2018-19 season

[Aquinas]

Coach Ford needs to duct tape this team together.  We are paper thin and not the team that was picked to finish first in the A10. Ford has said on multiple occasions that loss of a player can actually bring a team to rise to the challenge.  I am certain he is challenging the team today.  Bess is the leader and now is the time for him.  Our starting 5 are good, though French and Forman have very limited range.  Ironically our guards are now deeper than our forwards.  If Wiley makes it back we could see more of a 4 guard team with Bess playing the 4. Hankton is a green skinny freshman who will get minutes. Hopefully he can get comfortable fast. He has the ability to stretch the floor, but he must also rebound and play D. Our bigs have to avoid foul trouble and injuries.  We still have a shot at a good season, but some players are going to have to step up.

[wgstl]

1 minute ago, Aquinas said:

Coach Ford needs to duct tape this team together.  We are paper thin and not the team that was picked to finish first in the A10. Ford has said on multiple occasions that loss of a player can actually bring a team to rise to the challenge.  I am certain he is challenging the team today.  Bess is the leader and now is the time for him.  Our starting 5 are good, though French and Forman have very limited range.  Ironically our guards are now deeper than our forwards.  If Wiley makes it back we could see more of a 4 guard team with Bess playing the 4. Hankton is a green skinny freshman who will get minutes. Hopefully he can get comfortable fast. He has the ability to stretch the floor, but he must also rebound and play D. Our bigs have to avoid foul trouble and injuries.  We still have a shot at a good season, but some players are going to have to step up.

while we are thin, last year was paper thin.

[almaman]

SLU should be tempting to any HS kid itching for immediate PT. There have been plenty ever since RM passed except year Evans, McCall, JJ were seniors.

[moytoy12]

52 minutes ago, wgstl said:

while we are thin, last year was paper thin.

Overall, that's true, but we are thinner up front this year.  

[hoppybeer]

9 hours ago, moytoy12 said:

Overall, that's true, but we are thinner up front this year.  

Was Rashed Anthony such a beast on the court last year that KC couldn't fill in his minutes? Maybe it was the scintillating play of Elliot Welmer that your recall from last year? How are we thinner this year than last year up front?

[moytoy12]

8 minutes ago, hoppybeer said:

Was Rashed Anthony such a beast on the court last year that KC couldn't fill in his minutes? Maybe it was the scintillating play of Elliot Welmer that your recall from last year? How are we thinner this year than last year up front?

I like KC, but Anthony was a big body that gave our bigs a breather while guarding the 4/5 spot. He wasn’t anything special, but our front line today is thinner than last year at this time.  I don’t think that’s debatable at all. 

[HoosierPal]

Tourney brackets are simply a guessing game at this stage of the season.  But Joe Lunardi has George Mason now winning the A10, and coming in at at 15th seed.  Never seen that low of a seed for the A10 champ.  VCU is in the next four out list.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

[billikenfan05]

19 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Tourney brackets are simply a guessing game at this stage of the season.  But Joe Lunardi has George Mason now winning the A10, and coming in at at 15th seed.  Never seen that low of a seed for the A10 champ.  VCU is in the next four out list.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Lunardi just watched them beat SJU. Such a kneejerk reaction.

[HoosierPal]

22 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Lunardi just watched them beat SJU. Such a kneejerk reaction.

Ya know, if Mason continues to hit 54% on threes like they did last night, 15 of 28, I'd vote for them too.  They hit 3's about as well as we hit 1's.

[Bishop]

25 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Lunardi just watched them beat SJU. Such a kneejerk reaction.

He just takes the team that is at the top of the conference standings and plugs them in as the auto-bid for every league.  They are the only team with a win so they are the auto bid.  Has nothing to do with what he thinks about them actually being good.

