billiken_roy

slufanskip said, "I would also like to see them continue to feed the ball inside more before I feel confident in our ability to get road wins. I hope that we are working hard with Tom on his free throws ... it doesn't help to get there if we don't convert." skip, you are correct it is frustrating that tom isnt making his free throws. but the positive thing i have seen from tom that i havent seen from a billiken center maybe ever is his great hands and passing ability. thus getting it to tom who can actually catch a ball will create other opportunities than just tom scoring or getting fouled. as the teams double down to him, someone is going to be open for a 3 or for a slashing move to the basket and then that will create foul shots for the likes of fisher, bryant or sloan who are very good free throw shooters. so imo, just letting frericks touch the ball inside will make everyone get to the line more. frericks and izik are the difference makers on this team. we will rise or fall on izik's and tom's shoulders imo. the four tops will give you the effort and results each night. ross is ross.

butch, the fact they seem totally disjointed is weird stuff because defense and offensive sets should be what pretty q $nyder should be stressing in practice. just what is $nyder actually doing in practice?

i think the reason they dont consider "margins" in their numbers is because a-holes like billy tubbs would run up the score every time he can and then justify it with the need to win big for his ratings.

nate, who do we need to contact at the post to get you to be our "backup" beat writer? timmerman has never liked covering the billikens imo and his writeup on the dayton game still mirrored "going through the motions". you should take it on.

the top six conference thing is huge. it might get us 5 teams in the tourney which conversely might put us on the bubble as it seems to me we will be fighting for 4th to 8th place. you are correct, we have to win these games vs the top conference opponents.

right this second, i think that slu beats missouri. now the question is, "can missouri decide to become a team by year's end?" there is no doubt that player for player, that missouri has more talent. they might have 6 nba players in johnson, paulding, klieza conley, mckinney and bryant. but to continue to underachieve as they have thus far is sad. even for a missouri hater like me. right now, johnson and paulding are p!ssing away millions of dollars. you would think that alone would get them motivated to win. surely they realize that they get cut from the tiger payroll in a few months.

3 star, what do you think about peoria central junior miranda? he is also roughly the size of shaw and appears to be very athletic.

p diddy, i have been touting arthur since i saw him playing in jv last year. it was obvious that he was the best player at west last year already. jb is a better basketball player, but arthur is the most talented. bigger, faster, more athletic, if he had jb's floor sense, he might be a top 10 area player right now and he is only a junior. i agree with everything you said about livingston. i have never compared a player to magic johnson before, but livingston appears to be the closest i have seen to him. what is really exciting about him is the way he took over weds. normally he seems content to being a point guard. but weds it became necessary for him to carry the team and he just was splendid. that said, i was also excited how kevin held his own with shaun. here is the reputed best player in all of high school basketball and kevin matching him play for play and probably making shaun work harder than what he has ever had to work before. when i saw kevin come out at the tipoff and take on livingston, i was afraid that was a mistake as surely livingston would foul the agressive lisch out. never happened. kevin guarded him most of the game. and really made livingston work hard. it was great to see him match him almost point for point. the block kevin had on livingston on the breakaway near the end of the third quarter was notice that he wasnt going to shy away either. it is a shame althoff doesnt have a big guy to go along with the four fine guards they have. the two skinny kids they play at forward would be fine as the 4, but they need a center. the ducey kid not playing really is a let down. had a long discussion this morning with an east side fan about the flyers. unfortunately, we both agree dennis brooks just isnt doing the job. to see all that standing around and one on one stuff when east side is so fast and athletic is just a shame imo. that team is every bit as athletic if not more than any team in the st louis area, but right now, i wouldnt give east side a ghost of a chance vs belleville west, althoff or probably vashon (i haven t seen them play). had a lot of people from belleville come up to me tues and weds to tell me how lucky slu will be to get kevin. i said to all, "i didnt know he had said he is coming to slu." apparently the community thinks kevin is going to be a billiken. p diddy, did you see the score of the belleville west vs centralia game? i was surprised that west dominated them at centralia as such. shaw was named mvp of the tourney though. it appears to me though that the belleville east tourney might really be a show with althoff, west, centralia and carbondale. there is a tip folks on the next great opportunity to see some great high school basketball. p diddy, we should get together at east and watch and talk the games.

that just p!sses me off. and i can guarantee you that it was ramsey and not earl that said that. as i have personally talked to earl about it. i know earl is a a-10 cheerleader and i was there listening to him try to defend it to some sports writers at the belleville west thanksgiving tourney. the fact is, slu fans wanted the a-10 move. it is the casual sports fan that doesnt follow the sport like we do that spews this mvc nonsense.

aj, i disagree on the free throw issue. brad stated that he has decided to make a big effort to use frericks more on offense. if tom stays out of foul trouble, and gets the ball, that will change the defensive looks at our team. not only will frericks go to the line more, but so will sloan and bryant and fisher as they slash to the basket on the extra pass from tom. shooting 3's wont draw fouls. getting to the lane does.

