Tonka Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 Hi All, Like everyone, I get very excited this time of year and antsy to find as much info as I can on the team. Practice hasn't been under way that long, and there have been only a few articles in the media. What are the expectations of the team this year? Will we win more than 16 games looking at the schedule? Will RB be a legitimate scoring threat? Who else will stand out this year? Any surprises expected? Is IO expected to be a standout as he showed flashes of last year? Basically looking to get any positive feedback I can to get even more excited before the season begins here in a few weeks. Sorry, if it's already been discussed, as I just started reading the posts again last week. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 Well, to answer your question, nobody really knows what to expect from this team. With the loss of Brown and Perry there are still some questions to be answered. Practice is closed for the first week, so we haven't gotten a good look at the team together yet. Anyway, to speculate.... Reports are that Reggie can stroke it from outside and has the ability to get to the hoop if necessary...hopefully picking up a lot of the scoring provided from Marque. IO has put on some pounds and is growing accustom to the American game, however he is still a little soft downlow. Though his size will create some mismatches in our favor. Sloan has been working real hard this summer and wants to prove that he is more than a role player. He was on the same team as Bonner and David Lee this summer, taking home the title in the Bonner league. We have three big men coming in, including a 7'+ center, who will all be fighting for minutes...which is a good thing. Fish will be manning the point with Clarke and Drejaj backing him up. Justin Johnson is going to be playing this year and is supposedly a very athletic foward. Hopefully this added athleticism will help us on both offense and defense. He is still a little thin and the jury is still out on his contibutions this year. The national media has us picked to finish in the middle of the conference (what else is new), however, if everybody lives up to there potential and plays with the same intensity we saw last year, we could be the suprise team of the conference. I'm sure others can speculate a little more and better.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 i think we should be about the same record as last year. i think our guards will be fine. even though we lost marque, i think reggie is going to be a fantastic pickup that probably has a far better shot than marque, but probably gives up some of the driving and explosiveness of marque. i truly believe we have yet to see the real josh fisher consistently. and drejaj was just a freshman and supplied far more offense than any of us expected. apparently brad was really counting on juco brandon morris to step in and handle the point guard position, but as we now know, brandon got one "d" on his last juco report card that kept him out of slu. brandon is now at the univ of wisc green bay i believe. the other guard that will see action is brandon clarke an incoming freshman from minnesota. as i have stated before, i think our true question mark for the season will be our inside game. in recent months we have heard nothing but good things about bryce, ian, and justin. add them to chris sloan and izik and varner, we should be as good. if somehow they surpass kenny brown's defensive and rebounding presense, this team could be an ncaa team. the most recent wild card that i dont know if any of us expected, is the reality that coach brad plans to use izik as the small forward. wow! a 6'9" wing. as you stated in your post, we saw flashes of brillance from izik last year, but too often he never finished or only played for short stretches. we have now found out that izik had a cardiac valve problem that hindered his stamina greatly. izik had surgery this summer to correct that and brad has stated a number of times that izik looks stronger and better than before. so who knows, izik might really turn into something special. i personally felt he showed a few moves and plays that reminded me of george gervin last year. of course gervin could do that stuff anytime he wanted, and we havent seen that from izik yet, so we wait and see. the last surprise that might be out there is the development of the youngster from greece. brad has gone on record stating that at some point in ian's career, ian will be considered the best inside player that ever wore a billiken uniform. that is exciting potential to watch develop. of course every time brad has told us that he has quickly reminded us that ian is 18 years old, still growing and learning. plus, we recently found out he is suspended for the first 10 games as his ncaa penalty for playing on a pro team in greece. so it might be a year or two before he truly is any kind of contributor. same with bryce husak, who is 7 foot tall but apparently needs strength yet. however, he is 7 feet tall. cant teach that. but again, as brad is speaking of redshirting bryce, it is doubtful he will contribute this year as well. the other inside newcomer is justin johnson who redshirted last year and has apparently gained 20 lbs of muscle. however, let's not forget the rumors of attention and fundamental concerns. thus, we cant count on justin until we see it for ourselves either. my guess is that before xmas, we will know how good our team will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 Don't forget Frericks who already has a year of C-USA experience as well as a year in Juco. He will most likely be starting at the 5 and provide some leadership to the youngsters down low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StlCardinal Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 I didn't realize that Izik had that heart problem. There were times last year when I wished that Brad would have left him out there longer, but I guess that would explain his somewhat limited playing time. Hopefully that won't be an issue this year, because I love to watch him play. He just needs to avoid getting too many offensive fouls and avoid the temptation to shoot the three. If he can do those things, he could easily score around 15 ppg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikenbooster Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 This is the first I remember hearing about a heart condition for Izik. Can anyone give me more details on the nature of the defect and the procedure he had, when he had it, etc? My