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Was Ford a bad coach when we were expected to finish last in the A10 during his 1st season when Crews left the cupboard bare, but ended up winning 6 A10 games to finish 11th easily ahead of 12-14? Was he a bad coach when he took a team decimated by Situation 2.0 with zero depth during his 2nd season to a winning record and tie for 5th place in the A10? Was he a bad coach when he rallied the team in his 3rd season to win 4 games 4 in days to win the A10 tournament? Was he a bad coach when he rallied the team after JImerson's foot injury & Thatch's illness in his 4th season to be one of the hottest teams in the country who had captured 4th place going into the A10 tournament? He's not Rick Majerus. These last 2 losses have been rough. But he's not a bad coach. SLU has lost heartbreaking games under Ford (and every coach before him) in the past and they will in the future. Best not to judge based on one or 2 games.

Yuri should not be taking 13 shots a game. He's the least efficient scorer we have on offense.

Don't feed the trolls.

Good to see Stu finally taking some personal responsibility.

Another tough loss because this was a very winnable game. Let's start with the projected slash which is the average of all Bills games leading up to tonight.....48/39/77...to make that slash we would have needed 3 more 2s...2 more 3s and 3 more FTs. That is a total of 15 pts we left on the table. What this means is ...had we had an average night we win by 10...had we had an off night we win by 5 . But instead we have a bad night and lose by 5. 3 more FTs and a couple of layups and we win the game We missed 13 layups....that's a lot of misses... ( 8-21) Are we a bad team?...No....Is the season over?....No...Do we have no chance to win the A-10?....No....Is the Dance bid gone? ...again NO. We had a bad night shooting...that cost us the game...it happens to all teams. We shot 60% from the FT line tonight ...about the same as the last few years when we were the worst FT shooting team ITN. Are posters here going to say we have reverted back and that we are now a bad shooting FT team?... That there has been no FT progress this year based on this one game? No one on this board believes that. And our regular shooting is still good too. The good news is the rebounding was good and even with terrible shooting we came within seconds of a win because of that. We also made some mistakes in the final minutes of this game as well as the last game... TOs , bad shot selection ...essentially closing the game out mistakes. The good news is , like the rebounds , this too can be fixed. Bottom line...Things could be worse...You could be the #20 AP poll ranked Florida Gators and lose to Tex Sou. a team that was 0-7 (a grade D team). In the history of college basketball a Southwestern conf (worst league) team has never beaten a ranked SEC team. The record until yesterday was 51-0...by the way, they whupped them 69-54 ...so it wasn't even close. The ultimate college basketball humiliation. I predict that U of F will get a Dance bid at the end of the season. They will get that bid because they will fix what went wrong. The Bills can do the same...the potential is there. It is up to Ford to meld and bring that potential out. You can't teach potential ...you either have it or you don't. The Bills have it...shooting ability, athleticism, balance and depth. It just has to gel. Just do it.

Is it really on Yuri if we aren't playing a style and running an offense that fits his strengths?

That was one of the most disgusting losses I’ve seen in person in a long time…. Absolutely terrible. I’m gonna step away from this board for a couple of days. Later dudes!

He is shooting 39% from the 3. The problem isn’t Jimerson. It is getting him looks

I sit in section 101 and no one checks.

Not buying Traore could have stopped Muszynski. Linssen did a good job on him, particularly when we doubled. When Linssen was left on an island by himself and Mus got the ball in deep, there isn't much left to do. Linssen used his bulk to bump Mus as much as he could. We stopped doubling Mus because he was passing out of the double. Neither Linssen, Okoro or Traore would have shut him down single handled.

I think this is definitely a fair point to make, and I think this board should have the discussion but the two main players in this thread are massive flamers on this board. I believe the coaching staff would had pivoted and found somebody to replace that role had they been told Perkins would not return via the portal. That being said, I don't think it's fair to criticize Ford based on a hypothetical. A lot of frustration though is coming through because it's difficult to adjust expectations from preseason with Perkins to post injury without Perkins.

You have a point, but you could also make counterarguments to this: Perkins announced early in the spring that he was returning. SLU may have been more active in the transfer portal or able to land more talent if Perkins playing time / scoring load was open for the taking. Also you could argue that Perkins going down in an exhibition game right before the regular season is worse than knowing he's going to be out all year & being able to plan accordingly during preseason practices.

Chill with the title of this thread. We all seem to know everything but it ain't as simple as we MBM's spell it out to be.

If Yuri is making the same mistakes 3 games in a row that's on coaching. As for GJ being the best slasher and shooter that's not an issue. The issue is creating for the other capable players. What happened to the Linssen back cut? What about a clear out for a JN iso?

Another scorer must be developed and the logical choice is Nesbitt. I agree he needs to take 12 to 14 shots and the coach and the fans must be patient. If Yuri can take 13 a game then Nesbitt needs to take that many shots.

if the billikens are not going to go full speed all the time, imo yuri's worth goes WAY down. honestly i wouldnt play him if we are playing half court all the time. he cant shoot and he is a mediocre defender at best. he tries to drive the lane and is swallowed by the trees. meanwhile the best player on the team for creating his own shot, nesbitt, sits far too much. i sure dont get what the billikens are doing these last two games. turn the horses loose and run dammit.

He has the Perkins injury to fall back on as an excuse. Ford always has an excuse.

If Nesbitt is Jordan Goodwin type of player, maybe Travis should let him do Jordan Goodwin type things. That means he is going to need the ball in his hands more often.

