Old guy

I also like the pluses and minuses

I thought Hines played well and contributed a lot of the energy that got us way ahead at the beginning of the game. When Gillmann came into play and Hines went to the bench the lead we had built up started disappearing.

Wiz agree it is woefully evident that we have no bench depth. I would go further, I would say we have about 5 players that are playing effectively and sometimes very well indeed. The rest go from partially effective to mostly negative in terms of their contribution to the team's effort. When we have to use some of the really non contributing players in a game we invariably lose ground. Not good. Maybe things will be better if Moore can come back into play soon but who is to say. I fully agree the team, or the portion of it that is playing effectively is making a great effort and so is the coaching staff. I fully agree we have improved a lot.

I have heard all along that Ramey did not want to come to SLU, why should he get us in his top 13 list?

I thought we played well. As far as I am concerned the game started going down the tubes when they got Gillman and Agbeko in in exchange for Johnson and Hines. In the second half Neufeld was playing right below SLU's basket and would not even lift his arms to try to get rebounds. Agbeko and Crawford did not score much, Agbeko was particularly off today. We lost, of course, but we could very well have won this game with a bit more scoring from Agbeko and Crawford. Please note that I do not blame Crawford for his scoring troubles, I know he is playing injured this year. Johnson, Welmer, and Roby played very nicely tonight. Ford is definitely not a bad coach, look at what he is doing with the team. We were competitive tonight, which is more than we could have expected.

I am getting in on Charter Channel 199 (St. Louis). Thank you very much for the info.

Thanks for the info.

As per Team Rankings, the Vegas implied scores for this game are SLU 56.2, GW 70.8. This gives a spread of 14.4. Can anyone provide a link for streaming or video of this game. Thanks

Surgical tightening of a shoulder is not what they generally do. They will fix whatever is torn. As for the strength ans resiliency of the joint, they must wait for the muscles and tendons to re tighten by themselves. They might be able to tighten tendons a bit, but this would be difficult to do arthroscopically. I would think the tightening of the joint will be achieved through rehab and exercise therapy. This takes time and should not be speeded up for best results.

I suggest they leave the billiken the way it is and concentrate in winning more games.

That does not sound very good for Kellogg, maybe he will go to Mizzou.

Great! a win against UMass, we did it, fabulous!

I never played basketball in competition, but I would assume that when you enter a team at a much higher level than the one you played at in High School, several things happen. First you are insecure of yourself and your moves are wooden compared to other higher level players. Second you learn from those around you. You need people to tell you the fine points and to help you out in the court. In other words, the whole process is a lot easier when you are playing in a functional well staffed team. This is not the case with the Bills this year. We need to give Moore a break, he is learning the hard way. He is a kid, trying to become a whole lot more in a very short time, under a lot of pressure, and with very little team support around him in the court. I think we need to cut him a fair amount of slack.

Incompetent they may be, insane they probably are not.

Slu72 I think he has an excellent chance for a fully successful surgery and rehab that may well leave him in better shape than he is now. What he has to do to achieve this is to cool his anxiety and desire to excel and let the process take its course.

All the best to you Mike, you have a great opportunity in your hands, hope all goes well and you find the success you fully deserve.

Bobby as many people know in this board, I am not well versed in basketball or about players. I am sorry but I cannot bring any further clarity into why Perry Ellis or Frank Mason made the decisions they made when they made them. I suppose a lot of it were personal factors but I really do not know.

You cannot say really, it depends on Goodwin's attitude towards the rehab and recovery and towards the gradual ramp up of the practice afterwards. If he takes it like challenge and tries to "excel" he is likely to have the opposite result. A lot depends on the interaction between Goodwin, his rehab therapists (PT, etc...), and probably his coaches as well. Trying to speed things up will be the wrong thing to do. Whether he overdoes it or not and how much he overdoes it will be the important factors in this process. This is a very individual and personal type of situation, nothing can be said about it a priori.

