Crews

[RiseAndGrind]

At that point in time when the Majerus announcement shocked us, who in your opinion besides Crews would you suggest would take over at SLU?

Actually, I think I supported Crews getting the job at that point in time, which was based in part on knowing that SLU wasn't going to do anything drastic. Personally, as my signature alludes to, I would have liked to bring Coach Harriman back as the Head Coach on a permanent basis.

However, that is irrelevant. I was simply pointing out that "he never asked for this" is not an excuse for the effort tonight. That's all.

[Franchise_08]

I see this as a tail of 2 seasons. Before Mitchell and after. On a brighter note, most of the A10 sucked a$$ this week.

[MB73]

Actually, I think I supported Crews getting the job at that point in time, which was based in part on knowing that SLU wasn't going to do anything drastic. Personally, as my signature alludes to, I would have liked to bring Coach Harriman back as the Head Coach on a permanent basis.

However, that is irrelevant. I was simply pointing out that "he never asked for this" is not an excuse for the effort tonight. That's all.

You did not answer the question. Did we have any other viable options? Harriman was "gone". It was too late to get anyone, right?

So if Molina breaks his leg August 1st, your logic is that you are pissed at Cruz for not hitting and catching and fielding and throwing as well as Yadier.

[JohnnyJumpUp]

I see this as a tail of 2 seasons. Before Mitchell and after. On a brighter note, most of the A10 sucked a$$ this week.

It hurts not having Mitchell in the lineup, especially when Jett or McCall gets in foul trouble. But, in my opinion, it's not about the loss, as much as it is about the way we achieved this loss. Crews needs to have the Bills minds right for KC.

[RiseAndGrind]

You did not answer the question. Did we have any other viable options? Harriman was "gone". It was too late to get anyone, right?

So if Molina breaks his leg August 1st, your logic is that you are pissed at Cruz for not hitting and catching and fielding and throwing as well as Yadier.

Yes, I did answer the question. I said I supported Crews getting the job. In terms of viable options, I was in the camp that wanted to see a contingency/succession plan in place long before Majerus had further health issues. I would have supported giving Harriman a raise to stay at SLU. I know what you're getting at - Crews was the best option and we should just accept whatever he does. That is not something I am comfortable supporting.

No, that Molina analogy is not my logic. I don't expect Crews to coach to the level of Majerus. What I do expect, however, is a team that played better than the team played tonight. I expect a coach, during the middle of a run by the opposing team, to call a timeout. I expect a coach to make halftime adjustments. I expect improvements. I don't expect a team to have the same defensive deficiencies two games in a row. I expect to see progress.

I don't expect to lose to a Santa Clara team that that was a 12 point underdog.

Go Bills.

[Bizziken]

I see this as a tail of 2 seasons. Before Mitchell and after. On a brighter note, most of the A10 sucked a$$ this week.

Before Mitchell = B.M...sounds about right...a huge steaming BM is exactly what we left on the court tonight...

[White Pelican]

Also, Father Biondi was in the house tonight. He can't be too pleased with what he saw.

I wonder what Dr. Chaifetz thought too. Just an ugly, ugly game.

And I'm guessing Larry has more important things on his mind right now.

[billiken_roy]

You did not answer the question. Did we have any other viable options? Harriman was "gone". It was too late to get anyone, right?

So if Molina breaks his leg August 1st, your logic is that you are pissed at Cruz for not hitting and catching and fielding and throwing as well as Yadier.

after sleeping on it, i am more upset than right after the game. hell yes we had other options. if you show a high level assistant the money, or an up and coming low D1 coach they would have jumped whenever you asked. the fact we didnt even try to find a real coach showed that crews was/is the plan. and it is a bad plan. crews should have never been on the staff period imo considering his background and the way he left his two previous jobs. when you get fired from army, wouldnt you think you have to start over the next time at an even lower level not go to an up and coming saint louis university.

mb your grandma could have done a better job last night and there is no defenise for losing like that.. like i said in another thread, in reality this already isnt a one game thing. the fact the shot percentage defense is as high as it has been for both games tells you by itself there is something wrong.

the clincher last night was when jett fouled out, probably 340 division one coaches in America use that time to have an impromtu time out while the clock runs for the substitution choice. crews just waived barnett into the game. he gave up with almost 8 minutes left in the game.

