GOSLU68

not showing the way he completely shut down the layups and drives to the middle-everyone adjusts when a guy has 5-10 inches advantage or 40 ponds of muscle and the effect a player has on the other team could be shown in the t.o. turnover stat-Brown, JJ, and Polk come up short when you look at unforced errors-second last game Lisch played he had the ball stolen by a defensive trailer once and disrupted another time. I'm not so sure it is defence as much as intimidation that has been bothering this team since we lost Drejag, Highmark, the first Leuctefeld, Heinruch, even all the way bak to Roder-they were all hard nosed players. I hat say this as TL is wonderful and 2 times better than last year but his finesse does not embolden the other 4 on the floor-that is why Luke has fans-he is tough even though he is overmatched in heght and basketball skills night after night

I only include Limbaugh, here, because he professed to be a sports caster for a while-which parallels what I've always thought: there are quite a few people on the radio that are tin horns so I change the channels-a lot. Some of these radio personalities are really raw-not sophisticated, not educated, they must have good voices or interview well. I've tried listening to Slaten and Limbaugh but I really can't last more than 2 minutes; if my wife is in the car I will usually say "I can't stand any more of this I'm switching the station" she replies that "she wasn't listening as they have nothing to say". I hope Doc B continues to contribute I am really turned off by faculty that knows nothing about the social life of the students, is not involved in the athletics, or won't talk to you because they figure you are doing research "in their area of expertise" Doc sounds like he is a little defensive otherwise is maintaining some contact with the outside world or is at least aware something goes on outside the ivory towers. I would like to know why there is no prayer before the game as the priest still shows up and sits in the player area. Is it because he was uncomfortable with his speaking voice-having a noticeable affliction or paralysis? I thought is was a classy way to start the evening.

that is his only outstanding stat and he is getting only 24 minutes a game; if we let AK play he would get 7 rebounds a game

if we play a pre conference schedule against too many mvc teams we will be playing too many short 4 guard lineups; then we get in conference we have not practised against taller perimeter shooters; we will have seen a lot of fast break and trap teams and that is not what the A10 does. We have to be able to score 80 points to win in the A10 other than Lisch who drives to the basket? Our perimeter shooters other than TL and KL are not good defenders and so they give up more than they get us.

Polk also gets intimidated by guards his size if they are physical. Let's face it IV and KL can take a certain amount of punishment ahd still contend but as good as TL is he rightfully stays away from the fray. Luke can't rebound against a 4. We just have a terrible time trying to match up and Brad keeps trying to find match ups instead of taking the opportunity to put a team on the floor that presents mismatches for the other guys. I'd start TL, KL, IV, and rotate the other bigs more often than the other smalls. The bigs don't have the stamina so let them all have some minutes and tell them to play like hell until they run out of gas. Why not put IV, AK, BH on the floor and rotate in JJ and LM; I don't care if LM and JJ get more minutes but try as he might JJ looks like he is playing hurt

Obviously, Danny Brown and Polk are poor defenders in the style of play we are involved in; we do not match up to A-10 style anymore than we would match up to 5 guards in the mvc or big 10 brutes

70% of USA population is either coast-the NCCAA may feign some entusiasm for a cinderella team out of a nowhere conference but most fans realise teams from schools that didn't exist 40 years ago from cities or states with small populations does'nt pull advertisers unless its for corn or soybeans;the Ivy league gets a disproportionate share of football media and the A10 is more newsworthy to the Jesuits and the public at large-SLU is trying like Xavier, Temple, Dayton, etc to make a difference. It would make more sense for SIUE to join the valley than us and they probably have a hell of a lot bigger athletic budget coming over the next 10 years; we may be going across the river to see D1 football, too