curious medical mind needs to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 that this is a story the media would jump all over. and since brad has told us at a few billiken club events now, it obviously is not a secret. i do not know the details about the condition or the correction procedure. all that i remember brad saying is that the condition would not let izik catch his breath and he would tire easily. since having the heart surgery he is not showing any of the previous symptoms according to coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikan Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 If your just look at the rosters of last year and this year, I really think we have upgraded our team. Bryant will come close to scoring as many points as Marque and he is a better 3 point shooter. No one will ever match the one on one quickness off the dribble of Perry but we have otherwise improved our posiiton at guard. Fischer will be a year more experienced and stronger. Drejaj will be stonger, more experienced and a better shooter than he was early in the year last year. Clarke will give us a more athletic player off the bench who can defend and play the point, if necessary. Hunt is an experienced player who we can use in the pinch off the bench and he will not hurt us. I like our guards and the only thing that could change that would be if Bryant is not as good as he was last year when I saw him in practice. Our inside game has improved as well. Again, we lost a key player in Brown and his rebounding and hard nosed defense will be missed. However, he was mostly a liability on the offensive end and he was a terrible passer out of the post. Chris Braun, a player with a lot of potential, never really got it going. Now we have a stonger and more experienced Sloan who has really developed into a scorer. We have Fericks--a tough hard nosed defender who by all reports can score a little inside and is a decent passer out of the post. We have IO who has put on weight and will be a much better player this year. At 6'9" he will create tremendous matchup problems with his quickness. I think he will be much better with a year of practice and games under his belt. Ian V., our freshman from Greece, could be a very nice player by the end of the year. Missing 10 games will put him behind like IO last year but from everything I hear this young man has "skills" --our first 6' 11" player, or ayone over 6'8" who has had such skills in more than a decade. IO also meets that description. The reamining 3 inside players are question marks. JJ has bulked up but can he play competitively in our league? Varner might give us an experienced hand off the bench but he will really be a valuable part tiem sub if his long lost outside shot has returned. It sounds like Bryce will redshirt but I wonder is we should have him play in light of the 10 game sitdown by Ian. Overall, I think this team is better. Will it win more games? I doubt that we will win more that 16 or 17 because any more wins would require a number of upsets on the road, a prospect that I do not think is in the cards this year. We play Cinn., Dayton, Marquette, Ga. Tech, Memphis, Charlotte, DePaul, Tulane, UAB, TCU, West Virginia, and SMS on the road. We have 15 home games with Butler, Arizona and K State out of conference and tough conference foes like Marquette, Louisville, and Charlotte. If we win 12 home games and 5 or 6 on the road-- you would have a great year. I am currently predicting 17 wins. I might change my tune when I get a look at this team in prectice and in the early season games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted October 23, 2003 Author Share Posted October 23, 2003 I agree with you. I was looking for positive feedback, because I tend to be cautiously opptimistic and sometimes pessimistic until I can guage for myself what kind of team we put on the floor. Is it just me or are we still a year or two away from having a solid team that we're confident about night in and night out. Don't get me wrong, when I say that I don't mean from lack of effort - but, it seems like every year we are guessing (or hoping) that certain players perform certain ways. Last year in particular, I never knew what to expect from the team each game. Sure, we knew MP was the guy who was going to be the offense, but that was a lot of pressure to put on our point guard who happened to play like a 2 guard. I still have questions about IO. I know he amazed me a few times and other times he brought back frightening memories of former billikens. I read someone say that he is still learning basketball over here. That probably is the case as at times he really looked out of sorts, but even if that was the case, there were times when he really looked lost. I never knew if it was nerves or what. As far as Bryant, everybody says he is a good player, but we've heard that many times before. What are we guaging this from? Practice? or his limited time at Nova? Are we just hoping again for him to be a player? I don't know. I'm asking you guys. JJ is another one who we just don't know about. I think Sloan needs to step up and be a leader. If everybody plays with his heart, we'll be competitive. I'd like to see more consistency with Fisher as well. I think this early on, it be tough to say that we'll win more than 15 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeSmetBilliken Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 As far as Reggie Bryant goes, he did play two years with Villanova and logged some good minutes. He averaged just under 10 ppg as a sophomore, which by the way was similar to what Marque Perry averaged as a soph. Last year the coaching staff said that it really is a shame that Marque and Reggie never got to play together in actual games because that would have been special. Everyone who went to practices last year seemed to be impressed with Reggie's play, and Marque himself said once last year that Reggie was better than him. For those reasons, as well as some others that I'm not remembering right now, are why we think that Reggie Bryant will be a major scorer for the Billikens this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted October 23, 2003 Author Share Posted October 23, 2003 that is good to hear about Reggie - that's the kind of stuff I was looking for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Is Reggie a Sr. or a Jr. this year. Don't you lose a year of eligability when you transfer and sit a year. If he played his soph year at Villanova and sat last year that would make him a Sr. this year. Correct me if I am