[slu72]

You can bet your grandmothers 401k that RM would have called a TO when SC went up by 6 to 8 before the 12 min mark. And you can bet the farm there would have been some adjustments and personnel changes. I feared this game because when you looked at what SC was getting back from a good team 2 years ago, you had to know this would be no cakewalk. Also fearing Tx A&M game. We are not as athletic, especially on the inside, as most teams we will face. RM knew how to counter athleticism with solid sets and hardnosed D. He did at Utah and he did it here. We saw neither last night. Dammit, RM, why couldn't you have passed on all those deserts?

[Clock_Tower]

I fully agree. That may have been the worst coached Billiken team that I can remember. Awful. Just plain awful.

Crews is even more of a stiff on the sidelines than .... well, I could name 20 former Billikens but that would redirect my point. Bad pre-game preparation. No adjustments during the game. Nothing new at halftime. No set plays after a time-out. We could barely inbound the ball all game!! No pressure on them??!! When you are down by 20 to a not so good team at home, and with an experienced team full of guards and quickness, you have to try something different!! Zone. Box and 1 defense. Half Court trap. Full Court press. Double teams. At least do something!!

Instead, the team played uninspired are were a complete reflection of their new head coach. No tough defense. Few turnovers - and when we finally got on, we turned it over ourselves!! What happened to our superior perimeter defense we have seen under RM?

And here's a thought -- When we closed the scoring game to 12 or 14 points with 5 minutes to go and had the ball, we worked the ball around on offense (without much purpose or success) and almost had shot clock violations on two (2) straight occasions!! The only way to get back into such a game is to take risk, shoot threes, shoot quickly and then get back and defense to create turnovers, and if not, then foul them. The clock was our bigger enemy those last 5 minutes and yet Crews stood - confused - on the sideline like a big stiff!!

I have already seen enough of all three (3) Jims. SLU needs to take the following actions:

1. Remove Fr. Biondi as President of the school but allow him to finish the school year. He has become an embarrassment and is now hurting the University.

2. Find a new President who will not only lead the school in general but will also bring cedibility back to the both of my concerns: the Lawschool and the Athletics Department/Men's Basketball. The new guy must be both an academics guy as well as a fundraiser.

3. Phase out our current Law School Dean and allow him to go back to his class action lawsuits in Madison County. We need an academics guy here as well.

4. Chaifetz to proceed to the next phase of the new job search which will be much easier without Fr. Biondi. All current coaches can be strung along to keep them coaching this year but without any real interest in their being our next head coach.

5. Make a head coaching change halfway through the season (if at all possible) or announce the same as soon as possible at the end of the season.

[OkieBilliken]

I stayed up late to watch the game on tape delay. I couldnt believe how unispired they played. Florida played Alabama State this weekend and feel behind quickly by 20 then 30+ points. Alabama State's coach was burning timeouts, coaching his ass off trying to get a much less skilled team to compete. I would have rather had him coaching the Bills, whoever he is than that crap Jim Crews dumped on us last night. The truly sad thing is there is absolutely nothing we can do at this point. We cant fire an interim coach at this stage. What recruit worth a damn would want to sign up for this? What's heartbreaking is that this was a golden opportunity to establish our program and it sure looks lost at this point.

[Billboy1]

Agree 100% that this team is a reflection of the coach. On offense there was way too much standing around and looking like lost puppy dogs. On defense very few shots were contested. Fear this will be a season of infamy!

[OkieBilliken]

I know this is a stupid suggestion, but is Rich Grawer still alive? He usually outcoached Jim Crews back in the day. I'm sure he still could.

