Duke: What Did You Expect?

[JohnnyJumpUp]

I'm beginning to think Ellis and Salecich are both busts. What is Ellis besides a big body out there? We can't afford to have him and Loe on the court at the same time.

If Salecich is this bad shooting, our offensively challenged team can't afford to have him out there. He can defend, but he's not a shutdown defender. He has to score some points to justify his playing time.

You are worse than my wife. Salecich is disappointing, but no way Ellis is or will be a bust.

[The Dude]

Godzilla? I need to do that one year. A few Billiken posters are doing the Castlewood Cup in Feb.

I hate basketball.

Castlewood Cup is a walk in the park (pun intended) compared to the Pere Marquette Run. Real good muck this morning - it appeared several people took headers. A fun run.

[JettFlight5]

I don't think anyone is upset they lost to Duke. It is the growing realization this team is starting all over again. Simply put, you can just set aside the sophs and juniors. Those classes will contribute fewer and fewer points and minutes this year and we can only hope it is the case next year. Cassity will get his minutes but he and the sophs now represent the past. They've been "Lisched" and "Liddelled."

Your first 2 sentences say it all. Well stated sir.

[slu72]

I don't think it's the beatdown that has people upset, it's the fact that Willie and Kwamain weren't there. Losing by 37 just amplifies their absence even more.

And when the facts came out about that evening, it's been upsetting people more. These two kids got sandbagged. In a way I'm surprised they do want to come back at all.

[DirtyRican]

Castlewood Cup is a walk in the park (pun intended) compared to the Pere Marquette Run. Real good muck this morning - it appeared several people took headers. A fun run.

I heard Pere Marquette was really tough and that is why I want a piece. Castlewood Cup will be no walk in the park. Any 15K trail race in Feb is hard.

[AlumniFan]

Castlewood Cup is a walk in the park (pun intended) compared to the Pere Marquette Run. Real good muck this morning - it appeared several people took headers. A fun run.

Yeah, it was TOUGH this morning. That steep at mile one was ridiculous with the mud. Castlewood Cup and The Skippo are longer but easier. Double Chubb is the best, but if you want a fun one to travel to try the Psycho Wyco Run Toto Run in Kansas just outside KC - trust me, Kansas is NOT flat.

[Bizziken]

At least we're not Colgate....Syracuse 58, Colgate 16...16 Minutes to go in the game...

[moytoy12]

I think KM would have made a huge difference in this game. We still don't win, but with him, it is competitive and in doubt until the last 10 min.

We needed someone that could create scores out of nothing and thereby open up the offense for other scorers. KM would have done just that.

[Box and Won]

I think KM would have made a huge difference in this game. We still don't win, but with him, it is competitive and in doubt until the last 10 min.

We needed someone that could create scores out of nothing and thereby open up the offense for other scorers. KM would have done just that.

And we probably would have cut down on the turnovers.

[MusicCityBilliken]

At least we're not Colgate....Syracuse 58, Colgate 16...16 Minutes to go in the game...

How did Brandenburg do? I noticed the last game they played he was not getting much PT. Fortunately he turned us down.

[Franchise_08]

Glad I did not watch or dvr the game. It does help our SOS. The sad thing is that when Duke pulls its starters, the next 5 are McDonald all-americans. At least they did not have over achieving white guard slapping the floor.

[Floridafan]

No team starting 3 freshman has any chance of staying with Duke. If we had hit a couple of those early 3s it would have kept us in contact for a while. On the bright side Jett and McCall found out that they can play agaist the best team in the country. Evans and Loe had some moments and they all got to see how a top division players need to play and that those Duke boys obviously spend a lot of time in the weight room. The disipline of the Duke team and the way they responded to coach K should also be an eye opener to our guys.

The score is about what I expected though I had hoped for a few more 3s. Overall our freshmen performed better than I had expected. I think it is a game to build on. Though we obviously have a long way to go, especially if we don't get KM and WR back.

[billikendave]

Duke beat Miami Ohio and Bradley by similar margins earlier this year. After those games I expected a similar result because right now (without km and wr) those are similar level teams.

Bradley is 4-5. 303 in NCAA in points per game. 241 is rebounds per game. 274th in assists per game and 314th in field goal percentage.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/71/bradley-braves

Miami OH is 5-5. 315 in NCAA in points per game. 304 is rebounds per game. 337th in assists per game and 258th in field goal percentage.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/193/miami-oh-redhawks

If that is our level (and I don't necessarily disagree with your premise), this team is awful.

