HoosierPal Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Yes, with two data points you can draw a straight line. For those wanting a shorter rotation, it looks like we may have a 9 man rotation, with a hybrid Jolly/Neufeld as the 9th. It was interesting last night to see Gillmann and Neufeld both in the game at the same time. The one team stat that stands out so far is the 23% 3 FG percentage. Last year we ended up at 33%, so I think it is save to assume we will improve on that stat. Blocks are up significantly this year, but again it is only two games. Gillmann and Neufeld have combined for 5 so far. Sure Reynolds is off to a great start, and we all love it. His main asset is driving to the hoop and FT shooting. He has made 8 FG in the two games, and I haven't tracked them but likely they are all in the paint. How soon until the D starts to lay off him to take away the dribble penetration? He will need to start consistently hitting 15 ft shots to stay on the floor. I thought our interior players did a commendable job on the D last night. Makanjuola and Fiorentinos were challenges for our skinny kids. Those 2 scored 16 but could have/should have dominated inside. Gillmann, Neufeld and Jolly all fought hard for position with these two bears all night. Reggie was pretty much a non-factor after his two quick fouls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu06 Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 We obviously won't be able to shoot as poorly from the outside and beat better competition, but a nice opponent for our first road game. SIUe wanted that game and played accordingly and the players had an offense that allowed them to "express themselves (Ash, MY bringing the ball down coast to coast for an and 1) and grind out a win down the stretch. No way in hell would I expect us to win that game with last years offense. I think sample size is too small to make determinations on which sophs improved / regressed. We looked pretty decent early last year, and, well... (*one exception being Jolly. All you had to do was beef up and give us rebounds and rim protection). I like having Miles run the point. His game has its limitations, but he plays like a badas* and wants it. Nice to see some attitude on the court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 So then what to do we do against Louisville and its frontcourt? If our toothpick centers are too weak to stop them (and they are) and our "power" forwards are too small (and they are), what's the answer? Louisville's bigs in the rotation are 6-10, 245; 6-9, 225; 6-10, 220 and they have a 6-7, 200+ kid on the wing, not to mention a couple 7-footers on the bench. We won't have the luxury of being able to go small against everyone. See how many of 'em Jolly can knee in the nuts before he fouls out normally or gets tossed on technicals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 28 posts in this thread so for and only one small mention of Crawford. Folks go look at his stat line so far this season and notice his efficiency. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majerus mojo Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 We have to play our best lineup. Let other teams adjust to us. Sure elite teams' bigs will be able to run with us but they would beat us with our regular lineup in anyways. Right. No sense running people out there just because they're tall. Match-ups work both ways MC has been rock solid. He's a better version of Barnett, or gasp, Cassity, at least on the offensive end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheChosenOne Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 So then what to do we do against Louisville and its frontcourt? If our toothpick centers are too weak to stop them (and they are) and our "power" forwards are too small (and they are), what's the answer? Louisville's bigs in the rotation are 6-10, 245; 6-9, 225; 6-10, 220 and they have a 6-7, 200+ kid on the wing, not to mention a couple 7-footers on the bench. We won't have the luxury of being able to go small against everyone. Some matchups seem goofy, but it goes both ways and you are only really talking about not playing a legitimate center for the bulk of the minutes (can still play Gillman/Neufeld bigger minutes against teams with a center giving Reggie problems in the post). I remember the Mizzou team back in 2011-12 that played 4 guards with Kim English at the 4 and Ricardo Ratliffe (6'8, 245) at the 5. Watching them go up against teams like Kansas (Kim English guarding Jeff Withey) or Baylor (loaded with length in guys like Perry Jones, Quincy Acy, Quincy Miller, Anthony Jones, and Cory Jefferson) looked like huge mismatches, but their bigs struggled to handle the 4 guards on the perimeter on the other end and Mizzou beat Baylor three times and Kansas once (and should have beat them at KU, lost by 1). I think it is worth a shot because our centers can't guard anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB73 Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Some improvement, yes. We have plenty of #2's and #3's, hurting at the #5, need much better at the #1 and lastly a bit at the #4. Ash has looked good, so has Crawford and though inconsistent, Yarbrough. MR has impressed some but I do not know if he can take it to the hoop when the competition stiffens, and he has no jump shot; he plays good D, that helps. Reggie has been a good inside player. Tactically, Crawford and Bartley need to be set up to shoot 3's and Reggie has to be fed inside and score consistently for us to really improve and Yarbrough needs to be more consistent. Roby and / or Bartley need to to step up and become our PG's which will also ease the logjam at the # 2. Bigs are the real problem, I had hoped one of our #5 sophs would show real improvement or Neufeld would step in, but so far, nope. They need to play the post more and not linger on the perimeter as much. At least they have 15 fouls to give and can occupy some space around the rim, get some reb's. I said 18 wins, at this point I'd say the number looks more like 16, though the kids might gel and some might step up, it is still so very early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 I don't think our guards play good enough defense on the perimeter to go with a 4 guard line up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 My thoughts after watching the game and talking to some close to the program before the game - That's the way Ash needs to play if we want to be good. He wants to be the star so he needs to play like it. Just blowing by people isn't going to work against everyone but at least he's finishing better this year - Crawford is better than most give him credit for. I think some on here were even knocking his shooting. He's 3-6 on the year. Yeah he's not a very good defender, but who on this team is? He's at 29.5 minutes per game on the season. That needs to continue. - Reynolds looks a lot better. He can't shoot and any team that defends him tight on the perimeter is dumb. I think some blog called him the "junkyard dog" of the conference last night. If he says in that role, he'll provide enough for us this year. - Yarbrough makes our offense run so much better when he's under control. When he's not, he looks no different than last year. Also, I know that he can rebound, but let's not substitute him for Crawford in the last 2 minutes when we need to hit free throws anymore. - Roby has been quiet but he'll be fine. Can definitely be part of the go-to lineup down the stretch and I want to play small anyway so he fits in the rotation of guards. - I'll give Bartley the benefit of the doubt on his injury for now. He doesn't play smart though. - Gillmann is whatever. He hit a huge 3 last night and played fine down the stretch. That said, he's too slow to play against most team's bigs. - Neufeld hasn't looked great but he deserves every one of Jolly's minutes. If you don't think Neufeld is ready, then give Jolly's minutes to Agbeko or Yarbrough and play small. - Reggie has nice post moves. Don't have much else to say about him. He's been fine. - I find it comical that Jolly has called out the fans on twitter before for being whiners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Also with the new rules, we're going to shoot a -ton of free throws this year. Could be a maddening season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgstl Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 I remember the Mizzou team back in 2011-12 that played 4 guards with Kim English at the 4 and Ricardo Ratliffe (6'8, 245) at the 5. Watching them go up against teams like Kansas (Kim English guarding Jeff Withey) or Baylor (loaded with length in guys like Perry Jones, Quincy Acy, Quincy Kim fits the comparison to MY in size, but Kim was a very good defensive player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjoelabs Posted November 19, 2015 Author Share Posted November 19, 2015 So then what to do we do against Louisville and its frontcourt? If our toothpick centers are too weak to stop them (and they are) and our "power" forwards are too small (and they are), what's the answer? Louisville's bigs in the rotation are 6-10, 245; 6-9, 225; 6-10, 220 and they have a 6-7, 200+ kid on the wing, not to mention a couple 7-footers on the bench. We won't have the luxury of being able to go small against everyone. Start Ash, Miles, Crawford, Milik and Reggie. Roll the ball out..hope. Have Jolly ready to absorb fouls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Some improvement, yes. We have plenty of #2's and #3's, hurting at the #5, need much better at the #1 and lastly a bit at the #4. Ash has looked good, so has Crawford and though inconsistent, Yarbrough. MR has impressed some but I do not know if he can take it to the hoop when the competition stiffens, and he has no jump shot; he plays good D, that