cgeldmacher

Two more missed layups by Gordon. 4 by him in last three minutes.

Three missed layups in last two minutes.

Jacobs has handed them 6-8 points.

Goodwin hasn’t passed on a fast break all season.

Jacobs has more passes to Oregon St. than his teammates.

Their 7 footer already out with 2 fouls.

Keep kicking to Thatch. He’s got to produce too.

Now shots are falling and we have the lead.

Offense has produce two layups and three wide open three pointers. All missed. Not the offensive scheme.

Especially when we get the ball inside and the big gets double teamed. If the players position themselves properly at that point, you will get an open shot. Our guys are not putting themselves in the proper place when the double team comes. That's either because their not being coached where to go or they're not going to the spot that they are being coached to go to. Based on the frustration I see on Ford's face when we botch the setup, I'm thinking the players aren't going where they are being coached to go.

I'm not ready to write off our offensive woes as system problems. All college teams need to have the threat of three pointers to win. I believe that the system we have is to work the ball inside out, meaning get the ball to French or Gordon and then make the defense decide who to guard. If they don't double team our big, then our big makes a move and gets a basket maybe like 70% of the time. If they double, then the big's job is to kick it out to the open man for a three or an open drive through the lane. At the least, hitting the open man out of a double team inside throws the defense out of balance and should create easy points from smart positioning and passing after that first pass from the big. In this system, you can't take away all three aspects that working inside out creates. (1) If you don't double the big, the big get his chance to make a move and score. (2) if you double the big, and guard shooters outside, then you leave the lane open for a cutter to get a pass from the big and an easy basket. (3) if you double the big and crowd the lane to take away passes for easy layups, you leave the three point line open. SIU-C chose, appropriately, to double the big and crowd the lane. It's the smart move when a team can't hit their threes. Until we start hitting our shots, we are going to continue to have this problem. Again, no college team can have any sort of successful offensive scheme if it cannot hit outside shots. When we ran this offense last year and the beginning of this year and it worked, everyone loved it. Now that teams are figuring out that their best bet defensively is to make us hit outside shots, it's not working as well. It's not because the scheme is wrong. It's because our guys aren't hitting shots. Once we do, if we do, it will the open up the other aspects of this offense back up and we will be scoring in the 70s and 80s. It's very lazy to suggest that we should just fast break. Every fan who's team is not scoring says the same thing, "we should run more." It's not that simple. A team may only give a 3-5 real opportunities a game to fast break into points. Could we do a better job on the break out, yes. Can we get more points per game simply by saying "fast break more," no. I think that the problem with our offense is guys not positioning themselves properly once the ball goes inside. That is something that the coaches can help them with, but I also think the guys are coached what to do and then not doing it. I think our shots are going to start falling, especially if they get in the right position to get a clear square shot at the basket. That's what our offensive system calls for. It's just not happening yet.

I actually think that Isabelle would score more points at the two, because it would allow our offense to flow better and get him better shots.

I think the problem with the title to this thread is that it assumes that there are only two options. 1. we do well this season, or win a particular game and this is because of the great talent that Ford has recruited, 2. we don't do as well as expected this season, or lose a particular game, and this is because Ford cannot coach. This sort of A or B mentality is the shortest of short-sided thinking among sports fans. There are all sorts of factors that lead to success or failure in any season and in any game. In college sports, it's matchups, home vs. road, injuries, girlfriend problems, family problems that we don't know about involving kids that may be hundreds of miles away from home. The list could go on and on and we'd never be able to put down all of the reasons. No coach is perfect. Majerus was one of the most brilliant basketball minds, but didn't recruit as well as he should have been able to and sounded like Drunk Uncle when giving a post game interview. Some coaches can't recruit or coach. We've had a few of those. Ford is an outstanding recruiter and has shown (last two seasons and defense right now) that he can coach. If he had some shooters, ones that were supposed to be here (not on him) and ones that he maybe didn't land (on him), then we'd be in a much different spot. I actually give him credit for winning the games we have won with such terrible shooting from the field and from the line. There's an argument that he's squeezed a lot out of guys that can't shoot. The problem right now is execution. JGood is not JGood from the end of last season right now. We don't have a calming influence in the offense right now like we did in Roby last season. The players need to play better within the system they have and make shots. I promise you this, if the players had been running the offense that they are learning in practice and if they had hit more shots (not coaching) then we would be undefeated and not having this discussion.

