Clock_Tower

I recall Isabel changing alot, for the better, under Coach Ford. Believe Williams will as well. Agree w 3 Star, a combo guard, 2 guard, or guard who can dribble and shoot playing alongside Yuri will be good for Yuri and our team. We haven’t had that in awhile. Perkins, Thatch, Hargrove, Jimerson and Strickland could all get minutes if they spent the summer working on their dribbling. Have no clue where Nesbit will play. Sounds like a 3 along with others.

Been so long. Who are the schools again? U of A, LSU, Kansas

Same. Typical arrogance. Still having issues determining facts vs opinions I see. Yes, it is always an uphill battle for a non-P5 team. No, I am not disputing stats or acting like our record was something different. What was different, though, was that the A10 actually had maybe the top team in the country last year - UD. When you beat the best - the normal rules don’t apply. Drake had a good year AND lost to a quality program - and got in. Say what you want about the P5 schools and how their average teams are overrated - but what they have in common is that they actually play the best schools, their RPIs reflect this and they get multiple opportunities to shine. And if they beat the best schools, or lose in double overtime, then the weight of the losses and the optics are far different for them than they are with the rest of the NCAA schools.

We were 23-8, had good wins, were playing well/peaking and matched up well with UD. Unlike this year, the optics of a double OT loss to Dayton or even another close loss in the Semis would not have hurt us like this year. UD was to be a #1 seed. Top 5 nearly all year. I liked our chances and would have made money if those were the Vegas odds.

You may be right. At least with St. Louis recruits. Then again I am not too familiar with his recruiting. Tilmon seems to have carried the team these past 2 years. Also he seemed to get quite of few transfers or non- 4 year guys from all over. Do you know what markets he is trying to focus on. I would assume the greater STL area and KC? If so, Gonzaga and UCLA have some guys who could have helped them.

I would get a PG. We need depth, Yuri has been injured two straight years and I would like to always have 2 PGs - 2 years apart. A Freshman point guard along with a junior point guard and the. Soph w a Senior

Good to see the list of those you read with pictures in lieu of words.