helps. Reggie has been a good inside player. Tactically, Crawford and Bartley need to be set up to shoot 3's and Reggie has to be fed inside and score consistently for us to really improve and Yarbrough needs to be more consistent. Roby and / or Bartley need to to step up and become our PG's which will also ease the logjam at the # 2. Bigs are the real problem, I had hoped one of our #5 sophs would show real improvement or Neufeld would step in, but so far, nope. They need to play the post more and not linger on the perimeter as much. At least they have 15 fouls to give and can occupy some space around the rim, get some reb's. I said 18 wins, at this point I'd say the number looks more like 16, though the kids might gel and some might step up, it is still so very early. I aggre with just about everything on here. Only big difference is that I think the 1 is the biggest problem and I think that the 1 causes some of the problems offensively at the 4 and the 5. Our guards just don't do a good job finding our 4 and 5 in good scoring position in the post. Also, I would go a little lower on the win total (13-14). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 -based on two games against teams I don't think are very good so not sure what we are yet but our friend time will inform us -MR is not the same player and that is a very good sign -MC can dunk, wow -MY forced a few more things yesterday versus on Sunday -AY, well done, did the treatment in the Bahamas work? time will tell -I like MN getting minutes, if he is a player getting minutes will help that growth, granted our options are not fantastic on the block -I like that we got our bigger guards on the block when guarded by smaller, only thing I would say is try it more, especially if our bigs are not options on the block -if we could make shots (from all spots on the floor) our offense would be something -BJ and MR quit complaining to the refs -what happened with the technical? why did they undo that call? pa announcer never said -much better to be 2-0 versus alternatives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 - That's the way Ash needs to play if we want to be good. He wants to be the star so he needs to play like it. Just blowing by people isn't going to work against everyone but at least he's finishing better this year - Crawford is better than most give him credit for. I think some on here were even knocking his shooting. He's 3-6 on the year. Yeah he's not a very good defender, but who on this team is? He's at 29.5 minutes per game on the season. That needs to continue. - Yarbrough makes our offense run so much better when he's under control. When he's not, he looks no different than last year. Also, I know that he can rebound, but let's not substitute him for Crawford in the last 2 minutes when we need to hit free throws anymore. - Neufeld hasn't looked great but he deserves every one of Jolly's minutes. If you don't think Neufeld is ready, then give Jolly's minutes to Agbeko or Yarbrough and play small. - I find it comical that Jolly has called out the fans on twitter before for being whiners. Seems as if Larry Hughes has had a very positive influence on Ash. Crawford has been incredibly efficient - yes, I know I'm not the first to point that out, brianstl - and has been the quietly steady player getting things done for us. He's an ideal 6th or 7th man for a very good team but we need him to be the 2nd or 3rd man and so far he's delivering. He and Ash are the two guys I'd play for 30+ MPG. No one else. Yarbrough will be maddening for his whole career here. I don't think that will change. He can look brilliant and out of control, almost simultaneously. An example last night is when he was alone for an easy offensive board, which he snatched out of the air like it was nothing, and then his putback hit the bottom of the rim, giving a defender time to arrive, all in under 2 seconds. I expect a few more 20+ point games like he had in late December/early January last year, and some single-digit head-scratchers, too. It's fair to say Neufeld is not ready (he's supposedly got a perimeter shot, but man, was he short on all three jump shots last night by a good amount), but it's also fair to say Jolly should never, ever, under any circumstances see the floor. True post bigs take time; Neufeld is a freshman. Get him more minutes, let him struggle, let him adjust and figure things out. I'd rather get more experience for a guy with some potential this season rather than waste even another second on Jolly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills_06 Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Here are some tidbits from Stu on the first 2 games: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/billiken-beat/billiken-beat-slu-beating-a-path-to-the-line/article_28cb0b6f-2f4b-589d-9185-bed518f3492b.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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