Minerva N. Owl

Took a road trip to KC for the game against Kansas State, Dec 21, 2019 ... Bills shocked KState 66-63 for an impressive neutral court victory. *** Also, two games against St. Bonaventure are memorable: During Ford's first year, the lost bus saga ... Feb 8, 2017 @ Oleans, after losing to Bonnies, the team also lost the bus. The bus driver apparently went bar hopping during the game. March 7, 2020 @ Chaifetz, five game winning streak, the Bills were on the bubble, and were in position to get in the tournament with a good run, but this was the last game before COVID. It was a Mardi Gras Saturday in St. Louis, with a very festive atmosphere, lots of energy, and a decisive win. Most of us didn't anticipate that the A10 tournament would be shut down days later ... Selection Sunday never came that year. *** On the whole, Ford sort of gave what was promised from the beginning: pretty good at recruiting, but not so great as a bench coach.

Looking for 2 tickets to Saturday 2/24 vs George Washington. Thanks

Just for the record, and for easy reference later, here's a collection of some of the coverage of the Dec 16, 2023 game against Louisiana Tech, especially the final 28 seconds, when TJ Hargrove lit it up, scoring 11 points, including a buzzer beater for the 75-74 SLU victory: ESPN Sportscenter (Listed the buzzer beater in their daily top ten sports plays) Each of the shots taken by TJ Hargrove in the final 28 seconds are here. Also see here and here. The KMOX radio broadcast of this game, with Rammer and Earl on the call, (with the final 30 seconds beginning around the 2:12 mark in the recording) is here. Stu's article in the PD. KSDK Channel 5

Only the final shot ... not the final 28 seconds ... TJ's buzzer beater is in the first 20 seconds here:

It's mostly true that for the first 30 minutes or so, the #22 on #22 match-up didn't really happen. During the first half, it was mostly Dalger who defended Isaiah Crawford, and (as a couple others have noted) Dalger shut down LAT's #22. Isaiah Crawford, LAT's leading scorer, went scoreless in the first half. But it was a different story in the second half, especially as Dalger got into foul trouble, and when Dalger sat in the second half. During that stretch, Isaiah Crawford lit it up, and emerged as LAT's (co)leading scorer for the game. Had the game ended at the 30 second mark, one would have to say that LAT's #22 got the better of it. But Hargrove (#22) and the final 28 seconds is obviously the headline. Notice in the video below of TJ's 28 second flurry, Isaiah Crawford is almost constantly a step or two behind TJ: on TJ's drive for the slam dunk at the 28 second mark, when TJ goes around Jimmerson's screen (with #22 Isaiah Crawford getting screened by Jimmerson at the top of the key), and even on the final shot at the buzzer. The main defender on TJ's shot at the end is #2, but Isaiah Crawford is close by. It's a bit fun to see Isaiah Crawford's shoulders slump as TJ's buzzer beater swishes. #22 Isaiah Crawford had an amazing second half. TJ had an epic, historic, amazing final 28 seconds. Did the 22s meet up? Watch the end again.

Final 28 seconds details here:

TJ Hargrove has had several games this season where he played with a very high motor while playing out of position. The big question, as I see it, is whether Hargrove is able to bring that energy tonight (and moving forward) to the 4 position. I see #22 on #22 as a key matchup tonight: TJ Hargrove v. Isaiah Crawford. *** 3Star wrote: "MBMs are looking ahead to a possible future where 1) we have our full team on the floor and 2) everyone is playing their correct position." One big question for tonight is whether the "Ezewiro effect" impacts TJ. Can Hargrove play with a high motor? Can the Hargrove and the Bills shut down #22 Isaiah Crawford? The Wiz, in his pre-grame report (posted prior to the news that Ezewiro would be available?) pointed to #22 Isaiah Crawford as a key player for LAT. The Wiz noted that #22 Isaiah Crawford "leads the team in Pts, Assts, 3P shooting and steals." I see 22 on 22 as a matchup to watch tonight.

Among many other problems, lots of missed bunnies today: 8/16 today; 16/19 against Mason. With Franco out, VCU is not pressured on bunnies, but ours are all rushed.

Also, in the regular season we didn't beat any decent teams by 20+ points the way we just beat Mason. A few of those, especially on the road, would have done a world of good to our NET, especially had we avoided those soft losses to SIUE, UMass, etc.

