Thoughts about Fordham

[cheeseman]

I know most in StL did not get to see the game but I happened to be in San Diego and oddly enough the game was on here - go figure. The defense was not that tight but I guess it is hard to play tight defense every game. I would rather if they were to have an off day they have it against Fordham and not Richmond. Cody really stepped up as did Evans - what is nice is that GG is really starting to produce. Not sure about Manning, he looked kind of lost out there. The team seems to be having fun and that will go a long way in making this a good year. If we beat Richmond, we should be ranked and if not close to it given all the upsets tonight.

[Bobby Metzinger]

Manning was one of those Majerus pet-projects; the prototypical "molded out of clay" players. Well, that clay hasn't exactly hardened into a Division One caliber basketball player. You're absolutely right about him being lost. He's never really caught up to the speed of the game. Great post. Have a Stone Double Bastard or 16th Anniversary for me out in the land of whale ******.

[RiseAndGrind]

Bros, a 5 game winning streak. Manning criticisms really gonna be the lead discussion?

[grunky]

Manning was one of those Majerus pet-projects; the prototypical "molded out of clay" players. Well, that clay hasn't exactly hardened into a Division One caliber basketball player. You're absolutely right about him being lost. He's never really caught up to the speed of the game. Great post. Have a Stone Double Bastard or 16th Anniversary for me out in the land of whale ******.

Wow, much props to you for knowing about Firestone's 16th anniversary. Prolly the best beer ever crafted. San Diego is God's Country in many aspects, and craft beer happens to be one of them!

[billikenfan05]

Bros, a 5 game winning streak. Manning criticisms really gonna be the lead discussion?

+1

[Bobby Metzinger]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="grunky" data-cid="341046" data-time="1360217180"><p>

<br />

Wow, much props to you for knowing about Firestone's 16th anniversary. Prolly the best beer ever crafted. San Diego is God's Country in many aspects, and craft beer happens to be one of them!</p></blockquote>

My summer job all throughout college was working for a distributor back home in Peoria. Coors was the big boy, but stone, southern tier, victory, founders, two brothers, rogue and lost abbey crept in to get the craft beer scene in Peoria off the ground. Had a bunch of German beers like tucher, weinstephaner, Hoffbrau and kulmbacher. My favorite Stone beer was probably the 12.21.12 for the end of the world, but that was a limited release so they'll probably never brew it again

[billikensfan95]

A recap from last night

http://thecatchandshoot.com/2013/02/06/saint-louis-extends-winning-streak-to-5-with-90-73-win-at-fordham/

[Taj79]

Had the game on here too with CBS Sports Network. Tom Pecora is doing a pretty good job with little to work with in terms of luring kids to Fordham. I know Rose Hill is one of the five shrines to collegiate basketball but come on. That's why Fordham should downgrade out of the A10 and go with like-minded schools. I liked Leonard. I liked Thomas. Frazier's a punk but not as bad as the Henry kid from Charlotte. Gaston wasted away four prety good years. Oh well ... they can hold on to their hopes I guess.

CBS ran with McCarthy and Wolf as usual. Very complimentary of Saint Louis. Nice history pieces on Fordham but I find when your claims to fame are Vin Scuily and Vince Lombardi plus playing in the first-ever televised football game (against Waynesburg College), well, I guess I don't feel so bad about us and "Easy Ed."

I haven't looked up their names but I know three refs I don't want to see again. Did we get even a single charge call? Wait, I vaguely recall one in the first half. Kid dribbles around for 30 seconds and then goes on a kamikazee drive to beat the shot clock seems like the wrong time for a ref to bail him out with a foul call but what do I know. Yes, Fordham hung around but the outcome was never really in doubt and I disagree with Timmerman's "no style points" assessment.

While we seemed to be easing up on the defense, I find the only real issue to be the rebounding and maybe some early on foul shooting. Glaze made a liar out of Wolf when Wolf predicted he wouldn't make one, let alone two. Grandy made both late. . The numbers I think evened out but Fordham stayed in that first half due to offensive rebounding if you ask me.

Ellis was lights out in the first half, Evans in the second. And props to Crewws or whomever figured out that putting Loe and Ellis on the perimter would force Fordham to cover Dwayne with their smallish third guard. The big dog ate in that second half last night. The efforts, if played on :"WORD!" with Kornheiser and Wilbon for Dwayne's performance would be "Conklin-esque." Some oif Jett's layups appeared so easy, as if no defense was being offered. I never really frette dove rthe game, figuring a superior team would eventually do what i thad to do to win out. And trhat happened.

Richmond is likely a whoile different story and I expect the Bills to come out with better intensity. If not, we will no tbe able to stay with the home-cookign Richmond team. Saturday night game should mean a pretty decent turnout in the Robbins Center.

