GDT: TAMCC NBD LSMFT

[ARon]

Manning shouldn't get anymore minutes whatsoever. He is a goober.

I'm not going to pile on Manning. I'm confused why he got so much playing time and I'll leave it at that.

Anyone else worried that this coaching staff can't coach bigs? Edited November 24, 2014 by ARon

[kmbilliken]

McBroom's minutes need to be dialed back. He is a decent spot up shooter, but that's about it. Reynold's minutes need to be dialed up.

[WVBilliken]

Why the lack of minutes for AG. Did not see this game but saw the first two. AG looked good in these games. Same with MC, low minutes, why?

[BigMouthBilliken]

I agree. I expected more of Ash due to the hype, but he cannot seem to finish on many drives. Also hasn't dominated like I had hoped, especially against average teams

[Pistol]

Oof. I knew we'd have some painful stumbles this year and knew it'd happen soon, but I didn't see it coming in this game.

Were any recruits in attendance? I sure hope not.

[thetorch]

SLU is all time 5-3 against Southland opponents. Southland is typically one of the worst conferences in D-1 basketball. ALl of those games are home buy games as well. Maybe we should quit scheduling these guys.

[Billboy1]

Sorry but you just cannot lose to this kind of team no matter how many underclassmen. The big men need to clog the middle more they had way too many drives that went uncontested..Hope the development ramps up.

[kmbilliken]

That wasn't a bad team. They are more athletic and better shooters than we are.

[Billboy1]

Really don't think they were more athletic.

[slufan13]

I expected a bad loss or two during the non-conference schedule from such a young and inexperienced team, but I'm still disappointed in yesterday's performance. Young teams should still hit free throws. Your 2 upperclassmen were tied for the most turnovers. I also question Gillmann, Crawford, and Reynolds not seeing much playing time. I also was surprised of the Bartley, McBroom, and Yacoubou backcourt down the stretch when Roby had knocked down multiple 3's earlier in the game.

Grandy might be the only real leader this team has. They need him back. And I hope he's a "in your face" type leader too.

McBroom is not a point guard. I hope people understand that now. He's very valuable as a shooter, but I'd like to see more of Reynolds and Bartley handling the ball. Also thought McBroom lost his man multiple times behind the arc.

Giving Ash a break because he sat out a year, but he needs to finish a lot better.

Agbeko has some really good post moves, but can't seem to make the shot.

Jolly isn't the strongest but he plays tough. He needs to pass out of the post though.

Too much passing around on offense with no real intention. And then too much just trying to take your man off the dribble. Ash, McBroom, Bartley, Crawford, and Roby all did this and got themselves into bad spots. Run some offense.

Did like Agbeko's play. Thought Reynolds was good. Lancona cleaned up around the basket. Like Crawford running the baseline and hitting that 17 footer. Roby looks like he can be a big shot type player. Yarbrough still looks like he could be a stud.

Predicting a wakeup call and a 20 point win on Tuesday.

[Littlebill]

Giving Ash a break because he sat out a year, but he needs to finish a lot better.

We can't forget how Kwamain was fresh off of his year off. Trouble with finishing layups and shots he normally made was a tough thing for him in the first few games, but he got it back eventually

[slu72]

One comment Highmark made yesterday that was on ball screens the ball handlers were leaving too much space between the screener and the defender. It reminded me of a Rick story when he was at Utah. Trying to demonstrate what he wanted off a ball screen he dropped his sweats and to show them what 6 inches meant. I hope JC pays this much attention to the little details, no pun intended, that RM was so famous for teaching.

We all know this is a very inexperienced squad with a lot of guys getting their first taste of D1 ball. It showed yesterday. But even top teams like Cuse, KY, UNC have lost games against early season opponents they were supposed to swat like a gnat. Way too early to say the sky is falling, and, realistically, who on here didn't think the sky would fall a number of times this season? The coaches will use this as a teaching opportunity, let's hope the Billikids take the lessons to heart.