[BillsBeliever!!!]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

Tourney brackets are simply a guessing game at this stage of the season.  But Joe Lunardi has George Mason now winning the A10, and coming in at at 15th seed.  Never seen that low of a seed for the A10 champ.  VCU is in the next four out list.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

A10 really doesn’t have a clear cut at large bid so he takes the team with the best A10 record. In his next bracket it’ll be us or VCU. He said on Twitter due to the early conference game he would have to do that.

[billiken_roy]

3 minutes ago, BillsBeliever!!! said:

A10 really doesn’t have a clear cut at large bid so he takes the team with the best A10 record. In his next bracket it’ll be us or VCU. He said on Twitter due to the early conference game he would have to do that.

just remember a 15 seed is not an at large bid.  usually the worst at large bid starts about a 12 at worst.    the rest are auto conference bids from conferences with no worthy teams.

[willie]

8 hours ago, SluSignGuy said:

I would take junior year Evans almost over any Billiken in the last 20 years (Hughes was 97-98).  Evans was one of the smartest players on the floor during those years, and being a smart player in a Majerus system does wonders.  It won't be captured by box scores, but he was great at positioning himself on the floor, and I was always impressed by his footwork from his freshman year. 

Evans stat line can be beaten by other Billikens, but he was not the only one scoring on those teams.  Meanwhile with Bess' teams, we have fewer scoring options, which may skew how much we can take away from his 15ppg this season.  I cannot argue that Evans is a better defender than Bess, but the Bess comparison post-Gordon will be interesting.  Evans in his senior year had to transition to playing the front court more with the graduation of Cody Ellis.  Evans more natural position was the 3.  Bess may have to undergo a similar transition with Gordon gone.

I concede, I have a lot of Billiken love for Evans.  Bess is a very good player that I would take most any day, but I would take the Evans years (under the Majerus system...even under Crews) before what I have seen of Bess.  What I have seen of Gordon so far this year, however, impresses me more than what Evans did his freshman year (and I was impressed with him then).

 

 

I agree with this. I think Evans had the best total career of any Billiken in the last decade or so. And I agree his junior year was great. 

[Aquinas]

There is no way any of the top  A10 teams win the A10 tournament  and only get a 15 seed. Typically the winner has a ranking that qualifys for an at large bid, because they move up the rankings with 3 wins, in 3 days against winning teams. Even with a weaker league, right now VCU has a 54 net that would put them in a bubble discussion and we are in the 60s. 

[SluSignGuy]

1 hour ago, willie said:

I agree with this. I think Evans had the best total career of any Billiken in the last decade or so. And I agree his junior year was great. 

@SluSignGuy and @willie: two peas in a pod on Evans and the Electoral College

[Also, impressive you moved my quoted post from the Gordon thread into this thread]

[billiken_roy]

18 minutes ago, Aquinas said:

There is no way any of the top  A10 teams win the A10 tournament  and only get a 15 seed. Typically the winner has a ranking that qualifys for an at large bid, because they move up the rankings with 3 wins, in 3 days against winning teams. Even with a weaker league, right now VCU has a 54 net that would put them in a bubble discussion and we are in the 60s. 

a agree in most years.  this is not a typical A10 year.  the conference is far below historical power rankings this year.

[wgstl]

11 hours ago, moytoy12 said:

I like KC, but Anthony was a big body that gave our bigs a breather while guarding the 4/5 spot. He wasn’t anything special, but our front line today is thinner than last year at this time.  I don’t think that’s debatable at all. 

easily. 

French - Foreman - Anthony >> French - Foreman - Hankton      .... If we're talking front courts only.  

[slufan13]

Lunardi gives the auto bid the the team leading the conference. Its dumb but thats Mason right now. Edit I see someone else posted that already 

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, wgstl said:

easily. 

French - Foreman - Anthony >> French - Foreman - Hankton      .... If we're talking front courts only.  

For me it is premature to basically say Anthony >> Hankton.  Give Hankton 248 minutes (what Anthony played last season) and see how his performance compare.  Anthony totaled 25 points and 32 rebounds.  In 34 minutes Hankton is at 10 and 3. Anthony's most impressive stat was his 20 blocks.