There sure is a lot of inconsistency on this Board. Either the 34 day mid-season COVID-19 shut down hurt or did not? I have yet to read a post from anyone who says that we returned to our pre-shut down form afterwards. Instead, I read posts about (insert any key player's name here) shooting percentage decreased, steals decreased, assists per game decreased and just did not look the same. Objectively, the entire team seemed to struggle, good shooters suddenly "lost" their shot, turnovers increased, rebounding dominance lessened and we lost some key games - several of which blowout losses in which we flat out looked bad. Stamina issues and tired legs appeared prevalent. During this stretch, we played some guys more (Hargrove), we went with newcomers (Linssen) over proven veterans (French), we tried to shorten the bench, we went back to the proven veterans, we looked like we turned the corner but then not. In short, nothing fully worked. We looked horrible against a bad LaSalle team, an average Dayton team and lost to a depleted and average VCU team. The same "experts" who crowned Jim Crews "National Coach of the Year" ingnored the real effects of COVID and `1 guy apparently told us that players should resume to 100% after 2 games. It did not happen, and this promising NCAA Tournament year evaporated right in front of our eyes, just like last year, anger and disappointment mounted and someone had to be blamed. Surely it could not be something out of our control, such as COVID 19, which took away last year's postseason and I suggest this year's as well. And look no further than our own conference rival, Dayton, which was to be an NCAA #1 seed last year - and instead did not play an NCAA Tourney game last year or this year. Assume their coach is on the "hot seat" as well. No, 40,000 Frenchmen cannot be wrong, and likewise, this Board and its conventional wisdom that this year's team was the most talented team in Billiken history, that this year's roster is proof that Coach Ford is a great recruiter and that this season's lack of success is proof that Coach Ford is a bad "x's and o's" coach, a bad "in game" coach, cannot win an NCAA Tournament game - and even further - Coach Ford won't win an NCAA Tournament game. Some are the same clowns (A Bomb) spreading such nonsense two years ago. Instead of responding back with facts or arguments, just more repeated "back hand" shots at Coach Ford and a "bad post" to me no matter what I write - a badge of honor. Also, there are other posters who never supported Coach Ford in the first place and are now intent on taking "back hand" shots at him and the program whenever the team loses a game, struggles... while acting like the biggest and best Billiken fan. Fake. Has Coach Ford made some mistakes? Of course. Should Coach Ford be questioned and second-guessed? Of course. But again, put me in the small minority who questions this Board's conventional wisdom. And at the risk of providing any type of response, and being taken out of context to questions such as "which of your children do you like best?", how "great" of a recruiter are you if you recruit a wing who is not a very good shooter and even worse at the free-throw line? How "great" of a recruiter are you If you recruit a 6' 7" forward who cannot shoot beyond 5 foot or make a free-throw? How "great" of a recruiter are you if your PG these past two years doesn't score, isn't very good at free throws and doesn't draw a defender? How "great" of a recruiter are you if none of your 3 "bigs" can stretch defenses? How "great" of a recruiter are you if your wings cannot create their own shot off the dribble? How realistic is it to expect a college coaching staff to "develop" players at the upper D1 level -- meaning to become "a shooter", to become a "scorer", to become a guy "with good handles", to learn how to dribble like a guard? Despite the wisdom of a respected poster on this Board who tried to remind us that players generally are who they are when they arrive on campus - with a few exceptions, and yet improvement of who they are is probable, this Board's conventional wisdom is that our players are all "elite" , presumably because they chose us over our competition, and that the major deficiencies in their games are the result of proper "player development" by the coaching staff and poor "x's and o's" by the coaching staff. I say false. Has anyone thought about how difficult it is to assemble a team with so many "unique" players? if "match ups" are so important and critical (and they are) against opposing teams, has anyone thought about "matchups" among our own players. For instance if we have too many players that bring skill A but not enough players that bring skill B, isn't this a recruiting issue as opposed to a "player development" and an "x's and o's" deficiency? I say that a coaching staff can only do so much. Coaches can improve a player's footwork, spacing, technique, knowledge of the game and put them In a position to succeed. Also, a coaching staff can put them through a good off-season strength and conditioning programs to increase their size ( or decrease in the case of Bell), strength, shooting range (outside shooting is greatly dependent upon leg strength), quickness, agility and jumping ability; however, there are limits as to what a player can do and not do. Polishing up a player is far different than creating a player. Just because our team has a need for a certain player to possess a certain skill does not mean that the coaching staff failed if the player does not develop this skill. To say otherwise is false. And further, who determines which player must have a complete game from day 1 and which player does not? Why is it okay for our Freshman PG to only pass and not score, play defense or rebound and yet our freshman wing not be allowed to only be a three point shooter? Why, as a Freshman, does he need to create his own shot, shoot off the dribble and shut down the other team's wing? I too can point to national championship teams who had role players as a three-point specialist. Maybe because the team lacks someone else to stretch the defense because our "bigs" cannot? and because our wings can score but cannot shoot? Because our PG has some skills but not others? And why are we missing such players with such skills? More lack of player development? Or "x''s and o's" ? bad recruiting? And let's not bring up S2 again.

JGood and Jacobs were our backup PGs as well. How did that go for us?

You are an idiot. Are you really that dumb or is this an act?

Jim Roder graduated high school (DeSmet) in 1982 and went to K-State for 2 years before transferring and coming home. Ted Mimlitz SLUH) I believe graduated in 1983 and went to Mizzou for 1 year. Both joined the guys you mentioned as well as 2 other locals - Reditt Hudson (U City) and Dale Renkin (Howell)

Archie Miller has not fallen so low he needs to lap up the Loyola job . Why Moser’s assistant? Because the RM system works and maybe they hope and expect that he will continue the RM system Why more coaches don’t realize is beyond me

Travis hasn’t lost his recruiting. I am a broken record here but the equalizing factor of college ball is experience and we were robbed of experience these past 2 years. And success breeds more success and S2, COVID and unfortunate events hampered our success. As Cowboy says best: it’s hard work being a Billiken fan.

Good locals are the hardest to get - and yet the only ones we have a chance with. It’s all about winning No one grows up saying I want to be an A-10 Champ and yet non- A10 and non-buy games are few and far between. Many will come to a winning team though That Teddy Valentine no call hurts more than this year’s team. Same w the 34 day pause, S2, Yuri’s injuries this year and last, Thatch’s illness, Gibson’s injury last year, not post season last year...

A few additional factors. First, JGood stayed local and did not travel to a distant college and may likely have the itch to leave town. Second, D1 basketball with NBA dreams is a full-time job is a daily grind with grueling physical practices and also mental demands from new plays to scouting reports to game travel. Third, he has already been here 4 years and not 3. Hardly the carefree world of college I and most others fondly remember.

Agreed

Hard to believe but Yuri will be a JR so getting his heir apparent to push him and be his back up (Yuri has been injured both years), learn the position and allow Yuri to catch his breath is not a bad idea. Without JGood or Jacobs, we will need a PG to lead the team at least 10 minutes per game. Same with Bell who will be a JR and Linssen who will be a SR?

