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frank c on alexander


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frank is saying on kfns this morning that alexander is a definite get for the billikens. he also said that the billikens are saying that alexander immediately becomes the best athlete on the team.

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Awesome! Did he sign yet?

Brad is really starting to increase the quickness and athleticism on the roster. I love it. Polk, Clarke, JJ, Reggie and this Alexander kid - we got some kids who will be able to run and jump a little. The days of us being overwhelmed athletically are going to be a thing of the past.

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With this latest addition, there is going to be a lot of competition for minutes. That's going to make this team better. Guys like IO, Clarke, JJ and Meyer are going to have to work their a$$es off to get significant PT.

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It's really great to hear that our athleticism is being upgraded so much. That has definitely been our downfall as along as I've been following the Billikens. But what has happened to all the 4's? We seem to be picking up great gaurds, but our black hole last year was at the PF position. It appears as if it will be the same next year. Am I way off base here?

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This Alexander kid sounds like a good recruit...his recruitment (and apparent signing) tells me we plan to run a 3 guard offense and probably move IO back to the 4 spot (This isn’t anything new per-se but I think the experiment with IO at the 3 is officially over). You are going to have 6 players (RB, DP, AD, DC, LM, AA) fighting for 3 spots and another 6 guys fighting for the 2 big-man spots (IO, IV, TF, JJ, BH, VN) The overflow of guards is even more noticeable in two years when Lisch and hopefully Liddell arrive with only Reggie graduating. I would be shocked if either of the two remaining scholarships for 2005 didn’t go to big men. With the graduation of Tom and Isaac it will be a necessity.

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This young man sounds like a very nice addition for our Billikens. Does he have 3 years of eligibility left? I seem to recall some suggestion that he had only played one year in JC.

The fact that he is immediately available to play next year is a big plus now that Tommie's arrival will be delayed by a year.

It looks like the coaching staff is very comfortable with IO and our new fellow at the four spot. JJ is still a complete unknown. I predict that IO will have a very good year as he gets stronger and plays more agressively. Late in the year he seemed to have amuch better understanding of how to use his athleticism on the inside as opposed to merely trying to beat people off the dribble.

This coaching staff has done a marvelous job of recruiting and remaking the team in the image of the coaches with tough defenders, quick, tough and heady ballhandlers, and huge centers. I am excited as I have been in more than a decade about our future prospects. This team is being built to compete with the big boys!!!

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>What are the chances of seeing IV and TF playing together?

I was wondering the same thing. Depending on match-ups, I think that could be an effective combo.

This roster will be very versatile. We can go big or we can go small and quick depending on the opponent.

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>I agree .. We need to bring in an athletic power forward who

>can throw down a Polk lob pass or two ..

>

>I think we'll get someone in the Lisch/TL (hopefully)

>recruiting class ..

An athletic 4 who could contribute right away would've been ideal, but if one wasn't available, this is a good way to go. It sounds like we got a player who will be able to contribute right away. To me, that's better than taking another big who is a project.

Lisch, TL and two bigs in the next class sounds great to me.

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i really think tom frericks can make the conversion to pf. and if an opposing pf is just too fast, then you have izik and justin to play the spot while tom slides back over to center. i would really like to see this tried this year.

the key to how good we will be inside is izik. all that potential and talent thus far pretty much wasted. we have seen glimpses of bigtime play, but not near enough consistency imo.

right now i am thinking izik may challenge matt baniak for the must underachieving billiken ever.

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I think IO is a much better 4 than a 3 ... watching him I can see why the lure for him to be a 3 was there ... but for whatever reason ... his outside shot doesn't happen and his strides are too long going to the basket and he loses the ball alot. In close he has shown the ability to use his quickness to his advantage ... He just needs to be more consistent. He will probably add a little muscle this summer also.

I would worry a little about our ability to defend a taller 3 with a 3 guard lineup. Is this Alexander kid strong like Josh? ... If not that will cause problems ... if he is he may be able to get a little physical and cause problems.

