HoosierPal

Today, with Frank, Claiborne and Rammer. Segment 2 Oct 5. https://590thefan.com/radio-shows/press-box/ Coach really likes his offense, the team is built for scoring. A guy really scoring and playing well in practice is Pickett. Forrester has been one of the biggest surprises of the team. He is a threat with his back to the basket. We just need to add some defense and rebounding to it. Hughes was really impressive to Rammer when he last saw practice. Coach said his defense is at a high level, not just as a Freshman, but on any level. His shot was struggling early, but it has improved. Coach wasn't sure early if he would be ready to go but he has proven he can play on this team. Four days of practice, defense has been the focus on practices. Collins and Thatch lead the charge, but Pickett is a 'disrupter'. These guys can change a possession with their D. Team does not have a Power Forward. Likely will run out a PG, a 5 and then three wings. He does use the classical numbers in practice to tell players where a certain position...tell them where the one goes, where the two goes, etc. There will be four guards with a big 95 to 98% of the time. Will play two bigs at times, but not very often. In his offense, Ford gives players the freedom to make choices. He does emphasize structure, particularly spacing and positioning on the floor. "If the ball is here, you need to be there." Very rarely tells a player not to shoot. More likely, "you should have taken that shot". We want to pass up a good shot for a great shot. Half the team is vets, half the team has never played for Ford. The new ones have to understand our TeamBlue culture. Frank - How do you keep it fresh for your vets? It is a challenge. We are doing drill work. Some of the guys have done the drill a thousand times. The vets need to lead the new ones through the drills. Vets he really doesn't yell at. The new guys get yelled at. "I haven't changed the way I coach. I try to be a better coach. I don't change my approach because of the transfer portal. The game has changed dramatically with the Portal and NIL, so you have to adjust." Three weeks away from the exhibition with UMSL. "We have to get better today." We won't talk about anything more than today. Embrace each day to get better. Coach Sunvold said Ford called him and wanted to move the game days up on the calendar. Sunvold said no. Ford wanted to move it to fit in the scrimmage with Bradley. Dr. Chaifetz and Coach text quite a bit. He is excited about this team for sure.

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/20984 Probable foe Miami, after we defeat the Terps in Round 1 of the HOF and they punish the Friars, comes in at 37. They will be guard oriented, with two returning perimeter players added to the Six Million Dollar Man, Nijel Pack. They won't be overpowering in the paint. We will match up well with Canes and can take them and claim the HOF trophy. Perhaps Pack will sign autographs at half time as part of his NIL deal. I plan to be in line early.

Yeah and what about the cross country team. If N Arizona can have a nationally ranked program, so can SLU. Let’s get the priority straight. Spend recruiting dollars on trips to Africa. No blue font here.

Reyna's 'muscle tightness' in the Saudia game translates to 1 to 2 weeks out. https://sbisoccer.com/2022/09/gio-reyna-sidelined-one-to-two-weeks-with-muscle-injury

Are you having a bad day? I don't read as much as you obviously do. Lunardi, Palm, Sweeney from Sports Illustrated, Matt Norlander and Jeff Goodman all have Dayton rated above SLU today. It's preseason, and it's nothing to get upset about or discuss any further.

So do you want Stu to misrepresent what outsiders think? Most outsiders do consider us a close second to Dayton. Not sure why you want Stu to sugar coat anything.

Hard to argue with most of this. The team looked much better in the summer final qualifying games (yes against weak teams). What happened? Who flipped the switch to the Off position? Sure, three or four likely starters missed these two friendlies, but I don't know if they would have changed the bottom line. Pulisic looks like he is stuck in neutral. Reyna, is he too fragile to play three 90 minute games? Steffan can't be in the conversation as starting GK. Pepi doesn't deserve even the 26th plane ticket. 26 will be rostered. Game day roster is what, likely 18 as normal? I believe I heard there will be 5 or 6 subs. There will be more than a few of the 26 who don't see action. So why not bring in a few veterans who have WCup experience? Only Yedlin of the likely 26 has been to a World Cup. Ream and Zardes are two in particular I'd look at. Why not? Your third striker chances are won't get into a game, but maybe Zardes has 10 golden minutes left. Maybe you carry 4 strikers and one fewer defender or midfielder. Ream is playing the best soccer of his late career. Does having McKenzie sit on the bench for 12 days provide more for the team than Ream, who maybe, could come in to help seal a victory? Glad I'm not Coach B. He knows, USSoccer knows, that anything short of getting out of the Group stage means his job.