[Billiken Rich]

Too much passing around on offense with no real intention. And then too much just trying to take your man off the dribble. Ash, McBroom, Bartley, Crawford, and Roby all did this and got themselves into bad spots. Run some offense.

THIS!

[moytoy12]

Too much passing around on offense with no real intention. And then too much just trying to take your man off the dribble. Ash, McBroom, Bartley, Crawford, and Roby all did this and got themselves into bad spots. Run some offense.

Looked a lot like the Soderberg offense. I expected a lot more out of JM, RA, and TL. Not sure what has happened there. Our offense just isn't good and I don't know where the "fix" is for it. Hopefully, it's a matter of time and Freshmen maturation.

[hsmith19]

We can't forget how Kwamain was fresh off of his year off. Trouble with finishing layups and shots he normally made was a tough thing for him in the first few games, but he got it back eventually

I actually think this got exaggerated at the time and gets even more exaggerated in hindsight. His junior season ended up pretty much in line with his sophomore season overall, and then he dropped off sharply as a senior. The injury problems his senior year turned out to be a much bigger problem than any rust factor his junior year.

[Dwayne's_World]

Passing seemed VERY slow to me. The ball was being moved around on the perimeter by McBroom, Ash, and the other guards, but every time a pass was received there was no open lane for a drive. And when Ash, McBroom, or someone else DID drive, they got clogged and had nowhere to go.

Another observation, why were there so few three point shots taken? Did Gillman even step up to take a single three? McBroom was 0-4, not good. Ash and Roby made several, which was good to see, but I expected to see more taken down the stretch because we were shooting decent percentage on those overall.

The offense just stalled with about 10 minutes left in the game. Players were dribbling the ball too much rather than relying on quick, crisp passes. I think Ash turned it over too many times during that span, no excuse for that. Another thing that boggled me was that MY made two very good drives with about 30 seconds left (when it was already too late). Why didn't he do that from the very start of the game? Crews needs to let Milik be more prominent in the offense from the get-go.

Defense slacked down the stretch. Too many wide open looks for CC. That needs to be fixed.

The good news is, the team is very young and these are the kind of mistakes we expected them to make. They will learn and get better. Here's some fresh kool-aid for you: just make the A-10 tourney, win, and move on the Dance. Every other A10 team except VCU/RI looks to be struggling right now, it will be an interesting stretch in conference play.

[hsmith19]

Another observation, why were there so few three point shots taken?

That was my big gripe as well. Even though McBroom was having a rough game, I would have liked to have seen him keep throwing them up, a la Cody Ellis. Many people on here have talked about expecting this team to live and die with the 3 offensively, so it was disappointing (especially late) to see so few attempted, and see so many guys continue to settle for ill-advised drives to the hoop and poorly executed layups.

[slufan13]

Another thing that boggled me was that MY made two very good drives with about 30 seconds left (when it was already too late). Why didn't he do that from the very start of the game? Crews needs to let Milik be more prominent in the offense from the get-go.

Agree with this. He made one really bad turnover and then was on the bench for 10 minutes straight. McBroom and Bartley both had some really bad turnovers as well, but didn't really get punished like that.

I highly question Crews and Co.'s lineup combinations and decisions yesterday. Seems like they went away with what worked in the first 2 games and they are substituting too often as it is. Not much continuity out there at points.

[BigMouthBilliken]

We either drive for the lay-up or shoot threes. We need some jump shots, and NO Manning's ugly front-end rim shot doesn't count.

[Billiken Rich]

That was my big gripe as well. Even though McBroom was having a rough game, I would have liked to have seen him keep throwing them up, a la Cody Ellis. Many people on here have talked about expecting this team to live and die with the 3 offensively, so it was disappointing (especially late) to see so few attempted, and see so many guys continue to settle for ill-advised drives to the hoop and poorly executed layups.

By the same token I don't want to see a three jacked up the first 5 seconds into the shok clock, since our rebounding is not great.....

Our offense is not clicking yet. Too many drives and jacked up shots for foul calls we won't always get.....

