billiken_roy

who had the final decision on the contract. get a clue. college basketball and college education is big business and the BoT and the boosters would have all been all in on that decision. we know for a fact now biondi vetoed the contract that soderberg had negotiated and signed. they may not challege may on some of the lesser sports programs decisions, but i am pretty sure may wouldnt have had absolute final authority on that ford contract.

i no longer watch enough non SLU college basketball to have any kind of intelligent response to that question. in the last two years i rarely watch any other college basketball i have become so disillusioned with the sport due to NiL. probably the college team i saw the most games played this year besides slu is the iowa women's team soley to watch caitlin clark. i just dont care much anymore about college basketball.

you dont know that. there are plenty of other actors involved in constructing the team. particularly in this day of NiL. is may exempt from blame? probably not. indirectly he obviously has a hand in it. but the main culprit for the results fall directly on ford. you get a contract like that, everyone from the fans to the head of the BoT to the biggest boosters have a right to expect much much better than what we got this year. so time for ford to go to a new place.

we have seen enought fair to middling programs this year that truly utilized the portal this past spring/summer to instantly become a national threat. so i wont agree he has nothing to offer in the way of sunrises on the horizon. you are assuming he would be content with going into next year with the same team. he is smart enough to know he has a truckload of dogs and MAYBE only 3 or 4 of this roster are worthy of fighting for them to stay. i have never been in favor of chasing off players, but this team with their lack of hustle, lack of fundamentals and obvious give up attitude (i.e they are bad teamates) i would not shed a tear on any of them walking away or even being pushed out the door.

i have long believed defense and rebounding is more about hustle, effort and desire. this team has little if any of those attributes. which means ford failed in assessing the most difficult attribute of players when he put this team together. character. that said, at the end of the grawer era, after his great bonner, gray and douglas teams he too was stretching and reaching on the likes of character for his last couple years recruiting. he did bring in claggett and highmark but by then it was too late and he was toast at the end of that season. meanwhile we saw his core last team have players just literally walk off the floor and disappear never to be seen on a college basketball court again, he had one player leave after a game and later that week show up on a college team in kentucky (memory tells me it was D-2 team) big Mel quit and surfaced in Arizona, the whole program turned to crap. there is nothing to be gained by waiting any longer and sooner ford is washed out, the sooner we can head off any more damage to the program. I truly dont see a reason to continue to ride this nightmare. i know myself, apathy is coming into play. i looked at the box score tuesday night and didnt care a bit. Saturday i am giving my seats to the couple that sits next to us so i am free to go to my 10 year old grandson's select games. i honestly have to say, ford sticking around at this point will truly make me have a come to jesus meeting with myself on renewing my tickets.

Recruiting is now a very distant second priority now with the b.s. pay to play NiL. The first question all new recruits and transfer candidates ask now is, "how much will I get paid.". Thus Ford's strongest attribute (maybe only attribute) has been diminished and virtually made him a non D1 coach imo. He has to go.

Worst billiken defense in my fandom (back to 1977). Worst Billiken point guards in my fandom. Worst Billiken game, practice and development coach in my fandom. Besides that they aren't bad. At least we get the chance to watch Parker, who in my opinion is the best Billiken scorer since the Larry the Legend Hughes.

How old is she these days?

i agree recruiting skill becomes minimal. it's now all about the Benjamin's.

a turnover is a turnover, however i will say at least 4 of hughes turnovers were brain dead passes when medley was also in the game. i.e. he was playing wing for the majority of his turnovers.

he is also the definition of an over dribbler. i agree with taj, at this point in this lost season, what's the sense in playing him beyond breathers, foul trouble and injuries. in hindsight not sure what we expected we would get with meadows considering his previous college career. didnt exactly evolve from a blue blood program.

thanks brian for this work.

Can't turn your head on 20+ turnovers. That's on Ford. The lack of fundamentals and just focus on what they are doing is incredibly stupid

we will look back on the season and see that not having a single point guard on the roster was the undoing of the season. that's all on ford.

hard to be critical of parker when it is obvious we arent even in the game if he doesnt play hero ball like no billiken has since larry hughes senior was at carbondale. but wow 3 bonehead plays at the end for him. i think the real loser in the game was once again we cant take care of the ball. jesus the turnovers. F

The problem is Meadows is even worse and ford reluctant to play Hughes there.

How can Parker NOT be the starter? Parker for Medley and let Parker and Hughes bring the ball up.

I think medley is worse. They both are bad.

Not thrilled he has t o go to Brooklyn tho

first i agree curcic deserves a chance. it appears he always plays hard, and he does have some skills. that said yesterday when he came into the game he screwed up 2 screen situations on defense and in both instances resulted in scores by fordham. my point is he does lack some basketball knowledge and thus ive seen defensive mistakes. he is not a point guard as well and our strongest position on the team is wing which is what he is at this time. that doesnt mean a strong summer and working on the above like mistakes he couldnt become a better all around player and imo it is worth it to coach him up. that said, just who do we have associated with the team that can accomplish that? if we had such a coach/assistant why havent they been doing such all along with the entire team. last, in spite of what i wrote above, those apparently above curcic in the pecking order arent getting the job done so cant hurt much more to throw him out there.

1. take off all shackles for going straight to the pro's. if a 16 year old kid thinks he can be a new york knick and the knicks want him and will pay him big bucks, let it happen. 2. create a sensible living wage and expense template for all college athletes in all sports. enough to live and have a few bucks for a pizza and a movie on weekends and gas money for the used car the school has let the athlete have for a reasonable lease amount. 3. reenact all academic requirements both coming into the school and staying in the school that would get the student athlete graduated with a real degree in 5 years max. those athletes that think they are coming to college just to play their sport will be "encouraged" to go play their sport in the professional ranks. they are not students. 4. the majority of the ncaa police work should be focused on academics and the student athlete getting their degrees. major major penalties for any program looking to pay above the scale and giving undeserved bonus gifts of any kind. again, if the athlete is that good, he or she should just leave school and go to the pros. results, the big time athletes that deserve big money and amenities can get such in the pros and the ncaa can not be accused of holding them hostage. the pros can develop their own minor leagues. the student athletes that most of us really care about, are resurrected and college athletics returns to the real world where we can enjoy young men and women competing for the love of competition and loyalty to their school. the student althletes are able to live in relative comfort without struggling. the majority will likely stay where they are rather than play free agent every year since the pay scale will be the same for everyone at all schools. those that do enter the portal are transferring for reasons other than financial windfalls. boosters will be more eager to participate financially to support schools total athletic department as the dollars make sense for all concerned and give the programs a chance to develop and maintain players for the right reasons and no school has an advantage financially. the real key is developing and focusing on college is for students first and athletics second. sure their will be less talent overall, but the real reason people watch any sport is for competition. and if all the programs are participating under the above, even though inhuman athletes will be rare, student athletes of great character will emerge and imo the finished "product" will be a lot more enjoyable to follow. there send it to washington to finish the details.

soderball, it wont get reversed. but i believe college basketball will eventually greatly suffer. as i have sad numeous times. if we want to watch professional basketball why watch an overpaid version of the G-League. eventually the whales will refuse to buck up and the need for cash will have to come from somewhere. where they gonna get it?

3 Star is right. Had the NCAA years ago gave the athletes minimal stipend for living expenses, enough money for a movie and pizza on the weekend, gas money, etc. I'm guessing it would have never come to this. Now the toothpaste is out of the tube and there is no way to put it back. It's a mess and who knows where it leads.

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/39434025 Great take imo.

If I win the mega tonight I'll pay the buyout