BillikensBlog

Also want to clarify that nobody came directly to us and said shut it down. We just heard that some people don't like negative posts and we were considering shutting down anyway so we just decided that it'd be best for everyone to do so.

I don't disagree with any of those posts really. We were all tired of doing the blog and even when we were 4-0, the sources were drying up so I think some more critical posts lately probably pissed some people off. I don't want to put 100% of the blame on others as we had been discussing shutting down for a while now. Anyway thanks to everyone for the kind words and for reading.

Not going to get into details but this has been building for a while. Apparently some people involved with the team don't like that we've made some critical remarks either on the blog, on here, or on twitter. That kind of dried out most of our sources except for a couple and at that point, it just became too much work without the ability to provide anything unique.

We are shutting down effective immediately for various reasons. Hope you guys enjoyed the coverage that we were able to provide. It was a lot of work but also fun.

A source tells us they think Crews will be bought out and we will spend big time money on a new coach after this season. Long way to go but that's the word as of this moment.

https://billikensblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/02/preview-saint-louis-vs-morehead-state/

Jolly is not a great player but having talked to him a couple of times, he is a great person off the court. SLU is lucky to have him as a representative of their team.

Here's your preview https://billikensblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/preview-saint-louis-vs-north-florida/

https://billikensblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/preview-saint-louis-vs-north-florida/

Neufeld looked terrible last game but he needs to play. His ceiling is pretty high.

Spoke to a couple of different people. Most echoed what Durando said, but some info nonetheless. - Ball-handling was horrible. Illinois St pressured a lot, which the staff was actually happy about. One person said "teams will be nuts not to pressure us at least a little bit this season". There is a concern that SLU's best players can't handle the ball well enough and SLU's best ball handlers can't play the rest of the game well enough. - SLU shot it well from 3. I'd expect SLU to not be shy about putting up 3's this season. Lots of players have the green light as of now. We'll see how that changes as the season progresses. - As Durando said, Crawford and Ash stood out, but one source said, "I won't say they played great, but they were definitely our best players". - While both teams played their full roster and experimented with lineups, I'm told that the actual scrimmage part was very game-like. "It's not what you'll see in February, but both teams played to win." - It's hard to get a gauge on a starting lineup or even a rotation. The staff has been most impressed with Crawford and Bishop from what people have said. Bishop is still in a battle for a role in the backcourt, but I do think he's exceeded expectations thus far. This isn't really a unique thought, but I'd guess you'll still see a pretty big rotation early in the season, but I think there is pressure for the staff to eventually pick a set rotation and stick with it, with the last one or two spots fluctuating based on practices and matchups. - The loss of Welmer is a big blow from what I understand. It's a big shot to the frontcourt depth and the staff really liked his ability to stretch the defense. Gillmann has regressed a bit as a shooter as he concentrated on other parts of his game (he's still a fine shooter) and Welmer was the superior athlete and rebounder to Gillmann.

Working on getting the score and details. Just got a message from someone very connected to the program that the Bills lost, it wasn't pretty, and nobody looked good. Will let you guys know more when I know more.

For those that care, SLU lost and nobody stood out as looking good.

https://billikensblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/more-questions-than-answers-face-the-billikens/

The staff would obviously never publicly say that a player is in the dog house, but I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty that Ash was in the doghouse for the Bahamas trip. I absolutely believe that Crews was experimenting with lineups, but last year and throughout the summer, the coaching staff had gotten incredibly frustrated with Ash making the same mistakes over and over again. Today's article could indicate that he is snapping out of that. If the team is going to be good this year, they will need big things out of Ash. Hope he can pull through.

At least at one point, I know we had a lot of mutual interest with Yess. Not sure where that stands now.

The rule is to stop letting players transfer for their 5th year to pursue a graduate degree if they have already graduated with their bachelors. I think a study showed that only like 18% of transfers finished their graduate degree.

