BB Scout

Bauman dude yes i watched the game and if you watched closely you would know that UM made 5 three pointers by 3 different players. So I guess that means DB was covering 3 different players. Get your facts straight dude.....

FYI the UMASS coach decided Danny would not beat them and plus they played great some great D on him to take away his looks. To Danny’s credit he did not force anything and still managed to shoot 50% from 3 pt land. DB last 3 games have been great with 16,23, and 3 point games. (0 turnovers and 5 boards vs UM) Stop judging the guy game to game or whenever he gets a shot blocked, or gets fouled on a non call driving to the basket. That sort of stuff happens all the time. He will convert his share of drives if he keeps doing what he does. His defense was great vs UM. Did anyone else notice that once DB went out the game Jeff Viggiano #22 went to work on Drejaj scoring double figure. Let’s also talk about Luke Meyer not getting any PT. Why not? Luke should be playing just as much as DB,AD,KL plays. He brings smarts, good “Dâ€, rebounds well and can flat out shoot the long ball for this team. Plus Luke’s like having a coach on the floor and if given the opportunity could become a Mike Dunleavy type player. I am very disappointed in Brad for not seeing this in Luke. Brad’s selective memory never ceases to amaze me. Luke was a big part of the success of last season as was Polk but now they are getting screwed over. Get Luke in the game coach…………

Brad calling the t/o was smart to me. Danny tried to make a play and he didn't. If DB gets the steal everyone says great steal great timeout. As indicated by Air Force 12-1 winning record Danny probably wouldn't be to sad being back at AFA. Plus Jeff Bzdelik as Air Force coach brings a wealth of experience from his days in the NBA. Yea then we could play Luke Meyer more in his spot.......

Against the zone you must be patience and keep the ball moving quickly. If you are able to catch one defender slow to react to the ball movement then you might have a chance to penetrate but not very often and especially not vs a good zone. You just will not be able to get much penetration against a zone. Your best bet is to knock down some outside shots and make them switch to a man. Danny Brown was able to do that last night along with Kevin Lisch who hit the biggest three of the night. Lisch got the 3 call but that was really a two as his foot was on the line. Those kind of calls and the final shot attempt by St. Bon would have gone against us last year. I am not ready to say this team has turned the corner just yet but this is a much better team than last year. Five mins for Luke Meyer is not enough. Coach has to give Luke more chances and if he does it will pay off big time. Luke is just to good of a shooter to waste on the bench like that.

Great game by both DB and JJ. Playing time does wonders for the confidence. IV was solid as always.

So far the 3pt pct and mins stats through 12 games: Kevin 35% (18 of 51) 25mpg Luke 33% (2 of 6) 10mpg Danny 29% (5 of 17) 15mpg Vas'Shun 20% (2 of 10) 13mpg Polk 14% (5 of 35) 29mpg Tommie 10% (1 of 10) 32mpg Based on the above Luke and Danny are your 2nd and 3rd best 3 ball shooters while playing far less minutes per game. I say give both Luke and Danny a fair shot. Combined against three teams (Gongaza,Chicago State and Iowa) Danny Brown has taken only two (2)shots. That's crazy! How can you say he's in a shooting slump man? Coach has the guy scared to shoot. Taking 2 shots in 3 games does not put you in a shooting slump. Luke Meyer is about the same. Scared to shoot the damn ball or he's DNP. Lets see a DNP vs Iowa for Luke. 1 of 4 vs Chicago State and 2 of 4 vs Gonzaga. That would make Luke a combined 3 of 8 in three games. And the problem would be????? Coaching!!!!!!!!!! Happy New Year Billikens and fans.....

LM,DB,VN are very good players if Brad would trust them and let them play through their mistakes the way he does Tommy and Kevin. It is easy to see they are not getting the extended minutes required to be an effective ball player. This non trust by Coach is really hurting the team. Tommy and Kevin are fine players but they force several bad looking shots each game. Some go in some don't and that's the way it goes in basketball. But you never see Coach remove TL or KL from the game for taking a bad shot. Those two Freshmen have more freedom than Duke's first year players. But let LM,DB,VN take a shot off balance and they will be coming out the game on the next dead ball. Last night DB took one shot and Lisch was sent to the score table to check in for him before Iowa rebounded the miss. Luke is also a fine shooter but Coach will not give him the time or trust he gives the other freshmen (Lisch). I do not understand it. Luke was a Freshmen last year but Coach didn't show the confidence in him as he is showing in Lisch as a Freshmen. Why? Vashun,Luke and Danny can hit the three and contribute more to the team but they are to concerned about getting benched for missing a shot. They are playing way to tight. Many times they are not even looking at the basket to see if the shot is their. If it was me I would say screw it the hell with it and just play my game and let the chips fall where they fall. I would say to LM,DB,VN that If you make one everyone will be happy and you will get the playing time. If you miss don't worry you will get another chance somewhere down the road. Last night we could have used someone other than Lisch,Polk shooting from the outside. Coach must give those guys the same amount of confidence as he gives his starters. Hell just look at how confidence JJ is shooting the ball. JJ finally realizes that if he miss a shot he's not getting benched and now he is playing very well. A show of "CONFIDENCE" will do that for you.

