Tip Off Club Mtg Report

[cheeseman]

I had to leave the meeting early so I did not get to hear RM the entire time he was here but I thought I would share some info that I heard and others can fill in what I missed.

1. Shimmy was there and she brought two players, Hagen and Lisch - She is drumming up support for attendance and announced that they only have 11 home games and one in Dec. She shared several promotional things they are doing and encouraged people to visit the team's website - not a part of the official site. She is excited about her team and the new players this year and is very excited about the 4 players who have orally committed to date. She may give out one more schollie but that is still up in the air. She talked about the freshman who left to go home to Chicago - apparently she was just homesick and simply could not deal with being away from home. Shimmy wanted her to give it a full year but the kid was so upset all the time that basically everybody could not deal with it anymore. She hopes to get her first oral commitment in about a week for 2009. Shimmy also spoke very highly about the new men and women strength coach and the players agreed.

RM came and AK and BE were there also. BE has quite the personality. RM basically said that he has very little hope that BH will play since he has so much to catch up on. RM said that BH is working hard to get religion so to speak but he so far behind because he never really hit the weights much before and due to his injuries he has maybe practiced a total of 60 minutes to date. RM said that anytime there is a coaching change that it is tough on the players already there and he understands that it is not easy but it is what it is. BE will play at the 5 probably because basically there is no competition and AK will play for the same reason. AK said that he is fine and that really his problems this summer were his knees but they are all healed and ready to go. He thinks PE will play this year but he not sure if DB will given his injury. DP is a great kid and has a passion for the game - he is not worried about his shooting although he thinks he has improved but he sees DP helping out on the court in many ways. Luke will probably be a captain and is a smart, tough, and passionate player. KL is a tough kid who works very hard. TL - plays a little loose with the ball and needs to take his defense up a notch. AM is a tough kid who will get play and MR has skills but has to stay focused. Basically, we are somewhat depleted but this is the team we have so it does not help to wish for something you don't have. RM is still recruiting for next year.

I left at this point so others will have to fill in but actually, I came away with a some what tempered expectations for this year. Not saying we won't be good but be careful about drinking too much kool aid.

[thetorch]

Husak as a non factor kills this team. We've won without big men before but I don't think we are deep enough to overcome a lack of any type of post game. We could be praying for a .500 season at best.

[Cowboy]

thanks Cheese

look forward to other takes on those in attendance

not the best news about BH as I hoped for at least some offensive improvemen, a defensive presence and good rebounding from him

guess others will have to pick up the pace

[Clock_Tower]

Husak as a non factor kills this team. We've won without big men before but I don't think we are deep enough to overcome a lack of any type of post game. We could be praying for a .500 season at best.

Nonesense. Even a healthy BH would not help this team much. I am talking about help for the season, not a key match-up during a given game, a single game performance, etc. As a 5th year senior, BH should have already been bulked-up (what guy waits until the summer before his 5th and final season to hit the weight room) and his endurance (the guy is what, 22 or 23?) should not be an issue. How many posts were on this Board about how tired IV was the end of his Junior year because he played the whole summer with the Greek National Team? At least IV played entire games!! KL and TL also wore down because they were freshman, not stong enough and not used to the long and physical season at the collegiate level. BH has not played significant minutes in any 2 games his entire career. At best, this would be the first time since highschool - 6 years ago - when BH would play an entire game!! Any help BH gives this year, should be considered a bonus. Anything to the contrary is pure kool-aide.

Height equals success down low? Seem to remember Spoon did quite well with 3 guards (H, Claggett and Highmark) and 2 JUCOs (Donnie Campbell 6'6" and David Robinson 6'5"). Wondering how RM's 3 guards (TL, KL and LM) and 2 forwards (BE and AK/MR) would stack up. Sounds like we may see a similar tempo.

Any thoughts?

PS Thanks for the detailed update Cheese.

[moytoy12]

Nonesense. Even a healthy BH would not help this team much. I am talking about help for the season, not a key match-up during a given game, a single game performance, etc. As a 5th year senior, BH should have already been bulked-up (what guy waits until the summer before his 5th and final season to hit the weight room) and his endurance (the guy is what, 22 or 23?) should not be an issue. How many posts were on this Board about how tired IV was the end of his Junior year because he played the whole summer with the Greek National Team? At least IV played entire games!! KL and TL also wore down because they were freshman, not stong enough and not used to the long and physical season at the collegiate level. BH has not played significant minutes in any 2 games his entire career. At best, this would be the first time since highschool - 6 years ago - when BH would play an entire game!! Any help BH gives this year, should be considered a bonus. Anything to the contrary is pure kool-aide.

Agree to disagree, a healthy BH helps tremendously for the season. Remember the game(s) near the end of the year and in the tourney where BH's performance altered the game? 20-25 minutes decent minutes from BH throughout the year is/was key. If he could give us 8 boards, 6 points and 2-3 blocks a game, while giving BE and AK a break, then he would have paid the Bills many dividends. BH isn't the savior, but his presence is crucial to our success.

I agree with your comments re: his endurance and strength.