Some notes on next season (since negative opinions/facts aren't welcome). Some negative notes aren't welcome either (see post about Crews and player roles)..... - I'd expect to play at a much quicker pace this year. Shorter shot clock will be part of that but rumor has it we will run a lot more, trap, shoot more 3's, and isolate our guards in the post (Crawford, Roby, Ash) - The staff apparently feels confident heading into the season. They didn't (and still don't) see the point guard position as a problem. - I am still hearing Ash was in the doghouse in the Bahamas. The staff expects him (as a 5th year senior) to not make the same mistakes in practice and in games. The older guys will be on a short leash all year. - As far as a player rotation or size of the rotation, I have no idea. I would think the goal is to have some type of 9 man rotation by A10 play but I could see that rotation changing from game to game outside of the top 5 or 6 guys. - Hines most plays like the kind of PG Crews wants. If Crews is adamant about specific roles again this coming season, Hines could play a lot. I do think the Bahamas was kind of his audition, along with Reynolds. - Bartley's injury could be one of those things that flares up throughout the season. He may be best suited playing off the ball anyway. That's all for now. Nothing earth-shattering or even surprising in there. Hoping to speak to the junior class soon.

Again FWIW, kenpom ranked the 2011-12 team 17th and the 2012-13 team 16th but had the 2011-12 team with a higher rating. Sagarin had the 11-12 team ranked 16th and the 12-13 team ranked 20th and also considered the 11-12 team superior. So I disagree that there is no objective measure by which that is actually true.

FWIW, I (and the large majority of others I've spoken to) would rank the teams 1. 2011-12 2. 2012-13 3. 2013-14 Despite the overall records telling a different story. I could see an argument for 2012-13 being better than 11-12. Anyway, that is off-topic. I think I learned to restrain information a bit as the remark about how Crews handled players' roles last year caused a stir and attacking of posters. That being said, I think a realistic goal for this coming season is 15 wins. Anything more and I would consider it a major success. I don't love predictions, especially this early, but I would throw out 13-17 as my guess for regular season.

Doubt we ever have this confirmed, but I'm not convinced this year will be the same. Crews has his full system in place now and I think he is more comfortable with letting players play and not worrying about a specific role. We will see though.

Unfortunately it is true and has now been confirmed by a separate source. Not saying this year will be the same but last year Crews set certain roles for each player and did not want that player going out of that role. Due to some recruiting errors, he had to have players play away from their biggest strengths to fit the role he wanted/needed.

A handful of notes: - I'd expect our style of play to be pretty different this year. Quicker pace, more shots, more traps, etc. - Crews will feel no pressure to play a shorter rotation. I think the compromise may be though that he only plays 9 guys a game, but those 9 guys aren't the same game to game. This would be worrisome to me because he started to lose the guys by the middle of last year with sporadic playing time. As a fan, we should hope 9 guys just establish themselves and make it easy. - One former player who is still active in terms of being around the team strongly questioned Crews' use of players last year. Not so much the large rotation, but that he tried to turn everyone into role players. If they went away from that role, they got the now famous "yank". Examples.... Crews wanted Bartley to be a point guard. So games that he lit it up from 3? That's not his role so he wasn't playing. Milik was instructed to play the 4, not try that coast to coast stuff, and play good defense. If he scored 16 points on 8-9 shooting, but put up shots out of his role...Yank Ash was told to be a ball handler. When he tried driving or even shooting, he was yanked. - The issue with this was that some players were upset that guys like Roby were allowed to play through early season problems. Now, it clearly paid off for him, but that only added fuel to the fire that guys should be given chances to play through mistakes.

I haven't almost no insight to this and not sure if I will. One person who was in the Bahamas said they thought Ash was in the doghouse. But I wouldn't read too much into the rotation in the Bahamas. I am hoping to get more insight into everything that happened this summer by the end of the week.

I think the team will be pretty good. They continue to have a rock solid defense and a great keeper behind that. They'll have to score goals by committee but I like the transfers and I think they have plenty of playmakers. Wouldn't be surprised to see them do better than last year despite losing so much talent.