To those complaining about Willie

[SLUDrew]

Are you serious? Were you there? Did you watch that game? Without Willie we lose by about 15 points. He was the ONLY answer we had for their frontcourt play. Was his FT shooting frustrating? Of course it was and he would be the first to agree with you. However, that kid left it all on the floor. He had 18 and 13 while batting waves of Xavier big men including a very talented senior in Love.

That kid deserves our respect after a game like that, not criticism.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Are you serious? Were you there? Did you watch that game? Without Willie we lose by about 15 points. He was the ONLY answer we had for their frontcourt play. Was his FT shooting frustrating? Of course it was and he would be the first to agree with you. However, that kid left it all on the floor. He had 18 and 13 while batting waves of Xavier big men including a very talented senior in Love.

That kid deserves our respect after a game like that, not criticism.

Who says respect and criticism are mutually exclusive?

Willie Reed is one of my favorite players, but he definitely needs to improve his free-throw shooting. But by no means can anyone load the burden of the loss on his shoulders or anyone's. A tip of the cap to Xavier!

[drkelsey55]

Are you serious? Were you there? Did you watch that game? Without Willie we lose by about 15 points. He was the ONLY answer we had for their frontcourt play. Was his FT shooting frustrating? Of course it was and he would be the first to agree with you. However, that kid left it all on the floor. He had 18 and 13 while batting waves of Xavier big men including a very talented senior in Love.

That kid deserves our respect after a game like that, not criticism.

I was at the game. Willie was terrific everywhere except from the line 2 for 9. If just makes his normal 50% 4 for nine we go to overtime.

I am sorry but willie has to play all aspects of the game. Practice free throws please.

This does not make him a bad player it just points out the part of his game that he must improve.

2 for 9 is unacceptable from any of the players including Wilie.

The whole team continues to have too many dry spells. They have to learn how to maitain and build on a lead.

They will get there.

[Zink]

repost from oh willie! ... seems more fitting here

If you showed me only our side of the box score, I would have thought we won the game w/o too much difficulty. However, Crawford is a stud and they had some circus shots that NEVER go in. Surprisingly, our D is what let us down today, letting them shoot a high percentage from the field and giving up too many offensive boards.

Willie's FT shooting was obviously disappointing, but we had so many opportunities to take control of the game, you can't single the kid out. He played great other than those adventures at the FT line. Overall, a great effort by the billikids... Most impressive stat of the night: SLU 17 assists to 6 turnovers

[slufan13]

Are you serious? Were you there? Did you watch that game? Without Willie we lose by about 15 points. He was the ONLY answer we had for their frontcourt play. Was his FT shooting frustrating? Of course it was and he would be the first to agree with you. However, that kid left it all on the floor. He had 18 and 13 while batting waves of Xavier big men including a very talented senior in Love.

That kid deserves our respect after a game like that, not criticism.

For sure he deserves a lot of credit, but free throws have to be made.....but no doubt willie kept us in the game.....it just didn't happen in the 2nd half....the team played well and i know they can play better....definitely a threat in the A-10 tourney, and a first round bye isn't out of the picture yet either.....would be great to get a minimum of a home NIT game.....of course willie's free throws hurt big time, and some questionable calls hurt too, but slu showed they can play with the best tonight. Xavier is probably the most talented team in the conference, and they sure got a scare tonight against a young, but very good team....I would love nothing more though than to beat xavier in the A-10 tourney....

[p diddy]

If we are going to complain about Willie's free throw shooting, don't you think we should take Cody to task for grabbing only two rebounds tonight. I liked his 19 points, but he was manhandled under their by xaviers bigs. Willie was the only one who could get a rebound out there tonight. I wished he made the free throws, but willie performed like a warrior tonight.

bad boyz for life

[thetorch]

I was more mad at Willie for letting Crawford walk by him for 3 baskets than his ft shooting which he will never be good at. Willie played on the defensive end like he had 4 fouls for most of the game. I like his weakside shotblocking and he bodied up against Love and Frease but he sometimes forgets to jump on the guards coming into the lane. Knocking Crawford to the floor a couple times would have done more good than making a couple extra free throws.

[GOSLU68]

I was more mad at Willie for letting Crawford walk by him for 3 baskets than his ft shooting which he will never be good at. Willie played on the defensive end like he had 4 fouls for most of the game. I like his weakside shotblocking and he bodied up against Love and Frease but he sometimes forgets to jump on the guards coming into the lane. Knocking Crawford to the floor a couple times would have done more good than making a couple extra free throws.

