the season is the next 5 games

[Band Legend]

Moytoy, have you been watching our offense for say, the past eight years? This year's offense is probably the most dynamic of any of those teams, especially when the starting five is on the floor. It tends to bog down when any sub is in, but last night I thought our planning and passing was better than it has been all year. We had 20 assists and seven turnovers; that sound like the stats of a dynamic offensive team. I was there last night too, and I'm not really sure what game you were watching. Hot shooting in the first half kept Charlotte in it, and then some defensive breakdowns early in the second half. If we can play like we did last night things will go much better in the second half of the conference season. The number one thing is everyone has to stay healthy; you can't tell me KL wouldn't have made a huge difference in the second half at Temple and at Fordham.

[Billikenbooster]

For what it is worth, the Pomeroy site has us winning only three of our remaining games, the home games vs LaSalle, Dayton and Richmond. Blind ratings like this don't account for injuries, and two of our losses can be directly linked to KL's injuries.

I just find it interesting to bring this up for discussion sake.

Anyone else note the numerous times in the Charlotte game, frequently in the second half, IV would have the ball down low or on the block, single coverage, and instead of instantly going to the hoop in that situation, he held the ball, waited for the double or triple team, then tried to look for the open man. One on one IV last year would have gone straight in and made the bucket 70% of the time or gotten fouled. Interesting turn for IV in his approach to the game over last year.

mhg

[slu72]

Agreed for the most part the L&L boys have to carry us. However, IV still remains the focal point of our opponent's D. One thing I'll give UB credit for was his call at the beginning of the season that if LM was our 4 our chances of making the dance were slim to none. Here's my dream scenario, and believe me it's a dream: Charlotte game JJ shows every night to the point where UB thinks he can start or gets 20+ mpg. LM moves to the 3, DP goes to the bench or sees his pt reduced. If this happened then no longer would IV be the marked man, and then he might show us some of that NBA potential. Couple all that with the play of L&L and stay focused on D, SLU could be dancing either thru a strong finish or an A-10 tourney champ. Whew, did someone spike the kool aid with LSD?

[cheeseman]

Bbooster - I thought the same thing and commented to the people with me that I did not understand his reluctance to go hard to hoop. Even when he did go to the basket he took a weak shot. Something has changed with him and it is not the double teams he saw ealier in the season - he saw that all last year and he played through it. I am not so sure that IV will be seen as the main player to stop on this team for the remainder of the season. UNCC played a very weak sag on him.

72 - help me understand why you think LM at the 3 is such a good deal for us. He still is not hitting from the outside on a consistent basis. I know Polk is not tearing up the hoop either but we really need his ball handling skills. When he is not in the game, we seem to really slow it down. If what you hope for happens perhaps the minutes Luke takes are from Danny not Polk?

[The Wiz]

I agree that the next 5 games are the season. When I made my preseason picks (16-14) these 5 picks are what put me at the bottom of the list. I show us 1-4. I have us winning the GW game and losing the X game. The good news is the other 3 games are close and therefore we have a good chance to win them if the team that beat Charl shows up.

[kshoe]

And I'm sure most will disagree with me but the only games that really matter the rest of the season are those we'll be playing in Atlantic City.

We have no shot at an at large at this point so the best we can do the rest of the regular season is 1) get a first round bye in the A-10 tourney and 2) guarantee an NIT spot.

I care more about the 1st round bye than I do the NIT but even with a first round bye we've still got just a 1 in 8 shot at the NCAAs.

People can talk all they want about momentum going into the tourney or the value of only playing 3 games but you only need to look at Xavier last year or SLU in 2000 to see it doesn't matter as Xavier entered last year's tourney having lost 3 of 4 and somehow won 4 in a row...SLU entered 2000 having lost 4 of 5 before the Memphis miracle. Momentum in particular is over-rated.

This is hardly a great marketing material post but unless your end-all goal is for this team to make the NIT the next 11 games don't have a ton of meaning.

With all that being said I'll still watch/listen to every game possible because I'm a freak like that but in a lot of respects this feels like a baseball team that is 20 games out to start September...

[Soderball]

I think our goal should be postseason play beyond the tournament. NIT or NCAA, after the way we bumbled the start of conference play, i think that is a realistic and optimistic goal.

[billiken_roy]

according to kshoe, we should probably give ian, kevin and tommy a couple of weeks off to get 100% healthy and healed and then bring them back slowly going up to the conference tourney. that'll do wonders for the program's confidence.

[courtside]

SLU needs to do whatever possible to make NCAA's. Now all of a sudden NIT seems acceptable to some. When did that start?

[kshoe]

Kevin gets another injury like the SIU one, then absolutely he should be sat until healthy. There is little doubt in my mind that the lack of depth on this team as well as the knowledge that we couldn't risk losing more than 3 games in the non-conference play caused him to fight through the early injuries and probably cause many of his shooting problems. A couple weeks of rest and he would have been better off

Roy, actling like the next 5 games are super-important is just kidding yourself. If we go 5-0 we have probably put ourselves in position for an NIT birth. Yipee! Otherwise, nothing is changed, we still will need to win 3 or 4 games in a row in Atlantic City.

