Quality Is Job 1

Dave, what we're supposed to avoid is publishing detailed, proprietary information that could give opponents an advantage or erase a Billiken advantage. We can post general observations, but we should not give details on and reasons for which players aren't participating in drills or scrimmages, and we should not publish the stats from scrimmages. I've violated both of those tenets in the past (before I knew better); consequently, it may be a long time before Brad trusts me. I agree that it would be helpful if Brad or someone in his department would establish the ground rules, but perhaps it's a sore topic for Brad. Some people just dislike the Internet, period; when Brad sees me, all he sees is "Internet."

brehms13, please check you private messages. Perhaps some of us may have exaggerated what Coach Soderberg meant, but I think I've figured out exactly what he meant and why. Brad doesn't want the statistical results of an in-house scrimmage made public because it could provide future opponents with valuable information they would not be able to find anywhere else. No, the stats don't contain plays and schemes -- and those things don't typically change from year to year, anyway, so the opponents already know them or can get them from watching game tape -- but they do show who the offensive weapons are. By looking at the box scores, coaches can figure out where to focus their defenses. Now, obviously every school publishes the box scores of its games, but the difference between an in-house scrimmage and a game against an opponent is that the scrimmage magnifies everything by nearly doubling the minutes that the players play. Players who would come off the bench and be something of a secret weapon during the season have to start and play major minutes in a scrimmage. Brad doesn't want future opponents to be able to use that information to identify possible trends and focus their defense. But even if I'm off-base on Brad's reasoning, I'll just abide by his wishes.

Some of us sat together during practice, and some of us agreed that some of the details Unca mentioned in his post above should not be disclosed. Those things are not directly related to Brad's telling me he doesn't want me to post the stats from the scrimmage on the internet.

Perhaps you didn't get tseugnekillib's "memo."

...the backup point guard, then ink (not pencil) the Bills into the Sweet Sixteen. Unfortunately, Anthony Beane is out of eligibility.

>Where did anybody say that they were unimpressed with >Reggie's performance today? What am I missing? Obviously, no one said anything like that. I suspect Reggie talked to his sister and expressed some disappointment or ambivalence about his play, and big sister wanted to pump us for more info. Bryant did not pop off for 50, but he did fine, in my opinion. If, indeed, he felt disappointed in his own play, I'm encouraged by his high expectations.

While I agree with what you've said, I think the bottom line is that we're blessed to have Coach Soderberg here (and I expect him to have a fantastic tenure), so we'll have to just grin and bear with what we may feel is an idosyncracy. I do know that I don't want the public to be closed out of pratice, so if that means you have to be there to know what happened, so be it.

I've never made it a secret that I post. When I attend practices and pickup games and when I see the players other occasions, I talk to them; I've never tried to hide that I post. If I were trying to spy on the program, I would have never told Brad that I post. I'm just an enthusiastic fan who loves the Billikens. Marlo, I know you talk to Reggie and some of the other players. Have you talked to Reg since today's scrimmage? I'm curious why you want to know "who was unimpressed by Reggie's performance"? I can only guess that Reggie talked to you and wasn't particularly happy with his own performance. That happens, sometimes, but I don't think Reggie will be the only weapon this year (that's a general comment -- not something based on watching today), so he can get away with not having a stellar game every time out. Personally, I don't think Reggie had anything to be ashamed of today. As far as players' reading the board and taking these comments to heart, I would recommend against that, personally. This is a fan's forum. No sports program would exist (as we know them today) without the fans. When here, we let our hair down and act like fans. I spoke to Ian Vouyoukas after practice to give him feedback, and I was honest, but I'm sure it's still different for him to hear it from me than to read us tossing it around. Lastly, I guess I can see how the Internet poses a danger to the program, but the enthusiasm of the fans, particularly those who care enough to read or post here, can also help the program. Let me reiterate: I love the Billikens and want them to go far (I'm not the enemy).

I don't believe the Coach Soderberg reads the Internet, but he's wary of it and is concerned the rampant availability of information will hurt the program. For him, it's not about Billikens.com, it's about the Internet, period. I'm sure he couldn't identify be on this board, but he has talked with me in the past and he knows that I post on the Internet. I don't know if he's "upset" about things that have been posted in the past. I'm sure things get back to him. I kept stats from a scrimmage in practice this afternoon. Brad noticed that I was "writing a lot" and asked me if I were taking notes; I told him what I was doing. He doesn't want the stats on the Internet, because it may be providing a scouting report for other programs.

I had a good time. It was fun. Beyond that, I'm not at liberty to publish. Coach Soderberg told me that he will close practice if my observations get on the Internet.

He was wearing a shirt and tie and looked very professional. I didn't get to speak to him.

That's the late game; it might not start until 9:30 and probably won't end until near 11 p.m. I don't usually stay for more than a half of the last game of the evening. I might have to beg off the next day of work.

It has already been announced that Justin Johnson may not apply to be reinstated until after the Paradise Jam (late November), so until a week or more after that time (the end of November), it's premature to act as if there is an inordinate delay in his "rejoining the team."

