BLIKNS Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 Could he have been sick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 sunday coach soderberg reported darren has tendenitis in his knee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 >sunday coach soderberg reported darren has tendenitis in his >knee. Thanks for the info Broy. I was wondering if the explanation for the first half Philip Hunt sighting was that coach had totally lost faith in Darren. We desparately need another guard on the floor on who can shoot. Fish is Fish so I can't get too worked up about him not getting more agressive on the offensive end as he does so many other things for the team. Drejaj blows hot and cold with his shot. If Darren had developed into a potential hot hand off the bench, it would have been a great benefit to the team at this stage in the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 .. your freshmen should no longer be freshman but technically sophomores. The fact that Darren and JJ are non-factors ... not even sighted for the most part ... does not bode too well as far as I'm concerned. IV (the more I look at that the more I see "Roman Numeral Four") seems to only be there by default (injury). TF's injury demonstrates just how shallow this team is in the depth department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 I'm willing to see what next year brings before I would even consider completely writing off this trio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 you have to admit it is discouraging that maybe the two most athletic players on the team with very nice physical bodies as well cannot earn any playing time to speak of. i have defended coach soderberg's methods of trying to encourage them to play his way or no way, but one would think by now they would have "bought in" and exerted their physical advantages to earn time. it is a puzzling story at the very least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 It's way too early in their careers to make any sort of projection on JJ's and DC's eventual contribution to the program. Wisconsin's Freddie Owens and Dayton's Sean Finn were unheralded recruits who played similar minutes to our freshmen in their first year on the job. As juniors they blossomed into key players on their respective teams. That's how a lot of programs without blue chip talent build their programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 3 star, i am not expecting either to be stars at this point in their careers, but contributors would be nice. they are spectators at best thus far. i hope you are right. i just called into kfns and asked frank if clarke was injured and he said no. the fact coach soderberg is apparently so disgruntled with clarke that he plays his walkons before he played clarke is very discouraging. and while johnson has played minutes here and there, again the fact we are woefully thin on the inside and johnson plays very little is befuddling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 The most discouraging is JJ. He practiced all last year, so I consider him somewhat a sophomore. DC, no idea what the problem is there, but given the athleticism of this team, or lack thereof, it's a little disheartening not to see him be able to contribute more. IV, face it, a project, but at times has not looked bad. I'm willing to trust UB's judgement on this kid. Hey he outplayed Iti from Charlotte who was ranked #10 in the country...now that would really bring me down. Also, I don't think many foreign players are aware of the athleticism of American hoopsters and catches them off guard. Give him time to learn. Boy, Taj MaHal I'm glad I never played for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RecCenterRat Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 everyone keeps talking about Justin Johnson's .. athleticism .. he is not that athletic ... he is not going to overwhelm any D1 player with his speed or leaping ability .. this is a guy who was released by basketball "powerhouse" K-State of his scholarship so that K-State could take someone else he was not a "can't miss" .... Soderberg rolled the dice on him .. obviously JJ was not wanted by many .. there must have been "something up" Soderberg rolled the dice on AD .. no one wanted him either .. UB made a good decision there and Anthony has done a hell of a job competing over the past two years .. With this recruiting style, it's going to be tough .. I'm glad that next years class has at least 2 players that we know can compete (DP and TL) .. and a third who we think will translate into a decent D1 player. .. Let's find a power forward who can throw one down once a month .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 kshoe, 3 star, broy, #72 .... but wouldn't you think that some of these guys need to have a report card, a progress report that is like the old mid-term grades ... a boot in the *ss or a pat on the back? I'm not saying these guys are Luol Deng, Kris Humphries, Sean Banks or others .... what about a Justin Cage or a Justin Doellman, a Dameon Mason, a Colin Falls ... a guy who gets like 15 to 20 minutes a game and produces ... not carries ... but shows promise. Myabe you guys are right ... maybe I'm expecting more than I should but these guys aren't even in Drejaj's class as far as I'm concerned and look what happened to him so far this year. I just find it to be in the status quo ... and frankly I'm tired of that. Maybe I need to set my sights lower ... take that Mo Valley offering and live with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 he is more athletic that most everyone else on the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 "I'm not saying