[WestCoastBilliken]

Just last week you guys were complaining how Barnett and Glaze aren't D1 players and shouldn't even be on the court. Now, this week it is 'they produce' and its bash Manning time. We seem to go from one extreme to the other ever other day.<br /><br />I would suggest putting your trust in RM. I bet Manning is big time for us next year and his senior year.

[brianstl]

^{Up to 39 in Pomeroy's rankings after last night. Looks Like we will still be at 56 in RPI.}

[ACE]

My brother was among the gathering of SLU fans at Rose Hill - the nerdy looking guy with glasses, wearing the Spoon-era sweatshirt. I could see him throughout the night near center court. Come on man, update your SLU gear! Haha! Nice turnout of SLU fans. Pretty much owned two sections from midcourt to behind the bench. Also, looked like others scattered about the building.

Fordham is terrible, although if Gaston were healthy, that game could have been a bit scary, especially with the way we played for some stretches. Bad free throw shooting and some defensive lapses, but we still score 90 and won by 17. Take it and move on.

[stlhoops]

I liked everything about the game. We out rebounded them on the offensive end and overall, shot 10 percentage points higher, etc. To win like that on the road in league play is impressive. Even if it is in a high school gym.

[David King]

If we beat Richmond, we should be ranked and if not close to it given all the upsets tonight.

Probably need to beat Richmond, Charlotte, and VCU to get ranked.

[cheeseman]

Just last week you guys were complaining how Barnett and Glaze aren't D1 players and shouldn't even be on the court. Now, this week it is 'they produce' and its bash Manning time. We seem to go from one extreme to the other ever other day.<br /><br />I would suggest putting your trust in RM. I bet Manning is big time for us next year and his senior year.

Whoa big guy - I have never bashed GG - in fact I always thought he was showing signs when others did not. I am not bashing Manning - just stating what I saw, if he expects to play more he has to improve. He did not rebound much less score and a center has to do at least one. I agree with others that the rebounding was weak in the first half - we gave a several second and third chance baskets to Fordham. I also was going nuts over the FT shooting - at one time we were shooting 20% - can expect to win many games doing that on the road.

I agree about Stone - been to their microbrewery a couple of times.

[Pistol]

I never expect freshman bigs to produce, except for those 5-star kids that are really just a few guys in any given year. As long as you see some development sophomore year, you shouldn't expect much from that season, either. Junior and senior year is when bigs historically pay off. Whenever I get impatient with someone 6-10 or bigger, I tell myself, "Remember Chris Heinrich." Dude was a monster senior year after looking like he wasn't able to walk and chew gum for a couple seasons. There aren't many guys that tall at the age of 18-19 who are very coordinated; it takes time and a ton of work.

As for Manning, he's no different and they're clearly bringing him along slowly. Next year he's going to get much bigger minutes with Remekun and Ellis gone and our frontcourt minutes being spread out more. It's so hard to tell what he's going to be like with more floor time next season based on this season because we're only seeing him in short spells based on matchups, and in garbage time. He's going to be expected to play inside more than Loe since Loe will be back next year and they'll probably be on the floor at the same time in stretches. The good news is by all accounts he's bright, works hard, and gets all of that. I've seen flashes and obviously Rick's high praise for him says a lot about his potential, but I'm not sure it's fair to expect much production from him until next season and especially his senior year.

[jimbofive]

Probably need to beat Richmond, Charlotte, and VCU to get ranked.

which is asinine if you ask me. 2-3 of those should do it. but we are SLU, i guess.

losing to richmond on the road should be the quasi-acceptable loss, but i think we win that anyways. we shouldn't have to carry an 8 game conference winning streak into #14 butler at their place, after having spanked them by 17, and our last five opponents by an average of 16, w/ an overall record of 20-5, only to potentially lose a nailbiter to them and lose our oh so precarious #25 ranking anyways.

we are steamrolling right now and A ) it needs to continue, B ) it needs to be recognized. ranked teams are dropping like flies, we need a piece of the pie. at least two teams off the top of my head don't deserve to be there.

missouri for instance. 16-5, 5-3 in conference. only signature win was #10 illinois by 9, at home. they haven't beaten ANYONE on the road. ranked #21. but they score a lot of points so they must be good.

marquette. 16-5, 7-2 in conference. signature wins are #15 georgetown, by 1, at home. only good road win was pitt in OT. ranked #24. marquette is marquette, must be marquette.

butler and creighton are the only ranked non-big boys. and we all know what they've done. the rest is old boys club. i fuoking want in. and then we act like rodney dangerfield and take shits all over the dining room. why? cuz FUOK EM, that's why.

