GDT: Travis Ford Era Begins Tonight

[hsmith19]

Didn't get to see it, but I can't imagine this team winning too many games when Crawford goes 1-8 from the field.

[Soderball]

5 hours ago, CBFan said:

Missed most of the game because of the death in the family otherwise would have been there to suffer with everyone.  I heard parts of the second half and got excited with some of the play of the freshman.  Based on what I have read Gillman is not a division one player and Neufeld is still struggling but I am not ready to give up on him.  Poor free throw shooting continues to hurt this team.  As far as coaching was concerned how did everyone feel about coach Ford?  Did anyone see anything that it look like a better game day coached game?

Regardless of how the season goes I am not in a hurry for the season to end.  I want to see this team improve under coach Ford and put the game day coaching concerns behind me.  Also it is a long wait for college basketball and I want to enjoy the season then after that hurry up 2017-2018 season. 

sorry to hear about that. i hope God will comfort your family.

do give up on neufeld. it was bad. he is one of the weakest players ive ever seen at this level.

i think some players have more enthusiasm with Ford at the helm. less hopelessness. help is coming. this season is just a wash and its all Crews' fault.

Ford will have those game day coaching concerns. im fine with it if we can just be competitive again. NOONE could have recruited to this disaster like Ford has. he is Majerus-level in saving this program. Crews was the worst coach in SLU history. worse than Ekker.

 

get ready for 2017-2018. 

 

this team misses Ash right now. we are currently worse than we were last year. maybe Jalen can take us over that low, low hurdle. crawford is badly hurt and will not be very useful.

[Soderball]

6 minutes ago, hsmith19 said:

Didn't get to see it, but I can't imagine this team winning too many games when Crawford goes 1-8 from the field.

he is injured. 

[hsmith19]

That's my point. If Crawford is less than full strength then this season is going to be really hard to watch.

[Old guy]

Do not believe you have seen yet how limited Crawford will prove to be this season, for that you have to wait about 10 games of play. After 10 games whatever portion of his limitations and injures that was going to recur this year should be evident, not yet though. If after 10 games he is not much worse than what he is now we will be very lucky. Let's hope, despite my doubts, that this is going to be the case. 

[bauman]

2 hours ago, hsmith19 said:

That's my point. If Crawford is less than full strength then this season is going to be really hard to watch.

Somebody in the know, tell us what's supposed to be wrong with Crawford.  I watched him run without any apparent limitation in both of our games.  If his hamstring was bothering him he wouldn't be able to play 30 minutes like last night and be able to run at full speed.  He is about 0/8 or 0/9 from three point land, but he does not seem to be favoring his leg as he goes up or comes down from taking a shot.  His only field goal last night was his left-handed layup at the end of the first half.

Really, if he is injured, he is not showing signs of it as he plays, either on offense or defense, his only problem is he has lost his shot.  We need him to find it.  One thing I did notice while watching him last night is that he seems to be rushing his shot and the only Billiken I can remember that could do that was Claggs.  If MC was hurting so bad that it was affecting his game, I don't think TF would have been playing him 30 minutes last night.  I think it is more a confidence thing than an injury related thing.

After watching our first two games, PLAY THE FRESHMEN!

[Billikenswin]

16 minutes ago, bauman said:

Somebody in the know, tell us what's supposed to be wrong with Crawford.  I watched him run without any apparent limitation in both of our games.  If his hamstring was bothering him he wouldn't be able to play 30 minutes like last night and be able to run at full speed.  He is about 0/8 or 0/9 from three point land, but he does not seem to be favoring his leg as he goes up or comes down from taking a shot.  His only field goal last night was his left-handed layup at the end of the first half.

Really, if he is injured, he is not showing signs of it as he plays, either on offense or defense, his only problem is he has lost his shot.  We need him to find it.  One thing I did notice while watching him last night is that he seems to be rushing his shot and the only Billiken I can remember that could do that was Claggs.  If MC was hurting so bad that it was affecting his game, I don't think TF would have been playing him 30 minutes last night.  I think it is more a confidence thing than an injury related thing.

After watching our first two games, PLAY THE FRESHMEN!

Coach Ford says he thinks he is about 60 percent back. In my mind this means he can run and compete but his conditioning and strength are not close to 100 percent. I think one of the first things affected is outside shooting. He does not get set and use his legs and he seems to have a lot of rust in his game which is typical of someone who sits out for a month or more. I hope he can come back. More of a concern is Bishop. I always thought he had a beautiful release and could be a great shooter. Yet he looked bad when shooting even when wide open. He also had issues on defense. If these two don't play a lot better quickly this will be a very LONG year.

