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Just listened to Coach


SLUDrew

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He said he met with Ian today and flat out told him he needs to get more aggressive if this team is going to go anywhere. He told him he has been soft at times in terms of getting good position and he seems to have a tendency of letting a poor offensive performance affect his aggressiveness on D. I couldn't agree more with coach in this one. Even if Ian in struggling on O, there is no excuse for him to have two boards like he did on Sat.

The callers were really hard on Coach tonight, and I can see where they were coming from. A couple mentioned JJ and that he isn't being given a chance whne Luke Meyer is clearly out-classed by some of the athletes he plays against. Not once did Coach address the JJ situation directly. Who knows what JJ has done. If Coach can't stand having on the team, then cut bait, but we can't afford to have an athlete of his ability languishing on the bench we we are getting torched by big men from other teams

Coach reiterated that he would like to "run" if he had the team to do it. He was called out on this by a couple callers. Like many of us here have said, especially yours truly, if you can't score in the halfcourt why not at leat TRY fullcourt traps. We have depth at guard. We have good athletes at guard. Sometimes if your system does not maximize what your team can do you have to tweak it. Coach seems to refuse to do that.

Like myself, and think everyone is pleased with the overall job coach has done since he has been here, but he HAS to be a little more flexible to get the most out of his teams.

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Spoon used those traps and pressure on the guards to keep the opposition's bigs from getting the ball against his usually outmanned front lines. Later in the Spoonball days, SLU had some bigs (Baniak and Heinrich). But in the first two NCAA years, the Billikens were the Lilliputians.

Coach Soderberg overall is solid defensively. But I just don't know how he can hope to contain opposition athletic PF's without JJ or without pressuring the opposition guards at least at the center stripe.

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I heard him say that about TL and DP when they are in there at the same time and he is dead on. I would not argue that. However, and I go back to his innability to stray even a little from his system, when Dwayne is in there we play a more up-tempo like we did when he was in there against Xavier, and you aren't always in halfcourt sets. You are setting up a press after getting a layup.

Why not put a DP, DB, KL, TL, IV lineup out there for a while and let them create havoc? Heaven forbid, you could even throw JJ in there to spell I an for a few minutes. I am not proposing this be our bread and butter, just a curveball we can throw at the other team once in a while. What would it hurt? I am sick and tired of ten and twelve minute droughts. No matter how good your man-to-man D is, and ours is one of the best I have ever seen, you have to mix it up once in a while.

People on this board say, "we get open shots in our halfcourt. We just are making them." NO KIDDING! We can't shoot. Instead of just saying our guys need to shoot 1000 shots a day this summer, which they do, let's see waht we can do to be better THIS YEAR. There is a lot of talent on this team. It just doesn't work with this system yet.

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The callers were really hard on Coach tonight, and I can see

where they were coming from. A couple mentioned JJ and that

he isn't being given a chance whne Luke Meyer is clearly

out-classed by some of the athletes he plays against. Not

once did Coach address the JJ situation directly. Who knows

what JJ has done. If Coach can't stand having on the team,

then cut bait, but we can't afford to have an athlete of his

ability languishing on the bench we we are getting torched

by big men from other teams

In total agreement,the one worry I have is the JJ issue becoming cancerous. I'm pretty sure JJ's teammates don't view JJ in the same light as Coach Soderberg. They may see a guy who competes in practice every day only to get screwed come gameday. JJ's teammates may see a guy who could have really helped out in the Dayton game as he did vs Rhode Island. Eventually the speech about working hard in practice is going to fall on deaf ears. One of the 1st things you learn in the military is that we don't have to love each other to get the job accomplished.

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On Feb 13, 2006 SLUDrew writes:

"No matter how good your man-to-man D is, and ours is one of the best I have ever seen...." -AND- "Like myself, and think everyone is pleased with the overall job coach has done since he has been here..."

But, on Jan 18, 2006 SLUDrew wrote:

"Soderberg should be fired immediately unless Tommie mouthed off"

Go ahead and keep on ripping Brad for not trapping more or for the team not being able to score in the half-court or for whatever else you see as the Billiken's deficiencies. But understand that, with the kind of flip-flopping you've demonstrated within less than a month's time, you have little credibility.

I, for one, will leave the game-day basketball strategies up to Brad. Had we listened to you a few weeks ago, the coach who you now seem to support would have already been gone.