i think that the team is better than what i expected pre-season. i am much more confident about our inside guys. frericks definitely is an upgrade of kenny brown. maybe not quite as good defensively, but he will more than offset that with his offense and even rebounding. if tom stays out of foul trouble, he is a really nice player. hell, the last two games have been "all-conference" like. it is very encouraging that izik has decided to play defense apparently. plus we know he has a lot to give us offensively yet. so upside galore there maybe. last you do have ian entering the mix which should take some minutes from ross and enable ross to be more effective as a respite sub. overall, i like the look of our inside guys a lot. they may not score a lot, but i think they are ready to take charge defensively and rebounding. that is he biggest thing i think they can give this team. add that to frericks doing some scoring inside, it opens up sloan, bryant, drejaj and fisher to score more.

he has never to the best of my recollection pointed fingers specifically after a loss. his points about talent upgrades, etc, were in response to questions like "what do we have to do to get to the next levei?"

i say 20 with a couple of tourney wins included in that 20. that would mean we would go 11-5 in conference play. tough task, but it will take that to get in since our bunnies were far easier than last year and butler and dayton are going to end up being lesser games than they were last year. also, we lose out on two games with cincy and louisville and they get replaced with the nascar opponents. still we have 2 each with marquette, charlotte and depaul, plus one each with louisville, memphis, and cincy. thus going the rest of the way in conference play with only 5 losses, would mean we had to win a few of these big games. that should make up for it. 9-7 or less means we basically beat who we are "supposed to" beat and lose to the above teams. that has nit written all over it.

the cardinals in freedom hall are phenomenal. talk about a home court advantage! i would say that the louisville team would not have beaten uab last year in that championship game without the "6th man" fans. what an atmosphere.

scrivener said, "to include effective merchandising of our beloved Billiken mascot on your wish list. No offense intended SignGuy, but it boggles the mind to think that the best Billiken wearable I've seen in the past 5 years has come from the "amateur" ranks." however, that said, dont lose sight of the fact that the athletic department allowed steve's shirt design, logo included. i would have bet the farm they would not allow that shirt to be made and distributed. so someone is trying. my guess is that mr irby is making an impact. it might just take time to get the remote away from the head.

pretty good post bonwich! i agree completely. i especially like the schlanger suggestion. young, sharp, energetic. i sent my "ramsey letter" to doug woolard last week after that ripping episode. doug tried to call me three times when i was out on business calls. he left messages he would touch base with me later. he hasnt.

this dayton article is intriguing for one reason, gregory blames the seniors. how often have we heard soderberg take the blame in a loss? i cant think of a time he went off on the specific players in print.

defense and rebounding are as much about heart and effort as they are about athletic ability. sounds to me as though a couple of inside guys have now "figured" it out! btw, how many of the brian gregory lovers still wish he was the billiken coach? sounded to me as though coach soderberg pushed all the right buttons tonite! who would have ever thought that fish would miss the most free throws in a game! not that he did bad, but the whole team shot well! sloan was the man tonite.

i was there today. lisch had a nice game, but he is no match for livingston. they matched up quite a bit during the game, and livingston did not like kevin guarding him when he did. still it was the most agressive i have ever seen livingston play. he had 32 to kevin's 25. althoff stayed with them, but ran out of gas. the difference in the game was the refs did not send kevin to the line as he normally does. usually kevin shoots 12 free throws or so per game. i bet he shot 5. still kevin more than held his own against the best player in the country. as i have been a kevin booster for a long time, folks, i seriously did not expect him to do as well as he did today vs livingston who i think may be ready to go straight to the nba.

i was at the east side game again today and luster, bell, and howlett did nothing. thank god tommie and smith came to play. the coach needs to shake them up someway, somehow. too much talent to be wasting as they are right now. i agree with 3 star on bell, i have never seen him do anything that deserves court time over some of the kids on the bench. on the other hand, i have seen howlett and luster have big days.

coach soderberg's comments in the post today all but said, they arent putting out in practice up to the level he demands. so my stance is that if johnson expects to play in the games and play half speed in practice, his performance in the games has to be extraordinary compared to those that are busting it in practice. if you look at the stats, his stats are no better than anyone else. so i commend coach for sitting him. dont get me wrong, i think justin johnson can be a star. but look at it this way, if he is allowed to muddle through with the effort he is at now, in all likelihood, he never improves. if he finally "gives in" and starts putting out an all out practice and workout effort, who knows he might be the next bonner. i think i can forgo a win or two this season if in the long run justin johnson and darren clarke become "all they can be".

after having watched mizzou a number of times this year, i was under the impression they havent practiced so your claim that randy hasnt practiced with the varsity is surprising.

imo, we won big in the drejaj for pulley tradeoff.

went to the althoff game tonite with naticat. althoff just blew quincy out tonite. kevin had a quiet 25. got to meet slufanskip and shoot the breeze during the game. great time. slufan and tseugnekillib also stopped by. so we had a mini board meeting. quincy has a total embarrassing a-hole of a coach. got a tech, then wanted an explanation why. two refs tried to explain and it was dragging on and on. the third ref comes over and says get the game going and orders the coach to sit the rest of the game. the coach smartly tells him he coaches from the sidelines, and the ref says not anymore. so the coach sits his chair just outsider the sideline and just inside the coach box. of course he got his second tech and was tossed. then made a big show of walking across the floor to the lockerroom. nice to know the disgusting coach act has now made it to the high school level. livingston was his usual spectacular self. championship wont be close imo. as much as i would love to see althoff give them a game, i am doubting anyone can. that is one good team. game time is 2:30 pm tomorrow.

i go to all of kevin's home games and most of his away games and sit there in my sluwear and cheer him on. where are the rest of you? ;-)