[slufan13]

Don't get me wrong, I still think Ash is our best player and McBroom can go off any game (see SIUC), but those 2 combined for 6 turnovers yesterday and our 6 freshmen combined for 7. That probably shouldn't happen from those 2.

[Dwayne's_World]

That was my big gripe as well. Even though McBroom was having a rough game, I would have liked to have seen him keep throwing them up, a la Cody Ellis. Many people on here have talked about expecting this team to live and die with the 3 offensively, so it was disappointing (especially late) to see so few attempted, and see so many guys continue to settle for ill-advised drives to the hoop and poorly executed layups.

Do you think the lack of threes might have had something to do with the lack of an inside presence by our bigs? It seemed like they were consistently getting blocked out in the middle and so the passes were unable to get inside. Again, that factor might be due to the slow passing. If the bigs can have more of an inside presence, that will open up the three point shot on the outside by drawing the defense inwards. But it just seemed like we were not drawing them in at all yesterday.

[slufan13]

Do you think the lack of threes might have had something to do with the lack of an inside presence by our bigs? It seemed like they were consistently getting blocked out in the middle and so the passes were unable to get inside. Again, that factor might be due to the slow passing. If the bigs can have more of an inside presence, that will open up the three point shot on the outside by drawing the defense inwards. But it just seemed like we were not drawing them in at all yesterday.

Somewhat. But the slow passing definitely didn't help. Reverse the ball quick and with purpose and a post player can get position on his man. But as I said in another thread, I'd like to see our big men pass the ball out of the post more. Teams are collapsing on some of our more inexperienced guys and they're turning it over or forcing a bad shot.

[The Pelican]

Somewhat. But the slow passing definitely didn't help. Reverse the ball quick and with purpose and a post player can get position on his man. But as I said in another thread, I'd like to see our big men pass the ball out of the post more. Teams are collapsing on some of our more inexperienced guys and they're turning it over or forcing a bad shot.

I would agree with this. Passing with purpose and using the movements to set up the offensive scheme. I feel like we are lacking this sense of direction. I also agree with whoever commented about the ball screens. They seem weak and almost like they are just going through the motions.

The defensive prowess of the Majerus man-to-man scheme is missed. I know the young guys struggle to pick up this system which shows early on but you really miss it when it's gone. I will be curious to see how Crews' system works out long term. It's hard to watch crisp well executed basketball disappear in a matter of 7 months. Shows the need for balance in the classes.

These are some very talented kids and I am really looking forward to watching them grow. As they mature and mold they will be special just like our recent graduates.

[cgeldmacher]

Anyone else worried that this coaching staff can't coach bigs?

Not at all. Bigs are typically the slowest to develop and the furthest behind the curve when coming out of high school, and, yet, AG & BJ have looked surprisingly on top of their responsibilities on both ends of the court. Remember when there was all of that ridiculous discussion about AG redshirting without anything to base it on, and now folks are questioning, correctly IMO, why he's not getting more playing time. When a player comes right out of high school and immediately starts to contribute, that's not a fluke and it's not based upon what they learned in high school or AAU ball. It is directly caused by the coaching staff preparing them to play.

We can't blame the coaching staff for one player's failure to develop over four years. That being said, I have always been a defender of the big clumsy kid who doesn't seem like he belongs, because, typically, that kid will give make decent contributions in his junior year and have a very solid senior season. The only reason to put up with their learning curve early on is because you are developing him for the future. At this point, it pains me to say this, but there is nothing we need to develop or can develop with JM anymore. If we are getting the same or better from AG and BJ and playing them will help their development down the road, we need to consider whether we should be using precious playing time on these two freshman rather than someone who won't be here next year.

I will shake JM's hand and thank him for the hard work and time he has spent on the team and pat him on the back if/when he gets his diploma, but sometimes a kid just doesn't pan out over four years. I think the staff needs to recognize that it's time to move young at that position. RIght now, I question playing time, not the staff's ability to coach the bigs.