Observations on the Richmond game

[Billikan]

I guess many saw it live or on tv so I will abbreviate.

This was a fantastic basketball game--one of the best in years by our Billikens. Richmond is an excellent team and we hung with them and then got them at the end. Really, really nice win!

These refs were absolutely horrible from where I was sitting. They missed tons of calls. I taped the game and intend to watch later so maybe I will change my mind but from second row center court the calls just looked terrible.

Cody Ellis is a real player. He looked COMFORTABLE! He was not overwhelmed by the moment and he is a clever player with a huge upside. He played an excellent game yet I can see him playing much better, shooting free throws much better, shooting 3s much better and making his teammates even better. For him to step off the plane and play this well, and this smart against an excellent athletic team is really impressive.

I heard that Willie was acting out in practice and the coach had enough so he was benched for the game. The best thing that I saw was that Willie was a real cheerleader and he was genuinely happy for the team and for Cody. Hopefully, this will just be part of the learning experience that comes from growing up. I actually was worried a bit about him when Rammer spent so much time during the halftime interview of the BG game with Willie talking about the NBA and NBA scouts, etc and Willie was really big on it. He is a good player who is getting better but he is a long way from the NBA and if he has folks telling him he is ready for the "SHOW" and he does not need to listen to the coaches then that would be a very bad thing for Willie. But I was really impressed that he seemed upbeat and supportive and did not at all appear to be sulking at the game.

Anyone who doubts the importance of Kyle C should look at this game. We were rolling with him in the game and he handled the press beautifully. He got his second foul on a rotten call when we were up 13-6 and they went on a big run. Kyle is a fine player, who defends well and understands ball movement on offense.

Wonderful victory--congrats to the team and the coaching staff. When I saw Willie was not playing I was just hoping we would not lose by more than 20--and I am normally the optimist! Cody was better than I expected and I had pretty high expectations!

[booyaa87]

I agree on the refs they were terrible. Not favoring one team or the other, just making bad calls both ways.

CE has upside for sure. Appears to be a good passer too.

I wasn't as impressed with KC against the press, I was relieved with KM came back in and am surprised Richmond didn't use the press again in the 2nd half.

CS hits his free throws but man is he stuggling with his shot. I think his 3% is going to drop below 20% soon.

[GOSLU68]

I agree on the refs they were terrible. Not favoring one team or the other, just making bad calls both ways.

CE has upside for sure. Appears to be a good passer too.

I wasn't as impressed with KC against the press, I was relieved with KM came back in and am surprised Richmond didn't use the press again in the 2nd half.

CS hits his free throws but man is he stuggling with his shot. I think his 3% is going to drop below 20% soon.

[GOSLU68]

CS handled the pressure of the very good press

and we were only temporarily trapped about three times

that must be why it did not come back second half.

Seems coach went Smith and Ellis and CR with Conklin

all but last 5 minutes when we went

BC with CE probably mostly because

CR had 4 fouls late in the game; next year

with Chicago guard help and a year of

maturity we are going to be top tier for

A10

[cheeseman]

I agree that KC handled the ball well when he was in there but he sat most of the 1st half with 2 fouls so that is not much help. The biggest thing about this win is we did it without Willie - if I was Willie I would want to get back so the team suddenly does not begin to think they don't need me playing big minutes. While Willie has been good we saw what happened when we don't have KM - can not say the same for not having WR. I understand we did not have CE when KM was out for SMS but if we did it still probably would not have made a difference in the win loss column. This was great game and we got good play out many players - if we could just play this way on the road we would be a top team in the A10. Did you see that the Dukes took Dayton at Dayton to OT before finally loosing. I was so concerned that this game would go into OT - we would have lost because we had so many players in foul trouble.

[brianstl]

Two things that stood out to me about the game.

First, Cody is a pretty good passer and what suprised me the most was his understanding of the offense considering he just got here. The kid seems to have a very high basketball IQ.

