slufanskip

Is anyone going to the TCU game .. I can't promise anything ... but if you will let me know soon ... I can probably get you tickets.

Bills played very well today .... they started slowly but truly dominated play after about the 1st 15 mins. Just some random thoughts... The more I watch Cooper Mckee ... the more I like him ... 1 speed all the time ... go,go,go. Will John sas stated over and over must get stronger ... we are a better team without him on the field. I would play Hopson or Peplinski in his place. Vedad ... still needs to learn to play with others and hustle more ... but we are a better team with him on the field as he draws considerable attention ... opening up thge field. Nick Gannon ... is the glue in the defense ... can he be beat one on one and is he ever out of place. Kevin Wickert ... much more accurate on his long passes today. Quite a few good runs also. Andy P. Dangerous when he makes a run up the sideline ... Brian G. I love his composure on the ball ... he has good vision also ... the ball needs to come through him more often. John D. ... He could knock a fly out of the air from 25 yds. Every corner and free kick he takes is dangerous. He should shoot more on direct free kicks from within 25t yards ... we need to run decoys while he puts the ball in the far corner. His corner on Wickert's goal was on the money. If you have not seen this kid play ... get there ... if we get a home tourney game. One things I have noticed when we have the ball on the wing 15 yards or so off the end line with an open path to the goal ... we always cross even if there is no one to cross to. We need to carry the ball to the near post and then cross the ball back to cutters about 8-10 yaards off th line. I have noticed this since the 1st game and we still do it. We need to make them stop us. Martin was never really challanged today. We need the UAB game badly. GO BILLS

I asked Brad at a Billiken Club meeting if he would sit the players that are ineligible during the exhibitions to play the players that will play the first games more ... he said no ... the players want to play ... that is what they came here for ... so he will play them all

Don't forget OU in the Big 12

Actually ... just 1 home opener

Of course ... I have no way of knowing for sure ... who will do or score what. The piont was to try and guess ... for fun. I do have basketball knowledge and have played. I don't equate points with success. I didn't say Josh was going to be worse. In my opinion Josh along with Sloan will be the team leader ... He will run the floor and keep playing great defense (usually against the opponents best player). When I originally tried to estimate who would score what ... I had Josh at 10 points ... but when I added up the totals ... they didn't add up. I knew we were not going to avg 80 pts. as a team ... so I reconsidered. IMO Josh does not look to score ... if we are getting points from elsewhere ... Josh will do whatever it takes to win, which does not neccesarily mean score. Now if the other guys are not scoring ... I think Josh can score more ... maybe 11 -13 pts a game if he had to ... it was just my guess that the others will score and he wont have to. You came on making a statement that only a few people who post ... have basketball knowledge ... well that is ridiculous. Wouldn't it depend what you were doing as to how much knowledge you need, and how intricate that knowledge should be? There are a lot of people on this board who have been following basketball for many years. For what we do on this board which is discuss Billiken BBall and banter about our opinions ... however good or bad ... there is more than enough knowledge. In fact your insinuation that my or anyone else claiming that if Josh scored fewer points ... meant he was having a worse year makes me wonder about your knowledge. With all that said ... welcome to the board ... the more posters with varied opinions the better the board. Go ahead and venture a guess on the players stats ... and the record of the team. It is all just for fun ... I don't think that the players are going to be held accountable to our wild guesses anyway.

My thoughts on Fish are 7 pts, 4 ass, 3 reb. To state that there are only a few people who post on the board that have any basketball knowledge is ridiculous... maybe we just disagree with you ... or maybe we are just wrong since I'm sure you are right. Why don't you list the ppg for everybody on the team ... so we will know in advance. Please post more often we can all use your tremendous insight.

If AD can play on at least the same level as you talk meaningless drabble ... that you obviously think is smack ... he might avg 35 ppg.

If anyone is going to the TCU game let me know ... my younger brother is a managing partner of the Outback Steakhouse next to TCU and they are a big sponser. I know he gets 4 tickets ... I don't know where ... but they are suppossed to be good ... I'm sure he can get me some more also.

Welcome to the board ... I think it is fantastic that so many family members read and contribute to the board. We all wish Reggie the best and are looking forward to rooting for him. As I'm sure you have read we are really looking to Reggie to lead this team.

I doubt that is AD. ... but they are not just drinking kool-aid ... someone spiked it. Hopefully AD uses better grammer as a sophmore in college.

Are Baller and Billikenburg the same guy?

Actually ... I think we do have that midfielder ... Grazier ... He could easily be an attacking midfielder ... and may play there later in his career. This year I think Coach D knew our defense was our strong point ... but none of those guys are very offensive. Grazier serves as the transition from defense to midfield. Brian is an accurate passer who is strong and composed on the ball. He seems to see the field well also. But you are right ... we have no one in that role this year. I also think if Will would make his passes more crisp. He could be this guy. Kind of like Claudio Reyna ... rarely mixing it up ... but great vision in the open field ... play always runs through him when he is on the field. Skills can be learned. Vision and creativity are usually not. Will needs a lot of work ... but I could see him developing into this kind of a role.

