Billikan
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Posts posted by Billikan
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Can we expect to see Brad and the staff at Saavis? I hope the team does not travel until Friday--probably not because it is exams week.
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I see that CBS Sportsline has Georgia Tech ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation on its RPI list. Based upon their wins--dominant against the No. 1 and No. 25 teams--I agree with that ranking and I wonder how they could be as low as 10th in the polls. Let's hope our Bills can execute the game plan and play with cool heads on the road. If not, I see a blowout! this could be our toughest game of the year!
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The two beefs--Kleiza and Bryant hit those shots! Are they really two of the better 3 point shooters?
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Did you watch this game? Making the strategy in the first half even worse in the modern era is that those gunned up shots were not even three point shots. Most coaches emphasize that you should take 3s or get the ball inside. MU took many intermediate shots while ignoring the inside guys. The reason they got so many rebounds is because they were massively bigger than anyone Indiana had on the court. With Leach out with an injurt MU had no one that could even contest a shot. The bottom line is that MU won because they had some great athletes and some widebody inside players who made some great plays down the stretch and their 2 big men made miracle three pointers. This win had nothing to do with any coaching adjustments. I apologize to the rest of the Bills followers for using MU as an example on this board. Next time I will use someone else so we can eliminate MU debates.
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If you look at our roster for the next two years, and factor in our recruits, we should be fine at guard at wing and at center if Ian and Bryce can develop. I really expect Ian to be a factor next year and Bryce the year after if he can hit the weights. Practicing against Ian and Tom will make him better and tougher.
After watching a bunch of games over the weekend I came the conclusion that for our remaining scholarship we should find the biggest, toughest, meanest 6'8" enforcer 4 man that we can find. If you look at our roster it is the only thing missing. Unfortunately, there are not too many of those players out there--and even fewer that are ready to step right in against top competition. Let's hope that our coaches can find a diamond in the rough that the big boys don' appreciate!
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Our recruits next year will include a point guard from Vashon--Polk ( who incidentially was 7 for 8 from three point range in a game against a chicago team this weekend)- and Liddell, who everyone says can play some point and is a great ballhandler and distrubitor. The next year, if we can convince the young Mr. Lisch to join ur Billikens, we should be in great shape. I heard an interesting comment by an announcer over the weekend--he said that any good D1 team needs at least 2 excellent point guards and possibly 3. the gist of his comments were that you can play two point guards at the same time and you need quality backup ballhandlers for late in the game when foul trouble or fatigue may affect those who have played big minutes.
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On Sat. I attended the Bills game and then watched the MU/Indiana game on television. What struck me after watching the two games is that coaching truly makes a difference in college bb.
For example, Brad made a brilliant strategic move from the beginning of the game--he had all 4 smaller players sprint to the other end as soon as we put up a shot. It left only our 5 man to offensive rebound but it completely shut down the Arizona fast break and made them play against our half court defense which is one of the best in the country. He also broke the mold, particularly in the first half, and he let the open man shoot the ball regardless of the time left on the shot clock. Reggie obviously has a green light and he hit some nice shots. Our defensive strategy and effort was truly magnificent. Reggie still need to get up on shooters--rogers hit several wide open threes when Reggie was guarding him and they switched Drejaj to guard him and He never got another open look. But overall it was a thing of beauty.
I will also give credit to Lute O.--he saw that his team was affected by our defense and their inability to get anything in transition so he went to a frantic run and jump defense that double or triple teamed the ball with tall athletic defenders. We did a nice job limiting the turnovers but we gave up a couple of layups off steals--the Varner giveaway was a killer-- and they seemed to get more energy from the whole situation.
Also, Lute and his staff do a great job working the refs. The biggest ref was basically greeting Lute and his players like long lost friends. At time outs he would go over and talk to the Arizona players like they were friends at a reuinion. That ref made numerous 50/50 calls and several that we not even that close aginst us and he clearly hates sloan who he glared at on several occasions. I sincerely doubt that coach Brad could have done anything to change that situation. I assume that Arizona had the right to select the refs under the contract. It does stink that we seem never to get any calls in our big games at home.
Then I watched the worst coaching exhibition I think I have ever seen in the MU/Indiana game. Missouri was unstoppable inside early but they threw up shot after shot from outside. They ignored their advantage and played into the hands of Indiana. Bracy Wright killed them with shot after shot from outside and the Hoosiers built a nice cushion.
That continued until late in the second half when MU finally located some big guys--and they hit 2 miracle three point shots. But Indiana's game plan down the stretch was an absolute joke. Somehow, Bracy Wright did not even touch the ball in the last five minutes. the other players on Indiana were basically ignoring him and throwing up prayers from deep like an AAU all star game where they wanted to get their points regardless of the effect on the team. On the whole, it was a terrrible game, with terrible coaching that was won by a few nice plays by great athletes at the end.
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This is very interesting and expected. This confirms what we have said all along re Billiken Basketball and the requirement that the players be real students. Congrats to our Billikens!
