Murray St over the Bills by 3

[Zink]

1 hour ago, RiseAndGrind said:

He needs to ditch the contacts. Just told someone else this 

 

1 hour ago, billiken_roy said:

how can blurred vision help a basketball player's play?   

 

43 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

Needs to go with the rec specs Horace Grant style.

Just throwing my two cents in, but I played soccer and basketball with rec-specs through college - yes, I was THAT guy.

I still have the same lenses/prescription for my goggles as I had from when I was a Sophomore in high school, even though the prescription continued to change for my normal, everyday glasses... I shoot/play/do everything better in my rec-specs.

 

Begin Old Guy monologue/

The human visual system readily adapts, and if your eyes are used to seeing the basketball court with 20/40 vision, that's what the rest of you comes to expect. If Goodwin has played his whole life without corrected vision, everything he's done on the court has trained him to compensate for it. Now that he finally has corrected his vision, it will undoubtedly take some time for his muscle memory to catch up and stop compensating. Even in normal circumstances, it can take days to weeks to adjust to a new prescription (which is why you aren't supposed to drive home from the optometrist). To re-train your fine and gross motor skills to the level required of a high-level athlete could take on the order of months. Combine this with a shoulder surgery, as is the case for Goodwin, and you have an additional hurdle.

/end Old Guy monologue

[3star_recruit]

I think it's mental with Goodwin at this point. Kids get contacts all the time but don't shoot this horrifically. Steve Sax lost the ability to throw to first base in 1983 but was eventually able to recover from it. Hope Goodwin can do the same.

[Zink]

4 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

I think it's mental with Goodwin at this point. Kids get contacts all the time but don't shoot this horrifically. Steve Sax lost the ability to throw to first base in 1983 but was eventually able to recover from it. Hope Goodwin can do the same.

These ideas aren't mutually exclusive. Problems are often both 'mental' and physical. I think it's important to remember that Goodwin wasn't a particularly good shooter to being with, either.

[wgstl]

10 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

I think it's mental with Goodwin at this point. Kids get contacts all the time but don't shoot this horrifically. Steve Sax lost the ability to throw to first base in 1983 but was eventually able to recover from it. Hope Goodwin can do the same.

wasnt goodwins shoulder injury on his shooting side?

[The Wiz]

5 hours ago, David King said:

When making game predictions, Jimmy the Greek always gave one team a check mark for "intangibles". Maybe the Wiz should add this factor into his game predictions?

While I don't have an intangible automatically built in , I...Starting with the next game I am building in a line for the probability of starting or finishing a game with less than 8 players.

On another note, I read the many comments on French...beast...stud...werewolf etc. I don't disagree ...but let me add a comment to the mix. After watching a number of practices....Santos may be French 2.0....in fact I think Santos is good enough so that French may become Santos 2.0 next year.

[Pistol]

Re: French and how he compares to past/future SLU players - he's the most natural shot blocker the program has ever had. You can make a case for:

Ian Vouyoukas, the all-time leader with 135

Melvin Robinson, who got to 127 in three seasons

Willie Reed, who got to 113 in two seasons

But, even though I have no memory of Robinson's years, French is a way more aggressive and instinctive shot blocker than Ian or Willie. He also doesn't have the height or length either of those guys did. He's always hunting. It's a joy to watch.

If French plays four full seasons at SLU, he should more than double the all-time record. If he plays just 100 games here in his career, assuming injury or some other unforeseen circumstances, he'd still own the record by a margin of about 120, at his current rate. He has a pretty good chance to take the all-time record in just two seasons - if he plays 60 games in two seasons (and it should be more than that, hopefully), at his current average of 2.55 blocks per game, he'd have 153. So he can actually slow his current pace down a little bit and still take it in two seasons, especially if we go on a run or two in the A10 Tournament and/or play in the postseason.

[moytoy12]

12 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

On another note, I read the many comments on French...beast...stud...werewolf etc. I don't disagree ...but let me add a comment to the mix. After watching a number of practices....Santos may be French 2.0....in fact I think Santos is good enough so that French may become Santos 2.0 next year.

Appreciate this input, as I was curious how Santos compared.  He’s taller and thicker than French, right?  He just looks gigantic. How friggin intense is it when those two go at each other in practice? Can’t wait to see our front court next year. 

