SLU v. Rockhurst GDT

[West Pine Jim]

Only a practice game, it's early, but I agree with the non-contradictory comments already posted. To paraphrase Dennis Greene "We are what we thought we were". JJ, MM, DE are real men out there. Hope that CE and RL develop a role that combines good shooting and steady rebounding. Young Manning, to me, is the anti-young Conk : Brian was a master of the roll-around-the-rim-and- miss shot. Manning seems to have a very soft shot where the ball gently bounces on the rim then tickles the twine. I'm ready for the games to count ! I'm not too worried about offensive rebounding --in Rickma's system a higher priority was getting back on defense.

[willie]

Most athletic billiken guard ever would be david burns, however i agree jett is quite the athlete.

Burns was the fastest Billiken guard ever but I don't think he was more athletic than Jett.

[wgstl]

whos joey lepak ?

[Duff Man]

That Mike McCann kid looks like a player. Is he a walk on? He wasn't even on the printed rosters but he hit a nice shot in the 2nd half.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Justin Love gives Jett a good competition.

[SShoe]

I've been drinking, so I may have missed it, but I'm surprised nobody mentioned Manning doing two baby hooks back-to-back with each hand. The first with the right, second with the left. Impressive. He should get more clock this year.

MM, JJ, DE, RL, CR, and CE all look like they are in midseason form. I was also impressed with Carter. Other than the obvious quickness and talent, te looks like he is already very comfortable with the system, unlike most freshmen in their first game.

[doowop]

Burns was the fastest Billiken guard ever but I don't think he was more athletic than Jett.

I don't think Burns was any faster or quicker than Jimmy Irving.

[gister]

anyone got a box score since Rammer & Earl don't do exhibitions.

Rammer and Earl were there with headphones on. I assumed they were broadcasting, but I did not hear any pregame or post game analysis on 101.1. Were they testing the system?

[thetorch]

Rammer and Earl were there with headphones on. I assumed they were broadcasting, but I did not hear any pregame or post game analysis on 101.1. Were they testing the system?

I'm sure they were just doing a run through.

Barnett is not good. Too slow to play 1 or 2 with no handles. Not big enough to play 3 and doesn't shoot well enough to make up for his shortcomings on both ends. Have to think he is the 9th guy now and won't play once Kwamain comes back at all. By that time Drew needs to supplant him.

Crews seems to like Remuken, I think he's the only one. CR should be yanked anytime he thinks of taking a shot outside of 10 feet. He put up decent numbers 10 & 7 but he can't replicate that against real teams. If you post him up, one fake and the basket is yours. If he's in the rotation or God forbid starting for us I really have no idea what Crews is thinking. Manning right now is just as good and gels better with the other players. Manning had two nice postups with both hands, a long 18 footer, & a great feed to Ellis underneath the basket off a broken play.

Good game for McCall, very Mitchell like, just looking to score whenever he had the ball. Evans too was very aggressive. Jett all over the place defensively and asserted himself on the other end in the 2nd half. Carter was nice with the ball in his hands, look forward to him leading breaks for years to come.

Ellis and Loe didn't fit into the halfcourt offense much the first half. Didn't show many pick and pops early like we did last season. That will have to change.

[jjray]

Barnett is not good. Too slow to play 1 or 2 with no handles. Not big enough to play 3 and doesn't shoot well enough to make up for his shortcomings on both ends. Have to think he is the 9th guy now and won't play once Kwamain comes back at all. By that time Drew needs to supplant him.

+1 He's a liability on the defensive end trying to guard a quality 1, 2 or 3 and he doesn't bring enough to the table on the offensive end to make up for his deficiencies on the defensive end. We were led to believe he was a shooter. Haven't seen it. Play Drew @3.

[Bellevegas Bill]

Just because I love to beat a dead horse a little bit more... Does anyone think RM watched/will watch the tape from the games? I know RM health is of course the main priority, but judging from what I have heard about RM and Crews relationship it doesn't seem outlandish to think they talk. Of course no matter what, missing RM will probably catch up with the team eventually, but to be honest he was more of an out of the game coach and really left the game to the other guys so a little advice from coach to crews would probably be good. Maybe what he would say is get more time to Drew and GG and not so much to Barnett...

