Taj79 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 ... the couch is a lot softer. First off, enjoyed the afternoon (if not the actual game) with Bay Area. He is much more vocal than I and I had to reel it in at halftime .. felt the vocal chords starting to wane and the hoarseness taking over. Didn't want to lose all ability to speak as dinner with good friends and an old floormate was in the offing. The alumni reception was the usual first-class Meg-fest. Representing the U were Janet Oberle, Chris May and Kent Porterfield. Meg said about 130 Billiken alums, etc., would be in attendance. A lot of young alumni --living the dream created by these last three years of great ball. The game: what game? As we all know, FU came out and took an immediate 12 to 0 lead. While the guys showed some tremendous heart and fought back to a 33 all tie at the 19:06 mark of the second half, we just never could get over the hump our horrid start put us in. I guess it is testimony to how teams can and do comeback, but many eventually spend the whole bank roll on the comeback trail, that when they get there, and they seem to think "whew, made it," and then naturally relax and are behind again. But to lose by almost 20 to the FU team? No FU way. The refs: for the life of me, I can't understand how this is a foul and that is not. A lot of it is perception and line of sight stuff but at one point in the second half, one guy was calling a FU charge while the other was calling the same play a SLU block. And we all know how that went. I watched the tape again last night. Crawford clocked Paschall on one play on the near steal. They missed it. The first FU shot of the game was a bunny miss by Rhoomes. The foul call on Gillmann was after the ball was put back up on the offensive rebound. Guys are getting mugged inside but the inadvertant push on the outside is the real foul. Say what? I think the 28 to 18 disadvantage we enjoyed in fouls called, plus the 23 minus side on free throws attempted says it all. Of course, in their defense, the mantra is to never foul a jump shooter and given that our first 12 points came on threes, well, you see where that is going. FU: played tremendously out of their heads and while they always seem to fade, they did not this time. I know they are like the worst shooting team or so in the A10, but they shot 50/41/77 from the field, three and free throw line. They came out psyched; I think the feeling on FU was this was the only chance they'd have to win in the A10 all year. They only have three home games left and other than Duquesne, I don't see them beating St. Joe's or La Salle. But who knows? If they play like Saturday, it could happen. The game was their "white out game" (anybody wanting an FU white out shirt, PM me with your bid); and they had some sort of awards/induction ceremony at half time. Rose Hill was at 89.7% capacity. Is our ability to defend that bad? All I can believe is the planets all aligned just perfectly for them. Also, my use of "FU" is in tribute to them -- seems the Jebbies have banned all things "FU" ... for obvious reasons. Actually having an "FU" shirt or hat is cherished and prized. Pecora: one thing is true, he gets players. Gaston, Frazier, Fontaine, Severe, Paschall and Sengfelder, to name a few. His problem seems to be the individual pieces just can't seem to win on the floor. And then again, add Sengfelder onto our list of creating stars in the 6'7" range. Severe has toned it down some and is better for it. He is another example of letting the game come to him. And then there is Paschall. Paschallwill likely be A10 Rookie of the Year. And all these kids have at least two year of eligibility left. Oh and Ryan Canty, 6'9" center from MA, is redshirting on a medical year. That is not a bad roster to have IMO. Crews: he was animated, into the game. I think he was coaching his arse off but I can't hear him so I don't know if he was calm and cool or not. I have to admit that I am confused about some of the techniques we "enjoy." We all know the no-players-on-the-free-throw lane strategy. Add to that the in-bounds "play" to throw it three-quarters court. Hell, even FU ran a play under their basket that got them a layup. Why can't we do that? Plus I don't know what our offense is all about. The motion can be constant and very mesmerizing but its not "leading" us to anything. Eventually, we seem to have to be forced into something --- with many of those forces ending up with Jolly and Gillmann having the ball, on the perimter, with no hope of hitting anything or Roby and Yacoubou driving into no man's land with less than five on said clock. I just don't get it. The players: We have no inside game whatsoever -- and maybe that is because none of our bigmen are yet capable. Gillmann is incredibly slow on the help defense; he gets there but invariably the smaller guard goes right on by and scores a layup as Austin is the pick for his own man covering. I also think Crews has a very quick hook. Some might describe Yacoubou out of control Saturday; he had 30+ family members there and was obviously jacked. But the quick hook just seems to prevent consistency and makes kids play in fear. I used to get pissed at Grawer doing that to Douglass. The offense might look like Dayton's but we don't have all the guys able to take the shot if open --- especially if Reggie has the ball on the perimter. Same to a lesser degree with Gillmann and Jolly. And John Manning. Speaking of John: See ya! All the advances John has made lo these last four years makes me leery to believe Gillmann and Jolly