Billikan

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!!!

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.

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.

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!

What 'facts" are you relying on in your comments on Ian? Have you ever even seen him play? Have you talked to the coaches who see him every day in practice? Your comparisons are ridiculous and you have nothing to back them up other than your own unsupported conclusions. For you the glass will always be half full.

Nate, a regular contributor to our board, wrote two nice articles in the Post today about Polk and Tommie L. It was nice to see two of the top players int eh area identified as Billiken recruits.

You are always negative so I seldom repy to your posts but two things you said are so totally without merit so I must reply. First, you said that sloan is not a natural scorer--what to you is a natural scorer? I saw him play in high school several times and he was a wonderful scorer. I saw him badly outplay David Lee in a game at Chaminade where he scored over 30 points. He scores because he has a nose for the ball and he has lost the jitters he had the first 2 years. He worked hard to make himself a good three point shooter and he now understands that he must pump fake the big guys on an interior play. He is a very nice offensive player at this point in his career. Give the guy a break. As for Ian, how can you come to conclusions when you have never seen the guy play and he has never even played one game for the Bills. He is a very nice and talented freshman who has tremendous upside potential. the coaches say he has improved since he arrived. Get off his case! If you are going to attack the individual players on this board then have real analysis and facts to back it up and then let's realize that these are just young men trying to cope with life, school and a very demanding basketball regimen. They are trying hard and your long range pot shots are ridiculous.

I have known Ron J. for years--he is a nice man but he is often clueless about many subjects. If you listen regularly you will hear him make many mistakes on various teams. I wonder if he ever reads anything or does any homework at all. If he just read the limited articles in the post he would know more about the Bills than he does now. It is a shame but I do not think we will ever change him. I have often thought that he has survived because he is a nice guy and he will work for a very reasonable salary.

I do not think that this team is nearly as good as Eastern Ky. However, it sounds like they are extremely physical so if the refs swallow the whistles then we could see somewhat of a competitive game. Playing at Marquette they were whistled for 50!! fouls and Marquette shot 40 free throws, a school record by 10. Their coach was quoted as saying that they do not do well if the game is called by refs who call a lot of fouls. The main thing is the win--the margin is not that important--but I would like us to get and maintain a comfortable margin so I do not have a heart attack down the stretch like I almost had last night!

How about GW upsetting UNCC in charlotte? You must be a good luck charm! I saw that the super frosh that almost went to the NBA--Iti--had 4 fouls, no points and played 5 minutes. it shows that everyone goes thru an adjustment phase in moving to D1 ball. Congrats--at least the win is by a future A 10 foe. Such a loss will not help our RPI!

55 year as a fan and you say this was a "terrible game"--what a joke! I have been going to Bills games since the late 50s (I have missed very few home games since the mid 60"s) and I can tell you that over the years I have seen a lot of great games and a lot of "terrible" games. This was not a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination. It was a first game for a team with a very limited bench. Fisher, Sloan and Drejaj played their butts off while being very tired from the long minutes. The opposing team had a freshman who nobody ever heard off get incredibly hot from about 22-23 feet. I sit about 20 feet from where he made all five of his shots and they were classic, long and pure after he came off screens. I would bet big money that he could not repeat the shots but on this night he was "feeling it". Look at Michigan State and UConn and other top teams. They struggled against lesser teams--Yale!!!, etc. The botom line is that all teams need time to develop a sense of themselves and our short bench makes that very difficult because eveyone is so tired. Our team showed guts down the stretch and they pulled out a hard fought victory. Give us all a break! I was told by someone earlier that you are no the idiot Too but you sure sound like him.

This is one of my pet peeves about modern college basketball players--they do not think about the "situation", particularly on offensive rebounds. The play by Frericks was absolutely terrible. with less than a minute on the clock and a 3 point lead an offnesive rebound is like a gift. We can throw the ball out and take the clock down under 30 seconds. We likely are fouled and a win is all but in the bag. I love Tom's energy and effort--although he is still having a hard time running up and down the court for long periods--but his decision on this play was terrible. It gave a team with great 3 point shooters a chance to tie the game or ever get a 2 and then foul and make us hit the one and one. Also, during the game at other times often the best way to get a wide open shot is to have the offensive rebounder pass out to a wide open shooter. So many players today decide that if they get the ball on the offensive rebound that it is their right to take any shot they want. Justin Tatum we a major offender a few years ago. On the other hand, chris Sloan almost always gets the offensive rebound and passes it out for a shot or to reset the offense. Obviously, if the guy is wide open and has a layup or a dunk they have to take it but in today's ball the rebounds are often long off three point shots so the rebounder is 4-5 feet from the basket--like tom was last night. I would bet that he will learn from that mistake because coach Brad almost had a heart attack on the bench when he saw the play. Fortunately for Tom, Chris Sloan made one of the best crunch time steals I have ever seen on a double team. He came up behind and completlely surprised their point guard. He just willed the team to victory. What a great performance.

In his interview with Frank C. the other day he emphasized the same thing saying he told his players they would be bruised and battered on Sat. after the game. My guess is that this is a coach's way to get his team ready. But our starting five tonight will be extremely tough and physical. Let's hope we can hit the broad side of a barn with our shots.

You are right!!! Travis Ford on the Frank C. show said he won 12 games last year--interesting that the coach does no know how many games his team won!!

We sure are seeing a lot of weird new posters who are very negative. Is the Too man multiplying in his registrations.

Yes, this is the same fellow. He only stayed at Mizzou for one year and then he transferred to Kentucky where he was an excellent shooter and played the point!

On th radio with Frank he said 12--was he lying?

Phillips is unbelievably annoying! He never does his homework and makes constant mistakes. let's get Owens and teach him to talk a little faster so we can hear more of our fantastic band!

You guys have completely missed the point. Everyone has a right to an opinion and everyone sure gives their two cents on this board which is a great thing. However, when it comes to the individual players I think we should at least not criticize them until the games start. the whole theme that I was criticizing is the one that says it will be awful if Varner is playing regardless of whether we are winning or not. If he plays and fails then he deserves to be criticized. But until then let's all support him and the team.