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>>In total agreement,the one worry I have is the JJ issue becoming cancerous. I'm pretty sure JJ's teammates don't view JJ in the same light as Coach Soderberg. They may see a guy who competes in practice every day only to get screwed come gameday. JJ's teammates may see a guy who could have really helped out in the Dayton game as he did vs Rhode Island. Eventually the speech about working hard in practice is going to fall on deaf ears. One of the 1st things you learn in the military is that we don't have to love each other to get the job accomplished.<<

JaleJarr, I suspect your comments about how at least some of the players view the JJ situation is more than pure speculation on your part. Interesting if true.

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I guess all of us who disagree with anything this program does should just go away so the rest of you can come over here and talk about all the puppy dogs and ice cream stuff all day without ever having to hear that this team and this coach are not perfect.

This is ridiculous.

I really wonder if any of you ever played and or coached the game?

Like I said, I think it is ridiculous to question another fan's loyalty to the team. I haven't done it, yet it is continously done to me, Nark, Footes, and anyone else that ... quick take the children in another room before you read this... disagrees with some of the things Coach does. COACH DISAGREES WITH SOME OF THE THINGS HE DOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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JaleJarr, I suspect your comments about how at least some of

the players view the JJ situation is more than pure

speculation on your part. Interesting if true.

No not at all. I played for a coach on the high school level who never went more than 7 deep. Not so bad if the 7 guys were head and shoulders above the rest, but in our case players from 1-10 were closely related skill-wise. As a result the team somewhat splintered between the upperclassmen and underclassmen.

The point I was trying to make is unless JJ is the 2nd coming of Ron Artest, I'm pretty sure he has bonded with his teammates. I have no inside info. Look at the thread were someone purporting to be Newbourne's girlfriend is saying Newbourne can't wait for the year to end. I don't believe all is harmonious. Brad Soderberg may turn out to be completely accurate in his handling of JJ, however when you are as young as these Billikens you may not understand everything the coach is doing until 1-2 years down the road.

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The difference is Nark, Footes and others didn't start a string calling for Brad to be immediately fired. You did.

Stop whining. I'm tired of seeing you start many of your posts with the "I know I'll be accused of being disloyal, but...." garbage.

I didn't question your loyalty. I only pointed out your severe flip-flopping. Based on that, I questioned your credibility.

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Obsess much?

Why are you hanging that post over my head? I don't understand your motive. I was extremely frustrated at that point. Yeah that post went too far. So what? Why did/does that offend you so much?

By the way, if my posts are so far off, and you don't like what I have to say, then don't read them.

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Just pointing out the facts, Drew.

Glad to see you now write you were wrong with your "Fire Soderberg" post. That takes guts and I give you credit for admitting it.

As far as accusing me and others of being the Board Police...hey, you can post whatever you want to, so long as Steve and the other administrators allow it. But given this flip-flop, don't be surprised when some of us are left wondering which one of your other fine ideas you'll be backing away from next.

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SLU Drew,

I have played, and have coached at the high school level. There are two types of criticism - constructive and bitchin'. Right now, and for many of your posts, you tend to avoid constructive criticism.

For better or worse, this staff believes that offense comes and goes for now, but defense is what keeps us in, and ultimately, wins us games. With five freshmen and sophomores getting significant minutes, I look to see if Brad is developing young players to suceed as he preaches. When I see a team that delivers great team defense game after game, that answer is a resounding yes.

As for the offense, the best thing about freshmen is...they become sophs. We have four or five kids that will be finding a more reliable outside shot by next year. Dwayne Polk, if he ever gets above 40%, will bump us up a notch immediately. Tommie needs to learn better shot mechanics, and then ride his improvement into the NBA. Brown and Meyer need to learn the juke, dip and pop from 12 - 16 feet. Kevin has already made major strides in becoming a more reliable outside threat.

If we get two reliable outside threats on the floor continuously, Ian will be first team all-conference next year.

Drew, you may not realize this, but there are quite a few people who have a much more intense desire to see us do well than you. For me, the only difference is I have seen Brad successfully help build a dominant team at Wisky by pursuing this strategy. I see the same incremental progress established here. Some choose not to let the emotions run higher than common sense. File your hair trigger down a little, maybe.

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I missed the VN posting referenced - I am not really surprised to hear that VN may have said that - he is a senior who is not getting much playing time on a team that is focused on underclassmen. It is only natural that he feels like he is not a part of the team and its future. That does not mean that things are not good on the team.

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