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To be fair, when Coach Ford was constructing his roster, he expected to have Ty Graves and Adonys Henriquez playing. That would have dramatically changed our ball-handling and shooting abilities. It is probably tough to just find a replacement when key pieces are dismissed from the University. You can tell that Coach is trying to remedy that with Yuri Collins and Gibson Jimmerson. No relief for this year, unfortunately.

Undetermined for SLU whether coach Ford is a good recruiter bad coach. His body of work for the first two seasons was solid as a coach. Coach Ford looks a lot smarter as a coach with a healthy Bess and Wiley and this thread does not exist because more than likely we are undefeated with both of those guys healthy. No doubt with a healthy Bess we score enough to win last night and this thread probably does not exist. JGood's play has been troubling and it is not Isabell's fault, Isabell is just the fall guy that everyone is locked in on because he has not played as a senior should at times. JGood's free throw shooting and turnovers is troubling. For those that want to bench Isabell he had 3 assists and 2 turnovers he missed a lot of shots but so did everyone else on the team. Isabell was over hyped and has under delivered at times but I am glad he is on the team and coach Ford has had only a few months to figure out his best fit and he needs to make an adjustment but not on the bench we need scoring. DJ was a total disaster last night with 4 turnovers 1-4 shooting and one rebound, coach Ford looks a whole lot smarter if Luis Santos is playing those minutes. The turnovers and the offensive play is troubling and no fun to watch right now but it sure beats the last 4 seasons we have watched. This thread blows, it does not surprise me based on what I read in the GDT but the question of the thread does not get answered for a few more seasons not this season after two good coaching seasons. Time to bounce back and beat Oregon State and I look forward to a better game.

The limp you saw was probably swagger.

Why post a thread title like this? So sick of the global meltdown everytime something doesn't bounce our way. I had this as a L in the column from day one. Very physical game. Not Ford's fault that we can't shoot.

Only my first line was about McBroom. I thought it was interesting that he said it and it was posted here in such short order. The common thread seems to be undersized shooting guards who don't have good instincts. McBroom was a very good, consistent shooter, though, and was able to find his spots often times. Whereas Isabell is being relied upon as a primary ballhandler most of the time and just has no mind for it. Isabell works at a place like Drexel, where he's not surrounded by guys as talented as he is, where he's not playing guys as talented as he is, and where he has a green light with no restrictions, to just kind of do what he wants and make plays. We saw his crazy high usage rate there. He was involved in every play. He rebounded his position extremely well. He had total freedom. But when he comes to a place where he isn't option A and B, and where he's playing with and against players who are another notch up, he doesn't have the patience or instincts to fit in the flow of an offense, and he isn't a consistent enough shooter to just be primarily a perimeter threat. I don't know what the answer is for him. But I know I'd be focusing on Goodwin as the PG moving forward. The whole recruitment of JG was about making him the lead guard to set him up for the next level. Why abandon that now? It's not like Isabell is some transcendent talent we absolutely need to run the show for a year. Keep developing Goodwin as the lead, and next year he'll have a backup with probably the purest point guard instincts I've ever seen in HS player, Yuri Collins. This PG-by-committe isn't working. TI as lead guard isn't working. Put Goodwin back there for good and cut him loose.

"im soooooooooo worried" - all the weaklings on this board bills by 15

Glad to see Moy-stradamus is back.

A major problem with our offense is that we are taking what the defense gives us. On a well-balanced team this is a good strategy. But we are not a good 3pt shooting team--and everyone knows it. So, we move the ball around the perimeter, move the ball inside, pass the ball back outside after the double team comes, and we end up getting an open 3-pt look. This is exactly what the opposition wants us to do. We need to work on imposing our will on the inside. Try some high post/low post action. Try more actions from the guards cutting through the lane. Hoping we hit enough 3s to score 60 is not going to be a winning strategy with this roster. Oh, and 8 games in we still have yet to attempt an alley-oop. WTF!?

If they are going to play at the same time then Goodwin needs to be the 2018 Jett and Isabell needs to be the 2018 McCall. Isabell can create some offense from the 2 spot just like McCall and hopefully play enough defense (McCall was a much better defender). Goodwin needs the keys to the offense just like Jett had. This Isabell-as-point-guard experiment needs to end. It’s hurting jgood’s game and the team overall. If Isabell doesn’t like it, he can sit on the bench.

