Old guy

Brianstl, I agree with you. There is nothing written in stone saying that players cannot make rapid progress in some circumstances and with good levels of play. Neufeld might be such a case, or not. Remains to be seen. I think he will get adequate playing time this season to show how much he can or cannot improve.

I know it may sound impossible from your point of view Wiz, but I still think it is possible for SLU to win a few games against Duquesne, GW, GM, and Fordham. I will not extend this to Richmond though, and yes it will not be easy for us to do so. My issue for next year is what kind of bench are we going to have at the end of this season?

Agree with Cheeseman, Ford has to try to do as best as he can with what he has. That means playing time and trying out players that are not liked by this board. We are at the beginning of a season and there is no way we can replace anyone at this time, there is also no way we can play the rest of the season with Crawford and Agbeko as our main players. Roby, Bishop, Neufeld, and Gilmann deserve time to develop as well as Wellmer, Moore, and Johnson. We can deal with this season after it is over, and hopefully some of the players will benefit from the experience. Let's get this straight we are not going anywhere close to post season play this year, period. Let the man do his thing, after all he is in charge and bears responsibility for the outcome. And by the way, I am not in favor of anyone humiliating and berating any players in public and in front of his parents. All of this can be handled in private.

Come on BigMouth, this is a depleted team with no depth and a history of injuries that went out to play a top 50 team and got blown as expected. From before it happened, this game was going to be an exercise in exposing our weaknesses. The very worst outcome, scoring below 20 points, did not happen.

Nope it did not happen

I was afraid we would score less than 20 after the first half, that was not the case. Thank the Lord.

After the first half I was afraid we would do less than 20 pts for the game. Thank the Lord that was not the case. We did manage to beat the spread, and we played better the second half.

As per team rankings the Vegas implied scores for this game are SLU 55, WSt. 88. The spread is 33.

Not yet my friend. The stuff that keeps a hip prosthesis (if this is what he has, a pin or a plate is similar) in its socket are the muscles and ligaments that cover it. To play basketball and not dislocate the prosthesis out of the socket, the muscle and ligament covers must regain strength and tighten up. He should be currently doing regular exercises to achieve this end, but it may still be too early for practice. By the way the common condition among young people that requires hip surgery (prosthetic replacement) is AVN (avascular necrosis) of the hip which is congenital and slowly deforms the head of the femur. This is not something that recurs, but care must be taken for complete healing before stressing the joint.

DJ Foreman was ambulatory without crutches during the game against Samford last Tuesday.

What we should really hope for is that Johnson and Moore develop into reasonably mature players despite all adverse results, and that Bishop, Roby, and Wellmer become better capable of filling up the holes in the lineup. I think we should also hope against hope that at least one of the bigs improves through play. My prediction of a 0.500 with 15 wins season was overly optimistic, I will be happy if we finish the season one or two slots above the rock bottom of A10, glass half full always.

Goodwin, French, Foreman, Bess and Henriquez add up to 5 players, which is fine. One of the problems we have this year is the lack of depth. We really need to develop some of the people in the team to a point where we have at least 3 or 4 additional reasonably effective players for next year. I would assume these are likely to be 3 or 4 out of the following 5 players: Moore, Johnson, Welmer, Bishop, and Roby. Let's assume that 4 of these end this year doing reasonably well despite all the current problems with the team. I think any questions about whether the team has adequate depth next year or not will have to depend in what players fill the last 3 spots. Looking at the stats (I did not watch the game last night) Crawford keeps on trying but just does not sink 3 pointers, Agbeko is scoring even less than Crawford is. With the lack of scoring from these two, our team is just not capable of holding its own this year. Regarding Crawford, if he gets overplayed, the chances of reactivation of his injuries increases. On the positive side he only played 19 minutes against K State, so he may be still capable of playing at the current level for the rest of the season. Agbeko played 22 minutes. I see Neufeld played 14 minutes, he scored 1 FT and got 2 rebounds and 1 block. We will see what he does against Wichita St.