Old Guy, I would assume that the final score is correct and that the stats are wrong.

I'm not saying that this won't be a tough game, but I think we may match up with them well. They thrive on shooting the three. We defend the three very well. They have a guy that we need to shut down to have a better chance. We have one of the best in the country at shutting someone down, and a second guy that can give the first guy a break. I'm not sure that they will have an answer for French and Gordon down low. Our biggest concern has to be getting into foul trouble. If we are guarding the three point line like we need to, our bigs will be on an island as far as defending inside. If they get early fouls, that throws our matchup advantage out the window.

That's right now, when the lower conference teams actually get a chance to play to power conference teams. I'm guessing that the problem with the NET is that it will overvalue mediocre power conference teams playing against other mediocre power conference teams during the entire second half of the season.

Now this I agree with. Often, those that criticize simply are complaining about having a computer system being involved in the process without realizing the implications that not having a computer system would have. Now, if we want to pick apart how the computer system uses the data it is given, I have no problem with that.

Whenever anyone criticizes the RPI or the NET or whatever new systems comes into place for computer ranking of teams, I always understand their complaints and feel that they have valid points. However, remember that a computer based system like the one they us in any particular year is typically the only thing standing between the committee and its desire to use the "eye test" to put in all power conference teams. Fans of teams like SLU should be very careful with their criticism of the computers.

After making the tournament this year, SLU should buy billboards all over the state advertising us as "Missouri's Basketball Team."

These three guys have the potential to be a very, very fun grouping of guys to watch play together.

I was at the game. My observation was that Troy's defensive plan was to take away our inside game in the first half, then transition to zone in the second half hoping that would adjust to our adjustment. The first half plan worked, but our three point shooting negated their second half plan and got us the win. I have been very impressed with Gordon so far. Many on this board thought he was a one and done type, but I figured that he had to learn a lot first. He has been playing very disciplined basketball and is learning to play defense better on every possession. Once he settles in, his post moves will mean that either he or French will be against the other team's second best big defender. That will be a good situation for us. Isabell played a much better all around game against Troy. Free throw shooting and 3 point shooting wasn't great, but he played more disciplined at both ends of the floor. Goodwin is getting stats, but is not on top of his game right now. I agree that he needs to slow down. A lot of teams are losing games against lesser opponents. We're 2-0. Let's appreciate that.

I disagree that Bess cannot create for himself. He had several baskets where he made one quick move and then pulled up for a jumper that went in. It's just hard to do that when Isabell gets the ball, decides to drive, and throws the ball up. If the ball doesn't end up in Bess's hands, he can't shoot it. Often, when the ball did end up in his hands, he was loyal to the play that Ford was running and dished it off accordingly. So far, that's not happening with Isabell. I just think that when there's 10 seconds on the shot clock, Ford should give instructions that Bess gets the ball. Goodwin can definitely get you points, but his jump shot is not there right now. I want Goodwin to stick to his game, slashing to the basket to score and getting rebounds that he puts back in, until the shot comes around.

Javon Bess is our best option to get a basket when we need it. Despite this, Isabell seems to think he's the star of the team and our go to guy. They both got 18 points despite the fact that it seemed like the ball was in Isabell's hands four times as much as it was in Bess's. I think that Ford needs to correct this. The numbers don't even tell the complete story, but Bess was more efficient from the field, better from three (33% from three rather than 0-fer), 4-6 from the free throw line compared to Isabell's 6-11, and Bess had more assists (3) than Isabell (1) despite the fact that Isabell was somewhat in a PG role. Bess had one turnover compared to 4 from Isabell. Bess had more rebounds. Defensive results aren't even close. I know these stats come from only one game, but they also match up with the eye test from the first two games this year. Bess needs the ball more!!! When the team was able to pry the ball out of Isabell's hands and get it to Bess, he made several smooth jumpers where he got his own shot. I feel like he could do this more if he got the ball more. I would suggest that Ford instruct Goodwin to get the ball to Bess more often. I would also love to see the coaches work with Bess and French on developing a good two man isolation situation where the other three guys are on the other side of the court. This will open both French and Bess up to more opportunities. I don't want to get too down on Isabell. He's a good talent. However, he needs to settle into our offensive game plan more and get much better defensively before he asserts himself so much.

Was that Lisch on the other team?

8-5 Non-con 14-4 Conference 2-1 A-10 Tourney 24-10 total and we get screwed by the committee on the argument that we don't have any signature wins.