[BillyKen]

Not enough off the ball screens. Only saw on the ball screens and it wasn't until the last 60 seconds of the first half that we realized that the guy setting the pick was wide open every time. Crews needs to recognize that. The bigs setting the screens need to see that and vocalize it. KM would have gotten them the ball and then mixed up the hesitation fake and quick drive to the rack.

Outside of glaze in the first 5 minutes and jake throughout, there was absolutely no hustle or sense of urgency out there.

[BillyKen]

I know this is a stupid suggestion, but is Rich Grawer still alive? He usually outcoached Jim Crews back in the day. I'm sure he still could.

Seems like he is not the only coach that can out-coach Jimmy C.

[AlumniFan]

I know this is a stupid suggestion, but is Rich Grawer still alive? He usually outcoached Jim Crews back in the day. I'm sure he still could.

My cocker spaniel could have outcoached crews last night...

[AlumniFan]

I wonder what Dr. Chaifetz thought too. Just an ugly, ugly game.

And I'm guessing Larry has more important things on his mind right now.

Chaifetz was turning around and talking to Biondi several times late in the game. Not sure how they could hear each other with all the noise the fans were making...oh, I forgot, the fans didn't make any noise. Anyway, I wonder what they were saying. It looked like Chaifetz was saying something, but Biondi just seemed to be smiling. Now, I was watching this from across the court so who knows what was being said, but I'm sure that neither of them were happy.

[drkelsey55]

Never thought I would say I missed Cassity! At least when he had his one bad pass or turn over that was it for the night. I don't remember seeing so many sloopy, poor, and repeated bad passes by the Bills. My TV's ears hurt I screamed at it so much.

[Box and Won]

I fully agree. That may have been the worst coached Billiken team that I can remember. Awful. Just plain awful.

Crews is even more of a stiff on the sidelines than .... well, I could name 20 former Billikens but that would redirect my point. Bad pre-game preparation. No adjustments during the game. Nothing new at halftime. No set plays after a time-out. We could barely inbound the ball all game!! No pressure on them??!! When you are down by 20 to a not so good team at home, and with an experienced team full of guards and quickness, you have to try something different!! Zone. Box and 1 defense. Half Court trap. Full Court press. Double teams. At least do something!!

Instead, the team played uninspired are were a complete reflection of their new head coach. No tough defense. Few turnovers - and when we finally got on, we turned it over ourselves!! What happened to our superior perimeter defense we have seen under RM?

And here's a thought -- When we closed the scoring game to 12 or 14 points with 5 minutes to go and had the ball, we worked the ball around on offense (without much purpose or success) and almost had shot clock violations on two (2) straight occasions!! The only way to get back into such a game is to take risk, shoot threes, shoot quickly and then get back and defense to create turnovers, and if not, then foul them. The clock was our bigger enemy those last 5 minutes and yet Crews stood - confused - on the sideline like a big stiff!!

I have already seen enough of all three (3) Jims. SLU needs to take the following actions:

1. Remove Fr. Biondi as President of the school but allow him to finish the school year. He has become an embarrassment and is now hurting the University.

2. Find a new President who will not only lead the school in general but will also bring cedibility back to the both of my concerns: the Lawschool and the Athletics Department/Men's Basketball. The new guy must be both an academics guy as well as a fundraiser.

3. Phase out our current Law School Dean and allow him to go back to his class action lawsuits in Madison County. We need an academics guy here as well.

4. Chaifetz to proceed to the next phase of the new job search which will be much easier without Fr. Biondi. All current coaches can be strung along to keep them coaching this year but without any real interest in their being our next head coach.

5. Make a head coaching change halfway through the season (if at all possible) or announce the same as soon as possible at the end of the season.

We need some Billikens.com posters to infiltrate the board of trustees.

[bonwich]

In case this hasn't been addressed elsewhere (I was too depressed to read the board until now): wtFFFFF is up with conceding offensive rebounds on free throws? Is that some new trendy strategy?

