GDT: Eastern Illinois

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

Brianstl, I'm with you.  I don't see what people see in Welmer.  He actually missed a shot tonight.  HE MISSED A SHOT.  And if he can only score 15 points in 19 minutes, what good is he.  He needs to carry his weight.  If he can't shoot better than his current 60% from the field and 50% from the three, we don't need him.  Send him back to HoosierVille.  You called it right!

I said I don't see him being a great player. When we get more talent that is eligible I think he will move to more of a role player.  I hope he proves me wrong.

That said, he has looked really good so far.  He is stronger than I thought he would be.  I would just caution everyone to pump the breaks a little bit.  We haven't faced a solid opposing front court yet.  We should probably hold off commissioning the statue until we play somebody besides Ball St., Southern Utah and EIU.  We will have a better idea of what we have in Welmer after the Vegas trip.

[bauman]

3 minutes ago, brianstl said:

I said I don't see him being a great player. When we get more talent that is eligible I think he will move to more of a role player.  I hope he proves me wrong.

That said, he has looked really good so far.  He is stronger than I thought he would be.  I would just caution everyone to pump the breaks a little bit.  We haven't faced a solid opposing front court yet.  We should probably hold off commissioning the statue until we play somebody besides Ball St., Southern Utah and EIU.  We will have a better idea of what we have in Welmer after the Vegas trip.

But what we do know is that he is the best, by far, of the three tall 4-5 guys (excluding RA)  He is light years better than AG and MN and we need him in the lineup.

 

At the other end of the size spectrum, Hines can't see the floor for more than 2-3 minutes a half, and then just to give JB a breather.  Hines made some of the worst shot attempts and decisions I have seen in quite a while.   I don't know if JG is capable of handling the ball under pressure like JB, but, if not, we need another guard next year.  I, for one thought JB had a good game, given that he was on his own running the offense and his clutch free throws at the end of the game is what you need from your point guard. JB and EW sealed the game by making 2/2 free throws each in the last minute or so, when the pressure was on.

[Zink]

5 minutes ago, bauman said:

But what we do know is that he is the best, by far, of the three tall 4-5 guys (excluding RA)  He is light years better than AG and MN and we need him in the lineup.

 

At the other end of the size spectrum, Hines can't see the floor for more than 2-3 minutes a half, and then just to give JB a breather.  Hines made some of the worst shot attempts and decisions I have seen in quite a while.   I don't know if JG is capable of handling the ball under pressure like JB, but, if not, we need another guard next year.  I, for one thought JB had a good game, given that he was on his own running the offense and his clutch free throws at the end of the game is what you need from your point guard. JB and EW sealed the game by making 2/2 free throws each in the last minute or so, when the pressure was on.

I think Zeke needs to see Hines' minutes. He's shown himself to be a capable ball-handler and has significantly more upside.

Moving forward, Henriquez has ball-handling skills as well, although he's definitely not a point guard.

[bauman]

2 minutes ago, Zink said:

I think Zeke needs to see Hines' minutes. He's shown himself to be a capable ball-handler and has significantly more upside.

Moving forward, Henriquez has ball-handling skills as well, although he's definitely not a point guard.

I like Zeke, too.  I'm just not sure if he is capable of handling the constant pressure that JB faced tonight, but ZM is definitely a keeper and one of the 7-man rotation we need to use the rest of the year-please no injuries.

For you TF coaching doubters, do you think Crews could have gotten this win, being down by 11 at halftime?  Or would we have a 15 point loss on our schedule?  I'm not saying he's Rick M, but who is?  However, he recruits at a level RM could only dream about and seems, even at this early stage, to be a very capable in-game coach.   He also has the common courtesy to not stiff Rammer and Earl.  Without naming any particular players, I like his candor in the post-game interview on the radio broadcast.  He's not afraid to say when they are stinking up the place or to give credit when things/certain players are going well..  He is clearly very intense but I see him as a players coach.

[billikenfan05]

ref must have taken the bills -4.5 calling that intentional foul. 

[Zink]

43 minutes ago, bauman said:

I like Zeke, too.  I'm just not sure if he is capable of handling the constant pressure that JB faced tonight, but ZM is definitely a keeper and one of the 7-man rotation we need to use the rest of the year-please no injuries.

For you TF coaching doubters, do you think Crews could have gotten this win, being down by 11 at halftime?  Or would we have a 15 point loss on our schedule?  I'm not saying he's Rick M, but who is?  However, he recruits at a level RM could only dream about and seems, even at this early stage, to be a very capable in-game coach.   He also has the common courtesy to not stiff Rammer and Earl.  Without naming any particular players, I like his candor in the post-game interview on the radio broadcast.  He's not afraid to say when they are stinking up the place or to give credit when things/certain players are going well..  He is clearly very intense but I see him as a players coach.

I agree he'd be worse at handling pressure than Bishop, but Hines is another story.

