SLU_Lax

Old Guy....to speak relative to statistics what is being said is simple. In a competitive game, the factors that determine success against the spread are overwhelmingly competitive factors directly related to how "good" a team is. Of course a certain amount of randomness is always present. In blowouts, the score is determined much more by other factors relating to how a team responds to having an insurmountable lead. Do they slow the pace down? Empty the bench early? Do they work their offense through their 3rd or 4th of 5th options? Do they put in a random zone defense just to practice it? SLU shot extremely well on Wednesday. The solid shooting (especially from distance) is a good indicator of our ability to shoot. Some of the run-outs/fast breaks and other easier baskets that were a decision to push the tempo may be less meaningful (a different team in the same situation may decide to slow the pace and play half court because that is their goal for the game). Every game SLU plays is played to win. On Wednesday, SLU knew they would achieve that goal before the opening tip. The secondary and tertiary goals and gameplanning become bigger factors and it appears to be something you are missing. The mental model you are creating via your application of "probability theory" sounds like it is missing many of these factors. You may want to isolate some of those things, but even the game planning varies going into the game when a game is not anticipated to be competitive. The only thing I cannot tell from your post is what you mean by "level". I am guessing you are not speaking of a more robust probability model that evaluates more factors, but instead are talking about the precision and breakdown of measurements which is segmenting the basic factors typically measured (factor recognizing short time intervals; breakdown shooting percentage based on multiple types of shots; etc) and not looking at the additional external factors present. The market example you used is flawed because in the market you always want to make as much money as possible and the desire to make more money is essentially unlimited (law of diminishing returns barely applies). SLU is not looking to win the game by as many points as possible....if they were, then Yuri would have played 36+ minutes.

Whoops...I just posted this in the GDT thread. Sorry WGSTL as you beat me to it.

This may not be strictly a GDT topic....but did others see Frank Cusumano had his car stolen for the Chaifetz lot yesterday. https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/joe-holleman/ksdks-frank-cusumanos-car-stolen-from-chaifetz-lot/article_4c428603-dfe9-5085-a83d-9ce5206aff22.html

I don’t see why Nesbitt couldn’t effectively guard most of the 4s we will play against this year. He has enough height, enough strength, plus speed, plus vertical, and great tenacity. Not saying that’s the way to go, but it seems to me it’s a viable option if needed. Obviously it was against smaller men, but he sure can get up and challenge and block shots when the opposing players try to back him down towards the block.

Is it too late to take the over?

You can (almost) always hang on the rim to slow your momentum or otherwise avoid a hard landing. The refs give decent leeway on the hanging from the rim as its in the name of safety and lots of injuries can happen to ankles, knees, etc from landing on someone. The BIG no-no is doing anything resembling a pull up. If you pull yourself up on the rim, you are tempting fate.

Are you trying to tell me that Jesus Christ can't hit a curveball?

The scuttlebutt is that the "shaky owner" making things worse is Mark Davis (Raiders) who was upset with how the Relo went down and spoke openly about what violations of the Relo Policy he saw. The theory continues that the Washington Football Team email dumps that led to Gruden getting fired was payback to Mark Davis and the Raiders. This lawsuit is getting more and more interesting. If indeed the two cases storylines become intertwined in the Public Relations arena, it will make everything look doubly bad for the NFL. Fingers Crossed.

I don't think your family is doing Thanksgiving right. But I now have visions of a pre-dinner mushroom hunt. Is it before or after the airing of grievances and feats of strength?

I just made sure to always buy a beer and have it in my hand. It seemed to be a good way to comply, but 05 is right....I would still get an infrequent reminder to pull my mask up essentially between sips from an usher.

RickMa loved many of his players. He would just beam with pride as he would talk about Paul. I don’t remember, did Paul ever get a scholarship? Either way, one of the great Billiken student athletes that makes being a SLU fan so much fun.

No thank you.

I simply do not see any path for Okoro to get a fifth year. The NCAA "COVID year" essentially says that the 2020 season does NOT count as a year of eligibility used (i.e. it is a free year). There is no mechanism to try and get that free year applied to any other season or situation. It was done solely to get players to play in 2020. I still remember the empty feeling of the 2019 season ending with the Billikens playing great and set to take out Dayton and go to the NCAA tournament.....then poof....season ended due to COVID. The 2020 season began with A LOT of uncertainty. One of the only sources of optimism was NCAA football had gone reasonably okay. NCAA tournaments were set to be cancelled (heck...we say Indiana State just bail game day on the Bills, then the Bills bailed on Richmond (boarding a plane and just leaving....understandably) on game day, the players were all but locked in their rooms in isolation for weeks.....AND despite ALL of those things listed that overall the 2020 season went as well as could have been expected from a scheduling standpoint....I am still sad we did not return to playing form post team quarantine). Either way....the 2020 season being a "free" season in which players did not burn eligibility was a one time event and certainly not transferable to other season (regardless of why you did not get to use your "free" year). The NCAA recognized the risk of teams going over scholarship limits and extended your scholarships ONLY for the player playing his fifth year for the same team he played for in 2020. The NCAA is not looking to expand the 2020 "free year" program in any manner. In fact, I would not be shocked if the NCAA counted a year played at a JuCo in 2020 as a year of eligibility used.

This is exactly right. The reason it was done was to encourage players to play last year. The NCAA was worried all the uncertainty going into the season was going to lead to players choosing to opt out. This reduced the risk of players opting out because they didn’t want to burn a year on what could have been (and often was) a very disrupted year with many game (and our Orlando Tournament) not played. If players opted out, it was then a health decision and not based on fear of not getting a full season of play completed.

This is exactly my understanding. The "COVID Year" was essentially motivated to make sure players played. The amount of uncertainty going into the season could have led players to decide...."I am not playing this year. I will take the year off and heal or do whatever, but I do NOT want to play a 6 games and then have COVID cancel our teams season, or the A-10's season, or the entire NCAA's season and now I just burned a whole year of eligibility for 6 games". To remove that risk and that uncertainty, the COVID waiver was granted to help ensure that players played the season last year and did not opt out.

Just ludicrous. But then again....at this point I’d rather not play them.

Hey....Fred is only a Sophomore.

Damn. I think he did a good job judging by the on court results.

Brett Joly was from Texas

I am sad to see Jimmy go. He showed his ability to achieve through his weight loss. I wish him the best and think he will have success.

He had a rough 4 years to be a Billiken. He always kept competing and he kept producing. I am sure he was frustrated that the team overall was not what he thought it would be (i.e. he joined a top 25 team that fell to the bottom of the A10 when he arrived). He never let that frustration that I assume was present become a distraction or bring his commitment to the team in question. I hold Roby in as high regard as Lisch, Goodwin, Highmark, or any other Billiken. I am excited he is back.

I think Linnsen still has 2 years left.

I hate to say that’s what they will do next year, but I imagine they will play with match ups as much as possible to protect against mid major upsets.

When I was at Purdue, the OSU fans were the worst. You’d have 30 year old men trying to pick fights and chanting at random groups of people. OSU was the only school that caused a few establishments to ban anyone in OSU gear on game days.

Well I think the face shield is to direct the virus to his sideburns where it is safely trapped protecting Pastner and those around him. TBH using masks at this level of competition is more optics than anything.