Leaderboard

Over the last 12 months we have had one of the longest COVID pauses of any team in the country, had the devestating loss of an assistant coach who was also a family member and former player, and the late injury of what was expected to be our best player and conference POY. His players NEVER quit on him, play extremely hard, and his teams get better as the year wears on. I would argue he has had about as bad as luck as a coach could have and he is here working his a$$ off. This topic is ludicrous.

i think a few of you are getting upset with a lot of us that are not wanting to get rid of ford or think he is a horrible coach overall. i think most of us are complaining about his game coaching and/or his player development. but imo, he is a super recruiter and a very good motivator thus in the overall picture he might be the best coach we have ever had in my fandom. i know i would take him over anyone during that time period (i go back to 1978). i just think if he improved those two areas, he would make our program elite considering his ability to bring in players. so it is very frustrating to see us be this close. however, by no means do i want him gone. i know the slu track record for bringing in coaches. plus every time we get a new coach there is a "start over" period. those have been somewhat painful over time. so let the 3 or 4 rockheads that want to fire him just talk to themselves. most of us discussing the coaching mistakes after these last two very frustrating losses are not on that level.

Phil goes for 24 and 4 assists in SEMO’s 75-73 win over Evansville. 10-16 from the floor and 2-4 arc.

Are we seriously doing this? Seriously? I’ve been as critical of Ford’s in-game coaching as much as anyone. I still think it leaves a lot to be desired. But if you honestly asked me if I’d rather have a great recruiter or a brilliant X’s & O’s coach, I’ll take the great recruiter. Majerus was both, but he’s not walking through that door. I’ve spent way too much of my SLU fandom watching D2 players starting for the Billikens. Is Ford perfect? No, he’s not. Is he Majerus? No, he’s not. But he’s still, already, 1 of the winningest coaches in school history. Everybody needs to chill the F out! Good God!

That's fine if I don't have to wear a mask too. I have all my shots.

Guess I’ll call down and get a refund on the remaining games.

Records at SLU: Rick Majerus 07-08 16-15 51.61% 08-09 18-14 56.25% 09-10 23-13 63.89% 10-11 12-19 38.71% 11-12 26-8 81.25% Total 95-69 57.93% Travis Ford 16-17 12-21 36.36% 17-18 17-16 51.52% 18-19 23-13 63.89% 19-20 23-8 74.19% 20-21 14-7 66.67% 21-22 7-3 70.00% Total 96-68 58.54%

I’ll go with coach Ford that brings in local talent like Goodwin, Perkins and Nesbitt that are fun to watch. Not one critic that wants Ford fired for a great tactician has any idea what coach Ford will accomplish. SLU had something good going in 2020 winning the last 5 going into the tournament but COVID got him. COVID got Ford in 2020-2021 when the team with only 1 loss was shut down for 40 days. Then Perkins goes down this season and the team is 7-3 with a nice road win and tournament win. I am confident with the players on the team that the coach will figure out what is best and have the team playing it’s best at tournament time which has happened before. In 2019-2020 Ford has to figure out what to do when he lost Jimerson.

Here is a shocking stat: The Bills are 320th in the Nation in three point shots attempted. 320th! We are 229th in three point shots made. We are 38th in 3% made. We need to shoot more threes. We need Jimerson to shoot more threes. We need Rashad Williams to fire up some threes.

I don’t think Ford should be fired or anything like that. Just if you are going to use coaches as examples of not good coaches don’t use guys that have won more NCAA tournament games than Ford. Romar has won 7 more NCAA tournament games than Ford. I hate Crews, but he won 2 more tournament games than Ford has. Ford has had a couple disappointing nights in row. All coaches have some bad games. He has time to right the ship. I think just about everyone here his rooting that he does just that. Ford makes a lot of money to produce results. He has been given more tools to be a successful than any other coach in SLU’s history. He still has much to prove. Fans have every right to question him and hold him accountable.

Give RW a chance you mean like put him and GJ on the floor at the same time when you need a 3 to tie the game and the other team knows you have 2 3PT shooters in and can't double team? Just saying. But there is a use for RW and we could have used him last night.

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.

Just be prepared for a segment of the population to demand this crap for every flu season from now on. They are energized to change the way we live.

I'd be shocked if this cost the university any material amount of money. For all the people who are outraged & won't go, there are people who will go now because there is a vax mandate in place. Both groups are probably small enough not to matter anyways, but both are way more vocal than the average fan who just wants to watch basketball.

Thats where I sorta stand. if you're gonna do this, no way am I wearing a mask too.