Re Crews/Majerus/Ford, I'd say that Ford seems to have an ability to motivate his players that is separate from the x and o's, but still can translate into game-coaching success. He seems to 'get' his players in a way that Crews never did and Majerus never needed to because of his gravitas. Drawing out that last bit of performance and confidence can be the edge in tight games or when things seem to be slipping away.

[David King]

This team reminds me of some of Soderberg's teams. Barring injuries, 14 wins is still possible.

[slufanskip]

One thing we've seen that we haven't seen in a while is for him to send in a play that works. I really can't remember when we could come out of a timeout with a play that was any thing other than one guy drive and score or drive and dish that worked.  ... and we can actually score on an inbounds play. I thought it was some kind of SLU jinx or curse that we would never score on an inbounds play. 

I can't believe there isn't more talk about Roby. He looks thinner, quicker, and his shot looks better. He's been fantastic the 1st 3 games. Same with Reggie. He just seems to want the ball and to score.

And just a personal ***** ... can we please teach kids to use their left from the left? .Someone ask Jordair if it helps

[SLU_Nick]

 

7 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

ref must have taken the bills -4.5 calling that intentional foul. 

 

THIS! I couldnt believe I lost.

[CBFan]

A Jim Crews team does not win the game.  Posts about coaching have pointed out switching defenses and offensive plays ran after a timeout that show that coach Ford can game day coach. Not knowing a lot about coach Ford's game day coaching I was hoping his energy would rub off on his team and that would result in more wins.  I see now with the small sample size there is a plan and coach Ford's game day coaching will win tight games.  The future looks bright for SLU as Otter said in animal house, "boy this is gonna be great".

[SluSignGuy]

11 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

One thing we've seen that we haven't seen in a while is for him to send in a play that works. I really can't remember when we could come out of a timeout with a play that was any thing other than one guy drive and score or drive and dish that worked.  ... and we can actually score on an inbounds play. I thought it was some kind of SLU jinx or curse that we would never score on an inbounds play. 

They weren't the most beautiful plays, but it impressed me that we had at least 3 plays coming from time outs (or half) where Reggie was nicely setup for a bunny.

I have actually been encouraged by these three games.  There are small improvements happening.  .

[TheChosenOne]

12 hours ago, Pistol said:

Roby-Crawford-Welmer-Bishop-Agbeko

There's the offense again. I can see why these guys are eating the minutes so far.

This is the group we will have to roll with for the bulk of the minutes maybe with Crawford being more of a time share if he doesn't get back to his prior self. Obviously we were playing an inferior opponent, but that was the only lineup that was better than what Eastern Illinois had out there. Some of these guys are kind of odd players, but they got it done last night. I think I may be a little too high on Welmer, but I really like his game to this point.

[TheChosenOne]

10 hours ago, The Wiz said:

A number of people have asked what happened at halftime...what was the adjustment?...what did Ford tell them? In the post game interview, he said he chewed them out at halftime. 44 points was unacceptable against any team anywhere. He had tried all sorts of defenses in the 1st half and nothing worked.  He  told them for the 2nd half ...figure it out...don't go looking to the bench for zones or anything else...figure it out......and they did.

I didn't see the opening 10-12 minutes, but didn't Welmer pick up 2 early fouls and sit the rest of the 1st half? I am thinking having him along with the other starting 4 play together was the main factor. The offense and defense both functioned so much better when those 5 were playing together. It is clear that we can't go beyond 7 players.

[kmbilliken]

10 minutes ago, TheChosenOne said:

This is the group we will have to roll with for the bulk of the minutes maybe with Crawford being more of a time share if he doesn't get back to his prior self. Obviously we were playing an inferior opponent, but that was the only lineup that was better than what Eastern Illinois had out there. Some of these guys are kind of odd players, but they got it done last night. I think I may be a little too high on Welmer, but I really like his game to this point.

We need Crawford out there for defense and rebounding, even if he can't get his offense going. He is a proficient rebounder and adequate defender. He is far better at those roles than anyone not starting. 

[TheChosenOne]

1 hour ago, CBFan said:

A Jim Crews team does not win the game.  Posts about coaching have pointed out switching defenses and offensive plays ran after a timeout that show that coach Ford can game day coach. Not knowing a lot about coach Ford's game day coaching I was hoping his energy would rub off on his team and that would result in more wins.  I see now with the small sample size there is a plan and coach Ford's game day coaching will win tight games.  The future looks bright for SLU as Otter said in animal house, "boy this is gonna be great".

I think some posters may be going a little too far with the praise, but whatever. Eastern Illinois is #303 in Pomeroy. Ford certainly shows a willingness to mix things up with this team plus taking advantage of whatever matchups might be in our favor, so that would be a plus. It is tough to take too much from "buy" games, but at least we are seeing the emergence of a starting 5 that functions well against inferior opponents (I guess what Crews finally found in that spurt early in conference play with Agbeko/Crawford/Ash/Bishop/Hines). We will find out soon whether that carries over to better opponents. I know we said it heading into the season, but we don't have the depth to really mess around with lineups too much, so we are going to have to ride our top 7.