Second, I think Conklin is starting to get over the high ankle sprain. This is the most active I have seen him this year and he seem to actually have a vertical jump today.

[bonwich]

vertical jump

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!

[Runnin'Billiken]

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!

"He's a fleshy kid"

"He's out of shape"

"He can't hit the rim"

"He'll be good but not this year"

BULLS**T RICK!!

THAT BOY CAN BALL AND YOU KNOW IT

The spotlight was on him and with the game on the line he nailed it.

Cody has icewater in his veins

and his calves are massive. They could take down a truck

Playing like he did tonight he would be the best player on our team THIS year

[Tonka]

One thing I hadn't thought of before tonight was that I think CE will make CS better. It's tough to come so far from family like both CS and CE have done. They are adjusting to a new country and having to learn the American style of basketball. There has to be a comfort level that CS has now that CE, a former teammate, has arrived. I think in time CS will find his shot as he gets even more comfortable and the good play of CE will only build CS' confidence.

[Clock_Tower]

IMO, and for the sake of those who could not watch the game, CE is a 4 and not a 3. Yes, he is mobile, versatile, shoots the 3, has a knack for the game and is a good passer, but he is still a 4. Great game Bills.

[jp18]

Alright, I didn't want to be the one to bring this up, but I will. First off, Ellis exceeded all my expectations for his game today. I thought he played a great game and I'm super excited about his future for the rest of this season and beyond. That said, did he have some man boobs?

[AlumniFan]

Random observations:

• Crowd was decent tonight and the student section was also decent; the students were loud which helped.
• Ellis is the same height as Conklin - now, whether that is 6'8" or 6'2" I am not sure, but he is the same height.
• Majerus obviously lies - Ellis is ready to play; he may get a lot better, but I was expecting 10 minutes and a lot of rust, but what I saw was pretty impressive for his first collegiate game.
• Ellis is only a freshman - wow!
• If Conklin played every half, offensively speaking, like he played the first half today, he would be our top player.
• With 26.2 seconds left, my 10 year old turns to me and says, "Dad, there are only 26 seconds left, can we leave?" Response: "You're grounded!"
• Imagine when Ellis starts hitting his threes! Again, Wow!
• We shot the ball really well tonight, I think 50% and decent from 3 point range. What a difference that makes.
• I like Kyle's game tonight. He really kept Gonvalez under control and distributed the ball well.
• Liked the way we beat the press so handily tonight. I didn't have to bury my head in by hands even once.
• Some of the Richmond players were really in our players' faces and were mouthy with the refs; I'm surprised there was not a technical.
• Refs sucked...big surprise.
• Remekun has a sweet 15 foot jumper.
• The time it takes for exposed human flesh to freeze is approximately the same as the time it took me to walk from my car to the Chaifetz Arena - thanks to Harris Stowe closing their stupid parking lot today.
• Did anyone notice how deep Cody was when he took his three point shots? Someone tell him that he is not in the NBA... yet!!!
• New food service now includes Domino's Pizza which is an improvement over the previous cardboard with sauce and cheese that they offered before.
• In the last minute, the crowd was actually on their feet through the end of the game. Next thing you know, cats will be dancing with dogs...
• There are times where it looks like every player is moving in slow motion as Kwamain effortlessly glides to the hoop and softly lays it in. He may end up as one of the top SLU guards ever.
• Do Ellis and and Kyle go to the same barber....uh oh...
• Celebrating the win with a fine bottle of 2005 Anomaly Cab!!!!
• Overall, great game. With Willie Reed in the game, Ellis here, and younger players like Remekun and Smith coming along, we may go .500 in conference play. Next, year with a the experience and McCall and Evans coming in we could be in a position to dominate in conference play.

[MB73]

A lot to look forward to after this game!