Close but no cigar. We had a chance at the end. That's all you can ask for. JJ looked real good tonight. I expect JJ will continue to improve and the team will be tough be beat if he does. Team continue to have problems scoring late in games. IV must touch the more is one way to increase scoring output. Over all great effort by the Billikens. This team will finish in the top five in A10 play. Merry Christmas to everyone!

Billikens 2nd half defense was not to good. In the 2nd half Kennesaw shot 64% from field and 50% behind the arch, the same as we did. Yes we scored 55 pts but we gave up 44 points in the 2nd half also. Ian, Kevin and Tommy played a great 2nd half. Bills 2nd half freethrow shooting was right on time as we sinked 14 of 15 from the line to their 5-7 (that and Lisch getting hot was the difference).

just play simple basketball and forget that four guard stuff. gotta please get IV and AD more than 2 shots. IV JJ TL AD DP

This lineup is just to small. I say stick with JJ and the bigger lineup. I am not understanding this one. It may work against these guys but no one else. 5-9 DP 6-1 AD (listed as 6-2) 6-1 KL (listed as 6-2) 6-4 TL 6-10 IV

Well put Roy. I agree with your post 100%

Bill you are one sick puppy.

Bill- Get your mind out the gutter. This is my last time on the subject of race. Play ball.....

Bill- how do factor race in my opinion about Brad and/or the post dispatch and/or this board. Please no not go their with me. You do not know me like that dude. You are acting like the fool. If black/white offended you then maybe you have some hidden junk in your closet. Now back to basketball. Mr Roy- I disagree with you and say their is guaranteed pt for both Liddell and Lisch. Lisch is getting starters minutes. True again Liddell has twice the turnovers and twice the playng time as Brown. The charging calls against Brown were bad calls and could have gone the other way, then what would you be saying about DB. And factor in TL sometime poor decisions and mental lapse which I then say realistically would normally have been some unknown points turnaround. But that's part of the game baby. Can't everyone and Coach see that also? Is BB Scout the only one. And High School is over big boy. Lisch has been slow to adjust to D-1 ball just as Polk, Brown,Meyer and all the guys. If coach ask me I would rather have Anthony D shooting outside than Lisch or Polk. Thus again because the stats thus far do bear that out to be a good decision. Got dammit I love my scouting talents. Am I good or what? Because the pg (Polk) handles the ball more his turnovers will always be greater than Lisch. Do you know how many kids are afraid of the pressure at point. Only the true ones can handle the heat and the work. Polk is the true one for this team. Newborne or Johnson are very capable of getting the job done. But Coach Brad chooses to play those coaches mind games with them thus VN,JJ are always thinking to much and worrying about what Coach is going to say. I say to JJ,VN,DB,LM just play ball and forget about Coach. If he takes you for trying to make a play so what! But if you make the play, hit the three, get the steal then everyone will be your best friend. Drejaj is the leader the heart and soul of this team. Not TL not KL not IV! Someone send this stuff to Coach. Just say BB Scout, he will know...peace out.

As expected no one has anything logic to say but TheGoat. Nice to see he knows a thing or two about hoops. LM has not been given a decent shot to succeed. Coach is not doing a good job of constantly evaluating his players. Seems they are blind to the truth. Oh lets see Coach says "Thanks to KL unprecendened ability to put the ball in the basket" SLU is going places. Heck KL the great shooter is shooting 32% behind the arch. Anyone notice those stats? Just saying give LM,DP,DB the same opportunity to play through their mistakes as KL,TL are getting. KL goes 0-5 from the field and no one say a word. DB goes 2-5 from the field and he slides to the end of the bench. LM plays 5 minutes and connects on his only FG attempt. DP starts the season 0-13 from 3 point arch and you say DP should no longer be the pg. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