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I agree that Floyd was probably only using the comparison and suggesting that the MU recruiting gets a great deal more scrutiny than the Billikens. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt in light of his nice comments earlier about Polk coming to SLU and Coach Brad.
At the present time there is significant "smoke" surrounding the MU program so many see "fire". Unfortunately, anyone involved in the recruiting at MU, and the coaches who were involved on behalf of the kids, will be under the microscope for a while.
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I assume this was a joke! The last thing we need is cancers like Troy Slaten and his father. His father is one of the biggest jerks that I have ever met. In the past he has been violent and abusive. It is a wonder that Troy could have as much success as he has had. I wish him luck but not in a Bills uniform.
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The imbecile MUFan2000 or whatever he is now takes the cake as the dumber little brother of the idiot TOO! I will never again read any of his idiotic an immature drivel and I would propose that no noe else read or reply to his junk. As with all idiots, he will eventually lose interest and go bother someone else!
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Arizona is coming off a loss to Fla. and plays #9 Texas and Marquette in the next few days after the Bills game. They could easily be overconfident and looking past our Billikens. This will be their first game without Fox who was a dominant force on the boards. If we play good defense, rebound ferociously on the defensive end--they have leapers that jump over people for offensive rebounds--and hit a decent % from 3 point land and the free throw line then we have a chance. I would never pick a win if I was thinking about it in a cold calculating manner but my heart tells me we can win this game. Remember the games against Cinn., Louisville, Kansas and others over the past few years. Go Bills!
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This board is very tolerant of opposing views in terms of allowing them to be posted--the posters may be attacked but that is part of the game.
However, truly abusive and inappropriate material should be eliminated and I would suggest that Thicks and Steve use their good judgement to eliminate any post that is offensive.
There is no constitutional right to post offensive messages on a private website. Ignore the idiot!! Thanks for all you do to keep this board alive and well!
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I have not seen cincy so it is hard to compare but I have seen Ga. Tech on three occasions and I think they are one of the best "small" teams I have ever seen. They are extremely athletic, extremely active and they play very well together. Their fast break is a thing of beauty. I give tremendous credit to their coach because he lost two of the best players in the nation--one to the NBA (Bosh) and one transfer and they are playing much better than last year.
One interesting sidelight will be the additin of Bynum, the transfer from Arizona. Dickey V is touting this as a great addition but I am not so sure. Jack is playing th point a lot and he is a wonderful player who looks for his teammates and plays very tough defense. I watched Bynum a lot at Arizona and I found him to be a ball hog who wanted to "get his shots". Team chemistry is so important that I think adding a player like Bynum to the mix might reduce their overall effectiveness. Only time will tell.
The bottome line is that playing GT on their floor at this early time in the season when they are playing well will be an incredible challange. They pounded UConn, texas Tech and Ohio State. If we can just stay in the game and not get blown out I will be very happy.
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Do you know anything about David Lee or his decision? I know him well. He comes from a very wealthy family and like most wealthy kids he was intent on going to college away from home. He was wowed by Billy Donovan and the beautiful blondes at Florida. For a long time after he gotr there he really did not like Donovan but he has a knockout blonde girl friend. We must recognize that some kids will never stay home no matter what we do. I am delighted that we got Liddell, Polk and Meyer. It seems like Coach Brad is intent on getting excellent local kids and fill in with others as needed--the only approach that is reasonable in my opinion.
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If you are not asking for an appraisal of the coach after 4 games this year then I misread your post. Obviously, I think everyone believes he did a great job last year under difficult circumstances. So if your question relates to last year then he was great. If it relates to this year, which I think is the more reasonable reading of your post, then I say it is way to early to judge anything.
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You come in and give your highly critical comments and argue about the quality of our recruits and then if someone says we could have won the game if we had just shot the ball better-- your response is a derisive diatribe that misquotes what was said. If you don't like the Bills, that's ok, but ignorant scarcasm does not advance the discussion.
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I do not understand how you can say with such certainty that our schedule this year is weaker than last year. West Virginia is much improved, Georgia Tech is much much improved, Dayton is playing great, K State is improved, Cinn is improved, Memphis is as good or better, Louisville is probably better, we play SMS on the road, TCU is much improved, Marquette looks to have filled in well for its losses and Diener is much improved, Charlotte is much improved, DePaul looks better--Arizona is loaded but has a short bench--but so do our Bills! The only team that I see on the schedule that would at first glance look like they are not as good would be Butler and we know they will give us all we can handle.
In fact, because of the improvement in the play of our opponents, I believe that this year's schedule is much tougher. We have 3 easy games plus EK, a tough win. The rest of the schedule is up in the air.
Your post is interesting in that it reflects our modern desire to judge a coach on a few games.
The truth is that IO is not the player we thought he would be. On the defensive end we miss KB much more than we thought we would at the beginning of the year. TF has not demonstrated the stamina to be a major contributor. Our "scoring guard" has played one game in almost 2 years. Yet you want to now rate the coach as mediocre or great after 4 games in his second season after a first season when he accomplished some remarkable things. Let's judge him when next year's recruits are sophmores or juniors, not when he has a patchwork lineup of players with limitations.
