2018-19 season

[slufan13]

Our lack of 3 point shooting may keep us from making a deep run the NCAA tournament, but it won't have any impact on a down A10 conference. 

[RUBillsFan]

10 minutes ago, brianstl said:

If you want a reason to be optimistic about Goodwin from 3 in the upcoming season look at his conference 3 point shooting numbers.

His shooting actually picked up a little before conference season.  Goodwin started the year 3/38 from 3 pt land (7.9%).  On 12/16 vs Oregon State he shot 3/6 and was better from there shooting 16/43 (37.2%).

[almaman]

20 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

Let’s switch it up:

Best wings in St Louis. 

Bess is one of them. 

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, Pistol said:

 

Isabell shot .340 from 3 last season, averaging 1.8/5.3 per game.

Wiley shot .367, going 1.3/3.5.

Bess: .270, 0.7/2.7.

Goodwin: .235, 0.7/3.1.

We add Hankton, Gudmundsson, Thatch, and Jacobs as the other guys who'll shoot it from the perimeter (with the occasional big man 3).

So yeah, on paper, this is not a good perimeter shooting team. When you combine the above makes and attempts, the four veterans would make 4.5/14.6 per game, for .308.

However, I'm counting on all four of those guys to show improvement from there, and the four freshmen to get some good looks. Defenses could pack it in on us last year and not give Goodwin as much room to operate. With a shortened roster, we had tired legs, especially as the season wore on. Goodwin had that unreal early-season cold streak.

Isabell will not have the usage rate he did at Drexel. He's a dynamic player but hopefully he doesn't feel the need to shoot it as much as he did there, and if he's more patient with his looks, I'd look for that .340 to go up a couple percent. I know Wiley sees himself as more than a shooter, which is kind of the role he fell into at Maryland, and that he can also let the looks come to him.

We talked earlier this week about how Ford has only had one team above .350 from three, and I think that is a reasonable goal. Bess and Goodwin can't be below .300 again, Isabell and Wiley should both be above .350, and here's hoping the freshmen can emerge as shooting threats.

This is the one area where Johnson is a tough loss.

With you all the way on 3 point shooting.  We were something like 314th last year for shooting from afar.  We lost our best three point shooter (Johnson hit 43% in conference play) and our second best shooter in Roby.  

One way to look at the new team is comparing overall shooting versus conference play shooting.

Bess was 27% overall and 26% in conference play.  He has had two years under Izzo and two under Ford to improve his shot, so I'm not looking for much improvement.  Bess won't be taking as many three pointers as last year, so maybe 30% is doable.

Goodwin was 23.5% overall but a huge jump to 34.4% in conference.  He certainly can be written in for 35%.

Isabell was 34% and 36.7% in conference.  So a slight improvement there.  35%, yeah.

Wiley was 36.7% and 36.7%.  That's consistent.  Mark him down for 36.7% this season.

And no one wants to count Welmer.  He finished his one season at 37.1%.  If he can replicate that, it is icing on the cake.

Freshmen - who knows.  In HS ball, passive zone defenses and/or 5'6" man to man perimeter defenders leave shooters wide open.  In AAU ball, defense is all but taboo.  Hopefully one of the four will rise to the occasion and be a long range sniper off the bench.

A team average of 35% would have been in the neighborhood of 175th last season in the NCAA.  I'd take that.

[SShoe]

2 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

With you all the way on 3 point shooting.  We were something like 314th last year for shooting from afar.  We lost our best three point shooter (Johnson hit 43% in conference play) and our second best shooter in Roby.  

One way to look at the new team is comparing overall shooting versus conference play shooting.

Bess was 27% overall and 26% in conference play.  He has had two years under Izzo and two under Ford to improve his shot, so I'm not looking for much improvement.  Bess won't be taking as many three pointers as last year, so maybe 30% is doable.

Goodwin was 23.5% overall but a huge jump to 34.4% in conference.  He certainly can be written in for 35%.