Hard to believe but Yuri will be a JR so getting his heir apparent to push him and be his back up (Yuri has been injured both years), learn the position and allow Yuri to catch his breath is not a bad idea. Without JGood or Jacobs, we will need a PG to lead the team at least 10 minutes per game. Same with Bell who will be a JR and Linssen who will be a SR?

Yes. I would sure like to know if Lorentsson can be this guy.

Two excellent posts. Well said.

Thanks Shoe bc from the video I was thinking Rob Loe.

I still remember the radio interview of RM before he even coached a single practice when he explained his philosophy and said his two most important positions were the 1 and 4... Never heard anything similar from Ford. No problem basing your team on JGood and French but JGood is not a PG or playmaker and French never added to his game. Where would we be had we not lost the S2 guys? And he tried w Gordon and Santos and then filled in with Linssen. Not bad but not his first plan. But where are we going? How can a former PG (Ford) not have more depth at that that position? And I dont care about efficiency percentages and other stats - but Thatch will never be our scorer and is not what we had expected- our defensive specialist - and bc of his serious and unexpected illnesses likely may never be - another setback to Ford. Jacobs is gone but he was never the PG or answer. Are we going in a new direction with Lorentsson maybe playing the 4 and stretching defenses? And Strickland playing the wing - JGood’s spot - sounds like a great kid and athlete but I doubt he dribbles much. So we will return Strickland, Fred, Hargrove and Gibson who can’t or dont dribble much and only Jimerson who can really shoot it? Too many guys who are elite at A but deficient at B. Hard to win game in and game out over a long season with team‘s who can and will scout us and exploit our weaknesses.

I remember a day when players earned their playing time based upon actual production and didn’t start or get minutes bc of of their style, how they looked playing, how they played 3 games ago or bc its “their turn”now. I also remember a day where defense got you playing time and when defense triggered the fast pace so many long for. Allowing the other team to score and then pushing the ball up the floor to throw up the first shot is not any recipe for success and would result in even more complaints and less success. But who needs this when we should pass out playing time to our favorites?

The best recruiter AND tactician, by far, was RM. He not only brought in some of our best talent we have ever had he brought in (KM, Reed, CE...) but he developed them (Conklin, Evans, Jett, Loe, McCall) so that his teams set screens to perfection, bigs learned proper footwork, guys benefitted from mastering rebound angles while RM watched, analyzed, remembered and made halftime adjustments which helped us win. Spoon’s teams were also well coached, defensive minded and played hard and smart to make up for the lack of raw talent. But Charlie always had multiple PGs, multiple 3 point shooters and bigs who were more mobile than big or tall. As such, when we controlled tempo, we were able to beat really good Cincy, Marquette and Louisville teams but when we could not control the tempo, we got blown out of the gym to Cincy, UAB and Memphis... Havent been able to truly figure out Ford yet. JGood was a great first, early recruit but not sure if he fit any style of Ford’s. He was talented from the start but early development focused on his dribbling and court vision along with general shooting. French was good to have but he never developed the 10-15 footer or the 3 pt shot a guy his height could have used. Development occurred early as he became stronger, worked on his dribble, spin and power moves ... but then nothing - and from an undersized forward. Shooting is on the player - especially FTs - and not the coach. Coach Ford certainly is a good recruiter - a strength of his. But is he a smart recruiter or just does he just stockpile similar talent which does not mesh? Honestly not sure. Brad never got any talent to complement his stars and Spoon never landed good enough talent over the years though both got the maximum from their talent. RM also got the most from his talent but teams were far better than the sum of the parts. So far, Coach Ford’s team appear to be the opposite- the parts are greater than the team. Why? Empty original cupboards didn’t help, JGood and French’s skills are very unique, loss of a PG, combo guard and 3 pt shooter with S2 hurt, not realizing his guys were not coming back until that Spring hurt and extended matters another year. Then the rebuild was sidelined last year by the loss of the postseason and this year by the 34 day pause this year. At the same time, only 1 real PG, no big who can stretch the defense by shooting from 15 foot or 3 pt line, only Gibson who can really shoot the 3, our wings mostly all better at slashing/scoring/effort rather than shooting. More talent is always welcomed but more complementary talent is what is really needed.

I am not sure that’s fair... but how many guys spend their summer shooting with their D1 head coach? Gyms, spring/summer leagues were affected last year for all due to covid And Yuri needs to work on finishing in the lane and among the trees as well Hard to get a fair read on Coach Ford. He inherited nothing, then devastated for 2 years by S2 and then 2 MORE years by COVID