Aquinas

Jacob's showed confidence in his abilities by staying with the Billikens. He also showed maturity by taking his time on the sidelines to study the offence and defense systems that the Billikens run, so he would know what to do when he got his next chance. I hope Hargrove sees that and takes the same path.

It looks like the perfect storm. Mizzou up at the half, big man sat in the first half with foul trouble coming back in the second half. It didn't look good, but looked like the game was under control. The wheels came off in the second half. Tigers couldn't hit a 3, Charleston gets red hot and the tigers didn't make the required adjustments to at least win ugly. Anybody can get upset, but this team was way at the bottom of division 1.

The Tigers lost a home buy game to a team ranked about 330. They should have won by 25, instead lose by 8. Clearly the worst loss under coach Martin and might be the worst in history. The Tiger board is in flames, with calls for Martin's firing. The Tigers are 4 and 4, with a tough road game coming up against Temple and of coures a tough SEC schedule on the horizon. Their post season hopes died last night.

In addition to the early season success this year, I am there are are 2 things that strike me as exceptional at this Thanksgiving time. 1. I think the qualiy of the message board this year has been the best ever, and my hat is off, to all of those who have contributed to the exceptional posting on recruiting and other Billiken news and observations. 2. Coach Ford has done an excepltional job, not just recruiting 3 and 4 star recruits, but aslo identifying 2 star recruits that are under the national radar, Hankton, Jacobs, Collins and Jimmmerson. I also believe that Madani will prove to be a project worth investing in. Yuri and Jimmerson at this point appear to be Billikens who will put up record setting numbers by the time they will graduate.

Our pressing defence, and our higher tempo offence, at times results in chaos...... if ever there were a player created to excell in chaos, it is Jordan Goodwin.

When it comes to the starting lineup. At this point i would like to see: Bell, at the 5, We are going to need him this year, to allow French to play the 4 against bigger and better teams. It also helps keep French out of early foul trouble . French at the 4. He is our most dominant player and forces teams to double him. Goodwin, he is on everybodies starting lineup. Jimmmerson, He is probably our best sniper and his defence is pretty good. We need a guy to stretch the floor. Collins, Put me in the Yurimania camp. I was super impressed with his team management and comfort on the floor. This lineup puts pressure on the other teams defence. They have to double French, and can't afford to lose track of Jimmmerson on the perimeter. That opens things up for Goodwin and Collins. Once things start clicking for Bell, he will also be open for some easy layups, when they double French. OK, I know that is 3 starting with 3 freshmen on the floor and Thatch isn't in this lineup. I think Fred would be better coming off of the bench. Untill he starts hitting his 3s at a better rate, it makes it hard to start him. I think for things to click at this part of the season, we need at least 2 of our 3 returners on the floor all of the time. So if French or Goodwin come out, we need Thatch on the floor. Ford now also has the ability to put out diffent starting lineups and rotations based on the opponents streanths and weaknesses. There will be games where he may want Thatch on the floor to shut down big scorer. Or a small team where French can dominate at the 5, Bell will sit more. We have not had this kind of flexibility in a long time.

I dont recall anyone saying Bell will start in May or June. This thread started June 1st, when it became apparent that Ford was not going to fill the last scholarship. I started stating the significance of French playing the 4, on June 4th. There could be someone who projected Bell as a starter before I did, but I would have to see it to believe it. The general consensus of the board was that French would play the 5 and bell would back him up.

Is there any broadcast of tonight's game?

I will humbly nominate myself for the preseason Billiken message board - Crystal Ball Trophy, for projecting Jimmy Bell as starting center on July 18. That is assuming he actually starts. I think Jacobs has surprised everyone. The returners were pretty much a given, at least to start the season. I think Jimmmerson, may shoot his way into the top 5 in player minutes by conference play.

Thank you for the detailed analysis.

We are thin at the forward positions and an injury or absence of French for any reason, even within a game would put our backs to the wall. In an interview last year, Ford said he was considering playing KC at the 5 last year, in order to play French at the 4, because he believes French will be much more effective there. I dont see any of our wings being able to defend 4s, very well. Our lack of depth at the forward positions will occasionally mean one of them will have to step up. Goodwin might even be the best option. In any event, there is no way we redshirt a healthy Madani.

I reviewed the Slubillikens roster. Jacob's shot 43% from the arc, and 87% from the line in his last prep year... so he can shoot. I believe he stayed with this team because he is confident in his ability to play. The other interesting thing I noticed is that Hargrove is listed as a forward, along with being 6' 4", 195. Perkins as another example is listed as guard forward. I'm not sure who lists the positions or if it means anything. They also list Diarra as a center, and Bell as a forward, I can't imagine Bell playing anything but the 5 this year.

I've been promoting the idea of Bell playing significant minutes for quite awhile. Primarily because I think it gives us a chance for French to dominate as a power forward. One way to look at it, is that French, within the A10, is probably an grade A power forward and a B center. If Bell can play at a C level, we have a combined B at the post positions. If French plays center, I don't see any of our guards playing above a C level as a power forward. So we would then average C+ at the post positions. French at the 5 is also more prone to foul trouble. I would like to see a commitment to French at the 4, starting Bell, and backing him up with Hankton and Madani. As we only have 4 bigs, at least one of the guards will get significant minutes at power forward, so I will forecast Perkins, as he has JC experience there and is taller than the other guards. Playing Bell and French at the same time makes us a big scary team. I like the idea of the big Billiken Bruisers overpowering weaker opponents.

I agree, as a team we shot poorly. Bess however made the most remarkable shooting progress that I ever recall seeing in a player in his Jr and Sr years. Ford obviously went after some proven shooters for this season, and my hope is that wil] open up some easier shots for our other players. Shots start going down and confidence goes up.

Makes me wonder what Chicago area players we are looking at?