Isabell was 34% and 36.7% in conference.  So a slight improvement there.  35%, yeah.

Wiley was 36.7% and 36.7%.  That's consistent.  Mark him down for 36.7% this season.

And no one wants to count Welmer.  He finished his one season at 37.1%.  If he can replicate that, it is icing on the cake.

Freshmen - who knows.  In HS ball, passive zone defenses and/or 5'6" man to man perimeter defenders leave shooters wide open.  In AAU ball, defense is all but taboo.  Hopefully one of the four will rise to the occasion and be a long range sniper off the bench.

A team average of 35% would have been in the neighborhood of 175th last season in the NCAA.  I'd take that.

Solid stuff.  No arguments on any of this except the Goodwin projection may be a little aggressive.  If he, and the team as a whole, hits 35%, we'll be A-OK.  

Hopefully we'll also see better percentages from Goodwin and Bess simply because they won't have to play 38 mpg and will have fresher legs. 

  

[RUBillsFan]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

With you all the way on 3 point shooting.  We were something like 314th last year for shooting from afar.  We lost our best three point shooter (Johnson hit 43% in conference play) and our second best shooter in Roby.  

We actually lost our 3rd best 3pt shooter as well which was Hines at 30% (barf).

I don't think anyone individually will shoot as high a percentage as Johnson did last year, but I think the total will be improved.  I will say that given our roster, we can't expect to have success as a 3 pt shooting team.

[JohnnyJumpUp]

1 hour ago, RUBillsFan said:

His shooting actually picked up a little before conference season.  Goodwin started the year 3/38 from 3 pt land (7.9%).  On 12/16 vs Oregon State he shot 3/6 and was better from there shooting 16/43 (37.2%).

I think his change to contacts took some time to adjust with his shot and had a direct effect on his percentage. Maybe @Old guy can give us some facts on the human body's adjustments to eyewear, associated with hand eye coordination.

[RUBillsFan]

1 minute ago, JohnnyJumpUp said:

I think his change to contacts took some time to adjust with his shot and had a direct effect on his percentage. Maybe @Old guy can give us some facts on the human body's adjustments to eyewear, associated with hand eye coordination.

He also had the shoulder surgery that cut his Sr year of HS ball short.  I'd imagine that might have had lingering effects on his shot.  I'm sure there was also some normal adjustments to the speed & better defense of college players.  There is plenty of reasons to believe Goodwin will improve his overall %s compared to last year, but like Hoosier outlined I'm not so sure about expecting improvements from any others.

[CBFan]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

With you all the way on 3 point shooting.  We were something like 314th last year for shooting from afar.  We lost our best three point shooter (Johnson hit 43% in conference play) and our second best shooter in Roby.  

One way to look at the new team is comparing overall shooting versus conference play shooting.

Bess was 27% overall and 26% in conference play.  He has had two years under Izzo and two under Ford to improve his shot, so I'm not looking for much improvement.  Bess won't be taking as many three pointers as last year, so maybe 30% is doable.

Goodwin was 23.5% overall but a huge jump to 34.4% in conference.  He certainly can be written in for 35%.

Isabell was 34% and 36.7% in conference.  So a slight improvement there.  35%, yeah.

Wiley was 36.7% and 36.7%.  That's consistent.  Mark him down for 36.7% this season.

And no one wants to count Welmer.  He finished his one season at 37.1%.  If he can replicate that, it is icing on the cake.

Freshmen - who knows.  In HS ball, passive zone defenses and/or 5'6" man to man perimeter defenders leave shooters wide open.  In AAU ball, defense is all but taboo.  Hopefully one of the four will rise to the occasion and be a long range sniper off the bench.

A team average of 35% would have been in the neighborhood of 175th last season in the NCAA.  I'd take that.

I agree 100 percent with your post and I said in a post that if this team is 175th or better 3 point shooting they will have a great year.

