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bart

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Posts posted by bart

  1. It's interesting to wonder what high school kids like Cassity look for when they select a school. For instance, Michigan is a great academic school in Ann Arbor a great college town. On the other hand, basketball is absolutely an afterthought at Michigan. It's not just football. There is more interest in UM hockey (Red Berensen has been the head coach for years and they are typically nationally ranked).Tickets are typically readily available to home basketball games with a couple exceptoins like MSU and OSU. UM had a lousy record this year, were woeful in their 34 Point(?) "effort" in their final game of the year and really lost to some bad teams this year like Harvard.

    Does a kid think. wow I've got a chance to play for a Big 10 team pretty quickly given their talent level. or does he think, I would like to get on a team that has better talent so I have a chance to be on a winning program.

  2. Any speculation on a starting lineup for UDM for the coming year? Do you have anyone to replace Ryvan Coville in the middle and is Coville playing in Europe? I look forward to seeing Brandon Cotton play. I remember he was a Parade All Amercian coming out of high school. Too bad he had the terrible accident. His match up with Lisch or Lidell - all lefties -should be a great show. Good luck wit h the coming season - except for the the SLU game.

  3. The Horizon is an interesting league. The number of transfers in this league that "come home" to Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, etc. to play after originally signing with higher rated programs is significant. This trend has obviously helped a number of programs in the league. Detroit, for instance, graduated their starting center Ryvan Coville (6'9" averaged 14 ppg and 10 rebounds last year) who was a transfer from Michigan. Brandon Cotton, who I believe led the Horizon in scoring last year, was a Parade All American gaurd who played for Izzo at Michigan State before coming home to Detroit and will be a senior this season. Brandon Bell who was an all state Michigan pg (either Charlie Bell's brother or cousin??) and went to Marquette where he had some injury problems. He came home to Detroit and was expected to be the starting pont guard for Detroit this year. He recently tore his achillies which may unfortunately end his career.

  4. What do you think Majerus will think when he finds out SLU recruits need to pass 15 hours of Philosophy and/or Theology. Hardly what 18 year old kids are wanting to hear. SLU is not an easy place to successfully recruit for a number of reasons. Lack of easy majors are only one of many.

  5. If someone tried to figure out the absolutely worst time to fire a coach I believe this would be the time. Some times I wonder who is making the decisions in the athletic department.

    Can our two recruits ask to bolt at this time? Put yourself in the place of these two recruits - I wonder how much they and their paremts trust SLU at this time. Are we destined to be a mediocre team in a lousy conference forever?

  6. I am as big a bills fan as anyone. However, let inject a small dose of realism into this discussion. 95% of high school basketball players would rather play in the Big 10 than the A-10 if offered scholarships and at least that % would choose Iowa over SLU. Like it or not, SLU is not going to be a first choice for many top recruits unless there is a unique attraction - i.e. Larry Hughes and his brothers heart problem and SLU's medical center, Lisch wanting to stay close to home to play in front of his family, etc. These linkages are not nearly common enough for us to build a top program.

    In the larger world of colloege basket ball SLU is pretty much an afterthought. I'm in Vegas this week at the sports book and I have not heard one person say, "... can you believe it, SLU didn't make the tourney!" or "SLU hasn't make the tourney for the last xx years!" We are what we are - whoever coaches SLU will have very real recruiting challenges. I wish Brad well with his efforts. We better get used to waiting on the Petersen's of the world. Unfortunately, Iowa doesn't need to wait on SLU but we need to wait on the Iowa's of the world. Maybe some day this will change but it is what it is for now.

  7. My son and I were switching between the MU - Texas game and the WVU - ND game.We happened to switch over to MU during the time out when they were down by 10 with less than 2 to play. MU lets Texas milk the clock for 30 seconds then lets Texas get a good shot. My son and I both syell at the same time - "what the hell was the time out about -Quin just quit coaching!" Funny thing, the announcers were incredulous as well. I knew then that poor bastard was a beaten man on the way out the door. It's like a death watch.

    Quiz - how many football games or basketball games have the Mountaineers lost in conference play in the last 11 months? ZERO. Winning on the road isn't as difficult for some teams as for others.

  8. After watching the Marquette and WVU game where Marquette shot 57% for the game and got blown out by WVU who hit 20 of 38 treys, I was reminded how poorly we shoot the ball - as a team. This has become something of a chronic problem. It is apparent we have coaches who can coach the heck out of defense but we have an uncreative offense that is a best hit and miss(compared to WVU alot of teams look uncreative). We continually struggle to score points, at times it is almost painful to watch. I knew that early hype about running up and down the court and scoring a lot of points wouldn't last.