Any attempt to say that today was anything but a complete disaster is looking at this through billiken blue glasses.

[RB2.0]

Bradley is 4-5. 303 in NCAA in points per game. 241 is rebounds per game. 274th in assists per game and 314th in field goal percentage.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/71/bradley-braves

Miami OH is 5-5. 315 in NCAA in points per game. 304 is rebounds per game. 337th in assists per game and 258th in field goal percentage.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/193/miami-oh-redhawks

If that is our level (and I don't necessarily disagree with your premise), this team is awful.

Any attempt to say that today was anything but a complete disaster is looking at this through billiken blue glasses.

When you register for this board, it comes with a complementary pair of billiken blue glasses.

Also, Bradley was missing their 3 best players when they played Duke. We are similar teams without KM and WR.

[Triangle andToo]

There are a lot of different types of fans that have different reasons for attending and spending good bucks on sporting events. Here are Triangle's priorities.

1. Fan of the sport in general. Whether it be basketball, baseball, football, hockey or whatever. If you are a fan of the sport, you will be there in accordance too your economic situation.

2. Fan of a particular team - same goes.

3. Fan of a particular player or for a night out - same goes.

If you are a #1, you will be there because it quenches your thirst for the sport, regardless.

If you are a #2, you will probably only be there in the good times or the promise of good times.

If you a #3, well, when that player leaves and you find some other form of entertainment, so be it.

Here is a point. Triangle has talked too many Cardinal season ticket holders about the Albert Pujhols situation. Many have said that they will give up their season tickets if Albert is not signed. Many arguments - see above.

so it goes

[billikendave]

When you register for this board, it comes with a complementary pair of billiken blue glasses.

Also, Bradley was missing their 3 best players when they played Duke. We are similar teams without KM and WR.

Sagarin has Bradley at 246. Realtimerpi has Bradley at 248. Again, if Bradley is similar....yikes.

I remember when SLU wanted to be with Cincinatti during Huggy Bear's hey day. I remember competeing with Marquette as to who was really better. Louisville with Pitino, etc.

Not trying to be overly negative (though this year it is hard to be otherwise)....

[kmbilliken]

You are worse than my wife. Salecich is disappointing, but no way Ellis is or will be a bust.

Your wife isn't that bad.

[mcglotherirvin]

I think slus rpi is similar although this early in the season rpis mean very little.

Sagarin has Bradley at 246. Realtimerpi has Bradley at 248. Again, if Bradley is similar....yikes.

I remember when SLU wanted to be with Cincinatti during Huggy Bear's hey day. I remember competeing with Marquette as to who was really better. Louisville with Pitino, etc.

Not trying to be overly negative (though this year it is hard to be otherwise)....

[kevinfootes]

.... I am starting to side with the guy wanting to toss his eight tickets. How many years do we have to endure this? Why are we even bothering? Are we even bothering? If I had to watch one more CBS-Duke promo .... all the breaks were Duke highlight reels with the exception of the pre-game shake of hands with K and Majerus. Even get to see little Dukies in the making. Wonderful.

Who was that team? What happened to Cassity? Bum ankle? Ellis? Is the sickness from the summer that debilitating? Maybe it is. Has Salescich ever stepped onto a basketball court before? Remekun must still be a large work in progress. Conklin? Hey --- he looked better built.

Good notes: Keep McCall, Jett and Evans. Evans needs more mintues. Loe? Don't know --- too early to call.

Seriously ---- we looked respectable in some terms but those guys ate us up like we were standing still. Who is going to beat that team? I can't see it happening. And Irving was/is out and they still don't lose a beat. Frankly, it was another embarrassment. Nothing else to say other than maybe even hoping for this program is futile. Our lineup looked no different than guys named Entwhistle, Seyfert, Latimore, Barantine, Caswell, Varner, Newborne and all the other well-liked gentlemen and scholars that came before today.

Its hard to say ths but ..... so it goes.

I expected an 80-50 Duke win (that's what I posted a few days ago). That's pretty much what I saw today.

[2010andBeyond]

I agree that I'm not sure why some are getting bent out of shape about this. Today was not as bad as losing to Austin Peay at home, imo.

We are not a good team without km and wr, period. This is no surprise to me, and why I am so ticket about THE SITUATION.

Today happened exactly as I thought it would. We are a bad team playing at the best team in the country's arena. Result was what I would expect. The worst part of the whole thing is that many ppl around the country were probably wathching and thought we were just another gimme buy game, when the sad truth is we could have been much more competitive.