Our strength is our front court so to keep teams honest on defense we have to shoot over the top of the zone just enough to be guarded.

Bess will not have to take anymore desperation 3's so his percentage should rise JGood will have playing on his mind and his percentage will rise and I really like the two grad transfers.

If this team stays whole for the season then I think the second week of the big dance is possible.

Hand me a towel to soak up all of the blue koolaide that I am pouring all over.

[Old guy]

Johnny Jump Up I really cannot say much about how eyes adapt to contacts, except that after having worked for a long time without correction it may take some time before a person gets to use the corrected vision accurately. I have no idea how difficult this may be to achieve.

[Cowboy]

1 hour ago, SShoe said:

Solid stuff.  No arguments on any of this except the Goodwin projection may be a little aggressive.  If he, and the time as a whole, hits 35%, we'll be A-OK.  

Hopefully we'll also see better percentages from Goodwin and Bess simply because they won't have to play 38 mpg and will have fresher legs. 

  

-did he miss a 3 in any of the videos released so far? no

-did neighbor Dave say anything about him missing a 3 during his visit to practice? no

-he may never miss again

[Pistol]

Lot of good points about Goodwin, in terms of his shoulder surgery late in HS, adjusting to contacts, and shooting much better in A10 play.

If we get to .350 and that puts us at about 175, which is about the median of college basketball, then we'd be truly dangerous.

The funny thing is, we don't necessarily need to be at .350 in order to win a lot of games this season and get to the Tournament. This is roster is constructed in a decidedly old-school way- big, strong, physical, and athletic, and probably looking to get to the rim more often. Second chance points from offensive rebounds. So many teams now are basically 4-out, 1-in and SLU won't be like that at all.

We got to the second round in 2012, 2013, and 2014. As someone pointed out earlier, we shot .359 (93rd), .340 (169th), and .316 (303rd) in those seasons. As the last season in particular shows, three point shooting isn't the only way to win. Of course, those teams also were stocked with seniors that had been schooled on the incredibly fundamentally sound "Defend, Rebound" Majerus ways and this year's team won't have that level of obsessively instructed experience in order to break down opponents with defense. But they're also bigger and more talented, and should be an excellent rebounding team.

So yeah, shoot for .350 as a goal but it won't be the end of the world if we come up a little short. (A little.)

[SShoe]

31 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

-did he miss a 3 in any of the videos released so far? no

-did neighbor Dave say anything about him missing a 3 during his visit to practice? no

-he may never miss again

[Zink]

1 hour ago, Old guy said:

Johnny Jump Up I really cannot say much about how eyes adapt to contacts, except that after having worked for a long time without correction it may take some time before a person gets to use the corrected vision accurately. I have no idea how difficult this may be to achieve.

 

1 hour ago, JohnnyJumpUp said:

I think his change to contacts took some time to adjust with his shot and had a direct effect on his percentage. Maybe @Old guy can give us some facts on the human body's adjustments to eyewear, associated with hand eye coordination.

I let my inner Old Guy out in this thread at the beginning of last year... I have personal experience with this kind of adaptation and just know a decent amount about the human visual system.

 

[Pistol]

2 categories the 2018-2019 team should be SLU's all time leader in: blocks and dunks.

Does anyone know if SLU keeps dunk records? They must somewhere, because I've seen tweets before about dunk leaders in Chaifetz. But I can't find anything publicly.

Block numbers go back to 1986. SLU's five best shot blocking teams:

• 2017-2018: 146 blocks (46th in D-I), led by French (59).
• 2013-2014: 138 (101st), Loe (41), Manning (33).
• 2009-2010: 169 (28th), Reed (73). All three of these are school records - total blocks, rank among D-I colleges in blocks, and individual blocks in a season.
• 2006-2007: 142 (51st), Vouyoukas (57).
• 1999-2000: 126 (66th), Tatum (29), Heinrich (28), Baniak (23).

