billiken_roy Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 at houston at st joes home vs george washington at xavier at rhode island. realistically we need to go 4-1 worse imo. and realistically, i dont have a lot of confidence we will. thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenTX Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I don't see the Houston game as a must-win for the simple fact if we lose it's not an RPI killer much like SBU and Duq were to the RPI. I think the game that has the most riding on it is the St Joes game for the mere fact that looking at going to URI and to XU is a tough stretch, we HAVE to beat St Joe and GW. It is not out of the question to beat either XU or URI, but both wins would be a major accomplishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Well in cliche fashion, one game at a time....SLU hasn't shown the ability to be a strong road team, save two early season games. 4 of 5 on road doesn't look great for 4-1. There are two ways to get into the NCAA tournament. Nobody ever takes the 2nd way seriously...brushes it aside as lucky, but the conference tournament is something to play for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 To have any chance for an at-large bid your right Roy. I think we have already dug way to big of a hole for that. THere is no margin for error left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 The St. Joe's game is also important from a psychological standpoint - we need to prove that we can beat them after the two embarassing smackdowns they administered to us last year. I would hate to see Brad get outcoached by Martelli yet again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 it most certainly would be another rpi killer. at this point every loss is an rpi killer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I'd agree with that. I think at an at-large bid is gone. We have 10 games left and 6 are on the road. I can see us winning out at home and winning 2 of 6 on road. I do not believe we win at Houston. All that being said, we will end up 19-11 with an 8-8 conf record - right? I think added that right. Where 8-8 puts us as a seed in the conference tourney is up to you experts. I think we win at least a game in the conf tourney finishing 20-12 and I think we are NIT bound. This is all just a gut feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I agree with you Courtside. It is our best bet now. Winning any tournament takes some luck, but nothing compared to the luck it would take to earn an at large bid. I think the team should start preparing for the tournament now. I did like the fact that the rotation seemed expanded last night. I would like to see DM get some minutes down the stretch. A productive bench will be a big key for the tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I have little confidence that we will win another road game this year. Since we lost two home conf. games already to go 8-8 in conf. would require that we win two road conf. games - I don't see it happening unless something click big time with this team. My concern is that we have to make sure we get to the conf. tourney first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUDrew Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I tend to agree. We need to play well. There is no doubt about that. However, the win will really do nothing for us, nor will a loss really hurt us. Our only chance of getting into the big dance is to win the A-10 tournament. The Houston game will really have no bearing on that. You want them to play well and get momentum going, but as long as they do that, the result is really immaterial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenTX Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I guess to follow-up with my point about the Houston game not mattering, I believe that we have to focus on our A-10 games and those have a higher weighted value at this time. While a win at UH would be great, I just see the SJU and GW games as absolute must wins. The NCAA committee also places a lot of weight on a team's last ten games. In the grand scheme of things, our beloved Bills might be peaking and getting healthy at the right time, when the games mean more and have higher implications. It's time for KL and TL to start asserting themselves as the guys to carry the team down the stretch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 The RPI is a non-factor at this point. We shouldn't even bother looking at it. We just need to go out there and play to win because every remaining game is winnable. Racking up the wins could give us a better seed in the conference tournament, which is obviously the only hope at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 in now and the previous month of games, kevin lisch just had 8 days off. i believe that he finally had a chance to heel and last night was the first time since the rec'd body slam in carbondale that we have seen kevin approaching 100% again. i believe that last nites kevin lisch makes this team a little better than the one we have been watching since december 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 billikentx said, "It's time for KL and TL to start asserting themselves as the guys to carry the team down the stretch." i agree. one thing that is emerging. this team is the lisch and liddell show and it will only go as far as they will carry us imo. we have to have L&L step up from here out every nite. the nite's we falter, i will bet that they dont have 40+ pts, 10 rebs, 10 assists near zero turnovers. and shoot over 50% from the 3 and the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Agreed. The one thing i noticed watching the game last night is that our half-court offense is not too dynamic. If KL and TL aren't lighting it up, then we're gonna be in trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 A healthy Kevin is a very special player. In my opinion this team's most complete player. If he can stay healthy I think he could be looking at some big time personal honors by his senior season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 moytoy said, "The one thing i noticed watching the game last night is that our half-court offense is not too dynamic." you could probably make that statement about 320 of the 336 divison one teams. the truth of the matter, imo this billiken team is the best offensive team since hughes was here. and if you take hughes out of the picture it goes back to claggett and highmark and h. just like soderberg has been harping, this teams achilles heel is a consistent effort on defense. why there are breakdowns is the $64 question. and of course if anyone had the answer, they wouldnt have lost these recent 4 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I was actually kinda impressed with the offense last night...relatively speaking. I've always thought our offense was pretty bad...in fact, i had no idea what we were trying to do. I've been paying very close attention to it recently. It looks like we are actually running plays now and there is some pretty good movement. It's not perfect, but it has come a long way. You are correct though, without those guys on the floor, we tend to get into trouble. But I don't think there are lot of teams out there that are successful in your scenario. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I was trying to be kind. Now i don't know a whole heckuva lot about x's and o's, but there seems to be no plan on offense, few picks, spacing is poor a lot of the time, unsure decision making because of the lack of a plan, etc. Your point is well taken re: not being "too dynamic". I probably should have stated it another way...our offense looks lost i suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 you need to take turns following meyer and lisch around the floor. i bet luke sets about an average of 4 picks per possession and kevin probably runs through about 4 million per possession. do they run set plays? probably not many. but most division one offenses dont. they are free lance patterns with options depending on defensive reactions. i.e. someone sets a pick, the picker goes the opposite direction of the ball. a lot of different scenarios come just out of that statement. thus the patterns may not look like a pattern. and at times it may look crowded or disjointed, but again, i bet you will see the same with most half court offenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMS67 Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I think Duquesne is our only conference loss at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenTX Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I agree with Roy's comments about KL and TL needing to have about 40-50 pts a game for us to win. When those games don't happen, I don't trust IV picking up the slack with points as it's clear opposing teams collapse the lanes and make it hard for him to get one-on-one coverage in addition to his awful FT%. Each passing game I am seeing DP's play decrease on the offensive side. With all this being said, DB and LM need to ante up and from their averages of 5ppg (DB) and 10ppg (LM). If DB can get up to 7-9 and LM and get to 11-12, I think we can see our Bills making some late season noise. GOT TO WIN IN PHILLY next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 i dont think ian has done anything to deserve to be included with liddell and lisch when talking about those to "carry the team" this year. he is a solid player that contributes his 10 points and 7 rebs per game. but no longer do i expect him to explode on a given night with 20+ pts and 15 rebounds. he isnt terrible by any means and i am glad we have him on the team. but he isnt going to lead us to the promised land. he is a solid role player just like luke and dwayne. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 My bad you are correct - the Bonnie game was away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 The reason Houston matters. This team needs to show and prove to themselves they can play another tough defensive game on the road. Solid defense needs to become second nature, and not an extra effort. Unfortunately we have three games next week so if brad decides to expand the rotation, this is the week to do it. I am concerned about the late thursday night game followed by a saturday day game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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