Lindy's

[Glorydays2013]

2 minutes ago, NH said:

The A-10 is far from a very poor conference. I think you should keep an open mind for how recruits translate to wins at our level of college basketball.  

This is probably one of the worst years for the A-10 in years. Projected 2 bid team to the tournament, which is slightly better, if not on par with the missouri valley. That is not good. 

Recruits translate well in poor conferences at a higher margin in places like the A-10 than let's say ACC or Big East or Big12. Why do you think VCU was always a competitor the past few years? They almost always dominated recruiting in the A-10. 

[brianstl]

Pomeroy Rankings for the 12-13 season

VCU 18

SLU 19

OSU  24

[NH]

6 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

This is probably one of the worst years for the A-10 in years. Projected 2 bid team to the tournament, which is slightly better, if not on par with the missouri valley. That is not good. 

Recruits translate well in poor conferences at a higher margin in places like the A-10 than let's say ACC or Big East or Big12. Why do you think VCU was always a competitor the past few years? They almost always dominated recruiting in the A-10. 

I have followed recruiting very closely (and I know you do as well) but I simply disagree with this. The difference between a recruit ranked 100 and a recruit ranked 200 is often much smaller than the difference between the number 15 recruit and the number 50 recruit. In the A-10, schools are rarely if ever in the hunt for that upper echelon of recruit (Bagley, Porter, etc.). As such, teams have an easier time winning with slightly less prestigious recruiting classes (e.g. SLU in 2012) than they do in conferences like the ACC

[MusicCityBilliken]

Just caught the Lindy's issue at the Publix.

Interesting, they are very high on Aaron Hines. If Aaron getting significant minutes, we are in for another season like the last 3.

They do have us down for 3rd place and a likely NIT post season. 

Thank God for the internet. If it was not for the internet I probably be dropping the ten bucks they charge for these magazines like did 2 decades ago.

[Old guy]

I have been reading a fair amount of speculation as to what our team will be like this coming season, together with doubts about how well they will do in actual play, depth, composition, etc... Issues like lacking a true PG, etc... come floating out frequently. My answer to those concerns is simple, we have a group of players that just do not fit into the standard team compositions we know. This is both a great opportunity and a possible problem. If Ford gets the team integrated in a way that it plays together using the strengths of each player, we will have a winning team that will present unexpected problems for other teams. If Ford does not succeed at doing this, then we will have a problem winning against better integrated teams. I do not think Hines will be getting a significant amount of minutes this year unless we have a disaster in our hands. Whatever happens this coming season is entirely in Ford's hands, we will soon see how well he trains and plays the new team.

[slu72]

While it's good to see us getting some early season praise from Lindy's and the 144 we are still a huge unknown. It's encouraging to read that the pundits are fairly high on our recruits, transfers, and Dead's left overs.  Still, it's difficult to predict how we will fare both in non con and conference play. One positive as opposed to the last three seasons is at least we have some hope for a good season and people are once again excited about seeing the Billikens take the floor.

My guess is we're going to face some struggles in the non con portion other than the cupcakes. This year's non con is the toughest we've seen in three years and it's going to take some time for Ford to synchronize all the parts. One concern is that we really don't have a proven 5. I don't know squat about Anthony but based on his SH years you can't expect much beyond him being a space eater on the inside.  Foreman, Wellmer, French, Johnson, and Bess seem to fit in with the A10 inside game, but you have to wonder how they're going to do in the non con when they're going up against their redwoods. And while we do seem to have a rotation of solid guards and wings, they've never played real games as a unit.

For sure the talent level seems to have taken a big leap forward, we still are an untested team.

[prebilliken]

3 hours ago, kshoe said:

We won't come out of non-conference unscathed...but if we did we'd be ranked in the top 15 and would be only 1 of a few (if that) teams still undefeated in the country. This would include neutral court wins over V-Tech and Providence and a road win at Butler.

Not happening though.

I was attempting to underline the caution in that prediction. There is definitely an unfortunate scenarios where an inexperienced (while talented) teams drops 3 or 4 to some combo of PC, VaTech, Butler, and UH. Do I see that happening? No. I think we split or win 3... Butler will be down, and perhaps vulnerable due to having a new coaching staff as well,  but there are no easy games on the road in college ball. 

We will know a lot about what to expect after the 2K tournament. 

[TFord and TRavs]

34 minutes ago, slu72 said:

While it's good to see us getting some early season praise from Lindy's and the 144 we are still a huge unknown. It's encouraging to read that the pundits are fairly high on our recruits, transfers, and Dead's left overs.  Still, it's difficult to predict how we will fare both in non con and conference play. One positive as opposed to the last three seasons is at least we have some hope for a good season and people are once again excited about seeing the Billikens take the floor.

My guess is we're going to face some struggles in the non con portion other than the cupcakes. This year's non con is the toughest we've seen in three years and it's going to take some time for Ford to synchronize all the parts. One concern is that we really don't have a proven 5. I don't know squat about Anthony but based on his SH years you can't expect much beyond him being a space eater on the inside.  Foreman, Wellmer, French, Johnson, and Bess seem to fit in with the A10 inside game, but you have to wonder how they're going to do in the non con when they're going up against their redwoods. And while we do seem to have a rotation of solid guards and wings, they've never played real games as a unit.

For sure the talent level seems to have taken a big leap forward, we still are an untested team.

I just want to remind everyone that we do not need a true 5. We also have Rasheed Anthony for height for potential mis-matches if needed. He would be our true 5. 

I have no idea where old guy thinks we don't have a true pg, Roby, graves and goodwin fit the bill and Goodwin is almost a copy of Smart under Ford. 

Another reminder that Goodwin and French who are both already top 100 recruits, are considered highly underrated. 

