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SLU comes within a tenth of a second of beating Dayton and someone is equating Ford to Barry Odom? Ford has the 300th least experienced team out of the 353 Division I teams...for decent chunks of the game freshman like Bell and Hargrove defending America NBA lotto pick. Other than their first game of the year, every single Dayton win up until this one was by double digits....their only losses were to two Top 25 teams, both in OT. SLU has a NET ranking of 54, in the dance conversation. This is arguably the best coaching job of any SLU coach in the past 40 years and he’s being labeled the next Barry Odom.

assumed this thread was about Larry Hughes Jr giving a verbal

My guess is Jimerson may be most likely to have a shot at NBA some day. He’s obviously got the shot. If he can become a good defender in the next 3 years, he’d literally be the perfect 3 and D guy (emphasis on 3). Plus he’s like 6’6 which doesn’t hurt. Thats not to say JGood has 0% chance, just think what Jimerson is good really at is exactly what NBA scout are looking for. Size/shooting and potentially D as he gets stronger

Now this just doesn't make sense

Well... your thoughts are invalid to me now.

Some of my favorite SLU players were and are big trash talkers. Jordair Jett, Brian Conklin, Jordan Goodwin all talk(ed) a ton of trash on the court.

Gut-wrenching. Heartbreaker. Crushing. We "should've" won. All ring true; & I don't have all morning to read through the rants and learned observations, but I've read enough to get a feel for the pulse of this board. But surprisingly 90% of what I have read, is focused on the wrenched guts, so here's some good news: Whatever don't kill ya, can make you stronger... --Perkins: he is showing up big-time in huge games, the way he has been showing up most of the time in practices. This kid is making waves and looked great doing it. How about some love for a true scorer, microwave style? --Collins: true freshman, gutsy performance, even in OT running out of gas, sinking 2 FT's to put us ahead with 6 seconds. --Bell: mountain man hanging in there against an NBA lottery pick, solid performance and the sky is the limit. --Fred Thatch: how we undersell his contributions; could check Crutcher and/or another 3-pt. shooter. --amazingly, AGAIN: bench running a bit thin. Broken record over the entire Ford era -- & it shows at the end, and in OT. a bit gassed. But how about the HEARTS of champions??? I'm very proud of this team and I think if most people on here were honest, they did not think we would be this good this quickly. --amazingly, tying score in regulation, down 5. Goodwin scores! WOW. too bad he fouled out, but he is a champion. Has with 17 boards and very tough defense: the new normal, we are so used to this that nobody even mentions it anymore. Beast. --FT shooting: duh. But analytics only get you so far and all FT's are situational, and despite missing 17, we were in position to ****** a win. --Now as for Coach Ford: it is surprising how pissy/ even hateful some of the comments have been on here about his "performance" or lack of "adjustments." I say bravo, amazing crowd, strong performance, well done good and faithful coach and staff. Can't wait because the future's so bright I need shades. That is all...

looks like he's growing into his body -- which also seems to be growing...

Isn’t Roy a Magic Johnson fan?

unless there is a medical reason, once you play a second you will not be granted a redshirt year for lack of time played.

well i wont be able to sleep tonight now.

I care absolutely nothing about trash talking. Zero. Some of my favorite players were disrespectful trash talkers. My least favorite players are cheap shot artists -- guys who throw elbows above the shoulders, commit hard fouls after the player is airborne, etc. That kind of play can end an opponent's career.

