Bills By 40

I too missed the poll but consider this as my "hell yeah we should" vote

It is a good argument because those P5 NIT matchups represent 5 of their 39 games played. They had two P5 games in the non-con meaning 7 of their 39 games played were against upper level competition - everything else was MO Valley or lesser. Less than 18% of all games played were against upper level competition and the team went 4-3 in those games.

Another large factor in my argument is that there may be weight to the ISU guys' numbers being put up against Valley competition and our guys up against Ivy, A10, ACC, and Big 12 competition. It's a safe assumption to make that those guys at that level would have higher counting stats inherently.

I agree completely. Expect he can match Larry's production at least in counting numbers.

Yes, the bench will be better, but I don't think the starting lineup will be any worse. Not quick to say it will be BETTER, but I see it this way: Swope and Robbie will be better than last year, individually. A year of experience and both physical and mental maturity, not to mention Swope will be at 100% rather than playing through an injury. I think Gibby is as good as Conwell, at least in an offense suited to his playing style with a coach who has any measurable competency. If you look at their numbers season over season there's no reason to believe he'll be less productive. This is not a comment on their playing styles - they're different players, but a good coach like Schertz will scheme around that. There's no reason Kalu can't be as good a PF as Kent was, and especially considering the combination of Kalu and Casey I fully believe we'll get more production out of the 4 spot than Indiana State had last year. When you compare their stats through the same point in their career the edge is actually strongly in favor of Anya, and he did it against arguably better competition: Kent: Anya: Same physical attributes with a 10lb advantage for Anya. Similar playing styles. If you assume Schertz and his system was the difference, why couldn't Anya be that much better than Kent? Their per 40 numbers comparing last year apples to apples: JK - 17.8PPG/10.69RPG/0.79APG/0.66BPG/0.92SPG/3.43FPG/1.45TOPG KA - 14.02PPG/10.8RPG/2.48APG/1.46BPG/1.75SPG/3.07FPG/3.36TOPG (I know per-40 numbers aren't a perfect science but play the game with me) The advantage goes to Anya in 4 of 5 counting stats, he fouls less, and while he does commit more turnovers his A/TO ratio is still better - 0.55 (JK) to 0.74 (KA). Then we're talking about Larry. I don't care to do the math again but look at his 2022-2023 numbers compared to Kobe's last year numbers: Larry: Kobe: Kobe's numbers are against Big 12 competition, Larry's are against MO Valley. Draw your own conclusions

Of course he can score, the tape shows that and I believe it, but what I mean is in the starting lineup he's realistically our fourth or fifth option. The best defensive guards will be assigned to Swope and Gibby, forwards obviously won't be guarding him, so his production relative to expectations oughta be no problem whatsoever. I expect his scoring output to increase from last year

If he can fill the Goodwin role in every aspect other than offensively we will be a force to be reckoned with. Any offense from him is just a bonus for real

Lol @ the technical foul, second clip second video. Imagine if Goodwin had gotten a technical every time he did that. Real excited for this dude though.

FWIW, he's saying "Rob Wave." A play on the name of a rapper, Rod Wave, of whom Robbie's a big fan. He's got some good music

Do you keep that same attitude about alcohol?

Think bigger. Anyone worth minutes for us should be a bigger get than this guy.

Coach specifically said he can guard the 1-5. I don't fully buy the guarding a point guard thing but his tape is promising. The point is he can definitely guard the 5 and that's obviously a big part of why he was targeted. You're correct - Tim Dalger was downright AWFUL. Least favorite Billiken in Ford's tenure.

Expanded. But I’m real high on this kid, feels like a perfect fit.

Not exactly saying I claim responsibility, but I did talk to Schertz at the NIL fundraiser last Tuesday RE: the unique mascot we have and how much so many of us despised the Team Blue branding. He said how much he loved the Billiken and STL and planned to embrace it. I didn't take too much of it at the time but so far I'd say he's really sticking to this word.

It’s also Swope’s birthday today, fun coincidence.