This team will out perform all expectations from preseason speculators. Even people who don't closely follow the A-10 or slu know we will be a force next year. 

[3star_recruit]

Butler returns a ton of starters and one of the best sophomores in the conference. I don't think they take much of a step back at all, even with a new coach.

[majerus mojo]

I truly love VCU fans

[Old guy]

Let's make sure we take his offer and make sure he wears sexy underwear while he is playing the oompa-oompa stuff. He appears to have a small posterior as per the @VCULitos

[GMan Alum]

Just browsed the magazine aisle and saw that Street & Smith picks SLU for 2nd in the A-10 (Rhode Island is #1).  They list Henriquez as the "Difference Maker" because of his experience and scoring ability.  The magazine also calls for an "instant impact" from the transfers, but are obviously very high on Goodwin and French.

[Glorydays2013]

11 minutes ago, GMan Alum said:

Just browsed the magazine aisle and saw that Street & Smith picks SLU for 2nd in the A-10 (Rhode Island is #1).  They list Henriquez as the "Difference Maker" because of his experience and scoring ability.  The magazine also calls for an "instant impact" from the transfers, but are obviously very high on Goodwin and French.

Exactly what I think. If Bess was good enough to start at Michigan State who is a projected top 5 team this year, I think 3 years later he can be a huge asset as well as a RS JR

[RUBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Glorydays2013 said:

Exactly what I think. If Bess was good enough to start at Michigan State who is a projected top 5 team this year, I think 3 years later he can be a huge asset as well as a RS JR

I'm barking up the wrong tree here, but whatever.

I'm excited for the upcoming season, but you're cherry picking that Bess was a "starter" and ignoring the fact that he put up very pedestrian numbers at Michigan State.  Injuries may have played a role in that, but I'm tempering my expectations with Bess until he proves otherwise.

[HoosierPal]

6 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

I'm barking up the wrong tree here, but whatever.

I'm excited for the upcoming season, but you're cherry picking that Bess was a "starter" and ignoring the fact that he put up very pedestrian numbers at Michigan State.  Injuries may have played a role in that, but I'm tempering my expectations with Bess until he proves otherwise.

I am with you. 

I hope Jevon Bess reminds us of Anthony Bonner. 

But until he proves it on the Chaifetz floor, he is a 11.4 mpg, 2.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 18% three point shooter.  He started 3 of 12 games as a freshman and 13 of 32 as a soph.  To state he would be starting on the #5 team in the country, well, let's see how he produces for the #58 team first.

[TFord and TRavs]

20 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

I'm barking up the wrong tree here, but whatever.

I'm excited for the upcoming season, but you're cherry picking that Bess was a "starter" and ignoring the fact that he put up very pedestrian numbers at Michigan State.  Injuries may have played a role in that, but I'm tempering my expectations with Bess until he proves otherwise.

Name one player on the billiken roster the past 3 years that would have ever 1. Has Been recruited by Tom Izzo (a Cbb legend) 2. Would have been given a starting spot by Tom Izzo 

[Old guy]

Personally I am looking forward to see French in action.

[RUBillsFan]

18 hours ago, TFord and TRavs said:

Name one player on the billiken roster the past 3 years that would have ever 1. Has Been recruited by Tom Izzo (a Cbb legend) 2. Would have been given a starting spot by Tom Izzo 

The Billiken roster the past few years has largely been a pile of assorted garbage.  Saying Bess is better than anyone on the roster the past few years means very little.  My point is that we have better data (2 years of stats for Michigan State) than just saying "wow he started for Tom Izzo".  You cannot refute that point by reiterating that he started for Tom Izzo.

Again, I hope I'm wrong and Bess is fully healthy and plays like a monster who leads us to the NCAA tournament, but I'm not going to have outlandish expectations for a guy who put up his stat line even if it was at Michigan State.

[NextYearBill]

18 hours ago, TFord and TRavs said:

Name one player on the billiken roster the past 3 years that would have ever 1. Has Been recruited by Tom Izzo (a Cbb legend) 2. Would have been given a starting spot by Tom Izzo 

Jordair Jett would have been an excellent MSU starter 

 

oops... past 3 years? Nobody! 

[TFord and TRavs]

4 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

The Billiken roster the past few years has largely been a pile of assorted garbage.  Saying Bess is better than anyone on the roster the past few years means very little.  My point is that we have better data (2 years of stats for Michigan State) than just saying "wow he started for Tom Izzo".  You cannot refute that point by reiterating that he started for Tom Izzo.

Again, I hope I'm wrong and Bess is fully healthy and plays like a monster who leads us to the NCAA tournament, but I'm not going to have outlandish expectations for a guy who put up his stat line even if it was at Michigan State.

Good stats also mean very little coming from a poor team. Lower stats don't mean you're not a great player when you're on a power team. 

thats like saying you don't want a spurs player who averages 5 ppg

[MusicCityBilliken]

Recall back when we played them in Columbus Izzo would loved to have Dwight Evans. Difficult match-up.

[RUBillsFan]

Just now, TFord and TRavs said:

Good stats also mean very little coming from a poor team. Lower stats don't mean you're not a great player when you're on a power team. 

thats like saying you don't want a spurs player who averages 5 ppg

We'll see.  I hope you're right.

[hsmith19]

I don't know, I can definitely picture Brent Jolly in green and white.

[billikenfan05]

On 9/19/2017 at 3:36 PM, TFord and TRavs said:

 Tom Izzo (a Cbb legend) 2.

people forget Tom Izzo only has one more NABC Coach of the Year than Jim Crews.

[Glorydays2013]

12 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

people forget Tom Izzo only has one more NABC Coach of the Year than Jim Crews.

Yea only 1 more National Championship too