[cheeseman]

which is asinine if you ask me. 2-3 of those should do it. but we are SLU, i guess.

losing to richmond on the road should be the quasi-acceptable loss, but i think we win that anyways. we shouldn't have to carry an 8 game conference winning streak into #14 butler at their place, after having spanked them by 17, and our last five opponents by an average of 16, w/ an overall record of 20-5, only to potentially lose a nailbiter to them and lose our oh so precarious #25 ranking anyways.

we are steamrolling right now and A ) it needs to continue, B ) it needs to be recognized. ranked teams are dropping like flies, we need a piece of the pie. at least two teams off the top of my head don't deserve to be there.

missouri for instance. 16-5, 5-3 in conference. only signature win was #10 illinois by 9, at home. they haven't beaten ANYONE on the road. ranked #21. but they score a lot of points so they must be good.

marquette. 16-5, 7-2 in conference. signature wins are #15 georgetown, by 1, at home. only good road win was pitt in OT. ranked #24. marquette is marquette, must be marquette.

butler and creighton are the only ranked non-big boys. and we all know what they've done. the rest is old boys club. i fuoking want in. and then we act like rodney dangerfield and take shits all over the dining room. why? cuz FUOK EM, that's why.

You missed NM

[brianstl]

which is asinine if you ask me. 2-3 of those should do it. but we are SLU, i guess. losing to richmond on the road should be the quasi-acceptable loss, but i think we win that anyways. we shouldn't have to carry an 8 game conference winning streak into #14 butler at their place, after having spanked them by 17, and our last five opponents by an average of 16, w/ an overall record of 20-5, only to potentially lose a nailbiter to them and lose our oh so precarious #25 ranking anyways. we are steamrolling right now and A ) it needs to continue, B ) it needs to be recognized. ranked teams are dropping like flies, we need a piece of the pie. at least two teams off the top of my head don't deserve to be there. missouri for instance. 16-5, 5-3 in conference. only signature win was #10 illinois by 9, at home. they haven't beaten ANYONE on the road. ranked #21. but they score a lot of points so they must be good. marquette. 16-5, 7-2 in conference. signature wins are #15 georgetown, by 1, at home. only good road win was pitt in OT. ranked #24. marquette is marquette, must be marquette. butler and creighton are the only ranked non-big boys. and we all know what they've done. the rest is old boys club. i fuoking want in. and then we act like rodney dangerfield and take shits all over the dining room. why? cuz FUOK EM, that's why.

Losing at home to Rhode Island causes a lot of people to be hesitant to vote for the Bills. You can recover from those type of losses, but it takes even longer when it is a home loss.

[jimbofive]

You missed NM

yeah, they have 3 top 25 wins at least. but yeah, we put it on 'em. big wins mean more than bad losses in my mind, though. anyone can lay an egg, not everyone can consistently beat good teams. percentages.

[kappy96]

Manning was one of those Majerus pet-projects; the prototypical "molded out of clay" players. Well, that clay hasn't exactly hardened into a Division One caliber basketball player. You're absolutely right about him being lost. He's never really caught up to the speed of the game. Great post. Have a Stone Double Bastard or 16th Anniversary for me out in the land of whale ******.

The dude is a sophomore. there have been many a player who haven't come into their own until their 3rd season, IV comes to mind. We don't need him this year anyway...we need him the next two years.

[showthebill]

Our RPI dropped from 56 to 57 with our win. Also, our conference strength of schedule is 124 whereas Marquette's is 20th.

Our conference strength is the real killer. Hopefully that will pick up over the next two weeks

[slu72]

Can't see where our conf sched is that much off from the Beast. They've got UL, Cuse, Pitt, MU, and GU at the top tier the rest are pretty mediocre teams. We've got strength in the top 10 teams.

[slu72]

Back to Fordham, that game was a whole lot closer than I wanted it. We couldn't shake them and it was hard figuring out why. We shut down their top guy, the PG, but yet every time we looked to be pulling away they'd get a big stop or a big bucket. I do thinkl have trouble with big athletic, ie muscular, PF's and Fordham has one last night. But other than him, I don't know why we struggled to pull away until the very end.

[Westy03]

Back to Fordham, that game was a whole lot closer than I wanted it. We couldn't shake them and it was hard figuring out why. We shut down their top guy, the PG, but yet every time we looked to be pulling away they'd get a big stop or a big bucket. I do thinkl have trouble with big athletic, ie muscular, PF's and Fordham has one last night. But other than him, I don't know why we struggled to pull away until the very end.

Free throws the first 30 minutes of the game,defensive rebounding, and not being able to contain dribble penetration(which led to fouls) had a lot to do with it

[RB2.0]

The Fordham game doesn't worry me at all. The rest of the A-10 schedule worries me A TON. we play a backloaded schedule with some very tough games ahead, especially on the road. Let's hope we can keep up the momentum.