Same Team that lost to Duquense and St. Bonaventure

[pompeytir]

The 41 point loss made me think about the heart of this team. Majerus hit the nail on head when he said this team is just a bunch of nice kids but there isn't anyone who really want to win badly.

Last year after the Duquense or St. Bonaventure loss Soderberg basically came out and said I don't know how to motivate these guys, he stated he wanted a Drejaj or a Newborne back because they had the 'Fire' in them and were always out to win.

Maybe those loses by SLU weren't because Brad was out coached but because the kids were outplayed, I think UB was criticized a little too much about his coaching ability and everyone should have been taking a long and hard look at the players. You can't teach kids to have a competitive edge, to want the basketball and to win more than anything...that is something they have to have inside them. I think Majerus is going to beat himself up this year trying to get these kids to that point...and if they don't get there, he'll have 5 or 6 players that might step up next year.

[Taj79]

I remember those quotes as well Pete. (Pete Pompey was a legendary coach here in Baltimore at Dunbar so I'm calling you Pete). I could never understand it. Don't know that you've hit the nail on the head but it is somethng that's been said int he past. Also, the other maddening one was not being ready to play at the tip. Always starting poorly and playing catch up. If you don't have fire coming out ot the tunnel, chances on finding it inthe game are rare.

I still don't have any counter arguments to the FRUBS evaluating talent issues I can't get over. Got any theories there, Pete?

[Billikan]

I went back to look at the stats and game info on those two games because my instincts told me that there is no comparison and it turns out I was right. We played competitively against both teams and shot well over 50% from 3 point land against St B. We led by 14 at the half against the Dukes and then they got very hot in the second half but we were in the game until the last few minutes.

The Kent State game was a total disaster from the opening tip and our guys were never competitive in any way. We shot 0-13 from 3 point range and missed most of our other shots. Our defense was terrible. This was the worst loss in at least 5 years. Everyone, including the coaches, must take the blame.

One thing I always admired about Brad was that his teams, even after a tough loss, seemed to bounce back and play with intensity and win some tough games. The game tomorrow will tell us a lot about this team. If we come out and stink it up again then this season will start looking like the New York Knicks because we will have no chance against SIU, BC or any of the top teams in our conference. Right now, I am the most disappointed I have been in a long time in everyone involved in the basketball program. I have been accused as a blue kool aid guy but right now I am just blue.

[aj_arete]

This is amazing. I just can't believe how our most optimistic posters have been disillusioned so quickly after SLU ponied up the big bucks to land a big name. Having only seen the Pitt game, I can't really comment on the current team, but I'm shocked at the level of disappointment so far.

[willie]

I went back to look at the stats and game info on those two games because my instincts told me that there is no comparison and it turns out I was right. We played competitively against both teams and shot well over 50% from 3 point land against St B. We led by 14 at the half against the Dukes and then they got very hot in the second half but we were in the game until the last few minutes.

The Kent State game was a total disaster from the opening tip and our guys were never competitive in any way. We shot 0-13 from 3 point range and missed most of our other shots. Our defense was terrible. This was the worst loss in at least 5 years. Everyone, including the coaches, must take the blame.

One thing I always admired about Brad was that his teams, even after a tough loss, seemed to bounce back and play with intensity and win some tough games. The game tomorrow will tell us a lot about this team. If we come out and stink it up again then this season will start looking like the New York Knicks because we will have no chance against SIU, BC or any of the top teams in our conference. Right now, I am the most disappointed I have been in a long time in everyone involved in the basketball program. I have been accused as a blue kool aid guy but right now I am just blue.

I will be shocked if we don't play hard tommorrow.

[billiken_roy]

The 41 point loss made me think about the heart of this team. Majerus hit the nail on head when he said this team is just a bunch of nice kids but there isn't anyone who really want to win badly.

while i wont vouch for the whole team, i would personally vouch for and fight to the bitter end that kevin lisch doesnt belong on this list. hell maybe someone needs to show majerus the video and pictures of kevin's ripped webbing of his hand last year and remind him he played over half the season with his shooting hand wrapped inside an oven mitt.

when he hurt his knee in high school he tried to go back in a nip and tuck game vs centralia that obviously needed him to win. later it was disclosed he had torn cartlidge. "dont want to win badly". hah.

while i dont know luke meyer, it appears by watching him game in and game out to include him in the "bunch" is also crazy.

we havent seen mitchell much in a college game to judge and my guess is the kid's confidence is shattered at this point. but the anthony mitchell i saw many times last year in high school was a taz devil. maybe he isnt techique perfect, but it shocks me that anyone questions that kid's heart. i would have never believed it would turn out that way.

[kshoe]

This is amazing. I just can't believe how our most optimistic posters have been disillusioned so quickly after SLU ponied up the big bucks to land a big name. Having only seen the Pitt game, I can't really comment on the current team, but I'm shocked at the level of disappointment so far.