And Hankton won't be used in the same way that Anthony was used. Hankton has already made more three's than Anthony every made.  He didn't shoot any.  My guess is that Hankton will be used more as a wing in a spread set.  Anthony was primarily used as a back to the basket post player. My guess again is that Bess will see more time in the paint than he did last year.

I'm banking on Hankton exceeding Anthony's output, except for blocks.  Yes Hankton isn't as strong as Anthony, but Hankton in his few minutes has demonstrated he is an adequate on-ball defender.

[moytoy12]

3 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

For me it is premature to basically say Anthony >> Hankton.  Give Hankton 248 minutes (what Anthony played last season) and see how his performance compare.  Anthony totaled 25 points and 32 rebounds.  In 34 minutes Hankton is at 10 and 3. Anthony's most impressive stat was his 20 blocks.

And Hankton won't be used in the same way that Anthony was used. Hankton has already made more three's than Anthony every made.  He didn't shoot any.  My guess is that Hankton will be used more as a wing in a spread set.  Anthony was primarily used as a back to the basket post player. My guess again is that Bess will see more time in the paint than he did last year.

I'm banking on Hankton exceeding Anthony's output, except for blocks.  Yes Hankton isn't as strong as Anthony, but Hankton in his few minutes has demonstrated he is an adequate on-ball defender.

All of this is true, but Hankton can't provide the physicality down low that anthony did and that's the issue.  Hankton will no doubt provide more offensive output but he won't provide the same down low defense, which is really the concern if either French or DJ get in foul trouble. 

[billiken_roy]

5 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

For me it is premature to basically say Anthony >> Hankton.  Give Hankton 248 minutes (what Anthony played last season) and see how his performance compare.  Anthony totaled 25 points and 32 rebounds.  In 34 minutes Hankton is at 10 and 3. Anthony's most impressive stat was his 20 blocks.

And Hankton won't be used in the same way that Anthony was used. Hankton has already made more three's than Anthony every made.  He didn't shoot any.  My guess is that Hankton will be used more as a wing in a spread set.  Anthony was primarily used as a back to the basket post player. My guess again is that Bess will see more time in the paint than he did last year.

I'm banking on Hankton exceeding Anthony's output, except for blocks.  Yes Hankton isn't as strong as Anthony, but Hankton in his few minutes has demonstrated he is an adequate on-ball defender.

i do agree hankton can offset anthony so in theory we have as much if not more inside as last year.   the big key to success that i fear is foul trouble and injury with only two credible bigs.   that is scary.   but nothing we can do about it.  

the thing that excites me most is the prospect of going 4 guard more.   i think this has a lot of upside.   

we can do this.   

[brianstl]

We don't have Johnson who gave us inside minutes last seasons.  I think Hankton is now going to play a role similar to Johnson last season.  I don't think Hankton is currently at the level Johnson was last season.

[Box and Won]

Until Hankton does something like this, Anthony maintains the advantage.

 

[Cowboy]

-we'll get a clue on Sunday as to how things will proceed

-KenPom has us winning by 5

[HoosierPal]

45 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

All of this is true, but Hankton can't provide the physicality down low that anthony did and that's the issue.  Hankton will no doubt provide more offensive output but he won't provide the same down low defense, which is really the concern if either French or DJ get in foul trouble. 

We will see how it plays out.  My guess is that Bess might draw that defensive assignment that you are envisioning, unless the opponent has a sniper that he has to cover in lieu of Thatch.  Example, when we play George Mason's four guard outfit, it doesn't matter who plays the post. Bess will be on the perimeter.  (Last night GMason's forward Reiter didn't score.)  When we play UMass with Holloway, yah that will be an issue if Hankton has to guard him.  But Holloway would have to guard Hankton also. 

Hankton is listed at 6'7".  Bess is listed at 6'6".    Not much difference there.  Plus, Ford has as much said he will go with Bess in the Power Slot if needed.