SLUMS81
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Posts posted by SLUMS81
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We in the stands are always trying to figure out the lyrics to your rendition of "hey baby". Is there any way you could hold up a sign during the song so that we could all sing along?
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I am sure that Brad understands what it takes to be a top 25 basketball team. Can he create a perennial top 25 team at SLU? It is going to be difficult for any coach to do that without an on-campus arena, new state-of-the-art facilities, and passionate support from the student body and local community.
We are working on new facilities. The relative lack of student body support, with the exception of the faithful Blue Crew, has been noted several times on this board.
That having been said, it is amazing that Brad was perceived as a great coach last year, and yet this year his ability to coach is in question. When shots go in, it proves that Brad is a good recruiter. When the shooting percentage is under 40%, people conclude that Brad can't judge talent.
Lorenzo Romar never got us to the promised land in Saint Louis, but he is well on his way in Washington. I do not believe that the coach is the limiting factor here at SLU.
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Has Romar accidentally managed to get himself a top 15 team with great recruits coming in next year as well? Maybe the problem is trying to recruit really good players to SLU.
I think both Brad and Lorenzo can recognize talent. The problem is, so can every other coach.
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Houston outhustled, outrebounded and out played SLU tonite. It must be hard for the players to maintain their focus and intensity.
At times the coaching staff just sat there and silently watched the team struggle. Very difficult to watch!
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In any close loss you can point to a couple of plays and blame the individuals involved. Let's look at the rest of the game. SLU
shot poorly from the free throw line, and shot terribly from the floor the entire game.
At early season practices which I attended, the coaching staff encouraged the players to shoot if they felt like they had an open look and a makeable shot. I guess some players would respond positively to that, while others might hesitate to shoot for fear that their judgement would be questioned. It is up to the coach to read his players and try to optimize their performance.
What do you do when your team can't make a basket? The coach can design plays/strategies to create opportunities, but cannot make the shots fall. SLU has had its share of excellent looks at the basket all year. How can the players question the coaching staff when they cannot score points against anybody?
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The problem with that is that SLU had just rebounded a missed shot, and Marquette was not set up in a press formation. He also mentioned that he did not have a clear memory of the situation.
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A few of Brad's comments tonite on KMOX:
1. Team is frustrated, but will not give up.
2. Brad was very pleased with the defensive effort against Marquette. He credited the other team's shooters for making contested shots down the stretch.
3. With regard to the press, Brad said that they practice against the press every day. He said it takes more stategy and team execution to break a zone press than a man-to-man. He did not have a great answer to the question of why he did not cross mid-court before calling time out at the end of the game.
4. He took DB out of the game because of his turnover against the press. He put AD in because of his greater experience. AD then promptly made a similar turnover. Brad was not happy with his substitution in retrospect.
5. Pleased with IV's progress.
6. Wishes RB could get more open looks. Opposing teams are really clamping-down on Reggie.
7. Keeps at least 2 players back after a missed shot, sometimes 3, to avoid easy transition baskets. He said that Marquette is quite adept at transition baskets and did not get any yesterday.
8. They are looking for a "zone-busting" shooter as well as a power forward. He re-iterated that they would prefer four-year players if at all possible. He noted that he was successful with four-year players at Wisconsin.
He is trying to sound as positive as possible in the face of an unhappy season.
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Are we talking recruiting or in-game coaching? We all agree that recruiting needs to steadily improve. Is Tom Crean a great coach because Novak can hit long contested off-balance 3-pointers late in the game? Was Brad a bad coach today because half of his players could not make a basket?
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When the players on the court make the plays that they are supposed to make, then you can lay the blame on the coaching staff.
IO missed multiple short shots today. AD,VN and DP were non-entities on offense and looked bad against the press.
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We had a total of 6 points from DP,AD,LM and VN today. You can't blame the coaching staff when half the players on the floor at any given time pose no scoring threat whatsoever to the opposing team.
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IV played his rear-end off today. He worked constantly to get himself open in the paint on offense. He should touch the ball almost every possession. IO had several opportunities to get the ball to IV and didn't. IV also played hard on defense. Overall a great effort.