will develop any as well. Then add Welmer and Neufeld. Plus Lancona. And Reggie. Why would anyone assume this guy or that guy will be any better come next year or two down the road? There were many instances where the help defense did its job, with guys hedging out, backline recovery help porovided and then recovering the guy you left. And there were not. Again, the inconsistency of youth, I guess. The defense needs to come a long way --- yes, 28 fouls but many were committed by omitting your job on defense. I think Yarbrough's third or fourth foul was a keen example of that and standing around. And back to an old statement I made about freshmen getting it, Terry Larrier of VCU and our kids: We are not getting it and still have a ways to go. Which is totally what I expected this year. But it is maddening all the same. Yarbrough: the kid has talent. Problem is, the whole league now knows and knows just how easy it can be to derail his game. Plus, even in the A10, the level of play is better than the OOC games. Got to have to rise to the occassion. Personally, I think his playing the four is so new to him, that he is still learning it all from even the most rudimentary levels. Yacoubou: I might be wrong but it seemed a palpable rift with him and Crews when he got yanked a few times. Maybe that's just me. Roby: had a nice game as did Crawford and McBroom. Crawford does have issues on defense especially when he it is an isolation play for his man. And that was called a few times when Mike had Paschall. End of the game dunks: didn't bother me at all. They earned it and probably won't have another chance at those in the rest of Paschall's FU career. This is hard to write: FU whipped us. FU?????? Having been at the 20-point game in DC: NO, this is not our worst loss ever. Again, this team does not know how to win in a hostile environment or on the road. Remember who the team was at #140 in Joel Welser's preseason list? FU. Games like this show me why and why hope is springing eternal at Rose Hill. Will Pecora be there? For FU I think they need him as these youngsters play out. The future: we still need to continue to develop. The main goal seems to be to avoid the Wednesday games in Brooklyn right now. After this, ain't gonna happen. Rose Hill and the FU experience: almaman might have asked this in another thread: Rose Hill gym is obviously not a mecca or even a good place for a game. Small. Horrible acoustics. No amenities. You exit and are funneled back into their student union or straight out into the surrounding campus/streets/alleys/walks.. Whatever. The lower "deck" goes from Row A to Row I or J. So about 8 or 9 rows. The upper "deck" goes about three more rows. So, in essence, very intimate and a great place to watch a game. You are in on the action. We were six rows off Crews' right shoulder as he was sitting on the bench. Campus was very pretty --- if you can see much with about a foot or two of snow on it. Almost every building had that "castle" look to it ala Wash U.'s main front. Reception was in the McGinley Center which also had a secondary name -- the Vince Lombardi Center. The Bronx and NYC are an odyssey when it comes to travel. We stayed in Manhatten at 45th and Madison and were going to train up but my classmate was late in arriving and decided to save the parking fees and drive up. Now there's an adventure! Parking rates in Manhatten (at least the garage that stopped me dead in my tracks) were $23 PER HOUR with a day rate of nearly $60. I only have SignPunk to thank for edge-joo-catin' me to the nuances of Secaucus, Penn Station and the NYC subway system. The timing of the game was great .... we arrived Friday night, had dinner at the legendary "Carmine's", caught Jennifer Nettles in "Chicago," walked Times Square and took a six-pack nightcap back to the room ($17 a six!/wife's wine, which she buys for like $10 a bottle was $26 in NYC). Saturday morning was shopping for our grandkid, lunch at a deli/NY pizza place, meet and ride to FU, then dinner back in Hell's Kitchen. Sunday we hit Rockefller Center and negotiated back out to Jersey and then to Baltimore. About the only complaint I had was "damn freaking Japanese tourists," which I also experienced in Hawaii many times. Would love to do it again in two years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 -sad or glad, not sure which, I am not the only that can't see what the offense is doing -I share your fear on bigs not getting better but then I think about the improvement RL made his last two seasons without Rick -and I guess TL sitting the entire debacle that was that game either means he is gone and plays no more this season or plays a lot tomorrow night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 If you won games based on the amount of movement in your offense, we'd be #1 for sure. Or close. We can make ball movement look so pretty for 30 ... 