Taj79

I will say the defense was indeed good but balance that against any semblance of athleticism from Davidson. Looked like “Hoosiers” out there.

Disbelief for sure. I watched of course completely frustrated as many of you opined but I NEVER called ballgame. No lead is too safe; no deficit too large. Davidson remains one of the weakest athletic teams in the conference. Right up there with Richmond and Fordham. No way it should have come down as it did but outside of Swope, the whole team was off kilter in the first half. If Jimerson has his usual game, the big three ignite and we win going away. But Belk has been a house of horrors for us for sure. We outshot them from three --- 9 to 8. We had the better 3% at 33 to 28. Eleven total free throws in the game means you don't foul jump shooters and drives on both sides were weak. Durkin, best 3pt shooter in A10 went 2 for 8. Kochera kept them in the game. McCottrey did a very nice jog on Bailey. The sloppy turnovers are maddening. We took the lead at 34 to 33 and then gave ip a layup, followed by an Avila missed three (1 of 5 on the night), gave up another three to Kochera when Robbie didn't close out, had another sloppy turnover by Avila (credited to Jimerson) and then the breakaway dunk by the only guy on the Davidson team who likely can dunk with Robbie lumbering down behind him. The climb was over and it was now 40 to 34. It was 51 to 38 with 6:31 to go. Outside of Kochera, no one else scored for Davidson. Great team defense won that game plus Swop's amazing three and Avila's layup. I, like someone else said, knew we lose these games and the prayer against the open look Durkin got at the end was answered! The atmosphere was blah. The telecast was blah (yeah, why are you running replays during live action?). The announcers were blah. The crowd was blah. We were blah. Blah-blah-blah. Yadda-yadda-yadda. Take the win and run away.

Magassa was an NCAA Clearinghouse thing as I recall. Just like Ellis. I thought Vouyoukous missed the first 10 games or so of his first year.

@slu72: I recall some issues with Ian Vouyoukous and then something with Cody Ellis. I thought Ellis was a course work thing but do not recall what it was with Ian. Course work?!?! Isn't that a sham nowadays.

During Saturday's broadcast, it was noted that one of Rhodey's foreigners, either Fuchs or Dipoundje, played pro in France. Let me know when we get Elrond's question answered above.

Anthony Grant has a foreign 7-footer starting now in L'Etang. Plays exactly like Pikaar. Shoots threes better than twos, dunks, rebounds, plays rim protector. Our guys are almost sophomores now. Throw them in.

To give Anya credit, he is Rodman-like on rebounding. To his discredit, he is Rodman-like on offense. McCottey, Warlick and Pikaar all hit threes. They don't need any more than that but even that is gravy. McCottrey stood in for the lack of Swope today. Jimerson double double more than made up for Anya's lack of playing time rebounding. Took a 6 to 0 lead and never looked back. Freshmen are starting to become sophomores. Must win coming at Davidson who is 11 and 4 at home and have won three of their last five.

Loyola raced out to a double-digit lead midway through the second half and then tried to play keep away and run clock for the win. Dayton was able to cut it to two but Santos fouled out and no reliable scorer was left to carry the Flyers to a comeback victory. Malachi Smith tried to play hero ball down the stretch and almost pulled it off ---- driving for a foul (he moved his pivot foot four times by my count) and then launching a desperation three that the idiot from Loyola fouled him on. Luckily, Dez Watson made four free throws to close it out down the stretch. Withotu Santos, Dayton is extremely limited. No one can really shoot. Smith will drive, always to his right. Bennett is too small. Cheeks need to be moving and driving to score but Smith did not give anyone else the ball (hero). Grant played Simon and Alexander pressing down the stretch. Simon can't shoot and Alexander is in a huge slump. I guess Smith was the only option. Today is a must win for the Bills. Have to break the current trend. Elsewhere, the Joeys host Richmond. Should be a Joey blowout. Davidson is at Fordham. Go Rams. Mason is at VCU in the big one. If VCU wins, and finish first with the tiebreaker being the head-to-head with Mason, VCU would likely finish first. That is good for us in terms of tiebreaking as we split with VCU this year. Duquesne is at Bonaventure and a Bonnie win would better serve us. And finally Umass is at Geedubya where a Umass win, while highly unlikely, would better serve the Bills as well.