Willie needs coaching on guarding the incoming opponent bent on making a layup; of course Crawford is the real deal and made willie look very bad, defensively.

However, I think this may have been Willie's best game; he just keeps getting better and stronger. freethrows, aside I hope to enjoy him more when

we get a true center that will play with him. Cody Ellis is a fine player but not a gazelle going to the basket for a layup. It is very hard to remember

he is a first semester freshman when he is making a moving three pointer

[RB2.0]

Willie had an EXCELLENT game tonight. Actually one of his better I've seen him play. He was motivated, tenacious, and active all over the floor.

However, there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it, his FT shooting cost us the game. If he shoots 50% from the line we either tie or win the game. 50%!!!!! That's all, just 50%. His defense was questionable too but I won't give him a hard time on that. They have solid big men

Like an earlier poster said, the two aren't mutually exclusive. Willie had a phenomenal game in all areas except one...FT shooting. And its too bad that it clearly made the difference in the game.

[doowop]

We had three players in high double figure scoring. Instead of blaming Willie, why not question the lack of offense from the other players? (Those who are blaming him) We need more than three players effectively scoring against top level teams. Maybe McCall and Evans will remedy that next year.

[Billikan]

We had three players in high double figure scoring. Instead of blaming Willie, why not question the lack of offense from the other players? (Those who are blaming him) We need more than three players effectively scoring against top level teams. Maybe McCall and Evans will remedy that next year.

Very few teams have three players score as many points as our big 3 tonight. The offense was fine. A couple more free throws and a defensive stop or two instead of wild shots that went in for X and we would all be crowing about our great team!

[kcbilliken]

SORRY SORRY SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a 19 yr 0ld missed free throws. yes he missed 7 out of 9 free throws. you know what i still have a HUGE FU^$($# SMILE on my face. Guess what what X has when we play em next year? ahahahahhaha nothing. what do we have?????????????????? the whole damn team!!!!Woops i apologize fans. lets be happy for what we got. LETS TAKE THE NEXT TWO GAMES AND PACK THE CHAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NIT IS OK GUYS MUCH BETTER THAN THE OTHER TOURNEY (EA SPORTS VIDEO GAME)

[stmdragons]

I guess everyone convienently forgot Kwamain missing the fast break layup in the second half.

[slu72]

Surprised WR is drawing so much criticism for a double double against a team with some very talented and powerful inside guys. We started 3 guards and played that way through most of the game. Rarely did WR have a lot of help on the inside. Not knocking CE but he's got some learning to do when it comes to dealing with +6-8" very strong and quick players. He'll get it though. Back to WR and FT's. We're like 310 in FT % and we all knew there'd come a game, and we've had a few already, where they'd be our undoing. Hopefully, this gets fixed as it is our one glaring weakness as a team and not just WR's. One other note, CS had some good looks last night, but that no arch shot of his needs fixing over the summer as well.

[kshoe]

I guess everyone convienently forgot Kwamain missing the fast break layup in the second half.

He was fouled on that play.

[BIG BILL FAN]

I was more mad at Willie for letting Crawford walk by him for 3 baskets than his ft shooting which he will never be good at. Willie played on the defensive end like he had 4 fouls for most of the game. I like his weakside shotblocking and he bodied up against Love and Frease but he sometimes forgets to jump on the guards coming into the lane. Knocking Crawford to the floor a couple times would have done more good than making a couple extra free throws.

knocking him on the floor a couple of times would have put willie on the bench with foul trouble. To play that agressively, we need more depth.

[StlBills]

He was fouled on that play.

There's no doubt about that.

[bleedbluegary2]

Let's not forget the terrific SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW motion offense. Watching this team offensively is like watching Hoosiers pass it 5 times and shoot.