Seems UAB did okay .....

The question is: was that game a matter of Ford not making (the correct) adjustments, coach making adjustments with players not executing or are did Ford make adjustments, the players executed them to the best of their abilities and we just don't have Perkins to put this team over the top from an above average team to a really good team.

It doesn’t work in the real world, I am happy to help you. Ford just past Majerus in wins, so Fords teams win. Winning the A10 tournament is winning. Going 23-8 in 19/20 is winning. Ford’s record at SLU 96-68 that is winning. I just proved to you Ford wins it is very obvious it’s not good enough for you but facts matter and does not back up your rebuttal to my post. On your comprehension of my post, I never talked about would have could have should have my post was about overcoming the loss of Jimerson, COVID being an issue for 2 seasons and figuring out a way to overcome Perkins and that by season’s end I believe he will have the team playing well based on past seasons. You don’t like coach Ford I get it. I like coach Ford and my suggestions is to never read my pro Ford posts again it will lower your blood pressure.

-I would like to know if during the game CFord changes things based on what an assistant coach or player suggests or if the game plan is so written in stone it has to followed come hell or high water -I am SO over him saying we will play fast and that we have a deep roster and will use it, even after JPerk got hurt he said we might even play faster, well Yuri crossing the timeline with 21 on the shot clock after walking it up doesn't fit that

So a group of us hung around after the UAB game to watch the soccer. The Swede, Williams, Nesbitt, and Markhi came back out on the floor. Williams and Nesbitt on one basket, The Swede and Markhi on the other. Soccer feed went dead for about 15 minutes, so we watched the shooters. Williams and the Swede are amazing! They consistently hit 9 out of 10 all around the 3 point line. Nesbitt was about 8 out of 10. Checked back again at halftime. Only Williams was still there. Pop,pop,pop…string music. This guy needs to be given a chance…he’s just too good a shooter.

Honestly, it is two games. It is always harder to get a win after a loss. This schedule will benefit this team come conference time. Pull it together and enjoy the journey. As far as the title, remember these names: Crews, Soderberg, Romar. I can keep going. No one can claim Ford is perfect, but he is a good coach.

Not sure. But I’ve heard the argument in the past that students have to share classrooms with athletes and managers and students who attend games. So they could get Covid without ever attending a game. Don’t bite my head off, it’s not my argument. I’m just saying that I think student outcry played at least a part in this decision

i think hargroves best place to be on offense is on the wing streaking down the sideline on a fast break and ending with a slam dunk. that can never be accomplished walking the ball down the floor.

It is always amazing how reeling of a few wins brings out the fears of losing Travis and then lose a couple and it's who'd want him? Two words Columbia, Missouri....... It's possible we could do better but we could do SO much worse

I honestly couldn’t care less if anyone gets vaccinated or not. But the vaccines aren’t “experimental”. mRNA vaccines have been around for decades. There’s nothing “experimental” about them. And if you think the university hasn’t already considered how much money they might lose before making this announcement, you’re kidding yourselves. If you don’t want to get vaccinated, get your refunded. I fully understand not wanting to pay for games you can’t attend. But you’re not “sticking it to the university” by asking for a refund. There’s a decent chance that large part of this announcement comes from students, if we’re being totally honest.

Thanks! I don't read good.

i'd rather be forced to show my vax nazi papers than wear a joke of a mask that does nothing. i wont do both.

Maybe, maybe not, but it strongly reduces the chance that the person next to you has COVID. Impact on attendance will be nominal.

Not at all. I don't think either group is very large. Do you think there is a large contingent of billiken fans who will now NOT go because of the vax requirement? People will ***** about it, but I don't think many people who have been attending games will actually stop now. Most Billiken fans just want to watch basketball, are very likely already vaccinated, & will just show their vax card so they can watch the game.

you think there is a large contingent of billikens fans who will now go because other people are vaccinated? Being vaccinated has been shown not to stop transmission. whoever is in that crowd is illogical. I think the result will be a lesser crowd....which is sad because attendance was already pretty light.

Well it’s pretty easy to compare how much attendance is down compared to prior years of conference games, and it will be similarly easy to compare how conference game attendance compares to prior years conference attendance. I don’t think it’s about either policy “winning”. Attendance has sucked this year and it’s good to try and figure out how much of that is because of COVID vs. how much is other factors. This will be another data point in doing that.

It also costs now to be tested. I also do not care how long the shot has been available, that’s not my argument. All I’m saying really is that either they should have given this requirement well ahead of the season or say January 1st. I’ve been pro-covid “vaccine” since they were released, but the addition of the mask requirement has never calculated in my head.