wrong. I thought this was to be his Jr. year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mobile-iken Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Eligibility wise, Reggie is a Junoir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baller44 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 the billikens will be much better than last year. if they play as a team and no one person try's to be the leading scorer every night they will do just fine. their is no one person that can step in and take the role of marque perry. marque shot the ball- alot. is that what we're looking for? if you look at a team like louyville, they never had a legitamate go to guy, yet they were ranked top ten all year. same goes for marquette, arizona, no real go to guy. the go to guy needs to be the hot hand for the night, who ever is stroking the ball that night, who ever has the mismatch inside. once the billikens stop forcing the ball and all of the media and the bills fans stop trying to find out who is going to be the next scorer, thats when the bills will take it to another level. go billikens, lets kick some ass this year. we're way to good to play in the NIT, this year we're only looking to go to the tourney, watch out cincy, louy, memphis, choo choo , the billikens are coming into town, they look like a bunch of body builders, they have been working hard all year long.. this is the express train, no stops, we're choo chooing right to the finals of the conference tourney, then the ncaas. choo choo thats the new anthem for the billikens. we have 6'5 pt guard in slippery like fish, 6'2 combo i'm gettin to the whole no matter whos on me in reggie b., 6'2 combo linebacker ready to take on neone in his way in ant dre, 6'7 wing/ shooter/banger in sloan, 6'10 wing/power finesse forward in zeeek, 6'7 wing/ power jumping j- square, 6'8 power fullback in T. fredricks, (choo choo), 7' center rebounder, shot blocking presence inside in the big i-unit and he is definetly a unit not very athletic but gets the job done in side, we also have the 6' speedy hunt, 6'2 combo damar johnson(athletic) type darren, And last but not least big not gonna be nice byrce, meaning that he is not that aggressive for his 6'10 frame but after a red shirt year and hangin with this very intense billiken team and coaching staff and personal trainers, he'll be bryce not too nice. lets get em bills choo choo, we are the billikens mighty mighty billikens, make way for the bad guys, this is the slu crew!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 baller said, "if you look at a team like louyville, they never had a legitamate go to guy, yet they were ranked top ten all year. same goes for marquette, arizona, no real go to guy." ummmmm, if the likes of reece gaines and duane wade and just about every damm player on the arizona team arent "go to guys", who did have a go to guy? your posts and style have kind of a 3 sided "smell". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Roy I'm going to be laughing about that 3-sided jab the rest of the morning. That West Virginia game is going to be key. If our guys can get the best of them like they did at Savvis, the Billikens stand a very good chance of being 4-0 after the first four games. That would be a nice confidence boost to start off the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 For whatever reason, SLU is playing West Virginia at a neutral site in Charleston and not at their on campus facility in Morgantown. Every little bit helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 deals where we get a home game and then the other team plays a game away from their traditional home-court yet still decidedly in their favor. Kansas, St. Bonnaventure and now West Virginia spring to mind immediately. I wonder why that is. It'd be hard to argue that we are a major draw for these schools and they want to showcase us for their alumni. Maybe they look at our historically awful road record and decide that this is one team you don't need to have the true home-court advantgage to beat. Whatever the case I'm glad its us because 3-Star is right, a W against West Virginia could go a long way. I have it down as an L on my pre-season predictions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I was thinking the same thing after reading the posts from our new poster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baller44 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 yeah well do we have a reece gaines, dwayne wade, or a gardern on the billikens. all i'm saying is that we have talent to match up against neone. we just need to use our mismatches on the court thats all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted October 26, 2003 Author Share Posted October 26, 2003 baller - I appreciate the enthusiasm - stretching it I'd say, but I can't argue with your enthusiasm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Baller ... whats up, on one post you are asking if anyone knows anything about who is doing well ... and on the next you are claiming we have another Gaines or Wade and that we are going to the tourney? You have me confused Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Players who transfer between four-year schools must sit out one year of residence at the new school. If they transfer at the end (or beginning) of an academic year, they lose no eligibility (i.e., if they leave a school after completing their freshman year, they'll be sophomores after sitting out at the new school). If they transfer in mid year, the cost themselves somewhere around 20 games or more (i.e., if they leave a school in December of their sophomore season, they'll be juniors in late December a year later at the new school). The former applies to Reggie Bryant at SLU; the latter applies to Jason Conley at Mizzou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I, too (or three), had the feeling as I read baller44's post that the guy is one-side short of a square. "NE"? Does NE1 (anyone) else think that's strange? If this guy is serious, then his enthusiasm makes me look like a gloom-and-doom pessimist! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicCityBilliken Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I believe the WVU homecourt in Morgantown is being renovated. I do recall from last year, just before the Bills beat WVU, the Mountaineers beat Florida in Charleston. I think Florida was ranked in the top 3 at that time. This made that win over WVU extra special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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