Now that non-conference season is over

[almaman]

For his Billiken career, Mike Crawford is 16 of 40 for 40% behind the arc. McBroom is also 40% for his Billiken career, (72 of 180). Draw your own conclusions.

50%50?

[The Wiz]

50%50?

No...40%40%

[Clock_Tower]

Some comments .....I expect McBroom will disappear during conference time just as last year if only because your conference knows who you are and what you do. Plus it happened last year. So unless something extraordinary happens, Austin should expect a tougher go of it for the rest of the year. Yacoubou appears a nice piece or cog in the machine. I don't know if he can be a leading man right now. I don't recall Kwamain being that "impressive" as a freshman. Good? Yes. But again, let's see what the conference brings. I believe Stallings laid the blueprint --- pack it in, make some Billiken do something outside the lane to beat someone consistently enough to win a game. iIf it were me on defense, I'd beg Reynolds, Robey, Crawford, Bartley, Lancona and Jolly to take a shot --- any shot and often. Don't let McBroom alone. Play Yacoubou to drive. And keep two bodies around Yarbrough when in the paint. You can like Yabrough all you want (I do) but he seems to let emotions drive his game too much right now. I also see Roby and Reynolds taking it bad out there ---- maybe they don't know how to lose given where they came from.

I'm tired of hearing JM playing for his defense. That's stretching for a crumb. And because that's settling. And we've settled now for 7/8's of big John's Billiken career. He and Grandy appear more Soderberg-type recruits ---- turrible. I don't mind Roby but his lack of an offensive game is amplified when on the court with Bartley, Crawford, Lancona, Manning, Agbeko and so on. You can have one, half-filled tire on offense, but not two or three. We're not good enough to compensate for that. Gillmann and Jolly are projects. WARNING WARNING WIL ROBINSON: so too was John Manning. How did that turnout? Are Neufeld and Welmer projects? And Jolly is NOT a freshman --- he played a year at prep school. Bartley has nowhere to go but up. Like his potential and skills. Can't shoot but whatever. Have no clue who or what Miles Reynolds is. And Jolly, Lancona and Agbeko? Well, that's enough mention to be made. And I'll refrain from using the "T" word ---- rhymes with "fransfer."

All in all, I think we're right where I thought we'd be. Problem is, with so many roster spots needing their own individual development, the trials and tribulations are amplified. I'm going to agree with the genius who said Agebko was our most "game ready" recruit last year. Wow! What does that say? But the kids are all great guys and good people. No argument there. So what is it? The coach? If so, right now not too impressed with Crews' recruiting or coaching.

Season two is about to begin.

Taj. I was at the game yesterday and yes, JM did play much better defense than any of our other bigs. At the same time, the problem with this year's team is that we have too many guys with limitations. JM is good on defense but not good on offense. Roby is good on defense but, to date, is not producing on offense. Gillman can pass and shoot the 3 on offense but cannot play interior offense or defense.

A few other thoughts on our team to date:

1. AM's lack of height makes it much easier to shut him down on offense. Sitting only a few rows behind the team's bench, the game looks much different than it does from my normal seats several rows higher or from the view on TV.

2. Same comments with MR. While I am very high on him and his future, there is no way he is 6'2" tall. Again, I do not watch him in practice each day -- but I would have had made him my PG playing him 25 minutes per game and have taken my chances with him.

3. Roby has a real bright future. He has size, athleticism and defense. For all those wanting to take our lumps with a stronger OOC schedule and who say that wins don't matter, be consistent and support guys like Roby who have huge potential in the future even if his present is abit frustrating.

4. We need to establish an interior presence and start pounding the ball inside. What happened to the JM hook shot this year? Keep feeding Reggie. Try playing TL at the 3 and having him post his man up on the inside when AG is in the game playing on the perimeter. Why do we continue to chuck up 3 pointers without much success but are so quick to give up on feeding the ball inside.

5. AM and AY are two of the worst guards at both lacking patience to wait for the pick which is being set for them and failing to use the pick which is being set for them. In essence, they are trying to get open on their own and not only are the results not that great, but the guys who are trying to set the pick for them (usually our bigs) end up frustrated having wasted their time/effort, end up out of position and unable to rebound and are deprived of an offensive opportunity themselves as there is no "roll" in the "pick and roll" and there is no mismatch opportunity for them in that the defense does not need to switch..

