Jump to content

2018/19 Discussion/Optimism Thread


Recommended Posts

I think this thread is much needed after tonight. 

I hope our players are taking names and remember some of these games next year.  We should beat Davidson by 30 next year.

As for our lineup next year...

A month ago I had DJ in the starting lineup for next year. He looked disinterested lately. I think I have Carteare in there over him now. 

JG JB JJ CG HF is my starting lineup. 

 

We we are going to have ridiculous forward depth with CG and Santos being added to this group. The concern will again be guard depth. Can JG handle the point full time?  Do we pick up another ball handler as a grad transfer?  How much can we expect from Thatch and Jacobs in terms of handling the ball?  All important questions. 

 

Lastly, if Welmer is actually healthy, he’s a welcome addition. He’s the closest thing this team has to an Aldridge-type. Not saying he will ever be close to that good, just style wise.  He was very good in some games last year. If he has more injury setbacks this summer, it is definitely time to move on. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 205
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Here we go...

This year was the transition year, in more ways than one. Obviously it wasn't what we were expecting or hoping for, but this team was still fun to watch. Many of us, myself included, thought that we were absolutely done for after JGood was gone for the season, but this team kept fighting. After 3 years of pretty bad basketball, we at least got back on the right side of .500.

Next year, we take the next step, or 2 or 3 steps. JGood back, French being even more of a force, Bess and Foreman back for their senior year, and Johnson continuing to get better. Add in Gordon doing more stuff we typically don't see from SLU big men, Thatch, Jacob's and Pearson filling out spots at the 1-3 spots, and Santos being the best big man off the bench we've possibly had.

The stuff from this year from guys like Goodwin and French and others that made us say "WOW!"...well we will see a whole lot more of it next year. 

Next year...a lot more reactions like this:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, gobillsgo said:

 

A month ago I had DJ in the starting lineup for next year. He looked disinterested lately. I think I have Carteare in there over him now. 

 

 

 

Even if DJ finished strong, I would love so see him come off the bench with that energy. 

 

Not saying this will he the starting 5 but, cant wait to see: Jgood - Bess- JJ- Mickey - French. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

Just for S and G, here is the current academic class listed by SLU People Finder for each returning player.

Seniors:  Bess and Welmer

Juniors:  Johnson, Foreman, and Santos  (this was surprising)

Freshman:  French

Shiggles  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/10/2018 at 11:59 AM, wgstl said:

Even if DJ finished strong, I would love so see him come off the bench with that energy. 

 

Not saying this will he the starting 5 but, cant wait to see: Jgood - Bess- JJ- Mickey - French. 

You really don't see Gordon starting?  You probably know him better than all the rest of us, but I would see him in the starting 5  replacing either JJ or Mickey, probably Mickey.  I am high on what MP will add to the team, but I think he will need some time to adjust to D 1 basketball.

Just for S & G let's assume your projected starting five is correct.  That means our bench would have Gordon, Santos, Foreman, Thatch and Jacobs (again I don't count Welmer into the equation).  I don't think we have had many starting fives as good as that bench!  Playing time will be hard to get.

Boy next year will be fun.

Spoon-Balls likes this
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, bauman said:

You really don't see Gordon starting?  You probably know him better than all the rest of us, but I would see him in the starting 5  replacing either JJ or Mickey, probably Mickey.  I am high on what MP will add to the team, but I think he will need some time to adjust to D 1 basketball.

Just for S & G let's assume your projected starting five is correct.  That means our bench would have Gordon, Santos, Foreman, Thatch and Jacobs (again I don't count Welmer into the equation).  I don't think we have had many starting fives as good as that bench!  Playing time will be hard to get.

Boy next year will be fun.

Unfortunately, I was thinking exactly this a year ago.

I'll let myself be really excited when I see the entire roster in the layup line on opening night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, bauman said:

You really don't see Gordon starting?  You probably know him better than all the rest of us, but I would see him in the starting 5  replacing either JJ or Mickey, probably Mickey.  I am high on what MP will add to the team, but I think he will need some time to adjust to D 1 basketball.

Just for S & G let's assume your projected starting five is correct.  That means our bench would have Gordon, Santos, Foreman, Thatch and Jacobs (again I don't count Welmer into the equation).  I don't think we have had many starting fives as good as that bench!  Playing time will be hard to get.

Boy next year will be fun.

No no. I just can't wait to see those five on the court at the same time together at some point in the game. It'll likely be our two highest scoring players, 2 best 3-point shooter, along with the best rebounder. Plus it's still give us good size.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Just for S and G, here is the current academic class listed by SLU People Finder for each returning player.

