Billiken Madness

[ChangeOfPace]

3 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

If they were shooters like you suggest we would have seen them make a shot last night

They both made a 3 during the exhibition.

[Littlebill]

3 minutes ago, ChangeOfPace said:

They both made a 3 during the exhibition.

I thought the same thing. KC 1-1 and Thor 1-2

[Westy03]

3 hours ago, willie said:

I was told by an insider that they expect Hankton to help. 

Maybe against the cupcakes but Ford against real completion will only play 8 significant minutes.   It’s safe to say he’s not in the top 8

[Adman]

7 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

on a more positive note, fred Shaft thatch is the real deal.    i assumed he was a player, but he is a ready to go player imo.   biggest positive takeaway of the night imo.   

roy, agree definitely. thatch looks older than he is, both physically and in poise and skill. also, jacobs is tons of fun to watch and has fun playing. infectious. mr gordon is a handful. man how he will give many teams fits. bess shot well. a senior who spent time this summer getting ready to leave his mark this year. goodwin is lighter, seems quicker, shot looked good. should be 1st team A10. isabell can shoot the ball, great pick up.

i know this has been said, but on paper, this is the best group of Billikens in a very long time. likely since easy ed and company won the NIT. certainly the best I've seen - and that goes back to the early 70s. without question, the most 4-star recruits ever. beyond talented, they're strong and determined. uber-competitive, hate to lose. and even without santos, they are still deep. now if coach ford makes the right coaching moves, gets them to play unselfishly/team blue, and stay healthy -- and be the best "team" -- look out.

gonna be a fun year.

[Scoop]

Santos was not to blame.

[WVBilliken]

53 minutes ago, Spoon-Balls said:

Glad to hear Wiley will be back next week. Disappointed about losing Santos, especially knowing he would have started at the 5, but luckily we have a very deep front court.

Santos must have done something really dumb if he was suspended indefinitely and the players were all in agreement with it...

Players in agreement?  Where did that scoop come from?  Legit or speculation?

 

[Spoon-Balls]

5 minutes ago, WVBilliken said:

Players in agreement?  Where did that scoop come from?  Legit or speculation?

 

On 9/26/2018 at 11:27 AM, TheOne said:

This.

The Santos loss stings, but it doesn’t burn.  I don’t believe this impacts the teams ability to crack the Top 25 this season, but it could create problems during a potential 2nd round tourney matchup against a Power 5 team with a 6’9+ rock solid big man.  Many in/around the program felt Santos’ combo of quickness/size/strength offered him a chance to play in the NBA.  (Disclaimer: I dont necessarily agree nor disagree with that take).  

Fortunately, the loss takes place at arguably our deepest position.  This will give French and CG the opportunity to really shine here, and be an unstoppable big man duo in the A10. CAG has an immediate opportunity for the big time minutes he was looking for as a Top 10 recruit in the nation.  We’ve known how hard he has been working. Time to show it off baby!

Someone mentioned that there hasn’t been as much support for Santos on social media, etc. as there has been during past incidents of players leaving and/or being removed from the team.  My only comment on that front is that the policy which was broken is one that the team doesn’t have much tolerance for, and the players, staff, and personnel understood and respected the decision to address this problem as swiftly as possible.

The bright side is that this case is isolated and only involved one player.  

[Brighton]

Guy Phillips is still employed by SLU ? WHY ??

[Spoon-Balls]

27 minutes ago, Scoop said:

Santos was not to blame.

Care to elaborate?

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

41 minutes ago, Scoop said:

Santos was not to blame.

Wtf is this

[billikenfan05]

Welp this is going to go well.

[willie]

I got ripped when I earlier said CAG might come off the bench. Now we’re talking about Santos starting at the 5. Who would have not started French or Bess?

[billikenfan05]

1 hour ago, Westy03 said:

Maybe against the cupcakes but Ford against real completion will only play 8 significant minutes.   It’s safe to say he’s not in the top 8

Right but what those two bring to the table don’t require significant minutes. 

[Taj79]

Thoughts from a dark deck in Maryland .....

Watched the stream.  EXTREMELY thankful such was provided.  EXTREMELY nice job.  Don't care much for all the hip-hop but those are the times and I am old and cranky.  Thought the crowd was well-representative.  Could have used some crown noise but cie la vie.

The ladies ----- are going to get killed by Uconn.  Frantz looks like a good holdover.  Harbison shows the most promise.  The big freshman white girl needs development.  Don't know what McMahan provides.  I think they will struggle.

The guys ---- it was an all-star game with very little defense and discipline.  I noticed Guy wasn't even close at times.  Yes, that is embarrassing. Thor made a three.  Hankton made a three.  Jacobs as well I think.  Foreman made two.  Seeing Welmer play and produce was nice enough.  Going to need that without Santos.  What did Santos do?  Goodwin made a three and looked in control. Isabell will shoot from Hermann.  Gordon appears to be the real deal but there wasn't a whole lot but fun to take away from the event.  Excitement reigns supreme and nothing I saw detracts form this is being the best assembly of talent I have ever seen.  The Santos loss will hurt, but given what we endured the last three years, that might be minor in retrospect.  Thatch can be one of the best Billikens ever.  Jacobs has great promise.  Wiley will be gravy.

It's been a long time incoming but i think we are back.  

[cheeseman]

1 hour ago, Brighton said:

Guy Phillips is still employed by SLU ? WHY ??

Read the posts in the thread.

[cheeseman]

35 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Thoughts from a dark deck in Maryland .....

