UNews: Why Does Crews Lose?

[slufan13]

Interesting to see the UNews voice concerns like this. Usually I feel like they only report the positives.

http://www.unewsonline.com/2015/02/20/why-does-crews-lose/

Posted by Lexi Vasos

After the loss to VCU, the Billikens dropped to 10-16 overall and 2-11 in the conference. So who is to blame for this relatively unsuccessful season? Expectations at the start of the season were considerably lower than last year, since SLU lost all five of its starters, including powerhouse guard Jordair Jett. Even so, the team started the season off strong with back-to-back wins against Southern Illinois and Indiana State. The first sign of SLU’s downfall was made apparent when the Bills dropped a home game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which should have been an easy victory. The rest of the season slid downhill from there.

Possible scapegoats are the eight freshman that make up much of the 17-man roster, but freshman guard Marcus Bartley, freshman forward Milik Yarbrough and freshman guard Davell Roby have been in the Billiken lineup for most of the schedule, and Yarbrough leads the team in scoring and rebounds. Even Coach Crews has stated multiple times that the freshmen have had more than enough play time to not be considered a hindrance to the team.

So where is the problem? The Billikens have had a ridiculously hard time protecting the ball, with 22 turnovers in the game against Rhode Island, as well as 19 in each of the two games before that, and have been getting burned in transitions back on defense. These statistics make a great case that players are struggling to execute the basic fundamentals of basketball, but a deeper insight into the players and the actions of the man that coaches them reveals that there is much more at play here than ball-handling skills.

Whispers criticizing Jim Crews’ coaching ability have been circling around campus, especially after losing three games in a row against Fordham, Dayton and Rhode Island. The Billikens should have easily dominated Fordham, as it sits at the bottom of the A-10 conference, with an overall record of 7-16 and a conference record of 2-10.

Coach Crews has been quoted in multiple postgame press conferences, stating that the team just needs to find the right combinations, but with only five games left in the regular season, there is still no sign of a combination that is going to take charge of the game when the Billikens need it the most. Even when a combination does work, the odds that these same five players will return to the court again for any substantial amount of time is slim. This prevents the team from finding its rhythm or building any sense of cohesiveness because any run that five men put together is shortly stopped by a change in the lineup. CBSN broadcasters have also commented multiple times that there is nobody to take charge for the Bills when they are down, or when they need to finish the game. How is there supposed to be a leader when players do not stay in for more than a couple of possessions?

There are also times when a player will go a long period of time – spanning games, even weeks – before seemingly being randomly inserted into the lineup. For example, sophomore forward Tanner Lancona had minimal playing time for most of the season and did not play at all in the games leading up to the thriller at home against Dayton. Yet, he would play 10 minutes in that game before returning to the bench and only playing three minutes against Rhode Island. The same goes for Miles Reynolds, who had played fewer than 10 minutes in the games before the Rhode Island matchup and would then go on a scoring rampage with a career-high 21 points in 25 minutes.

There does not seem to be any method to Coach Crews’ lineup-changing madness, and the Billikens’ record reflects his indecisiveness. If the Billikens have any hope at advancing past the first round of the A-10 tournament, Coach Crews needs to stop with the lineup changes and let someone like redshirt junior Ash Yacoubou, Milik Yarbrough or junior guard Austin McBroom step into the leadership role and build the offense around them, instead of trying to find the right “combination.”

[kmbilliken]

I'm sure Crews is willing to "let" someone step into the leadership role, but that person has to step up.

[slufan13]

I'm sure Crews is willing to "let" someone step into the leadership role, but that person has to step up.

I think it's 2 sided. I don't think we have someone willing to step up. But I also agree with the author that it's hard to step up with the wildly inconsistent playing time.

[SLU_Nick]

This is amazing. Sometimes I only think it is 30-40 core members on this site that actually care about us being a terrible basketball team. Crews can obviously avoid logging in to billikens.com to hear our MBM woes. The UNews is a great outlet to actually send a message in. The students arent happy Jimmy...

I do not remember any "whispers" around campus when Soderberg was in the middle of his 9 win campaign. Glad to hear people seem to have a little higher standard for Billiken Basketball these days.