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/slu-mens-basketball-opens-practice-with-huge-roster-abundance-of-options/article_57c2bd2b-f608-51d7-8fcc-5a04fd96a035.html Interesting article. So how many in the rotation by A10 play? "They know Yuri is going to play 35 minutes, Gibson's going to play and so is Javonte" (no big news here)......already shortening the rotation? Coach is setting up his 8 +2.

Collins, Holmes and Toppin on Rothstein's list of 15 players who will become stars this season.

Pretty good 2 min clip from Coach Martin at UMass on Culture, Leadership and Relationship. It gave me a deeper appreciation of TeamBlue's culture. Martin is saying all the right things. Will it translate to wins?

Long article, but interesting. Some good in-depth analysis of each A10 team. I found this interesting and an area to look for some improvement: SLU took 42% of their shots at the rim last season, a larger attempt rate than they had from the mid-range or from three-point range. The Billikens only scored a rather average 1.18 points per possession from those shots at the rim. Okoro did record an impressive number of blocks, but teams were able to score 1.22 points per possession on shots at the rim against the Billikens, higher than the average in the A10. https://a10stats.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/previewing-the-atlantic-10-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-know/

Our match-ups with Dayton will be high level entertainment.

Houston, we have a problem. A better, but fairly listless, effort by the Red/White/Blue. Two okay teams shut down the offense. Adams, Zimmerman, Scally and Turner were okay. The rest, meh. DId Scally secure a seat on the plane to Quatar? For me he did. Pepi and McKenzie need to make sure they have Fox TV to view the games from home. Can this team accomplish a 1-1-1 record in the group? Will that be enough to get them through?

Memphis on three year probation, $5000 fine, and vacate one win that Wiseman played in. "Make that a Veggie Burger please, no cheese, no lettuce, no tomato, no pickles." https://www.si.com/college/2022/09/27/memphis-penny-hardaway-avoid-major-penalties-in-ncaa-probe-james-wiseman-recruitment

After our win in the HOF opener against Maryland, we would possibly play Providence, if they can get by Miami. The Friars are another team we should defeat. They lost a ton of scoring, and brought in a ton of transfers, including Clifton Moore from LaSalle. They have three significant returnees. I'd call it a Billiken win in the HOF winners bracket, but I'm not sure they will get by "the U". Coach Cooley is perhaps their biggest asset. https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/20963

Here is a different spin on the starting lineup. Try and put together a depth chart. What makes it fun, is that we have a bunch of players who play on the wing. Are they SF or SG? Is Jimerson a SF or a SG? Same for Perkins. So using the classical 5-4-3-2-1 positions, what is your depth chart. Center - Okoro, Forrester, Cisse PF - Pickett, Thatch, Hargrove SF - Jimerson, Rivera, Kramer SG - Perkins, Parker, Hughes PG - Collins, Perkins, Thatch, Thames Yeah, it doesn't fit a pattern. There are six to seven players you could put in more than one slot. Just about the only two that aren't movable into mulitple slots are Okoro and Collins.

Billiken foe Memphis comes in at 46. They lost 6 of their top 7 scorers from last season. No reason we can't take them at home. https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/20957

Butt ugly. Turner good, Aaronson showed a lot of energy, Reyna okay, the rest should have stayed in the hotel.

Coach announced Long is starting. He mentioned his open field defense and his experience in a high pressing line. He will sub in a CB at halftime.

1 1/2 hours is too long for me to listen. Give us a recap. Thanks in advance.

So you are saying that we won't be using our 'Yuri, dribble around for 25 seconds and then figure something out' offense?

I'm agreeing with you, and he brings some veteran, "been there, done that" experience. I don't know if he starts, but he should be on the squad.