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Building any kind of structure (including single family homes) is a complicated process that requires constant supervision. Any kind of building has innumerable opportunities for contractors charging in excess of what is actually provided or of doing less than what is stipulated in the plans. The supervision has to be done in layers, ending at the architectural firm level who has to provide assurances that the building was built according to spec. Unpredictable problems may occur during construction at just about every step of the way. These problems have to be solved in a way that complies with the structural plans and do not cause budget over runs. Keep in mind that building contracts, particularly contracts for large projects, usually contain provisions for unsuspected over runs (or whatever they may call them), and for bonuses to be awarded if the project comes under budget and within or better than the time allowed for completion. In a big project all of these factors may significantly increase the cost of the project or the functionality of the completed project. This justifies the need for extensive multiple layer supervision at every step of the way. An example of a construction project disaster was the caving of the ceiling on some tunnels in Boston's "Big Dig." It was determined that the contractors involved in those tunnels had used lower grade cement and concrete than specified in the plans resulting in inadequate structural strength of the tunnel ceilings. This caused extensive structural failure and eventual collapse of the substandard ceilings and caused death and severe injuries to many people. The cost to solve this flaw and settle the damages was astronomical, and it came on top of years of cost over runs and delays on the project. Another example of a structural design disaster was the 60 story John Hancock tower in Boston. This one was designed by the architectural firm of Pei. This is a beautiful steel and glass structure looking like a sail which unfortunately acted like a sail and oscillated to dangerous levels which might have caused it to topple down when pushed by wind coming from specific directions. This problem required extensive strengthening of the building's steel frame and the design of a "dynamic" suspension system" occupying 2 floors of the building. The "dynamic suspension" solution consisted of a motorized mini train on rails pulling tank cars full of water (heavy weight) which moved in its tracks guided by a computer system constantly positioning the train to neutralize the effect of the blowing wind coming from different directions. This particular design disaster proves that no firm, regardless of fame and prestige, is totally free from making serious mistakes. The cost over run in this case was astronomical for a non public projec, and the legal fees involved were equally large. The Trinity Church, located in Copley Square right next to the Hancock tower sustained extensive structural damage with structural cracks as a result of the building of this gigantic structure next to it. These were repaired as part of the overall settlement reached with everyone involved. The settlement included a very generous cash payment to the Church. It was rumored that the pastor of the Church would pray each year with his congregation for John Hancock to build another building near by in the hopes of getting yet another settlement. How to solve issues like these after they happen is an interesting problem that keeps battalions of lawyers and experts busy for years and emphasizes the need for extensive and effective supervision during the design and construction phases of a major project, including getting second opinions by independent structural engineering firms when required. Not all is well in the world of architecture and project building, when things go wrong, they can go really wrong.

As per Team rankings the Vegas implied scores for this game are: SLU 61.2, KSt 73.8, this gives a spread of 12.6 pts.

Beautiful article about Mackey's life and accomplishments.

Thank you Clock

I am not a basketball technician as you all know, but couldn't we improve our chance of winning some games by just getting better with the Free Throws? That is not rocket science and does not appear to require much talent or athleticism either, why are we so bad a it?

Sulfan, this is an honest question, I just do not know. How many head coaches go to a different school voluntarily, without being fired. My impression is that a whole load of head coaches get fired for reasons which may or may not be valid, maybe just because they cross the AD. Again, I may be wrong here about the numbers of coaches being fired and those changing jobs voluntarily.

The problem with this discussion is that every point of view is right. Brianstl is correct in terms of the recruiting impact, and RUBillsFan is also correct from the point of view of development. We need to win some games and we need to develop Jalen and Zeke. It is difficult to see how this can be achieved. It is also good test to see what Ford is capable of doing with this team.

Agree CBFan we need to develop for next year.

Agree. The problem with next year is that about half of the team will be players from this year. We absolutely need to develop those that will stay in the team so that they can contribute positively to next year's team. This is why we must keep on trying to get the kids to learn this year regardless of winning or losing.

We will see.

Just for you White Pelican, there are two strategies for the market, not only one. These are: Most people buy high and sell low, this is a strategy that generates tax deductions. A few people buy low and sell high, this is a strategy that generates increased taxes. You really can't win no matter what, but given a choice I would choose paying high taxes.

Yes, it looks pretty bad doesn't it?