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Thoughts on GM game


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Watching the game today was painful. The defense was horrible. I wanted to come on here and post that this was the final straw, and that Crews needs to be fired now. Especially with his Stl Today article where he states that he is not clear with his players on why they are not playing.

However, I looked at the box score, and want to bring up a silver lining from this loss. SLU only had two turnovers in this game. During SLU's run in the post-majerus era, it's hallmark was a low turnover game. If SLU has finally found a lineup that can take care of the ball, then maybe they can finally rely on a core competence to develope a team around. I mean, this lineup will have to learn how to play defense, but at this point, baby steps are acceptable.

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Interesting things to look at

Only 2 TOs for SLU vs 10 for GMU (also a good number)

GMU had no steals. They did have 8 blocks.

GMU easily outrebounded us by 9.

GMU shot 55%

SLU shot 40%

SLU led in points off tos 18-2

Somehow despite not creating any TOs GMU outscored us on the break 6-2.

GMU came in as the statistically worse team in the A10, near the bottom in every category.

What all this proves is, you don't have to play defense to beat us when we are this bad defensively. All you have to do is rebound our misses. This isn't a baby step Losing when you only have 2 TOs means SLU is ridiculously historically bad.

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Baby steps are not acceptable at this point. Crews's time for baby steps was last year and they did not make any - in fact they stepped backwards. This was a poorly played game - period. Nothing more can be said about it. Crews has lost total control of this season and probably the team. He is like a punch drunk fighter flaying around and not having any idea at what he is swing at. This is an embarrassment for everyone. Crews has to go and honestly the sooner the better.

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Cannot read too much into it but I actually liked this new lineup. Produce some defensive chemistry and you might have something on your hands. Or maybe not?

From an offensive standpoint I like it as well. Time to face the fact that our two best guards are Hines and Bishop. Unfortunately, our post play on either end is a joke, no one who can score, defend, rebound, or block shots. Has Neufeld made a FT this year? If so, he's probably under 10% and as bad as he is, he's our best 5 on the squad. We're basically playing 4 on 5 now and have little chance to squeeze another victory out of the season.

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we cannot win with bishop and hines. while bishop can shoot better than the rest of the team, that doesnt make him highmark, claggett or lisch. add the fact that bishop might be the worst defense guard to wear a billiken uniform and he isnt a point guard at all, he isnt the answer. hines had some offensive moments yesterday but he doesnt shoot well at all. he also is not a defender to hang your hat on. he is a good walkon player, but honestly is no john redden.

your next question is well what guards should we play? lets just get the season over. the roster is a disaster and cant be fixed with what we have. time will be our only fix as they all just need to graduate. imo, the only guard worthy of being a billiken is crawford. he would be a nice 7th or 8th man off the bench. now do we want to talk about our bigs? i dont. that is worse than our guards situation.

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had to sign on for this thread. Hines and Bishop now starting?!? am I dreaming this?? and did someone say they actually like this lineup?

Allow me to explain: our defense, highlighted by a non-existent perimeter and a non-existent post presence (very bad combo), gave up 92 points to the worst team in the league. Do you want to know what scary-bad looks like? Someone else said this: "Losing when you only have 2 TOs means SLU is ridiculously historically bad." I hate to agree but I must. Actually, offense yesterday was not AS bad as it has been. Bishop has some potential, offensively, in fact. But our guards simply are powerless to stop a very unimpressive group of players from attacking the rack, over and over and over.

someone said announced attendance was over 7000 -- is that true? with the Panthers on? because I watched the replay later in the day and it looked like about 3000. Maybe they were all in the upper bowl in the end zones ... just wondering, but what explains those attendance numbers?

final thought: I presume we will eke out at least another victory, but there is no basis in reality for such a prediction. How many transfers will we see from this group??

sad, sad day for billikens basketball, that is all.

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had to sign on for this thread. Hines and Bishop now starting?!? am I dreaming this?? and did someone say they actually like this lineup?