6. The biggest difference I see between JC and RM is that RM was a purist and JC is a pragmatist. RM made the kids do things his way and was relentless until we reached perfection. To me the best basketball I have ever seen SLU play was that first half against Romar's Washington Huskies at the Fetz. Prior to reaching this high, we had to endure the lows of under utilizing KL and TL early on, in not making them the focus of the offense as Brad had done, in pushing them so hard that Tommie Liddell wanted to leave and in implementing his precision offense even if caused us to score only 20 points against GW and to only win 12 games. IMO, RM could have easily won more than 16 and 18 games in his first 2 seasons; however, he would have had to compromise his coaching philosophy to do that and we would have suffered the next year as a result. RM truly did not care about losing games or players in the short term in that he knew he would win, and win big, in the long term. In contrast, JC seems more concerned winning in the short term and doing what he believes is necessary to do that. For instance, JC kept alot of RM's offense the last 2 years b/c our veteran team was used to it which made practical sense but there is no way RM would have come in and run JC's offense or any other coach's offense. JC shortened the bench last year and played mostly our Seniors even when guys like Jake Barnett struggled to win last year. We will never know but I do believe that RM would have used and developed our 3 Sophs more than JC did last year and we would be better off this year. JC is being very patient with AM and AY who completely lack patience in running the offense and do not wait for the pick being set. IMO, JC is trying to instruct AM and AY (and others) while still playing them hoping/expecting them to change (b/c JC desperately needs their offense in the short term) but RM would not tolerate such sloppy/selfish play by anyone -- especially his star or better players. Instead, Again, purist v. pragmatist.

[almaman]

from 2 and 6 I'm guessing you'd want to start MR?

[brianstl]

I don't understand how anyone can think we are improving. We are bad and haven't gotten better by any objective measure. We can't shoot, we can't shoot free throws, we can't rebound, can't play defense, we are a bad 3 pt shooting team, we turn the ball over too much, etc.

[kmbilliken]

I don't understand how anyone can think we are improving. We are bad and haven't gotten better by any objective measure. We can't shoot, we can't shoot free throws, we can't rebound, can't play defense, we are a bad 3 pt shooting team, we turn the ball over too much, etc.

Yes, but other than that we're not bad.

[bk18]

RPI FORECAST is predicting a 0.048% chance that we are .500 or greater

http://www.rpiforecast.com/teams/Saint%20Louis.html

Expected record of 10-20

[billikenbill]

RPI FORECAST is predicting a 0.048% chance that we are .500 or greater

http://www.rpiforecast.com/teams/Saint%20Louis.html

Expected record of 10-20

In the pre-season I thought we could get to 9-9 in the league and maybe sneak out a CBI invite. Now it looks likes 6-12 in conference is the best we can hope for. Would really like to see measurable improvement in some phases of the game along with individual player development to have some real hope for next year.

[Billikenboy]

Lets calm our doom and gloom with a little lets wait and see. Season is not over yet!

[slu72]

Unless the SOPHs step it up, assuming they can, we're gonna be lucky to win 4 games in conf play. If, as Clock says, AM is not using screens/picks, that is unforgivable. He's been here two years and should know better. Honestly, I don't know what our offensive scheme is, or if we even have one. Passing the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds is a game of keep away not BB.

[Bizziken]

I certainly don't think we are a good team by any means, but 4-14, 5-13? We better win more than that. The A-10 is awful this year.

I see 7 'winnable' games on the schedule: Duquesne (x2), George Mason (x2), @Fordham, LaSalle, St. Joes. I obviously don't think we'll win all of those, but 4-5 should be expected (especially with 4 games at Chaifetz). Add to that 1-2 games we 'shouldn't win' and we should end up with 6 wins at worst. I think if we finish worse than 5-13 Crews should be on the hot seat.

[slu72]

Crews won't be on the hot seat until next year. If attendance starts a downward trend because we continue to unimpress, the good Dr. will put the pressure on to look for someone who will fill his baby.

[moytoy12]

I just hope it is not after we have dropped alot of conference games and eliminated our chance to be a top team in A10 or win conference outright.

This gave me a good laugh. We are a bad team. Really bad. Horrible. I am completely unimpressed with Crews' work this season. Why the hell has he not identified a pg for the future and given that person more PT? Is it because we don't have one or JC hasn't been able to identify that person? Either way, that is on JC.

MR carries a team to a victory and then sees his time cut drastically? Perhaps as punishment for his lack of D or bad attitude. If it's the former, then JC should bench most of the team.

What in the hell is going on with RA and TL and MC? A wasted class, yet each of them seem to have more talent than many recruits we landed in the past. RA and TL have certainly regressed and MC isn't much better than last year. That's on JC.

JM? Yikes. Regressed. Do we coach up big men at all?

AY is coming around. He's a nice player, but not an all-star.

AM catches too much crap. He's been solid-to-good.

MY is a stud. I love his quotes. I love his emotion as long as it doesn't get too detrimental. I love him as a player. Feed that beast. I have this weird feeling that MY will be one of the guys that transfers. Probably just my Billikens doomsday mentality.