    I wonder when Brad or someone says, "we've got to get some help in here" and we go out and find an assistant coach who is offensively minded and has something of a track record. Somebody out there must be able to correct our shooting problems better than anyone on our coaching staff.In addition, the casual fan doesn't come back often to watch teams who consistently score in the 50 and 60's and shoot in the 30% range.

    I agree with Nark that Brad's pulling players abruptly seems to have contributed to a confidence problem on offense for several players. In contrast, WVU Coach Beiline said after their game, "I tell my guys when they feel it, let it fly." And man do they with confidence.

  9. Several thoughts:

    If we have 4 scholarships to give, I am bothered that Brad early on indicates that we are only going to fill two slots.When transfers are looking around,what do they check out in a program? Might Brad's statement deter a possible transfer from considering us? I hope we aren't simply pinching pennies. We obviously don't have enough pennies to go around or we would have an arena under construction.

    Being a power forward is as much an attitude as a matter of height and weight. Some close to the program wonder if Obi isn't a small forward - mentally - in a power forwards body. Rodman wasn't the biggest dude in the NBA nor a tradional power forward in some ways, but his record of 34 rebounds in a game still stands. He was a rebounding machine.

    One thing is for sure, given that:

    1) A real power forward could come in and start immediately,

    2) the good young guards we have on the roster suggest that the program has real promise for the future,and

    3) Brad and his staff have known about this need for a PF for a real long time -

    if we don't get somebody this time around when will we be able to sign a bonafide pf? What would if take to get a real PF to commit to SLU so we could stop asking the Sloan's and JJ's of the world to match up with real DI PF's? I don't have an answer to that question and obviously the coaching staff doesn't either or we would have a couple true DI PF's on the roster.

  10. Given our woeful shooting, several of us posted that we hoped one of our "shooters" would take about 500 jump shots a day in the off season in hope that some improvement would result. That may not be enough in this day and age. I'm hanging in the Miami area on vacation and have caught several of the Orange Bowl roundball tourney games on TV. Louisville has been down here playing. Taquanh Dean was interviewed. He spent the summer at the Jersey shore - running several miles in the morning in the sand wearing a 30 pound vest. He then went to the gym for weight training and later to the court for 1,000 shots while wearing extra weight (after running and lifting).

    A couple days later I read an interview with Pitino in the SUN SENTINEL and he was asked about Dean - "he worked his tail off in the offseason ahd came back with 15 more pounds of solid muscle, EIGHT more inches to his vertical leap, and a determination to prove he is more than just a jump shooter."

    Having had Billiken season tickets for over 25 years, our weight program speaks for itself. It has been woeful. I don't remember anyone picking up 8" in thier vertical in 4 years much less one year. Now I fear that our hope that someone will take 500 shots in the offrseason is only half a workout for the workout warriors in big time DI programs. My fear is that our level of expectations in the program general will not lead to a consistent top 50 program which is what we supposedly aspire to.

  11. Realistically, slu has really struggled maintaining any consisitency in the program - a good year or years is followed by a run of poor years. As the number of years without an NCAA appearance continues, I am bothered by several things that seem to indicate we are still some distance from having the type of program that can sustain any real level of consistency. In no order I wonder about:

    1) When was the last time we filled ALL our available scholarships? Is our pool of real DI recruits so shallow that we leave them unfilled because of the lack of quality or are we "penny pinching at times?" To hear Brad say he would check with the players to see if they could find someone on campus that could help out by being available to practice is troubling.

    2) "Sealing the deal" in recruiting is always tough. Announcing an arena years out when no one is able to say for months and months with total honesty when the arena will be open is a sign of real organizational (read athletic department)"challenges."

    3) Even during Charlies "glory years" I will never forget an interview he did after Jeff Harris had a great game. The announcer said, "Charlie what would things be like if Jeff (who was our 6'4" power forward and a really good one) was 6'8"? Charlie immediately said , "if Jeff was 6'8" he would have never ended up at SLU he'd have ended up with Noloan Richardson." By the way, Charlie parked for free over a hunmphrey's because he ran into bureaucratic b.s. when he put in for free parking on campus.

    4) We have needed a true DI power forward for sooooo long, I hope our coaching staff remembers what one looks and plays like.

    The list of such issues over the years goes on and on - no one of them is in of itself a backbreaker for a program. Collectively, they have helped make the program what it is - an "up and down" program that has not been able to become a "top 50 program' as Father Larry indicated he wants.

  12. I have been away from St. L. since Bryce's redshirt year. I watched him regularly in pick up games at the rec center and at West Pine. Having been away from St. L. since then, when I got to see him at the Oakland where he played a good bit with Ian in foul trouble, believe me he has improved noticeably. He was doing some things he was incapable of doing a year or two ago. At Oakland he blocked a shot, pulled down the rebound and turned and made a good outlet pass. He scored on a put back over a 6'9" kid as well. He is playing with more confidence. His minutes overall were quality minutes.

