GDT Davidson

[3star_recruit]

If coach can find him, one of the four open scholarships needs to go to a 40% 3pt, 80% FT player.  Perkins and Jimerson are great but we need two shooters in the backcourt at all times.  I don't care whether he's 6'4 or 6'1.  I don't care if he's just an average athlete.  Bess is having to play Superman precisely because we don't have enough ballhandlers who can shoot the ball.  The perimeter spacing is non-existent. 

Isabell has reverted to form.  The 34% he shot from 3 at Drexel against inferior competition was a mirage.  He's giving us a respectable effort but his shooting just isn't good enough.  

I've suggested that Yuri's time on the floor be limited to 10-12 minutes because of his offensive limitations.  I don't think we have that luxury given our point guard situation.  Goodwin gives us every thing he has but one thing he doesn't have is good decision making at the end of games.  He doesn't think like a point guard.  Our success next season hinges on how quickly Yuri can get up to speed.  We can survive 15 minutes of Goodwin at the point but not 30.  The remainder of Goodwin's minutes need to be at the 3.

This team is 90% rugged determination and 10% finesse.  Once that balance reaches 70/30 we will be fine.  Until then, it is what it is.

 

[Slowry]

32 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

From my vantage point, it was a careless, avoidable foul.  I'm not sure what Goodwin was trying to do. 

Watching the players and listening to what they were saying there was a miscommunication.  They were supposed to switch.  I don’t think Thatch let off so the switch could happen resulting in the foul on Goodwin.

[slusam]

Im sure Thors brother liked sticking it to his brothers former team

[3star_recruit]

4 minutes ago, Slowry said:

Watching the players and listening to what they were saying there was a miscommunication.  They were supposed to switch.  I don’t think Thatch let off so the switch could happen resulting in the foul on Goodwin.

Switch what?  I didn't see anybody screening Thatch. Goodwin just ran out on the shooter.  

[SouthSide_Billiken]

12 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

Next year will be interesting. Losing Bess is massive. Absolutely massive. But I love the talent we are bringing in. We have to get another big who can really play if we want to be better 

Until today, I was one of the few who thought that we would still win the conference regular season. I thought that might be enough to give us an at-large bid with a solid performance in the conference tournament. I was also one of the many who thought that we would build on this year's success next year.

My opinion has changed because I no longer believe that Travis Ford can maximize the talent on the roster. He is a wonderful representative of the University. He says all the right things as the face of the athletic department. He gets his teams to play with a great deal of intensity on the defensive end of the ball. Despite all of these things, I do not believe that he knows how to create an offense that maximizes the team's talent. Even if he could create a brilliant offensive scheme, I just do not know if he can effectively communicate that scheme to his players. When players miss open looks, that is on the players. I don't believe that our offense puts them in a great position to consistently make shots. They are constantly rushing at the end of the shot clock. There is no movement away from the ball. They dribble too much. The offense is stagnant and inefficient. Our set plays out of timeouts are atrocious.

All summer we heard about our high flying athleticism. We heard about an up-tempo attack. We heard about a different, more fun style of basketball. This has not materialized. What makes anybody think that next year will be any different? Here are some numbers to put things in perspective. Our KenPom Adjusted Offensive Efficiency thus far is 98.5 (i.e., the number of points we would score given 100 possessions). That places us at 271st in the nation out of 353 teams. Here are some teams that are currently better than us on offense: Fordham (9-11); South Alabama (9-11); James Madison (9-12); and UMKC (7-13). I haven't studied those teams, but I can't imagine that they could come close to matching our athleticism and talent level. Last season, our Adjusted Offensive Efficiency was 102.1 (good for 225th in the nation). Jim Crews' final year our Adjusted Offensive Efficiency was 96.9. This years offense is closer to the 2015-2016 season than it is to even last year's team. Regardless of your comparison, this team has way more athleticism and talent. But alas, Ford cannot capitalize on that.

Given this reality, I am finding it hard to remain optimistic about this season and the future unless we are somehow able to reinvent ourselves on offense. We certainly have the ability to get hot and win the conference tournament on defense and timely buckets, but the long-term sustainability of our style of play just isn't there.

