we won because

[billiken_roy]

we finally let the offense run through kevin and tommie the whole game. they were free to try to score off dribble penetration and creation.

best they have looked in weeks.

shaw was fantastic though.

the zebra's let siuc get away with murder. they are one hell of a rugby team.

btw, mclaughlin and this dan adams guy on espnu were very good imo. i really enjoyed their take on the action.

[slufanskip]

we finally let the offense run through kevin and tommie the whole game. they were free to try to score off dribble penetration and creation.

best they have looked in weeks.

shaw was fantastic though.

the zebra's let siuc get away with murder. they are one hell of a rugby team.

btw, mclaughlin and this dan adams guy on espnu were very good imo. i really enjoyed their take on the action.

or maybe TL and KL are feeling more comfortable in the offense and are thinking less, therefore being more assertive.

Way to find a way to get an RM jab in Roy.

[davidnark]

I don't think Majerus did anything different with Lisch or Liddell, I think they just reacted differently to the same coaching.

I actually thought the refs were kind of SLU-friendly down the stretch. We seemed to get every 50/50 call.

[TheA_Bomb]

I was thinking that we were getting the calls as well. But the replays showed those Charges were the right call and the step on the line was the right call.

I haven't seen that many games but it didn't look that different than before. The team just turned the ball over less tonight 11 TOs and hit shots at a higher rate. Even though they shot 51% it seemed they still missed some wide open shots. So I would say that they could be more effective when they start hitting those wide open shots.

If there is any question on this game it is what happened to Eberhardt? The dude was money against Pitt.

[billiken_roy]

I don't think Majerus did anything different with Lisch or Liddell, I think they just reacted differently to the same coaching.

I actually thought the refs were kind of SLU-friendly down the stretch. We seemed to get every 50/50 call.

prior to the last 44 minutes of billiken basketball, lisch and liddell seemed to have to make an attempt first to get a pass to the lane. it was pass the ball around the perimeter and look to the lane and when we got down to about 10-12 seconds, then it was ok score however.

tonite both kevin and tommie were extremely agressive to the rim first. kevin probably had 4 of those hard jab step fade aways. liddell the same.

they were totally different in their approach to the game.

my take on the refs was that siuc was their normal wrestling selves. yet with about a minute to go they only had 6 team fouls. ridiculous

i hope that eckerle is alright. that shot he took to the back of the head in the first half was frightening.

[kevinfootes]

I don't think Majerus did anything different with Lisch or Liddell, I think they just reacted differently to the same coaching.

I actually thought the refs were kind of SLU-friendly down the stretch. We seemed to get every 50/50 call.

I agree. Whenever I've been able to watch it seems like the presence of RM on the sideline was paying off. SLU gets a lot more respect from the zebras with RM around.

[slufanskip]

prior to the last 44 minutes of billiken basketball, lisch and liddell seemed to have to make an attempt first to get a pass to the lane. it was pass the ball around the perimeter and look to the lane and when we got down to about 10-12 seconds, then it was ok score however.

tonite both kevin and tommie were extremely agressive to the rim first. kevin probably had 4 of those hard jab step fade aways. liddell the same.

they were totally different in their approach to the game.

my take on the refs was that siuc was their normal wrestling selves. yet with about a minute to go they only had 6 team fouls. ridiculous

i hope that eckerle is alright. that shot he took to the back of the head in the first half was frightening.

but you seem to assume it's because RM wouldn't let them, not because there could be an eeensy teeensy chance they were learning a new offense and thinking too much causing them to be tentative.

Hell you made the statement that RM wanted them to pass up good open looks so our worse shooters could shoot.

Roy your expectations of what it took to and may still take to learn the offense was off .... mine was too, but maybe it's starting to ome together. Next year when we have Tommie, Kevin, Barry, Paul, Marcus, Anthony, Adam, and Dustin knowing the offense, and the break in period is less, you will be glad we took the approach we did

[bonwich]

We won because we hit 51% of our FGs. For the life of me, I can't see where we did anything different to get there. We just hit 'em. We had very tough defense in our faces -- Tommie was hitting fadeaways that seemed really unlikely, and Kevin was tossing up shots like the one where he created just an inch of separation. Last three games, they didn't fall. Today, Kevin and Tommie go 11-18. Easier shots? Didn't look like it to me.

