How good are we?

[NH]

KM has been playing with little confidence as of late. Time after time he tried to dribble his way through the press. Obviously, that is not the optimal strategy to beat the havoc. When JJ was called on to beat the press, he was cool as a cucumber. Boy howdy does JJ impress me. Just a heady pg. We desperately need KM to return to last years form for the tourny run. If we can get KM, MM, JJ all ballin come tournament time, i think a sweet 16 is more than reasonable.

Agreed with all this. And yes, if all those guards are on (and Jake is hitting from 3), there's not a team in the country we can't play with.

That said, Kwamain is still our main player who has proven he can take over big, close games. He also brings obvious senior leadership and his defensive presence is obvious. Just think about how much tougher we have been defensively since he came back.

The fact that Kwa honestly may be our third-best guard is great news. But I completely agree that if he can start hitting his shots a little more, that would even add to our team's potency.

[MusicCityBilliken]

We are playing as good as any billiken team in the modern era. 8 straight wins of 9 or more points and against good teams. Unfortunately we can't just completely ignore the first 17 games when we weren't that good. Still, this is some kind of fun!

I been following the Bills since 1968, this team is by far the best I ever witnessed in that period. Beats the 94-95 Rainbow team. We are not just winning, we are dominating the opposition. Score last night might have said 14 point win but it was really over mid way through the first half. Same with Butler and New Mexico.

Even if we lose Friday night aganist a #15 Butler, we will be between 23-25. Win, high teens.

Its where you want to be late February.

[slu72]

Dittos to Al. We're of the same era and this team is by far the best because of their depth at all positions. Gillen said last night SLU has 4 guys that could start on most teams coming off the bench. VCU's supposed to go really deep as well, and we outscored their bench by over 20 points. Stop knocking KM, he'll come through for us before all is said and done. Turning points this season, the RI loss and JC starting GG. GG brings an energy to the court that seems to rub off on the other guys. What he does might not show up in the stats, but the guys a joy to watch because he's having so much fun out there.. Also, JB seems to be turning out to be what we expected, a sharpshooter off the bench. Man, his 3 are touching nothing but the bottom of the net. This is a whole lot of fun to watch, especially for us old guys who have followed the Bills thru some pretty depressing years. As a side note, Gillen was really pushing for SLU to name JC HC like this morning. He must have said, "he should be given the job immediately" at least 3 times. And those guys love Dr. C, he's always getting some camera time. By the way Gillen was only about 4 seats removed from the good Dr.

[MusicCityBilliken]

Larry, I know I am getting a head myself. But if we run the table the remainder of the season (or even one loss), they may give Crews "Coach of the Year". You know taking over from Rick and dealing with that adversity makes a nice story.

If that happens, how do you not give it to him?

[slu72]

It might just be he's not sure he wants it? Still, his ability to recruit is the key. He definitely seems to have RM's ability to game prep. Our guys seem to know just what to expect from everyone we're playing. I may be kidding myself, but I'm not fearing Butler. I think our guards are so much better than theirs, save for Clarke's 3 pt shooting, that it's a huge edge for us. But I don't want to get too cocky.

Hope all's well.

[Pistol]

When's the last time we had back-to-back games for first place?

[Pistol]

8 turnovers last night is the stat that tells me how good we are. Soderberg used to use 10 as his benchmark for a very good game when it comes to turnovers. To have only 8 against a team that forces more than anyone else in the country, and at a wider margin than anyone else, is remarkable.

[jbizzle09]

Not to be an ass about it but he was the only SLU guard that seemed bothered by VCU. It seemed like Jett and MCcall were more patient, waiting for the rest of the team and their VCU counter parts to clear out. Mitchell just didn't wait and dribbled into trouble again and again..........