@TheChosenOne just said the exact same thing to me in a text. His decision making is really something. I was just telling TCO that I can't think of another veteran player I've seen with such bad instincts. In any situation, he makes the play that is least likely to lead to a good outcome. When we need to burn clock, he's firing away. When we need to catch up, he's dribbling aimlessly. When he's wide open, he dribbles into traffic. When he's guarded at the perimeter, he pulls back and shoots a fadeaway NBA 3. When he's double teamed, he dribbles backward. When someone else is double teamed, he passes to that guy. His brain needs to be studied in a basketball lab. What is it that makes him always choose the wrong play? It's what makes him look good when he scores or makes a nice play, because it always looks difficult.

one time in college... me and my roommates got really high and played the board game RISK. At one point our roommate stopped the game because he claimed he had figured out a cheat to rolling dice. at the time i thought that was the stupidest thing i would ever hear..... until right now

Reverse psychology. 60% of the time it works every time.

Actually think Isabell is an asset and should play relatively big minutes. Just not at the point.

the board after a loss:

Isabell’s negative impact is so much more than just looking at the assist to turnover ratio. Bad shots, lazy turnovers, hero ball, poor defense, etc. Yet, he seemingly gets a total pass from Ford for these things. Is the offense really better than the last 4 seasons? I’m not so sure. We started the 2nd half relatively well. Why? Because we pounded the ball inside. Jgood goes to the bench and we start jacking up three pointers for most of the rest of the half. That’s on the coach. Why is French handling the ball so much around the foul line? Why, when we’re a poor shooting team are we jacking up so many threes? Why are our guys throwing so many bad bounce passes on a fast break? Why can’t we get in good position when running a fast break? What is the purpose of our weave offense (on another note, I’m surprised our bigs don’t get called for more travels during the weave)? We couldn’t shoot last year, yet JGood was able to attack the hoop, what’s changed this year? Why was French in at the end of the game against Pitt? How are we so poor against a press? There is certainly poor execution from our players, but they’re also not being put in positions to succeed on the offensive side.

I don't think it is fair to dump all this on Isabell. I saw a lot of crappy play last night by most of the team. I feel like Isabell has had more good passes than Goodwin this year, but admittedly not doing a great job at the point. The offense just sucks, period. It's like I'm watching the same crap I have been watching for 20 years. Great on defense, suck on offense....but we have exponentially more talent. I absolutely place some of the blame on the coach....but it is on all the players as well....plenty of open shots missed. They can't seem to execute anything. And free throws??? We hit them at a decent clip and we win the game. Whatever is going on needs to stop. There is a lot of mind games going on out there when a guy like Goodwin can't hit the broad side of the barn from the free throw line.We have world class defense. Top notch talent. Can't make a bucket even if we aren't being guarded. I still feel this is going to come together, but it sure is frustrating right now.

The Bills team defense is excellent which indicates good coaching. Poor shooting killed them last night. How much of that is Ford’s fault? Sure, reign in T.I. , but he is a huge upgrade over Hines.

Some questions ..................... Can Ford coach? He's going to have to and it starts with installing an offense designed for these players. If we're going to feed the post, those guys have to make quicker decisions. If the ball comes out, are we to take the three point shot or not? I say not but I'm not the coach. Is it time to scrap the Isabell point guard theory? Guess what, he ain't playing in the NBA. He might have a decent career overseas but the guy isn't capable, from what I've seen, of running an offense that involves everyone and not just him. Can we run more times with Jacobs, Thatch and Hankton? Hey, I know KC missed his two shots but the development of a bench is sorely needed. And sadly, Jacobs and Hankton might be our hope for shooters. Why is it that SLU is where jump shots come to die? I have no answer for that one. Did anybody see Isabell at Drexel? If so, is this the same guy? The competition must've been weak because I don't see a 21 ppg scorer anywhere in that #2 jersey. It's not that bad of a loss. It's not Detroit or some of those crap teams last year. It's on the court of a Valley favorite but that sure was ours to win.

Just re-watch this game and you won't even need to bowel prep the day before.

This reminds me, I need to schedule a colonoscopy.

It's too bad my $5/month for espn+ cant pay for a scoreboard on the stream

Great he should be able to get rested in the second half if he's healthy.

Not trying to overreact to this game. But it should’ve been a win. SIU is not a good team. Not terrible, but they’re certainly not good. Our team wasn’t ready to go after Saturday’s emotional win. When Ford was hired, we heard from a lot of OK State fans that Ford was a great recruiter but bad in game coach. He gets a pass the first two years because the depth and talent weren’t there. But this year we have one of our deepest and most talented teams ever. Offense has been atrocious. There are no in-game adjustments. Our chance at an at large bid is swirling around the toilet bowl ready to disappear. I thought we were going to play up tempo?? Again, not trying to overreact, especially after Saturday’s good win. But are we seeing that the Oklahoma St. fans may have had a good point? I think we are. Hope Ford proves me wrong the rest of the way out.

So there’s a chance we actually beat Pitt?

