Trouble. Right Here in River City.

[Taj79]

Well, we have reached the halfway point of the OOC with today's loss to Wichita State. Eight down, seven to go. Here's what I've seen and what I saw today .......

We got nothing outside the four seniors. And what we have there is somewhat limited. Evans is aces, but he can be neutralized because of the shortcomings elsewhere. Is McCall an outside shooter? Because if you believe Doug Gottleib, McCall is a slasher and best off the drive -- not spotting up. No big deal but lets believe it's true. We got trouble then because the lane is Evansland and this is where McCall wants to go. Jett is Jett. Sure, he threw in a late three and I think an even later a deuce, but if we are relying on him as our outside game, we got trouble as noted in the title. Plus, he's a slasher who I've always considered better at the rim --- although he is not doing so much finishing this year as he has in the past. Loe is Loe and he is who he is but he's been nothing but solid so far this year.

The early returns on Glaze having a Conklin summer and being all that much better have evaporated as the talent level of the opponents has risen. As for Manning, while I like what he brings on defense, he seems lost and reluctant on offense. And that's not all on him --- we don't exactly seem to have any plan or knowledge as to how to feed a traditional post player whatsoever. Which seems to be the same for our ability to attack a zone defense. Manning fouled out in 11 minutes today. And when he's in there, he's clogging up Evansland as well. Can anybody make a three and allow freer roaming in Evansland? Our 3FG% coming in today was 31.5%. Today we shoot 26.5%. Our track record is 16%, 42%, 32%, 29%, 47%, 27% and 31%. So against both ranked teams, we get choked up. Not a trait of senioritis.

McBroom will get passing grades but he seems the one most likely to fire an ill-advised shot more times than anyone else. Why wasn't he seen in the second half late today as time wound down? I think Bay Area mentioned an offense-for-defense trade. Because Barnett is adding little to nothing on offense. Sure he did indeed clang a free throw but the airball three to tie seems to summarize things best -- especially under the guise of him as a shooter. Hey, the kid hustles and makes a few steals and grabs some rebounds but Gottleib also said Wichita knew to get the ball to whomever Barnett was covering because, well, he couldn't.

And forget the freshmen contributing at all in anything meaningful. Agbeko got six minutes with one rebound and one assist. Lancona got two minutes and looked horribly out of his element. For as bad some believe Barnett is and has played, Mike Crawford is nowhere near the court so I don't see him as an option there. So they will likely carry the bags for a year and then we'll be discussing new items come next year: instead of five returning "starters" we can talk about five returning "enigmas."

While I am happy to be six and two at this point, today's game demonstrated just how weak we really are. A ten point lead followed by a seven or eight minute scoreless stretch. We went up seven late only to have no clue or real option on where to go from there. The trending arrow is not looking good right now. Good thing we have a few cupcakes coming up. There is a lot of cleaning up to do just so we are competitive in the A10, forget the national rankings for the rest of 2013 and likely beyond. The thrill of having four starters and four seniors back is gone.

I guess we should coast until the next big test --- home against Indiana State. Unless we have trouble at Valpo. Just does not look real good given these two games against top teams. Six point loss or five point loss --- key word is L-O-S-S.

[slu72]

Taj Mahal79, I doubt many would disagree w/ your assessment of what's transpired so far. However, leaving deadwood on the floor for so long in the 2nd half, ie JB, has us all mystified. At least AM would have had some chance of hitting a key shot. JB not a chance from what we've seen to this point.

[NextYearBill]

for better or for worse I get excited when AB is on the court. when jake is on the court, I think about how the game is essentially over

[pretty_ricky]

I miss the observations from a Maryland couch. They were more happy

[Taj79]

Those were from a Maryland couch, ricky. And I expect a full blasting from kshoe.

The skills just seem lacking right now. I am guessing the issue with replacing what Ellis and Mitchell brought to the floor is what is sorely lacking right now. I see Lancona trying to be the spot up shooter but that is way too much to expect from such an inexperience frosh. I can see some of Mitchell in McBroom but just not the savvy fifth-year senior leadership. And none of these new guys had an iota or millisecond of Rick.

