kevinfootes Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Without the benefit of seeing the entire nonconference schedule, what does everyone think? The nonconference schedule obviously makes a difference, but I have a hunch that it won't be dramatically different in terms of strength. Assuming a similar SOS, will SLU win more games next year...or is th big jump two seasons away? RM's history shows a big jump in his second season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikan Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Without the benefit of seeing the entire nonconference schedule, what does everyone think? The nonconference schedule obviously makes a difference, but I have a hunch that it won't be dramatically different in terms of strength. Assuming a similar SOS, will SLU win more games next year...or is th big jump two seasons away? RM's history shows a big jump in his second season. If we do not win more games next year--and be more competitive in all games--then I will be very disappointed. With at least 5 new talented players and two star seniors with no losses of significance if we do not play much better next year than something is seriously wrong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 If we do not win more games next year--and be more competitive in all games--then I will be very disappointed. With at least 5 new talented players and two star seniors with no losses of significance if we do not play much better next year than something is seriously wrong! I agree with Billikan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinfootes Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 If we do not win more games next year--and be more competitive in all games--then I will be very disappointed. With at least 5 new talented players and two star seniors with no losses of significance if we do not play much better next year than something is seriously wrong! Good point. I agree there is a difference between losing and not competing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Jack Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 This is a very good topic to bring up. You hear a lot about next year but are things really going to get alot better? So far in this thread you see posters claiming there are not going to be any "losses of significance". Is Luke Meyer coming back for another year that I don't know about? And three other seniors will be gone. So you are replacing 21 year olds with 18 year olds. Of course they will be more talented but they also will never have played at this level and they will have to learn Majerus' apparantly ridiculously complicated system. And Lisch and Liddell still seem to be lost in it. Hopefully things will turn around but it's not looking very good based on the Dayton game. Anyone who thinks the rest of this year is not an indicator of the future is delusional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 This is a very good topic to bring up. You hear a lot about next year but are things really going to get alot better? So far in this thread you see posters claiming there are not going to be any "losses of significance". Is Luke Meyer coming back for another year that I don't know about? And three other seniors will be gone. So you are replacing 21 year olds with 18 year olds. Of course they will be more talented but they also will never have played at this level and they will have to learn Majerus' apparantly ridiculously complicated system. And Lisch and Liddell still seem to be lost in it. Hopefully things will turn around but it's not looking very good based on the Dayton game. Anyone who thinks the rest of this year is not an indicator of the future is delusional. I love having luke on our team, but i'll take 5 talented freshmen over 1 over-achieving 3/4 any day of the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 The big jump will be in the junior year of the incoming freshmen, just as it was with Spoon with Highmark and Claggett. None of the bigs are better or more mobile than Baniak was as a high school senior, and Conklin is the only one with a "tough" label attached. Femi and Kwamain will both be coming off injury seasons. For those with longer memories, didn't we have Melvin Robinson, Carlos Skinner, and McGlother Irvin with the magnificent freshmen class? Ryan Grant was the only one who was a significant player that year before his medical disqual. Highmark was MPOY, Claggett was a shooter superior to any of the new incoming, and Winfield was a McD AA. There was panic in the streets when Grawer had to play them in January. Unless you are a Larry Hughes, or fill a specific role player need as a freshmen, you will struggle. Lots of people seem to feel BH, DP, LM, and DB don't bring much to the table. They also walk out the door with 18 years of post high school ball experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 The big jump will be in the junior year of the incoming freshmen, just as it was with Spoon with Highmark and Claggett. None of the bigs are better or more mobile than Baniak was as a high school senior, and Conklin is the only one with a "tough" label attached. Femi and Kwamain will both be coming off injury seasons. For those with longer memories, didn't we have Melvin Robinson, Carlos Skinner, and McGlother Irvin with the magnificent freshmen class? Ryan Grant was the only one who was a significant player that year before his medical disqual. Highmark was MPOY, Claggett was a shooter superior to any of the new incoming, and Winfield was a McD AA. There was panic in the streets when Grawer had to play them in January. Unless you are a Larry Hughes, or fill a specific role player need as a freshmen, you will struggle. Lots of people seem to feel BH, DP, LM, and DB don't bring much to the table. They also walk out the door with 18 years of post high school ball experience. Good point but we have had guards play significant minutes as freshman. Marquee Perry comes to mind. Look at the minutes P. Eckerle is playing this season. Even though he will be a freshman, exchanging K. Mitchell for D. Polk makes the team better instantly IMHO. Dwayne kills the half-court offense when he is on the floor and this team runs rarely. I agree with your point about the bigs though. Expecting big minutes from freshman centers neither of whom are physical at present means they will struggle early. That means Knollmeyer and Eberhardt will have to play lots of minutes @ 5. If Josh Harrellson were eligible for next season, a guy like that could help us. Harrellson Eberhardt Liddell Lisch K. Mitchell I like that starting 5. But if Eberhardt is going to be playing out of position at center again next season, agree we are in for a long year. We need a JUCO 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmbilliken Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Luke has been our best and most consistent player this year. We'll miss him. Usually jucos are much better their senior year and with the bigs coming in BE will be able to play his more natural position at 4 instead of 5 so I expect more out of him. If our 3 bigs coming in next year are anywhere close to their hype they've got to be able to better the output of BH and AK on both ends of the court. KM is supposed to be a hot shot point guard, but so was DP. I don't see him being any worse offensivelly(obviously) but not be as good defensively. KL and TL will be as good as this year and at least one of them will probably have an excellent senior year superior to this year. I think the