davidnark Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 -I may be the master of the obvious, but this game was disappointing. The starts to both halves were very, very disappointing. -I never thought I would say this, but right now I think this is a better team with Bryce in the game than Ian. Ian appears to bringing very little energy, he is settling for low to moderate percentage baby hooks that he often falls short with, he is missing key free throws, and he is making bad decisions. I hate to knock a kid who has overall been an asset to the school and program, but he is just not playing good basketball these days. By contrast, Bryce is at least flying after rebounds and blocks and putting in a yoeman's effort. -In a five minute stretch in the first half, Danny Brown played his smartest basketball to date at SLU. Multiple times he gave up the ball to Dwayne for easy buckets rather than force a play. -Luke Meyer put in his usual effort, but overall he didn't play particularly well. -Did Xavier shut down Tommie or did Tommie shut himself down? -After the last Xavier game, many of us could have predicted that Xavier was going to shred our pack defense from outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 So far, I think this season can be summed up as IV's lost year. Many of our high hopes going in were based on him being a dominant and aggressive force inside. He needed to be given our lack of legit 4. The bench, or lack thereof, has hurt us and no doubt we expected more from DB and JJ, but strong play by IV may have even overcome this weakness. Who knows why he didn't make it happen and doesn't seem to be getting any better, maybe even worse. But unless we see the IV from last year real soon, this season's about over. I can't see us going far in the A-10 if he's a non factor. We simply don't have the horses to beat an X or GW in a game three to advance to the finals, assuming we get even that far. One other thought, could TL's last two outings be the result of teams not giving him open looks from the 3 since his percent has been so high? Last year, I think they said go ahead you aren't going to make it, now they cover him to take it away? The one game I did see St. Joes appeared to be aware of the threat from TL beyond the 3, but he then took it inside and won the game for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 I really don't care that we lost the game. I don't care if we lose the rest of the games this season, because, what do they matter?? As long as we get in the A-10 tournament, these games are completely useless. We aren't even an NIT team right now, so barring a run in the Conference tourny, our team will be sitting on their Grand Forest couches watching the post season tournaments with the rest of us. So who cares? The more serious issue, which the bored has begun to reflect, is the absolutely dismal job of recruiting done by our leader, Brad Soderberg. Has a SLU team ever not had a recruiting class before? It was a terrible loss, but like I said, who really cares. The season is over until the a-10 tournament and its been that way pretty much all of 2007. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Bird Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 What if we win the A-10 tourney? Would you prefer we be 16-17 and get a 14 or 15 seed? Or would you prefer to be 21-12 and get a 11 or 12 seed? Besides.....do you really think we can win the A-10 tourney if we're not learning what it takes to win regular season games? Do we not want to strive to improve our record and RPI over last year? The whole concept of meaningless games bothers me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 We've shown the ability to beat the best teams in the conference and lose to the worst, so no, I really don't care what seed we get, thank you very much. IV is a walking embaressment out there with his lack of heart so why not get Bryce and Adam the minutes now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Bird Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 I was referring to a NCAA Tourney seed, assuming we win the A-10 tourney. Even if we win the A-10 tourney, a lousy regular season record will give us a lousy NCAA seed, and almost no chance at a first round win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SShoe Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 We got some work to do, but a first round bye in the A-10 tourney is not out of the question. So yes, the games do matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 I'm pretty sure Canadian is the only one who feels this way. He stopped caring 4 games ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry the Legend Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Canadian, Your comments about who cares if SLU wins any of their remaining games is pure foolishness. Have you ever played organized sports with a team? Do you like losing? What about losing several games in a row? Kinda takes the wind out of you and you start to put negative thoughts and feelings into your head. It's not fun at all. This is certainly no way to finish out the season. You want to taste victory and know how it feels and gain that confidence and bring it into the post season. I will agree that SLU has not shown any type of consistency on the court this year and it is hard to feel comfortable with this team heading into the A 10 tourney but you still need to sit back and realize what you said. Not that this means anything but take a look at the Boston Celtics? They have lost at least a dozen games in a