Allow me to explain: our defense, highlighted by a non-existent perimeter and a non-existent post presence (very bad combo), gave up 92 points to the worst team in the league. Do you want to know what scary-bad looks like? Someone else said this: "Losing when you only have 2 TOs means SLU is ridiculously historically bad." I hate to agree but I must. Actually, offense yesterday was not AS bad as it has been. Bishop has some potential, offensively, in fact. But our guards simply are powerless to stop a very unimpressive group of players from attacking the rack, over and over and over.

someone said announced attendance was over 7000 -- is that true? with the Panthers on? because I watched the replay later in the day and it looked like about 3000. Maybe they were all in the upper bowl in the end zones ... just wondering, but what explains those attendance numbers?

final thought: I presume we will eke out at least another victory, but there is no basis in reality for such a prediction. How many transfers will we see from this group??

sad, sad day for billikens basketball, that is all.

Hopefully the new coach cleans house. This roster is devoid of talent. Any players with a semblance of talent appear to be head cases (e.g. Roby & Milik)

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Unless Roby is taking dumps on the court in practice, he needs to play. He's the only guy at any position who can actually play a little bit of defense. Without him in the rotation we're the Washington Generals. The freshmen/walkon/Crawford/'Coubou lineup has given up 135 points in three halves.

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Unless Roby is taking dumps on the court in practice, he needs to play. He's the only guy at any position who can actually play a little bit of defense. Without him in the rotation we're the Washington Generals. The freshmen/walkon/Crawford/'Coubou lineup has given up 135 points in three halves.

Did you see his season +/-?? He was dead last on the team by a lot. I know it is a flawed stat but when the disparity is so wide I have to think something is going on. He seems to play in slow motion and thinks too much on offense.
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-one more pleasant thought, we scored the second most points we have so far this season and lost by 13 to the previously last place team in the conference that was on the road and scored 92 and came in averaging 63.........puke

-anyone that went to the open practices before the summer trip remember Crews talking about a 'wall' philosophy on defense that looked like it would leave 3pt shooters wide open? not only does it do that, it seems to enable penetration and leaving short, mid and long range 2pt shooters open as well

-dumpster fire, big dumpster fire

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Roby's at the bottom in terms of total below zero but he's not as bad as several of the others on a per minute basis, including Bishop. And when everybody is significantly below zero I'm not sure how much attention +/- should be getting anyway.

Numbers-wise Roby hasn't improved much from last season but he at least hasn't gotten worse, like most of the sophomores have. He's not a consistent shooter or playmaker on offense but he is clearly the best defender we have. When we're giving up 92 to the worst offense in the league and staring the best in the league down this week, it's just suicide to bench him.

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Any players with a semblance of talent appear to be head cases (e.g. Roby & Milik)

These two were the key to this year.... so talented. They both were solid 3 star recruits, with numerous offers from Big 10 and SEC schools, (Iowa-Minny-Illinois-Auburn-Arkansas to name a few, and more).

Milik was an A-10 all freshman player last year. If Milik had committed to reducing errors, to better discipline, passing the ball when double teamed, etcetera, and Roby had learned to help at the PG position sometimes, and they both played to their potential, things would have moved forward IMO but with this huge void, we are collapsing.

Something is very wrong... yes most on this board say it is Crews fault. Perhaps. It might be. Either way, he is responsible. These two are riding the bench, so something is up. Something has got to give, and it doesn't look good at all.

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These two were the key to this year.... so talented. They both were solid 3 star recruits, with numerous offers from Big 10 and SEC schools, (Iowa-Minny-Illinois-Auburn-Arkansas to name a few, and more).

Milik was an A-10 all freshman player last year. If Milik had committed to reducing errors, to better discipline, passing the ball when double teamed, etcetera, and Roby had learned to help at the PG position sometimes, and they both played to their potential, things would have moved forward IMO but with this huge void, we are collapsing.

Something is very wrong... yes most on this board say it is Crews fault. Perhaps. It might be. Either way, he is responsible. These two are riding the bench, so something is up. Something has got to give, and it doesn't look good at all.

They appear to be the most talented players on our roster (not the best basketball players, mind you). If and when we get a new coach, i hope these two stay and the new coach is able to get the most out of their talent.

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