time" with his ability, size, guile, savy, guts... If this is the case, when he sharpens up to game speed and adjusts completely, he could be the outstanding player we had hoped for... even as a freshman. NO WAY we would have beat Richmond without him last nite (with Willie out).

[MB73]

By the way, we are on page 7, Mizzou-Mizzou is on front page of The Post.

As I predicted at Humphries after the game... though I said we would be on page 5.

We beat Richmond. Richmond beat Mizzou.

[dneuner]

By the way, we are on page 7, Mizzou-Mizzou is on front page of The Post.

As I predicted at Humphries after the game... though I said we would be on page 5.

We beat Richmond. Richmond beat Mizzou.

If A < B, and B < C, then A < C.

[RUBillsFan]

ellis was better in every way than what i expected. thought he was ready to play and thought he was in better shape. that said, both can be improved. he appeared lost at times and a couple of times in the first half conklin was screaming out directions on offense for him. and i seriously doubt his body fat is 8%. he could still be in better shape. maybe that was a reading over the summmer or something.

I totally agree. I was very excited about the way Ellis played, but IMO he can improve a lot. He did look "lost" as you said a couple of times on offense. I remember one possession in particular where he passed it back to Salecich a couple of times who was trapped in the corner of the floor when it probably should have gone back out top. Basically it killed the clock and I think we had to toss up a 3 pointer or something. There were a few other possessions when he looked like he didn't know what to do. Overall he was very good, but i think he can improve.

[Billikan]

I totally agree. I was very excited about the way Ellis played, but IMO he can improve a lot. He did look "lost" as you said a couple of times on offense. I remember one possession in particular where he passed it back to Salecich a couple of times who was trapped in the corner of the floor when it probably should have gone back out top. Basically it killed the clock and I think we had to toss up a 3 pointer or something. There were a few other possessions when he looked like he didn't know what to do. Overall he was very good, but i think he can improve.

I just finished watching the replay of the game and the thing that impressed me most is that we beat a very good team but we really did not play great for long periods on offense and we missed a lot of free throws, including several front ends. I am not saying he is as good as Larry Bird who is one of the greatest of all time, but Ellis reminds me of a poor man's Larry Bird. He has a nice touch from outside, he is a clever and effective passer, he works hard on defense although he in not super quick, he knows how to block out for rebounds and he competes hard. He is not a big muscle guy but he plays tough like Larry. Based upon this game, I would say he will have some very big games in the future and he will help the rest of the guys get better. Willie has to be salivating because it will be hard to double and triple team him with Ellis on the floor with KM.

By the way, the replays and my slow motion views confirmed that the refs blew a bunch of calls, particularly in the second half. The first charge against KM was ridiculous, and if you include the invisible area that they are supposed to call then it was even worse.

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

Did anyone else notice that Jordan seems to have a vertical leap that's greater than or equal to his height? That catch at center court was astronomical.

P.S. Dear NCAA Administration: Thank you for keeping the rich richer and the poor poorer. Thanks to your tremendous arrogance and arbitrary rule-enforcement, Saint Louis University is 10-5, whereas it would likely be at least 13-2, and at most undefeated, except for your tortious interference with the enrollment of our best recruit. You inglorious basterds!

Lets be honest, we would be 15-0

[Archy McNally]

I haven't read every post in this thread or the game day one, but I hope people noticed there were at least two stretches where 3 bigs were on the court together. Considering our best big wasn't even playing in this game, I think it s pretty fair indication RM plans on playing 3 bigs a fair amount going forward. I'd think maybe 10-15 minutes a game this year of the 3 big combo with that number going up to as much as 20 mpg next year if we are lucky enough to land Loe.

They did that with Smith as one of the bigs. Smith can allow you to go big if he can match up with the wingman defensively.

[jgcurtin]

I just finished watching the replay of the game and the thing that impressed me most is that we beat a very good team but we really did not play great for long periods on offense and we missed a lot of free throws, including several front ends. I am not saying he is as good as Larry Bird who is one of the greatest of all time, but Ellis reminds me of a poor man's Larry Bird. He has a nice touch from outside, he is a clever and effective passer, he works hard on defense although he in not super quick, he knows how to block out for rebounds and he competes hard. He is not a big muscle guy but he plays tough like Larry. Based upon this game, I would say he will have some very big games in the future and he will help the rest of the guys get better. Willie has to be salivating because it will be hard to double and triple team him with Ellis on the floor with KM.

By the way, the replays and my slow motion views confirmed that the refs blew a bunch of calls, particularly in the second half. The first charge against KM was ridiculous, and if you include the invisible area that they are supposed to call then it was even worse.

I probably missed it in an earlier post, but what was the discipline problem that kept Willie on the bench yesterday? I saw him during the warmup in street clothes taking some shots from outside with the team. It looked weird. It appeared that he was cheering his teammates from the bench and high fiving as they came off at each time out. I was impressed that Cody was that good after basically only 3 practices with the team. I hope we have him for 3.5 years.

[doowop]

I totally agree. I was very excited about the way Ellis played, but IMO he can improve a lot. He did look "lost" as you said a couple of times on offense. I remember one possession in particular where he passed it back to Salecich a couple of times who was trapped in the corner of the floor when it probably should have gone back out top. Basically it killed the clock and I think we had to toss up a 3 pointer or something. There were a few other possessions when he looked like he didn't know what to do. Overall he was very good, but i think he can improve.

Ellis is going to look lost many times. He practiced for only five days. He can be expected to look lost at times. In RM's first year, TLIII,KL, and the rest of the team looked lost for most of the season. If CE is only half as good as reported, he is going to get a LOT better. This season may well be all but over before he knows the offense proficiently. I did not expect him to look as good as he looked. Give him time.

[doowop]

Billiken Roy, I have not been able to attend any games yet but I will soon. Tell me. Is the public address announcer really as bad as people are reporting on ths message board? (Guy Phillips) One other thing. CE is used to playing against foreign players whose basic fundamentals are a lot better than the players in the states. His ability to block out for rebounds just may rub off on the other players. I know they have been taught the proper way by the coaches but sometimes when they see another player doing it it may affect them even more. Before long I believe the players will be looking to KM and CE as their leaders.

[DeSmetBilliken]

Billiken Roy, I have not been able to attend any games yet but I will soon. Tell me. Is the public address announcer really as bad as people are reporting on ths message board? (Guy Phillips) One other thing. CE is used to playing against foreign players whose basic fundamentals are a lot better than the players in the states. His ability to block out for rebounds just may rub off on the other players. I know they have been taught the proper way by the coaches but sometimes when they see another player doing it it may affect them even more. Before long I believe the players will be looking to KM and CE as their leaders.

Not Roy, but Guy Phillips is pretty bad. He screwed up Grawer's name, and routinely he calls our own players by the wrong names. He called Jon Smith by the name of Kevin Smith yesterday. I also remember one guffaw of his from the first exhibition game this season. Late in the game, Cory Remuken scored his first basket in a Billiken uniform, and instead of being recognized for his basket, Guy instead announced "basket by Jon Smith."

I'll take Chris, the guy that does the womens games and the volleyball games over Guy any day.