NashvilleBilliken Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 First off, thanks to everybody for there reports from Billiken Madness...very exciting to say the least. I was wondering if anybody made it to practice over the weekend. While the reports from Friday night were encouraging, you don't want to base too much on a fun night that's designed to pump up the fans. How did everbody look when Brad and the players were taking things seriously? Was JJ able to get a shot/dunk off with somebody playing D? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 who would be "playing "d"" on him? it isnt like we have a plethora of power forwards. one of the things that we all have to keep in mind. as good as kevin, tommie and ian looked last night, imo there is a huge dropoff in ability in each of their backups, thus, what we saw friday isnt going to translate to charlotte or gonzaga. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoop Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Do you think Danny Brown is that much of a drop off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 The reports on DB were very encouraging. Someone said he's the best athlete on the team. I think he's going to surprise some people. Also, DP can't be disregarded can he? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 DB looked outstanding. DP will not be disregarded ... he is the pg and will remain the pg for the Bills, unless he gets hurt. We don't need him to score. We need him to control the tempo of the game and distribute. We want Tommie finishing the breaks ... not starting them. DP pushes TL and or DB attacking the hole while Kevin is an outlet for the 3. Sorry but anyone who thinks TL will be our starting pg is wrong. If we didn't have DP, TL could do an outstanding job as pg ... but we do have DP. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted October 17, 2005 Author Share Posted October 17, 2005 Who was playing D?? ANYBODY. From what I've seen of our team over the past few years, I think if anybody is playing D on our team, it's probably better than 75% of the people we'll play against. Sure KL playing D on JJ SHOULD be a mismatch, but from what you say, maybe it isn't. Mostly, I'm just curious about the team in general during a "real" practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 doesn't UB have a policy that a lot of the early practices are open? It's when we get in season and right before a game he slams the doors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crymdg2 Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 I actually thought it was the other way around. That he closes many of the early practices. I have never had any trouble getting in to see a practice in mid season. But for some reason I thought last year the first week or two were closed. I am going to try and go over and watch tomorrow (Tuesday.) I assume they are open since Julius went on Saturday or was that something you had to set up with the Athletic Department. Orange Julius can you help? Are we able to attend practices? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 i think danny brown was very good and the next best player, but i dont think danny brown is kevin lisch (doesnt defend or shoot like him) or tommie liddell (the kid can get to any spot on the floor he wants and see's the floor as well as anyone that ever went to slu except maybe H) or ian (ian is 6'10" and 270 lbs). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 i know i will lose this battle as soderberg has said on many occasions what skip just said, but imo, polk would still be better on the wing using that fantastic speed and jumping ability finishing rather than with the ball dribbling around at the halfline with no where to go. liddell can finish whatever he wants with or without the ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleacherBum593 Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 I went a couple of times last year towards the end of the season and never had any problems getting in. I went up on top and no one never bothered me or asked me to leave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 anyone ever hear the old baseball adage "don't buy what you see in April or Sept"?? My take on the basketball equivalent would be "don't buy what you see in Oct and Nov" and I might include Dec Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 and had no problem getting in. not sure who Julius is but there weren't many people in the stands... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleacherBum593 Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Per the office - "They are scheduled to practice on Tuesday at 2:30, on Wednesday at 2:30, Thursday from 7 until 9:00 am and Friday 2:00 until 3:30." I'm assuming pratice is open, since I asked and they didn't say anything about it in the return email. I plan on dropping by on Tuesday to watch. Anyone want to join me? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Outside of Friday night, I have never seen Kevin play. However, I can't imagine that he is a significantly better defender than Danny Brown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 if you noticed, on friday nite, liddell had the majority of his half court success at the beginning of the scrimmage. kevin was guarding polk then. after liddell had the second alley opp dunk, kevin took liddell and liddell did not have any half court dunks from that point on in the scrimmage. believe what you want, i like brown. he is an athlete deluxe. but he doesnt play defense like lisch imo. i cannot remember the player at memphis name, but he was the wing when hardaway was there. very fast, cleaned up on all the attention that hardaway attracted, scored a lot of baskets on fast breaks and scenarios where hardaway got doubled. that could easily be danny brown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 It confuses me how anyone can think we would be better with TL leading the break and DP in his spot on the wing rather than DP with the ball and TL finishing. Once we are in a half court set ... I am sure alot will run through Tommie. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 can you run faster dribbling the ball or just running? liddell is a better passer and sees the court better. polk is a flyer. so it makes sense to me, let polk get out on the wing and just flat out out run everyone to the other end. liddell hits him with the pass. your thoughts would have mel gray playing quarterback and jim hart receiving. i want hart throwing the ball to polk. from a basketball example how about uab a few years ago when they had the little flyer on the wing running down the floor? if polk passed like nate archibald i wouldnt be as emphatic. but we havent seen many instances of polk being a great passer. in fact, my memory has drejaj making more spectacular passes last year actually than polk. now i am not saying play drejaj over polk. polk's godgiven athleticism wins out. but the point is, i dont see where considering all aspects, it is an advantage having polk leading the break instead of liddell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted October 17, 2005 Author Share Posted October 17, 2005 I think you make good points about the break, but what about the half court set? IMO, you don't necessarily want your best scorer running the point. For me, the point gaurds' number one role is distributing the ball so that other people can score. If Liddell has the ball from the beginning, we have to work a lot harder to give it back to him. Instead, give Polk the ball at the top of the key and let tommie come off the screen for the drive/mid-ranger. Also, I seem to remember Polk not having great success on the break. For some reason I recall him being stuffed quite a bit when taking it to the hoop last season. I hear he has tremendous leaping ability, but he is only 5'9". He can still get stuff by Ian who only has about a 6" vertical. I really love the fact that we're even having this converstion. I'm pretty confident with the ball in either guy's hand, and that isn't something that has happened too much in my tenure as a Bills fan. Then again, Tommie has never played a D1 game so that's quite a bit of speculation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 I'm sure there are a few examples of the small guy on the wing and the bigger guy filling the lane ... The question is which one will finish better. Polk is a fine passer especially in the open court. If you took 100 college basketball coaches and gave them DP, TL, KL, and DB ... I would bet 99 of them would have DP at the point including UB. I wonder how they got to be college basketball coaches. The guy bringing the ball up rarely finishes on a 2 on 1 break unless he can completely fake the socks off the guy. They are both quite capable of btinging the ball up and distributing ... the question again is which one will finish better. The defender will stop the ball 9 out of 10 times. Dwayne is a pg ... and let me repeat he is the Billiken pg. and unless he plays very poorly ... he will remain the Billiken pg. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 ever hear of a "score first" point guard. gilbert arenas, allen iverson, come to mind. archibald, penny hardaway, stephon marbury. all played the point and were shoot first pass second point guards. even jordan was more or less the point guard after bj armstrong left. if not jordan it was pippen. it sure wasnt cant dribble or pass john paxson. liddell has a tendency to disappear. if the ball is in his hands, he wont, he will get the offense started. he has first try to slash to the basket then pass which for those that havent seen him, he is the best passer on the team. if he does pass it off to say polk, there is no reason he cant then run through a screen or two to get the return pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaleJarr Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 > It confuses me how anyone can think we would be better with >TL leading the break and DP in his spot on the wing rather >than DP with the ball and TL finishing. I would much rather have DP coming off the bench as a nice change of pace. Let the opposition wear down a bit and bring Polk off the bench with his quickness. If I have two players of equal abilities with one having an 8-9 inch height advantage, I go with the taller player. Logic being the taller player not being abused on the defensive end by a bigger player. I'm sure most have seen the video @ hssmtv.com of Tommie consistently taking smaller guards off the dribble and finishing in traffic, this is nothing new. He has had these abilities since his sophmore year, however teams and coaches figured out that if you clogged the lane Tommie would hit the open jumpshooter who would often misfire. Put Tommie at the pg with players of equal abilities and watched the win totals go up. With Polk at the pg you only have one good option when Polk penetrates the defense, a kick out to a jumpshooter. The other would be the running one-hander that Polk attempted last year with little to no success. With Tommie knifing the defense, he will either dunk, make an interior pass to the 4 or 5,kick it out to a shooter,finish with a short jumpshot, or get fouled. Your likely to have more positives with Tommie at the PG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 Once we are in a set offense all the guards will have the ability to penetrate and create. Brad actually said today that when any guard gets a board they have a green light to put the ball on the floor and push the tempo. What makes you think Polk's only options are to penetrate and kick out or a one handed running jumper or whatever you called it. You weren't that convincing ... I'm still confused how anyone would rather have TL distributing and DP filling the lane rather than DP distributing and TL filling the lane. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Julius Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 I have never had a problem with attending practice. I just call and find out what time it is and then go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jalensdad2002 Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 What makes you think Polk's only options are to penetrate and kick out or a one handed running jumper or whatever you called it. Because he did just that this past year. I don't expect that to change much this season. It's not like he is going to be elevating over most defender once he penetrates in the half court. Believe what you want, but I don't believe Soderberg is going Loyola Marymount, especially when he is qouted as saying the team is going to heavily reliant upon the play of Vouyukas. You weren't that convincing ... I'm still confused how anyone would rather have TL distributing and DP filling the lane rather than DP distributing and TL filling the lane. You read something that I didn't write. I never said I wanted Polk filling the lane. I said bring him off the bench as a change of pace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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