To come to KM's defense, 2 of those turnovers were in the last 5 minutes of the game, when the refs were in 'even out the foul calls' mode. Both times he was tagged with a turnover in that span could have very easily been whistled as fouls against VCU. I do agree that he tried to dribble through the press more than Jett and McCall, but I don't think he was especially bothered by the press. But I will say that if you are looking for anything to criticize from this game, it is fair to look towards KM. He was most likely the least effective of the 4 guards who played tonight. But I think that mostly just reiterates how freaking good the guards are right now (including JB!)

[ACE]

After watching that game, I really just reinforced three things I already believed... we simply don't have the "athletes" to compete against teams like VCU; Jordair can't shoot the mid-range or long rang shot; and comparing Jake Barnett to Kyle Cassity is crazy.

[Bills By 40]

One question WHY WAS KWAMAIN THE ONLY FREAKING GUARD WHO CONSISTANTLY TURNED THE BALL OVER TO THE VCU PRESS. HE'S A GOTTDAMN SENIOR!!!!! Only negative of the night in my opinion......

He was being double and triple teamed because VCU knew we wanted the ball in his hands. He was getting mugged every time he caught the ball off the inbound play, and people weren't moving well for him. And "consistantly turned the ball over"? We had a combined 8 turnovers... I'll take that any day.

[ACE]

To answer your question, we can be REALLY freakin' good. I am so glad the students did NOT rush the court. There was no need for it. We beat the pi$$ out of them. There was nothing flukey about it or anything that suggested it was an upset. I think some of our old-time fans like us in this role of "The Little Engine that Could." . Even at the peak of Spoonball, there was that perception because those teams were undersized. This team is damn good. THESE ARE NOT YOUR FATHER'S BILLIKENS. Talented, skilled, experienced, well-coached, and yes... ATHLETIC at several positions. It is a good blend of size and quickness. RM had a greater vision for this program than simply being this nice little underdog team. He was able to build a solid, legit Top 25 caliber team. I'm sure someday, he would have wanted our program to be a place where our fans would never storm the court after victories, but opposing fans would storm against us IF they beat us.

BTW, How often if ever have opposing fans stormed the court following a victory against SLU? It was a long time ago and I was quite young, but I seem to recall that the Sweatervests did it after beating a Clag/Waldman team at a time when Dayton was really crappy. That is the only time I can ever remember it happening.

[billiken_roy]

We are playing as good as any billiken team in the modern era. 8 straight wins of 9 or more points and against good teams. Unfortunately we can't just completely ignore the first 17 games when we weren't that good. Still, this is some kind of fun!

well i will play devil's advocate. if you are looking at the entire season, kshoe, you are right to make that observation. if we are considering this moment in time, i say, considering the coaching situation, the carter debacle (even as a freshman that wasnt likely to be a major contributor this year, you can bet the chemistry situation was not smooth during that time), kwamain's injury, glaze's injury, jett's injury, comparing the prior to 2013 to now is not even possible.

count me as the latest bandwagon jumper. after rhode island i was telling close friends we might be luck to finish over 500 overall and our conference season was headed for disaster. the turnaround is flat out unbelievable. with the exception of the great marquee perry run, i dont remember a billiken team making such an amazing turnaround. i too believe this is currently a top 10 team. i would love to have a shot at some of the bcs blowhard teams now. i watched kansas last week, and i think we beat kansas last night.

i will say this, (ace's head about to spin off), crews was marvelous last night. about the only thing he did i did not agree with was again sitting mike mccall down the stretch. arguably our best free throw shooter, on mitchell a better ball handler, i would have had him in the game instead of loe. but beyond that his substitions were fabulous. big kudos for going offense defense at the end of the half with jett (who had two fouls) and barnett to make sure jett was able to help bring the ball up. jett was literally the key to breaking the press simply because of his strength. i am not sure if anyone else on the team could throw those half court passes as well as jett. probably an nth degree less power on those passes get picked off. but jet got them through.

crews also recognized the matchup issues early on. our best lineup of ellis, evans, jett, mccall and mitchell were on the floor a lot. but that fivesome could handle the pressure the best and probably was our best free throw shooters (jett's free throws were perfect last night). they also had the speed to "keep up" with the vcu speed.