32 seconds. Oh well, maybe if we were making more of those inside bunnies (Yacoubou, Yarbrough, and just a little of something from someone at the five) we'd probably be a lot happier and have a better understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Taj - what A10 arena's have you been to? I'd like to go see a SLU game at every arena at some point. Regarding the game....Maybe I had it in my head because I only saw the last 10 mins live and then watched the first 30 on replay, but we didn't look remotely ready for the game. We looked under-prepared and almost like we didn't have much interest in playing. Not sure if this team could possibly overlook anyone or what the deal was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills By 40 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Keep the posts shorter, or at least include a TL:DR blurp for christ's sake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLU_Nick Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Keep the posts shorter, or at least include a TL:DR blurp for christ's sake. -1 Go on twitter if you want that 140 character bs. Great report Taj. Glad I was in Vegas at the tables and didn't see this game. Also that I was smart enough to keep my money away from that game with SLU being favored by 1... a 20+ point loss to Fordham is rock bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills By 40 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 -1 Go on twitter if you want that 140 character bs. Great report Taj. Glad I was in Vegas at the tables and didn't see this game. Also that I was smart enough to keep my money away from that game with SLU being favored by 1... a 20+ point loss to Fordham is rock bottom. I have no doubt in my mind that it was a great report, but anyone who knows what they're talking about will tell you that to keep readers interested you keep it short and sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I have no doubt in my mind that it was a great report, but anyone who knows what they're talking about will tell you that to keep readers interested you keep it short and sweet. -then don't read it and don't reply to it, pretty simple really Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 abas: you've been on this board for a year now. If you don't know by now that there is nothin short and sweet about me, pm up with f05 or read my book reviews from kshoe. Learn to endure; or just hit up the ignore key. The actual dumbing down of America rests in the 10-second sound byte, the text message, USA Today and the highlight reel. The problem with attention spans and our youth is ..................SQUIRREL! slu13: I have been to games at Fordham, La Salle, St. Joe's, Temple, Mason, George Washington and Dayton. In addition, I have done the A10 tournamnets at Brooklyn, at Cincinnati and at Atlantic City. Umass and Rhode Island mean getting around NYC which is hard enough as it is. So I have not been there. Richmond would be great if we did a weekend trip where we do Richmond and VCU same trip. That's about 3 hours but involves getting around damn DC. Davidson is too far south for me. Duquesne is doable and a weekend game there would be fun. But I will never set foot in Olean, NY. EVER. As for your observation about being prepared .... I am not sure. You could be right but I think the capacity of the place (almost 90% full) might have caught our guys off guard and the subsequent noise that came with it. The five-second in-bounds turnover on our first possession was somewhat tell tale in that regard. While we did fall behind 12 to 0 we did comeback and tie it up early second half. While it may have been a slow start, that eventually meant nothing other than it might have contributed to us running low on gas once we did indeed catch up. I will say Fordham came out with an intensity that we did not meet well. But these statements of "we weren't ready to play the game" have gone back for years with SLU now. Lisch used to say it. Cassity said it. Love. Perry. Lots and not restricted to one coach. So I don't know what to think there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I have no doubt in my mind that it was a great report, but anyone who knows what they're talking about will tell you that to keep readers interested you keep it short and sweet. Then read the Post Dispatch articles, and put the Taj Mahal 79 on ignore. I notice you're the only one whining here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I enjoy Taj's game reviews. They aren't supposed to be a game article like Durando posts. Much more detailed. Less quotes. Less game summary. More thoughts. Keep it up Taj. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizziken Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 If you won games based on the amount of movement in your offense, we'd be #1 for sure. Or close. We can make ball movement look so pretty for 30 ... 32 seconds. Oh well, maybe if we were making more of those inside bunnies (Yacoubou, Yarbrough, and just a little of something from someone at the five) we'd probably be a lot happier and have a better understanding. Somebody (I think it was Clock) brought up the fact that our spacing is awful, especially Yacoubou. I knew it wasn't great, but paid more attention during the Fordham game, and I think poor positioning results in many of these 'lost' possessions. It just wastes so much damn time to reset when our guys get bunched up, which happens a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlebill Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I enjoy Taj's game reviews. They aren't supposed to be a game article like Durando posts. Much more detailed. Less quotes. Less game summary. More thoughts. Keep it up Taj. +1 most of us on here really enjoy them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almaman Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 -1 Go on twitter if you want that 140 character bs. Great report Taj. Glad I was in Vegas at the tables and didn't see this game. Also that I was smart enough to keep my money away from that game with SLU being favored by 1... a 20+ point loss to Fordham is rock bottom. -10 in addition to your -1. if stuff looks too long for some (1?) of you just skip