RUBillsFan

I think the explanation here is that Brad was playing on the scout team because they didn't expect him to be eligible. He would essentially learn how our opponents play and try to mimic that in practice to better prepare the our guys who were actually expected to play in the games. The optimistic take is that Brad wasn't practicing as a member of the rotation. As he develops familiarity, he'll get better. Pessimistic take is that as opponents scout us with Brad, they'll be better prepared to slow him down.

You can add Booker to that list as well. I've posted in the past that I think Goodwin is a better fit than Grayson Allen next to any 2+ of those 3 elite scorers. Nurkic isn't a stiff / defense only type center either. If that is your 4/5 of your closing rotation, you don't need much offense from the 5th guy.

This was Beal's 1st game back & he only played 27 minutes, but pretty huge that JGood got 30 minutes of run in a game where both Beal & Booker were both healthy. Grayson Allen was out, so it still remains to be seen how much PT JGood gets when the Suns are fully healthy. I'm optimistic he's shown enough & is really the only option at backup PG that he'll continue to be in the rotation.

Let me preface this by saying I think SLU should fire Travis Ford (and Chris May) absent some kind of incredible run the rest of the season. I'm not privy to the financial aspects of it and, while disappointing, I could see how that may change what actually happens. That being said, I'm in agreement that whining about Ford here, on a Podcast, on Twitter, etc. has become tedious. It has sucked some joy out of just watching Billiken basketball & Billiken victories. I'd really hate to think that because MMP did good numbers after the SIUC debacle, they've decided to chase listeners by continuing to bash Ford. I don't think that's the case / I hope that's not the case. I've just seen so often the sports media playing to the lowest common denominator for ratings that I worry. I also don't have an issue with Ford said / didn't really think he was calling out fans by talking about the negative comments. I'd get it if he specifically came out and said "The Midtown Madness guys are just full of negative comments & have nothing better to do". He's just using a perceived negative bogeyman / internet troll type to motivate the players. Basically telling them to ignore the noise & go prove "the haters" wrong. He is not calling out fans specifically & we (including myself here) all think he should be fired regardless of what he says or whether the team beats Hofstra at home. Trying to turn it into something more is just piling on Ford when it isn't necessary or it is having "main character" syndrome thinking Ford is talking about you specifically because you've made negative comments online about him.

I feel like we've reached this basically politics level of disagreement over Travis Ford whereby anything he does is going to be seen as a negative by his detractors and a positive or excused by his supporters.

Gordon was only here for 1/2 season. Jimmy Bell at 2 years is (I think) the only traditional big man (outside of French) who came in as a freshman & was here more than 1 year. if you want count Welmer because his 1st year playing was under Ford he stuck around, but was rarely health after that 1 year. Jalen Johnson and KC Hankton were 2 years, but not really a traditional bigs. DJ Foreman, Rashed Anthony, Francis Okoro, Marten Linssen, Jake Forrester we’re transfers. Santos also a transfer but never played. Diarra, Traore, and Cisse were gone after 1 year. Ford’s teams have rarely had quality depth in the front court. He struck out in the portal this off-season and was banking on a 2 time transfer being eligible which exasperated the problem.

Coach K disciples don’t have a great track record as NCAA head coaches though. There have been a ton of them and Mike Brey is the only really successful one at an A10 level or above (who isn’t currently coaching Duke).

Per KenPom we're 81st in the country in 3pt % (36.3%, KenPom doesn't count non-D1 games) and 342nd on 2pt % (42.0%). However, our 3pt attempt rate (3 pt FGA / all FGA) is 229th in the country. As is typically the case with Travis Ford SLU teams (aside from maybe 2019 when we had an awful 3pt shooting team), we should be taking more 3 pointers and less 2 pointers.

Rashad Williams is at Arkansas Pine Bluff: Averaging 18.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 4.1 apg and 3.3 TOs. Numbers are inflated by 3 games vs non-D1 opponents. Still chucking plenty of 3s (nearly 8 per game & making over 40%), but has diversified his offensive game a bit and is taking over 7 2pt FGs per game as well. He's essentially the same player as always - volume shooter/scorer who can thrive at a lower level, but doesn't fit a role on a good team.

I understand the wishful thinking on Jimmy Bell & it is fun to speculate what might have been. IMO even if he had stayed (or was able to stay) at SLU instead of going to JUCO for a year, I kind of doubt he'd still be around at this point. Last season would have then been his 4th year at SLU & we're talking about a guy who has now played at 4 different schools in 5 years. I expect we would've lost him as a grad transfer (if not earlier) regardless of the JUCO stop.