Lobo ... I don't really think it is an ego problem, or too much talent for the players to mix well. I think we have had numerous defensive injuries ... Gannon, Wickart, and Hutton all missing at least a couple games and probably playing at less than 100% in others. I haven't seen them in quite a few games ... but it appears Hutton hasn't made the big save he did earlier in the year. (1 goal makes a huge difference in soccer) Our Forwards are both freshman ... early in the year teams did not have a good read on them ... Coaches are smart and have figured out their strengths and weakness'es and have put together a plan to stop them ... or slow them down. Our strength is in the midfield with John D. anchoring a very good unit. We do not transition well from midfield to the frontline ... to much reliance on the long ball ... this is due to the inexperience of the front line and inability to hold the ball. Our early season success ... persuaded us and the National press to over rank them. The fact is with a team starting 6-8 freshmen each game ... we should not have gotten so caught up. We are probably now playing closer to our true caliber. Memphis was dissapointing, but on the road at Cinci and Indiana are very tough games. We were competitive in both and could have won either. Next CUSA is a better conference than in the past ... there are a lot of good teams ... Cinci, UAB, Marquette, Louisville, and S. Florida are all quality teams. The best is still on the way with this team.

Thanks for the report. Except for the 1st couple of weeks ... that is what I have been saying about Vedad and Will. When Vedad gets pissed off ...he hustles more, but then becomes more selfish, like he will show them. I think Will has usually hustled ...and in the open field he is tremendous, just that it tight spaces, he is so easily knocked off the ball and his passes are soft. Tseugnekillib, Memphis is a vastly inferior team to us talent wise ...and we are at home. My point was that lately there have been a few games that were too close ... and the story was "we outplayed them and dominated the game just didn't get the breaks or were unable to finish." Sorry ... but yes I mas a fan expect more.

I agree with that sentiment 120%. but we do not know or do I think that's the case with JJ. I know you are not saying it is either ... just making a point

Good point Roy ... Maybe we will see a different Ross under Brad. Maybe Romar saddled him with such praise that when he didn't live up to it ... he lost confidence in himself. With that said JJ is part of our future ... Ross our past. I am hoping JJ is good enough to keep Ross on the bench. I know Ross is a good young man ... and different to a lot of guys I think when we have a solid 12 deep roster, there is always room for someone like Ross as long as he works hard on the court. He is a guy who will always represent your program well. He just needs to be the 11th -12th guy not the 7-9th guy.

Roy ... I'm not really on Ross's case ... I'm just basing my opinions on what I have seen from him in the past. That is simply enough ... I think he plays without passion and intensity. When I said I would be in the minority ... I meant it in regards to his intensity. I guess when Romar was first talking about Ross ... he made it sound like we had this physical, hard working, blue collar player... kind of like what I hear Matt Shaw is ... I just don't see it. The reason I would like him to play few minutes ... is I would like for JJ to be that much better than him.

Torch ... thats 81 pts a game ... that is what I did at first. Then had to reconsider. Amazing ... I could have gorgotten about Ross. I know I may be of the minority here ... but I hope he gets very few minutes ... to me his play is lackluster. He could use CS intensity.

I saw most of the early games ... but due to family commitments have missed the last few. An overtime win against Memphis at home is dissapointing. If these guys don't pick it up they will be out quick in the post season. The defense has not been as solid this year as expected, partially due to injuries ... and partially due to poor play. To give up a goal 2 minutes after they take a 1-0 lead is unnacceptable. The offense has been stopped once opponnents got too watch them a little and put together a game plan. Yes they are freshmen ... but they get no extra points for that ... it is time for them to make adjustments and improve. The transition from midfield to the frontline was not good early in the season ... and based upon the results lately ... I'm assuming hasn't improved. It is easy to stop a team that relies too heavily on the long ball. I keep hearing they are dominating games ... but not the score. If they are too be a team whose strength is their defense then they must quit giving up goals. Martin was coming up with the superb saves early in the year. Is he still? If he is ... and we are still allowing goals than that tells me that we are not dominating games and just not finishing ... we must be giving up too many chances. These last two games are huge ... even the nonconference against Bradley ... if we want a home field advantage in the tourney. Can anyone who was at the game give us a detailed breakdown of their play? Courtside ... were you there?

So ... he can't flat out play anymore?

Just for conversation ... I'd like to hear everyones predictions for players and there stats I'll start TF ... 9 pts, 7 reb. CS ... 10 pts, 5 reb. IO ... 12 pts, 4 reb. RB ... 14 pts, 2 reb, 2 asst. JF ... 7 pts, 3 reb, 4 asst. AD ... 8 pts, 3 reb, 4 asst. IV ... 5 pts, 3 reb. DC ... 4 pts, 2 reb, 2 asst. JJ ... 3 pts, 2 reb. Tot ... 72 pts, 31 reb, 12 asst. That is not easy to do ... when I first put down the starters I had about 60 pts. for them alone ... had to rethink that.

Me too.

The reason I thought 10 was ... I think he will get good minutes almost starter minutes and will play the 2 when Reggie is out. I'm sure DC will get some minutes also. I agree 10 will be very good ... I was going to say 8-10 but wanted to be specific so I put the high. 8 wouldn't surprise me but I think 6 is low.

Those numbers Baller put AD at least 2nd team CUSA. I'd say he will be the first gaurd off the bench and will play some at the 1 and the 2. probably 20-25 min per game. His numbers 10pts, 3as, 3 reb, 1.5 3's, 40% from the field, 35% from the 3, 68% from the line. 1.5 stl's. I would be happy with the above and think it is obtainable.