slu72 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Still a little early to get a handle on this teams trend line. A very volatile season so far. Chalk it up to youth. But last night was somewhat revealing. 1.) The 5 position. AG trending up. BJ trending down. JM neutral. 2.) PG- MB up AM down. MB seems to have a clue as to the position. AM seems lost in it. I watch him dribble around and wonder what he's trying to accomplish. 3.) Ok, MC and AY had good games last night. If that would hold up, ie consistent, a major plus for us. Something to look for in the next 3 games. When was the last time we scored 75 points against a zone? Just too early for their coronation, but fingers are crossed. 4.) Offense still does not look crisp. A lot of late shots last night, but still we managed to score against a zone, which has been a problem for us even in recent years. Here again, AM may be the problem. You beat a zone by quick passes not dribbling thru it or around it. Plus, we still don't pass it into the middle enough, although TL seems to grasp this concept. 5.) MYs arrow seems to be pointing up. He made a couple of moves last night that were very DE like. He's got to get more minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizziken Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Still a little early to get a handle on this teams trend line. A very volatile season so far. Chalk it up to youth. But last night was somewhat revealing. 1.) The 5 position. AG trending up. BJ trending down. JM neutral. 2.) PG- MB up AM down. MB seems to have a clue as to the position. AM seems lost in it. I watch him dribble around and wonder what he's trying to accomplish. 3.) Ok, MC and AY had good games last night. If that would hold up, ie consistent, a major plus for us. Something to look for in the next 3 games. When was the last time we scored 75 points against a zone? Just too early for their coronation, but fingers are crossed. 4.) Offense still does not look crisp. A lot of late shots last night, but still we managed to score against a zone, which has been a problem for us even in recent years. Here again, AM may be the problem. You beat a zone by quick passes not dribbling thru it or around it. Plus, we still don't pass it into the middle enough, although TL seems to grasp this concept. 5.) MYs arrow seems to be pointing up. He made a couple of moves last night that were very DE like. He's got to get more minutes. I disagree with your assessment of McBroom. 0 Turnovers in 30 Minutes. Made some pretty good passes. Would've had 2 or 3 more assists if we could finish worth a $hit. Facilitated the offense, shot 3/4 from 3 and 50% from the floor. Played decent defense. While he was by no means perfect and has stretches where he looks lost, he has improved as the season has progressed. Other than that, good assessment Other than that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 AM and MB are the only guys we have who can play pg at all. Roby is not a point guard - at least not that I have seen yet. Not sure what is going on with MR but ever since he had that one good game he has seemed to be lost. I had hoped for more from him by now. AM is not a great pg but he is OK especially since we don't really have any other real options. I am thinking that the sophomores may have finally started to show some signs of life. Perhaps MC's mysterious illness was holding him back, TL seems to be more focused and that alone will get him on the floor more. RA - still struggling but you can at least put him in for short spurts and he does not hurt you to bad. AY - if as you said in the paper that you know you can shoot then just do it. This is not rocket science. If AY and MC can hit a few shots then it will open things up for AM who we know can shoot if he is open. AG - can not patrol inside but he is kind of instant offense. We have to devise a scheme to take advantage of this. Jolly is having a tough time but he can still improve. JM - just clog up the middle and hit your FTs and you can at least see the floor for more than a cameo. AY - learn to hit your FTs - that is where you will make your living. While things have picked up the last couple of games it will still be a frustrating year for fans. If this trend continues then the team will be better as the season goes on and really that is all we could have expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted December 18, 2014 Author Share Posted December 18, 2014 Yeah, I don't get MR either. Seemed like a real competitor, but really quiet the last few games. And really he should have been the most D1 ready guy given the caliber of the players he played with and against at W. Young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenbill Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Not sold on Bartley. Not a good shooter and somewhat careless with the ball. I'm still wondering about the pass he threw into row 6. Who was that intended for? At this point, you've got to go with AM, AY, and MC with spot relief from the three freshman guards. They're just not consistently good enough at this point for extended minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 This group of freshmen guards definitely has not played to the level of the 10-11 group so far. Not even close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgstl Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 