Maybe the first game all year with sustained focus in both halves; good energy on defense throughout the game; almost no missed bunnies; relatively few mistakes or mental lapses. During the regular season, we saw only glimpses. Since Thanksgiving, it's been obvious that this group somehow needs to figure out how to stay in the flow in a consistent way for the whole game. Now, can they do it several games in a row?

SLU layups = 16/19 *=(unlike earlier games with countless missed bunnies)

Speaking of triangles, noticed another change with the SLU pep band ... a new Jamaican triangle player ... so every little ting gonna be alright!

This is a somewhat long “think-piece”, so it might not be to the taste of those who like to limit ideas to 140 characters. Basketball, especially NCAA Div 1 Basketball, is frequently a game of streaks. We see it all the time: the Bills go on a streak, and suddenly they’re up 10 or 12 or more; then, after cruising for a bit, they lose focus. Nothing goes in. The defense breaks down. A bad pass, then a bad foul, and all of a sudden a big lead is squandered. We’ve seen this pattern of “streaks” in each of the three games this year. We also saw it last year, and just about every year. Of course, last year, there were a number of big games in which a bad streak in the final minutes of the game had the Bills lose a game they probably should have won. Part of what was positive about the Memphis game (Tue Nov 15) was that, although Memphis went on a streak with 4 minutes left in the game, the Bills were able to stem the tide. Streaks are not unique to basketball. Anyone who has played horseshoes or golf or cornhole/bags or darts or any of a number of such games knows the experience when one is on a streak: an individual player or an entire team somehow enters the “flow” state, and everything seems to work. In basketball games, the crowd notices when a team has entered the “flow” state, and a buzz of excitement fills the air. Those are special moments. The leading expert on the “flow” state is a Hungarian psychologist with a strange name: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. His classic study is titled Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. He presents his central ideas about “flow” in this 18-minute TED talk. Part of what has me thinking about “flow” – in addition to the streakiness of the Bills in the last couple games – is several comments made by the Wiz. Caveat: I’ve benefited from reading the Wiz for many years. I'm grateful for his perspective, and I consider his pre-game reports "must reads" that allow me to enjoy each game in a more detailed, focused manner. With that said, I want to take issue with, or at least qualify, something the Wiz wrote recently. In the string titled, “Ratings and Rankings and Polls … Oh My”, the Wiz wrote that “most computer based rankings are living, breathing entities”. There’s an innocent sense in which the Wiz is using a metaphor: he’s responding to questions that people ask him about rankings, especially the puzzle that sometimes SLU wins a game against a higher ranked team, but the subsequent movement in the poll is not quite what’s expected. The comment by the Wiz makes it clear that he is using a sort of metaphor: rankings “change by the hour as games are being played”. In other words, he is not literally saying that the computer is alive, or that computers breath. Computer programs, no matter how sophisticated, given the current state of technology, are definitely NOT “living, breathing entities”. If we pursue this line of thought very far, we enter into pretty deep philosophical waters: What is it to be a living, breathing entity? What is life? To what extent can computers model life? To what extent can a quality (such as the “flow” state) be captured in a quantitative formula? Without facing these questions head on, I think it’s worth noticing that some of what Csikszentmihalyi has to say on these matters is insightful. For example, Csikszentmihalyi identifies the following features of the “flow” state: Complete concentration on the task; Clarity of goals and reward in mind and immediate feedback; Transformation of time; The experience is intrinsically rewarding; Effortlessness and ease; There is a balance between challenge and skills; Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination; There is a feeling of control over the task. Csikszentmihalyi points to two ways in which one can enter or exit the flow state. From one side, there is a movement through worry, anxiety, and arousal. On the other side, there is a movement from boredom, relaxation, and control. It’s my impression that in almost every instance in which the Bills exit the flow state, they do so by becoming too relaxed, and they move toward sloppiness and perhaps boredom. Then, when they try to re-enter the flow state, they get stuck in anxiety and worry. My hunch is that this lines up with what the Wiz means regarding his summary of the season so far: “inconsistently consistent” … “up and down” … “hot and cold”. I’m not sure whether the Wiz’s computer has a formula for those phrases. My hunch is that these are qualities, not quantifiables that are measurable with a computer metric. With that said, I don’t think descriptions of the "flow state" -- and the other states that surround flow -- are simply pure emotional mush. Rather, part of what’s involved in being a “living, breathing entity” of the human sort is that, while we can’t quite snap our fingers and move into the flow state, athletes and coaches can have some self-awareness of the team’s current state. When things become too relaxed, one can recognize the need to improve self-control; when one slips into anxiety and worry, one can re-gain a sense of self-mastery and confidence. In my judgment, the formulas and analysis that the Wiz provides are very helpful for providing one perspective; at the same time, I find myself wondering whether this level of analysis can and should be complemented by attending to individual and team performance in terms of the flow-state as described by Csikszentmihalyi. If the Bills are going to learn how to navigate the “peaks and valleys” mentioned by the Wiz, my hunch is that they’ll need both approaches: analysis in terms of quantitative metrics and awareness of qualitative states of presence and engagement. Thoughts?

