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What We Need 2 Do 2 Win. For those that follow me, this is a familiar sight. It is at the bottom of every spread thread, I write. It refers to the specifics of that particular game and what we have to do to win it....FG% , Rebs, TOs etc...Make those numbers and we will win 95% of the time.. In fact not only will we win, but we will make the spread. This thread though is not about a specific game. This thread is about the season. What do we need to do to win the season? What will it take to win the conference? What will it take to get a bid? What do we need to reach those goals? We need consistency. We have a team that came within 2 seconds of beating the 4th rated team ITN. That says to me, we are not lacking in anything except consistency. We have had in specific games... over 50 rebs ...less than 10 TOs...last night we shot 56% from the arc....we have shot over 50% FG% a few times...96% FTs (25-26) etc. I could continue to list stats to the bottom of the page as to why we are a good team. Unfortunately. we have also reb under 30 in a game,... TOs of 19.....FG% of under 40% ...3P% in the low 20s. Needless to say , the first set of numbers are all A+....the 2nd set are all F-. That is quite a spread. What is the issue?...consistency. Bill James, the father of Sabremetrics (the mathematical and statistical analysis of sports teams) said that the difference between championship teams and teams that finish out of the money is that the winning teams are 5% better than the losing teams. So does that mean they win 5% more games than the others. No, it means they are 5% better every game and therefore have the possibility of beating every team they play every game. The Bills don't need to play at a superhuman level. They don't need to shoot 56% from the arc every game. They need to shoot Bills numbers ...good numbers that they can do all the time....50/38/ 77. ...Rebs around 40...TOs 11. And they need to do all things all games. This is not a basketball smorgasbord where you can pick and choose. You need to to do all things well(not perfect) all the time...with little variance. This Sat we will play Fordham...not the greatest in the conference. We will have a double digit spread in our favor. We can win by doing less because Fordham is less of a team...BUT that doesn't mean we should. We need to make our numbers regardless of the opponent. If we make our numbers we will win 95% of the games.. We will beat the good teams (good for the selection committee) and run the score up on the bad teams, which for the NET followers, is a good thing for our NET efficiency rating. One last thing...How do you develop consistency? Focus...play basketball for a full 40 min, leave nothing on the table...Confidence...You can play basketball at a high level all the time...and Teamwork...where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

Last year we had a point guard you didn't have to guard and one guy who could go get you a bucket. This year we have a point guard you do have to guard but now we're hoping someone emerges as a go-to-guy. We are sooo close to having both pieces at the same time, I can taste it.

Weekly reminder our star is out all season. If he comes back 22-23 our Yurimania issues turn into record building assists. Also even having lost 5 games we may well be one of 2? undefeated teams left if he hadn’t gone down. Not one of those 5 we were bad enough beaten that his playing would not of made up difference imo.

Dwayne Evans averaged 12 rebounds a game in high school. He was one of the elite defenders in the Chicago metro area. Rebounding and defense got him on the floor early in his career and the rest is history. I'm not sure what Thames does at a high level that will allow him to break into the 8-9 man rotation as an underclassman.

@AnkielBreakers ---- I do not think your statement is that far-fetched. The schedule is extremely favorable for doing as you say. At first blush, defend the hoem fires. In there, we have the Bonnies and Dayton. I think, having sat five rows off the court Tuesday, we can and will wipe the Chaifetz floor with Dayton's ass come rematch time. Dayton's young team lived off the energy their home floor provided. That won't be there in February. The Bonnie game will likely be a war but is very winnable. So that takes us on the road, where we still have unanswered questions. Games at Umass, at Duquesne, at Mason and at La Salle will be tell tale signs says Captain Obvious. We will or should be favored in each. All four are teams lack substantially in talent versus our lineup. The question is will it happen? Three of the four are extremely undisciplined with the exception being Mason. Three of the four, with the exception of Mason, have a nice stable of guards to run at Collins. Those four games stand in the way of a really successful season right now.

It's pretty obvious from the clip that Thames can really pass the ball. That vision and ball handling is sorely missing from this team. The main drawback to this team is that Yuri handles the ball too much and the offense seems to stagnate with him out (I wouldn't want to see Jones's +/- from Dayton). I think Nesbitt should run the offense more. Jones is really a lead guard in a PG's body. We've played so many high pressure teams of late (Auburn, Iona, Dayton) and Yuri is the only guard that Ford fully trusts to handle it. I love Yuri, but "bad Yuri" comes out now and then and our chances of winning nosedive when he does.

All three signees were in action last night. Kramer had 19 in a 74-58 loss at DeSmet. SLUH was up 22-16 at the end of the first quarter and down 40-33 at half. Brian Taylor (Milwaukee commit) went off, scoring 35. SLUH (9-3) will try to rebound tomorrow at Vianney (8-5). Thames had 23 in a 70-61 loss to Borgia at Washington HS last night. Per Gateway Sports Venue, Borgia led the entire game, executed well offensively, and collapsed on Thames whenever he got the ball. Thames started to come alive in the second half but it wasn't enough. Pattonville (8-8) faces Ladue (9-4) in the third place game tomorrow at Washington. Parker had 19 in a 76-59 win over State Fair CC, bringing Moberly's winning streak to 7 games. They head to Mineral Area College on Saturday. MAC (15-4) is ranked #19 in the nation, and Moberly (16-4) is just outside the top 25 in the "also receiving votes" section.