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I wish IO would look to IV more inside. IV was working his butt off trying to establish position, and several times IO would not get him the ball in the paint. This becomes even more important when the guards are not getting looks outside, or not sinking the open looks they do get.
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You would think that a lot of rural kids would love to come and spend four years in a major metropolitan area. Does the city of Saint Louis get a bad rap in rural areas? The politicians and civic leaders in rural Missouri may tend to view St. Louis as a big bad place which sucks-up tax dollars. I wonder whether this trickles down to the local educators and coaches who are advising these high school students.
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We had decent looks all night. It seems like the offensive movement is there, but when the shots don't fall the games are hard to watch.
IO played a great game. DB continues to improve. VN is a non-factor. IV had a few moments but was not great under the boards in the second half.
ECU turned things up a notch in the second half and shot well when it mattered. SLU doesn't seem to have another notch to turn up to. We were out-rebounded tonite and that is the most disappointing aspect of tonite's game.
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Roy, I mentioned Kent Williams as an example of an excellent local player who has had at least a taste of the next level.
I don't recall how many schollies Spoon had to work with after the 1998-99 season, and therefore I don't know whether it came down to Williams vs. Perry or Jeffers. I do know that in recent years SIU has generally had its way with SLU, with a significant number of local area players who SLU deemed unworthy of recruiting (with the exception of Matt Shaw).
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If we are including players from Southern Illinois, how about Kent Williams who played for SIU? As I recall, he really wanted to play for SLU but Spoon never wanted him.
He is playing for Fayetteville in the NBA development league.
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I think part of the problem with our bigs scoring inside is that we have had no significant outside scoring all year. Opposing defenses can collapse on us in the middle just like we tried to do against Cincy.
In the Southern Miss game, we had an outside scoring presence and that freed-up Ian to score and rebound.
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SIU Carbondale recently kicked our butts with players (other than Matt Shaw) who SLU did not consider worthy of recruiting.
Other ranked teams don't necessarily have the tallest players, but what they do have is players who play with intensity and who have the skills to make baskets when they have to. Ranked teams also have multiple players on the floor at any given time who can score - something we had at the peak of Spoonball but not any time since.
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At the SLU-Charlotte game last weekend there were about 2,000 UNCC students at the game. They were loud and enthusiastic and created a good atmosphere.
The rest of the crowd were sober grownups who cheered occasionally, when circumstances warranted. They were very similar to the Savvis crowds that we are now accustomed to.
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I spent last weekend in Charlotte. There were articles in the Charlotte Observer about the SLU game on Friday and Saturday, as well as the post-game writeup on Sunday.
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I understand that TL is playing on a virtual prep school all-star team. I would think that it is easier to distribute the ball to a bunch of superior players than it is to distribute the ball to guys who consistently have trouble scoring. With no one other than RB to go to, DP is operating at a relative disadvantage as point guard this season. We may find that TL and KL are more effective as wing players with DP running the point. I can't see DP as an effective 2 guard unless his shooting in game situations improves significantly.
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I had the good fortune to attend last nite's game and managed to sit right behind the SLU bench.
This was a good all-around effort by SLU. Second half free throws were not dropping, and our bigs were not going to the hoop as aggressively as they could have on offense, otherwise solid performance. What can DP do to become a confident shooter?
Halton arena is a very nice facility. There were only about 7500 fans in attendance, yet the building was fairly full and quite lively. SLU fans will really love having their own arena.
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Is there a reason why we never seem to recruit players from rural Missouri? Other than Corey Frazier, I can't recall many players in recent years that SLU has seriously recruited or signed.
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Overall an excellent effort on the road against an excellent team. Good overall defense, adequate ball movement and motion on offense.
Virtually no three-point threat tonite. Many shots blocked by Iowa's bigs inside. IV looked hesitant inside. DP needs to shoot pull-up jumpers rather than penetrate too deep. Not great at the free-throw line.
Hopefully this will be a positive night for the team despite the loss.
New Lineup--AP Article
in Billikens.com Main Board
Posted
SLU came out today and played a competitive game against a good DePaul team. If this is due in part to Brad's decision to start younger players, then so be it.
I hope that the coaching staff recruits players to offset the rebounding disparity that occurred in today's game.