I think we got calls at the end of the game, but the fact that SIU© had only one team foul after 10 minutes in the first half -- in an away game -- said something about the refs, especially Mr. Bleach Blond. (Anyone know his name? He missed 3-4 blatant calls in a row.)

That said, kudos to SIU© for their fans. Ultimately crappy night, and they show up in droves, some of them from 100 miles away. It'll be nice when they can't buy 2,000 seats 10-20 rows from the court in 2 years.

PS -- I'll lay odds that our crack (-addled) scoreboard crew screwed up on keeping track of timeouts in the second half.

PPS -- Eckerle took 2 shots to the head. His head bounced off the floor, and then the guy landed on top of him and slammed it into the floor again.

PPS -- Hey, Skip: Can't you drive in the snow?

[Majerus Magic]

PPS -- Eckerle took 2 shots to the head. His head bounced off the floor, and then the guy landed on top of him and slammed it into the floor again.

Talked to Paul after the game. Except for the little headache that he has he is doing alright.

[dewey33]

Talked to Paul after the game. Except for the little headache that he has he is doing alright.

Tommie & Kevin...12-14 from the line.....

[brianstl]

I don't think Majerus did anything different with Lisch or Liddell, I think they just reacted differently to the same coaching.

I actually thought the refs were kind of SLU-friendly down the stretch. We seemed to get every 50/50 call.

David you are correct, but I don't expect a lot of people to change thier way of thought right now. People have now invested themselves in bashing Rickma. It will take more than tonight to change thier opinions.

[Box and Won]

How about Dwayne Polk? He looked great, especially in the first half.

[moytoy12]

we finally let the offense run through kevin and tommie the whole game. they were free to try to score off dribble penetration and creation.

best they have looked in weeks.

shaw was fantastic though.

the zebra's let siuc get away with murder. they are one hell of a rugby team.

btw, mclaughlin and this dan adams guy on espnu were very good imo. i really enjoyed their take on the action.

I thought you were at your daughter's game?

[moytoy12]

David you are correct, but I don't expect a lot of people to change thier way of thought right now. People have now invested themselves in bashing Rickma. It will take more than tonight to change thier opinions.

who has "bashed" RM?

[brianstl]

who has "bashed" RM?

I guess you have missed Billikan's, Buaman's, JaleJarr's, and Tdell's post over the past month. There have been others, too.

[kshoe]

We won because we hit 51% of our FGs. For the life of me, I can't see where we did anything different to get there. We just hit 'em. We had very tough defense in our faces -- Tommie was hitting fadeaways that seemed really unlikely, and Kevin was tossing up shots like the one where he created just an inch of separation. Last three games, they didn't fall. Today, Kevin and Tommie go 11-18. Easier shots? Didn't look like it to me.

I think we got calls at the end of the game, but the fact that SIU© had only one team foul after 10 minutes in the first half -- in an away game -- said something about the refs, especially Mr. Bleach Blond. (Anyone know his name? He missed 3-4 blatant calls in a row.)

That said, kudos to SIU© for their fans. Ultimately crappy night, and they show up in droves, some of them from 100 miles away. It'll be nice when they can't buy 2,000 seats 10-20 rows from the court in 2 years.

PS -- I'll lay odds that our crack (-addled) scoreboard crew screwed up on keeping track of timeouts in the second half.

PPS -- Eckerle took 2 shots to the head. His head bounced off the floor, and then the guy landed on top of him and slammed it into the floor again.

PPS -- Hey, Skip: Can't you drive in the snow?

We notice the screw-up on the timeouts too. It definitely happened at one point but not sure if it was ever corrected.