these guys are Luol Deng, Kris Humphries, Sean Banks or others .... what about a Justin Cage or a Justin Doellman, a Dameon Mason, a Colin Falls" Dameon Mason is a top 75 guy. We offered Falls in his junior season -he went elsewhere. The only reason that Doellman and Cage are playing so many minutes is because the upperclassmen at their position have played so poorly. If Drejaj and Varner weren't on the roster, coach would have no choice but to play Clarke and JJ the minutes you suggest. But that isn't the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 hey we're not disagreeing with you. In fact I think most of us are as frustrated as you, especially those guys that live in St.Loo and have gone to every game for the last zillion years. Ok, maybe only Broy's been going that long. I agree totally that this years class is looking like a huge bust, except for TF, and JJ from last year may have been a real mistake. God knows, they ain't shown much to date. Make that, haven't shown anything. But is this UB's way of getting them ready? Or will they never be ready? That is the question. If not, I'm for cutting the chord. I'm not sure what that does to our scholie situation as I'm not up to speed on scholie rules like the 5/8 thing so that may not be possible. But please Taj don't relegate us to the MVC. Let's give UB a chance to turn this around. It is indeed frustrating to see some programs go from 11-19 to the dance because they bring in some hot shot recruiter, but face it SLU's probably never going to do that. We all know there are corners cut and again SLU's not going to do that. So, we're just going to have to hang in there and hope this long term plan somehow works so we can get to the status of a Gonzaga, a Stanford where recruits aren't so reluctant to sign. Arena should help, UB's a great floor and practice coach and showing signs of being a decent recruiter. Give this guy some talent, and not necessarily top 50 brand, and watch out. He lands a decent PF and Lisch, and I'll go light some candles. Taj old boy, it's like we always say, read the back of your Bill.com shirt, "it ain't easy being a ......." I just hope it happens in my lifetime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 We are looking at the situation from the outside not knowing all the facts. Are DC and JJ getting splinters in their rears because of their failures in attitude or practice habits or, rather, is it more the coach's mentality that keeps these players on the bench? Is it a combination of both? It could be that Coach Brad comes from a background of freshman sit and he only gives them court time in dire emergency. We certainly have not seen enough of DC or JJ for extended minutes in game situations to make judgments about their career worth to the team. They each have 3 years of eligibility left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StLouBlue Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 I know someone mentioned Mike Grimes on the thread below about Power Forwards so I looked up some stats to see how Grimes and JJ comparted. Grimes also redshirted like JJ his freshman year. His first year playing he only averaged 5.8 minutes in 27 games--2.0 points and 1.6 rebounds. This year is Grimes senior season, he has started every game, averaging 23.3 minutes, averaging 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds and shooting 60% from the field. Now I am not saying that JJ will develop like Grimes, but from what I remember Grimes was pretty skinny his first few years and basically had less playing time that first year than JJ has had this year. While I wished we would have gotten more out of JJ this year, I still think he will be a valuable player for us in the next couple years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 jjray, Amen to your comments...it's much too early to just plain give up on these kids. I really beleive this time next year we will all have a much better indication of what we can expect from JJ and DC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikan Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 Where do you come up with conclusion that this year's class was a huge "bust"? tom frericks has been much better than expected and if not injured would have been one of the best first year centers in Billiken history. Ian sat out the first half of the season and has shown that he could be a player. The jury is still out but he is not a bust. Our 7"1" center from Iowa is a redshirt who will take some time to bulk up but he has potential. The jury is out but you cannot say he is a bust until he plays at least 2 full seasons and he does not improve. With the bad luck on one class for Morris keeping him out, and us losing a truly impact player and demonstrated by his stats at WGB, the recruiting catch was a good one but we will not know for two years whether it was just mediocre. It is not fair to call it a "bust" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 I listened to the Coach Soderberg show on KMOX Sunday night, and he said that Darren Clarke has jumper's knee. He said that Darren has been coming along, and he has earned playing time (he played -- early -- against Memphis), but he has been experiencing pain in his knee that has kept him from playing. I can think of no reason other than injury that would keep Brad from putting Darren in when Ian Mooney and Wendell Bennett both go in against Cincinnati. Perhaps Frank Cusumano just didn't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 DC hasn't practiced in about two weeks. He dresses out, but sits with an ice-bag on his knee! I don't imagine that he will see anymore time this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 