Old guy

Does it really matter? He has an offer from SLU as per the RiseandGrind post. As far as the way he plays, let's just admit he has had a really good streak at the PeachJam, but the way he has been playing there is not consistent with the way he has played before. I would let things take their course with Hellems and Ford. I think we can do just fine with or without Hellems on board.

Thank you

Wiz, I assume the letter grades you give for A10 is the final grade for each season, is this correct?

All I can say is this, if SLU has not offered Hellems, there is a reason for it. We need to trust Ford's judgment people, he knows how to recruit.

Two hip surgeries, same hip or both hips? Anyone knows?

It really does not matter cgelgmacher, some people need to say, feel, and hope for big things in order to feel OK, others do not. The whole issue is very subjective, and whatever we may wish or say will indeed have no effect upon the coming season. On the other hand the snippets said by Ford about the team and its progress are likely to be significant.

Since Morgan Freeman is one of my very favorite actors I do not take this as a jab at all. As far as ratings go, there is so much subjectivity and even wishful thinking in ratings and rankings of any kind, that it is reasonable they get into trouble like the one described by Taj. Rankings and ratings are not an exact endeavor, if you see one 4 star in a field of 3 stars, go with the 3 star level (neither of which is exact but you have a greater chance going with the consensus). This, again, is not an exact answer it is merely my own opinion.

I understand your thoughts but I really cannot see through his shirt.

Did he have a photo without a shirt on last year?

Quite welcome Cowboy

Depends entirely on the severity of the fracture and the amount of work it takes to put it together again. If it was a hairline fracture, best option. he will not play (or should not play, corrected) U20, but you may see him next year playing for Dayton some time. This is not ideal but kids do want to play...

The tibia is a thick and hefty bone which provides the main weight bearing function of the lower leg. The fibula sits behind it, it is a lot thinner and basically plays a part in creating 1/2 of the upper side of the ankle joint. It is interesting that the tibial fracture was not displaced (which usually means a piece of the tibia is out of line with the rest of it). A non displaced fracture may be impacted, one piece of the tibia crunching on top of the rest of the bone but roughly in line (not deviated), or a hairline fracture (a non through and through fracture with the whole bone in place but a crack forms in it). The hairline fractures are not as bad as any of the others BUT if they do not wait for it to fully heal (if this is the case) their location shows where the bone is weak and where a major fracture will occur later on. In any case, this kid should not play for the U20 team this summer. If the fracture is impacted he may need a fair amount of work probably including surgery to recover. If he has an impacted fracture he may wind up redshirting for Dayton next year. Hard to say how long he will take to fully recover with a hairline fracture (I mean, in terms of playing D1 basketball which is very stressful for the lower leg bones). Cowboy, whatever kind it is, it is a fractured (broken) leg.

All the best to T. Watson at OSU.

I think a lot of us are aware that this year we have a uniquely new team (for SLU), mostly based on recruits and transfers. We have a unique (for SLU) coach that can recruit at high levels and also could also coach a depleted, injury plagued team (last year's), to a much improved final performance for the season. The potential is definitely here, we are well aware of this.

That may be true, but I believe it depends on the output volume produced by the faculty. Mind you these University presses print everything from science to philosophy, literature, and art. We do have a University with lots of different interests and areas of research we could do it some day, it is a thought, or if you wish a gleam in my eye, for the future of SLU

Fully agree that until we see them play a few games we have nothing solid to base our arguments about our team.

However happy it may make us to think this way (and it does make me very happy make no mistake about this), at this time and until the first 8 games are played all we have is speculation. But, we do have a much improved team over what we had last year and so it is reasonable to think that our baseline after the first 8 games will be above the D level we had last year. How much over this level, I really cannot say.

Exactly Wiz, exactly. Neither you nor anyone else will really know the starting baseline for this year's team until they have played their 8 games as you say. That baseline will determine where we will be next season. There is one exception to this, we know we will be adding Graves to play about mid season. This is an addition of an apparently heavy dose of new talent midway along the season. He will have had the advantage of practicing with the team for about a full year before he starts playing. This may cause a bump up mid year. However, our baseline is THE important factor here, and as we both agree it will not be determined until we play about 8 games. Fully agree with you sulfan. We have a very uncommon situation in our hands this year. Our two freshmen are top 100 ranking players (HS), and the bulk of the transfers have been practicing with the team for a year +. Also, and never to be forgotten, we need to add the factor of the increased physical development of our players this year. Add to that the fact that Ford is capable of turning around a depleted team in the middle of a losing season and make them improve, as we saw last season. I think that until proven otherwise our team's baseline this year will be well over the baseline established by last year's team. At least until we have played those initial 8 games we have every reason to be optimistic and dream about a really good SLU team raking up wins this season. So far all we have is conjecture and dreams. As the Wiz says we will see after 8 games. Personally, I can't wait to see what happens

Hi Wiz, the remaining 5% of the area under the curve beyond the 2 Standard Deviations are the tails of the curve. Since they are equal, there is only a 2.5% chance of doing better (the other 2.5% tail on the other side of the curve is best left alone) than the 2 letter max arrangement in your system, and indeed getting to the full B rating is something that will take a lot of work and effort. This is absolutely true. I completely agree that the 2SD area of greater probability will be where we end the year at. However, most probable does not mean it will happen, reality may be either better or worse than most probable. And let's be honest, the most probable outcome defined as the area within (+/-) 2SD from last year's results area is huge. It goes from 2 letters below to 2 letters above last year. I for one refuse to even consider the probability that we will be worse this year than last. This just does not compute inside my brain. And this is what makes things interesting, is it not? So, I prefer to continue rooting and praying for good things to happen to the Bills next season. And AMEN to that

You and me together will be rooting for that my friend.

Brianstl if this comes to happen, we will be playing an outlier season in the upper tail of the Standard Distribution curve, and we may well qualify for NIT or NCAA play. That is IF we wind up playing at B+ or A- level. Place your trust in Ford and pray a lot.

For those of you interested in numbers, I expanded and gave more detail to my last post above.

Now, to throw some spice into the mix. The Wiz's system works within the limits of 95% of the normal statistical distribution curve. However, outliers do occur, there is still 5% of the area under the curve unaccounted for after all. Half of this is in the good side of the distribution curve, the other half is in the dismal side of the distribution curve. So, there is a very very small probability that if all lines up correctly and the team gels together from early on in the season ,as it may be hoped, that we may go above the 2 Standard deviations limit of Wiz's system. The chance of doing this is very very small but what the heck, anything may happen. If we can do this, we would have achieved a true outlier season. However wild this may seem, it must be remembered that last season we were not expected to win anywhere close to what we wound up wining. Some of this, maybe the greater portion of it, was due to Ford. Why not hope for a repeat "better than expected" outlier season.

It will be interesting to see how Ford builds up his players and the combinations of people he uses. He has lots of choices, not like last year.

Assuming that the Wiz is correct in his calculations and that his system does work (which I believe it does), we will do very well if we finish at a B level, around 75 - 100.