Watched the stream.  EXTREMELY thankful such was provided.  EXTREMELY nice job.  Don't care much for all the hip-hop but those are the times and I am old and cranky.  Thought the crowd was well-representative.  Could have used some crown noise but cie la vie.

The ladies ----- are going to get killed by Uconn.  Frantz looks like a good holdover.  Harbison shows the most promise.  The big freshman white girl needs development.  Don't know what McMahan provides.  I think they will struggle.

The guys ---- it was an all-star game with very little defense and discipline.  I noticed Guy wasn't even close at times.  Yes, that is embarrassing. Thor made a three.  Hankton made a three.  Jacobs as well I think.  Foreman made two.  Seeing Welmer play and produce was nice enough.  Going to need that without Santos.  What did Santos do?  Goodwin made a three and looked in control. Isabell will shoot from Hermann.  Gordon appears to be the real deal but there wasn't a whole lot but fun to take away from the event.  Excitement reigns supreme and nothing I saw detracts form this is being the best assembly of talent I have ever seen.  The Santos loss will hurt, but given what we endured the last three years, that might be minor in retrospect.  Thatch can be one of the best Billikens ever.  Jacobs has great promise.  Wiley will be gravy.

It's been a long time incoming but i think we are back.  

UConn kills everybody usually

[cheeseman]

Clearly, Santos violated a rule that is really taboo.  What it was is not really important at this point - we really do not have to be church ladies and gossip.  He is gone and apparently it was deserved (If I had to guess he probably something like getting into it with a coach - but like I said it is irrelevant now)

[Glorydays2013]

First off you can’t judge a team by their screw around madness performance. I remember being impressed by Crews’ new freshmen (mostly MY)

this team is going to be far better than expectations 

 

[slufanskip]

38 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

First off you can’t judge a team by their screw around madness performance. I remember being impressed by Crews’ new freshmen (mostly MY)

this team is going to be far better than expectations 

 

I agree. It's better to go by how many stars they are ranked with as recruits. 

[VeniceMenace]

12 hours ago, brianstl said:

Biggest issue with Madness other than Gus is they needed to cut the hip-hop & play Shaft for Thatch’s grand entrance.

[Brighton]

4 hours ago, Scoop said:

Santos was not to blame.

 I now understand why he said no one had his back.

[Clock_Tower]

10 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

He announced the wrong person at least 4x.   And at least that many times the other team had the ball across the halfline  before he announced who scored, i.e. he doesn't even know the players.   Come on even a little prep work would be nice.  

Agreed. Yes, it is alot of new faces and names. Yes, some names are tougher to pronounce... but a little prep work now will help all year long. Butchering the names of opponents is somewhat expected... but not your own team as he does each year.  It’s call pride in your work. Shame he doesn’t seem to care as this has been an issue year after year. 

[Spoon-Balls]

Maybe the right person to communicate our frustrations with Guy isn’t Chris May, but some of the big time boosters. If they can be convinced that someone new would add a lot of much needed energy to the SLU basketball experience, it might lead to some changes...

[NextYearBill]

12 hours ago, Brighton said:

 I now understand why he said no one had his back.

do tell... pm me... im curious AF

[Pistol]

Nice event this Saturday. It wasn't perfectly run, but it was good. The flow of the event was uneven but they can tweak some things next time around. It didn't seem like everyone was on board with the new "anthem" at the end but the dude was committed. I wish he had just stayed on the mic the whole time and let Guy sit at home.

They were obviously not going full speed and not even pretending to play defense, but just some quick observations because why not:

I like Ingvi and think he's better than people are giving him credit for. He can shoot and plays a pretty complete game (I liked him in the FIBA event this summer). There's just going to be an adjustment period, coming from Iceland and adjusting to the American college game. But he's got the tools. I also like Hankton a little better than most, it seems. He's got a really smooth, quick, pure stroke. He needs to build out his frame more, but again, with a little time he'll be just fine. If they're not in the top 8 this year, that's fine.

Jacobs is super springy. He looks awesome going to the rim. I hope we see him getting some minutes early on. Thatch looks as game-ready as a freshman can be. Gordon, too.

Isabell plays with that old man confidence. He likes having the ball, no doubt about that. He might have to be kept on a leash at certain times this season but he's going to be a fun player if he can play well with everybody and make good decisions with the ball.

Bess looks locked in. Great shape, made a 3 - yes, I know, low pressure and uncontested, but man, if he can hit those anywhere close to 35%, he's got a shot to be all-conference.

Goodwin has trimmed down considerably. I still wouldn't want to be in front of him as he's attacking the rim, though.

Welmer looked healthy. Glad to hear coach Ford confirm as much. French and Foreman looked like themselves and should both have great seasons. Foreman hit a 3.

Guy Phillips is a total embarrassment. He got several players' names wrong, some more than once. His inane chatter over the dunk contest was a huge detraction from the event. It's mind blowing how bad he is, and the fact they let him continue to do the PA job is just one of many little ways the athletic department seems intent on staying second-rate, like some underfunded small conference dog and pony show. Imagine we have Big East execs paying a visit for a game while thinking about expansion and they have to hear Guy "Correction" Phillips fumbling through yet another terrible performance on the mic. It reflects so poorly on the program.

I just can't believe that he's still there. It's shocking. I've been complaining about him since I was a child at these games in the mid-90s. If you told me then he'd still be there when I'm 35 and he wouldn't be any better, I'd be blown away by the first fact.