[slu72]

Just because I love to beat a dead horse a little bit more... Does anyone think RM watched/will watch the tape from the games? I know RM health is of course the main priority, but judging from what I have heard about RM and Crews relationship it doesn't seem outlandish to think they talk. Of course no matter what, missing RM will probably catch up with the team eventually, but to be honest he was more of an out of the game coach and really left the game to the other guys so a little advice from coach to crews would probably be good. Maybe what he would say is get more time to Drew and GG and not so much to Barnett...

I sort of wondered about RM being completely removed from the team. While we all think he's done, permanently, these are his kids and he was excited about this year. Of course, this all depends upon what his Doctors told him, ie "no contact w/ bb, it's too stressful." I just don't see what JB brings to this team, at all. If he was only a sniper that would be one thing, some stone cold 3s off the bench, but that's not the case. As for Crews showing CR some love, I wasn't completely surprised CR started. We needed someone to step in for BC. It wasn't going to be RL or CE. DE possibly, but he's a harder matchup at the 3. Now there's no way CR's gonna be the scorer BC was last year, but we can make up for that. His priorities will be to play solid D, rebound, and look for the open guy on the perimeter when the ball does go inside. I did expect more from RL yesterday. Especially after his stint w/ the NZ national team. Will someone please tell him he's 6'11 and not a SF. Although, it was good to see him hit that 3 on the outlet pass.

[jp18]

Crews seems to like Remuken, I think he's the only one. CR should be yanked anytime he thinks of taking a shot outside of 10 feet. He put up decent numbers 10 & 7 but he can't replicate that against real teams. If you post him up, one fake and the basket is yours. If he's in the rotation or God forbid starting for us I really have no idea what Crews is thinking. Manning right now is just as good and gels better with the other players. Manning had two nice postups with both hands, a long 18 footer, & a great feed to Ellis underneath the basket off a broken play.

I disagree with this. My biggest issue is rebounding. I don't think Manning rebounds well at all. He can't jump and while he blocks out alright from what I have seen, he is not quick to the ball off the rim. I'm really worried about our rebounding when he is in the game. At this point, I think CR is the much better play. I don't expect him to put up the numbers like he did last night but I trust him more than Manning right now.

[Bill_Ken R]

Crews has stated that no one on the team has had any contact with Rick at the family's request.

[Bellevegas Bill]

Crews has stated that no one on the team has had any contact with Rick at the family's request.

Does that include Crews himself?

[slufanskip]

I know he played in high school but you can't help but think he might be a better football player.

Seems like he'd make a pretty nice strong safety. You know he'd be one of those guys that just wants to knock the f..k out of someone. I also like that he doesn't do a lot of overt celebrating. He'd just pummel you, wave to your bench for the stretcher and walk away

[Bill_Ken R]

Does that include Crews himself?

My understanding is that Crews has not and does not communicate with Rick.

[Billikan]

We should all stop speculating about RM and his contacts with the coaching staff, etc. His representatives haveinsisted on no contact whatsoever and no contact has occurred.

[Archy McNally]

Man, I guess I saw a different game but I thought JM and CR showed some great things. It is a D-2 opponent, Evans and Jett just can overpower their D-2 opponents in the 2nd half, but there were some things there I like even if I would have just been seeing it in drills.

When your 6-11 guy throws in a right-handed hook followed by a left-handed hook from mid-range and then knocks down an 18 footer along while altering some shots on the defensive end, you have a right to be excited.

When you see CR's footwork and hands improve, when that 12-foot hook goes up quickly and in, again while altering shots and fighting for rebounds against Evans, I think you can be excited.

I thought we started out a little lackadaisical. The offense did not look crisp, I thought we missed some runners and stuff like that early on. Went big and settled for a 3. I thought the D was a little shaky in the 1st 5 minutes. The guards clearly were playing D at a much higher level in the second half, but that just means they need to come out more focused at the beginning of the game. Last year, that Canadian trip gave us a head start, and I am a little worried we won't be quite as crisp early on, even though we have a ton of experiense.

But I thought the bigs played very well and showed a lot of things. I don't think 1 player replaces Conk but there is some athleticism there that is putting it together in those 2 big men and they give us a different dimmension. And I forgot to mention, Loe looked very good on the defensive end. I even like the Conklin like shoulder he gave the guy down the court. Much more physical and smarter on the defensive end of the court. Never really got in too much of a rhythm on the offensive end but if you take away the turnover when he decides to dribble 25 feet from the basket, he looked decent on that end also.

And just seeing the physicality of this team, I cannot believe its the Bills. Evans is just built like an ox now. There is some Michigan State-ness to them. So even when Mike hits every shot he takes, which looked great by the way and need it with KM out, the bigs stole the show to me.