I see no reason why this upcoming team won't challenge that record set in 2010, and if I had to guess, this team is going to take it. French is back, we add Santos (0.8 BPG in 17.1 MPG as a sophomore) and Gordon (2.0 BPG as a senior), we have good sized guards, and we should play more than 33 games this year. 146 blocks / 33 games last year = 4.42 BPG, which I think they should be able to beat. 169/36 in 2010 = 4.69 BPG, so there you have it: 4.7 blocks per game in a 36-game season would do it. That team crapped out in the conference tournament, losing to Rhody in their first game, but they got 5 games in the CBI. Another cleaner way to look at it: 5 BPG in a 34-game schedule gets them to 170 and the record.

This should easily be SLU's best dunking team of all time but I can't back that up with numbers at this point.

[Glorydays2013]

I would definitely not use stats from last year to predict this year. One of the biggest factors for this year is the supporting cast. Outside of Wiley and Bess, no player on this roster has been surrounded by this type of talent before in college. 

There will be less pressure to force a shot on offense since there are going to be 5 extremely talented players on the court. I am not worried about 3point percentage. 

[billikenfan05]

22 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

I would definitely not use stats from last year to predict this year. One of the biggest factors for this year is the supporting cast. Outside of Wiley and Bess, no player on this roster has been surrounded by this type of talent before in college. 

There will be less pressure to force a shot on offense since there are going to be 5 extremely talented players on the court. I am not worried about 3point percentage. 

Gloryravs: director of the Department of Redundancy Department 

[almaman]

5 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Gloryravs: director of the Department of Redundancy Department 

He is concise here. Off season breeds redundancy. 

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, Pistol said:

2 categories the 2018-2019 team should be SLU's all time leader in: blocks and dunks.

Does anyone know if SLU keeps dunk records? They must somewhere, because I've seen tweets before about dunk leaders in Chaifetz. But I can't find anything publicly.

Block numbers go back to 1986. SLU's five best shot blocking teams:

• 2017-2018: 146 blocks (46th in D-I), led by French (59).
• 2013-2014: 138 (101st), Loe (41), Manning (33).
• 2009-2010: 169 (28th), Reed (73). All three of these are school records - total blocks, rank among D-I colleges in blocks, and individual blocks in a season.
• 2006-2007: 142 (51st), Vouyoukas (57).
• 1999-2000: 126 (66th), Tatum (29), Heinrich (28), Baniak (23).

I see no reason why this upcoming team won't challenge that record set in 2010, and if I had to guess, this team is going to take it. French is back, we add Santos (0.8 BPG in 17.1 MPG as a sophomore) and Gordon (2.0 BPG as a senior), we have good sized guards, and we should play more than 33 games this year. 146 blocks / 33 games last year = 4.42 BPG, which I think they should be able to beat. 169/36 in 2010 = 4.69 BPG, so there you have it: 4.7 blocks per game in a 36-game season would do it. That team crapped out in the conference tournament, losing to Rhody in their first game, but they got 5 games in the CBI. Another cleaner way to look at it: 5 BPG in a 34-game schedule gets them to 170 and the record.

This should easily be SLU's best dunking team of all time but I can't back that up with numbers at this point.

On the other end of the spectrum, the 1994-1995 NCAA team had a total of 33 blocks, lead by David Robinson's season total of 8.  (I doubt if any of those were against Tim Duncan.)  That team also shot 38.9% from the arc, lead by H at 42.7% and Claggett at 41.9%

[Pistol]

4 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

On the other end of the spectrum, the 1994-1995 NCAA team had a total of 33 blocks, lead by David Robinson's season total of 8.  (I doubt if any of those were against Tim Duncan.)