Hi Bobby, from my point of view, if you go to KU or Kentucky as a 5 star celebrated high school baketball player you are going to find a team full of equally high powered (some much better than you think you are) players. The real top players will get the most play, the other (also extremely talented) players will sit on the bench for long stretches and provide practice for the stars. It seems to me that if the scouts cannot see you doing your thing, your chances to become a one and done are diminished. Same thing happens in college. Places like Harvard are chock full with all kinds of extraordinary kids with really great ability in some area (whether it is sports, math, or music). These are kids that swim through high school at a level no one in the school can get near them, then they go to Harvard and squash their noses against a solid wall of competition from other equally capable (or better capable) kids than they are. It is a very sobering experience. You ( I mean each individual student in this situation) gets to feel like a dummy, for many kids this is their first experience feeling like a dummy ever in their lives. Some can take it some do not and act out or crumble, a significant number get humble and stay there, as you say about basketball players, "warming the bench for 4 years." This happens across the board whenever there is a highly competitive situation. Some people become the real stars, others are humbled and stay little or even invisible, some act out or crumble and are rapidly eliminated. And yes, all the attention goes to the stars, not much to the supporting cast. Why do people stay as a bench warmer or humble supporting cast is a very good question to ask. If you actually ask them why they stay, they will tell you something like "being here is what matters or is everything."

Everybody's recovery time as required to gain full strength and stability of the joint varies, according to his level of health (excellent), his strength (excellent), and the uses he intend to put his shoulder to. The last one is the rub, this man needs a super shoulder after surgery in order to do what he intends to do. He should not speed up the time of training too much and should start the training gradually. Taking things easy, particularly the recovery and the subsequent rehab and training, is the best thing to do in this case. Many athletic people take rehab as an Olympic contest, they try to do more than asked to do and many of these wind up screwing up the process, easy does it. He has the time he needs for a full recovery if he does not try to push his way through recovery as he pushes his way to the hoop during games. It takes time.

Expected Bishop to be out, but was hoping Moore could be in. We have a game coming with significant minutes likely going to Neufled, Gillmann, and perhaps even Psimitris, like the one we just played against Dayton. I would expect a similar result to the Dayton game.

What these numbers mean is that any one year (for the last 8 years) an average of 7.5 players out of the 18 or so selected by the NBA (about 42%) are one and done's. Since there may be a few 4 star players (high school senior rating) in the one and done numbers, it appears that less than a third of the 5 star players entering college will become one and dones. The actual percentages are likely to vary from year to year.

This is GREAT news! I hope they fix that shoulder for good. Well done Mr. Goodwin!

I think it is correct to assume Bishop will be out for the rest of the season. The point is that as every time an effective or fairly effective player is sidelined, either temporarily or for a long term, we really have no one to come in and take over the empty slot. At the same time, every time this happens, it forces the remaining effective or fairly effective players into having to play harder just to compensate for the loss of someone from the court (the ones that cannot play effectively are just there largely as obstacles). The remaining effective players can be singled and guarded more closely by the opposition. This means not only lost games but increasing wear and tear on our effective or semi effective players, which in turn increases the probability of new injury or severe aggravation of old injuries. The net result of this state of affairs is likely to lead to having more effective or semi effective players becoming sidelined. We are facing a negative reinforcing loop of events from which we may not recover this season. I hope Moore is able to come back into play, Reggie's sickness does not cause further problems, and Crawford's hamstring holds without tearing. Not that I think it will happen, but if Neufeld's mono has had any negative effect upon his playing, I hope he manages to complete his recovery and start playing better, even a little bit better would help at this time. Not a pretty picture, not a source for hope for what is left of this season either.

It is hard to compare these two. Majerus was a celebrated coach with a long and successful career, but he was old and very sick. In truth he was slowly dying with a bad heart and quite likely he knew or suspected this outcome quite well. Majerus wanted to maintain contact with the sport and the players he loved, but he needed readily accessible, excellent medical facilities. I think his issues with the admin may have been secondary to him given the magnitude of his problems. He certainly did not come to SLU as a career move, and quite possibly had an idea he might not be able to do the job of head coach for a very long time. Ford on the other hand is young and is still testing himself out and building his reputation and career. His firing from OSU was not a good thing for him. He needs SLU to prove to the world that he is really what he considers himself to be, a premier coach. For Ford SLU is a necessary stepping stone to bigger and better things, and he has a definite need to be as successful a head coach of SLU as possible. This includes carrying SLU to the top levels of the NCAA and a possible championship. If he achieves that, the world is his oyster and he will be able to choose and pick his next destination and his salary. Ford is ambitious, but I believe he also cares a lot about his family, and young kids do not relocate well. I do not think he will think of leaving SLU until he has a sizable string of serious successes under his belt. I may be wrong but that is the way I see these two men and the way they see themselves as part of SLU. I think we are fortunate to have Ford at this time.