key is getting 2 good jucos. Either a big man, scorer or point quard that will be able to contribute decent play. Not great, just good role players. If we can get that we will be significantly better and a bubble team. If we're relying on all freshmen newcomers we'll be better and a bubble NIT team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG BILL FAN Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 This is a very good topic to bring up. You hear a lot about next year but are things really going to get alot better? So far in this thread you see posters claiming there are not going to be any "losses of significance". Is Luke Meyer coming back for another year that I don't know about? And three other seniors will be gone. So you are replacing 21 year olds with 18 year olds. Of course they will be more talented but they also will never have played at this level and they will have to learn Majerus' apparantly ridiculously complicated system. And Lisch and Liddell still seem to be lost in it. Hopefully things will turn around but it's not looking very good based on the Dayton game. Anyone who thinks the rest of this year is not an indicator of the future is delusional. I agree with Jack, having to replace DP, DB, and BH is going to be devastating to this team, That's at least 10 point per game between them that we will have to replace. Also don't forget those good hands of BH and that deadly 3 pt shot of DP. Yeah it's going to be real hard to replace those guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iggy Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Next year we get to play in our own 'PIT'. We may not lose a home game. That will make a big difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Next year we get to play in our own 'PIT'. We may not lose a home game. That will make a big difference. I think we will be better for a number of reasons. 1. TL, KL, and BE will have a year under RM and should know the system and be a big help with the younger guys. Great Sr leadership. 2. Luke's loss will be somewhat negated as he usually plays out of position and we will either have BE at the 4 or one of the new guys. With a year under his belt BE for LM is an equal swap. 3. KM should be an immediate large upgrade at the point even as a freshman. 4. BT and WR together should negate the loss of Bryce. If you look at it position by position we should be better, maybe quite a bit better. One thing we have to remember is RM has recruited players that he wants, players with championship resume's that fit his style. Position by positon 1. DP, KL, PE replaced by KM, KL, PE ..... major upgrade 2. KL, PE, replaced by KL, PE, FJ .... with a year in the system and KL playing most of the minutes ..... ugrade 3. TL, DB replaced by TL, BC, MR, AM again a year in the system an TL playing 32-35 minutes a game of the 40 .... upgrade 4. LM, BE replaced by BE, BC, MR, ..... BE playing in position with a year under RM and a true 5 next to him .... upgrade 5. BH, AK, BE replaced by BT, WR, AK .... we've seen AK improve and BH ony plays 15 -20 min a game ..... upgrade I think we will be better at every position next year plus we will have 3 Sr leaders with a year in the RM system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 The big jump will be in the junior year of the incoming freshmen, just as it was with Spoon with Highmark and Claggett. None of the bigs are better or more mobile than Baniak was as a high school senior, and Conklin is the only one with a "tough" label attached. Femi and Kwamain will both be coming off injury seasons. For those with longer memories, didn't we have Melvin Robinson, Carlos Skinner, and McGlother Irvin with the magnificent freshmen class? Ryan Grant was the only one who was a significant player that year before his medical disqual. Highmark was MPOY, Claggett was a shooter superior to any of the new incoming, and Winfield was a McD AA. There was panic in the streets when Grawer had to play them in January. Unless you are a Larry Hughes, or fill a specific role player need as a freshmen, you will struggle. Lots of people seem to feel BH, DP, LM, and DB don't bring much to the table. They also walk out the door with 18 years of post high school ball experience. I have got to disagree with you on a couple points. Mitchell isn't coming off an injury season. He was hurt at the start of the season. Since then, he has established himself as a co-favorite with Korie Lucious for Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin. Korie Lucious is headed to Mich. St.. Reed and Thompson are both more mobile than Baniak. Reed is super mobile. Thompson has a better overall skill set than Baniak had coming out. He isn't as accomplished or as tough as Baniak was coming out, but his skill set is definitely better. This team won't be challenging for a sweet sixteen birth next year, but we will be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 I have got to disagree with you on a couple points. Mitchell isn't coming off an injury season. He was hurt at the start of the season. Since then, he has established himself as a co-favorite with Korie Lucious for Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin. Korie Lucious is headed to Mich. St.. Reed and Thompson are both more mobile than Baniak. Reed is super mobile. Thompson has a better overall skill set than Baniak had coming out. He isn't as accomplished or as tough as Baniak was coming out, but his skill set is definitely better. This team won't be challenging for a sweet sixteen birth next year, but we will be better. I've never heard Baniak described as tough. Imo he always played incredibly soft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 I've never heard Baniak described as tough. Imo he always played incredibly soft.Baniak is tough compared to Thompson right now. Thompson is not a physiacal player at all right now. He has got the size, but he has never played that way so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NH Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Luke has been our best and most consistent player this year. We'll miss him. Usually jucos are much better their senior year and with the bigs coming in BE will be able to play his more natural position at 4 instead of 5 so I expect more out of him. If our 3 bigs coming in next year are anywhere close to their hype they've got to be able to better the output of BH and AK on both ends of the court. KM is supposed to be a hot shot point guard, but so was DP. I don't see him being any worse offensivelly(obviously) but not be as good defensively. KL and TL will be as good as this year and at least one of them will probably have an excellent senior year superior to this year. I think the key is getting 2 good jucos. Either a big man, scorer or point quard that will be able to contribute decent play. Not great, just good role players. If we can get that we will be significantly better and a bubble team. If we're relying on all freshmen newcomers we'll be better and a bubble NIT team. My thoughts Excactly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinfootes Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 Next year we get to play in our own 'PIT'. We may not lose a home game. That will make a big difference. Without the benefit of seeing next year's schedule, I think it's pretty bold to think SLU might run the table at home next year...new building or not. I hope you're right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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