HoosierPal

I think Thames fits more into Schertz’ system as a Swing than a Shooter. For me he and McCrotty are maybe more similar in that regard. Both can guard up or down and both can take the ball to the hoop in traffic. Both can handle the ball and bring it upcourt.

Another great interview with one our new players. Dunlap apparently not 100% back from his injuries. Interesting discussion on the difference between St John’s offense and defense systems and SLU’s systems. This guy knows his sleep needs.

They have last season's list linked, and the first A10 team ranked was UMass at 110 and #8 in the league. SLU was 59th and #3. By this publication, the A10 may be ranked slightly stronger than last season. Nine teams in the Top 144 v 8 teams last season. It doesn't really matter in July, does it. I'll let others attempt to figure out who had the best portal + best returning player combo. Reading what others have posted nationally, GW and Mason appear to have had strong retention and/or a strong portal. Never bet against VCU or Dayton being a lower half team either. I'll throw SLU in there as a top third tier A10 team and thus making the 144 list.

Stu talks scheduling last night. Not much new. Last half of 30 minute segment is on the roster. Iowa doesn't want to play SLU in the Acrisure and not for the reasons you might think, per Stu. Someone may have asked for that not to happen. MTE organizers are catering to the P5 schools wishes. These mega-MTE's (this one and the Player's Era Tourney) are starting to drain the pool of teams available for smaller MTE's. Four team events may be disappearing. Roster: Biggest thing that stands out so far is depth. How will this roster get the most out of Robbie's skills? Of the newcomers, which one could make the biggest difference. Stu's response is that Q Jones is probably top of the Coach's list, along with Green and Brown. Brown does a lot of things, is a hard worker on the floor and effects many aspects of the game. He isn't counting out the other three. Thames "cautiously optimistic". Practicing and hasn't had any issues. Stu not sure how his treatment is different than last year. How much he can play in a game remains to be seen. Stu guessing, he comes off the bench for maybe 15 min per game. Fun question, which Bill players are on top of your list for this quarter century. Love, Perry....Stu didn't cover the Majerus years....Jimerson, Goodwin, Collins. Mentioned Best, McCall, Jett, Mitchell, Evans in the Majerus years. Nice rotation! Brendan puts Goodwin as #1 Billiken on his quarter century list. Stu mentioned he will be picking up the pace of Stu on SLU in the near future after relaxing for a few weeks.

I am going to be interested in the competition between Sharma and Dunlap. Both appear to fit Schertz's role of Shooter. Both had small sample sizes last season, but Sharma was 36% long distance and Dunlap 37.5%. Neither of them had outstanding defensive stats last season. Neither are shot blockers and neither have registered a large number of steals or assists over their career. Sharma is listed at 6'6", 195 lb. Dunlap is 6'7" 190 lb, So for me, they are similar players, fitting Schertz roll of Shooters. And they are good at it. Will Schertz play two Shooters at a time? Sure, but how often. There are only 200 minutes to divide up.

Otenio was 3 of 5 from the arc against us, and 4 of 8 under the circle for 19 points. He had 10 boards and 2 blocks. Pretty good audition if you ask me. Perhaps he really likes the Chaifetz rims. His rim protection will be better than what we saw from any Billiken last season. I'd race to get him signed up too. Avila, Anya and Otenio will all get their minutes. It is fun to talk lineups and minutes, but anyone who thinks they have all the answers in July is day dreaming.

Wade agreed to it in May.

Thanks for the heads up on this @slu72. This site is always first out, and rosters aren't yet settled. But it is fun to read. With the portal highway wide open between last season and this season, the method of 'guessing' how well a team will do has to have been adjusted. I see our foe SEMO is on the list at #137, also rated as #1 in the OVC. Arkansas State, our NIT conqueror, is #130. Checking them out, they pretty much lost everyone. Might be time for a rematch? I'm adding the link for easy reference as we move through the next 117 days of their list. https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/mens-basketball/top-144-previews

VCU had a H & H with NC State, but that ties back to Coach Wade's stint at VCU.

For NET purposes, the game against Principia doesn't count. You play a 300+ NET team in a Q4 game instead, and you beat them by 30, your NET could still possibly be worse. D2 and NAIA games don't count either. No, I don't like the Principia mathchup, and I didn't like the Avila or Billy Woods games last year. The year end NET listing published by the NCAA has us at 17-14 last season, prior to the NIT. We were 19-14 at that point, according to SLU accounting. The NIT loss put us at 19-15. Those two games mentioned didn't count in the NET math. https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings https://slubillikens.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

Uh, we are. Look at the schedule. While I also have no interest in watching Principia, I understand the NET math.

What is interesting here is that we were lead to believe our pod was Iowa, Utah, and Ole Miss. Then with the delay of the brackets from July 14 until July 21, it was speculated that some of the P4's wanted to reshuffle the deck. Could be happening. I guess we will find out in 12 days.

It is July, so everyone's projections are correct. Schertz will correct us all in November. You can say the same thing you have about Dunlap for Brown, Green, and Sharma. Did they transfer 'down' in order to play fewer minutes or have a lesser role? Nope. Did Warlick reup so that he could waste his sophomore season by getting only mop up time? (No one has him on their top 10 list.) Did McCrotty come back with the aspiration to start? If Thames is healthy, will he play more than the 16 mpg he did last season. Did Anya come back expecting to play 28 mpg? Lots of questions. I added up the mpg for all 11 returners. They totaled 235 mpg. So right away, several aren't going to play as much as they did last season. This number counts for zero minutes for the freshmen. In Stu's article, Kerr is quoted "Schertz wants me to be a Trigger and create actions and run the offense like Robbie". At the scrimmage, Hudson showed he can play D1 ball. Avila, Anya, Brown, Otenio, and Jones were more or less all full time starters last season. Otieno is maybe our most reliable rebounder and by far our best rim protector. How long can you keep him on the bench? Jones had the most assists last season of any current Bill, with 109. He shot an acceptable 36% from deep. He will play a lot. So 'deepest team ever'? I think we have said that for the last 5 seasons. Who sits and who plays? Who gets minutes because of their defense? Schertz has said many times "offense starts with defense". Any redshirts for freshmen or any player coming off an injury? It will be interesting to see how this all plays out and it gives us something to discuss for the next 4 months. I credit Earl Austin for this quote, but I think he repeated it from someone else. "It's not the coach's job to make the players happy. It is the players job to make the coach happy."

My guess McCrotty will get substantial minutes. He knows the system. He has played with Robbie for season. He can initiate the offense. He is a good rebounder and an able defender. He reads the passing lanes well. His 38% three point shooting is solid, (42% in conference games) albeit a small sample size. He does need to work at minimizing TO's.