My game day posts. 2nd half The 2nd Obi moving screen in the 1st half was at the 9 min mark on Hightower. Near the left elbow almost the same spot as the one on Yuri. It's not close and shouldn't be missed. Besides the end of game the Bills ran into 2 more backscreens that they apparently didn't know were there. Collins went down hard. What a sequence by Yuri at the 12:50 mark of the 2nd half. He knocks the ball away from his man, scrambles to get the loose ball, attacks the basket and gets fouled (though none called), French recovers loose ball for rebound, passes to Yuri who hits a cutting Perkins with a sweet pass. Goodwin's board (he walked after coming down was amazing) Just watch that board and you see why he is the best rebounding guard in the country I think I was the 1st with the Iceman comp for Perkins and it really fits 6 - 3's 1.- Dayton player came off screen on inbounds and hit a moving 3 after JG got screened. 2.- Another moving screen by Obi on Collins (watch this one again, he actually steps into Collins to set the screen after setting the 1st screen. So far no one is sagging off the shooter and just giving up open looks. 3. Just a poor defensive play by French. Completely got faked out of his shorts. Not the defensive strategy, but the defensive player. 4. Bell on Toppin (who despite being called a great shooter by the announcers is not) He was at 33% coming into the game. Bell has to give him space out there or he gets beat to the hole. As of the 4th 3, not sure why anyone can blame the strategy or what anyone would have done differently. 5. Either Bell or French can't tell who had him just left him open sagging on the driver (who got in the lane off another moving screen by Obi. Guarantee this wasn't a defense that was supposed to give him that much space just poorly played as 3 guys all took the guy driving to help JG. However, JG doesn't need help without Obi and the moving screen. Yuri got caught on 2 guys at the 3 line but not sure why he dropped away from the shooter after the pass to prevent the pass to his man. He has to close on the shooter there though I doubt he gets close enough to disrupt. 6. Obi again frees up the ball handler with a moving screen (though probably his least egregious of the 6 or 7 he did.) Bell has to drop off to help on the drive and no one else rotates over to Obi. I'm curious after watching the 6 straight 3's what people think Ford should have done differently? Maybe someone else on Obi? Obi averages one 3 per game, except for French he dominates everyone else down low. I'd rather make a mediocre 3 point shooter make the 3 and both of his should have had fouls called on the play. Obi's moving screens aren't me just complaining. They are obvious and clear violations that should be called every time. Watching the 6th one again Obi sets a screen with the ball handler moving left to right. He gives up the screen then clearly extends 2 hands and pushes JG to the right when the ball handler cuts back left. He then sets another screen and moves to prevent JG who is now scrambling to catch back up after the push. This moving screen frees the ball handler to turn the corner and drive baseline (where he has an easy layup) Bell correctly helps and forces the kick out to Obi who hits the 3. Bell actually stops the drive at the baseline and is still the one closing on Obi at the 3 point line on the shot. Either French or Perkins has to leave their man across court and rotate to Obi or JG needed to switch to Obi after Bell picked up his man. Don't know how they coach that but one of the 2 has to happen. That's not coaching as I'm sure they are instructed one way or the other. Notice on the defensive possession where Yuri's guarding the guy who loses the ball out of bounds. Yuri has a back screen set right before that, knows that it's there and avoids it to stay with his man. As he gets more experience he's going to be a ridiculously good on ball defender. Obi fouls JG on the shot with 7 left in regulation. In OT Obi moves again with a little over 4 left on the play where JG taps it forward to French. Nice play by THJ to recognize the mismatch with Yuri on Obi and come help. On the last 3, it may have been the only properly set screen by Obi on the night. I'll reemphasize my statement earlier. Jacobs should be positioned with his butt facing the far defensive corner. If he was he see's the screen and stops the shooter from cutting to the top of the key forcing him right where he has French ready to help if he goes right of the screen and he's positioned correctly if he cuts back left (which he did) French also has to switch and close much faster after the screen. Overall I'd call it a very good game by the Bills. Obi is one whinny *****. If he's the best player in the country it's a sad year for great players.

Neither here nor there! How about this weather? Crazy, eh?

Well 2 bloody Mary’s at 730 this morning, a few beers around 1 with lunch, a few more around dinner at 5, then multiple cocktails starting around 7 and I’ve finally come to grips with last nights loss. It took over 24 hours and more booze than a 40 year old should consume but I’m feeling pretty good about the rest of the season.

How about this: Thankful that we have a core group of young players that are only going to improve from here. Thankful that we have Coach Ford that has resurrected this program from the depths of obscurity. Thankful that we won the A-10 Tournament last year, have a fantastic record this year, and things are only pointing up. Thankful that Coach Ford can recruit better than anyone we have ever seen, to include Majerus. Thankful for Coach Ford and his staff for handling several difficult issues. Thankful we have an awesome basketball venue, a great pool of recruits to choose from in Saint Louis for the future, and a team that appears highly motivated. Fully confident that Ford realizes that SLU possibly has a free throw issue that needs improved. We lost to a ranked team by 2 points, and we should have won it. We were dominating much of the game, which is a very good sign. Enjoy Ford and these players while we have them. This year has been a positive surprise so far. Next year we will win it all.

No it wasn’t him. He was in como last night, according to his socials

Good post!

Announcer on GW game said SLU was his pick for best team in A10 other than Dayton. He said last night's game was an instant classic. Said keep your eye on Javonte Perkins.

This is really not about the Bills but basketball in general. Alabama beat Missouri by 14 points. They showed their shot chart. They took zero intermediate shots. All threes or shots in the paint. They are averaging in the eighties. Smart teams will play this way so defending the three becomes more important. I do think we give up too many open threes.