Thank for the analysis wiz. I agree if the team gets consistent on what they are supposed to do they will position themselves for a chance to win the A10. A trend that I see with SLU is losing composure in a hostile environment road game. Examples are Memphis, Dayton and Boise State. SLU was down big at Boise State and clawed there way back to win. Yuri was in foul trouble that game but Jones showed up that game and played well. Another trend is Jones is not contributing. Jones is in a shooting slump and is reluctant to shoot. Jones needs to shoot his way out of slump and not worry this is his final season of college basketball. Watching Jones in pre-game warm-ups he was struggling however in the last 2 pre-game warm-ups he looks much better. Another trend is with the coach not resting his players enough during games. Five worn out players could not hold the lead with 8 minutes left against Auburn they are just too good. I still believe SLU will win 22 games and will make a good run in the A10 tournament. I believe there is no chance for an at large bid.

My two cents, Ford needs to bring in another big through the transfer portal. Someone who can stretch the floor, protect the rim as needed, and rebound. That player is not on our roster today.

This is the chart I put together for the Future Rosters thread. I haven't updated it for Perkins potentially returning or Linssen definitely leaving, but I think it helps here: Based on what I was thinking for this chart, Williams would not count against the scholarship limit because he'd be in his "extra COVID year". I'm not 100% that's guys not counting against the limit is a thing except for the this season (Perkins). If it's not a thing going forward, HS players are really gonna be screwed until all the guys with extra years have burned through them in 2025-26 and SLU would potentially be oversubscribed by 2 for next season if Perkins returns. I think it's likely all this is moot regarding Williams anyways. TLDR: I made a fancy chart, but it's probably all wrong & even it isn't transfers will make it obsolete.

@Pistolhe received a UAPB offer last month

After the 1st half of MU v AR, let’s not denigrate our team’s efforts

Jeffco is a fine institution and I will not hear otherwise

Uh not to one up you or anything, but we played at Jefferson College in Hillsboro. I'll let everyone else decide which one is better

including yuri skip. he is not a scorer we can depend on to make the big shot. his drives to the basket to take on the trees are thwarted as much as successful. yuri's usefulness is really getting the ball to scorers. that has been somewhat limited as of late due to teams realizing he cant finish if bodied and then they cover his wing options. his smallness is catching up to him. now if we have an elite scorer (i realize perkins was that guy but perkins isnt here now) then that changes everything.

I actually got to play at Hinkle in high school. Well, okay, I sat on the bench the entire game, but did get to warm up on the floor pre-game and at half time. Pretty cool.

Kalish needs to make this video part of his recruiting pitch.

@courtside who is the 7th? AJ?

Sounds like we DO NOT have another point guard in the wings to 1) releive3 Collins from all the pressure and 2) to develop to replace Collins as that time inevitably approaches. I doubt Ford will hand the ball over to an unproven freshman next year (Thames) when he needs to replace Collins for any stretches of games. I also see it very difficult for Znesbitt to develop as BOTH a point gurad and as a shooting guard at the same time. Finally, I am back to player development and if we need our staff to develop the shooting prowess of Kramer, Thames and Parker, what progress shown in past developments allows us to makes such assumptions going forward? All our current players shoot mid-30% range. Is that good enough? Jimerson 38.7%. Collins 37.0%. Hargrove 37.8%. And Nesbitt 34..0%. That sounds all fine and dandy but this leaves the question WHO do you want to take a three to tie or win a ball game for us unanswered for the most part.

Duquesne led most of the game but Fordham played well in the second half. They unsurprisingly shot 41% coming off a 13-day break, and I'm hoping they're still a little cold in STL this weekend. Chuba Ohams put up a ridiculous line of 14 and 16 with 8 blocks, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He could be a problem for us. Season averages are 14.5 PPG, 11.6 RPG, 2.3 BPG, 1.9 APG and he shoots 53.5% from the field. Fordham has never started 2-0 in the league before. 2 wins match their total A10 wins from last season.

Agree. Grabbing Camara 80 feet from the bucket, when you have four fouls and needed by your team that is on life support, is not the right play. Even with Camara missing both FT’s Yuri has to play smarter than that.

That is ridiculous. He went out when we were down 9 points with 2 minutes left. He took a risk because we were desperate. He probably overcommitted and couldn’t back out. You can’t make any assumptions other than that.

After a tough loss there is something comforting about flipping on the SEC network and seeing Miz down 20-3.

I sure hope you are lol. To dumb it down as much as possible, he is already a 6'7" primary ball handler. Markhi is neither of those things.

I would think Ford would agree with you.