Just watched the replay of some of our offense from early in the second half. Once Goodwin got the rebound, he headed up court with some pace but not out of control. Once he got past mid court he dribbled with purpose into the defense. He found CAG for an open 3 look that French cleaned up because the D wasn't set under the hoop (not a great shot %age, but doing it quickly allowed our team to get the board and put back). The next time he forced the D to double team him and made a nice pass to French splitting the D and French made the easy bucket. I know it's just a snapshot, but Goodwin pressing the action after getting the board while staying in control created positive plays. I'd like to see more of this from Goodwin and Isabell.

Would it really be any different without him?

We missed 20 3s which were mostly good looks. Yeah, we should have pounded it inside more but just make a few and we win. Continue meltdown.

I was not a proponent of Hines and pointed out his limitations ad-nauseum on this board. I stand by my statement.

I was as depressed as anyone that we lost this winnable game. But it isn’t a “bad” loss, and by the end of the season it will be forgotten. With or without a win last night, The Bills still have to beat either Houston or FSU to have a good chance at an at large bid. IMHO, losses to both of those teams makes it likely that, unless they have a near perfect conference record, the Bills will need to win the A-10 tourney to get into the big dance.

Obviously recruiting and game coaching are not independent of each other; this is what makes the Jimmerson signing so important (and why not having Wiley available was such a detriment last night). SIU was perfectly willing to let us chuck up wide open threes and stack the interior. With Wiley out and Bess hobbled we have no one to keep a defense honest, and that cost us last night. A lot of times one dead eye shooter makes everyone better, and we don't have that right now. This team as presently constructed is going to have more games like last night, especially on the road.

Honestly I am tired of SLU basketball not being an unquestionably good team. That's really it. I don't know who or what to blame but I don't like it.

I don't blame Ford for the loss. If I can blame him for anything it is for not seeing much progression on turning all the new faces into a team on offense. He certainly deserves credit for holding things together last year but getting the right players on the floor at the right time was not much of a concern as the choices were so limited. At this point I'd trade Hines for Isabell and give the keys back to Goodwin. Hines was a chucker with limited court vision but he was a better point guard than Isabell.

Then it should also be fair to start thinking about whether we should have recruited Goodwin. Forget last year and lets just concentrate on the few games this year. This is obviously sarcasm I doubt anyone thinks it's fair to start questioning whether or not we should have recruited Goodwin after 8 games into the season. However, it's fair to question whether or not coach is a good coach 8 games in. Anyone think we'd be in this position 2 yrs 8 games into TFords time at SLU?

Someone reacted Troll to this post? Really? Any chance you could explain? Saw the explanation that came later. However, I'm not sure how it could even be labeled a bad post? Give me one too then as I'm in almost complete agreement with this post. TFord took almost nothing and coached it to a top half A10 finish last year. We were all jumping up and down and yelling from the rafters what a great hire he was. Maybe, just maybe things are going on that you don't see. Maybe he did give them in game instructions and they weren't able to carry them out. I'm 100% sure he's worked on correcting the fast break problem but it's not happening. Coach or players fault? Losses like this happen in college basketball and they happened to RM also. On the road against a good team with our probable 1st guard off the bench injured. Our best player is hobbled and our 2 best players (one a transfer from Nova and the other a top 60 recruit that this coach overcame big odds to get) go 5-23 from the field, 3 for 15 from 3, and get to the line 3 times for the entire game. Do you think coach didn't try to have them ready? Didn't talk to them about how tough a game this would be? How not to get too high from the big win as the season goes on and we don't want to lose the momentum we're building? He has said the players aren't getting the offense and he was simplifying it. However, they still don't get it. Coach or player? Put me in the 75% player camp My disagreement with the post concerns Isabell and his fit. His game is give me the ball and everyone else get the f..k out of my way. Problem is he just isn't good enough to carry a team and it's too disruptive to what the rest of the team is trying to do. He's not a pg. He's just not. He can make a decent pass sometimes a pretty slick one. He makes no one else better though and that's what a good pg does.

Adonys henriquez was the shooter.

Goodwin's game is off. He is not the dominant player he was last year. That is a major impact.

The offense scheme is bad. That’s not really a product of having new players. It’s the product of having a system that doesn’t work.

I want to give you a troll reaction. But I respect the real life you so I won't. Everyone relax this was an experienced SIU team. Let's see how we do in the next few games. But ya.... PLEASE PLAY FASTER

This season has made me question all of the good coaching I thought Coach Ford did last year

Right now the qualifier for starting over TI should be, "Can you walk on your hind legs?"

Can we give Jalen Johnson a mulligan and get him back for second semester?

Calm down, prisoner of the moment.

What sport do the hot chicks at SIU like? It’s clearly not basketball

TI should change his initials to TO

*Foreman has ball at top of key Foreman’s brain: Dont do it dont do it don’t do it don’t do it Foreman: drives wildly to hoop and turns it over

WE NEED A POINT GUARD

Not to keep pouring salt in a open wound, but Santos over Foreman would’ve been so great.

Jacobs for Isabell pls