BillikensBlog

I am marking down North Florida as a likely loss. They were a good team last year (16 seed) and they bring 6 of their top 7 scorers back including their top 3. They won't be a terrible team. I think SLU fans should be happy with 7-5. Wichita St, Louisville, and K State as losses. North Florida as a likely loss. Then maybe another clunker. 8-4 would be pretty good. SIUE is not good but this team did lose at Fordham and George Mason last season.

I think the explanation part is interesting. Is that just a pissed off player saying he didn't get an explanation or is that actually the case? I'm going to guess it's a little bit of both. If a player has a big first half, I can't understand why he wouldn't get to play much in the 2nd. Or if a player has a big game, I can't understand why he'd go to single digit minutes the next game even if he didn't have a great practice in between.

I've heard that at least 4 players went to Crews after last season and said they'd rather risk fighting for a spot and riding the bench than go through this big rotation again this coming season. I have also been told by someone very close to the program that there was some definite disagreement between the staff and Crews on how to use the personnel last year (regarding size of rotation). I think we all expected everyone to get playing time in the Bahamas, but hopefully that was used to cut down the rotation. Finally, someone with a close relationship to a player told me "It sucks playing for a losing team. It's made worse when you can have a great game one game and then get a handful of minutes the next without any sort of explanation."

https://billikensblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/bahamas-in-review/

Bartley is a complete wild card to me. He couldn't defend anyone last year and his turnover % was horrendous both in A10 play and out. But he also showed an ability to be a knockdown shooter. He's about 20 practices behind everyone in terms of working on this new offense and if his game is better fit to be less of a PG and more of a 2, it's hard to see where he fits in with Crawford, Yacoubou, and Roby.

100% agree.

I can't say with 100% certainty that he doesn't have a minor injury but you'd think that would either have been announced or they wouldn't have played him at all. Ash very well could be in the doghouse, but I think it's a combination of things. 3star seems to be on track saying that if you're going to play all those PG's, someone has to sit. Crawford's minutes were limited as well so that position took the hit for playing those guys. But I do think it says something that Ash was the one that got his minutes majorly cut. I think everything could/will be different in November, but based on what I've heard, one thing I can promise you this year is that if you see the same mistakes as last year, guys will be sitting for a long time.

https://twitter.com/BillikensBlog/status/631508348735590400

I've spoken to someone in the Bahamas and they say they have no clue why Ash isn't playing. He doesn't appear hurt and they made that point that if he is, why play him at all? The whole "figure out the end of the bench" thing is interesting, but the more you think about it, the less it makes sense. As Brian pointed out, no player was good enough last year to have a spot locked up or that they don't need the extra work especially in the new offense. I still wouldn't read too much into the lineups but it is a little strange. Roby and Crawford appear to be the best players so come November I would expect them to play the most. We'll see if that comes true though. 1-18 from 3 is more of a freak incident, although we don't have much in terms of outside shooting anyway. 28 turnovers seems flukey but we're average 26 in the two games. If they aren't taking it seriously and being loose with the ball, then this trip was a waste. Same thing regarding results. No the results don't matter, but even if Crews is playing to prepare for the season, each player should be playing to win. If they aren't, then they shouldn't be here. If they are and they can't beat the PJ Stingers, it doesn't look like a great season is ahead. We will see where we stand on about February 1st. The non-conference schedule seems to be filled with either walk-overs or games we have little chance to win. Hard to judge much after that. But after a month of A10 play, I think we will know what we have.

https://twitter.com/BillikensBlog/status/631146536043286528

I wouldn't read too much into the minutes on this trip. I think Crews knows who his best players are and he's trying to figure out the end of his rotation this season. Word is that neither the staff nor the players liked the big rotation last year. I think you may see all 13 guys play early in the season anyway though. Nothing against Reynolds or Hines but if they're playing close to those kind of minutes regularly, we won't be very good. Wouldn't be surprised if the minutes/combinations were a lot different tonight. Also I think Crews is sending an early message to some guys that they need to clean up the mistakes. Yacoubou driving wildly and Yarbrough trying that coast to coast stuff isn't going to be an option during the season so it needs to stop now. The practices were the most important part but this group needs to win games. It's a confidence thing heading into a new season. I can't call that performance encouraging but I am not reading too much into it at all.