I have two extra tickets (free) to the game tonight (7 pm at Chaifetz v. Murray State). Nothing special ... but free to you if you personal message me. From there, we can figure out how to transfer the tickets electronically to you.

I have two extra tickets (free) to the game tonight (7 pm at Chaifetz v. Murray State). Nothing special ... but free to you if you personal message me. From there, we can figure out how to transfer the tickets electronically to you.

Massey says Billikens by 2 ... 72-70 ... 55% reliability https://masseyratings.com/cb2022/6841

Game stats here:

Half time stats:

In the St. Bonaventure game, Jimerson got bloodied pretty good. It seems he hasn't been quite right since he took that hit.

This seems right. Looking at the ESPN list from this morning, UAB is ranked #3. Lunardi has UAB as last among his "First Four Out" list. ESPN's new Mid Major Top Ten list appears to be mostly useless, not only with regard to the analysis (which is shallow), but also with regard to dance invitations. Going down the list, Davidson is ranked #4 today, and Lunardi has Davidson seeded as a #11, but that's probably simply as a placeholder for the A10 tournament champion, not as a sign that Lunardi thinks Davidson would get an at-large bid if they lost the A10 tournament. A few of the remaining teams on today's ESPN Top Ten Mid Major list are included in Lunardi's current bracket (Boise St, North Texas, Loyola). The moral of the story is as Compton suggests: there's little connection between ESPN's Top Ten Mid Major list and the dance. From the list today, five seems about right, at least according to Lunardi. It's likely that, at the end of the season, teams on this ESPN top ten MM list that don't win conference tournaments will be sweating for the last few dance invitations.

Earlier, I noted that ESPN seemingly considers Gonzaga as "transcending labels", so ESPN's list of "Mid Majors" seems to come from these conferences: A10, C-USA, Ivy, MAC, MV, SoCon, SunBelt, WCC. Here's ESPN's preseason Mid-Major picks:

Senior Night 2020 was great fun. Here is a two-minute video summary: March 7, 2020. Mardi Gras parade day. Very festive atmosphere that night. SLU 72, Bonnies 49. No masks. Not even really any thought of COVID. It felt like the last normal thing before everything changed a few days later. We all had a great feeling about the A10 tournament, that we could beat Dayton, who was on a long win streak. But the last time we played St. Bonaventure, it was awful. Their defense completely shut down the Bills, who couldn't sink anything. Let's skip that, and repeat March 7, 2020.

Except ESPN seems to consider the A10 a Mid Major. The thread title is "ESPN Mid Major Top Ten". SLU72 started this thread by pointing out that ESPN released a new weekly ranking this morning. Today's ESPN list has two A10 teams ranked top ten: Davidson (4) and SLU (9). The difficulty is that "Mid Major" seems to be a loose term with shifting meanings. As OG mentioned, the A10 seems to fall into a crack. For now, it looks like ESPN is treating the A10 as a Mid Major while treating Gonzaga as "transcending labels". It seems that ESPN may continue this weekly list until selection Sunday. The content is puff, and the rankings seem a bit arbitrary. (Davidson moved up on the list, even as SLU passed Davidson on the NET.) Still, in producing this weekly list, ESPN seems aware that there's interest in such a list. After all, it's not unreasonable to have a sense that schools from conferences other than the power five and the Big East are jockeying for a limited number of invitations to dance.