I too have been surprised how some of the very same posters that preached patience with Brad during his 5th year are some of the first ones to express extreme disapointment and sometimes anger at our current coach after his 8th game. I don't quite understand it.

[ACE]

I too have been surprised how some of the very same posters that preached patience with Brad during his 5th year are some of the first ones to express extreme disapointment and sometimes anger at our current coach after his 8th game. I don't quite understand it.

Once again kshoe, you are right on the money. This is strange isn't it?

Other than the style being quite ugly and the margin of defeat in one game inexcusable, the bottom line is at this point, we have won the games we were supposed to and lost the ones we were expected to.

BTW kshoe, you get the post of the year by coining the term "roymor" and the sshoe gets the co-post of the year when he compared the Bush loyalists with the Sodie cult.

[Billikan]

I too have been surprised how some of the very same posters that preached patience with Brad during his 5th year are some of the first ones to express extreme disapointment and sometimes anger at our current coach after his 8th game. I don't quite understand it.

No one ever said that Brad was one of the best coaches in the country. People like you said he was one of the worst. Brad had a very limited budget. We opened the vault and put up big money for this vaunted coaching staff. Three head coaches!

My biggest problem is that I never thought in my wildest dreams that this team would collapse under this staff. Then the coach continually calls out his players on the radio which in my mind is ridiculous. I am still very optimistic for the future but I am very unhappy right now.

[billiken_roy]

I too have been surprised how some of the very same posters that preached patience with Brad during his 5th year are some of the first ones to express extreme disapointment and sometimes anger at our current coach after his 8th game. I don't quite understand it.

well that goes both ways. it is amazing to me that the same people that demanded excellence from a first time head coach in his 5th year with no backing from the school, is now preaching patience for a hall of fame coach that got everything he wanted from slu as for as a wishlist to coach, that has written books on coaching, has assisted hall of fame nba coaches, has one of the greatest winning percentages in coaching history even though his life was spent coaching in muncie indiana and utah, not exactly basketball hotbeds that bring in the kids from watts and chicago and brooklyn, i.e. pure talent and those folks dont think he can win with the same team of players minus only one player and plus 4 new recruits.

i just had much higher expectations from the new coach with those credential than the old coach.

[billiken_roy]

the bottom line is at this point, we have won the games we were supposed to and lost the ones we were expected to.

that might explain a lot. i expected to be 7-1 at this point with pitt our only loss. so i am guessing you had lower expectations going into the season.

i noticed that you never made a pre-season prediction of the billikens record ace. just curious, what did you think the final record would be a month ago and is that prediction the same today?

mine is not. i now think we will win 16 games max and i had previously stated we would win 21. and to be honest i got about 2-3 more games that i am now waffling on after seeing how well umass has done out of the chute and seeing duquesne is apparently for real, and charlotte is winning more than i expected.

[Billikan]

that might explain a lot. i expected to be 7-1 at this point with pitt our only loss. so i am guessing you had lower expectations going into the season.

i noticed that you never made a pre-season prediction of the billikens record ace. just curious, what did you think the final record would be a month ago and is that prediction the same today?

mine is not. i now think we will win 16 games max and i had previously stated we would win 21. and to be honest i got about 2-3 more games that i am now waffling on after seeing how well umass has done out of the chute and seeing duquesne is apparently for real, and charlotte is winning more than i expected.

Roy, you are right about the conference. Can you imagine us beating a good Big East team like Syracuse on the road or a good ACC team like Wake Forest or Indiana or Miami of Ohio( an extremely good team). We will be lucky to go .500 in the conference and maybe the new coach sees what is happening and is frustrated because he sees the possibliity of his first losing season in his career. But in my view, that does not justify ripping the players in the press continually. By the way, Sam Houston State will be a load! There are not many guaranteed wins left on the schedule. We need to play well out of the gate tomorrow night. The incredible bad starts in every game, even UMSL, have me baffled.

[kshoe]

well that goes both ways. it is amazing to me that the same people that demanded excellence from a first time head coach in his 5th year with no backing from the school, is now preaching patience for a hall of fame coach that got everything he wanted from slu as for as a wishlist to coach, that has written books on coaching, has assisted hall of fame nba coaches, has one of the greatest winning percentages in coaching history even though his life was spent coaching in muncie indiana and utah, not exactly basketball hotbeds that bring in the kids from watts and chicago and brooklyn, i.e. pure talent and those folks dont think he can win with the same team of players minus only one player and plus 4 new recruits.

i just had much higher expectations from the new coach with those credential than the old coach.

If only we could have continued down the road we had over the past three years where our recruiting classes consisted of McGuire, Obi, Dixon, Knollmeyer, Relephorde and Mitchell and left the most productive player in the bunch, Eckerle, in the library on game night. Yup, things sure were great in the good ole days.