Our offense is unidentifiable. Our defense hasn't improved.

[slufan13]

I certainly don't think we are a good team by any means, but 4-14, 5-13? We better win more than that. The A-10 is awful this year.

I see 7 'winnable' games on the schedule: Duquesne (x2), George Mason (x2), @Fordham, LaSalle, St. Joes. I obviously don't think we'll win all of those, but 4-5 should be expected (especially with 4 games at Chaifetz). Add to that 1-2 games we 'shouldn't win' and we should end up with 6 wins at worst. I think if we finish worse than 5-13 Crews should be on the hot seat.

Thing is we'll win a game or two that we shouldn't but we'll probably lose a game or two that we shouldn't. That's expected for all teams really

[Dwayne's_World]

This gave me a good laugh. We are a bad team. Really bad. Horrible. I am completely unimpressed with Crews' work this season. Why the hell has he not identified a pg for the future and given that person more PT? Is it because we don't have one or JC hasn't been able to identify that person? Either way, that is on JC.

MR carries a team to a victory and then sees his time cut drastically? Perhaps as punishment for his lack of D or bad attitude. If it's the former, then JC should bench most of the team.

What in the hell is going on with RA and TL and MC? A wasted class, yet each of them seem to have more talent than many recruits we landed in the past. RA and TL have certainly regressed and MC isn't much better than last year. That's on JC.

JM? Yikes. Regressed. Do we coach up big men at all?

AY is coming around. He's a nice player, but not an all-star.

AM catches too much crap. He's been solid-to-good.

MY is a stud. I love his quotes. I love his emotion as long as it doesn't get too detrimental. I love him as a player. Feed that beast. I have this weird feeling that MY will be one of the guys that transfers. Probably just my Billikens doomsday mentality.

Our offense is unidentifiable. Our defense hasn't improved.

The optimist in me wants to think otherwise, but the pessimist in me is starting to agree with you and others on the board. I don't know if the whole Crews experiment will pan out, but I really hope it does.

[MB73]

Until Vanderbilt, I somehow thought we could scrounge up 18 wins or so. It does not look good at all.

I have always stated, for our situation especially, BIGS are the key. Deep, diverse, experienced BIGS.

Majerus knew that and changed our program. When BC, RL, CE, DE, CR, and GG got some experience, we hit our peak.

Unfortunately, Majerus was unable to keep the recruiting going due to his health, so here we are with a huge BIGS gap, the only somewhat experienced BIG is JM, a role player.

BIGS.

Guards are easy.

BIGS, especially for a non power conference team like us, limited to 2* and 3* recruits, are the key, and they need experience and need to gain physical strength.

Our three freshmen BIGS seem to be high potential, but they are freshmen, and our two very inexperienced two sophomore BIGS might come through.

So let's understand this and understand that this is a transition year, a developmental year.

[slu72]

This gave me a good laugh. We are a bad team. Really bad. Horrible. I am completely unimpressed with Crews' work this season. Why the hell has he not identified a pg for the future and given that person more PT? Is it because we don't have one or JC hasn't been able to identify that person? Either way, that is on JC.

MR carries a team to a victory and then sees his time cut drastically? Perhaps as punishment for his lack of D or bad attitude. If it's the former, then JC should bench most of the team.

What in the hell is going on with RA and TL and MC? A wasted class, yet each of them seem to have more talent than many recruits we landed in the past. RA and TL have certainly regressed and MC isn't much better than last year. That's on JC.

JM? Yikes. Regressed. Do we coach up big men at all?

AY is coming around. He's a nice player, but not an all-star.

AM catches too much crap. He's been solid-to-good.

MY is a stud. I love his quotes. I love his emotion as long as it doesn't get too detrimental. I love him as a player. Feed that beast. I have this weird feeling that MY will be one of the guys that transfers. Probably just my Billikens doomsday mentality.

Our offense is unidentifiable. Our defense hasn't improved.

Moy, why should he leave? He's playing, leading, and getting ink. Now, if he thinks we're just not gonna cut it in the future, ie be a losing team and he'd rather be on a winner, who wouldn't, then I can understand. But he'd also be saying to his brother Freshmen, you guys suck, and I don't want to play for a losing program. If he does leave, I fear our program is hitting the skids.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Crews won't be on the hot seat until next year. If attendance starts a downward trend because we continue to unimpress, the good Dr. will put the pressure on to look for someone who will fill his baby.

Chaifetz Arena is not Dr. Chaifetz's "baby." His donation secured him naming rights, but SLU still owns the arena.