6' 10 center with a guard for a 4 playing with him or JJ who can no longer jump-looks like he is unable to dunk at 6' foot 7 or 8" I'm not sure why the injuries to JJ, KL. and IV are treated as if thet don't exist. And yes we have no bench because they get 10 minutes in one game to work miracles then they are banished. BH, AK, DB, JJ, Coffey,DM, then JJ 5 weeks later. Brad should give them 3 minutes then 4 then 5 and tell them to be ready to play. For nearly 2 years IV looked like he had 2 beers and a sandwich before the games because he never expected to play. Has anyone seen a recent practice? Does AK or DM ever get time with the starters or is it the starters versus the losers like the harlem globe trotters bringing their opponents to town with them. Does he make them let the starters run crcles around them? Are there plays on offence and defence...I guess I am getting fed up watching us make the same tired moves and getting put down away and home. Does our bench have to win the scrimmage to get to play?

and IV had a better game; we need Lisch; hopefully, he will recover soon. I am happy to see JJ contributing; he obviosly has a bad leg and can not jump- but is showing a lot of heart-anyone know if it is shinsplints or what? Polk and Brown have got to provide some defense. AK, DM. BH might as well get 5-10 minutes each as we can't win with starters playing 35-39 minutes,TL has improved so much but he only scores 25% of our points and sometimes Polk, Brown, and JJ only combine for 25%

free TL what does that do for all the kids in St. Louis?

We have an armchair sports writer in town who is willing to dis SLU when Illinois-Weber, MO-Anderson have just a big a challenge-this lazy yellow journalist suggests some pretty awful things. When he does decide to attend and not just watch on TV maybe they will charge him for two tickets-I doubt he can get into one.

we need some seasoned assistant coaches to teach and some over zealous loyal assistants to recruit. If our budget is all used up paying Soderberg-who I really like and I hope he is successful, here. My suspicion is the days of having 2-3 ball players carry you to the NCAA tournament is not addressed by underpaid staffers with no connections. These old geezer coaches in the A10 are handling us-just undercut Luke or Kevin and who has any tenacity on the team-where was AK in the last game? Is he in the dog house or did I miss a posting that he is hurt or sick-wasn't he going to be our freshman-enforcer/

Even Kramer Soderberg shoots from 5-8 feet behind the 3 point line and he is a high school junior> Right? I yelled for our players at the last home game to get up on a proven 3 point shooter and the guy behind me says-they are playing zone-you don't break the zone-you just live with 60% sharp shooting from the oppostion? You just assume they will miss becaquse they used to miss at St. Margaret of Scotland in5th grade? okay that is our zone. Polk's speed is nullified by how short he is if he plays back five feet the angle is worse. How many steals do we have-did we recruit anyone with the vision and forehought to anticipate a pass? If Coffey was the grat walk on defender for 11 minutes the game before why didn't he get in this game at leat sometime-reverse true for DM our announcers said that was the first kick out pass for a fast break all season and it was by DM-I'll bet he learned before he enrolled at SLU Whatever is wrong with JJ legs he can no longer jump or rebound-BH can block shots and at least the other team would have to adjust if you star twin towers at the beginning of the game. BH best featur is shot blockin and goal defense. He can not start to hit perimeter 3 pointers. His rebounding is a little weak if smaller guys hack him when he brings it down. Have him pass immediately. Practisae tat, this year.If BH has a conditioning issue he will only be more tired if he practices too hard to get playing time. Slowly build him up but get him out of the dog house. He is a Giraffe not an antelope or cheetah.

a hot player like Ferretti can still have a mismatch with his defender that actually fires him up to leaad his tema to a win. I sat on the bench of my CYO team through grade school and high school even though I had a couple of games the starter couldn't handle a hacking bulky wide body and I came in shut the guy down and scored 20 points when there was no three point line; the next week we went back to the same five starters. Probably, I'd never hit 20 three weeks in a row and the starters were known commodities; but we have all seen Justin Johnson against De Paul, or Larry Simmons or Polk or Luke Meyer have a hot night-the reality we have three players who can do it against every team; that was enough in the Bonner-Gray-Douglas days but now it takes 10-12 guys you can drop in and not notice the player sitting on the bench started the game; the good old days of Highmark, Duff, Leuctefeld, Clagget were exciting because they could score 6-9 points before the other coach or opposing player could build a defense. This team is more talented than we have had in 5 years but that still isn't saying much. Unless we can get Dustin, Adam, Bryce or Polk to score we got a long way to go to do more than score 59 points per game