[kmbilliken]

[

BH hasn't lifted before? I recall reports after his first or second year that he was working with Hammerbodies over the summer and bulking up. Did he blow that off the last couple of years? I quess it doesn't really matter now. We can still be respectable if BE is a good rebounder and tough defender, AK contributes and either AM and MR can help out underneath. That's a lot of ifs and probably too much to expect from three not so heralded newcomers and a guy who hardly got off the bench last year.

[jjray]

I wonder if coach isn't sending a message to Bryce declaring he's a non-factor after a handfull of practices. Surely Bryce is deep in coach's dog house already but perhaps there is hope he might yet see the light of day. There will be game where we physically need Bryce's presence out on the court. I am hopeful he is at least available when matchups dictate it. But given we are all totally in the dark on what has transpired at practice, it's hard to even guess what sort of shape Bryce is in until the preseason when we get to see with our own eyes.

[Basketbill]

So how did AK look? Has he worked out got a little leaner etc???

[Major Majerus]

I also had to leave early due to Rep tickets...RM is a better show...can't add much. I am a season ticket holder for the women, and really enjoy them. Shimmy has me pumped.

[Clock_Tower]

Agree to disagree, a healthy BH helps tremendously for the season. Remember the game(s) near the end of the year and in the tourney where BH's performance altered the game? 20-25 minutes decent minutes from BH throughout the year is/was key. If he could give us 8 boards, 6 points and 2-3 blocks a game, while giving BE and AK a break, then he would have paid the Bills many dividends. BH isn't the savior, but his presence is crucial to our success.

I agree with your comments re: his endurance and strength.

Maybe I was a little strong with my comments but do not think the loss of BH would "kill the season." Truly hope he can give us quality minutes in that we will really need them. With that said, I don't recall BH playing 20-25 minutes per game last year. I remember him playing alot during that game in the A10 conference, remember Brad inserting him occasionally with IV but also remember entire games he never got off the bench. Seems high to me. I was thinking 5 or 6 minutes per game. I am not sure he could run up and down the Court at Simon Rec Center for 25 minutes. Also, remember that for a big man like BH, who is slow to begin with, becomes even slower the more minutes he plays. Also, slow bigs will then try to make up for the slow footwork by reaching which leads to fouls.

BTW, last year's stats indicate BH played averaged 10.2 minutes per game.

[thetorch]

Nonesense. Even a healthy BH would not help this team much. I am talking about help for the season, not a key match-up during a given game, a single game performance, etc. As a 5th year senior, BH should have already been bulked-up (what guy waits until the summer before his 5th and final season to hit the weight room) and his endurance (the guy is what, 22 or 23?) should not be an issue. How many posts were on this Board about how tired IV was the end of his Junior year because he played the whole summer with the Greek National Team? At least IV played entire games!! KL and TL also wore down because they were freshman, not stong enough and not used to the long and physical season at the collegiate level. BH has not played significant minutes in any 2 games his entire career. At best, this would be the first time since highschool - 6 years ago - when BH would play an entire game!! Any help BH gives this year, should be considered a bonus. Anything to the contrary is pure kool-aide.

Height equals success down low? Seem to remember Spoon did quite well with 3 guards (H, Claggett and Highmark) and 2 JUCOs (Donnie Campbell 6'6" and David Robinson 6'5"). Wondering how RM's 3 guards (TL, KL and LM) and 2 forwards (BE and AK/MR) would stack up. Sounds like we may see a similar tempo.

Completely disagree. I expected Husak to play 20 minutes a game this year. He creates huge matchup problems especially in league play. No one has a center that big. Husak isn't a total stiff. He can post up and score on offense and disrupt on defense. While I'll agree he has never been an impact player if he doesn't suit up he will be missed by the team.

Clagg's teams had 4 elite 3 point shooters. Guys all shooting over 36% with over 100 attempts. We don't have that. Also while we may have been small, Dobbs, Pederson, Campbell and Robinson all could post up. Robinson nearly average double figures his sr year. He wasn't sitting on the 3 point line to get those points. There is no one on this team who can post up and score in the middle, or even get to the line. Husak was our only hope for a post game, while it was slim it was all we had. Now we don't even have that.

[Slumn1]

I wouldn't put much stock in early RM comments. Last Thursday BH was still on campus in a boot, so he probably does have some conditioning to get caught up on. I think he was in it for a month. RM is famous for playing mind games to motivate players. Let's wait until we come back from Pittsburg and then I think we will know a lot more.

[Westy03]

I was also at the meeting and the one thing I would like to add is that he doesnt seem to optimistic about the season. At least thats the way I felt leaving Humphreys. He said at times if we get into foul trouble that Luke will have to play 5 even if Bryce is healthy. One thing that I also noticed is that he doesnt really know the kids names, he would ask the crowd for last names for a few players. I know that doesnt mean much but I think it was worth pointing it out. I think that to start the year Barry Eberhardt will start at the 5 and Luke at the 4 but we will see.

[cheeseman]

So how did AK look? Has he worked out got a little leaner etc???