WBB's next game is Friday 12/1 so they have some time before that. However, they also play 12/3, 12/6, and 12/9 before a break until 12/16. "Soon" as the timeline could reasonably result in her missing 0 to 4 games. I could be wrong here, but don't think SLU has any at-large hopes despite being picked near the top of the A-10. That means non-conference W/L isn't super important (aside from possibly NIT implications or ancillary benefits to the program). Then A-10 play is all about getting a good seed for the tournament and setting yourself up to win the A-10 tournament is most important. All this is to say that rushing Martinez back for a non-conference game would be silly.

12-12 is a new program record (2 players had previously gone 10-10). 29 points on just 12 FG attempts is crazy. For reference, McMakin set the single game record of 40 points last season, but she took 33(!) FGs. Here is the latest from Stu on Julia Martinez. She can sometimes be turnover prone herself, but is steadier than Calhoun and her presence as a ball-handler was clearly missed versus UIC.

I didn't go back & watch the replay & don't know how egregious it was or the players involved, but it looked like they could have called a foul on Penn State right before the foul on SLU that lead to the game tying goal. I remember it like this: SLU player has the ball facing SLU's goal, Penn State player contests / bumps / pushes her from behind & she goes down, Penn State player gets the ball & move up field, SLU player running beside her bumps her & she goes down leading to the foul call. Credit to Penn State for executing the set piece & getting the goal after the call went their way.

As long as we're piling on with "what could have been" big men - Andrew Carr (who transferred from Delaware to Wake Forest after flirtation with SLU) had 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 blocks in Wake's opener over Elon and then 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks in Wake's loss to Georgia on Friday.

Our old 3 pt chuckin buddy Rashad Williams is somehow still playing and hit the game winner for Arkansas Pine Bluff last night.

Was there ever a Casa Gallardo deal? I only remember a Chevy's deal.

I recall it going like this: 1. Dalger draws a shooting foul / misses the shot so he gets 2 FTs 2. Dalger misses 1st regular FT 3a. Lincoln coach is called for a technical. 3b. Refs clear players off the FT line except for Dalger 3c. Jimerson subs into the game (fairly certain he wasn't in the game when the original foul occurred, but was at the scorer's table to check in when the ref called the T & would have come in after the 1st FT) 4. Dalger makes 2nd FT assuming it was his 2nd regular FT, but later refs said it was the 1st technical FT. My guess here is that SLU / Dalger assumed that Dalger would shoot his 2 regular FTs, someone would shoot 2 technical FTs & SLU would get the ball back afterwards. I'm not sure what the actual rules are about a technical being called while FTs are being taken & who gets the ball afterwards. My assumption based on how it played out is that play stops, the 2 technical FTs are taken, and then play resumes so Dalger would go back to the line to take his 2nd regular FT which is kind of what happened. 5. Jimerson goes to shoot what he assumes will be 2 technical FTs. I think SLU / Ford / Jimerson were trying to be coy about the fact that he may / may not have been on the court & eligible to shoot the technical FTs. No idea on the actual rules here. 6. Jimerson makes 1st FT. 7. Refs are totally confused about what to do / realize they screwed up by letting Dalger take 1st technical FT & Jimerson 2nd technical FT. 8. Refs make Dalger go back to the line to shoot his 2nd regular FT.

I'm not necessarily defending the May or AD here. Your point about May having a system in place to make sure the people under him are doing their jobs is valid, but this is throwaway line is ridiculous. Dominos is the largest pizza company in the world. They had over $4.5 BILLION dollars in sales in 2022. They can afford more advanced software / tracking systems than the SLU athletic department.

Plus they were up like 40 midway through the 2nd half against a D2 team. It was largely deep bench players and walk-ons playing the rest of the way. Not worth getting worked up at the refs when the game wasn’t in doubt and Sincere wasn’t likely to play much longer anyways.

I know this is a joke/mistake, but in all serious SLU should 100% organize one of those pre-season charity exhibition games versus Mizzou to be played under the Arch.

MBMs circa 1941-1964: For allegedly being baseball's perfect warrior and baseball's perfect knight, Stan Musial sure makes a lot of outs at the plate.

Theoretically if you care a lot about the SLU basketball program, but you aren't happy with the Athletic Department or men's basketball coaching staff, NIL / the Billiken Victory fund are the best place to donate. May and Ford technically* have no control over the NIL $ / Billiken Victory Fund. Troy Robertson & the BVF board control what happens with that money. * - I'd be shocked if Ford isn't somehow dictating to Troy where he wants that money allocated, but theoretically Robertson, etc. could tell Ford to piss up a tree and allocate however they see fit. Even so, the money only indirectly helps Ford & the AD by theoretically helping attract more talented players. It is directly benefiting the players on the court.

It's a 100% correct take. Jimerson has missed nearly 60% of his career attempts. He DOES miss a lot (340 career missed 3 pointers and counting). For an alleged great hitter Ted William sure did NOT get hits in a lot of his at bats.

Maybe he will graduate in December and then becomes no different than a grad transfer who would be immediately eligible?