[SLU_Nick]

I agree with TheChosenOne. 

We were down 11 at half and it took Roby shooting the 3 like Reggie Miller for us to pull out a 5 point win from the #303 Pomeroy team at home.  If Crawford continues to play like he has the first 3 games of the season we are in serious trouble.  That said, I like the fire that the team is playing with. 

Now, if we keep it close against BYU then I will have to completely change my outlook for the season (to the upside).  BYU is good.

 

[SShoe]

11 minutes ago, SLU_Nick said:

I agree with TheChosenOne. 

We were down 11 at half and it took Roby shooting the 3 like Reggie Miller for us to pull out a 5 point win from the #303 Pomeroy team at home.  If Crawford continues to play like he has the first 3 games of the season we are in serious trouble.  That said, I like the fire that the team is playing with. 

Now, if we keep it close against BYU then I will have to completely change my outlook for the season (to the upside).  BYU is good.

 

This is also a positive in my mind.  I think it's more likely than not that Crawford will eventually find his stroke and have some nice games ahead.  To win a couple games without him contributing offensively suggests we could be OK once he gets things rolling.

If we're going to be any good this year, we have to get better on D.  The second half showed what type of team we can be when we pick things up on that end.  The first half was a whole different story.

[Old guy]

BYU is very good, we should not be disappointed with a loss against them, as long as we do not lose by over 20 pts. If we keep the scores within a fairly tight range with BYU we will be doing just fine.

[billiken_roy]

22 minutes ago, TheChosenOne said:

I didn't see the opening 10-12 minutes, but didn't Welmer pick up 2 early fouls and sit the rest of the 1st half? I am thinking having him along with the other starting 4 play together was the main factor. The offense and defense both functioned so much better when those 5 were playing together. It is clear that we can't go beyond 7 players.

+  exactly.

[TheChosenOne]

28 minutes ago, SLU_Nick said:

I agree with TheChosenOne. 

We were down 11 at half and it took Roby shooting the 3 like Reggie Miller for us to pull out a 5 point win from the #303 Pomeroy team at home.  If Crawford continues to play like he has the first 3 games of the season we are in serious trouble.  That said, I like the fire that the team is playing with. 

Now, if we keep it close against BYU then I will have to completely change my outlook for the season (to the upside).  BYU is good.

 

I wasn't intending my post to be too negative (I should note that I am a pessimistic person by nature and for some reason it really comes out when I post on here, but I guess we can place a lot of that on Crews), I strongly agree with this team playing with some fire and identifying a starting 5 that is starting to gel. Again, we will see what carries over to better competition, but at least some positives.

[DeSmetBilliken]

9 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

ref must have taken the bills -4.5 calling that intentional foul. 

I wasn't at the game, and haven't watched the entire 2nd half yet, but Rammer thought it was an intentional foul. Actually, he was advocating for an intentional on the play before too.

[HoosierPal]

10 hours ago, brianstl said:

I said I don't see him being a great player. When we get more talent that is eligible I think he will move to more of a role player.  I hope he proves me wrong.

 

Isn't a basketball team a group of role players?  Reggie's role this year is to stay in the paint, rebound and score from 10 feet in.  Bishop's role is to bring the ball up and initiate the offense, and take his jumper when open.  Roby's role is defender and shooter.  Crawford's role in the past has been as a shooter, but to date he has had to crash the boards.  Moore and Johnson have roles, coming in off the bench and limiting negative plays.  Welmer's current role is stretch the defense and play the point on the press. Welmer already has a role.  Will it change in the future this year?  Probably.

I'm pretty sure next year's team will have a bunch of role players.  But why even comment about next year at this junction? 

[billikenfan05]

3 minutes ago, DeSmetBilliken said:

I wasn't at the game, and haven't watched the entire 2nd half yet, but Rammer thought it was an intentional foul. Actually, he was advocating for an intentional on the play before too.

I was at the game but had to leave early. Watched the replay, I just feel like that's never called in the last minute of the game. 

[TheChosenOne]

16 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

I was at the game but had to leave early. Watched the replay, I just feel like that's never called in the last minute of the game. 

I think that sums it up well. I know Rammer always comments on how those late game fouls should be called intentional and in theory they are (the team is fouling on purpose), but rarely are they called that way. 

[slufanskip]

2 hours ago, SluSignGuy said:

They weren't the most beautiful plays, but it impressed me that we had at least 3 plays coming from time outs (or half) where Reggie was nicely setup for a bunny.

I have actually been encouraged by these three games.  There are small improvements happening.  .

The one inbound to Welmer we run basically the same play at the youth level. Just shows that if you execute properly you don't need to be complex.