Confirmed that they did not register a block against Wake Forest in that 1995 NCAA Tournament game. Your hunch is indeed correct. Duncan, however, had 3 blocks in that game, and I bet at least one was on Robinson (who finished with 12 and 10, not bad). Duncan, by the way, had such a Duncan game: 25 points (9-12, 7-11), 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists, and a steal. Highmark and Clagget went 8-24 from 3, each hitting 4 of them. Waldman was brutal, going 1-10 from the field and 0-8 from 3. Harris was the only SLU player to get to the FT line, going 2-4; he also had 15 boards.

33 blocks and a 299th place finish in back-to-back seasons in 1994 and 1995. Pretty amazing. Those were good teams, too. Just didn't play big.

Donnie Campbell led them with 8 blocks in the 1993-1994 campaign.

[HoosierPal]

21 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Confirmed that they did not register a block against Wake Forest in that 1995 NCAA Tournament game. Your hunch is indeed correct. Duncan, however, had 3 blocks in that game, and I bet at least one was on Robinson (who finished with 12 and 10, not bad). Duncan, by the way, had such a Duncan game: 25 points (9-12, 7-11), 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists, and a steal. Highmark and Clagget went 8-24 from 3, each hitting 4 of them. Waldman was brutal, going 1-10 from the field and 0-8 from 3. Harris was the only SLU player to get to the FT line, going 2-4; he also had 15 boards.

33 blocks and a 299th place finish in back-to-back seasons in 1994 and 1995. Pretty amazing. Those were good teams, too. Just didn't play big.

Donnie Campbell led them with 8 blocks in the 1993-1994 campaign.

Some interesting stats from that game.  Duncan, Childress and Banks all went 40.  Wake played 7.  We went 8 deep (barely) with the starters all 30 min or more.  (Who says college kids can't play heavy minutes?)  19 fouls on SLU v 6 fouls on Wake.  Yikes.  With the off day shooting for Claggett and H, it's amazing that it was a 5 point game.  Harris, as usual, was a monster on the boards.   (This is a classic picture.)

[Aquinas]

We mention his name periodically and there is justifiable doubt about his ability to come back. Does anyone have any info on Welmer's current condition? Has coach Ford made any comments about his prospects?

[slu72]

1 hour ago, Aquinas said:

We mention his name periodically and there is justifiable doubt about his ability to come back. Does anyone have any info on Welmer's current condition? Has coach Ford made any comments about his prospects?

Since Elliot appeared on campus, he's had problems w/ his feet. So many problems that I don't even know what class he's in. If I'm correct he's received one medical red shirt and last year probably the same. Not knowing how many medical redshirts one can obtain under NCAA rules but if you totaled Elliot's time at SLU, I think we're approaching year 5. He's still not been cleared for a full practice last I heard. I really really doubt we'll see Elliot in any games this year. Foot problems can be tricky devils, ask Old Guy for confirmation, and Wellmer's sounds chronic. The guy's spent a lot of years in a boot. Be nice to have him as a match up big problem, ie he did prove he could shoot from the 3 and he could play decent D, but if he plays, it appears he'll not be much more than a role player. Too bad, since he appears to be one of Crew's better recruits.

[Quality Is Job 1]

8 minutes ago, slu72 said:

Since Elliot appeared on campus, he's had problems w/ his feet. So many problems that I don't even know what class he's in. If I'm correct he's received one medical red shirt and last year probably the same. Not knowing how many medical redshirts one can obtain under NCAA rules but if you totaled Elliot's time at SLU, I think we're approaching year 5. He's still not been cleared for a full practice last I heard. I really really doubt we'll see Elliot in any games this year. Foot problems can be tricky devils, ask Old Guy for confirmation, and Wellmer's sounds chronic. The guy's spent a lot of years in a boot. Be nice to have him as a match up big problem, ie he did prove he could shoot from the 3 and he could play decent D, but if he plays, it appears he'll not be much more than a role player. Too bad, since he appears to be one of Crew's better recruits.

This will be Elliot's fourth year at SLU but (assuming he plays) just his second year of playing.

[Scoop]

Last I heard he would be ready to go in September.