Aquinas

Am not happy that he backed out, but It's really hard to say what we have lost. His stats were very modest. He was signed for his potential. Whether he actually reaches anything close to his potential, remains to be seen.

My impression is that Yuri's desire to improve his NBA resume exceeded his desire to win. He wanted to show that he could take over games, hit contested shots and hit long shots. In some games it appear he got caught up in the hype and wanted to show that he was clearly better than the opposing point guard. He couldn't resist the temptation to try dominating a game, especially late in the game. In my view it hurt the team. Though I will miss his amazing passes, I think its best for both parties, that we go our separate ways.

Ford sometimes has a quick hook, but it usually due to a blown defensive play, stupid foul or a tough missed shot early in the clock. He tolerates some sub par defense when a player scores more than he gives up. As an example, Perkins moved from high tolerance prior to his injury, to low tolerance after his injury, when his defensive play declined and his offensive game declined. Hughes minutes went up as his defense improved. If you want to play for Ford, play tough defensive, if you don't have a high percentage shot, pass the ball and don't do anything stupid.

If he can be on campus in June I'll be very happy. International players frequently arrive late.

He looks like a bully ball player and I like it! I believe Ford is looking for impact players for this year.

On an inbound play with a chance to free Jimerson, I would make him the first option. In a one on one game, with Jimerson vs Parker, I would take Parker. Having both on the floor at the same time makes the Bills pretty good at the 2-3 positions.

Wiz, how rare is it that a D- FT shooter, is a B- 3 point shooter. I tend to think good 3 point shooting is an anomaly , when shot by below avg FT shooter. What 3 point shooting grade would you forecast for him next year?

He did 2 years of JC and 2 at Tulsa. I have not seen anything specific about years of eligibility. Tulsa listed him as a Forward and given our situation, I think it is safe to assume he will play the 4 for us. Looks like he is boxing out in the picture below.

That brings back a lot if good memories. The program was a lot Hardee to follow back then. Little TV, obscure radio stations and no podcasts. Is addition to the people in the program, Deacon Ed Macauley was one of the good guys.

If the goal is top 2 in the A10, and to dance with a reasonable chance to get past the opening game, we need a 4, who can stop a legit 4. My definition of a 4, is a passionate rebounder, who holds his ground, alters and blocks shots. Wins or at least breaks even against a ligit 4. Any shooting beyond free throw range is gravy. Ideal size 6-8, 6-9, 245. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a stretch 4, but it requires a player who can do a reasonable job of defending inside... there aren't many. We already tried wings at the 4, including Perkins, Picket, TJ and even Thatch. It works sometimes but fails embarrassingly agaist bigger stronger players. Smaller players generally get in foul trouble when mismatched. A 6-7 player works IF, he is as solid and passionate as French.

I dont think you ever have enough recruiting connections. We have had some trouble recruiting specific needs. We desperately needed an additional ball hander and a 4 last year and didn't get them. We are in a position now where we only have one proven starter, no experienced div I post players and we are lite in experienced ball handers. Before we worry about Xs and Os, we have to have players. If we don't land experienced players, everything we run will be basic. .

I like the hire. He brings strong international recruiting that we currently don't have and he knows the Billikens really well, so he can get situated and hit the ground running. I'm hoping for an immediate payoff.

One of the huge problems we had last year was lack of steals. We ranked 313 in steals per game. 333 in steals per min. What makes that worse, is we had a team that loved a fast break and did a good job of finishing. We had a team designed to take advantage of steals.

I will say Gibson today is significantly better than Gibson then. Yuri vs Hughes. Simply, I want to see Hughes back. I'm more excited about Cian/Hughes than I would be if Yuri decided to play another year. Thatch vs TJ. Fred's health never let him reach his potential. I keep hoping TJ will play Div 1 defense, but this far into his career I'm skeptical. Parker over Nesbit every day of the week. I'm OK with our guards, though they would have to mature quickly to reach tournament level this season. We will have some rough times with the learning curve at the point. The real keys are the unknown forwards.

For what it's worth, Rivera and TJ are listed as forwards on SLUbillikens.com. In these 2 cases, I take that to mean the coaching staff thinks of them as 4s. I dont think it is sane to play either as a 5.

He couldn't find a better opportunity to start. This really hurts.

If you look at teams with steals, VCU had 4 guys average between 1.1 and 1.5 steals per game and one guy with 2.2. Our best last year was Yuri at 1.3 and Fred at 1. Hugh's had .4 steals in 8 min of play, which is promising. TJ only had .3 in 20 min of play, which is bad. Parker had .3 in 13 min. Jimmerson had .5 in 34 min. In addition to speed, it takes passion, focus, anticipation and knowing player and team tendencies. With a team full of wings last year I expected more steals, but it didn't happen. As a team we averaged 5 per game, VCU averaged 8.9. It was also the only stat where we were upside down o to 6.4. We have a long way to go.

If our goal is 4th in the A10, then play TJ at the 4. But if our goal is to be 1st in he A10 and have a shot at the sweet 16, then we need to be able to play with teams that have legit 4s. TJ, Picket and Perkins played the 4 last year and we struggled. We need a tenacious rebounder who can hold their ground under the basket. We need a 4 who can take pressure off of our stable of inexperienced bigs. TJ can jump, but he is only 6-4, 215. In 20 min a game last year, he got 3.7 rebounds and .3 steals. The 4 was our weakest position last year and it must be upgraded if we are to have any hopes of a better team.

Gibson returning is huge! He has made significant improvements in his game each year, works really hard and he plays team ball. In my view he was our best player last year. His quick release is amazing. We now have pieces we can build around and hopefully attract the missing pieces.

Listening to sr night. They went to commercial, when I assume Jimerson spoke. Did he indicate that he is absolutely gone?

Different players. You would think that a team filled with athletic wings, would be good at guarding the 3 point line. But we have problems. Some of our players still get lost on the floor. We some times double the ball when it goes inside, leaving a player on the perimeter. We often double because our bigs are in foul trouble or they can't stop their big guy one on one. The team that is able to make an additional pass to an average, to good 3 point shooter kills us. I have never seen a team give up so many wide open 3s. Its the same story with forcing turnovers. A team filled with athletic wings should generate a lot of turnovers. We don't. Far too often our guys don't seem interested are motivated to play high energy, focused defense. We get a big lead and they relax, throw a soft pass, pick up a stupid foul, not get back on defense or lose track of their man. Its frustrating to watch.

I believe coach Ford was hired because in 8 years at Oklahoma he went to 5 NCAA tournaments. If you don't count the first 2 rebuild years and the Covid year, which is fair because the cupboard was bare when he got here and there was no open portal at the time. That is still 1 dance in 4 years, if you assume we don't run the table this year. I dont think he is in trouble for repeating his performance in Oklahoma, I think he is in trouble because he hasn't repeated what he did in Oklahoma.

The short comings of not adding a 2nd ball handler and a 4 has really hurt us. I was hoping maybe Picket would cover the lack of a 4, but not when facing a real 4. A 6'7" rebounder with attitude would have helped a lot. I have no idea how hard it is to land the players we want or need. Have to believe that Coach Ford was looking for both of those needs.

How about playing Parker ahead of Perkins? We are in Feb and Perkins is clearly not moving well enough to recover his previous form. He is basically a spot up 3 point shooter, who likes to play hero ball. Parker continues to improve. If we are going to win the A10 tournament, we need to shake things up.

I've seen Yuri pick up a lot of stupid fouls when he should have been playing safe.