I agree that the calls went our way down the stretch but man SIU got away with murder on the moving picks. Falker was never set on any of those yet they had the guts to call one on BE. The lack of an over the back call on SIU was pretty amazing too.

The Shoes also noticed that Skip wasn't in the house. Wonder if he was with Roy watching the Althoff girls basketball game.

[brianstl]

We notice the screw-up on the timeouts too. It definitely happened at one point but not sure if it was ever corrected.

I agree that the calls went our way down the stretch but man SIU got away with murder on the moving picks. Falker was never set on any of those yet they had the guts to call one on BE. The lack of an over the back call on SIU was pretty amazing too.

The Shoes also noticed that Skip wasn't in the house. Wonder if he was with Roy watching the Althoff girls basketball game.

For at least ten minutes in the first half, the half was listed as the second half on the scoreboard.

[Billikan]

I guess you have missed Billikan's, Buaman's, JaleJarr's, and Tdell's post over the past month. There have been others, too.

This game proves the points I have been making for two weeks. Biancardi admitted it in the post game interview. Contrary to those of you who say we were doing the same thing, which in my view was obvious we were not, he admitted that for this game we changed the offense to a drive and kick offense because they play such tight man to man. That was why Tommie and Kevin looked so good and had ZERO turnovers between them. This is the style that they are familiar with and play the best with. I am surprised and delighted that RM actually made the adjustment after his repeated statements that he would not change his system and as recently as a week ago he publicly said he would not change to a drive and kick offense.

In terms of the game itself, I think this is one of the most exciting wins in a while. To be down 9 in the second half against an iron tough defensive team and come back to win with the crowd roaring was a real delight. The crowd was really great at the end when we were coming back!

To SL72 and others who have said for weeks that the reason we were playing bad was because we had no talent, no players, etc.--I say wow, somehow we recruited a whole new team and now we have some nice players. SIUC was preseason top 20 and everyone was talking about their great recruiting and their great talent yet somehow we beat them with our no talent team. Amazing!

[Billikan]

David you are correct, but I don't expect a lot of people to change thier way of thought right now. People have now invested themselves in bashing Rickma. It will take more than tonight to change thier opinions.

It is ridiculous to say we did nothing different and Biancardi admitted after the game that we switched to a drive and kick offense-- an offense that obviously benefits Tommie and Kevin. The fact that RM changed is amazing and a good omen. His public statements were just the opposite.

The thing that bugged me the most is that rather than admit that RM might be running the wrong offense for this team many decided that it must be that we have no talent and no players--a ridiculous proposition that was proved false tonight.

[moytoy12]

I guess you have missed Billikan's, Buaman's, JaleJarr's, and Tdell's post over the past month. There have been others, too.

Outside of the Tdell comment, i can't recall a post that "bashed" RM. Maybe people questioned why he did this or that, but that's ok in my book. Bashed him? Not saying it didn't happen, but i can't recall it.

[slu72]

To SL72 and others who have said for weeks that the reason we were playing bad was because we had no talent, no players, etc.--I say wow, somehow we recruited a whole new team and now we have some nice players. SIUC was preseason top 20 and everyone was talking about their great recruiting and their great talent yet somehow we beat them with our no talent team. Amazing!

Just to clarify, Billikan, certain people on here were expecting RM to take this team beyond the limits of our talent. You included. I've stated, as have others, we have 3 legit D1 talents at this point; KL, TL, and LM. They proved it tonight, and I pray in future games they will continue to do so. But, I'll stand by my opinion that because of our recent poor recruiting we aren't deep enough to be a dance team even if John Wooden was the coach. I'd love to be proven wrong and once again will gladly eat crow. I'm not playing the role of Mr. Negativity again this year. Just like you''re not playing the role of Mr. Patience and Stability that you did last year.

[cheeseman]

We won because we hit 51% of our FGs. For the life of me, I can't see where we did anything different to get there. We just hit 'em. We had very tough defense in our faces -- Tommie was hitting fadeaways that seemed really unlikely, and Kevin was tossing up shots like the one where he created just an inch of separation. Last three games, they didn't fall. Today, Kevin and Tommie go 11-18. Easier shots? Didn't look like it to me.