The past 4-5 games have been coached as haphazardly as a preseason scrimmage and Crews needs to know that we will not accept a return to the Soderberg years. Checking to see if combinations "work" is acceptable in the first half of the non conference season, NOT IN LATE FEBRUARY.

Not sure you read the board, but if you do....Great article Lexi.

[Taj79]

I have to admit shock that such an article appeared in my beloved Unews. Almost looks like a real op/ed piece.

[slu72]

First, it's good to see some interest on the part of the students. Get the message, JC, they are demanding better. Also, when MR came out with his tweet that basically said, "hang in there", it sounds as though the team is hearing footsteps as well. Honestly, there are times this team looks so under coached and so haphazard, it makes JC look like he's totally clueless. Granted, he doesn't make the errant passes, the ill advised drives, etc. but it is his job to instill some discipline, so that these mistakes don't keep happening time and time again. What's scary is the team seems to have regressed over these last 4 games. That is not a good sign as it could indicate a WTF attitude that sometimes infects a losing team.

[Box and Won]

When Crews lose, I get blues, drink booze, throw shoes.

[Billikenboy]

Funny how this article reflect everthing I have stated on this board. We spend so much time looking at individual players and talking about what they are doing, are not doing, and could do when the real elephant in the room is this staff.

That is a staff that is not together in terms of cohesiveness. Development has been sparse based on the factors that are totally under their control. Why would you seemingly pull players out of games for mistakes. Games are where they learn and make those adjustments but players get yanked and you may not see them for the rest of the game or till the next one or even stranger.... many games later.

You graduate your whole starting lineup, you have a few kids that were there the year before that barely saw any time, your most experienced players are an undersized 2 guard and a big man who really did not see that much time either. Scatter in 3 talented sophomores who did not play much last year on a senior laden team, a transfer who did not see much time at his previous school either, and some really talented freshmen. When you look at those players today who has really surprised in terms where they were at the beginning of the season and where they are now. The kids have grown but are they a better team today than they were at the onset of the season. I do not see it. Every player should be much further today but even that is hard to judge. I fault this Staff for lack of player development and a lack of systematic game plan that has not fostered continual ggrowth throughout the season. At this stage in the season we should be a more solid team defensively and offensively. Defensively the team is better but there are certain defensive principles this team does not need just based on purely being more athletic than the last group. Offensively we are dying and the reasons are too numerous to go into. All I see are constant game by game gimmicks to compete but no set system. When the gimmick does not work (usually in 1 to 2 plays) we scrap it and move to the next one. In doing so, players who need the time and experience are being pulled out to go to the next gimmick. Here is a clue...you have talented players play the best one using the best defense you are good at and play real offensive sets that utilize the players individual strengths. Through that your new system will emerge but most impotantly play your system for extended periods to build continuity. Do not pull kids for mistakes for lack of effort..yes.

Most good teams have a set of defensive and offensive sets they push down the throat of opponents and force them to defend it. What are ours? Earlier in the season I chose to look specifically at this problem being the players fault that they were not developing but I am convinced now that this staff has let the players down and has not shown the leadership this team needs. So if the staff cannot lead how can they expect the kids to do it. I also look at individual player behavior on the floor towards teammates and coaches...there is some really bad stuff going on there which has contributed to the lack of offensive potency. At the start of this season we knew this team could score. That was never an issue but somehow we ended up here. Most on this board seem to think that the only concern is who this staff will let go at the end of the season but I think it is the other way around. Staff should be more concerned with who it will be able to keep.

If the kids were losing each game and they were close ones because we played well defensively and offensively no one would be concerned because we could honestly say team will be much better next year. That is not the case and concern now has to be who will be here? With only so many games left what will change?

[SLUfan_42]

Funny how this article reflect everthing I have stated on this board. We spend so much time looking at individual players and talking about what they are doing, are not doing, and could do when the real elephant in the room is this staff.

That is a staff that is not together in terms of cohesiveness. Development has been sparse based on the factors that are totally under their control. Why would you seemingly pull players out of games for mistakes. Games are where they learn and make those adjustments but players get yanked and you may not see them for the rest of the game or till the next one or even stranger.... many games later.