Yuri needs to learn how to use a ball screen. He is really bad at it and it leaves our big out there in no mans land. He is so much better when he plays at a faster tempo so I’m not sure why we are having him walk the ball up the court.

Was telling my brother last night that the put back dunk by Nesbitt is the best dunk I've ever seen from a Billiken. That play was incredible.

The way Nesbitt appeared to just hang in the air for a moment is something I don't remember seeing from another Billiken.

I would have bet my house that the put back dunk + GJ 3 on the next play would have been the winning sequence

You can find them all on TFMGirls Instagram

As long as you look like you know where you’re going, I don’t think you’ll have an issue

With Perkins, we should have expected to be a tournament team. Without him, I'd be thrilled with 18-12. We practiced/game-planned all summer with him as the focal point of the team. He was a front-runner for A-10 POY, but now Ford should uhh, just coach a little better to offset that loss? Love reading the GDTs following a loss. Folks now claiming their HS basketball experience qualifies them to sit on the bench

This is a good point. One thing this roster is missing is a secondary rebounder, after whomever plays in the paint. Okay, we have replaced French's boards more or less with Linssen/Okoro/Traore. We are aksing Hargrove and/or Nesbitt and/or Thatch to replace Goodwin's boards. Perkins is not/was not a rebounder. He isn't the guy we put on our opponent's best player. We don't have that 'guy' who is 6'6" to 6'8", rebounds like a Goodwin warrior, and defends the heck out of the opponent's wing/power player.

Yes

quit the pining for and the sickening "if only....." perkins is not on the team. he isnt coming back move the F on. yuri is just a point guard. a good one. yes. but not the one that can be the man. wasted time for developing the folks that have that potential. quit punishing the athletes that have the potential to be ultra special, nesbitt, hargrove and even strickland. time to turn the horses loose. ford is the coach and it is his job to develop what he has and frankly i dont see how you develop players by not using them. if it means we have to totally change our approach to games on both ends of the floor, f'ing do it.

Senior leadership is about a lot more than just age. I love Hargrove. I love the improvements he has made in his game since he first arrived to campus. But he's not ready to take on the role that Javonte would have had with this team. I love Jimerson, but his injuries have kept him off the court for enough time that he's not a senior either in terms of time on the court and ability to handle that role. Yuri is the closest, but (a) he's already doing so much for the team in terms of running the offense, I'm not sure it is fair to ask him to take on this role as well, and (b) I'm not sure he's a good enough shooter that you can put the team on his back at the end of the game. I have no doubt we win the last two games with Perkins (probably still don't win the Memphis game). This isn't on Ford, and to some degree it isn't on the team. It takes time for players to assume new roles, and you can't rush time. Even with the disappointment of the last two games, this team - without Perkins - has exceeded my expectations. Go Bills.

Maybe sitting for a game or at least not starting might be worthwhile. Not as a punishment but to let him get his head straight. He needs to take a deep breath and relax. From these quotes it sounds like the game isn’t much fun for him right now. He needs to get back to having fun on the court and let the game come to Tim

We were 8-21 on layups, 4-14 from three and 9-15 from the line. You can't beat good teams that way. I'm not concerned about our nonconference record. I'm concerned about this team establishing an identity. They are still finding themselves and MBMs will be pissed off until they do. Which means I'm logging off indefinitely.

After a turnover by Nesbitt at 9:50, he was removed at 9:37, and returned at 3:15. During those 6:22, with Nesbitt confined to the bench, SLU was outscored 9-5. The yanks must go. Period. Nesbitt must be on the floor, not on the bench.

I don’t like blowing a lead at home, but no, I’ve hardly ever found cheering for the Billikens to be infuriating. Pre season, most on this site were not expecting this team to be a tournament team. After starting 7–1, all of the sudden, everyone forgets what was a reasonable view of what we had and suddenly expects us to be an at large bid. This is the team we expected at the beginning of the season.

I think we are seeing how hard it is to win with a 5’10 pass only PG. Not sure what the answer is. Id like to see Nesbitt get more involved on offense. Jones needs to get more time. Im not sure what else can be done?!?

Have to beat Auburn and Drake now to have a chance at an at large

Season over

Can someone at Chaifetz go physically put Nesbitt in the game?

This is the worst coached game of Fords career. I don’t care if we win

@brian —— halftime adjustments are being made. Scouting reports are validated. And then there seems to be a “Ford factor” in the second half.

Sometimes I think we have a deep lineup of 9+guys and sometimes I think we go about 2-3 deep

Ford getting out coached…again.

Awful stretch

One of the top fast break teams in the country has no fast break points. Belmont averages just under 80 points a game and they have 24 at half. We’re 2.5 point favorites in Vegas and up 6 at half. I’ll stick with Ford. The game day thread is almost unreadable.

Every game is gonna be a frigging struggle. We should get used to it.

Iowa wanted JGood to play defense. They believed he had the unique skill set to be an All B1G defensive back. And I think he would have been if he chose football over basketball.

We need more scoring. Give Rashad Williams a look.

That described JGood at the same point into his first season.

My opinions are based on the last few games. Some of the turnovers have resulted in points and have killed the momentum of the team. Memphis 7 assists 6 TO’s, ISU 8 assists and 8 TO’s, SFA 4 assists 6 TO’s, BSU 1 assist 3 TO’s, UAB 7 assists 4 turnovers. Please feel free to ignore my patently absurd opinions.

https://slubillikens.com/news/2021/12/6/mens-basketball-how-to-watch-tuesdays-mens-basketball-game.aspx