we had about 6 wide open shot fakes. As much as AM pisses me off, last night was a good game for him, better shot selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLU_Nick Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I do not really understand the love affair with Bartley on this board. While he is a good passer, his defense is really really poor at this point. I loved that Crews talked about how someone can improve defensively and mentioned MM Junya. Bartley is long and certainly has potential but right now all of the guards have shown the ability to be serviceable offensively (sans Roby). I think we just need to feed minutes to those who can defend the best. The rotation is ready to be cut. Crawford, AY, MY, AG, JM, AM, TL, MB. I do not think we stink as bad as I thought after the Edwardsville game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettFlight5 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 A few other things: Austin Gillmann is a very skilled basketball player, and has the best vision on the roster. Brett Jolly works hard, but is lost on both ends. Marcus Bartley is the best "true PG" we have, but he struggled badly last night. Milik Yarbrough is the best player on the roster at this second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayne's_World Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Does anyone else think Crews' plan all along had been to use the non conference schedule as a means to sculpt the starting rotation by January? I mean, people have been saying this is one of the worst teams ever statistically, but isn't that because we haven't even truly had a set rotation thus far? I still think that when the rotation settles and the best players reach their potential, we are a better team than everyone thinks. The 10-11 team at least had a mostly defined rotation going in, and so those players gelled together and everything eventually clicked. This year's situation is not even comparable at this point. The rotation will eventually set, and I think at that point we will be a vastly better team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettFlight5 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Does anyone else think Crews' plan all along had been to use the non conference schedule as a means to sculpt the starting rotation by January? I mean, people have been saying this is one of the worst teams ever statistically, but isn't that because we haven't even truly had a set rotation thus far? I still think that when the rotation settles and the best players reach their potential, we are a better team than everyone thinks. The 10-11 team at least had a mostly defined rotation going in, and so those players gelled together and everything eventually clicked. This year's situation is not even comparable at this point. The rotation will eventually set, and I think at that point we will be a vastly better team. You may be onto something. The one thing I have not figured out all year is how guys playing well sit for such a long time. It took Gillmann 12 minutes to get into the 2nd half last night. Yacoubou was dominating early, and sat for most of PA's run in the first half. If they're playing well, leave them the ____ out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Pelican Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 That's been my take as well. We seem to build a lead with players who are doing well, then the line-up rolls over and the guys who got us the lead disappear. Next thing you know, we have a tight game and appear clueless on offense. I certainly hope when we get into the conference schedule, the best players PLAY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcinstl Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 That's been my take as well. We seem to build a lead with players who are doing well, then the line-up rolls over and the guys who got us the lead disappear. Next thing you know, we have a tight game and appear clueless on offense. I certainly hope when we get into the conference schedule, the best players PLAY. There seemed to be a couple of possession last night when the a lead had been established and UTPA was about to be in obvious foul mode and AM was not yet on the floor. Yeah, it's only one or two possessions, but it may very well have been the game. Also, there seemed to be quite a stretch in the second half where AY wasn't on the floor, we were having obvious problems scoring. I started to wonder if he was in foul trouble - nope - 2 fouls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Does anyone else think Crews' plan all along had been to use the non conference schedule as a means to sculpt the starting rotation by January? I mean, people have been saying this is one of the worst teams ever statistically, but isn't that because we haven't even truly had a set rotation thus far? I still think that when the rotation settles and the best players reach their potential, we are a better team than everyone thinks. The 10-11 team at least had a mostly defined rotation going in, and so those players gelled together and everything eventually clicked. This year's situation is not even comparable at this point. The rotation will eventually set, and I think at that point we will be a vastly better team. This was my