shempie

Does SLU have interest? I can't remeber if we were in at all since he committed to Purdue early. Word on the Purdue message boards is poor work ethic.

Apparently DC's girlfriend has transferred from SLU. Don't be surprised if Darren follows. From what I have heard he is nice but flaky kid and isn't that concerned about his lack of PT.

I would like to see 3 starters average in double figures, Reggie, IO, and Tom. That would give us a perimeter player (Reg), a player who can score inside and out (IO) and a low post presence (Tom). That would be a team hard to defend/double team. I would much prefer Tom to be our second leading scorer on the theory it would force him to be double teamed and make it more difficult to cheat out on Reg. I am confident RB will be our leading scorer and if Tom is healthy and can play 30 to 35 minutes a game I expect him to average double figures. I hope IO can play his part.

who played for Brad in college, was recently hired as an assistant at Illinois State. Might hurt our connection there.

out of shape and with a bad attitude and the coaches don't want that to influence the new players.

A couple of interesting notes about our recruiting efforts in FL. The two players we are reportedly currently recruiting were high school team mates in Natchez, MS. Might be a package deal. More interesting is that the HC at Chipola played for Brad when he was head coach at Loras. It might be case of Brad knowing how they are coached at the juco level and feeling they have a 'head start' in knowing his style/system.

to reasone with a child. Try to stay with me. JMAC told Quin he would play for him if he could play point since he has NBA aspirations and that is his only shot. Why do you think they haven't recruited another PG? He obviously can't play point and he hasn't shot well. You can keep him. I'll take my chances on finding a better player who doesn't have to unlearn the bad habits from poor/no coaching. BTW, 39% from the field, 29% from 3, 9.2 ppg in 30 minutes. He sure isn't a shooting guard either. Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for the kid. He made a bad decision out of high school, it's just not SLU's job to try and fix it.

Beat a very average UNLV team at home and suddenly you are peaking at the right time. Have some more of the Kool Aid. The MU AD, Assistant AD (think radio broadcaster) and HC are currently trying to come up with an appropriate self imposed penalty to appease the NCAA. As for JMAC who needs a guard who can't shoot (less than 30% from 3) or handle the ball (check out the TO/assist ratio)? Have fun rooting for your underachieving, overrated, poorly coached team the next couple of years since the university can't afford to buy out your son, Mrs. Snyder.

Is Polk ready to play 25 to 30 minutes/game at PG? If not, then Houston, we have a problem. What's a more attractive combo, JJ at PF and Drejag, Polk and a juco PG or Polk and Drejag at PG and JJ and a juco PF? That is the spot the coach is in.

and I don't have answers but I will say this. If we finish in the the Top 4 in the conference it will likely mean a 10-6 (or better) conference record and we are playing well at the end of the season and will have beaten some good teams. I will take my chance with that resume. I have said it before,looking around the league, after Louisville and Cincy, why can't we finish 3rd? It won't be easy and we could finish anywhere from 3 to 8, but if we stay healthy, we will win some games.

5'11" 175 lb. PG from Wisconsin Lutheran HS in Milwaukee. Currently lists St. Louis, Akron, and Iowa per Hoopmasters.

Per Hoopmasters. A 5'9" 150(!)lb.PG from Chester SC. Averaging 27.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 7.0 assists. "His recruitment is beginning to heat up. Coming into the season Downey was being recruited by Clemson, College of Charleston, South Carolina, South Carolina State, and Winthrop. However, he's starting to hear from the likes of Cincinnati, Maryland, and St. Louis to name a few."

random musings... 1. I thought yesterday was a very workmanlike victory and probably the best all around game of the season. Good D, few turnovers, balanced scoring. I particulalry liked that we scored 70 points. If we can start to average that amount we will be tough to beat and it will help on the recruiting trails where we are taking some hits on our low scoring style. I don't care as long as we win, but imagine BS with a little more talent, scary! 2. It looks like third place in our league is up for grabs. I hate to say it but Cincy and the 'Ville look a step ahead of the rest. Why not us? We are executing our coaches game plan as well as anyone could hope for and if we continue to get consistent execution from our 5 spot (y'day TF and IV combined for 16 pts and 8 rbs.) we will be difficult to beat. We must win next Sat. and steal one in that tough 3 game road trip. I think we will get Memphis personally. 3. This team needs and deserves a week off from games right now. Good timing. 4. I like AD as a spot player but Iam a little concerned at starting next season with him at point. I think he is better as an energy guy off the bench. Net season is when we will miss Brandon Morris as a bridge between Fish and Polk. 5. Brad is awesome. The perfect guy for this program. Props to Doug Woolard for getting him. Now fix the marketing problems.

from last year (McAllum) is now at South Florida

http://www.hoopville.com/conferences/21.asp?EntryID=6347 This is from www. hoopville.com and is the latest on C-USA. The writer is from Cincy but gives us nice props. This is a pretty good website to read for general college hoops stuff if you haven't seen it yet.

A win at Marquette Saturday night will be hard, but they are very inconsistent right now and have had a couple of close calls at home. But after that the next 3 (S. Miss, S. Fla., ECU) at home should be wins. A 4-1 conference start would help confidence and will likely draw some national attention. This team should hold court at home and we have a conference road win. Good things are brewing.

I saw a little of the Kansas/TCU game on ESPN (an easy KU win) earlier this season. It looks like TCU plays a little helter/skelter, full court pressure D. With only a 3 guard rotation, fatigue could be a factor. On the flip side it is what we will see from UAB, Cincy, and L'ville so we need to get used to it.

of which 12 were three-pointers. They repeatedly drove to the free throw line (dribble penetration) and shot 10 foot jumpers with no help D. That is why they shot over 50% for the game.

If we had played our normal defensive game and kept them at 40% or so from the field we win by 8 to 10. They were able to dribble penetrate pretty easily. My guess is that Brad won't allow that to happen again. who cares, i am thrilled with the win and don't care about the final margin or how we got it.

I'm sure it is hard on DC and JJ not to get time,particularly for JJ against the team that dumped him for another date. However, on the official site, the picture accompanying the game recap shows an obviously elated JJ hugging Fish. So much for those worried about him sulking.

(nm)

Calculus is no fun...no fun at all

Matt Shaw visits this weekend.

http://espn.go.com/ncb/columns/katz_andy/1573781.html Brad sounds frustrated and like all of us wants this solved quickly.

I invite Lousville to join immediately. That adds the 12th team (assuming VT and Miami join) and from a travel perspective it is not too inconvenient. It certainly doesn't hurt the conference in basketball and football is at worst equal to some of the current ACC bottom dwellers (Duke for example). That should be more attractive to Louisville than playing in weak sister football conference like the Big East and adds stbaility longer term. Bottom line, C-USA as it currently exists lives on borrowed time.