he used glaze, remeken and barnett just enough to give appropriate breaks and all came through with clutch play.

once again our on ball defense was fabulous and vcu was constantly deep in the shot clock before they had anything close to the lane or even the three point line most possessions. this is a team that shoots more times than not in the first ten seconds of a possession not the last ten seconds.

on offense, evans and jett and even mccall and mitchell got to the lane time after time. that is what enables, our three point opportunities. credit again to crews for a great offensive game plan. push to the basket. then kick out.

last, while jett and evans were the visiable heroes, i say mitchell in the second half was downright an iron man. he did not sub out in the second half until right after he missed those two free throws. my guess is he was just exhausted. to be the main focus on bringing the ball up versus that pressure is unbelieveable. anyone that has played at any level knows what i am talking about and now ramp that up a whole bunch. he just kept going and going and going. late in the game i remember looking up at the stat line on the ends and it showed we only had 5 turnovers. folks that is spectacular. and most of that credit imo goes to the major role mitchell took last night. that effectiveness allowed the jett half court passes to happen which then resulted in easy baskets at the other end. smart had to be beside himself. havoc found its superior last night with our guards.

when i got home i quickly looked at the few posts here and i saw the one saying this was the best billiken team. dont know how the season will play out, and dont know how the overall effect will look, but since rhode island, and in particular, butler, dayton and vcu, i agree this is the best billiken team ever right now.

[Billiken Rich]

He was being double and triple teamed because VCU knew we wanted the ball in his hands. He was getting mugged every time he caught the ball off the inbound play, and people weren't moving well for him. And "consistantly turned the ball over"? We had a combined 8 turnovers... I'll take that any day.

With respect, that is horse poo. Four times. Four times Kwamain did exactly the same thing. Unlike Jett and Mccall who waited for the Bills and VCU to clear. He brought the ball up into traffic and turned it over. Twice he picked up his dribble within couple feet of the center court line like a freaking freshman. Consistantly is word. He mayby brought the ball up eight or ten times and turned it over four and the rest weren't all that pretty either. It was a great win but Kwamain's play was troubling to me.

[NextYearBill]

Who does Butler think they are??? We are.

[Pitboss]

Great game Billikens. For those schools having to play the RPI and SOS game with the NCAA, your win helps make UNM 's holiday beat down by SLU look more and more like a "signature loss" as our UNLV and San Diego State league mates like to refer to their losses to Syracuse and UNC! Anyway....UNM's current grandiose RPI of 3 and SOS of 5 should reflect very well, thank you, on SLU come Selection Sunday.

Keep up the great play. Lobo fans are quite thrilled to see your on-court success.

Pitboss

[Billiken Rich]

Ok after reading throught this thread I will have to cut Kwamain some slack. We did not turn the ball over hardly at all and Kwamains last couple of TO's may have been fatigue assisted. I just remember thinking...WAIT...BE PATIENT...WAIT....aw crap he did it again.

[jimbofive]

Who does Butler think they are??? We are.

spot on. spot on.

also, roy, you get bonus points for using BLOWHARD in your diatribe. that one will never be lost on me.

[JMM28]

Kwamain isn't playing to the level of KWAMAIN. He has shot for lately, somewhere in the 35% post URI.

I didn't expect the full version of Kwamain at all this year honestly. It is hard to come back from a foot injury like that. Those tend to linger on. Watching him play, he doesn't have his quickness all the way back yet. But if it came back, imagine how damn good this team would be....

[jimbofive]

just took a quick look at our margins of victory/defeat. in retrospect, we've been dominating all season.