[billiken_roy]

my point is that you cant just turn the season off and on and focus on a one and out 4 game tourney at year end. the team has to continue to play and try to grow and improve and play like every game is the last imo. to state that nothing else matters seems shortsighted to me.

plus, even if the tourney is all that matters strategy would pay off, and the rest of the season is junked. what kind of seed is that going to yield? at least if you play it out and maximize the season and maybe finish with a 70 or 60 something rpi, that might give us a 10 seed instead of a 15 seed which would be huge in the caliber of opponent that we would play in the tourney.

[billiken_roy]

kshoe said,

"actling like the next 5 games are super-important is just kidding yourself. If we go 5-0 we have probably put ourselves in position for an NIT birth. Yipee!"

see above in my reply to courtside for more, however it just dawns on me that your thinking is that the entire program rested on making the ncaa tourney this year apparently. while i am extremely disappointed with the two bad losses to st bonnie and duquesne, and realize that they probably caused unfixable problems to this season's chances to make the ncaa tourney, i have a little more long distance view than that.

i want the program to continue to progress and each season get a little bit better. throwing in the towel on this season now and not playing it out game by game isnt going to present that picture of a program inching forward.

[kshoe]

"i want the program to continue to progress and each season get a little bit better."

For the most part, I believe its a myth that programs can be built this way. Far too often their is a step-back effect like the one we experienced 2 years ago. Look at our own history. 3 of the 4 NCAA births we've had came immediately following losing seasons. It is possible an much and much more common for large and quick turnarounds to happen than the "get 1 game better every year" theory. Especially when you consider that, on paper, next years team minus Ian won't be as good as this years...will be ever get a rebound?

I'm not saying that I wouldn't rather go 5-0 than 0-5 and nowhere did I say pack it in, but for those of us that had grander hopes for this team then the NIT, the next 5 just don't mean much.

As for your theory that you have a longer-term view then those of us wanting an NCAA birth I just have to question that. At the beginning of the year, you and your crew blasted me for questioning Brad and his recruiting and the effect it would have on the following seasons after this one. Apparently you weren't thinking about the future then. Your other theory is that getting rid of Brad would just set us back, well what if it sets us back in the short term only to bring us much more success in the long-run?

Lastly, at the beginning of the year you criticized me for considering the Temple game a toss-up. I'm surprised you don't consider losses to a 7-11 team and Fordham to be "bad." I know I do.

[billikenblue]

following on your theory that we must focus only on winning the conference tourney the next five are VERY important as broy states since a first round bye is still a possibilty and it is a very difficult task to win 4 straight ---Also would we feel that bad about Away losses to Temple and Fordham if Saint Bonaventure and Duquesne were wins---the first two losses changed the whole mindset of the fans and the team --the were the truly BAD losses as we would be 5-2 going into this week ----

[billiken_roy]

kshoe said,

"As for your theory that you have a longer-term view then those of us wanting an NCAA birth I just have to question that. At the beginning of the year, you and your crew blasted me for questioning Brad and his recruiting and the effect it would have on the following seasons after this one. Apparently you weren't thinking about the future then. Your other theory is that getting rid of Brad would just set us back, well what if it sets us back in the short term only to bring us much more success in the long-run?"

i should have seen the "getting rid of brad" incentive coming a mile away. shame on me for getting drawn into that.

how is anyone debating your slams on soderberg last fall not thinking about the future? at the time of your slams, we were two scholarships short of full, many of us had hopes that obi would get in shape and fulfill his promise, there was no reason to believe that only luke and tommy would progress this year. who would forsee lisch's triple injuries. i am sure you knew that ian would resemble more the sophomore ian than the junior ian.

if your answer is yes to all of the above you are one hell of a predictor/college basketball analyst and slu should immediately hire you to coordinate recruiting and player development.

i for one for the most part dont believe a program can duplicate gonzaga simply because i dont think that saint louis university has the stomach to do it. i also dont believe the accountants will let us have the resources to be a top 50 program. and i dont believe that even if we find the next combination of al mcguire the recruiter and john wooden the floor coach we'll f it up because of our cheapness. thus i'd prefer to try to grow the program gradually.

now if you want to tell me that we will immediately pay the piper to be a legitimately top 25 funded program, and after a year we are still getting the same results and cheryl levick, not us, decides a coach needs to be replaced, fine, i'll live with that, but until then, our number one problem isnt the coach. soderberg was the coach of the year in conference usa what 3 seasons ago? man he got dumb all at once.

[kshoe]

"if your answer is yes to all of the above you are one hell of a predictor/college basketball analyst and slu should immediately hire you to coordinate recruiting and player development."

I don't want that job. I'd rather be head coach where apparently all I have to do is set ridiculously low expectations by having an awful season during my honeymoon period and then gradually improving upon that. Head coach at SLU..."great job security", that should be our selling point.