Thoughts

[kshoe]

1) What was up with the jerseys being so wrinkled? Did we try to do this (nobody wants to guard a smelly opponent type thing) or did somebody forget the iron. I'm sure Bonwich will blamed Woolard but it did look bad.

2) Brad deserves some criticism. Why do we never have timeouts at the end of the game? This at least the third time this season its happened (Marquette, Depaul and this one off the top of my head). We used our final timeout after we scored to get the game back to 6 points even though the next stoppage in play resulted in a t.v. timeout. I'm not one of those that says you should stockpile 3 timeouts for the final minute but this is gettng Martz-like.

3) Brad deserves a little more criticism. During the final 2 minutes, Ian was out of the game in favor of Isaac and Sloan and we gave up two offensive rebounds after missed free-throws. We need to have our best rebounders in there, no matter what. We wil not be so fortunate in other games to have a team miss FTs AND turn the ball over.

4) Thanks for the beer Bonwich.

5) If we finish the conference season 8-8 I think we will be a lock for the NIT, regardless of the CUSA tourney. The Bills could lose just about every game remaining on the schedule (except maybe Houston) but we could win just about all of them too (except mabe Cinci). I suspect we'll go 3-3.

6) Anybody know Frericks status for upcoming games? Ian was a pleasant surprise but we did miss Tom and the refs swallowing their wistles was a big benefit. If Ian gets in foul trouble and Tom is on the bench I don't like the other option.

[slu72]

Yeah, I thought it strange UB didn't sub Ian in there for the free throws. The game commentators praised Lutz's genious for inserting their big guy and pulling the guard for both FT's. Both times resulted in a Charlotte rebound.

[tseugnekillib]

1) I really didn't notice the wrinkled SLU uniforms, must be an age thing as I sit eight rows up. But, I did spend the game again appreciating the strength and size on the Charlotte roster. I hope we get there someday.

2) I think we would need to hear Coach Brad's thinking on the time-out issue. It was possible that the next stoppage (tv timeout) could have come 45-75 seconds later, or never. Question.....can the refs just stop play to insure that the last tv timeout/commercial happens?

3) Re having IV in the game during the last two minutes.... perhaps Coach Brad was going for more speed and quickness at the end of the game as we were trailing. If the Charlotte player makes the free-throws, IV being in the game at that time probably would not have been noticed. (Brad will be on KMOX tonight at 7pm. Hopefully, these questions will come up.) Interestingly, the Charlotte board is questioning why Iti wasn't in at the end of the game to stop Sloan's drive. Some Charlotte fans are suggesting that Lutz's be replaced. Likewise, some on the Marquette board are questioning Crean's coaching ability after their most recent loss. Coaching is truly a difficult, but lucrative job.

4) I thought Charlotte's man-to-man defense was excellent. Will we ever see another zone defense? I certainly hope so!

[kshoe]

and sometimes unfair but I also think the best time to criticize a coach is after a win. It shows that although things may have gone right in the final outcome, the decisions that got us there may have been wrong and should at least be thought about for future purposes.

The perfect example I can give of this was the Rams game this year at Arizona where we were down 3 with 30 seconds left in the red zone with a timeout and Martz decided to kick a field goal instead of going for the win. In OT we ended up winning the game but I thought it was terrible not to take a few attempts at the win. A few people in the media called Martz on it but not nearly enough. We all know that almost exactly the same situation played out against Carolina and again Martz made the wrong decision.

I do hope somebody asks Brad about it on his show tonight and no matter what I hope Brad thinks about stuff like that (and I believe he does) before the next game so that we won't make the same mistakes again.

[tseugnekillib]

kshoe, do we really know the moves were "mistakes" or just other options to the situation?

[billiken_roy]

the only timeout he called that i questioned was the one that he called with 8 minutes left. the next dead ball was a tv timeout and the instance was not one where there was a big momentum swing in progresss or anything that i remember. it looked like he called the timeout soley to get a couple of subs in the game.

[kshoe]

and allowing two offensive rebounds off of free-throws has to be considered a mistake. I could see the quickness strategy originally, but after they got the first offensive rebound you have to get somebody in there that can get the next one.

Of course, Martz never admitted he made a mistake in the Carolina game so I'd be surprised if other coaches would admit the same thing.

[slufanskip]

I don't think you can call it a mistake ... He has to think they are not going to get 2 offensive rebounds ... You are entitled to a different opinion ... but until I hear why UB did what he did ... I won't offer an opinion. Even if I don't agree with his decision ... doesn't make it a mistake. But do you think he should admit it was a mistake because you think it was?

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[kshoe]

nothing can ever be called a mistake, simply a differing of opinions on what the best course of action would have been. Of course it is my opinion that it is a mistake but I'm sure others will agree if they look at the facts.

There are those that won't say Martz made a mistake in not going to the end zone against Carolina.

There are those that won't say Soderberg made a mistake in not recruiting Ahearn.

There are thoses that won't say Pitino made a mistake against Duke in the Elite 8 when he didn't put an man on the inbounder right before Laettner nailed the game winner.

Hell, by that line of reasoning LaRussa has never made a mistake.

Its all a matter of opinion but in my opinion Brad made a mistake in not getting Ian in the game (especially the 2nd time around) to get the rebound. We still got the win but it doesn't mean mistakes weren't made.

[Billikan]

Man, you drive me crazy! Even when we beat an excellent team that just beat Louisville on their home floor, rather than focus on all of the good things that happened you just feel a need to criticize the coach with the ridiculous reasoning that when we win we should criticize the coach--of course, when we lose you are very free with your criticism and second guessing. So the logic is: you criticize the coach when we lose and you criticize the coach when we win. What a crock!!