The best news is we lost to #10 and #12 but if we aspire to those heights and those rankings, we will be sorely hard-pressed to realize it. It seems those teams are willing to let Evans, Jett and McCall and especially Barnett shoot it from distance. That is playing right into our weakness right now. I have long lamented the loss of basketball skills in today's college games. We seem to be more of that beast than not.

[West Pine Jim]

There is just no substitute for the ability to shoot the basketball, is there ?

[willie]

I agree that this team does not have that automatic shooter. The guy who if you leave alone is money. Of course most teams don't have that guy .I'm hoping Tanner may be that guy next year.

[NextYearBill]

if you left anyone on this team alone theyd be money. anyone alone on this team IN A GAME may not be money. these kids lack ice in their blood

[TheOldie]

Did we signed any pure shooters during the Fall signing period?

[willie]

I'm not sure I agree with your statement that they would be money in any circumstance. I was very early for today's game and watched warmups. I did not see great shooting. I did not see any Erwin Clagetts out there except maybe Tanner. Mike is a good shooter but not a great shooter.

[AlumniFan]

Really? We lost to two top 15 teams in close games. Not to mention that we played THREE tough games this week AND travelled to a foreign country. We have won other OOC games decisively. Today's game could have gone either way...easily. Wisconsin was not too terribly far from that had a few more shots fallen.

I was very upset today, but I think you are being overly negative. The end is not nigh. And, I will take Lancona, Agbeko, and Crawford any day. They are good and will get better.

If we had been blown out by either of these top (10 after this week) 15 teams, then I would put on my chicken little uniform too, but today was no Santa Clara. It was a day when we did not catch the breaks.

P.S. having the, ahem, "officials" calling TEN fouls on our two bigs was a joke and an affront to Mr. Naismith.

[JettFlight5]

Really? We lost to two top 15 teams in close games. Not to mention that we played THREE tough games this week AND travelled to a foreign country. We have won other OOC games decisively. Today's game could have gone either way...easily. Wisconsin was not too terribly far from that had a few more shots fallen.

I was very upset today, but I think you are being overly negative. The end is not nigh. And, I will take Lancona, Agbeko, and Crawford any day. They are good and will get better.

If we had been blown out by either of these top (10 after this week) 15 teams, then I would put on my chicken little uniform too, but today was no Santa Clara. It was a day when we did not catch the breaks.

P.S. having the, ahem, "officials" calling TEN fouls on our two bigs was a joke and an affront to Mr. Naismith.

Close or not, it's still a loss. Lot to clean up right now.

[AlumniFan]

Close or not, it's still a loss. Lot to clean up right now.

No doubt, but this is still a very good team. A little better shooting this week and we are all talking about our chances of an undefeated season.

[JettFlight5]

No doubt, but this is still a very good team. A little better shooting this week and we are all talking about our chances of an undefeated season.

This is a good basketball team playing bad basketball. It can be fixed.

[slufan13]

Yeah no good losses.

This team is missing a leader. I thought it'd be Evans but I don't know maybe he just doesn't play the right position to he the on court leader.

Evans needs the ball more. He's unstoppable going baseline. Also Evans must hit that 18 footer like 80% of the time in practice because he keeps shooting in but I haven't seen it go in this season.

This team isn't as deep as I thought. Manning has actually been decent and I think we all want to see more of McBroom but other than that it's not much. There's nothing else to say about Barnett. Glaze is truly an energy guy and that's it. He still looks lost and out of control but he's been ok. Agbeko seems to struggle with off ball defense. He's always late to get back to his guy. Lancona looks ok but outside of 1 game he hasn't really done anything. I guess I underestimated the loss of last year's seniors. Having Jett and Ellis come off the bench was huge. I know they both played starters minutes or close to it but it still made is deeper. Kwamain was a great player and a great leader. I don't see anyone on this team really get at each other on the court. If someone screwed up last year Kwamain was there yelling at them or coaching them. Same with Ellis. Kwamain wouldn't have let those huge runs go against us. He would have drove to the basket against the WSU players with foul trouble. Hell even Remekun could be counted on to go out there and know what to do. I just hope our bench gets better as the season goes on. We can't keep losing these games that give us quality wins. Jett needs to step up. Not sure what's wrong with him. McCall was really good today especially defensively. One of them needs to step up as a leader.