Crowd was a little flat, refs were inconsistent... BUT:

CE played great for someone who has not played at game speed in a long time. He is exactly what we needed. Some "O". Confident as hell for someone playing his first NCAA game with 5 days of practice. He is for real, will improve when he gets acclimated. Very impressed. Not sure he is top flite on "D", but that is "OK".

Again, in crunch time, CE can play up front with WR, KC, KM, and another guard. That will be our best team on the floor.

Conklin showed a little "O" around the hoop early, some finesse, a good couple of shots. That is huge.

Smith and Remekum are strong on "D", starting to contribute, coming along fine.

We still need someone besides KM to hit some "3"'s... Cassity, Salecich, Jordan, one needs to establish himself.

KM takes charge when he has to late in the game, always has 3-5 pts at half, winds up with 20. Good for him, but he needs help, he gets pounded physically when he goes into the paint against bigs.

When WR is back, we will have something going here! And they are all freshmen and sophs!

We are ahead of schedule!

[NH]

My thoughts:

(on the crowd and arena)

-students got fairly loud and did a decent job

-I stood a a lot towards the end of the game and a lot of people around me started to stand so that was good

- I didn't get any food, but at least there were options this time

(on richmond and the refs)

-richmond looks solid they didn't make their threes and that gave us a chance

-refs were horribly inconsistent but they couldn't ruin a great game

(and on our play)

-sorry to hear about willie, but it showed we can step up without him

-I thought everyone of our players contributed and they have all improved from the start of the year.

Kwamain- what can you say? He took over the game in crunch time despite getting the tommie liddell treatment from the refs. He is an absolute stud. I would honestly take mitchell over anderson any day of the week.

Christian- played with a lot of moxy. Good defense, good free throw shooting and he appears to have his stroke back, now he needs to make them.

Kyle- Maybe his best game of the year. Played great defense on Gonzalvez. Also hit a big three and had a nice drive to the rack. Strating to get that confidence back

Brian- Played great, without him we get blown out of this game. He was our only offense early and he showed we don't need willie to score in the post.

Cory- Played great. He has improved so much from the beginning of the year. Very good rebounding effort and his blocked shots were huge. Is at least 6"8'

Jon- He has improved a ton too. He really stepped up today without willie. Great rebounding and solid offense.

Cody- Other people will say more but he played fairly well. I'd like to see how he plays when he gets adjusted. Needs to gain strength and is not quite as tall as advertised, but I think he will be a very good players for us.

Justin- Played very respectable D on anderson. Didn't force as many shots as usual.

Femi- I have a special place in my heart for Fem since I saw was a big fan of him in High school. The meniscus is certainly affecting his athleticism, but apparently not his jumpshot. HE also played good defense when he was in there.

I dont think I forgot anybody. Maybe Ellis will bring the attitude we need to finally win a road game.

[bonwich]

At least in our little end zone, the crowd was as active as I've ever seen at a SLU game. We had people standing AT THE END OF THE FIRST HALF. (I thought that three would really deflate us, and we did come out a little flat a few minutes into the second half -- but people WERE STANDING TO END THE HALF!!!) I also salute the lady of a certain age sitting next to me who put her hands out straight in front of her and wiggled her fingers every time Richmond went to the line on our end, as if she knew a good Spider hex.

The heat on the refs for bad calls was also noticeable, much more so than in any game I can remember. People were booing so loud in my section that I couldn't even hear kshoe screaming 15 rows down.

I think we're about 40 percent there toward a real home-advantage home crowd, and it'll get better after the students get back. As someone else noted, the empty seats in the center sections lower bowl are an embarrassment, but I've already made my suggestion on how to fill them up.

(By the way, what happened to the fence halfway up in the endzone? We lost our footstool!)

