Aquinas

This game scares me. I've watched a couple of Davidson games. If you let them shoot open 3s they drill them, and we often give up open 3s. We need to play high energy D from the start and not give up open looks from the parameter. Not lose track of there shooters. We don't want to let an otherwise poor 3 point shooting team start feeling it, and turn them into a good 3 point shooting team.

I went to a Kentucky at Florida game a few years ago. In my opinion, the college energy and atmosphere of the game was superior at the UF game when compared to Billiken games, with one exception, THE BAND. And it wasn't close.

I dont think you can be a good recruiter with bad people skills. Right now getting players to play defense and play selflessly is harder than ever. Player want highlight video and offensive numbers. They are distracted by NBA dreams, NIL and transferring. They have a lot of people in their ear. Coaches today have to get through a lot of noise to reach a player. I think Ford has demonstrated his people skills in recruiting and this past season by keeping this team together. We would be looking at a very different season if Yuri had bolted and Picket not joined the team. None of the returning players had to come back. I alsovthink that a month from now we will be glad Perkins came back.

I won't be surprised if Jimmmerson goes into coaching after his playing career. He is smart, articulate and is a student of the game. In spite of not being anywhere near the most athletic player he probably leads the team in receiving yards and baskets on fast breaks. He has learned to cut to the basket for easy and not so easy under the basket layups. His international business degree probably gives him a much greater awareness of the business of div 1 basketball. An international business degree, means he likes to travel. I have no idea if he is interested in coaching. I'm just saying that from a distance it looks like he has some of the building blocks.

This has to be a tough time for Perkins. What he does this season, establishes his opportunities and value as a post college player. Im sure he has NBA aspirations. The difference between an amazing play and turnover is a small fraction of a second. In the instant a player thinks about making a move, the opportunity closes. The moves have to by instinctive. It takes a 100% healthy player time to reclaim those skills. If he is less than 100%, everything is harder and less certain. Sitting weeks to heal, may not leave enough time to recover his game skills. Its a dilemma for Perkins and Ford.

Especially after that 20 assist game. Though it takes depth to do that for a whole game. Im also hoping to see continued progress by Perkins. As Perkins improves, he also requires more defensive attention.

Right now, we are a little better than we were last year. Expectations this year of being significantly better depend largely on the recovery of Perkins. If memory serves me right, it took Erin C the better part of 2 months to return to form after sitting out a year, and he wasn't recovering from an injury.

I think hanging this one on Ford is ridiculous. We had a top 25 team on the ropes, on their floor. Our veteran guys missed key free-throws.

Ford said a week ago the team came out slow in the previous game and had been doing that in practices. We are not good enough to coast. The projections of this team being top 25 assume Perkins is functioning at pre-injury levels. Perkins is not yet up to speed. He is hitting open 3s but not much beyond that. Right now, I think the Billikens are as good as Perkins is. We will be inconsistent until Perkins is back to his old self.

Great write up Wiz!

That makes 3 bigs with little experience going into next season. I have to believe Ford will sign at least one transfer big. It could be that coach is looking to go with a more traditional center and power forward next season. If we signed a transfer center and power forward. The 3 young players play to their abilities and we would be set up front. We should be attractive to big transfers, with hopefully a strong season this year and playing time available. It could all depend on who is available and interested. Hopefully Bruce will be able to get on campus early. So often international students get delayed.

Any video on him?

Wiz, what number rank do you show us? IE 40th in the country or what?

We are being picked in the top 25 by a number of experts. We have a really good team. Enjoy the ride.

I would like to know how the new players are looking. Especially Momo and Parker. It might be cool in the future to interview players with NIL deals that are promoting products. Let them pitch their products and of course talk some basketball.

Awesome!

I would like to see midtown madness interview this guy and ideally have him breakdown our guards.

I will project a twist . Ford could start a big lineup like he did Bell's freshman year. Momo, Okoro, Perkins, Gibson and Yuri, for the first 3 to 5 min each half. This starting lineup would give us experience playing big, and we will need to play big against some teams. Some opponents will have trouble matching up with 2 bigs, especially with good outside shooting guards. It will also allow Momo to develop and see what he is capable of. It will help us know what if we have and need for next year, as Okoro and Foster will be gone. It will also help us to retain Momo. Players who don't play are at high risk of moving on in today's game.

Evans was a preferred walk on at USF. played in 1 game

I follow Florida Gator football. Just read an article that states they have 5 million in their collective. They have contracts with l15 players, one basketball the rest football. They are promoting 6/month individual contributions. Of course they have a huge alumni base. After watching the game last night, it looks like they have a rising star QB. What will he be worth at the end of the year, if he doesn't go pro. Some of these schools are going to raise a ton of money, but their desire to win National Championships is going to channel a lot of it to a few star players. I think it remains to be seen what is left for non star football players and basketball. I think its telling, that the distribution is 15 to iwhen the football team had a preseason raring in the mid to upper 30s.

To be favored to make the sweet 16, a team needs to be in the top 16 teams being seeded. In other words in the top 4 seeds. To go to the sweet sixteen, obviously you have to win your first game. The odds of winning the first round game improve significantly with a 3 seed or better. Thats because the auto bids of the 14 seeds and higher are conference winners from generally weak conferences. I took the brackets from last year with the overall ranking of the average seeds facing seeds 1-9. 1 seeds faced teams averaging 180 2 faced 146 3 faced 127 4 faced 83 5 faced 59 6 faced 42 7 faced 38 8 faced 32 I through 3 seeds should win there first round games, though almost every year a 3 gets upset and rarely a 2. There isn't much difference between the strength of the first round team faced by a 6, 7 or 8. So in my view, if a coach fails to win round one with a 3 seed or better. He deserves criticism.

While there is a lot of energy at a home football game, it also demonstrates the monsterous gap between football and basketball in big football schools. Those huge football stadiums dwarf the basketball arenas. Fans care more about one field goal than anything that happens with the basketball program. Basketball is a second class sport at the big football schools. I would think there is a an attraction to being able to star in a schools top sport.

Clearly, he can shoot.. The biggest question I have is his ability to defend the post. More specifically the speed to stay with his man and not foul.

I'm also a fan. Was just in Alaska and ordered a king crab leg for lunch. Go Billiken.

These universities all promote the global warming crisis and smaller carbon footprints. Yet when it come to their own revenue streams, they are greatly increasing the carbon footprints of there athletic departments in these conferences that cover ever more real-estate.