Take a chill pill on these freshmen playing - the reason Gonzaga is heads and shoulders above everyone in their conference is they try to redshirt every single freshman they sign. They correctly figured an extra year almost always benefits the player and the team. If JJ is projected to become our power forward of the future, he needs to work adding another thirty pounds on his frame. Strength is the most important aspect of catching the ball in traffic on the blocks, and showing a Bonner tenacity getting a defensive rebound - not playing time your freshman year. Word up is next year's recruiting class has opened a lot of doors on both sides of the river that were previously closed. Passing on the prima donna and getting three players who get after it really is paying dividends. We also have Erwin, Quitman, and other graduated players in the coaching ranks that help out tremendously with early exposure. Brad is busting his butt to keep recruiting. Last year was bigs, this year is guards, and hopefully next year will see guards/forwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 >>Take a chill pill on these freshmen playing - the reason Gonzaga is heads and shoulders above everyone in their conference is they try to redshirt every single freshman they sign. They correctly figured an extra year almost always benefits the player and the team. If JJ is projected to become our power forward of the future, he needs to work adding another thirty pounds on his frame. << Dude, in case you missed it, JJ has already had a red-shirt year and has already added 20 pounds of muscle from last year to this. At 6'8" 215 could he use another 20 of muscle? Sure (hope to see it) but there are an aweful lot of effective forwards in our league who go 220. Just look at our starting lineup--there is this guy named Chris Sloan who started every game at PF the last 2 years who is listed at 215. JJ has sat for some other reason than weight on his body although having more size would be of a help. Totally agree with your comments on the effect of 2004 class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 This recruiting style? Please explain what you mean by that. JJ and AD were picked up in his first recruiting season ... when recruiting was basically over and he lost his 2 signings plus one to grades and another to a transfer ... which was no fault of his. During this period he also picked up IO and RB. To have picked up those four players in the situation he was in ... at the end of the recruiting year ... IMO that is the best job of recruiting I have seen by a Billiken coach. If a couple of weeks after the end of the season ... BS resigns and all of our recruits decide not to come ... where would we be ... you can't hold the scholarships as we would barely be able to field a team ... who is left to sign? That is the position that UB was in. His next class ... TF who many of us think is the best Bills big man since AB, IV ( who I like very much ) BH who is a 7" redshirt, and DC ( who I am a bit puzzled about as he has not impressed me at all ) ... a decent if not spectacular class ... we won't know for sure until 1 or 2 more years when we could be saying it was spectacular depending on the development of IV and BH Now his 3rd class ... TL, DP, and LM with another still to give ... of course they haven't played a minute ... but I think the consesus is that this is the most exciting class we have had in a while I don't understand your comment ... maybe I am missing something Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 See my post above ... we need to keep things in perspective. I can't beleive some of you do not like IV. You are trying to compare him to more athletic big men ... mostly 4's. IV is a big bodied true 5. His coordination will take a minute to catch up ... He will not out quick or out jump many if any of those types of players. His scoring will come from learning some good offensive moves and overpowering people. He needs time to develop to build his upper body strength and to learn his offensive moves. His rebounding will come from learning proper positioning and footwork ... again something that takes time. Remember in Europe the game is much more open underneath ... there is more room to move and go after rebounds. Here there is always a body on you ... if you are not positioned properly ... you cannot be aggressive ... you will foul out quickly. I am willing to bet anyone on this board whatever you like ... that at the end of his career ... the consesus will be that IV was one of the top centers in Bills history and at least makes 3rd team all conference in whatever conference we are in ... any takers? BH ... how can anyone even comment on the development of a 7' thin redshirt freshmen. Is he slow ... yes, does he appear uncordinated at times ... yes, does he need to add muscle ... yes. SO WHAT ... name me a few 7 footers who as 18 year olds did not need all of the above. Don't even try to judge him until the end of his sophmore year or maybe even his Jr. year ... to do otherwise is a huge mistake. TF ... who isn't happy with him? DC ... still an enigma ... but still a freshman ... with what is said to be a nice shot ... and an obviously athletic body ... playing behind what has been called on this board ... the best backcourt in CUSA ... and even though we know that was an overestimate ... still they are a very good backcourt ... don't let the fact he hasn't played alot cloud your judgement. Anyone who is saying this class is a bust at this point in time ... is being either foolish ... or just doesn't understand the game. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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