I should have prefaced by above post by saying don't read into this too much, but thought it was interesting nonetheless. We've all seen the accuracy of summer reports before....both good and bad.

Updates from someone who has seen the team this summer. - "The guys look bigger and better, but I'd expect the message board to overstate everyone (after open practices). I've watched a dozen "practices" from start to finish this summer and it's just so far behind what you saw two or three years ago." - "Two guys stay late every day. Mike and Davell. Davell works on his PG skills and Mike defends him. Those two are the team captains and most dedicated. They find one thing every day to get better at. Both have serious limitations as players though. The rest of the guys stay late when a coach keeps them late." - "Reggie is always hurt." -"Gillmann is bigger but Jolly can still muscle him off the block" - "Reynolds comes to the gym and gets shots up very often but they just don't go in" - "Ash can blow by any defender on our team. Not sure how that will translate to the court against real post defenders," - "Bishop has surprised me. He may be better than Reynolds and Bartley. Or I'm overstating him just because I figured he'd be terrible" - "Welmer can stroke it from deep and isn't afraid to get a rebound but he's got Gillmann strength or less." -"Neufeld is more athletic than most white bigs we see. He has a feel for the game too. Just not sure he's as skilled as some think"

Based on what people have said both on the board and off, I'd compare him to a longer, slightly better Bartley with family members that could eventually lead to problems. Definitely a wait and see type guy. If he puts in the effort on and off the court and isn't influenced by family members, he could be a steal.

I will do my best. Hoping to speak to some people at the open practice but I obviously don't expect to get too much detail on the strategy side of things. At least hoping for a broad sense such as (might play some zone, more off-ball screens, smaller lineups, etc)

I'm still not talking to recruits. I think that will be solved later this summer but I'm working on it. I also think the AD cares less now that Tatum is out the window. Right now I'm getting all info from coaches and "recruiting experts". I definitely won't be posting anything on Twitter for a while but I don't see how posting on this site would be a major deal.

Curry is blowing up but I think he'll have a unique recruitment. I'd expect some solid BCS conference offers to come for him soon. Talking places like Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, etc. But my understanding is that he is very close with his mother and she will have a major say in his recruitment. The coach that builds the best relationship with his mother will have the best chance. I'm hearing that SLU is definitely on his shortlist and they like the proximity to home, but the proximity to home could easily be lost if a more local school offers him.

Planning to do it with the juniors for sure. Not sure about the seniors since it's just Ash and don't know if I can get enough info from the freshmen but I will try.

Based on what has been reported and what I've heard from Justin Tatum and then a couple people a little more removed from the situation, I'd say that SLU did everything they were supposed to do, but maybe not everything they could do.

https://billikensblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/sophomores-ready-to-take-next-step/

Fair enough. Hope I'm wrong anyway.

I'll say that I now feel pretty confident that Tatum will be a Blue Devil. I was wrong yesterday but this is a local, trusted source.

Well my info was bad. Don't love SLU's chances. Hope I'm wrong again

Not exactly breaking news but I've been told Jayson will not be announcing this weekend. Doesn't want to take the focus off what he and his teammates are trying to accomplish. ESPN wanted him to announce but he's not ready yet. I do think it'll be before the "2 weeks" mark. As far as where he's going. I'd still guess Duke but Meyer's tweet about growing SLU chatter is legit. Other than a couple people, nobody really knows but you have to wonder if info is leaking especially since Beal was at Peach Jam and he knows. Like I said I'm still guessing Duke but that's truly just a guess

I've said it here multiple times. They aren't a "package deal" by the common perception of the term "package deal". But if Tatum commits to Duke, I would be shocked if Giles went anywhere else. To be honest, from what I've heard, I'd be shocked if Giles went anywhere other than Duke anyway. The two are great friends and they want to play with each other in college, but they're both going to do what they think is best for them. The problem for SLU fans is that they both really like Duke.