I hope to hear the news of his official committment soon

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

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The three guard offense will cause us problems with some teams, like UC and Charlotte where they play the traditional 2g/2f lineup. Also, while I like IO around the hoop, and don't agree he's a Baniak, Matt's expectations were much higher, I do worry about his D against the quick athletic PF's. Last year's Charlotte, in Charlotte, game comes to mind where we had no answer for Badsen on the baseline or Withers in the middle. Of course, maybe Newburne's the answer on D for these type of players. However, GT played pretty much a 3g set, and they did pretty good this year. Speaking of Charlotte, I was at a party Friday night and met a UNCC alum. Oh man you'd have thought we were long lost brothers. They are so happy about them and SLU going to the A-10. Says we are now their big rivals. Really dissed MU and DePaul. The guy also said, every year he looks at the schedule and dreads the niner's playing at SLU. He autos it in as a loss. Calls it the hell hole. Invited any of us Billiken fans to a big pregame party at his house on Lake Norman, very nice area of Charlotte, before next year's game. I'm taking him up on it...free beer. Honestly, I have found Charlotte fans to be some of the best.

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Assuming all of the perimeter players enroll in classes in late August, and if everyone is healthy at the start of the exhibition season, perhaps Darren Clarke or Luke Meyer would redshirt this year. Clarke could use the added strength and Meyer could use the redshirt year as a developmental year.

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Roy, I give Izak a free pass last year, due to his offseason heart surgery for the leaky valve. Braun was a ghost of his potential following his shoulder surgery, and Sloan exhibited the same recovery path following his own surgery. If Izak shows similar progression that Sloan did two seasons after surgery, he will be a tough sob next season. Of course, another 15 lbs of muscle would be sweet.

Last year, as in previous years, I saw us get schooled by guards and weak side forwards abusing us on the rim level rebound putbacks. Alexander might be the shutdown weakside rebounder we need to end this Achilles heel tendancy previous teams have exhibited. Dominant atheletes also can be wrought into stellar defensive players, and we lost one this past season when Josh graduated. Every class needs to have at least one potential shutdown defensive stopper.

If you step back to review recent commitments, we now have a top 5 MO player(Polk,) a past top 5 Indiana player(Alexander,) and a current top 5 Illinois player(Lisch) hitting the floor in two seasons, with Tommie potentially making it two top 5 Illinois players. If we have one big man develop, and Brad's gang sells a top 5 big man from the Midwest next year, we are in fantastic shape!

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broy, I think you were on your float trip and missed the game, but Izik looked pretty good playing in the post area against Memphis in the C-USA post season tournament. Izik had a couple of dunks (even a technical for hanging on the rim, but it was later waived off), a couple of mid-range jumpers and a few free throws. All in all, he scored 14 points against Memphis' tall, athletic bigs guys.

As far as Baniak and Izik being underachievers, I thinks it is more of a case of me and you missing badly on our evaluations of these players. Hopefully, next season will be IO's big year.

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i hope you are right. as i said, he has shown us glimpses of talent and style that are downright astounding. you would swear you are watching george gervin. but too often he just disappears. i dont have the answer and hope brad does. regardless, with frericks and ian and hopefully newborne and justin and a contribution from bryce, numberwise we are actually fine on the inside. do we have the next coming of a uconn like inside game? no, but imo, as long as they play hard defensively and rebound, that might alone be enough to raise the bar next year.

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I agree on Meyer - a red year might really help his confidence in the transition. With our recruiting being so solid now, I don't think Clarke would buy in - he's already had a reshirt year of a sort. With Tommy not showing up, we're going to need his minutes this year. I can't wait until Oct. to see what those guys are capable of when Brad puts them through their paces.

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My God, you mean someone actually called this? I figure this is one of the prime candidates for "rules that should be removed from the rulebook because they're never enforced." For the record, the current rules call for an indirect technical for "Hanging on the ring, except when doing so to prevent an injury." I wonder how a ref determines that the intent was "to prevent an injury."

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bonwich, i have always been under the impression that if there is "traffic" below, and the extent of the rim hang was literally that, just hanging on the rim, then a technical is not to be called. however if the player has no bodies beneath him or if the player starts doing chinups etc, then a technical is due.

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Clarke seemed to be putting it together towards the end of last season. He showed some glimpses of what he can do, and hopefully it helped his confidence. I think we'll see continuous improvement from Darren. Meyer would be a more logical choice if any player were to be redshirted.

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Indeed, that's how I'd interpret it, too, but I've seen several occasions where a player has made a fast-break uncontested dunk and done a little catapult at the end with nothing called. (For that matter, aside from the cited call on Izik, can you remember any technicals for hanging on the rim in the past two seasons?)

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I would think that Meyer's redshirting would depend on what he wants to study. The kid is suppose to be a soph. in credits when he enrolls. He might not want to stick around for 5 years especially if he wants to be a doctor or lawyer or indian chief.

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