[NextYearBill]

1 Fri, Nov 9, 2012 REG South Carolina Upstate A-Sun W 76 59 1 0

W 1 2 Wed, Nov 14, 2012 REG Santa Clara WCC L 62 74 1 1 L 1 3

Mon, Nov 19, 2012 REG N Texas A&M SEC W 70 49 2 1 W 1 4

Tue, Nov 20, 2012 REG N Kansas Big 12 L 59 73 2 2 L 1 5

Sat, Nov 24, 2012 REG Southern Illinois MVC W 61 51 3 2 W 1 6

Wed, Nov 28, 2012 REG @ Washington Pac-12 L 61 66 3 3 L 1

3-3 after 6

some of us need to just look at this.... ill exhale tonight

[AlumniFan]

This is a good basketball team playing bad basketball. It can be fixed.

I would amend that slightly to "a good team playing bad basketball at times, albeit critical times..." Playing bad basketball against a top ten team will get you killed.

[JettFlight5]

I would amend that slightly to "a good team playing bad basketball at times, albeit critical times..." Playing bad basketball against a top ten team will get you killed.

I would amend that slightly to "a good team playing bad basketball at times, albeit critical times..." Playing bad basketball against a top ten team will get you killed.

The idea is more or less the same. It just seems like a lot of worst case scenarios all hitting at the same time.

[AlumniFan]

My son just told me that Jay Bilas said our game was the worst officiated game he has ever seen. Anyone else her this?

[kshoe]

Taj, I didn't see anything particularly objectionable in your post other than you relying on gottlieb for a take on McCall. You've seen mike for 4 years now and you give two shits what gottlieb says about him after he watches tape for a few days? Come on man!

We are due for one of your patented 7-9 predictions/projections. Every time we get one of those the bills go on an insane run. Can we get one?

[SLUfan_42]

My son just told me that Jay Bilas said our game was the worst officiated game he has ever seen. Anyone else her this?

I felt like I was watching a UFC match at times

[TheA_Bomb]

I wanted a win at home too but I'm not freaking out just yet. 3-3 last year we were freaking out but the team recovered and went on to win the A10. I think this team will too although the A10 is looking deeper and tougher right now.

I do disagree with your assessment of the players outside the seniors. We have more talent then ever. We do miss Mitchell. It struck me today that a team "Leader" is better if it is a PG that can hit the 3 late or a dominate inside banger than can be fed and always counted on to get to the hoop. We don't have that we do have Evans. I think he is a great player but he is neither of those things. He doesn't hit 3s with consistency and he can get to the hoop but is too undersized to dominate inside. Maybe I'm over thinking and 2 or 3 more made 3pt FGs we'd all be dancing in the streets.

[JettFlight5]

I wanted a win at home too but I'm not freaking out just yet. 3-3 last year we were freaking out but the team recovered and went on to win the A10. I think this team will too although the A10 is looking deeper and tougher right now.

I do disagree with your assessment of the players outside the seniors. We have more talent then ever. We do miss Mitchell. It struck me today that a team "Leader" is better if it is a PG that can hit the 3 late or a dominate inside banger than can be fed and always counted on to get to the hoop. We don't have that we do have Evans. I think he is a great player but he is neither of those things. He doesn't hit 3s with consistency and he can get to the hoop but is too undersized to dominate inside. Maybe I'm over thinking and 2 or 3 more made 3pt FGs we'd all be dancing in the streets.

The talent level is as high as it's ever been. I don't know of a Billiken team with this many options. They just need to play to that a little bit more.

[majerus mojo]

My son just told me that Jay Bilas said our game was the worst officiated game he has ever seen. Anyone else her this?

Mid-game tweet:

JayBilas7h

A festival of uncalled fouls in the Saint Louis-Wichita State game. So far, poor officiating limiting good players from making plays.

[AlumniFan]

Mid-game tweet:

JayBilas7h

A festival of uncalled fouls in the Saint Louis-Wichita State game. So far, poor officiating limiting good players from making plays.

Hmmm... I wonder what exactly that means in the context of our observation of the officials hurting the Bill's ability to play today.