>This is the 2nd time I've seen someone post that we're going >to "double our turnovers". I'm sorry, we're not going to go >from 13 turnovers a game to 26 turnovers a game. If you >meant that Polk will have twice as many turnovers as Fisher, >I still don't see that as a major issue. That means we go >from 13 turnovers as a team to 15 turnovers. I don't think it will even be that bad. While Dwayne Polk may commit a couple of more turnovers than Josh Fisher did, Vas'shun Newborne will probably commit fewer turnovers than Chris Sloan did (not that I'm saying he committed many), and Izik Ohanon, Tom Frericks, and Reggie Bryant will probably all cut down on their turnovers from last year, with more familiarity with the system and each other, so I don't think the team will commit many, if any, more turnovers this year than they did last year. I think they may also create a few more opponent turnovers than before.

Remember to factor Danny Brown and Darren Clarke into the equation. Should Jarod Leonard choose SLU, when he's a freshman, Clarke will be a senior, Brown and Luke Meyer will be juniors, and Tommie Liddell will be a sophomore

...by example on defense? Will he take pride in shutting down the opposing guard? Will he take it personally if the other team scores? That's the mindset we need Reg to have. Marque Perry became a strong defensive player as a senior, and we'll need Bryant to do it if the Billikens are going to go to the NCAA Tournament in Reggie's last year.

But the things that Dayton has in its favor are that it's a city without any professional sports teams to divert sports fans' discretionary income and businesses' advertising dollars and that that region of the country is crazy about basketball (Dayton is just on the border of Indiana).

>I agree with Thicks. There are times where IO can look >unstoppable then disappears als Matt Baniak. We need him to >bring it every night for us to win. Newborne sounds >promising. Was surprised at the scrimmage results. Question >for Thicks, can we be the defensive team we've been in the >past two years or are these extra points going to be needed? >Extra points are always nice, but stopping the other team is >better. Well, I think the Billikens CAN be as staunch defensively as they've been over the last few years -- Brad will settle for nothing less -- but the question is Will they? Perhaps Newborne will provide double-figure scoring. He outscored the blue squad all by himself yesterday. The blue squad comprised four veterans and Polk, the point guard of the future. Coach Soderberg won't be able to play Bryant, Clarke, and Polk together on the wing until they mesh more soundly on defense. Furthermore, Newborne, Frericks, and Drejaj need to be in there, as they are the better defenders. That may reduce the explosiveness of the offense somewhat. AFter what I saw yesterday, I project the opening day starters as Drejaj, Bryant, Newborne, Ohanon, and Frericks.

This will be Vas'shun's first go-round in a Billiken uniform, so we'll have to see if he'll really live up to expectations, but for the time being he hasn't had an opportunity to succeed OR fail as a Billiken. IO, on the other hand, has teased us twice before and come up short both times, thus he'll have to "show me." It's not to say that Izik won't have a solid, consistent year, but I hesitate to declare it prematurely after being twice burned. Izik should average 12 and 5.5 -- and is capable of more -- but for now that's in pencil, not ink. (I hope he makes me dine on crow.)

In my opinion, the jury is out on Izik until he competes against C-USA teams. For three years now observers (including Anthony Bonner) have raved about IO's skills when he's going up against his teammates and friends of the Billikens; let's see him do it against Cincinnati, Memphis, Louisville, Marquette, Gonzaga, etc.

Tom Frericks sat out all but one drill. Anthony Drejaj didn't participate in any drills except for one, when he was a passer. Danny Brown wasn't present; one of the coaches told me that he was getting an MRI on his knee, which he hurt in practice Friday. Most of my individual observations will merely echo what others have reported. Dwayne Polk is lightning quick and is the first true point guard SLU has had in a long time. Vas'shun Newborne is for real; he'll play -- a lot -- and be a key contributor for the Bills. Ian Vouyoukas is definitely skilled on offense around the basket, but his footspeed leaves much to be desired. The athleticism and talent of the team is definitely higher, and the team should be able to score more points this season. That brings me to the team observations. They're still a work in progress. They do pretty well in the drills, but they seem to have trouble translating that into five-on-five action, especially defensively. There was a brief scrimmage; Coach Soderberg was displeased with the results. The white squad (Coach Beane, Ian Mooney, Bryce Husak, Luke Meyer, Newborne, walk-on Peyton Jacks, and a manager named Brian) beat the blue squad (Polk, Vouyoukas, Izik Ohanon, Darren Clarke, and Reggie Bryant) by the score of 16-9. Newborne scored 10 of the 16 points. The white squad got any shot it wanted. Brad lambasted the defense after practice. I'm sure it didn't help that Frericks, Drejaj, and Brown were out. Frericks told me that he hopes to be back in action Wednesday.

That's not what happened. If he had "stopped me in my tracks," I wouldn't have finished the question. Second, he didn't even address that issue first. You heard what you wanted to hear, but the way you describe it isn't accurate. Just because Dwayne Polk hasn't been handed the starting position after six practices (as of the meeting) doesn't mean he can't earn it by the beginning of the season. I doubt that anyone has been handed a starting position (or any playing time) just yet.

At the Tip-Off Club meeting in September, Jim told us that another First Look is in plans for this year. Information should be forthcoming.

Coach Beane said that it will be hard to keep Vas'shun Newborne off of the floor. He's a very good rebounder, and even though he's not as big as Chris Sloan, he's very skilled -- better at shooting and putting the ball on the floor. Since Izik Ohanon will be a power forward full time, Newborne will likely log most of his time at the three and back up Izik at the four. Coach Beane said that Newborne is very tough.