You graduate your whole starting lineup, you have a few kids that were there the year before that barely saw any time, your most experienced players are an undersized 2 guard and a big man who really did not see that much time either. Scatter in 3 talented sophomores who did not play much last year on a senior laden team, a transfer who did not see much time at his previous school either, and some really talented freshmen. When you look at those players today who has really surprised in terms where they were at the beginning of the season and where they are now. The kids have grown but are they a better team today than they were at the onset of the season. I do not see it. Every player should be much further today but even that is hard to judge. I fault this Staff for lack of player development and a lack of systematic game plan that has not fostered continual ggrowth throughout the season. At this stage in the season we should be a more solid team defensively and offensively. Defensively the team is better but there are certain defensive principles this team does not need just based on purely being more athletic than the last group. Offensively we are dying and the reasons are too numerous to go into. All I see are constant game by game gimmicks to compete but no set system. When the gimmick does not work (usually in 1 to 2 plays) we scrap it and move to the next one. In doing so, players who need the time and experience are being pulled out to go to the next gimmick. Here is a clue...you have talented players play the best one using the best defense you are good at and play real offensive sets that utilize the players individual strengths. Through that your new system will emerge but most impotantly play your system for extended periods to build continuity. Do not pull kids for mistakes for lack of effort..yes.

Most good teams have a set of defensive and offensive sets they push down the throat of opponents and force them to defend it. What are ours? Earlier in the season I chose to look specifically at this problem being the players fault that they were not developing but I am convinced now that this staff has let the players down and has not shown the leadership this team needs. So if the staff cannot lead how can they expect the kids to do it. I also look at individual player behavior on the floor towards teammates and coaches...there is some really bad stuff going on there which has contributed to the lack of offensive potency. At the start of this season we knew this team could score. That was never an issue but somehow we ended up here. Most on this board seem to think that the only concern is who this staff will let go at the end of the season but I think it is the other way around. Staff should be more concerned with who it will be able to keep.

If the kids were losing each game and they were close ones because we played well defensively and offensively no one would be concerned because we could honestly say team will be much better next year. That is not the case and concern now has to be who will be here? With only so many games left what will change?

Depressingly accurate.

Oh s*** we couldnt trick them in these few possessions, let's see if this new group has any more luck.

[Basketbill]

"There does not seem to be any method to Coach Crews’ lineup-changing madness, and the Billikens’ record reflects his indecisiveness. If the Billikens have any hope at advancing past the first round of the A-10 tournament, Coach Crews needs to stop with the lineup changes and let someone like redshirt junior Ash Yacoubou, Milik Yarbrough or junior guard Austin McBroom step into the leadership role and build the offense around them, instead of trying to find the right “combination.”

Naïve article. Shoot from the hip, but learning to write. Unfortuantely, Ash has shown he is not someone an offense can be built around. He turns over the ball too much, and that is just counting the turnovers not the failed layup attempts. Neither is McBroom; for Austin to be effective he needs to have a small guard defend him, A-10 coaches have put 6-4 and taller players on him and he is unable to drive and unable to get his 3 point attempt off. Could he be a leader yes, but he has not apparently done that. Milik is to raw to be the leader, yet he has attempted to lead and what we have is inconsistent play. I still have faith in him and the other freshmen, particularly Roby he reminds me so much of Jett in his play(probably the strongest finisher of the bunch)....

"Should have dominated Fordham" really based on what their past history and ours? The game I watched had a stud Freshmen, a stud redshirt freshman playing on their home court, a lights out shooter in Severe, and the German dude who had his best game ever....Why are the coming together and SLU is not? That is the question to ask?

Crews' problem is the Majerus Legacy....we know how good and fun it was to consistently win, we want that back badly. That is a good thing, I look forward to its return.....and it will return!