Well, I feel free to criticize you. Have you ever played or coached at any significant level? Did you notice that one of the timeouts was not called by Brad but was called by Chris Sloan. Do you understand that we were not in the one and one so

we could not foul to stop the clock. Did you notice that IV was limping and very tired at the end? Did you notice the team that UNCC had on the floor at the end did not include Iti? Do you understand matchups and the need for quickness and shooting if we wanted to come back?

Did you notice that one of the free throw misses was a brick that flew over the inside guys? Did you see that on the other play the guy from UNCC just threw Chris Sloan out of the way with a wrestling move and no foul was called?

Can you tell me one time at the end that we should have called time out where it would have made a difference?

If you think you need to criticize the coach, win or lose, then how about some props for the good things--like balancing a lineup without its best big guy against a team that beat us and was on a roll. How about the continued intense efort of the team even when we are behind. In a way, I thought we had no chance whatsoever with Tom out but Coach Brad pulled of a miracle. If you can't say kind words for the coach after this game then you are just a constant negative person. as I have said repeatedly, give the guy a break!!!!!!!

[slufanskip]

kshoe ... I agree you have the right to beleive he made a mistake ... but you suggested that he would not admit that he made a mistake ... maybe he doesn't think it was

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[kshoe]

that likes to proclaim there are more posts after a loss than after a win? Thus, you don't like it when we criticize the coach after losses and now you clearly don't like it when we criticize a few things in a win. Are we ever allowed to criticize? Or is that too negative for you? Criticism is a part of being a head coach, at any level so he (and you) should understand there are going to be criticisms no matter what. I didn't say a word after the Depaul game. Did I have a right to complain then?

Some of your points are at least decent but this is at least the 3rd time we've been out of timeouts in the final 3 minutes of close games. Something is wrong with that picture.

I have played highschool basketball but I'm sure you'll want an NBA resume before I'm allowed to criticize our coach. Whatever.

[kshoe]

Do you think when Brad does his reviews of players performances after games he focuses on the positives and ignores turnovers, bad shots, missed defensive assignments, etc? Of course not. I'm sure he were to do a similar review of his coaching for the Charlotte game he would find many things he wants to improve upon. If he doesn't than I would be very disapointed, because I think when you stop correcting on your mistakes you can never improve and will only get worse. Brad is his harshest critic and nothing me, or anybody on this board can say about him will make a lick of difference.

[tseugnekillib]

kshoe, I don't know anything about Martz, Pitino vs Duke, and the guy named LaRussa. But I agree with Coach Soderberg for not recruiting Ahearn to play in C-USA. Regarding coaching mistakes, if you are saying that YOU would have substituted differently or used your time-outs differently, I can accept that. But, to call the coach's moves a "mistake".....I don't get what makes your way right and his way a mistake!

[Basketbill]

I thought Brad was getting T'd at the time. I was wondering if it was the Ref saying "what was that oh a time out did you call because anything else I would give you a T...."

[billiken_roy]

ahearn playing against the most athletic guards in the conference last night sucked. how do you think he would fair vs an entire conference of athletic guards? i'm with tseugnekillib on ahearn. he is a luxury (pure shooter, period. nothing else) the billikens couldnt afford.

[Schasz]

That I now have a little better idea of what was going on with the missed FT's and why we may not have gotten the rebounds. I was kind of p'od that we weren't getting the rebounds when Charlotte was doing their part in keeping us in the game with the missed FT's.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Brad Soderberg did explain his reasoning regarding timeouts on his show tonight. He said he would like to have his full allotment of second-half timeouts for the last two minutes of the game, if possible. However, he sometimes feels it's necessary to call a timeout earlier in the game to suppress a run. He said that he fears if he doesn't call the timeouts he called yesterday, the Bills may have trailed by 15 or 16 points rather than eight. Is it better to go into the last two minutes of a game with no timeouts trailing by six or have three timeouts left trailing by 16?

[tseugnekillib]

Same KMOX program....Coach Soderberg wanted both Izik and Sloan in the game during the last minute for offensive purposes. To have IV in the game to rebound a possibly missed FT was a problem because Coach Brad used his TOs to keep the game from slipping to a 15-16 point difference, as thicks indicated above.

[Quality Is Job 1]

That's correct. Brad said that if he had had timeouts remaining, particularly on the second one-and-one chance, he would have put Ian in for rebounding purposes then called timeout to make his offense-defense substitution.

[kshoe]

I heard your question on the show tseugnekellib. If I were a lawyer I would have called it leading as you certainly presented your reasoning behind why he wasn't in the game. Brad had a fair answer (if he didn't have an answer I'd be very scared because then he wouldn't have realized the problem) but he did say that in hindsight he probably would have left Ian in the game for the rebound.

I understand WHY Brad called his timeouts (I saw him use 3 in a row against Marquette to try and stop a run) but sometimes you need to value the timeout too and the players will have to change the flow of the game themselves. However, I don't think the final timeout was used wisely in this game. People obviously disagree with me on this point but so be it.

The best part of the show was when a caller mentioned possibly getting McKinney as a transfer. Brad would not even comment on Jimmy (and I think it is silly of SLU fans to speculate on this stuff too) but he did go over the rules for contacting a potential transfer. I don't think he intended to do this but he made Q's recruitment of Conley look so dirty I couldn't help but laugh.

I also thought Brad did a good job dodging the question on our recruits eligibility. Its certainly not something that needs to be discussed on KMOX and I thought he answered it well.

[billiken_roy]

i too heard coach soderberg's answer on how to handle a transfer inquiry from a player yet to be released from his existing school. amazing he didnt mention anything about needing 6 ten minute phone calls to tell the recruit he needed to get released first. personally that is a mistake as apparently the ncaa says that is ok.