@billiken_roy: if memory serves, Parker cleared out as soon as Ford was canned. Ditto Cian Medley. And Brad Ezewiro. Ford was fired March 14 or so. Schertz was named April 8. Parker transferred on March 17, Medley on March 19. Ezewiro on April 9. Given the timelines, only Ezewiro waited for the new coach to be named. Parker and Medley were long gone, along with the coach. Which makes sense if you consider, as I do, that players sign with coaches. Parker saw Ford as his opportunity for Hero Ball. Medley likely saw what Ford did for Collins and said give me that role. Ezewiro likely saw his skill set not fitting with Schertz' offense. Parker's skill set was immersed in his need to have the ball. I'm not sure he would have fit into Schertz' offense so he bolted. I doubt any amount of money would have worked for him but that's speculation. Medley would have been nice tokeep given the lack of a true point guard at this point. Parker has played in all 24 games for McNeese State, averaging 20 mpg with 12 ppg and 0.5 apg. He also gets 2.5 rpg. Medley has played in all 24 games for Kent State. He's getting 26 mpg and averaging 7.2 ppg with 4.2 apg. Ezewiro has also played in all 24 games for UAB, getting 17 mpg with 7.2 ppg and 4.8 rpg. Hard to extrapolate what all three would have done in Schertz' offense without hard evidence.

We currently have 12 guys 'under contract" for next season. No one incoming replaces the firepower from Swope and Jimerson. Oh joy.

Is it fatigue? We were tied at the 3:19 mark and then Edwards hits a three. Robbie misses the front end. Edwards another three. Swope has a careless turnover. Housinou throws down a dunk. At 2:13 we are now down 8 and that's the ball game. McCottry gets a dumb flagrant 1 and never sees the light of day again. Pikarr, Warlick and Anay are not offensive options. Against Mason, every player was gassed in the OT. No lead is safe, no deficit too great. Saw the cgeldemacher boys in the crowd.

Mason is a flawed team in a flawed league. They have posted their 10 and 1 record against teams that are a collective 44 - 53 in league play. Their lone loss was on the road to Rhode Island but they did go into Dayton and win there. They have yet to play us, the Joeys and VCU. They appear to be Darius Maddox on the exterior with Jalen Haynes on the blocks. The rest are as unspectacular as the overall A10. They do play a very tough, in-your-face defense and Tony Skinn can go nine deep. Their double opponents are Rhode Island, Geedubya, Richmond and Davidson. Slanted? You bet. Their only other true opponents have been Marquette and Duke where they lost each game by about 20. They do have the Billiken kryptonite in their DNA ..... rebounding and tough defense. Once again, another middling team that has a stable of athletes when compared to us. We will need the good Jimerson in this one. Hope he's a go.

Good stuff WV. Thanks.

@slu72 and @willie: Mason hasn’t done crap since they entered the league. When was their Final Four? 2004? They were CAS then if I recall. Geedubya could be an anchor too. What’s Rhodey done? The Joeys are irrelevant since Jameel Nelson. The point is the A10 is weak and the bottom will always drop it down. DePaul has been the same crappy team only in the Big East. Butler’s miracle days are long gone. Remember when Butler was the only team we beat? Much like Tulane in the old Metro. It’s OLD hat to talk about the greatness of the A10. So yes, Willie has nailed me. Mason is at the top of a bad league right now and do-do happens. Didn’t Richmond win this crap shoot last year. I think they locked up last place today. The one quaint thing with the A10 is someone (Mason/Richmond) will surprise every year. Except us.

Nio, not interesting. Even if DePaul and Butler were net gains, you still have the anchors of La Salle, Fordham, Duquesne, Bonaventure, Davidson and Mason around your neck.

Rock/hard place. When you are a poor rebounding team to begin with, going to a zone makes offensive rebounding more doable for the opposition. We don't have the athletes to compete with some of these teams. We can win based on execution and skill, both of which were lacking last night. Anya had a great start then faded. Not surprising since his range is French-like. McCottry got out-quicked so many times on defense. Both Swope and Avila are finding life tougher in the A10. Jimerson's injury lessened our ball skills advantage, if we had one. The only real athleticism on the roster is Thames butthen his skills are suspect overall. Kobe Johnson is a godsend. Johnson played against men in the Big 12 and it shows. Everyone else appears to be the little-engine-that-could. Mason is going to come out and out-physical us at every position. The lack of physicality took us out of that game as we could not cover Reynolds, Brown and Flemming. They totaled 56 of the Joeys' 76 points. I actually was fearful we'd go 0 and 4 over this stretch and the steal at Umass temporarily upset that thought. The best news was that Dayton lost last night as well. Joe Lunardi is a Joes grad. Perry Clark was awful. As noted previously, the Joeys are a different team at home. I did win my bet however. That ans=d Dayton's loss made last night more palpable. What's the news on Jimerson?

Last night, Lunardi predicted 14 SEC teams to the Dance right now.

