Billikenswin

I just received an email as a Billiken Club member and one as a season ticket holder. I would think all folks in those categories would have received one today.

I do not understand you continued negative comments about next year's team.They have not yet played a single game or even had one team practice with this new group. The reports I get from everyone in the program say that the returning players are working very hard and are intensely committed to be better next year. I also have heard good reports about our three frosh. Why not wait until they have practiced and play a few games before you become totally negative? If we play very poorly in the first 10 games and then play poorly in the A10 early games there will be plenty of time to go negative! Go Billikens!

I seldom post because I cannot stand the tone and approach of so many posters who include misinformation and outright lies in posts and people pretend they are true but I cannot sit by and leave this one alone. DaLove is absolutely correct in saying that the statement that we are ignoring all of the good local prospects is clueless. I can confirm two things--first, our relationships with former Billiken local and out of town players and local folks who are in the know about the local basketball players and teams is the best it has been in many, many years and much better than when Rick was coach. Second, we are working very hard to recruit local players and are very hopeful that those efforts will bring us some excellent players to join our team in the coming years.

I can confirm this as well. We all need to be patient and see how this team develops over the next year. Obviously, recruiting is important. Among some of the more active MBMs on this board the level of negativity over the past month is truly amazing. I was here in the Ekker days and I can promise everyone that for someone to suggest that we are back to those time is a ludicrous joke and an incredible insult to this team and the coaching staff.

From my personal view of them in the games and in practice. Might I suggest that you are looking at full season stats and it is clear that MY and DR have really improved since the season started and their stats have only started to really improve in the last few games. Let's look at the year end and do the comparisons--although you well know that stats are not the only way to evaluate a player's ability or long term potential.

I have not posted for a long time but I still read the board. When I first read some of these posts I knew the poster who started this and many others had already demonstrated they are not Bills fans at all yet people seem to react like they are true long time fans of the Bills. For anyone who wants to know the true facts go look at the details of Jim Crews time at Evansville. That conference was excellent at the time and it was harder to get into the big dance. He was the conference coach of the year multiple times and he was highly regarded nationally as he is now. No one likes to lose less than I do. No one likes to lose big less than I do. But I do see some very good things. AY and DR have really improved since the season started. AG has a terrific basketball IQ as does MB. MR still is a tough hard nosed player but he needs seasoning. BJ has shown a lot in some practices but he can't yet get it all together in the games. I also see some bad things and I am hopeful they can be worked out. In any event, most schools would be incredibly happy to have had three years like we had with three third round appearances in the NCAA (one of ten teams in the country to do that during that time). This years frosh seem to be every bit as good as last years seniors when they were frosh. People have such short memories. Jordair could not throw it in the ocean from outside in his freshman year. MM was not good on defense but he improved dramatically. DE got his shot blocked under the basket often just like Conklin did for the first three years. I go to every game and live and die every play. We will get better but I do share the concern that we will not emerge from the bad place we are in before the end of this year. But I was realistic before the year started and thought we would have a losing record. It is still painful to watch but everyone needs to understand that this is a process and we will not really know how good this team can be until this group of freshman are juniors--at least that is my opinion. In any event, the real fans need to take a valium and watch the frosh develop. The non fans would be better off on another board.