AK looked fine - did not appear to be flabby but hard to tell in street clothes. He seemed excited about the year and I guessed that his being there was to squash any rumors about him not be ready to play. One thing that I found interesting was that RM talked about every player but DM while I was there - seems rather interesting.

[cheeseman]

I was also at the meeting and the one thing I would like to add is that he doesnt seem to optimistic about the season. At least thats the way I felt leaving Humphreys. He said at times if we get into foul trouble that Luke will have to play 5 even if Bryce is healthy. One thing that I also noticed is that he doesnt really know the kids names, he would ask the crowd for last names for a few players. I know that doesnt mean much but I think it was worth pointing it out. I think that to start the year Barry Eberhardt will start at the 5 and Luke at the 4 but we will see.

In his book RM readily admits that he is terrible with names but knows jersey numbers like the back of his hand. I guess that is just his style.

[brianstl]

One thing that I found interesting was that RM talked about every player but DM while I was there - seems rather interesting.

Thats why I don't think he has completely written off BH, but rather is trying to send him a message. IMO, he has written off DM.

[cheeseman]

Thats why I don't think he has completely written off BH, but rather is trying to send him a message. IMO, he has written off DM.

I am not so sure about that - this is the second time I have heard RM talk about BH as not being able to offer much do to his lack of dedication over the years and his continued injury problems.

[jeh3404]

What is the Tip Off Club and how do you become a member? Can anyone go to the meetings?

Jim

[Scoop]

I am not so sure about that - this is the second time I have heard RM talk about BH as not being able to offer much do to his lack of dedication over the years and his continued injury problems.

Bryce will have to get some pt based on our lack of depth alone. My call is 15 min. a game. Throwing a seven footer in the mix in certain situations doesn't hurt.

[bonwich]

I'm guessing that Majerus is going to sandbag everything he says until at least sometime after Thanksgiving, and perhaps even for most of the season.

[3star_recruit]

The whole "Bryce is going to play 25 minutes a game and be an effective center" mindset based on the best 10 minutes of his career and ignoring the rest of it is a classic example of some fans seeing what they want to see. It's like the fans on Bernie's forum clammering that Frerotte should be our starter henceforth after throwing a couple of touchdowns. Bryce is a nice kid but was never in condition to play 25 minutes a game, let alone take the abuse an inside player endures on a regular basis. I know IV's senior year was disappointing but I don't think he gets credit for all the physical punishment he absorbed inside, practice for practice, game after game, at 30 minutes per.

[billiken_roy]

I'm guessing that Majerus is going to sandbag everything he says until at least sometime after Thanksgiving, and perhaps even for most of the season.

i agree. none are his players. so he sandbags now, he is in a cant lose situation. if the billikens fail, it isnt his fault not his players. if they succeed, it is his coaching.

and to be honest there is a lot of truth in that.

my only comments about last night are it didnt appear he has the least bit of interest in husak right now. any questions about bryce last night were very much tempered and downplayed. i hope indeed he is playing with bryce for now. but it sounded to me that he was prepared to go to war with eberhardt, knollmeyer and meyer getting 99.9% of the big minutes. he even drew the picture of using eberhardt, meyer, liddell, lisch and polk as the main lineup.

last, the line of the night when bantering with a fan about asking a very long question and confusing that fan's occupation as a politician.

majerus said that when his dad died in milwaukee, his dad had let it known that he always wanted to be in politics. so, they buried him in chicago so he could vote democrat forever.

[gister]

AK looked fine - did not appear to be flabby but hard to tell in street clothes. He seemed excited about the year and I guessed that his being there was to squash any rumors about him not be ready to play. One thing that I found interesting was that RM talked about every player but DM while I was there - seems rather interesting.

He did mention DM when he was talking about players having different types of hands, soft, hard, etc. He said that he thought AK and DM had nervous hands right now, trying too hard, but he noted that that was not a bad thing.

[jjray]

The whole "Bryce is going to play 25 minutes a game and be an effective center" mindset based on the best 10 minutes of his career and ignoring the rest of it is a classic example of some fans seeing what they want to see.

I'll fess up to being one of the wishful thinkers. But wrapping one's brain around going another season with a 4 guard lineup (Luke at the 4) was just too brutal to fathom. Rickma as instant savior was the mantra. And another year of seeing Polk in the starting lineup as a non-scoring, low assist point guard (or as a shooting guard who can't shoot) makes me want to puke as well. Very depressing 2007-2008 picture Rick is painting for the faithful.

[NashvilleBilliken]

I'll fess up to being one of the wishful thinkers. But wrapping one's brain around going another season with a 4 guard lineup (Luke at the 4) was just too brutal to fathom. Rickma as instant savior was the mantra. And another year of seeing Polk in the starting lineup as a non-scoring, low assist point guard (or as a shooting guard who can't shoot) makes me want to puke as well. Very depressing 2007-2008 picture Rick is painting for the faithful.

Yeah, this thread has been a little depressing. Maybe Rick is just trying to take the complete opposite approach as Brad. Set expectations real low and look great if u win.