mel robinson had lots of athletic skills but he was not taought in high school and did not get good caching from Grawer; Grawer did not understand big men; he would have played 5 guards like Spoon if given a choice or one big to rebound for them; Mel Robinson was a good kid and Soderberg may be the guy to atone to him and his family for the fiasco of Grawer and Winfield as coaches. If Mel has been watching the growth of IV and Sodaerberg and his son has the ability it would be nice if basketball could get a chance to pay him back-a second chance at the gold ring at SLU would be great

would KS walk on and be a 5 year man red shirt his first year or how do they do that? doesn't the coach's son like many acacemics get a free ride without taking an athletic scholarship from the team? We need a muscular banger like they had from Ole Miss or Carolina not just a 7 footer who can run the floor and mnake free throws; by the time AK gets in shape he is no longer going to be the mountain man he started the season; I'll bet he has lost 30 pounds, already

what is it with T Timmerman of the Post-doesn't he get it Brad has turned the corner; two years ago he stopped screaming at the refs; and this year he has had a number of good second halves; remember last year when the other tean adjusted and we just went down like chaff at harvest time

no direct flights to Carbondale and others they probably have to fly to St. Louis and bus to the schools like Evansville or N Iowa

In practise Dustin reminds me of Drew of Valparaiso a few years ago; he can drag the defense with him and hit some turn around jumpers. Bryce, JJ, and DB have got to have more minutes to get rid of the jitters; they are under the "coaches hook" pressure-all have skills they jusst get yanked so fast they botch everything-rush their shots and that DB low pass to Bryce made both of them look they had never played before-never pass low to a seven footer-they are not bottom feeders.

Pederson played out of position like Leuchtefeld; and he gave 100% and was more effective than Luck; we have had coaches like Grawer and Spoon who rarely could recruit or coach big men; Frerichs was out with a concussion-otherwise a decent contributor with talent; I did not see Stemler but probably similar? Kevin Footes was a transfer from UMKC and the kid played against Rich Grawer and the other nine players on the floor and would still take over the game-Grawer just couldn't stand a guy that tall and talented going end to end and jamming the ball off a steal

I'm not a Luke fan-but he got JJ excited-he got polk excited-he got Bryce excited-enthusiasm and toughness count for something-Soderberg talked about it after the game; these are nice kids and too nice on the basketball court; if IV and TL could play a little meaner we could get AK more playing time as in wins with comfortable leads or where the momentum swings in our direction

another thread says Duquesne our next opponent just beat BC 98-93 and has won two road games; counting X win over Illinois and our wins over Mo state and Ole Miss; let us see how the top of our leqgue finishes the season and how many get in NIT and NCAA;most people know where Temple is and a lot of people don't know where N. Iowa or Creighton might be even though these are among the more established Valley teams

let us know when the ranking after beating ole ,iss comes out; it was an exciting victory

why worry about the bottom of the A-10 league? You must not understand the academic tradition as well as impoortance of being in major metropolitan and densely populated areas. We have been in and out of the Valley it is loaded with second through fourth best schools in each of the states-the schools are the best of the mid majors-they are not going to be any better. It is the equivalent of meeting and winning or losing to S. Florida or E. Carolina when we were in Conference USA-find a new subject-or name the teams left in Conference USA if you are really a basketball junkie

we need bigger crowds and there are a whole lot of ticket buyers who just do not get it when you play teachers' colleges that now call themselves universities; let's face it Milwaukee people think it is a treat to come to another beer town even if they don't like our fight song they at least know the words. De Paul used to be good when Joey Meyers's dad sat on the bench; we like to beat Chicago which is a bear of a town economically X always kicked Huggins butt and you have to admire that-rumour has it that our hero of the average man plays the majors-John Mabrry, may have to play in Cincy this year because the Cards would not pony up for a major league contract for a class guy like John when he was forced to play for Chicago and filled in quite well but not rewarded for the effort-what does a guy have to do? Although not our equals academically, they are certainly better than crawling on the bottom with Memphis, Cincy, Louisville, and South Florida which is the Carbondale of Florida colleges-a campus that did not exist 30 years, ago.