This history is helpful but I think this year may be unique in terms of the absolute uncertainty which faces us in this pre season set of discussions. We are coming off three of our greatest seasons individually and collectively-- we have never had this much success three years in a row-and few teams nationally have had such success three years running. The key players in that three year run were seniors who graduated either last year or the year before so we literally had to replace an entire team of some of the most accomplished players in the history of the program. We now have what I would call the "Untested 9"--referring to the sophs and frosh. For the reasons previously stated our sophs played limited minutes last year so they are untested. Our 6 frosh are new and completely untested. If we had to rely on McBroom, Ash, Grandy and John M to carry this team I think many of us would be very worried because on top of the Untested 9 you have four upperclassmen who have never proven they can handle a major role at any time--and I think that is the reason you see the pundits give us so little support for success this coming season. So we have a team which is untested or inexperienced in prime time roles and we will need to have many step up if we want to win 20 games, even against a somewhat lesser schedule. For any of us to pick actual results for this coming season on a game by game basis suggests we know a lot more than any of us really do about the team. Some things I have heard through the grapevine: Coach Crews and staff are fired up about this season and they look forward to working with all of these young players. Our sophs have all excelled in summer workouts and we should expect them to be much better this coming year. Crawford is shooting well and playing hard and smart---Lacona is much improved and playing like a vet rather than a soph and Reggie is regaining his strength and mobility. Manning is stronger and more effective, Jolly is going to be a very good big man who has a nice shooting touch--but how much he will play this year will be up in the air--and Gillman has great hands and a very nice touch (of course, he needs to put on some serious muscle). Bartley has great court vision and quickness (of course, he needs to put on some serious muscle),Reynolds is smart and a gamer but he will need to learn a whole new system--just like Mike McCall--Roby is a tough athletic guy and may be an even better defender as a frosh than Jordair. Milik is a really good offensive player who may be better than Evans as a frosh-and he has a lot of growth potential in his game. The entire team is in good spirits and everyone is hitting the weights hard to get stronger. I, for one, cannot wait to see all of these guys on the floor!

If you are trying to evaluate a "hidden gem" recruit then you cannot compare how he would have fared with one program with another after only one year. How a player is coached and how he fits in with the team and the style of play are big elements of how well a player might do in different situations. You really cannot judge how he might have performed here based upon what he did at Clemson. It was this board that seemed to annoint him as a superstar. I never heard a single coach refer to him in that way.

I like your thinking and I agree that this year will be a transition year with some unknowns but with excellent depth, particularly if the frosh can get up to speed quickly on defense. Then the year after and for the next few years we should be tough and athletic, maybe even better than the teams of last year and the year before. the glass is way more than half full but this year will probably try our patience at times.

This is accurate and he has a low % of body fat--and he will work hard with our strength coach to get even stronger just like DE, except he is bigger and stronger than DE was as a frosh.

no typo--why do you want it to be a typo?

I learned a little more about some of the frosh. MY has clearly impressed early. He was measured at 6'6 1/2" and 240 lbs and he has not previously been on a weight training plan so he should get stronger. Clearly, the hope is that he can quickly replace DE but those are big shoes to fill. Jolly is better than expected with the potential to develop into a bigger and stronger Conklin but those are big shoes to fill as well. The two young point guards are thin but good players and Bartley has excellent passing skills and court vision. Roby is tough and solid and we can expect him to improve quickly and get minutes this year. No word yet on Gillmann.

No specific word on the open gyms but I have heard the frosh look very good in the early evaluations.

The greatest player on the planet decided that he wants to play at home. What a great precedent for JT!

Our coaches have been very interested in recruiting local players who they feel can play at our level, fit in with our team philosophy and handle the academics. However, the Brad S days of waiting forever for local kids to commit or even show a serious interest and then losing the opportunity for other good players are long over. McCaw was recruited by the Bills with meeitngs with Coach Crews and others early in the process. But he never showed any serious interest and then went radio silent for a long time while he sought out "big time" offers. We moved on but always said we would be open to hearing from him if he was seriously interested. He never surfaced or said he wanted to go to SLU so our staff did the smart thing and they signed MY who looks to be an excellent recruit. These urban myths seem to take on a life of their own but there is no truth to the story that we somehow blew the opportunity to sign him.

Are you saying that Coach Crews should turn this inexperienced group into an NCAA team in the first year for most of them having any significant role on the team? His predecessor never did that--it took him several years to develop the talent which I assume will be the case this year. I am excited about the long term potential of this group but it is folly to put pressure on them to be as good as a junior or senior dominated team like we have had the past three years.

I think that every one of our recruits, particularly the guards and MY, had lengthy times of intense play with the team on their visits. The returning players really got a sense of the quality of these young men and thier abilities on the court. They have also connected with the new guys who seem to be compatible with our team. So it would be natural for them to be excited and optimistic. Let's hope they are right!