[kappy96]

I too have been surprised how some of the very same posters that preached patience with Brad during his 5th year are some of the first ones to express extreme disapointment and sometimes anger at our current coach after his 8th game. I don't quite understand it.

Seems to me that there are a bunch of Chicken Little's showing up on the board all of a sudden. It was one game, allbeit, one UGLY game. how about a little perspective people?!

I'm dissapointed as well but there is no need to turn to Scientology after 8 games. RM is here to build a system and whether you agree with it or not, he is using this years team as a building block. I can't believe how many people are doubting him considering he 1) doesn't have any of his own players in place, 2) just got hired in April and is behind in every facet of the job, 3) was left with very, very ordinary team with no point guard and no inside presense.

To borrow a phrase from the Sergeant Hulka from the classic movie Stripes, "lighten up Frances!"

[ACE]

that might explain a lot. i expected to be 7-1 at this point with pitt our only loss. so i am guessing you had lower expectations going into the season.

i noticed that you never made a pre-season prediction of the billikens record ace. just curious, what did you think the final record would be a month ago and is that prediction the same today?

mine is not. i now think we will win 16 games max and i had previously stated we would win 21. and to be honest i got about 2-3 more games that i am now waffling on after seeing how well umass has done out of the shoot and seeing duquesne is apparently for real, and charlotte is winning more than i expected.

Roy, don't get me wrong, I thought winning at Missouri State or Kent State was not going to be easy, but I thought winning one of them was do-able. We were underdogs in both of those games. I think the Wiz said we were 11 point underdogs in the Missouri State game. We at least hung there and we've had at least one ugly loss down there during the Soderberg era. While the margin of victoy at Kent State was shocking, I like to think that will be an isolated result and not more to come. We shall see. I don't have a win total in mind, but I like to think that from this point forward, we get better as the season progresses. I hope that by the end the conference rolls around and most importantly the conference tournament, we are playing our best basketball. If I don't see that type of progression, I will be disappointed. I'm willing to give it a little more than 8 games before I start forming strong opinions about how Majerus is coaching Soderberg's players.

[kshoe]

Seems to me that there are a bunch of Chicken Little's showing up on the board all of a sudden. It was one game, allbeit, one UGLY game. how about a little perspective people?!

I'm dissapointed as well but there is no need to turn to Scientology after 8 games. RM is here to build a system and whether you agree with it or not, he is using this years team as a building block. I can't believe how many people are doubting him considering he 1) doesn't have any of his own players in place, 2) just got hired in April and is behind in every facet of the job, 3) was left with very, very ordinary team with no point guard and no inside presense.

To borrow a phrase from the Sergeant Hulka from the classic movie Stripes, "lighten up Frances!"

The screwed up thing is the Chicken Littles are the exact same people that even after 5 years wouldn't criticize BS. Its a complete role reversal.

Personally, I think they are just upset he doesn't enjoy showing up at Billiken Club meetings to kiss their arse.

[Billiken Rich]

The screwed up thing is the Chicken Littles are the exact same people that even after 5 years wouldn't criticize BS. Its a complete role reversal.

Personally, I think they are just upset he doesn't enjoy showing up at Billiken Club meetings to kiss their arse.

You know kshoe, sometimes you can be quite perceptive and thought provoking. Other times, like now for example, you can be a complete jerk........

[JMM28]

i just had much higher expectations from the new coach with those credential than the old coach.

Well I guess you could take a year off from the Bills and go root for the team that the old coach is coaching...

oh wait..

[saluki762]

I think most of you sound pretty ridiculous. Those of you bashing Majerus, are you crazy? Those of you that thought he could turn this years team into a 25 win team are crazy as well. RM will probably show SLU more success than what it is used to but it will take time. As a somewhat outside view it is my opinion that it will take at least 3 years to see any results. Wait until he starts getting his players in here and they have had time to develop. To think that he was going to come in here and wave some magic wand and turn SLU into a NCAA tourney team his first year was outrageous. Bad losses happen, judging this team based on a poorly played road game shouldn't happen.

It could be worse. We could be talking about the 2008 Cardinals. They may be worse than any of the early 1990's team.

[inthelou]

This is amazing. I just can't believe how our most optimistic posters have been disillusioned so quickly after SLU ponied up the big bucks to land a big name. Having only seen the Pitt game, I can't really comment on the current team, but I'm shocked at the level of disappointment so far.

I think a lot of the problem is that our last three coaches came in and (A) had early success their first year ( were media darlings and said and did all the right things publicly.

So far Majerus is neither. Granted even though some of the first year success by Romar and Spoon came later in their first seasons there was still early signs that things were going to turn around quickly. So far this team hasn't shown this kind of signs.