slu72 Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Read Stu's recent tweets on the Bills. To summarize; Travis says Foreman is way ahead of last year and playing really well. Freshmen's heads are spinning. And team is behind last year's team at this time. Make that way behind. Realize it's just tweets and probably a lot of coach speak in there, but the general tone is this team is definitely a work in progress at this point. Yes, we likely have more talent than any Billiken team in recent history, including Spoon's and Rick's, but for playing as a unit, we've got a lot of work to get done in a relatively short period of time. This has seemed to mirror our fears on here, ie "how quickly will these pieces come together?" I'm a little surprised at the tenor of the comments intimating we've got talented guys on the floor but they are falling all over themselves. I would have thought with the core 4 we'd be playing/practicing with a little more cohesiveness. Again, this is probably a fair amount of coach speak to motivate these guys to start getting with the program. Bottom line: The OOC schedule at times is going to be both exciting and frustrating to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 In the 2018-2019 Season thread: But if we want a separate thread: Links, people! Link what you're talking about! It takes 5 seconds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierPal Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Thanks for pulling these over Pistol. The message on Wiley raised my eyebrows. How many minutes will he be able to handle by Nov 6? He won’t be in game shape nor will he have had ample reps with the squad on the floor to develop that chemistry Coach has talked about. As he has been targeted as a prime sniper, who will bridge the gap until he can go 20 min per game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 40 minutes ago, slu72 said: Read Stu's recent tweets on the Bills. To summarize; Travis says Foreman is way ahead of last year and playing really well. Freshmen's heads are spinning. And team is behind last year's team at this time. Make that way behind. Realize it's just tweets and probably a lot of coach speak in there, but the general tone is this team is definitely a work in progress at this point. Yes, we likely have more talent than any Billiken team in recent history, including Spoon's and Rick's, but for playing as a unit, we've got a lot of work to get done in a relatively short period of time. This has seemed to mirror our fears on here, ie "how quickly will these pieces come together?" I'm a little surprised at the tenor of the comments intimating we've got talented guys on the floor but they are falling all over themselves. I would have thought with the core 4 we'd be playing/practicing with a little more cohesiveness. Again, this is probably a fair amount of coach speak to motivate these guys to start getting with the program. Bottom line: The OOC schedule at times is going to be both exciting and frustrating to watch. The sky is not falling - all the teams are "still a work in progress" if you talk to their coaches. I believe that the team is not where it will be in another month and even by January. Ford wants this team to dance - it will make it easier to recruit. He is probably just trying to keep the team focused and not believing their press clippings. Of course the freshmen have their heads spinning - this is the normal course every year. As far as people falling all over themselves - I am not sure those were the exact words he used but I get yours and his point - the players are simply getting the expectations of play in their muscle memory and that only comes with time and practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 -I guess I missed talk of an injury? Tramaine Isabell has practiced about half the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old guy Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Wiley at this time has to be considered iffy. His "minor ankle sprain" treated with a boot on top of his prior history of injuries and being sidelined medically, and the fact that he has only had one practice so far, makes him questionable as someone capable of making a major impact on the team's performance, at least at this time. I may well be, and hope I am, wrong with this superficial evaluation of Wiley. HoosierPal likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenfan05 Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 15 minutes ago, Cowboy said: -I guess I missed talk of an injury? Tramaine Isabell has practiced about half the time. Actually Travis means that Isabell only puts forth effort on the offensive end. VeniceMenace likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Isabell has been banged up. He had a sprained thumb and another minor injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoon-Balls Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 It could just be Ford trying to downplay all the hype. He doesn't want these guys to just assume they'll have a cakewalk, they need to work for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheA_Bomb Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Normal circle of life for College basketball. A few new players need to develop chemistry and gel. So early season you don't know what you're going to get (see SLU vs VT). After 6-8 games there's tape on you and you're scouted for tendencies etc. Coaches make adjustments. Your team settles in but you also have to make adjustments. Talent can overcome these issues. Injuries? Depth can overcome them. This leaves me optimistic for a special SLU season. It's going to be interesting especially in the beginning and hopefully in the end. See ya'll in Houston and NYC. rgbilliken likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 29 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said: Actually Travis means that Isabell only puts forth effort on the offensive end. Boooo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 38 minutes ago, Spoon-Balls said: It could just be Ford trying to downplay all the hype. He doesn't want these guys to just assume they'll have a cakewalk, they need to work for it. That's how I interpreted it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 10 minutes ago, Box and Won said: That's how I interpreted it. It's why I said this could be a lot of coach speak. We have 3P5 + 2 P7 games in OOC. Three, and possibly 4, of those teams are currently higher rated than us. Just in case we don't tear thru the A10 w/ the championship or the tourney win, we're going to need to win a couple of those games against FSU, Houston, Butler, or SH. W's against two of them would look good on our resume come March. Too early to be overly concerned about Stu's tweets, but hopefully team chemistry comes together ASAP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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