[teamarete]

17 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

On another note, I read the many comments on French...beast...stud...werewolf etc. I don't disagree ...but let me add a comment to the mix. After watching a number of practices....Santos may be French 2.0....in fact I think Santos is good enough so that French may become Santos 2.0 next year.

I think Santos is going to struggle next year.  Hopefully he is in better shape and less of a black hole on offense in the future.  Size wise, he can really help inside if he wants to.

[johnbj14]

Just going to weigh in on the whole contact thing. I got contacts before my junior year of HS and it took around a year before my depth perception was right on the court. after years of compensation on your shot, adjusting to contacts really can mess with your muscle memory. I'm not saying it is the whole reason for his poor shooting, but it is not farfetched to say it has contributed a fair bit. 

[Old guy]

I would still like to have him wear his contacts and re adapt to normal vision, than ditch the contacts and continue playing with poor vision. He can adapt to the contacts and once he does his horizon for improvements will be much greater than if he continues playing with poor vision.

[billikenfan05]

3 minutes ago, johnbj14 said:

Just going to weigh in on the whole contact thing. I got contacts before my junior year of HS and it took around a year before my depth perception was right on the court. after years of compensation on your shot, adjusting to contacts really can mess with your muscle memory. I'm not saying it is the whole reason for his poor shooting, but it is not farfetched to say it has contributed a fair bit. 

I got contacts in 4th grade and man did it mess up my ability to play freeze tag dodgeball.

[drkelsey55]

 

15 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

I got contacts in 4th grade and man did it mess up my ability to play freeze tag dodgeball.

LMAO

[Pistol]

33 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

Appreciate this input, as I was curious how Santos compared.  He’s taller and thicker than French, right?  He just looks gigantic. How friggin intense is it when those two go at each other in practice? Can’t wait to see our front court next year. 

Santos is listed at 6-8, 250 on the official site. French is listed at 6-7, 235. When Santos transferred, I had seen him listed at 6-9 in some articles/bios, and as big as 266 lbs. I've read that he has trimmed down since then, so I'm not sure exactly where he stands today, but can tell you that he cuts an imposing figure. I've been searching for some of the Twitter posts I've seen about the conditioning work he's put in since coming to SLU, but can't find them. He's massive, but in better shape than he was at USF.

30 minutes ago, teamarete said:

I think Santos is going to struggle next year.  Hopefully he is in better shape and less of a black hole on offense in the future.  Size wise, he can really help inside if he wants to.

Definitely in better shape. I can't speak to where he's at in terms of what he'll contribute offensively. He doesn't seem as injury-prone as Foreman, and he has to be better than Anthony. Weren't we hearing preseason reports that he was excellent in practice?

[The Wiz]

Santos is big , thick AND athletic (in shape)...It is intense in practice.  Kudos to the trainer , not just on Santos but the whole team.  Team is strong and conditioned...important when there is a lack of depth.

[thetorch]

From my preseason practice viewing Anthony looked much better.  I thiought he was better than Foreman and Santos offensively.  This hasn't translated or was an aberration.  Hard to be a solid backup big man if you can't defend though.

[willie]

17 minutes ago, thetorch said:

From my preseason practice viewing Anthony looked much better.  I thiought he was better than Foreman and Santos offensively.  This hasn't translated or was an aberration.  Hard to be a solid backup big man if you can't defend though.

As others have said all of these guys are  better then previous back ups or for that matter better then Reggie. 

[moytoy12]

25 minutes ago, willie said:

As others have said all of these guys are  better then previous back ups or for that matter better then Reggie. 

Senior year Reggie was better than Anthony (I know, not saying much) and about on par with Foreman. Although I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Foreman yet and he’ll prove to be more valuable than Reggie when it’s all said and done. 

[Billiken Rich]

10 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

Senior year Reggie was better than Anthony (I know, not saying much) and about on par with Foreman. Although I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Foreman yet and he’ll prove to be more valuable than Reggie when it’s all said and done. 

Both are better than hands of stone was offensively.......