+17 SCUS

-12 SCU

+21 TA&M

-14* KU ("neutral" court)

+10 SIU

-5 @WASH

+13 VALP

+4 UNT

+22 UTM

+27 EIU

+21 LMU

+27 SIUE

+14* UNM

+8 SAV

+8 MASS

-10 @TEM

-2 URI

+9 @DUQ

+10 @SBON

+17 BUT

+29 DAY

+17* @FOR

+10 @RICH

+17 CHAR

+14* VCU

if the committee truly takes into consideration how we've played since we got KM back, who hasn't even been playing that great, we should be a VERY high seed. but they won't i'm sure. oh well, fuok 'em.

HATE HATE HATE

* ranked opponent

[billiken_roy]

Kwamain isn't playing to the level of KWAMAIN. He has shot for lately, somewhere in the 35% post URI.

I didn't expect the full version of Kwamain at all this year honestly. It is hard to come back from a foot injury like that. Those tend to linger on. Watching him play, he doesn't have his quickness all the way back yet. But if it came back, imagine how damn good this team would be....

first off, if you havent had a broken foot, or hand or arm or leg before, i dont think you realize what it takes to come back from that. the fact mitchell is even performing this year after having his cast/boot removed in december imo is nothing short of a testimony to the young man alone. i can only imagine how frustrating it is that he still cant spin on a dime he cant get the lift off that one leg like before, he is still getting fatigued from being completely out of game shape due to not playing for nearly three months.

second, the style of this team is demanding so on defense that offense becomes second. now couple that with his primary obligation to be the main facilitator of the offense and bringing the ball up versus typical full court man to man pressure time after time, and now you want him to score 25 points a game as well? after last night i have become a bigger mitchell fan than what i have ever been. the young man is tough as nails, a bright team leader, and unselfish hero. right now i would vote for him for mayor of milwaukee if he wants my vote.

[JMM28]

Roy - I think you mistook my intent. I am not ripping Kwam. I think coming back as quickly as he did is incredible. My point was that he isn't 100% but imagine what this team would look like if he was 100% instead of 75%.

[jimbofive]

right now i would vote for him for mayor of milwaukee if he wants my vote.

not me. not yet. his public speaking is shaky. you got nothing, kid. i know it and you know it.

i'm sure i'd sound like a goon in front of all those reporters, too. KM's still the man, though.

[billiken_roy]

Roy - I think you mistook my intent. I am not ripping Kwam. I think coming back as quickly as he did is incredible. My point was that he isn't 100% but imagine what this team would look like if he was 100% instead of 75%.

+1 to a degree. but maybe, his concentrating on being a true point guard and defense is what is making the difference as well. what if he took on a more look to the basket more attitude and it fudged what is working right now? i say appreciate what he is doing and recognize he is just filling a different role currently. the real "star" of this team imo is that the team functions so well as one machine. there is on real star. our mvp discussion is proof of that. we cant agree on the real top star and every night it seems to be someone else's night to shine the brightest.

[MB73]

How good are we?

Right now we are the best we have ever been in decades. Or more.

Yes, three strong guards, but MB73's dream, 6 bigs, 3 of whom are key players, and another two who contribute. We have had plenty of good guards in the past but never three, and NEVER all of these bigs. Without Conk I worried that we had no inside threat but they have done it by committee. DE is the most consistent, but CE and RL have played well inside and GG and CR have contributed. CE has been amazing, adapting, adjusting each game to do what it takes to help us win.

Majerus loaded us with talent (juniors and seniors, now), a system, and a committment to excellence, and Crews is completing the mission. We have jelled.

This has been an amazing run, 8 wins, pounded the other teams, wire to wire.

We should beat Butler... we will be a one point favorite, give or take... I think we will take them again by double digits. Then we should crack the top 25 AP & USA Today, even 21-22-23 depending on who else wins / loses.

Right now, we are a top 15-20 team in Vegas, our recent 8 game run takes us to that level.

(RE: KM, yes he had some obvious issues last night but also showed some flashes, that extra burst to get by defenders and take it to the hoop... let's hope he continues to get back to 100%)

[moytoy12]

DE is turning into senior year Conk the way he is finishing around the hoop. Night and day from earlier in the season.