[doowop]

I agree that KC handled the ball well when he was in there but he sat most of the 1st half with 2 fouls so that is not much help. The biggest thing about this win is we did it without Willie - if I was Willie I would want to get back so the team suddenly does not begin to think they don't need me playing big minutes. While Willie has been good we saw what happened when we don't have KM - can not say the same for not having WR. I understand we did not have CE when KM was out for SMS but if we did it still probably would not have made a difference in the win loss column. This was great game and we got good play out many players - if we could just play this way on the road we would be a top team in the A10. Did you see that the Dukes took Dayton at Dayton to OT before finally loosing. I was so concerned that this game would go into OT - we would have lost because we had so many players in foul trouble.

The team better hope WR gets back soon. SLU won't win many games allowing their opponents 14 offensive rebounds. By the way, I believe SLU would have beaten Missouri State if CE had played.

[NH]

The team better hope WR gets back soon. SLU won't win many games allowing their opponents 14 offensive rebounds. By the way, I believe SLU would have beaten Missouri State if CE had played.

or if KM had played.

[kshoe]

[*]The time it takes for exposed human flesh to freeze is approximately the same as the time it took me to walk from my car to the Chaifetz Arena - thanks to Harris Stowe closing their stupid parking lot today.

Harris Stowe parking lot explanation.

http://www.hssu.edu/newsevents.cfm?ordering=361

[slu72 fan]

The team better hope WR gets back soon. SLU won't win many games allowing their opponents 14 offensive rebounds. By the way, I believe SLU would have beaten Missouri State if CE had played.

I think SLU beats MSU if KM plays.

[TheA_Bomb]

Think about this: as well as Remekun and Smif are playing in the future dudes like that will red-shirt, if things progress as they have so far. So in the past Remekun would've been our best post player now he is about the 4th best and only played due to a late transfer that left the squad depleted. So it will be nice to have a full compliment of scholarship players with players getting time to develop.

I am so pumped for the rest of the season and next season especially. Got to turn it around on the road and that will show me something.

[jbizzle09]

CE made me get really excited tonite! I was actually hoping that he didn't have a game like tonite so I wouldn't get so excited, but he stepped up tonite against a HUGE A-10 opponent. A team that has a chance to win the entire conference. Yet, in his first game, he stepped up and had a really good game. Played 23 minutes and had an overall great game. FIRST GAME!

I still have reserved expectations for the kid. Yet, he makes me feel more confident for this team. ESPECIALLY with WR in the lineup. And I bet WR feels the same way. Richmond is a VERY god team. And we beat them! Fell good about that Billikens!

CE is the real deal ! There is a reason RM stuck with him this long. There is a reason we were excited about him this long. The kid is really that good, and he showed it tonight against a really good team, and it was without one of our best players. I now believe CE is as good as advertised!

[thetorch]

Most things have been touched on.

I hoped Ellis would be this good. It isn't like he shot lights out but his basketball instincts are pure and he is clearly very skilled. I can't wait to see what 3 years with Majerus will do for him.

Really disappointing about Willie. He seems to smart to become a headcase.

We really improved against the press. Richmond runs a good one and we beat it even without Mitchell in the game.

We take for granted our 3 point defense. No team can hit 3s against us ever. I don't know how Rick does it.

Timmerman reports that CE was measured at 8% body fat. That is not fleshy.

[GOSLU68]

Most things have been touched on.

I hoped Ellis would be this good. It isn't like he shot lights out but his basketball instincts are pure and he is clearly very skilled. I can't wait to see what 3 years with Majerus will do for him.

Really disappointing about Willie. He seems to smart to become a headcase.

We really improved against the press. Richmond runs a good one and we beat it even without Mitchell in the game.

We take for granted our 3 point defense. No team can hit 3s against us ever. I don't know how Rick does it.

Timmerman reports that CE was measured at 8% body fat. That is not fleshy.

more of a wide body compared to RM's

other recruits or just shouldn't stand

next to Willie and Smif

[AlumniFan]

Timmerman reports that CE was measured at 8% body fat. That is not fleshy.

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.

[GOSLU68]

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.

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

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