[3star_recruit]

The most reliable information about the productivity of players has been Coach Ford himself. He predicted that Bess would be a stat guy who put up 12-20 points a game and gather a bunch of rebounds. He predicted that Bishop would be a potent offensive weapon now that he wouldn't have the sole responsibility of running the team. And he predicted that Henriquez would be an all-conference caliber player scoring 16-17 ppg.

Coach Ford targeted Hasahn French the day he got the job. That speaks volumes.

He was noticeably silent about Foreman in the preseason. That also spoke volumes.

[almaman]

6 hours ago, brianstl said:

I would hold off on the Bonner-French comparisons right now.  I think there are a lot of things that Bonner did better as freshman than French has so far.  That said, French is already a better shot blocker than Bonner ever was.  Bonner was never a shot blocker.

What did AB do better as a freshman than Frenchy has so far?

[almaman]

6 hours ago, NH said:

I get Roy’s point but I see no need to temper expectations for Gordon. I expected Goodwin to come in and be the best SLU freshman since Hughes and that’s exactly what he has been (Tommie Liddell the only other competition I can think of). Gordon has all the skills to be our best big man in a while, maybe ever. I watched those HUDL highlights and was blown away at how much better he looks than last year, when he was already a top player in the country. Can’t wait

If he can get back to top 10 recruit level by end of this season would likely influence '19 recruits. I assume that drop in rankings riles him a bit

[HoosierPal]

50 minutes ago, almaman said:

What did AB do better as a freshman than Frenchy has so far?

In my opinion Bonner is the greatest Billiken of all time.  He scored 360 points (10.3 ppg), 337 boards, (9.6 rpg), hit at a FG rate of 59%, and had 32 steals as a freshman.  He also lead the team in blocks with 18. He played with Douglass and Gray, two other great Billikens. 

[thetorch]

1 hour ago, almaman said:

What did AB do better as a freshman than Frenchy has so far?

Seriously????

Defend and rebound.

[thetorch]

3 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

The most reliable information about the productivity of players has been Coach Ford himself. He predicted that Bess would be a stat guy who put up 12-20 points a game and gather a bunch of rebounds. He predicted that Bishop would be a potent offensive weapon now that he wouldn't have the sole responsibility of running the team. And he predicted that Henriquez would be an all-conference caliber player scoring 16-17 ppg.

Coach Ford targeted Hasahn French the day he got the job. That speaks volumes.

He was noticeably silent about Foreman in the preseason. That also spoke volumes.

 

One of these things is not like the other.  Ford mentioned Bishop's name once prior to the season and he grouped him in with Roby.  Foreman was talked about in interviews several times.

[billikenbill]

6 hours ago, Pistol said:

Re: French and how he compares to past/future SLU players - he's the most natural shot blocker the program has ever had. You can make a case for:

Ian Vouyoukas, the all-time leader with 135

Melvin Robinson, who got to 127 in three seasons

Willie Reed, who got to 113 in two seasons

But, even though I have no memory of Robinson's years, French is a way more aggressive and instinctive shot blocker than Ian or Willie. He also doesn't have the height or length either of those guys did. He's always hunting. It's a joy to watch.

If French plays four full seasons at SLU, he should more than double the all-time record. If he plays just 100 games here in his career, assuming injury or some other unforeseen circumstances, he'd still own the record by a margin of about 120, at his current rate. He has a pretty good chance to take the all-time record in just two seasons - if he plays 60 games in two seasons (and it should be more than that, hopefully), at his current average of 2.55 blocks per game, he'd have 153. So he can actually slow his current pace down a little bit and still take it in two seasons, especially if we go on a run or two in the A10 Tournament and/or play in the postseason.

I saw Tim Duncan play his first four college games and during the 4th one, I said to my son that Tim Duncan is the best college shotblocker I'd ever seen... and I go back a few years. Turned out the Duncan was even better than that and he's a Hall of Famer. French is the first shotblocker I've seen that reminds me of Duncan. Impeccable timing and soft hands. Doesn't swat them OB but keeps them in play and even rebounds some of this blocks.

If he keeps up on the trajectory he's on, there's no telling how good he can become. The only difference is that Duncan was 6'11 and French 6'7. One thing though is that French elevates higher and faster than Duncan did. Just can't wait to watch his development over the next three OR four years.