On the other guys, I don't want to be too negative, but they don't look quite ready. Jake, who did knock down a 3, is a drop-off defensively. I would like Drew to redshirt, he looks extremely athletic, but is raw. Actually, GG looked decent, but I would redshirt him also just to work on his perimeter game, since he is not blessed with a 6-10 frame. I am saying "redshirt" a lot, but looking at CR, a redshirt year would have just really helped him.

Oh, KC looked pretty good, save the bad lob pass on the break. I thought the 3 was a tough and bad shot and he nailed it. He has a lot of talent. His D, although not as good as the starters, is better than I expected and I expect it to improve. I think he will be a good backup guard with KM out.

[cheeseman]

I was surprised to see CR starting but I figured he was being given a chance - always trying to see if the guy who looks like a player is a player - he lived up to my expectations which are not very high for him. That dunk in the second half was very slow and labored. He just has not developed.

[willie]

I don't think Burns was any faster or quicker than Jimmy Irving.

Jimmie is a friend of mine, and was very quick ,but I'll say it again no one was faster then David Burns.

[slu72]

I never saw Burns play. Days before the internet and the only news on billiken bb for me was the college scores in the paper. But Jimmy Irving has to be one of the best guards ever to wear Billiken Blue. He could create, he could hit the mid range jumper, he could pass, could shift gears and had great handles. I can S't recall if he got drafted or not, anyone remember? Tarheel? WPJim? Sshoe (if you've sobered up).

[waldo027]

Anyone else notice this team without KM is basically the same as the 12-19 team 2 years ago? So maybe players really do improve as they get older.

[West Pine Jim]

I never saw Burns play. Days before the internet and the only news on billiken bb for me was the college scores in the paper. But Jimmy Irving has to be one of the best guards ever to wear Billiken Blue. He could create, he could hit the mid range jumper, he could pass, could shift gears and had great handles. I can S't recall if he got drafted or not, anyone remember? Tarheel? WPJim? Sshoe (if you've sobered up).

According to a past Billiken press guide (thanks, bonwich) Jimmy Irving was drafted in '71 by Chicago (4th round) in NBA and by Indiana (17th round) in the ABA. David Burns was drafted by New Jersey in the 3rd round of the '82 (?) draft. I have a soft spot in my heart for classmate J. Irving, but Burns was quicker than quick, fast and had an explosive first step. One of the original dreadlock wearers, as I recall, and that seemed to make him look even quicker. We're splitting hairs a bit here, but I agree with willie and give a slight nod to Burns in terms of his overall athleticism. Jett, with his muscles and power, is a different brand of athlete.

[Tonka]

I'm one of those guys that thinks that very few players from 30+ years or more ago are as athletic as the kids today. I'm not saying it never happened, but kids in general are bigger, stronger, and more athletic today. The overall play is faster today, which means if you had a lightening quick player 30 years ago they probably seemed even faster given the average speed of the players back then. Again, not saying players were slow, but the speed of the game is just quicker now.

I said it before, I think we are less hurt by KM being out for 2 months than RM being out for the year (and permanently). MM will replace KM. With KM being as good as he is and JJ's style of play, MM gets overlooked. MM stepped up against Duke two years ago. MM is a star and I think takes a secondary role when KM is playing, which is fine and might be how it should be, But, with KM out, MM will be a stud.

This team is far and away the most athletic Billiken team in the history of Billiken basketball from top to bottom, no questions asked. It is still surreal to me that this is a Billiken team.

When Crews was talking with Bernie, he commented on CR. I don't remember the exact wording, but I think JC likes CR. He said CR suffered a bit last year with the way Conklin stepped up, in terms of not seeing as much time as maybe they originally thought. I think CR is one of those kids that just needs minutes. Will he ever be a star - nope. But, I think he can be a serviceable big man. JM has more upside, but I think CR can have a role.

I think JB is one of those kids that has to be one of those go to players in order to be effective. Bottom line, the talent level on this team is just too great for JB to be anything more of a limited role player and I think that has worked against JB. Some players are just like that.

I talked to somebody that knew KC's AAU coaches and they said he is the real deal and could be scary good in college. Not to get away from this year's excitement as I expect big things from this team once again and I believe Crews will be fine. But, the future is ridiculously bright.

Possible Sweet 16 this year and Elite 8 next year - mark it down.