row and look so confused and frustrated on the court. It's embarassing to see them play. Now if you want SLU to do this, then maybe BS will receive his pink slip faster than this Board realizes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 I would hope the players actually are concerned about winning the games. I personally am not. Nor are any of my friends who had religiously gone to the games the past 5 years. The season is over in our eyes until the tournament. I want us to win, but from a fans perspective, it really doesn't matter. I'd rather see our future players get some PT in these "exhibition" games. First round byes haven't helped us in the past so that point can be thrown out the window. It was a good try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 I can't answer for Canadian, but what I think he's saying is for all practical purposes regular season wins now are only important for our seed in the A-10. We could win out, win two in the A-10, and still won't be dancing. The A-10 is shaping up as a one bid conference. It's come down to winning the A-10 at this point. Which, the way IV is performing is a virtual impossiblity. I'm not sure we're even a lock for the A-10 at this juncture, are we? Of course, we all want the Bills to win every time they take the floor, that goes without saying, but for any post season shot, ie the dance, we've got to pull off a miracle on the boardwalk. NIT is a possibility, but does anyone really care other than it might give us out of towners a chance to see them on TV one more time. This season has been harder to take than 2004-05 to my way of thinking. Way harder....because it seems like a season of wasted potential. Good luck, CL, figuring out the future of SLU hoops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 SLU, You are correct, my long lost soul mate (although I don't think you want to be thrown in the same catagory as me seeing what the kool-aid drinkers view of me is). You are 100% correct that this season is a lot harder to take then our 9 win season in 2004-05 because of the exact reason you stated: Wasted Talent. We have so much talent on this team but we flushed NCAA tournament dreams down the toilet when we got back from our nice little Christmas vacation. This was supposed to be out year, and it didn't work out in the regular season. Therefore, our focus, especially as fans, now turns to the a-10 tourny and only the a-10 tourny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satrap Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 > You are 100% correct that this season is a lot harder to take then >our 9 win season in 2004-05 because of the exact reason you >stated: Wasted Talent. We have so much talent on this team Come on guy, get at least a tenuous grip on reality. This season has been pretty good in many ways - not good or very good, just pretty good. Anyone who thinks we have "so much talent" either 1) watches no Billikens basketball or 2) watches absolutely no non-Billken college hoops. Which one is it, Candadian? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbofive Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 I don't think it's a matter of giving up on the regular season or not. Bryce and Adam can outplay Ian right now. They should be in there. The fact that it also better prepares them for next year is an added bonus. I'd like to hear what Brad and his assistants are saying to Ian, because I think he really needs his ass handed to him. I can't stand to see Dwayne, Luke, Kevin, Tommie, Bryce, etc. get fired up out there, and then see Ian standing around going "Sigh... I wish my girlfriend could fly on the team plane..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 I agree jimbo. He's needs a good old fashioned Bobby Knight choke. Someone should slap him in his face, steal his girlfriend, and kick his dog...maybe that'll get him fired up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Going in we had an all conf center who was a potential NBA draft choice, two first team all rookies, five three year vets, and supposedly some potentials at frosh. National pundits were calling us sleepers, some had us in, consensus in the A-10 no worse than third place. I will not say we were the conference's most talented team, but we weren't chopped liver either. Who expected IV to take a Greek Vacation all year? Who expected JJ and DB to get worse? Who expected UB to have absolutely no faith in BH, AK, or DM? Never mind that Obi and Tyus Thomas, Jr, aka Horace Dixon would depart after 4 games or so? The talent appeared to be there, it didn't materialize for whatever reasons. Canadian's not exaggerating. If he is so is Jay Bilas, SI pre-season writer, and a host of others. No one expect regression out of 3 key players, IV, DB, and JJ. It's what we got and why we are we're where at today. Sad...very sad...cand very disappointing to say the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 slu72 said, "It's what we got and why we are we're where at today." which is sitting on 15 wins with a minimum of 7 to go. a chance to win 20 games this late in the season in a long time. not bad considering, (and i quote slu72) " Who expected IV to take a Greek Vacation all year? Who expected JJ and DB to get worse? Who expected UB to have absolutely no faith in BH, AK, or DM? Never mind that Obi and Tyus Thomas, Jr, aka Horace Dixon would depart after 4 games or so? " and add kevin lisch's 4 assorted injuries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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