thought process until Crews said yesterday that he doesn't foresee the rotation being cut any time soon. Could just be coachspeak though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettFlight5 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 This was my thought process until Crews said yesterday that he doesn't foresee the rotation being cut any time soon. Could just be coachspeak though I think it is some coachspeak...He doesn't want to intimate publicly that some guys are destined to be spectators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgeldmacher Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Has anyone else heard the reports that Crawford was ill and lost about 10 pounds at the beginning of the year? Apparently, he is better now. If that is the case, and we are more likely to get the Crawford that we saw last night, things may not be so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayne's_World Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Has anyone else heard the reports that Crawford was ill and lost about 10 pounds at the beginning of the year? Apparently, he is better now. If that is the case, and we are more likely to get the Crawford that we saw last night, things may not be so bad. If last night was the "real mike Crawford," next season may actually be much better than I thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Has anyone else heard the reports that Crawford was ill and lost about 10 pounds at the beginning of the year? Apparently, he is better now. If that is the case, and we are more likely to get the Crawford that we saw last night, things may not be so bad. This is true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierPal Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 A few other things: Austin Gillmann is a very skilled basketball player, and has the best vision on the roster. Brett Jolly works hard, but is lost on both ends. Marcus Bartley is the best "true PG" we have, but he struggled badly last night. Milik Yarbrough is the best player on the roster at this second. I dont' know. I heard Ash has 20/15 vision and Gillmann only 20/20. I have stated before that Bartley is the most important freshman of the group due to his PG abilities. He does need to improve. "Best Player" is subjective. I have used the SI Power Index for two and a half decades to evaluate players. Currenlty McBroom is tops at 24.6. Ash is second at 23.0 and Yarbrough 3rd at 22.9. To put this into perspective, Jett ended last year at 40.4, the third highest since 1990. Evans was 38.2 last year. [The index takes 16 stats into account.] Gillmann is our most efficient scorer, at 1.09 points per shot. Crawford is second at 0.96 points per shot, McBroom 3rd at 0.95 and Yarbrough 4th at 0.90. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Last night's lineup of McBroom, Crawford, Yacboubou, Yarbough, and Gillmann/Manning needs to be the go-to lineup down the stretch this season. Gillmann if you need more offense. Manning if you need more defense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettFlight5 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Last night's lineup of McBroom, Crawford, Yacboubou, Yarbough, and Gillmann/Manning needs to be the go-to lineup down the stretch this season. Gillmann if you need more offense. Manning if you need more defense. Yeah, that lineup played well. If it gets to FT time, you'd have to sub out Milik...otherwise, that's the best offensive lineup we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmbilliken Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Crews was effective going offense/defense at the ends of both halves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 There seemed to be a couple of possession last night when the a lead had been established and UTPA was about to be in obvious foul mode and AM was not yet on the floor. Yeah, it's only one or two possessions, but it may very well have been the game. Also, there seemed to be quite a stretch in the second half where AY wasn't on the floor, we were having obvious problems scoring. I started to wonder if he was in foul trouble - nope - 2 fouls. I agree we were all screaming at Crews as to why his best FT shooter was on the bench when they were in a fouling situation. I do like MY but he has to be a better FT shooter - no excuses. He is going to get fouled plenty and he can not shoot as poorly as he did last night. MB will be very good if given time - he can shoot he just doesn't for whatever the reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierPal Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Has anyone else heard the reports that Crawford was ill and lost about 10 pounds at the beginning of the year? Apparently, he is better now. If that is the case, and we are more likely to get the Crawford that we saw last night, things may not be so bad. http://www.foxsports.com/midwest/story/crawford-s-career-night-helps-billikens-hold-off-texas-pan-american-121714 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Yeah, that lineup played well. If it gets to FT time, you'd have to sub out Milik...otherwise, that's the best offensive lineup we have. Yes Manning for Milik. Complain about Manning all you want but he is hitting from the line. 14- of 16!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.