NH

It ain’t easy being a Bills fan

This is the fundamental issue with college basketball right now. It’s nearly impossible to develop freshmen. Either they are playing right away or they’re likely to transfer. It has not been much of an issue at SLU yet since we haven’t brought in many transfers who took meaningful minutes, but it will be soon enough. I think the key is being very deliberate in recruiting. Is the high schooler you’re recruiting going to play right away? If not, is he comfortable with that or will he likely transfer for more PT? If he is comfortable waiting, then is the staff confident in his ability to earn playing time after a couple of seasons? Those are the questions I’d be asking during recruiting if I were a coach.

I tend to agree with you. The one nuance comes with incoming freshman. I feel very confident that Thames and Kramer will be among those 10-13 roster spots. However, they were recruited knowing that freshman year PT would be tough to come by and they were recruited specifically to develop in the program (and for their hometown team). I would not assume that if, as I expect, Thames/Kramer do not play much next year it means they are likely to leave.

I never understood Rashad Williams' fit on this past season's team. I'll remember him for hitting big 3s against Boise State and Dayton, and for being enthusiastic on the bench despite his limited playing time. Best of luck to him in his next stop. Clearly he has the ability to score the ball in the right situation.

I hope Ford is not demanding anything. Javonte has been an important player for this program and I hope they are working together to decide what is best for Javonte. Keep in mind if Ford took your approach and “demanded” a decision, but Javonte wasn’t ready, he would always have the option to transfer to another school. I have to imagine the vast majority of programs would love to add a player like that in the transfer portal.

I agree, but would add that last seasons team was still pretty good offensively. The second most efficient offense in conference behind Davidson I believe and probably without looking at the numbers I would guess the 2nd or 3rd most efficient SLU team in the past 20 years. On the other hand, it was our least efficient defensive team since 2016-2017. We need to improve on both sides of the ball if we want to reach our potential next season.

This would be a coup. But personally I’d be surprised if Molly Miller didn’t end up at a Power 5 job this off-season instead.

That depends on how you define success. I think VCU/Dayton finished 2nd and 3rd in the conference for a reason. We can’t afford to have a terrible defense or offense. Our team next season will only come close to its potential to we’re good on both ends of the ball

I have no idea the likelihood of him coming, but I think if Hughes II came to SLU it would be as a scholarship player. I think he has a scholarship offer already. He recently visited Wisconsin, although I don’t personally see him as a Big 10 player.

I think this was a good move. Lisa did an amazing job making this program respectable. But recruiting had stagnated. Unfortunate that her last year had such bad luck, but I think a winning season would have just delayed the inevitable. The couple of times I’ve interacted with Coach Stone she couldn’t have been nicer. I thank her for being a great steward of the Billiken program.

In fairness, I still think last years team was maybe the “deepest team on record.”

I don’t really see anyone defending Travis Ford in this thread. Embarrassing performance.

There is a very clear tradeoff to playing two bigs: you get worse on offense but better on defense. It is no coincidence that Travis' two best offensive teams at SLU were the two teams that only played one big. I agree that it would be great if we could find a forward who can defend inside and stretch the floor. But when I look around the NCAA I don't see many examples of those types of guys, especially at schools outside the Power 5.

The top of the A10 is setting up to be as strong as it’s been in recent memory next year

I agree with you that Dayton will be most people’s favorite, and understandably so. But I don’t think SLU will be under the radar going into next year if Perkins returns. We will absolutely be getting Top 25 buzz

For what it’s worth, I do find Anthony Grant to be odd. However, I don’t think the decision to stay at Dayton over Florida itself would be odd. Anthony Grant has coached in the SEC, he knows how ruthless ($) recruiting can be in that conference. He just saw several highly-respected coaches who known for being high character guys in Cuonzo Martin and Frank Martin get let go because they couldn’t keep up in recruiting. His hair is already going grey, but being expected to routinely beat Calipari, Pearl, Oats, Barnes and Musselman for recruits will age Grant even quicker. Dayton is a pretty cushy job. Plenty of resources with very manageable expectations. He’s shown he can get top recruiting classes in the A10 and as long as Grant is there Dayton will be expected to finish near the top of the conference. Plus it’s his alma mater. I wouldn’t leave if I were him.

I was just answering the question earnestly, wasn’t trying to make a point. Jalen Johnson seemed like he maybe wasn’t the best chemistry fit given that he subsequently transferred to 3 other schools. But given that he was a good 3 point shooter and we desperately needed 3 point shooting at the time, he was missed on the floor. I agree on Jacobs. He was never going to be a star but I do think he would’ve added something on this years team (and next). If he wanted to come back as the Deandre Jones replacement I think we’d generally be on board. Carteare Gordon was a major loss, but that situation was always destined to end poorly. We lost Yarbrough, Bartley and Reynolds that one year. But it’s different following a coaching change. i was bummed when we lost Marcus Relphorde, who ended up being a good player at Colorado. That one also had to do with a coaching change

I wasn’t pumped about losing Jacobs last year. But even more than that I’d say Jalen Johnson in 2018 was a tough loss

If you can win the A10 then you can win a game in March Madness. The idea that the ceiling is first round doesn’t even really make sense, given the randomness of the tournament.

His offensive rating (accounting for all of those things) went slightly up. Saying he was “much less efficient” just feels pretty strong for a player whose stat line was remarkably consistent across the course of season.

I disagree with this. Jordan was more efficient in conference play than he was in non-con. His shooting percentage from 2, 3 and FT all improved in conference play. I also think his defense improved as the year progressed. I don’t think Jordan made tremendous improvements or anything, but to say he “regressed” feels pretty harsh considering he had most of his best games in conference play (with some stinkers mixed in as well).

I don't think there have been any minutes without Deandre Jones or Yuri Collins on the floor, other than the garbage time when Williams ran the point.

Maybe so, but Fred hasn’t played at that spot a single time this year (or in his 4 years at SLU). Rashad has played point in garbage time and at his prior stops. I agree he hasn’t shown the skill set of a PG, so we’d be better suited to find another option there.

Agreed. Maybe Rhode Island could be a fit?

Ewing had only been in the US for six years when he was applying for college, which is why he required additional assistance with testing. He has a degree from Georgetown, which is more academic credibility than most college coaches. Not that doing well in school has much at all to do with being a successful college coach. I think the most common issue with NBA players becoming college coaches is they don’t understand what it takes to recruit at their level. Perhaps for Drexler it was laziness. For Ewing the issue seems to be talent evaluation. Jerry Stackhouse, the coach of my second favorite team, is one of the better Xs and Os coaches in the SEC but hasn’t been able to get the players to compete with the Will Wade or Bruce Pearls of the world.