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You may be right but as I analyze the schedule it looks like we have 10-12 really difficult games against high quality opponents--many on the road. We will not win any of those games if we do not play better than we did last night. Don't get me wrong, however, I am a diehard fan who will be there for the Bills under all circumstances. I am just concerned that we all may have been too optimistic about how fast and well the new players would work into the lineup. I pray that I am wrong and we win 20+ games!!!!
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The answer to this question IMO is as follows:
1. If we can't make shots we cannot beat a good team, particularly on the road--probably no great relevation--predictible before we played any games.
2.If our opponent has a tall shot blocker--like the exhibition team and like WVU--then our inside game suffers greatly because Sloan, Frericks, et al seem to "take it to them" in the belief that thay can score anyway. The result is blocked or altered shots and missed opportunities.
3. Our new players do not understand the concept of the defense. Reggie seems to be willing but he is not in the face of his player on the outside--last night his man had several wide open long shots that killed us. JJ does not understand that he has to adjust his approach to defense depending on who he is guarding. If he is guarding Pittsnoogle then he needs to be on him like glue at the 3 point line and yet he can't rush at a person who can penetrate who will then drive around him for a layup. Tom F. often seemed out of position and he forgot that Pittsnoogle was a 3 point shooter. They will all learn and seem willing to hustle but it is apparant that our defense is not as good as it needs to be.
4. The margin for error is very narrow--they hit some wild shots and we messed up several opportunities on the break where Reggie and anthony just threw the ball away. I give credit to the coach at WVU--putting Pittsnoogle in the post against Varner and having him shoot jump hooks was a complete change from their normal game plan. Nevertheless, if we just make the easy shots and make our free throws we win this game. That being said, we will see much tougher opponents in the near future and the effort and execution that would have won the game last night will not be enough in the future.
5. I truly hope that Ian is a player because it was obvious last night that we are short at least one competent inside player who can defend and rebound. the problem will be that it might take Ian 10 games to get comfortable and then the season will be almost over.
6. Reggie B. has the potential to be a beautiful offensive player but he seems to be floating around a lot on offense. I think he will be a big scorer for us as the year goes on.
7. Tom Frericks' health is a major concern. If he can't play big minutes, particularly before Ian arrives, we will not be big enough or tough enough on the inside to challange anyone.
8. Sloan, Josh, and Anthony played very hard every minute but at times chris and Anthony did not play smart. We need those 3 players to step up every night--a burden on them, but a reality.
9. The optimistic predictions re the season record are in serious jeopardy.
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I would guess that many of the picks were with the heart and not the head. If I had been betting on the game I would have predicted the Bills lose by 7 so I was not surprised although I was disappointed.. I wonder what our record is on the road early in the season over the last 10-15 years. It seems like we just have a terrible time getting started.
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We just happened to play three games against teams that were ranked low right out of the gate so it is not surprising that the SOS is so weak. I, for one, believe that it was important to set the schedule in that way so we could get Reggie eligible after we had won 3 games--the 3 games of his suspension.
From this point forward the schedule is brutal:
WVA--on the road against a team that we killed last year--they lost no important contributors and have several new players--My heart required that I pick our Bills to win in the contest but my brain tells me that we could very well lose this game.
Arizona--rated in the top 10 with several incredible athletes--we should have the same revenge motivation but the fact is that we do not have the quality of personnel to match up with UA. We will have to playe tough defense, slow down the pace of the game, limit turnovers and hit shots--a tall order.
Georgia Tech--probably one of the top 5 teams in the country. I watched them blow out UConn and kill texas Tech and I can say they are the closest thing to an NBA team that I have seen in college basketball. Their ability to run on misses, makes, steals, etc was truly amazing. We play them on their court--a brutal challange.
Grambling-- a must win against a lesser team
At SMS--never an easy place for our Bills to get a victory and this year will be no different
Butler--they killed us last year and they were highly regarded before this season. Not an easy win by any means.
Dayton on the road--winners of the Maui Classic and they are a tough and experienced team. Brian Gregory walked into a beautiful situation--not a likely win for our Bills.
K State at home-- a tough game against a Big 12 opponent that has improved over last year and we lost to them last year at their place.
TCU on the road--they looked very good against Kansas last night, particularly in the first half when they we down by one point.--they are athletic and tough--no easy victory
then we get into the heart of the conf USA schedule--Marquette (twice)--they have looked very good on tv--Diener is a stud point guard, Charlottee (twice) much improved winner at the Carrier dome against Syracuse with a handful of lights out shooters and a superfrosh center, games against Cinn., Memphis, Lousiville, UAB on the road, etc.
As I look at this schedule I still marvel about the optimistic predictions for the Billikens by our intrepid posters on this board. If we are going to have a really good year we need to win the 50-50 games and I view tonight's game as just that. Go Bills!
Shootout
in Billikens.com Main Board
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I was sitting with the relatives of an asst coach at Hazelwood Central and because they learned that I am on a school board they wanted to know the rule about Kalen's ability to transfer if MU went on probation and I informed them of the new rule that was established in the Baylor situation. They seemed relieved.