I assume that you must be a good friend of NB and that is the reason for the reaction. The truth is that SLU expressed an interest in NB and reached out to him but RM always had the view that if a recruit did not have an interest in his team then he would just move on. Berry never showed any interest in coming to SLU and Rick and staff moved on at that time. I say he gave us the back of his hand because he never showed any interest at all even though the Bills were really starting to show that they would be a really good team. He did what he wanted and rejected us out of hand and yet Jim Crews was still professional enough to go up to meet with him after he announced he was leaving Butler. But the coaches were smart enough to really carefully evaluate our true needs at the time and they did a great job in getting AY to enthusiastically join our Billiken family. Berry was lukewarm and never really showed intensity of interest in SLU. Now we all move on.

I think this situation really emphasizes how smart our head coach and assistant coaches are about recruiting. Berry basically gave us the back of his hand out of high school and went off to Butler where he played no minutes of consequence for a losing team until the last few games of the season and then he did not impress. But even then, and with other bigs in the fold, Jim Crews was willing to make a trip and talk to Berry about his interest in SLU. But at the same time Crews and staff were still working hard on other prospects, particularly MY who they thought was an outstanding scorer and potentially excellent player all around. Berry never could pull the trigger and even if he had the staff would have had to make a very tough call because they really wanted MY and the jury was out about Berry in terms of his interest and intensity. MY then decides to commit to SLU much to the delight of the entire staff so we are then out of schollies. Berry then has to look elsewhere which really seems to be the best for all concerned because he never really showed an intense interest in SLU and we got a recruit we really like who will fit in perfectly with our team.

Glad to have you back but this is a false report on Reynolds. LSU was on him hard and had him for a visit trying to get him to commit during his visit just days before Coach Crews was in his house talking with his family and getting the commitment. LSU was pushing hard to get him.

Guy will never get these name right--it will be a nightmare of foulups!

No trip this summer. Next year there will be a trip and that makes sense to me. Our key players will all be in the fold including Welmer. Most of the team will be sophs and juniors with some experience under their belts and they will be able to really work on the team aspect of the defense and offense. It will be exciting to see them develop!

As I read a lot of these posts I was thinking the exact same thing as you posted here. Many of our new players will start to arrive in the next month or so. Their first meetings will be with the staff of coaches and the strength and conditioning folks. They will be given a complete schedule of things to do and to work on over the summer. They and the other holdovers will all be in the same boat--come the start of practice next fall the five starting and four or five other rotation spots will be up for grabs. If you picked five holdovers as starters it would probably be Ash, Manning, Tanner, McBroom and Grandy with Crawford and Reggie in the mix. But the great thing is that the other team of newcomers to play them in practice will be Miles R and Roby with Milik, Bartley and Jolly/Gillmann. Even though Gillmann is probably a year or so away, the rest of these guys could all compete for minutes, either starting or in the normal rotation. I am not sure I can remember a team with this much depth in terms of competition for minutes at the start of the season.

I know for a fact that any suggestion that RM was a lazy recruiter is wrong. It was not easy for him to travel with his various issues and particularly when he had a bad foot and leg but he would go where he was needed to go and be in the living rooms of recruits. I think he did less travel the last year and a half, mostly because of his health. If a good st louis area player fit what he believed was his type of player then he would go after him but if a player showed no interest then RM did not waste a minute on him. He did have a tendency to hype some of the recruits a bit but I think he was sending them a message that he thought they could be better than their "ratings". He prided himself in recognizing talents in players that few others saw or could develop. Someone here posted recently that he thought that RM would like the recruits signed by Coach Crews and I thought that was an astute comment. These 10 young men all seem to fit the mold of solid players and solid citizens that RM would have liked to coach.

One of the games I saw reported was the championship game of the Proviso West tournament where Zion Benton beat Stevenson in Ot and MY had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, and hit a three at the end of regulation to force overtime. Stevenson was one of the big time teams in Ill--31-2 for the season and they lost to Whitney Young 75-68 in the state semi finals. At least that game was big time competition!