[Tonka]

I expected exactly what happened - no surprise at all to me. I just had other things to do (Pere Marquette Trail Run that I have been doing for years). Given the choice of watching what we all knew would be a shellacking or doing something I really love wasn't really a tough choice.

Still a big fan, but we all make choices.

Fair enough. I just thought you were stating that you didn't specifically watch knowing we were playing Duke and were going to get smashed.

[billikendave]

I agree that I'm not sure why some are getting bent out of shape about this. Today was not as bad as losing to Austin Peay at home, imo.

We are not a good team without km and wr, period. This is no surprise to me, and why I am so ticket about THE SITUATION.

Today happened exactly as I thought it would. We are a bad team playing at the best team in the country's arena. Result was what I would expect. The worst part of the whole thing is that many ppl around the country were probably wathching and thought we were just another gimme buy game, when the sad truth is we could have been much more competitive.

You can embarrass yourself infront of your friends. Thats bad. Embarrassing yourself on national TV -- CBS and not ESPN is another. Its worse becaues of the scale and publicity surrounding it. The game wasn't competitive from the beginning and over by the 10 minute mark of the first half.

I would wager the last time SLU was on CBS was in the 2000 NCAA tourney. CBS is a different level than even ESPN. Think that is going to happen again? I'm sure CBS would even tell Duke that it needs to play a more competitive team if its going to broadcast that. You don't get many chances like this and it was embarrassing. CBS wanted a good lead in to the Army/Navy game. TV sets were turned off or to a different channel early.

Lastly, I blame this on SLU. In part because of the situation. But more, why do you schedule this game when you know what's going on behind the scenes this summer. I get that the AD may not have known but then the Administration completely dropped the ball by not intervening.

Oh yeah, everyone thinks SLU would be considered in a conference reshuffling. Big East schools' alumni and boosters watching that game would say why would we ever consider SLU?

[Taj79]

I appreciate all the replies to the thread ....

Seriously .. I expected to get blown out. I am not naive enoguh to think this team, even with a healthy Cassity and a 2009 version of Ellis could have competed missing Reed and Mitchell. Heck, even with Mitchell and Reed, I knew the best I could hope for was a "game" that we would eventually lose but maybe we could be competitive in. There were good points as I mentioned in kicking this thread off but I am very weary of hearing all these "nice try" and "good effort" comments that we always get in games like this. It is embarrassing to me to have my 80-year-old father make pointed but correct comments on the game we played on antional TV. While he also then proceeded to question how Duke "always gets the calls" or how "the refs give Duke whatever they want." While I agree with those sentiments, it is extremely hard to take those kind go things away as par tof our few compliments. You know its bad when CBS goes to commercial break and the cut-shots are all Duke, with the exception of Majerus and Coach K shaking hands at the start of the game. Hell of a highlight!

I am growing weary of "the youngest team in the nation" crap as well. Majerus himself said it would take four or five years and cautioned against us making too much out of last year's unexpected season. I agreed, but this was supposed to be the breaktrhough year, according to the man himself. Now, I know he had no idea the Reed/Mitchell fiasco would derail us as it has, but I guess I need to understand that life as a mid-major is such that you can't recover from the loss of one let alone two starting players unexpectanntly, like a Memphis or a Kentucky or a North Carolina can. I just learned the hard way that umpteen "diamonds-in-the-rough" can't hold water against one Mickey D All-American, let alone ten! Its just frustrating that this program is the same old song and dance ..... oh, we're getting there, we really are.

Like the state motto, I'm, getting to the "show me" point of all this. I don't mind losing because its all we really know save four exceptions (my standard is to make the Dance) so that is no tthe problem here. Its just frustrating that th enever-ending pattern can't seem to be overcome.

[bomble]

The best part of the game was in the beginning, if you ask me!

[SpencerFilibuster]

I realize that Cassity's limited play affects these numbers:

The freshmen:

7-8 from the FT line.

30 points.

4 steals.

20 rebounds.

18 turnovers.

12-31 from the field.

107/200 minutes played (excluding Daly).

The upper-classmen:

1-2 from the FT line.

17 points.

2 steals.

7 rebounds.

4 turnovers.

7-18 from the field.

92/200 minutes played.

The 18 turnovers for the younger guys made me sick while watching on Saturday, but it doesn't scare me (for the future) as much as the older guys' overall numbers.

The older guys just aren't hungry enough. 1-2 from the FT line? That's an unacceptable amount for experienced players.