[Dwayne's_World]

Chaifetz Arena is not Dr. Chaifetz's "baby." His donation secured him naming rights, but SLU still owns the arena.

Maybe he was referring to good ol' Fred?

[slu72]

Chaifetz Arena is not Dr. Chaifetz's "baby." His donation secured him naming rights, but SLU still owns the arena.

His name, his $12 mil, his surrogate baby. That ok?

[2010andBeyond]

This gave me a good laugh. We are a bad team. Really bad. Horrible. I am completely unimpressed with Crews' work this season. Why the hell has he not identified a pg for the future and given that person more PT? Is it because we don't have one or JC hasn't been able to identify that person? Either way, that is on JC.

MR carries a team to a victory and then sees his time cut drastically? Perhaps as punishment for his lack of D or bad attitude. If it's the former, then JC should bench most of the team.

What in the hell is going on with RA and TL and MC? A wasted class, yet each of them seem to have more talent than many recruits we landed in the past. RA and TL have certainly regressed and MC isn't much better than last year. That's on JC.

JM? Yikes. Regressed. Do we coach up big men at all?

AY is coming around. He's a nice player, but not an all-star.

AM catches too much crap. He's been solid-to-good.

MY is a stud. I love his quotes. I love his emotion as long as it doesn't get too detrimental. I love him as a player. Feed that beast. I have this weird feeling that MY will be one of the guys that transfers. Probably just my Billikens doomsday mentality.

Our offense is unidentifiable. Our defense hasn't improved.

Please explain how john manning has regressed. Was he good last year? The year before? Yeah he got a few open dunks because the other team would occaisonally leave the 9th man in open. Manning actually had a pretty good game today, but I'm more interested in how it's crews's fault the sophomores aren't any good.

[slu72]

Please explain how john manning has regressed. Was he good last year? The year before? Yeah he got a few open dunks because the other team would occaisonally leave the 9th man in open. Manning actually had a pretty good game today, but I'm more interested in how it's crews's fault the sophomores aren't any good.

He recruited them. He's coached them for almost two years. Only MC has been a bright spot, albeit a dim one. The other two- nada, zilch, etc. I can't explain it. But if you watched RA today, that was as pitiful a 5 minutes as you'll ever see in a D1 game. Agreed JM had one of his better games, maybe his best this year.

[moytoy12]

Please explain how john manning has regressed. Was he good last year? The year before? Yeah he got a few open dunks because the other team would occaisonally leave the 9th man in open. Manning actually had a pretty good game today, but I'm more interested in how it's crews's fault the sophomores aren't any good.

JM can't/doesn't rebound. He has no offensive game whereas last year we saw jump shots made and hook shots made/.

The sophomores are worse this year than last year. If any or all of them transfer I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Miles Reynolds can play but has been lost in the bench.

I didn't expect JC to work miracles, but I'm not impressed with the job he has done. That's saying a lot given that I had little to no expectations. JC has beat my expectations and not in a good way.

[MB73]

JM can't/doesn't rebound. He has no offensive game whereas last year we saw jump shots made and hook shots made/.

The sophomores are worse this year than last year. If any or all of them transfer I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Miles Reynolds can play but has been lost in the bench.

I didn't expect JC to work miracles, but I'm not impressed with the job he has done. That's saying a lot given that I had little to no expectations. JC has beat my expectations and not in a good way.

Stop it. Show some class.

I expected this, and sure enough, the trolls are going after JC. He didn't shoot 16% from "3" land today.

I remember a lot of people attacking Majerus viciously, saying he was incompetent, mocking his weight and even his medical condition (on blood thinner when he got cut during a game), everything.

We are better than this. We are Billiken fans and most of us graduated from SLU.

JC has 6 talented freshmen, freshmen who he recruited. Our sophs are not very experienced, and are disappointing so far and JM is our only BIG who is an upperclassman. It is a complete rebuilding year. There was a gap in Majerus's recruiting as his health failed.

Majerus showed us that we need experienced BIGS to win, deep (BC, CE, RL, CR, GG, DE), diverse, and Majerus was fortunate that they got a lot of playing time as underclassmen and therefore they improved more quickly, though it was painful for awhile. We have nothing close to that at this point.

Jim Crews is an excellent coach and a quality individual, a good man, a class act.

So stop it.

[doowop]

Moy, why should he leave? He's playing, leading, and getting ink. Now, if he thinks we're just not gonna cut it in the future, ie be a losing team and he'd rather be on a winner, who wouldn't, then I can understand. But he'd also be saying to his brother Freshmen, you guys suck, and I don't want to play for a losing program. If he does leave, I fear our program is hitting the skids.

I was thinking about Yarbrough leaving (to play with better players)but, I think he will stay because he is close to Yacoubou.