[kappy96]

Listened to Crews on 590 this morning on the drive into work. He said he was very disappointed that the team just didn't compete which surprised him as they had just come of three good days of practice. Also pointed out the obvious in saying they just "gave up" on their offense sets.

Granted he shouldn't be jumping for joy the day after such a stinkfest but my takeaway based on his coments,tone and insight was that he almost seemed as though he was just kind of faking his way through the interview. Stated a lot of the obvious excuses but really didn't point out any solutions. I compare it to when someone is in a position that you know they either aren't qualified for or aren't invested in and just talk out of their a$$ and manage to sound impressive but you know they don't really know what they are doing.

Don't mean to imply that Crews isn't qualified or know what he is doing but I got the impression that he doesn't really want to put in the work needed to be a difference maker. He took the job to be a stop-gap for one year as a favor to RM and the school thinking he couldn't screw it up while SLU found a permanent replacement.

Now that he's already facing adversity we'll see what kind of dedication he has to right the ship.

[JohnnyJumpUp]

Listened to Crews on 590 this morning on the drive into work. He said he was very disappointed that the team just didn't compete which surprised him as they had just come of three good days of practice. Also pointed out the obvious in saying they just "gave up" on their offense sets.

Granted he shouldn't be jumping for joy the day after such a stinkfest but my takeaway based on his coments,tone and insight was that he almost seemed as though he was just kind of faking his way through the interview. Stated a lot of the obvious excuses but really didn't point out any solutions. I compare it to when someone is in a position that you know they either aren't qualified for or aren't invested in and just talk out of their a$$ and manage to sound impressive but you know they don't really know what they are doing.

Don't mean to imply that Crews isn't qualified or know what he is doing but I got the impression that he doesn't really want to put in the work needed to be a difference maker. He took the job to be a stop-gap for one year as a favor to RM and the school thinking he couldn't screw it up while SLU found a permanent replacement.

Now that he's already facing adversity we'll see what kind of dedication he has to right the ship.

http://www.insidestl.com/insideSTLcom/RadioShows/ITDMorningAfter/tabid/88/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/9768/Thursdays-Show-Audio---State-of-the-Programs.aspx

[bonwich]

He sounding like a bromide-spouting figurehead on the post-game show last night. As much as it annoyed me that RM wouldn't do post-game except for after a few good wins, Crews would have been better off sending an assistant last night and being overheard through the door ripping the entire team new ones.

[cheeseman]

Listened to Crews on 590 this morning on the drive into work. He said he was very disappointed that the team just didn't compete which surprised him as they had just come of three good days of practice. Also pointed out the obvious in saying they just "gave up" on their offense sets.

Granted he shouldn't be jumping for joy the day after such a stinkfest but my takeaway based on his coments,tone and insight was that he almost seemed as though he was just kind of faking his way through the interview. Stated a lot of the obvious excuses but really didn't point out any solutions. I compare it to when someone is in a position that you know they either aren't qualified for or aren't invested in and just talk out of their a$$ and manage to sound impressive but you know they don't really know what they are doing.

Don't mean to imply that Crews isn't qualified or know what he is doing but I got the impression that he doesn't really want to put in the work needed to be a difference maker. He took the job to be a stop-gap for one year as a favor to RM and the school thinking he couldn't screw it up while SLU found a permanent replacement.

Now that he's already facing adversity we'll see what kind of dedication he has to right the ship.

He said the same stuff when he talked to Earl after the game - honestly, I was unimpressed with what he had to say and how he said it. Reminded me of Maritz with the Rams when things were going south - "we will fix that" - kind of an attitude. Well we all know how that worked.

[RiseAndGrind]

He said the same stuff when he talked to Earl after the game - honestly, I was unimpressed with what he had to say and how he said it. Reminded me of Maritz with the Rams when things were going south - "we will fix that" - kind of an attitude. Well we all know how that worked.

Ha! I compared him to Martz last night.