[slufan13]

Crawford didn't show signs of his foot injury last year and then ended up having surgery after the season. He lacks explosiveness and he isn't shooting as much with his legs. He'll struggle to shoot the ball at game speed until he gets his legs back. I won't give my source but I can say with certainty that Crawford isn't 100% healthy yet. 

I agree with billikenswin. Bishop looked bad in both of the first two games and he's forcing things. Even early in the shot clock yesterday he would wildly drive into a triple team. 

[HoosierPal]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 3:34 PM, slufan13 said:

 I won't give my source but I can say with certainty that Crawford isn't 100% healthy yet. 

 

Well, on the radio Coach Ford said Crawford was about 60%.  Does your source agree with the Coach?

[cgeldmacher]

I would start Roby at point guard.  Watching the game on Friday made me realize something that will get a lot of disagreement on this board.  With the motion offense that most teams run, the ball isn't in the hands of the "point guard" any more than it is in anyone else's hands on the offensive end.  The point guard on a team pretty much just brings the ball up the floor and makes the first pass to start the offense.  I know that everyone is infatuated with having a point guard that runs the floor, but that isn't the way the current college game is being played.  That doesn't mean that someone like Goodwin won't have an impact, but his impact will be the same whether he brings the ball down the court or not.

Roby seems to have the best chance to create by driving and dishing the ball.  I would put him in that role.

[wgstl]

20 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Well, on the radio Coach Ford said Crawford was about 60%.  Does your source agree with the Coach?

MC girlfriend was talking to the guy behind me during the exhibition game. She said his shot is off still because of his injury.  I know im stating the obvious ,but thats all I have for that

[Old guy]

20 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Well, on the radio Coach Ford said Crawford was about 60%.  Does your source agree with the Coach?

It really does not matter that he is at 60% or 40% or 75%. what really matters is how well he can play. You can look at this the following way: he is capable of running back and forth, but he is really not shooting well and not making any baskets. Look at the number of baskets he made last game 1 out of 8 attempts, and 0 out of 6 3 pt attempts. He did manage to make 3 out of 4 FT attempts. Otherwise he made 3 defensive rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. He got 3 PFs and 2 TOs. All of this in 35 minutes of play. I would say that his performance is seriously degraded from his averages from prior seasons. Now, the real issue is why can he run and not play, there is a logical explanation of course, he is not in complete control of his movements. If this is the case, he may be able to improve with time as he regains strength and coordination of the affected limbs. However, what we are seeing in his stats may also indicate an early recurrence of his prior problems He may not be as nimble as he was before because he is favoring movements that protect limbs or part of the limbs that are sore or weak. He may be afraid of pushing too hard and cause a recurrence or he may be having an early recurrence of the injuries already. In other words, he may be starting to show evidence of inflammation somewhere and may be playing with some degree of pain, pain which he is afraid will get much worse as his prior experience shows him it will.

[billiken_roy]

He is just not in the shape he needs to be in to shoot effectively.  Anyone that's ever played basketball will tell you when the legs tire the shot goes.   

He may look fine, but until he is back at full strength his shooting percentage will be off.  

Crawfords shot and/or conditioning is far from our biggest problem.   and I'll take Mike Crawfords leadership and canny play and hustle over anyone on this current roster.   he needs to play for us to have any chance for success in any game imo.

That said. it is fruitless to debate this team and any one game.   it is our last hangover from crewsplatt and we just need to get to April.

Go and enjoy our arena.  listen to the band.   get there early and go to the kids activities in the hall,  visit with fellow billiken fanatics.    just don't go with a need to succeed....... .. this year. 

[Old guy]

Billiken Roy that is exactly what I am planning to do. 

[hsmith19]

11 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

He is just not in the shape he needs to be in to shoot effectively.  Anyone that's ever played basketball will tell you when the legs tire the shot goes.   

He may look fine, but until he is back at full strength his shooting percentage will be off.  

Crawfords shot and/or conditioning is far from our biggest problem.   and I'll take Mike Crawfords leadership and canny play and hustle over anyone on this current roster.   he needs to play for us to have any chance for success in any game imo.

That said. it is fruitless to debate this team and any one game.   it is our last hangover from crewsplatt and we just need to get to April.

Go and enjoy our arena.  listen to the band.   get there early and go to the kids activities in the hall,  visit with fellow billiken fanatics.    just don't go with a need to succeed....... .. this year. 

Not sure running him into the ground for 35 minutes a game is the best way to get his shot back. His leadership and canny play and hustle are all well and good, but we need actual offense out of him to have any chance of being even kinda sorta respectable this year.