I think we got calls at the end of the game, but the fact that SIU© had only one team foul after 10 minutes in the first half -- in an away game -- said something about the refs, especially Mr. Bleach Blond. (Anyone know his name? He missed 3-4 blatant calls in a row.)

That said, kudos to SIU© for their fans. Ultimately crappy night, and they show up in droves, some of them from 100 miles away. It'll be nice when they can't buy 2,000 seats 10-20 rows from the court in 2 years.

PS -- I'll lay odds that our crack (-addled) scoreboard crew screwed up on keeping track of timeouts in the second half.

PPS -- Eckerle took 2 shots to the head. His head bounced off the floor, and then the guy landed on top of him and slammed it into the floor again.

PPS -- Hey, Skip: Can't you drive in the snow?

I agree with all of you who are saying there was not anything different tonight that the team was doing than in the past other than actually executing the offense that RM wanted. Tommie and Kevin might very well have looked more confident and more willing to take shots but on Friday on KFNS, RM talked specifically about how he has been trying to get TL and KL to be more aggressive but to take good shots. Tommie has been struggling with knowing what a good shot was in RM's offense - he seemed to finally have it click. Kevin - he was just getting his shot to finally fall - he did have a dry spell in the first half about mid way but overall he came through offensively.

I thought the same thing about the new arena - I have always tired of watching visiting teams' fans sitting so close to the floor. Not 2 years but next year that will change. If things go as planned, visiting teams won't even have a chance to buy a tix except for the few tix their school will get as a courtsey.

Finally, that scoreboard crew was about as bad as I have ever seen down there. Do we hire them or are they Scott Trade people?

[cheeseman]

Talked to Paul after the game. Except for the little headache that he has he is doing alright.

Sounds like maybe a concussion?

[cheeseman]

It is ridiculous to say we did nothing different and Biancardi admitted after the game that we switched to a drive and kick offense-- an offense that obviously benefits Tommie and Kevin. The fact that RM changed is amazing and a good omen. His public statements were just the opposite.

The thing that bugged me the most is that rather than admit that RM might be running the wrong offense for this team many decided that it must be that we have no talent and no players--a ridiculous proposition that was proved false tonight.

My guess is that we always had that kind of an offensive approach available to us but the kids were having trouble adjusting to how to run it under RM's overall expectations. Our talent level is not high - after TL and KL it drops off pretty fast. Luke is a great role player but not to be confused with being talented, Paul is a freshman who continues to make freshman mistakes - at least tonight he shot less, Dwayne - fast, but can not shoot nor can he be counted on to shoot FTs - did you notice that RM took him out when we had the ball late in the game so he would not be the one getting fouled, Bryce, was eaten up in the first half and the first part of the second but somehow he got it together somewhat during the last part - he is not athletic at all, BE - who knows on him the jury is still out with the same on Marcus. No we are not a talented team - we are a team who can win some games if the kids all stay in their roles and play tough defense. Finally, Billikan - you have been the biggest whinner of the them of all this year. Why am I not surprised to hear you now claiming that you were right all a long and how RM finally woke up. This has been a learning process and in a learning process it takes time with 2 steps forward and one back all the time. If we follow this game up with a nice effort against L of Chicago then we may have gotten over the hump and improvement will be seen at a must faster pace.

[slu72]

we finally let the offense run through kevin and tommie the whole game. they were free to try to score off dribble penetration and creation.

best they have looked in weeks.

shaw was fantastic though.

the zebra's let siuc get away with murder. they are one hell of a rugby team.

btw, mclaughlin and this dan adams guy on espnu were very good imo. i really enjoyed their take on the action.

We won because you stayed home and didn't bring your negative aura to Scott Trade Center. You should help the winning streak by staying away until they lose again. Just kidding, Broy. But do you really think RM said, "ok, we're gonna' play Sodieball tonight"?