Quality Is Job 1, I’m not sure how to take that exactly, lol... I will just say that as someone who enjoys reading the thoughts of the posters on this forum. and not really ever posting anything—-when I finally decided to chime in on a thread titled Free Throws I decided to comment about said subject. Immediately after making my first post it was met with “new posters bringing up old topics” and “beating a dead horse” comments. Forgive me for not knowing the unwritten rule of not commenting on the subject that the thread was about. Yeah, I can be a little bit of a smart:$$. I don’t know who these posters are or even which ones I agree with or not—-but for the record I am just a fan making comments about some of the most horrendous free throw shooting I have ever seen.

I think TJ took some of his minutes. TJ had a nice defensive game.

Whether we discuss it or ignore it in this forum, it will not improve (or worsen) French's and Goodwin's FT percentage.

People are saying the bench is thin but is it actually as thin as the complaints would indicate? French, Goodwin, Bell, Collins and Perkins seem to get the bulk of the minutes with Jacobs in the mix. That’s six guys with significant playing time. Hargrove and Weaver are capable of giving minutes. That’s 8 guys with Hightower getting a couple of minutes here and there for a honorable mention 9th body. If you consider Jimmerson and Thatch healthy then you have 8 guys in rotation with 10 to pull from and Hightower as your 11th. There aren’t a lot of teams that could sustain 2 huge contributors going down and not feel a little thin in their rotation. This doesn’t even take into consideration Hankton who is sitting. It’s hard to recruit 10-11 kids who are all capable of making a difference at a high mid-major level who are happy sitting on the bench. This thin rotation is more because of injury/illness more than a reflection of the “Ford era”.

He saw the Bills play in front of more fans than he ever saw at Mizzou Arena.

18 hours later and still...

yeah, there were at least one or two times that toppin was just spinning around in the backcourt, trying to set whatever kind of screen he could, certainly not set, or even a walking screen. but nothing for me to get in a tizzy about. i yelled at the refs very little last night. thought they were mostly a non-factor, as they should be.

Im less content with this result than I expected to be. But I think that’s a good thing, as it feels like the fan base is starting to get fed up with being an underdog all the time. We expect to win, as we should. I have a couple of bigger takeaways that sound negative, but I think set the stage for what we need to do better next season to take the next step as a program: -In modern basketball, you can’t be a good offensive team and not take 3s. Our lack of spacing and ball movement in the second half and overtime was painful. We’re not good enough at scoring inside to not take 3s. We absolutely can not afford to be in a position where our team can’t space the floor at all after this year. -Goodwin and French are fantastic. All-conference players. Billiken legends. I think Goodwin will pass Marque Perry and Tommie Liddell as my all-time favorite Billiken. Nonetheless, neither of them should be a #1 option offensively. Goodwin can’t successfully create his own shot against top teams. French is a good passer and ball-handler, but not an efficient scorer out of the post. Going into next season, we need to decrease our reliance on these guys as scorers. Their best contribution will be in all the other areas of the game.

Throw in Perkins and it is shaping up as of the top recruiting years ever.

Not giving up this year, but next year will be our magical year like svu this year.

I’m a very optimistic person. I kept being positive we’d win last night all week... but deep down didn’t everyone really feel it was more likely we’d lose that game? that game was amazing. We did a lot of things fantastically well. We had a handful of things that we did poorly. Every game there is give and take and there is always something that could be improved. it was a great game. for those complaining, get real. Your expectations are too high. It is not ever going to happen that every category will be flawless. ... maybe if we were a top 20 team- but then how much did Dayton struggle with us all night? no player is best at all categories... accept the flaws and support the boys in their strengths so they can have the confidence to always be improving. love my Billikens. Hell of a fight last night.

They were both right in front of me and both were crap, especially the second one on the block.

I would never say people can't criticize Ford but in every GDT of a game we lose, the loss it is on Ford. It is like the other team/coach/our players don't have a say in it. It is just becoming a lazy take after every loss.

I don’t f’ing get it. I don’t think Ford is Majerus in the bench, but it isn’t like we lost by 20 to Fordham. We lost by two in OT to one of the top 10 programs in the country without Thatch and Jimerson. This isn’t the game to rag on Ford.

yuri's body absorbs kinetic energy, like black panther. hyperspastic yurimania, they call it. i look for savagery in the last 8 minutes of the game.

Absolutely. Fred is a key member of our team. Getting him back and healthy is a bigger deal than anyone we are recruiting currently, in my mind.

He played for BBE/Beagles with Yuri and Hargrove. Tate would seemingly have the connection as well. If he’s a problem, SLU will know. If he’d be a good fit, SLU will know.

skip, obi's behavior was kitten like compared to crutcher. crutcher was a JO supreme. mouthing off constantly and talking trash with the billikens. that is a thug b!tch if i ever saw one. i give him the 2020 A10 a-hole of the year.