I to feel the same way. Some of you are real butt holes and have no ideal what you are talking about when it comes to basketball. To read at times how you guys dog out certain players on the team is not cool at all. DP,DB,VN,JJ stats are just as good and bad as KL,AD,LM stats. They all have had bad games, they all have had good games. Could it be just as simple as black and white? See comparison below for your self. Today's Post-Dispatch sports pages has photo's of KL and AD getting beat off the dribble. Not VN,DB or DP! Everyone should be supporting all the players not putting certain players down because of ?#*+&* stuff. It's all about the minutes baby as you can see below who's getting and who's not. VN better FG%. DB 2nd best shooter from 3 point land. VN best rebounder. DB,VN lesser fouls. DB most assist. VN less turnovers. AD leading scorer. AD is the heart and soul of this team and many of you can't even see that......sad sad sad! AD could play for my team any day. VN is a senior he has earned his time coach. DB should play more. DP has to be on the floor more. JJ at 6-8 has to start at the 4 always. TL is turnover happy but has the skills. IV the best post player in A-10 by year end. Brad it's up to you baby....LM give the kid more time he's well now. KL and AD are up and down so why not? DB KL AD VN Mins: 17.6 23.4 23.4 15.5 FG% 38% 42% 44% 46% 3's 33% 32% 55% 28% REBS 2.6 2.0 2.8 2.9 PF 12 18 22 12 Asst 17 11 10 1 TO 9 13 14 4 PPG 5.6 7.4 9.1 4.5

TL played a great game tonight. The box score does not do justice to the type of game TL had tonight. Like some one said in an earlier post Brad just needs to find a way harness his talents. I love this kid!

Great effort by the Billikens. Give or take a few bads plays this game was theirs. Efforts like this will push the Billikens into the top 2-3 teams of the A-10. Tyler H for North Carolina is one fine looking player who will only get better with time. Otherwise North Carolina did not impress me. TL- is the real deal and has all the tools to be successful at the next level. JJ- It's great to see this kid get the opportunity to contribute. AD- Plays with heart, soul and guts. What ever it takes this kid has it and is willing to lay it on the line. DB- Not much you can do in 50 seconds. As soon as DB makes a mistake or misses a shot he's out of the game. Danny has got the skills to contribute but coach has to give him a chance to get going. Not being from the local area I believe is hurting DB. Brad is giving the local St Louis area kids more chances to play through their mistakes and not DB. I believe DB is a player who can help us and I believe he will bounce back strong. KL and TL are very good players who are getting the opportunities DB got last year. DB deserves more (better) than 5 mins.

JJ: 9 points, 5 boards in only 8 minutes. Why only 8 minutes for JJ but KL goes 0 for 5 and plays 20 min.

Theodore Roosevelt once said “The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything". Their is one skill that every single player who has ever played the game has fully developed and tested, making mistakes. I know that sounds like a bit of an odd statement. But in life and on the court it is the hard cold truth. How you handle your mistakes will say a lot about what kind of player you really are. JJ should be given same opportunity you would give a KL or TL when they make a mistake.

Doesn't matter who starts on him (VN,DB,TL) because Morrison will get his just like Larry Bird used to do. If Washington can't stop him then SLU can't stop him. It's pretty simply. The guy is a throw back and a great one at that. What a great game last night. Both teams are loaded with talent.

SLU has a respectable 2-2 record to start the season. Losing to two good ball clubs in Hawaii and UWM is nothing to get down about. Parity this season for sure. Look at the Univ of Houston defeating Arizona and Rice beating Utah this past weekend. But the best example of this parity so far this year is Cal-Irvine. Irvine lost big in its opener to George Mason. Then surprised everyone by going to Stanford and handling the Cardinal easily and followed that with a good win over Santa Clara. Next game at Pepperdine, Cal-Irvine fell behind by 34(!) in the first half…and still almost went to overtime. A missed three at the buzzer allowed Pepperdine to escape with a 79-76 win. Just when things couldn’t get any stranger, though, Cal-Irvine lost its next game to Division II Stanislaus State..... My point anyone can beat another if they are on top of their game. The young Billikens will be fine! Billikens fans just be patience. It's only December not March....

Well put jjray. That's the best analysis I have read so far on the four guard rotation. If it plays out the way you decribed it will put the Bills at 18-19 wins and I think it will. BB Scout-

I could be wrong but I say give the kid a chance to play now. In that same situation a so call ex-baller like myself would want to contribute NOW not next year. BB Scout-