[Scoop]

Doom and gloom. Blah blah blah. Don't turn the ball over 20 times a game and we'll see some W's. If a player stands there and watches an opposing player come from the free throw line to grab rebound I'd yank em' too. Every time! Fans don't like it but ya gotta learn the hard way and unfortunately that comes with losses. This board cracks me up. Can we beat a dead horse some more.. We start 4 freshman and our name is not Kentucky. Chill out and support this team and our coach. Things will get better.

Hey, Bills. Win Sunday so a few of these MBM's don't jump. Sheesh.

[Iggy]

I sure wish I could hear Dr. Chaifetz's take on the current state of the team and coaching staff. That would be interesting.

[bonwich]

I sure wish I could hear Dr. Chaifetz's take on the current state of the team and coaching staff. That would be interesting.

Speaking of which -- what's up with him? Did he give up sitting courtside, or has he really not been at a bunch of games (if any) this year? I've only been to about 60% of the home games, but I don't recall seeing him since conference started (and I don't have long-term memory to remember before that).

[Westy03]

Speaking of which -- what's up with him? Did he give up sitting courtside, or has he really not been at a bunch of games (if any) this year? I've only been to about 60% of the home games, but I don't recall seeing him since conference started (and I don't have long-term memory to remember before that).

He was at one of the last home games, not sure if it was St. Joe or Dayton. Hes only been to 2 or 3 games this year I believe.

[jbizzle09]

Speaking of which -- what's up with him? Did he give up sitting courtside, or has he really not been at a bunch of games (if any) this year? I've only been to about 60% of the home games, but I don't recall seeing him since conference started (and I don't have long-term memory to remember before that).

I believe he did show up to the last home game against Dayton. Maybe it was St. Joe he was at. I just remember having that same thought about him not showing and then seeing him take his seat. Other than that one recent appearance, I can't remember the last time I saw him sit at his seat.

[willie]

I would estimate he's been to about a quarter of the games. Mostly early.

[moytoy12]

Speaking of which -- what's up with him? Did he give up sitting courtside, or has he really not been at a bunch of games (if any) this year? I've only been to about 60% of the home games, but I don't recall seeing him since conference started (and I don't have long-term memory to remember before that).

Man, what a fair weather fan.

[majerus mojo]

Man, what a fair weather fan.

Well he's from St. Louis isn't he?

(Might be Chicago but then the joke wouldn't work)

[brianstl]

Chaifetz was at the Dayton game. He did look happy in the closing minutes. He looked over at the bench at one point and shook his head.

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

Fire crews!

[cheeseman]

I really am puzzled by why some on the board think Dr. C has all this influence on the basketball program. He sits where he sits because he gave so much money to for the arena. Does May talk to him of course but he is not the big tiller of the program that some think - if he is then someone please explain how other than that he is rich.

[slufan13]

I really am puzzled by why some on the board think Dr. C has all this influence on the basketball program. He sits where he sits because he gave so much money to for the arena. Does May talk to him of course but he is not the big tiller of the program that some think - if he is then someone please explain how other than that he is rich.

Because money matters

[kmbilliken]

He played a role in turning us on to Majerus. I thought he also paid part of his salary. Can anyone confirm this?

[cheeseman]

He played a role in turning us on to Majerus. I thought he also paid part of his salary. Can anyone confirm this?

It was not my understanding that he was instrumental in bringing RM here - this is probably a myth that got life by it being repeated over and over. I thought two local big money guys paid RM's salary or at least some big part of it. I know you did not say this but just being rich does not give you influence - you have to be willing to wield your wealth and I am still waiting for examples of when Dr. C has done this other than the arena. My point simply is I am grateful for his involvement with the arena but don't assume it transfers to the program's operation.

[slu72]

Wielding 12 mil's a pretty big stick. The rumor I'd heard was that Dr.C somehow got involved w/ the old Bradley coach, Versace?, about putting together a group to buy an NBA team and somehow RM's name came up as a possibility for HC at SLU. I heard that on here, so take it for what it's worth. Still, hoops has a pretty major backer on the board, an ex poster in fact, who can't be real pleased by what he's seeing this year. Still, I don't expect we'll be pulling the plug on the JC era just yet. SLU just doesn't work that way, for better or for worse. Even UNC gave Guthrie and Doherty a couple of lousy years before giving them the hook.