SLU was / is / will continue to be in a no win situation with this. Unfortunately COVID is a giant political quagmire for any business or organization hosting the public. No matter what you do in terms of health/safety protocols, you're going to a have a relatively large group of very vocal partisans screaming that you're doing too much or too little. As a school with such a large medical school & healthcare footprint, IMO it makes sense for SLU to err on the side of public health. This is a step in that direction and it was sort of baffling to me that they chose to have less stringent requirements than the Blues in the first place.

They are his players. They are the guys he recruited.

This. We’re 7-3 and lost our POY candidate best player a week before the season. We’ve had to find an entirely new identity over the start of the regular season. If you were expecting this season to be nothing but sunshine and roses, I really don’t know what to tell you. And at this point, I can’t keep track of who’s just trolling and who’s not.

Great to see. Good job SLU

The entire tone of the board is so negative right now. I find myself just not wanting to read or respond to basketball related threads for a while. We had one poster (and I agree I'm an idiot for even reading game day threads) claiming his dad was a better game coach than Ford.

Hooray- it's about time.

Sure, but we were not going to find a true Perkins replacement that late in the game. February is very late in the process for a program at our level.

As others have noted, Perkins was a bonus this year. Recruiting is a long-term game, and Ford had no reason to believe Perkins would be here this year until late in the overall process.

Bonner, Brighton, MrJoeLabs. Ignored since jump street.

BC is not very good. I went there and I watch most of their games. Their new coach has given them energy. Their best players are probably the Langford brothers. Demarr is a super athletic and strong guard, a big like J-Good. His brother is older but not as thick. They have a nice left 2-guard named Zachary. Former Supersonics coach Bernie Bickerstaff's grandson is a junior transfer and is a work in progress with a nose for rebounding. They have a very muscular center, Karnik, who destroyed Notre Dame. Linssen should be able to stick with him. Coach Grant is bringing in a top 25 recruiting class with 2 top 100 guys next year, so this may be the last year to beat up on a BC team that has sucked since Skinner left. The Jared Dudley/Ty Rice/Reggie Jackson days are long gone and this team hasn't danced since 2009, and they hung on too long to two Jim Crews-type coaches.

Don't feed the troll....

I think the university has little or nothing to do with concession pricing. Unless it has changed they have sold those rights to Delaware North. They also have the Baseball Cardinal concession contract. I am sure they have done pricing studies. And yes prices are ridiculously high.

Wiz has SLU as a 10 point favorite?

Ford can win at this level and I think he will win here. It’s obvious I had my expectations to high, especially after Perkins went down. When I look at this roster I just don’t see enough talent. What current players do you see starting on a top 25 team? Collins….solid back up PG on a top 25 team. makes great passes, has trouble shooting, turns the ball over to much, not tall enough. Hargrove…He hits the occasional 3 but hasn’t shown the ability to get to the basket and score on a regular basis. He can rebound Ok and defend OK but he hasn’t shown me he can be an all league player. Linssen…decent big but he isn’t starting on a top 25 team. Jimerson…he can score but that’s all he does. He has trouble defending and rebounding. He could possibly start on a top 25 team. Nesbitt…he wasn’t going to start at Memphis. I think he will be a star for the Bills but not this year. Okoro….I think he will blossom into an all league player but bigs take time and I think the year off hurt him Thatch….High motor reserve. Good defense and rebounding. Occasionally has high scoring games. Jones….looks good coming off the bench. To me the problem isn’t game coaching it’s either Ford and company not being able to coach these players up or talent evaluation. All that said I still think they can compete for an A10 title and provide a lot of excitement along the way.

-I said at the time some one taller that can see better would be a better option to in-bound, didn't think about him but should have and so too I think should have our bench

RU, Ford is an excellent recruiter and a very good motivator. Imo, he is not a good floor coach or player developer. I'm not speaking of him as a coach overall I think that is what many are expressing today. Not that overall he is a bad coach but a questionable floor coach. Even with what I view as his short comings, I'd still want him to be our coach as his strengths always give us a chance and I dread the day we replace him because our track record of hiring a coach is not good. It's just frustrating to me we are so close.

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

Others have said this, but I haven't seen anyone directly reply to you. It has been reported that Okoro was sick leading up to / during the same. That's why he didn't play much and probably why he looked like crap when he did play. I still think we would have been better off going with Traore or playing small & pressing instead of letting Linssen get beat inside repeatedly.