Crewsorlose

Home court usually adds 3-4 points to a college spread. Auburn would probably be favored by 2-3 on a neutral court.

Perkins wasn't bad but the team needed rebounding and interior defense with the bigs getting in foul trouble. Thatch made sense. I wish Ford would play TJ more. He got yanked after one mistake in one minute of 2nd half play.

Back from the game. Great crowd, but at least 1K short of a sellout. The crowd loves this team. Ford gets so much crap on here but he realized that tonight Perkins wasn't one of his top 5 players in this game. Thatch was great. Memphis has a lot of skilled players. So do we. Lots of fun. Let's beat Maryland and get ranked.

SLU's big whiffs in terms of gaining fans were the 2020 Dayton game and last year against Auburn. Those crowds were hopping. Games like that are super important for fan bases who feel their team can't get over the hump.

Don't get Richmond at all. Sure, a 1st-teamer returns. What else? 2 backups with experience, and then transfers + frosh that seem no better than a middling haul. Not great coaching. I'd be shocked if they finish above 100 in KenPom or above .500 in A-10.

Classes start Wednesday. Plenty of time to get those Trapper Keepers and get over jetlag.

Stating the obvious but the last few years have been about finding guys to fill in the pieces. The current season is most likely the final season for Yuri, Perkins, Hargrove, Okoro, Forester, Pickett and Thatch. Tons of PT and guys who are looking for chances to start on a team that's (almost) starting over. It's 2023-24 is basically Jimerson, Parker, Thames, Kramer, Hughes, with only 1 a lock to start that season. Obviously a gigantic class for Ford and a real test to see if he can reload instead of rebuild.

Forgive me but it's an impossible to imagine Lorentsson yesterday as anything but the 12th or 13th guy. I'm not talking about standing in a corner and making 9 threes. I'm talking about the full contact, full-court drills.

Okay, not seeing much intel on the scrimmage. I thought there was plenty to see, but I'll try not to be repetitive Kramer's legs are huge. Almost like Thatch. Ford stopped drills a couple of times because Cisse and Parker didn't understand. I'd view Cisse as similar to Traore (which I think is a good comp, as I thought Traore would have been a starter by his jr. year). It was only a scrimmage, but Parker looked lost out there for part of it Yuri and TJ have insane chemistry. Pickett is the prototypical "face up 4" in the A-10. Big shouldered, not esp. tall. I think we'll like him Perkins seems very hesitant physically. I think we'll need to be patient as it may take some time for the guy who'd be running point in 1-4 sets to close out games and finishing over guys in traffic. Beyond the locks of Okoro and Yuri, I wouldn't pen anyone into the starting lineup, including Perkins. The two JPs, Hargrove, Thatch, Jimerson as all legit options to start. Those 7 + Forester form a clear top 8. I imagine Thames has the longest leash for getting rotation minutes due to ball handling. Was more impressed with Hughes than I expected. Looked like he belonged. Would love to be wrong about Parker.

Who's the mystery team of the remaining 6 (figuring Loyola, Dayton, VCU, Davidson, and SLU are locks)?

This just to say that my son was at St. Mary's open camp a couple weeks ago and Zaire Collins was there. Coach Bryan Turner is a great guy and would gladly send my kids back to his camp where things are personal. Zaire may have some growing left in him but there's an easy to find highlight reel and he can certainly shoot the rock. An easy trip down Grand to watch a potential Billiken in his sophomore year this winter.

I'd be curious to see if a reporter can get a few ex-Billikens to comment on a story. To me the story is not Yuri but Ford. He's not a young coach anymore and I wonder if he connects with players in the right way. Clearly Goodwin and French responded to his style. I thought Jacobs was a beast and Ford constantly screamed at him and yanked him for little reason. Same with TJ. What bothers me is that Nesbitt transferred first. I thought he should have done more on offense than stand in the corner and watch Yuri run a 2-man game. Okay, it's Yuri's team. And then Yuri transfers. Also, Traore seemed like a great find, and had the ability to start by his junior year and maybe make an all-conference team as a senior. Why leave? Williams, Strickland, and Lorrentson made sense. Maybe Emoni Bates will come here and run point for one year. Lolz.

Almost perfect opening victory. Huge lead. No stress in 2nd half. Yes, Williams missed a million open 3s so they didn't win by 30. So what. It was a coast game. Everyone shoot 50 FTs.

To me the potential Dayton-VCU semifinal clash is a knockout game. Whoever wins that game should be sitting in a nice position for an at-large bid. Davidson probably can't afford a quarterfinal loss. But a semifinal loss yields a bid. Slim chance for a 3-bid league with all seeds between 10-12.

The remaining schedule doesn't seem tough, but it's 3 Q2 games (although URI is dropping like a lead balloon) and 1 Q1 game. If we win all 5 our NET will likely be in the low 40s going into the tourney. 6 weeks ago people thought 15-3 wouldn't get us an at-large. Things have worked in our favor though (thanks Boise St., Auburn, and late Memphis surge), and 14-4 will do it. Damn that UMass loss hurts.

Per KenPom our offense is 46th. That's very good. The shooting has been excellent, as has the offensive rebounding. The problem is the turnovers. We're 175th in protecting the ball. On defense we're very good at forcing bad shots but we're mediocre at defensive rebounding rate (120th) and forcing TOs (180th).

2ndary market picking up. Just in the past few hours the number of tickets available on Stub Hub has dropped and the lowest price is up from $13 to $20

Diablitos has no crowd and also parking. West Pine and Vanderventer

Faculty have access to two tickets tonight so if you know any faculty and want tix, hit them up.

Losing @ Bonnies is only a Q-2 loss and not a killer. Bills have anywhere from 3-6 tough games left (2 w/ Bonnies, @ Richmond, @ Davidson, @ URi, VCU). Two are Q4 games at home. 6-2 probably lands SLU inside the NET top 40 and puts us at 14-4 in league play. I agree that winning two in a row against SBU won't be easy, esp. on short rest. The key I think is hitting them with pace and playing the aggressor. We have a real bench with TJ, Linssen, and Jones. Williams I hope too. Punch them hard on Friday and build confidence for that road trip.

It's a different author and it's more narrative than seeding. Only runs for six weeks. Bracketology is more of a year-round brand.

ESPN came out with their first edition of Bubble Watch. Not the same thing as Bracketology. SLU among the teams considered.

That's the only A-10 game of the year on a national network in a nice slot. There's a window between football and baseball where college hoops gets a lot of eyeballs. I personally think the NCAA tourney and the conference tourneys should lower their ticket prices. Sorry, it's not the NBA. I don't need to pay $80 to watch a 1st round NCAA tourney game on a Thursday afternoon. Drastically reduce and get the stands full. Atmosphere at anything but the Final Four now sucks because of the greed.

Sure we can. If we go 8-1 with a loss to URI, we will be in the dance. Our NET will get a huge bump from 5 Q2 or Q2 victories.

All of the at-large teams are competing against each other for at large spots. If the Mountain West deserves 4 bids this year, it will get them. The ACC sucks and will likely get 4 bids. The issue comes in the fact that teams in other conferences have more chances to improve their resume, and we have more chances to tank it with a bad loss. But we also play an objectively weaker schedule from here on out than a team like Notre Dame.