Brockhoff played in 19 games at UCSB last year, averaging 7.7 mpg and 2.6 ppg. He took 38 total shots with 29 of them being threes. He made 11 for the 38%.

Of course you'd be co-champions for the season based on record. I was talking tiebreakers on conference tournament seedings.

I gave up trying to predict this conference's final standings years ago. It's a futile effort. Upset will occur. As kshoie said, the cannibalism will continue. If it is still true, tiebreaks in the conference are decided by head-to-head. If we finish tied with VCU there is no head-to-head advantage. We split. So then you compare what the teams did against the final ranking teams. So if Mason were #1 and we beat Mason and VCU beats Mason, it's a push. On to the next team. Say that's Dayton. We are down a game there having lost to Dayton already. If VCU were to sweep Dayton, advantage VCU. If they split and we should somehow win at Dayton, we've got another push. Right now, the fifth place team is Loyola, who we haven't played yet. VCU crushed Loyola. Once again, the A10 is who it always is. I'm willing to bet that the only thing definite is we have to wait until March 7 to get a final lineup for DC. About the only thing I am certain of is Davidson, Fordham and Richmond will all be in the PIGs.

The Joeys are Jekll-and-Hyde .... much better at home than on the road. They get way down in road games with wayward shooting only to roar back and then fall short. This happened at Dayton and at Loyola. They've also lost to us and Duquesne on the road. In their two games vs. Loyola, they went from a 36-point win at home to a 3-poiunt loss on the road. I feel in games I've watched, they shoot much better from distance at home but who doesn't? If I were Billy Lange, I'd put Rasheer Flemming on Robbie and let Ajogbor prowl the lane and just block shots down low. Robbie has had a bad go lately and I think the Hawks will try and continue to overwhelm him with superior athleticism. St. Joes traditionally sucks in St. Louis anyway and always.

@kwyjibo: why weren't you up dancing like those two kids in front of you??

Lots of interesting stuff. First, we stole one! No one ever accused Curry and Diggins of being smart players. And they had the ball control during the Umass collapse. The rebounding, or lack thereof, is just maddening. There were at least three or four instances in the second half where Umass just dominated us like babies in diapers. My god we were terrible. Anya can only do so much and at least Johnson and McCottry got involved. Even Brockoff presented better challenges than Avila. If last week was Warlick's coming out party, this week could be McCottreys. I sure hope so. Besides the rebounding woes, the turnovers are just plain stupid. As one board guy likes to say, I think our basketball IQ is missing some DNA strands. Just dumb things .... 20 foot bounce passes, McCottrey's fly pattern to Anya, not one but two back court violations. I don't mind errors of commission but the stupidity is just somewhat unreal. Did I say at least we stole one! Folks need to get off Jimerson. He carried us until Swope woke up. His defense is better. He battles like hell on rebounds. He has resorted to the drive because he is being held on the perimeter and being denied easy looks. But 18 and 5 with one turnover? Jimerson is first-team all A10. In the last three games, Avila has found out that there are a whole slew of jumping jack athletes in the A10. Well over what he saw in the Mo Valley. Guys like Fermin, Clark, Santos, Rivera, Muhammed and Hankins-Sanford can all muscle him on the low blocks and recover quick enough to deny him an open three look. And since he really can't cover such players defensively, maybe he should just let them shoot. It sure beats the ticky-tack fouls he is akin to pick up as shown these last three games. In the second half, we had four total fouls called at one point and three were on Avila. I'd say the word is out around the A10 on just how to negate Robbie --- attack him and foul him out. His defense is a liability right now. And don't be fooled, the addition of Kobe Johnson is huge right now. Yeah, he had the dumb foul on the three late but he had Diggins most of the night. Diggins was the leading scorer in the A10 coming in, He had 5 on the night. In case you missed it, Dayton ekked out a 68 to 63 win over Davidson at home. They shot six-of-26 from three. Amazing what a difference one night makes.

I am surprised we are favored (-1.5) tonight. I think this is a 'must win' game given the upcoming schedule. A win tonight will keep us tracking for that top four finish. A loss will not only be a setback there, but it will drop us down closer to the morass that is the middle of the league.

According to stats, the 2023-24 school year saw Saint Louis University list it's undergrad population at just over 8500 students. A quick count of housing options listed at SLU shows available housing spaces for 4100 undergrads (not counting two halls reserved for post graduate students). The options are a far cry from my years there when your only options were the Griesedieck Complex and Marguerite Halls. Those are still there but now you have Fusz, Reinhart, Spring, Grand, Marchetti Towers, Grand Forest, DeMattias and the Village Apartments. We did have the Fireline with free transport to games both for basketball and hockey.