[wgstl]

13 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

 

Go and enjoy our arena.  listen to the band.   get there early and go to the kids activities in the hall,  visit with fellow billiken fanatics.    just don't go with a need to succeed....... .. this year. 

Going to games this year is much easier then going to games last year.  The light is near. 

[Cowboy]

47 minutes ago, wgstl said:

MC girlfriend was talking to the guy behind me during the exhibition game. She said his shot is off still because of his injury.  I know im stating the obvious ,but thats all I have for that

-for her sake, I hope she was just talking about basketball

[DoctorB]

On 11/12/2016 at 3:07 PM, bauman said:

tell us what's supposed to be wrong with Crawford.

I can add -- I've heard that Mike's just had several chronic problems, all in the leg, the hammy plus a long, bad case of plantar fascitis.  Altogether there is much weakness, & it has really affected his conditioning.  I think we should cut him a break, till A10 season, to get up to speed.  But to be honest, I've also heard some worries that these long-term, nagging issues will simply continue through the season, and never be 100% or even close:  I really hope not because Mike is one of the really good guys and this should be his year.  When healthy he should lead the team in scoring, or be pretty close.

[slufanskip]

I finally watched the Ball State game on Sunday. Man, that 1st half was tough. I did however think we had some positives. I thought Roby looked thinner and quicker. He had a good game imo.  I thought Welmer looked pretty good he has quick feet for a big and moves well. 3 blocks and 2-4 from 3, plus what 4 or 5 boards. I'll take that. Johnson and Moore seemed fine and Reggie had a nice 2nd half when we got the ball inside to him.

[Glorydays2013]

My quick observations from the Ball State game

 

We played way too many people which looked very Crews like, although I am optimistic we will have a more set group of players. Gillman should not be starting this game. 

Johnson looks to be our most talented player out there, with an outstanding shooting percentage, however he has gotten very little minutes compared to Zeke while both are true freshmen. I am hoping he gets more playing time and gets more comfortable on the court. 

Turnovers seemed to be a product of poor decision making and maybe a product of Crew's new play style and nervousness on a first game. 

The players all look like they want to be there, even if their performance was poor that first half. I'm optimistic for next year and later in the season

[HoosierPal]

35 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

My quick observations from the Ball State game

 

We played way too many people which looked very Crews like, although I am optimistic we will have a more set group of players. Gillman should not be starting this game. 

Johnson looks to be our most talented player out there, with an outstanding shooting percentage, however he has gotten very little minutes compared to Zeke while both are true freshmen. I am hoping he gets more playing time and gets more comfortable on the court. 

Turnovers seemed to be a product of poor decision making and maybe a product of Crew's new play style and nervousness on a first game. 

The players all look like they want to be there, even if their performance was poor that first half. I'm optimistic for next year and later in the season

Interesting comments. 

We played 10, with 2 getting only a combined 16 minutes.  So how many should we have played?  Let the starters go the entire game?  You kind of need five on the floor at all times, so I'm not sure how many you felt should have played. 

Gillmann did not start.  Welmer did.

Johnson got 13 minutes and Moore played 21 minutes.  It's only the first game.

Travis Ford is now the coach.

[Soderball]

4 hours ago, Old guy said:

It really does not matter that he is at 60% or 40% or 75%. what really matters is how well he can play. You can look at this the following way: he is capable of running back and forth, but he is really not shooting well and not making any baskets. Look at the number of baskets he made last game 1 out of 8 attempts, and 0 out of 6 3 pt attempts. He did manage to make 3 out of 4 FT attempts. Otherwise he made 3 defensive rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. He got 3 PFs and 2 TOs. All of this in 35 minutes of play. I would say that his performance is seriously degraded from his averages from prior seasons. Now, the real issue is why can he run and not play, there is a logical explanation of course, he is not in complete control of his movements. If this is the case, he may be able to improve with time as he regains strength and coordination of the affected limbs. However, what we are seeing in his stats may also indicate an early recurrence of his prior problems He may not be as nimble as he was before because he is favoring movements that protect limbs or part of the limbs that are sore or weak. He may be afraid of pushing too hard and cause a recurrence or he may be having an early recurrence of the injuries already. In other words, he may be starting to show evidence of inflammation somewhere and may be playing with some degree of pain, pain which he is afraid will get much worse as his prior experience shows him it will.

comparing running to being able to get good leg movement and burst for a jump shot is like comparing apples and oranges. crawford is injured. deal with it. however badly you want to deny reality it remains there. mike is injured, if his foot recovers his shot will return, until then he is a liability on offense. he will play because this teams other options are gillman. next november cannot come fast enough.