BilliesBy40

I think with the reality of NIL, it is more important to have coaches on the the staff that are accomplished skill teachers than loading up the assistant positions with recruiters.  I would, also, try to load up the DBO and the other non recruiting positions with people that are talent evaluators.  I would try to get people that have a background as pro talent scouts.  Get a guy or two on staff that can tell you the value of a player right now and isn't worried about what the guy could develop into a few seasons down the line.  SLU can't be wasting money developing players only to have them leave when right before that investment would pay off.  SLU's NIL money needs to be spent based on what a player can deliver right away for that money.

A career high 22 points for JGood today! He was also the team's leading scorer.

Ford has no idea how to construct a roster.
We had two bigs last year who struggled at several aspects.
We had one young big sit on the bench , develop in practice, just to leave when ample PT is available.
We ran off/let walk 2 bigs who could have started for us last year in Bell & Traore.  Those two might still be on this next season roster if we kept them.
I don't want to hear excuses.
There is only so much PT...I don't care.  If a player can't play why are we giving him a scholarship.
But But Bell left because of grades...why bring in a suspect student?
But Traore needed a step down in competition he wouldn't have played here...We are now recruiting bigs from low majors with worse numbers than what Traore put last year.
Let's just play small with Hargrove at the 4....Are we really pinning our hopes on the improvement of a 5th year senior who has been a 8-10 man on 4th place A10 teams.
I shouldn't be this mad about Momo leaving but mistake after mistake after mistake by Ford every year is adding up to a 10 win season.

Someone TJ’s size negates the whole purpose of a stretch 4 or 5 which is forcing an opponent’s big out of the low post out to defend on the perimeter. They just rotate a wing onto TJ and you don’t open the driving lanes. 

THJ and Kellen are wings.  I dont want them playing PF, or really just the 4 unless we get a stud center.  Even with a stud center, we saw THJ along side and I no longer want to see much of that. 

I would definitely be visiting University if Hawaii.
Then hit up some combination of Pepperdine, Miami, Colorado, and a New York school. If D2 schools give you free travel I’d check out the University of Alaska at anchorage too.

“The proof was in the pudding with the great relationship I have with Coach Ford,” Noland told 247Sports. “He has had a lot of great guards with my ability and has had a lot of success with them. He sat down and showed me where I am at with my career and what I need to do. They also need me as much as I need them and that is why I wanted to be Billiken.”
“He is going to get me where I want to go,” Noland continued. “We want to do this thing together and we have built a great relationship over the past three to four weeks.”
Noland additionally says assistant coach Phil Forte played a huge role in his decision as well. Forte and Noland’s relationship date back to Noland’s high school days when Forte offered and recruited Noland as a member of the Sam Houston State staff. 

“Coach Phil played a big part in my decision as well,” Noland said. “With me and him having that relationship from the time he was at Sam Houston, there were a lot of ironic things that have happened now that he is at Saint Louis. God led me there.”
Noland chose the Billikens after hearing from Georgia Southern, Houston, Texas Tech, and other programs in the transfer portal. He recently completed an official visit to Saint Louis last week and said he was excited and eager to learn about a program that focuses primarily on basketball. 
“I would most definitely say the arena was my biggest takeaway because they do not have a football program,” Noland said. “I wanted to learn more about the program and how it is centered around basketball. That is really cool to me. They also showed me how I would fit, how I play, and the play style that they play. My playstyle matches their identity and I want to get back to that.”

The one caution I would give to people who want to use a Bess comparison is Bess was stuck behind multiple NBA players on a team that went to the Final Four one year and was ranked number two the other.  It is not really the same situation with Noland.

so doc, you arent a jimerson fan i take it?    because i think the jimerson no defense was an inaccurate assessment.  by year end i thought jimmerson was our best guard defender.   it sure as hell wasnt our all defensive team point guard that got torched by acey for almost 40 points.  

Found our big man for next season. $100 gift card to Imo’s should get it done. 

I was higher than most on Yuri coming out of high school and he even surprised me by how much he excelled in college. I don’t think he is a NBA player, but Yuri has been proving people wrong for a long time now.

This ain’t it.

Just curious - why so giddy about Kern? Seems like a nice defender, a decent role player, but I don't see much beyond that. Not a good shooter. More turnovers than assists also.
 
I don't think it's going to happen anyway. He was quoted in the Richmond paper saying that he loves St. Louis, but is from a tough area, so he wanted to get away.

You were asking to see what players were making. Is it any of your business, no different than is it any of my business what you make? I personally don't think it is any part of anyones business besides the player and those paying him. We don't get details of professional athletes endorsement deals. Those aren't made public, so why should these? 

I’ll give this a go.
”Hi (recruit’s name), we have a very passionate fan base that demands success and we have top notch facilities to help you realize success and for the team to become a top 50 program in the country.  Unfortunately last year, our season was disappointing mainly due to me hitching our wagon to one of the more overrated point guards in ncaa history, but he’s gone now so now our team defense won’t be bottom 250 in the country, sign here.”
😎
 

It's amazing to me, watching people defend a program with a 10,000 seat on campus arena, a coming basketball palace with private chefs, and a 2.4m per year coach, that can't even make the NIT.
Only SLU would ever put up with this level of failure. We are truly cursed as a fanbase and a program. The revilement of what is happening here should be universal. This is now a sub-100 program. We are worse than Oral Roberts and Liberty. The Pope should excommunicate SLU for this miserable output.
 

Anecdotal, but I remember a time where I was a student and Travis was running practice in the pavilion prior to a volleyball game and I overheard a conversation from a few mid-high level athletics officials trying to decide who had to tell Ford he needed to end practice so the VB players could do their pre-game. They were all afraid to be the one to ask him to stop practice. That's a problem and it's always stuck with me.

I think one problem is that a majority of the the fan base still consider a 20 win season an accomplishment.
May and Pestello realize this and they can use 20 wins to rally a large part of the fan base even though in todays game 20 wins doesn’t mean much. 

Good thing we aren’t shoooing away any FANS. 
 

Did I say anything about Ford? I just want the worst outcome possible to happen to Tennessee and Barnes (and staff) every time they play

good post cheese.   we all need to keep in mind yuri might be the worst point guard using (or should i say not using) a screen in my lifetime.   he circles around so wide my 94 year old mother could stay with him.   a good guard will basically drive and almost bang his teammate setting the pick's hip.  that forces the switch and now you likely got a terrible match up with our big and with collins passing skills the center gets the ball and maybe a dunk.   if they dont switch collins has a layup because he has at least 2 steps on his defender caught in the screen.  
while hate the "weave"  i do recognize it could be a very effective start to an offense if the man with the ball diverts occasionally direction or the next handoff the reciever would all at once roll elsewhere and maybe be open for a pass.   but we dont.   we just waste 10-15 seconds.   i have never seen the billikens do anything different than the three handoffs and end up right back where the weave started.   just stupid.  particularly since we should be playing faster not burning clock. 

But Travis Ford told us SLU has the best PG in the country.

This is one of the best sentences ever posted on this here message board.