Billikan
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Posts posted by Billikan
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!!
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We sure are seeing a lot of weird new posters who are very negative. Is the Too man multiplying in his registrations.
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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!
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On th radio with Frank he said 12--was he lying?
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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!
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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.
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You have obviously never played or coached basketball. Your description of what the coach said is exactly the opposite of what I have believed in for years. I'll take hard working overachievers any day over lazy wasted talent. The ultimate goal is to get great players and get them to play hard and "overachieve" but I will always take a hard working overachiever because those great players are few and far between.
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On Frank's show this morning he interviewed Travis Ford, the coach from Eastern Ky. With regard to the game Ford indicated that they won 12 games last year and he has a number of new players who he hopes will help this team win more games this year. He said he had great respect for Coach Soderberg and his coaching style that emphasizes discipline and toughness. He said he has looked at tape and he has warned his team that they will wake up sore with a lot of bruises on Sat. morning after the game. He also suggested that they, like so many other teams today, do not shoot the ball as well as he would like, but that he had 4 excellent shooters. Let's hope we can clamp down on them and come out with a solid victory.
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The key is whether we win the games, not who plays. Varner has strengths and weaknesses the same as every player on the roster. why are you so caught up in the idea that Varner can't play? Have you seen him play this year? He is markedly better and much stronger. He plays hardnosed ball like sloan, Frericks, Drejaj and Fischer. He will probably sit a lot once Ian gets eligilbe. But if he proves with his play that he deserves to play then let's have him on the floor.
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Ridiculous is now an understatement.
You say that "if Varner is seeing a lot of time come mid season then the year's been a disappointment"
What a joke! If the team is winning at mid season and it continues to win then the year is a great success regardless of who is playing. The idea is to win games--it is not to win games with certain people playing the big minutes. Have you been to a game? Have you been to parctice? If you have then you must realize that coach Brad looks to Varner for a contribution on both ends of the court. I would suspect that the coach has a better feel for the game and his team than the "coaches" on this board.
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What in the world brings all of this negative and nasty commentary about Varner. I have been to practice and the two exhibition games and I have seen a player that the coaches believe will be an important part of our team. As Jason G. said at the Billiken Club meeting last night--Varner is very important to what we want to do--he is by far our best screener in the offense--he playes great positional defense (he is not great when he has to clase someone all over the floor but he is a very good low post defender because he is strong and holds his position).
In addition, particularly when he plays the 5, his outside shooting ability brings the opposing center away from the basket and as of now he is our best outside shooter in game situations. His rotation is excellent and the fundamentals of his shot allow for soft bounces--a sign of a good shooter.
As coach said after the last game the players must earn their minutes by playing hard in practice. Varner has earned every minute that he will play. IO has had ankle problems and was out of sync in the last game. I think he will continue to develop but his confidence level is down and his defense is still less than stellar.
Remember that the coach is playing with a very short bench--one missing scholarship--one redshirt and two suspended players. that leaves very few options for the first three games. We will have to grind out wins with defense and hustle until we get Bryant back. IO and Clarke will need to play important minutes off the bench. The coaching staff are not idiots as a person would conclude they must be if you read these posts--they know and recognize the strengths and weaknesses of this team.
Once we get Clarke and Ian back in the rotation things will be much different. From what was said last night Ian is a very willing worker and he is improving day by day. My guess is that by mid Feb. he will be a key guy in the rotation and Varner's time will be much more limited. But for now lets support the team AND Varner while we attempt to win games with limited personnel.
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Don't be fooled by the report that sloan cannot guard a 3-- He forced price to take very tough shots on the move and he had 3 or 4 prayers answered. chris can still guard the 3 position. But the problem is that he really tries to play great help defense and sometimes that will leave his man open for a long shot outside. If the guy hits shots then he will score. If the only problem we have is whether Chris can guard the 3 position then we have no problems.
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I have read that they revamped the entire team and that Travis ford brought in a big group of new players with the intention that the team will be more competitive. Without a doubt, this is a must win!
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This is his first season playing NCAA basketball. We have seen from the past that merely sitting out a year does not mean that the player has one year of experience. To the contrary, over the years it has taken every player many games of actual competition to adapt and get up to speed after sitting out.
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I got a postcard within the last week confirming that the meeting is tonight.
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JJ is a first year player who has been inconsistant in practice. If he continues to develop I am sure he will get more minutes.
Do you think this will be a problem?
in Billikens.com Main Board
Posted
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.