it. jump in here with thanks just what i wanted to hear report wise. did you look into of logistics of subway/train/bus fromTimes Sq? seems like it would be easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierPal Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 These essays have taken the place to Tom Timmermann's Life on the Road, which I found very enjoyable. Keep up the good work....and if you don't mind start putting the + - stats in your post like Tom did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettFlight5 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I enjoy Taj's musings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmith19 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 These essays have taken the place to Tom Timmermann's Life on the Road, which I found very enjoyable. Keep up the good work....and if you don't mind start putting the + - stats in your post like Tom did! Oh God, anything is better than the multi-paragraph "missed the left turn at Olean and ended up in Albuquerque" rental car stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmbilliken Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 abas: you've been on this board for a year now. If you don't know by now that there is nothin short and sweet about me, pm up with f05 or read my book reviews from kshoe. Learn to endure; or just hit up the ignore key. The actual dumbing down of America rests in the 10-second sound byte, the text message, USA Today and the highlight reel. The problem with attention spans and our youth is ..................SQUIRREL! slu13: I have been to games at Fordham, La Salle, St. Joe's, Temple, Mason, George Washington and Dayton. In addition, I have done the A10 tournamnets at Brooklyn, at Cincinnati and at Atlantic City. Umass and Rhode Island mean getting around NYC which is hard enough as it is. So I have not been there. Richmond would be great if we did a weekend trip where we do Richmond and VCU same trip. That's about 3 hours but involves getting around damn DC. Davidson is too far south for me. Duquesne is doable and a weekend game there would be fun. But I will never set foot in Olean, NY. EVER. As for your observation about being prepared .... I am not sure. You could be right but I think the capacity of the place (almost 90% full) might have caught our guys off guard and the subsequent noise that came with it. The five-second in-bounds turnover on our first possession was somewhat tell tale in that regard. While we did fall behind 12 to 0 we did comeback and tie it up early second half. While it may have been a slow start, that eventually meant nothing other than it might have contributed to us running low on gas once we did indeed catch up. I will say Fordham came out with an intensity that we did not meet well. But these statements of "we weren't ready to play the game" have gone back for years with SLU now. Lisch used to say it. Cassity said it. Love. Perry. Lots and not restricted to one coach. So I don't know what to think there. The 5 second call on our first possession was a pretty good indicates of not being ready to play. Does Fordham not normally press? It looked like we were totally surprised by the press. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 km: FU has resorted to a zone at times so I am certain the press really caught our guys not ready and seemed to set the tone for their day. They got off fast and got our guys in the deer in the headlights holy shite look. But we recovered ..... then collapsed. Interesting that when he played Manning/Jolly or Manning/Gillmann we went from 6 down to double digits again with Manning airballing his only shot. almaman: did look into the subway ride but it appeared because I was nearer Grand Central, I could buy a reduced rate fare on the North RR Line and get to Fordham in 18 minutes with no stops and be dropped off right on the corner of the campus. So I was going to do that and then meet up with the classmate and figure out the return from there. But him in a caqr negated all that both ways. The wife is governed by what she sees in movies and on TVs. So she wasn't really thrilled to be in the subway much and when I said "Harlem" she about shite as well. So it all worked out in the long run anyway. I think the subway woudl have been the 1-2-3 to the D line if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almaman Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 oh i get it it would of cost sixty bucks to park friends car in Manhattan? so that made driving up to Bronx no-brainer. Was it hassle parking there and how long did it take to get there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 alma: no parking hassle. Fordham has a very nice garage and lot on campus. You have to enter through a security checkpoint so that was nice and comforting. Had to be on campus for a reason. Rate there was $10. Buddy's sister went there. Said the Fordham area is not the greatest but the campus is ringed with a wrought iron fence and the local street area looked no different than North Grand Avenue/Fox Theater area in the mid- to late-70s. The drive up took us along the Hudson Parway to Fordham Road. Can't get much more direct than that. Glad I wasn't driving. City driving is what it is plus lots of snow issues in terms of removal (none) and placement (snow dunes in odd places). It was dark when we came back so no clue how the hellwe did that other than comign down along the Harlem River and FDR Drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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