    Bryce is not Ian, but he did not hurt us. At this stage in his career this is what we are asking him to do and what he is capable of doing. In a year or two he will be better (and bigger). How much better? Time will tell. He is a quality kid who is motivated so that is in his favor. nAlso, know that he had mono his second year and that set him back.

  13. A small but very vocal Billiken contingent in Rochester, MI. tonight. A great win but the level of officiating in college basketball is hitting a pathetic low.There were three or four calls that were so unbelivably bad the Oakland fans around us were laughing out loud. It really detracts from the game.

    Thoughts on tonights - the bench contributed quality minutes - Vashun, Danny Brown, Bryce all played for long stretches and played well. Be patient, and don't give up on Bryce he is improving and remember big men - he is now 7'2" no matter what they list him as - take a while to develop. AD hit some big shots, JJ had a good first half and a poor second half. Lisch was so-so but the kid works so hard you gotta love him even when he doesn't have one of his best games. TL took over down the stretch with some big rebounds and free throws. Missing 9 free throws (several the front end of 1 and 1's ) in the last six minutes wasn't pretty. Ian took what they gave him and he sees the court so well. He was playing against a guy who had to weigh 325 or more and had surprisingly good hands.

    Brad has plenty of work to do with this team. Some of our guards don't understand proper spacing on the floor. On several occassions our guards ran their defenders into Ian as he received the ball so he was triple teamed rather than double teamed.He only put up three shots I think. I can sure see why Brad wants a good three point shooter. This team has some potential and is improving, but would be so, so much better with a real power forward. Here's hoping the officiating at ole' Miss is better than in Oakland (it could not be any worse)and we can win another on the road.

  14. I'll be at the Oakland game tonight. In some respects this game may be as meaningful as the NC game. Can the Bills sustain the effort they exhibited at Chapel Hill or do their road woes continue? Oakland beat Bowling Green by 10 or so in their last contest so this one will be a good challenge. At some point the Bills must break through on the road and beat a UWM or Oakland on the road.

  15. Any number of teams have had dehydration problems when playing in Hawaii.MSU had four players who had SERIOUS dehydration problems. Two of them left the arena on stretchers. The MSU trainer said they were the worst cases he had ever seen. The Free Press and the Times both reported MSU took extra precautions to ensure they were properly hydrated. Given that precaution, the next guess was that going from an already snowy and cold Michigan to the sun, heat and humidity in Hawaii is just too much an adjustment to make in a short period of time. Remember, Hawaii got beat by UNLV on the mainland. Hopefully, the Bills will avoid the problem.

  16. The Pistons have been pretty successful with "tough" forwards. Although Prince doesn't fall into that category, he is a unique talent in his own right. Joe Dumars has done a nice job as President building that franchise. I think the Palace at Auburn Hills has been sold out for going on 90 games. It is definitely a very hot ticket - with or without the Red Wings.

  17. Soccer is a perennial top 10 team with Donigan and Sorber at the reigns. I believe they will continue to improve and inch their way up the ladder even further.The overwhelming odds are that if slu is going to win a national championship in the next 5 years, it will be soccer. What ever sport - mens or womens - has ever been ranked in the top 10? A bigger recruiting budget and a professional outdoor team in town that they could scrimmage against as ucla does with the galaxy would help.

  18. Thicks:

    I'll be around until the end of the month. Then I'll be moving to Michigan. I'll try to find out the schedule before I split and post it.

    I'm a bills fan to the core but will start to root for another Jesuit school, the Detroit Mercy Titans. They have a transfer from Michigan elgible right away next year and a Michigan State transfer elgible mid year. UDM is the host institution for the 2009 final four in bb.

    Trivia - why does Michigan State no longer play UDM? Because they lost to them three times. Seems as if Tom Izo and Quin Snyder are on the same page regarding scheduling in-state Jesuit schools.

  19. I watched most of the pick up games that Josh Fisher organized over at the Simon Rec Center last summer. Most everybody on the roster who was in town showed up fairly regularly. A few alumni such as Justin Tatum and even Larry Hughes on one occassion played. Bryce got pushed around alot by Tom and Justin - no surprise as he was just out of high school. However, for a 7'1" 18 year old he could run the floor well and he can catch a basketball.

    I know many of you will say - so what, big deal. How many 7'+ players coming out of high school in the US in any year have those skills? Damn few. I believe you have to classify a kid like Bryce as having real upside potential. He needs to get stronger and have an attitude adjustment in terms of playing with greater intensity. It will take a while no doubt but you have to take a chance on a kid like this. There just aren't that many true centers with these skills and his size around.

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