[slufan13]

Maybe it's just me, but I felt like we had a lot of great individual efforts tonight, but not the usual great team play(at least in the 2nd half). Now obviously I know we had a lot of assists, and had some really good set-ups, but this just wasn't the Billiken game that I'm used to seeing. I thought it was a little to fast-paced(even in the 1st half) for the Billikens. The help defense wasn't there at times. I thought Willie, Kwamain, and Cody played outstanding. I thought Kyle played about as well as he could. He was exhausted from defense, and didn't have as well as an offensive game as he could. Kwamain was solid as can be tonight, and his shot at the end just didn't fall. Cody was great offensively and kept us in it with clutch free throws. He still struggles a bit defensively, but he'll figure it out by next year for sure. Willie was very good, but like we've said, his free throws did pretty much cost the game. He was actually a force again though last night. He could have helped out the guards by stepping in the lane on free throws, but again, this team is learning. It was a great effort from the whole team though, no doubt. It just simply didn't happen. The refs didn't help much with some missed travels, but we seemed to be able to recover from a couple of those calls. Definitely need to keep battling hard. We have a home game locked up for the A-10, but as much as I love to see the team play, I'll take the first round bye. Duquense is a dangerous team, and if we don't have our heads up we will get beat. Hopefully we can get the crowd rockin' for Temple next week. I won't expect the same kind of crowd, but I'd hope it will be the 3rd best of the year at least behind Dayton and Xavier. Let's minimum get that 5 seed at have an easier first round game at home. No reason why the team can't make a run in the A-10 Tourney. If anything the poor defense at times, and bad free throw shooting shows that they played just as good, if not better, than Xavier. This team seems full of confidence, and I would love a home NIT game at least. All I can say is good luck the rest of the way and bring home an A-10 Title. Billiken Basketball is going to be HUGE in years to come.

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

He was fouled on that play.

Backhand almost lost his voice yelling at the refs on that play....ridiculous

[billiken_roy]

Let's not forget the terrific SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW motion offense. Watching this team offensively is like watching Hoosiers pass it 5 times and shoot.

what would you suggest? because if we start running down the floor and throwing up shots instantly every possession, with this team vs the likes of xavier, that equals a 20 point loss instead of a 2 point loss. and i guarantee you the only fans that would have enjoyed that more are you and the 12 xavier fans there last night.

rickma has the formula down. we were that close.

[ThreeTimeBilliken]

Everyone has a right to complain about Willie.

Sure, he had a great game - offensively.

But, his defense was lacking, but he's young and it will come.

But 2-9 (22%) from the line is unacceptable for a Div 1 player.

If it was a one time thing, that would be ok, but it's not - he's .485 for the year.

They are called FREEthrows for a reason.

Practice Practice Practice.

That being said, I don't blame Willie for this lose.

If we take off the 8-10 points Xavier scored immediately after walks not being called by biased A-10 officials, we win.

Majerus needs to realize that there is a time in some games where taking a technical foul is the right thing for a coach to do to make a point not only to the refs, but to his players that he recognizes they are being cheated and he supports them.

Majerus should have taken a "T" last night after the run of non-called walks and non-called foul on the Kwamain lay-up.

[billiken_roy]

Everyone has a right to complain about Willie.

Sure, he had a great game - offensively.

But, his defense was lacking, but he's young and it will come.

But 2-9 (22%) from the line is unacceptable for a Div 1 player.

If it was a one time thing, that would be ok, but it's not - he's .485 for the year.

They are called FREEthrows for a reason.

Practice Practice Practice.

That being said, I don't blame Willie for this lose.

If we take off the 8-10 points Xavier scored immediately after walks not being called by biased A-10 officials, we win.

Majerus needs to realize that there is a time in some games where taking a technical foul is the right thing for a coach to do to make a point not only to the refs, but to his players that he recognizes they are being cheated and he supports them.

Majerus should have taken a "T" last night after the run of non-called walks and non-called foul on the Kwamain lay-up.

if only he had made 48.5% last night.

[MusicCityBilliken]

Let's not forget the terrific SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW motion offense. Watching this team offensively is like watching Hoosiers pass it 5 times and shoot.

I guess I am old fashion.

I really got into SLU's perimeter offense. Sharp crisp passing and multiple screens, to me that is basketball at its finest

If you find that boring, go watch the NBA.

[ACE]

what would you suggest? because if we start running down the floor and throwing up shots instantly every possession, with this team vs the likes of xavier, that equals a 20 point loss instead of a 2 point loss. and i guarantee you the only fans that would have enjoyed that more are you and the 12 xavier fans there last night.

rickma has the formula down. we were that close.

I agree. Even with the bad free throw shooting, a couple of costly scoring droughts, X hurting us with offensive rebounds and X throwing in a few crazy shots, we STILL had a wide open look by Kwamain from 3 in the final seconds to take the lead. We are very close. I think this game highlighted that our biggest need for improvement next year (aside from free throw shooting) is rebounding. Corey and Jon are not quite ready to play effectively against that level of competition. Hit the weight room in the offseason and hopefully add one more good big, then we will have a well-rounded team.