Seniors:  Bess and Welmer

Juniors:  Johnson, Foreman, and Santos  (this was surprising)

Freshman:  French

This makes it clearer to me that Welmer will not be back, if he is on track to graduate this May.  However, it also scares me about Bess.  He is a guy I think we need next year, both for his bb ability and his leadership.

What do you find surprising about Santos being a Jr.?  He had completed 2 years of school, and bb eligibility before coming to SLU.  I guess Foreman being a Jr. is somewhat surprising given that he played 2 years before he came to SLU then sat out last year and played this year.  I guess it's possible that he lost credits when he transferred.

Come on Javon, stick around next year and get started on a Masters-we need you and next year is going to be a fun team to finish your career with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, bauman said:

This makes it clearer to me that Welmer will not be back, if he is on track to graduate this May.  However, it also scares me about Bess.  He is a guy I think we need next year, both for his bb ability and his leadership.

What do you find surprising about Santos being a Jr.?  He had completed 2 years of school, and bb eligibility before coming to SLU.  I guess Foreman being a Jr. is somewhat surprising given that he played 2 years before he came to SLU then sat out last year and played this year.  I guess it's possible that he lost credits when he transferred.

Come on Javon, stick around next year and get started on a Masters-we need you and next year is going to be a fun team to finish your career with.

Somebody said it in another thread I guess but there was an Instagram exchange between Bess and French and Bess basically said he's staying. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, bauman said:

 

Come on Javon, stick around next year and get started on a Masters-we need you and next year is going to be a fun team to finish your career with.

Like I said on a different thread , he said on Instagram he'll be playing here next year. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Bills_06 said:

Somebody said it in another thread I guess but there was an Instagram exchange between Bess and French and Bess basically said he's staying. 

That would be great.  Funny thing about Bess, he was the "big three" transfer that I expected the least out of, primarily because he seemed to be a tweener size-wise and not known as a great shooter or scorer.  Boy was I wrong.  He could do everything, including playing the off-guard if necessary, rebound, shoot the 3 reasonably well and be someone we could count on at the FT line.  When TF described him as a "stat-sheet-stuffer" during preseason, I took that to mean that he could do a number of things average to better than average, but nothing extremely well.  Now I'll take as many stat-sheet stuffers as TF and staff can recruit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, bauman said:

This makes it clearer to me that Welmer will not be back, if he is on track to graduate this May.  However, it also scares me about Bess.  He is a guy I think we need next year, both for his bb ability and his leadership.

What do you find surprising about Santos being a Jr.?  He had completed 2 years of school, and bb eligibility before coming to SLU.  I guess Foreman being a Jr. is somewhat surprising given that he played 2 years before he came to SLU then sat out last year and played this year.  I guess it's possible that he lost credits when he transferred.

What was surprising for me was that Johnson is academically a Junior.  First, good for him.  Second, that puts him in a GT possible category after next season.  To me it's also likely he returns so that he can graduate May 2019 and assess his options.  Foreman being only a Junior is somewhat disappointing.  What was he doing at Rutgers?  But the other side of that coin is that he likely won't graduate this May and won't be eligible to GT. 

Of course, the site could be wrong and all this could be smoke.

I also think that this says nothing about Welmer returning.  He could stay and get his Masters, a la Crawford.  It's 50/50 until we hear from him or the staff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

What was surprising for me was that Johnson is academically a Junior.  First, good for him.  Second, that puts him in a GT possible category after next season.  To me it's also likely he returns so that he can graduate May 2019 and assess his options.  Foreman being only a Junior is somewhat disappointing.  What was he doing at Rutgers?  But the other side of that coin is that he likely won't graduate this May and won't be eligible to GT. 

Of course, the site could be wrong and all this could be smoke.

I also think that this says nothing about Welmer returning.  He could stay and get his Masters, a la Crawford.  It's 50/50 until we hear from him or the staff.

One other thing to remember is that this probably only updates after each semester. So Foreman could be a “senior” after this term ends. Also, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Bess can graduate - he could have just become a “senior” after the fall semester ended, so he might not have enough credit hours to graduate after spring. He could have 91 credit hours, and would therefore still need another 29 to graduate, which there is no way he could do in one semester. What was he listed as in August?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 credits in one semester?   That's nothing.   Mi$$ouri got that kid 30 something credits one summer to get eligible.

Plus the kid got the credits via like three different schools at the same time!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

29 credits in one semester?   That's nothing.   Mi$$ouri got that kid 30 something credits one summer to get eligible.

Plus the kid got the credits via like three different schools at the same time!

Our old friend Randy Pulley.

23 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

I also think that this says nothing about Welmer returning.  He could stay and get his Masters, a la Crawford.  It's 50/50 until we hear from him or the staff.

Masters? He now on a Ph.D. Just needs to finish up his thesis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...