The only hope I have is that we are still suffering the long-term effects of the ineptitude of Pestello and the Title IX office's handling of last year. Perhaps if we had the roster Ford envisioned we'd see a different product. Even then, I am skeptical.

I am sick and tired of waiting for next year. Hopefully, the staff can figure this out and give these guys a chance to succeed the rest of the way.

[Slowry]

20 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

I really wish we had another capable big man. Foreman got 17 minutes too many but theres nothing else we can do. I dont understand how he is having such a horrible season

I really think he’s hurting. On a timeout after he missed an easy basket he was telling French he tried to dunk it but he couldn’t.

[Slowry]

8 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Switch what?  I didn't see anybody screening Thatch. Goodwin just ran out on the shooter.  

I know there was no screen.  Just switch who was defending at that point on the floor.  I don’t know why you would other than possibly trying to confuse the offensive player with a short clock.  But that’s what they were saying to each other.

[CBFan]

We are down 5 players today, Welmer, Santos, Gordon, Thor, and Jacobs.  We have been short handed all season we are competitive and that game was meaningful and fun to be at and I disagree with all that think Ford’s coaching is suspect.  For the third straight season we are short handed and I will judge the coach when we have a full squad.  Davidson is a good team and if JGood does not choke at the line we are in a better mood because we tie or better yet win it.  Our team plays hard and this team is better than last years but we only had 8 players today and we should have won. The season is not over for me and I look forward to the next game and will watch with enthusiasm until the last shot in March, go Bills.

[3star_recruit]

3 minutes ago, SouthSide_Billiken said:

Until today, I was one of the few who thought that we would still win the conference regular season. I thought that might be enough to give us an at-large bid with a solid performance in the conference tournament. I was also one of the many who thought that we would build on this year's success next year.

My opinion has changed because I no longer believe that Travis Ford can maximize the talent on the roster. He is a wonderful representative of the University. He says all the right things as the face of the athletic department. He gets his teams to play with a great deal of intensity on the defensive end of the ball. Despite all of these things, I do not believe that he knows how to create an offense that maximizes the team's talent. Even if he could create a brilliant offensive scheme, I just do not know if he can effectively communicate that scheme to his players. When players miss open looks, that is on the players. I don't believe that our offense puts them in a great position to consistently make shots. They are constantly rushing at the end of the shot clock. There is no movement away from the ball. They dribble too much. The offense is stagnant and inefficient. Our set plays out of timeouts are atrocious.

All summer we heard about our high flying athleticism. We heard about an up-tempo attack. We heard about a different, more fun style of basketball. This has not materialized. What makes anybody think that next year will be any different? Here are some numbers to put things in perspective. Our KenPom Adjusted Offensive Efficiency thus far is 98.5 (i.e., the number of points we would score given 100 possessions). That places us at 271st in the nation out of 353 teams. Here are some teams that are currently better than us on offense: Fordham (9-11); South Alabama (9-11); James Madison (9-12); and UMKC (7-13). I haven't studied those teams, but I can't imagine that they could come close to matching our athleticism and talent level. Last season, our Adjusted Offensive Efficiency was 102.1 (good for 225th in the nation). Jim Crews' final year our Adjusted Offensive Efficiency was 96.9. This years offense is closer to the 2015-2016 season than it is to even last year's team. Regardless of your comparison, this team has way more athleticism and talent. But alas, Ford cannot capitalize on that.

Given this reality, I am finding it hard to remain optimistic about this season and the future unless we are somehow able to reinvent ourselves on offense. We certainly have the ability to get hot and win the conference tournament on defense and timely buckets, but the long-term sustainability of our style of play just isn't there.

The only hope I have is that we are still suffering the long-term effects of the ineptitude of Pestello and the Title IX office's handling of last year. Perhaps if we had the roster Ford envisioned we'd see a different product. Even then, I am skeptical.

I am sick and tired of waiting for next year. Hopefully, the staff can figure this out and give these guys a chance to succeed the rest of the way.

I absolutely agree with you that Coach Ford's weakness is devising offenses.  To compensate for that fact, he needs a point guard and multiple shooters on the floor at all times.  The most successful years he had at Oklahoma State and UMass he had both.  Currently he has neither.  

[moytoy12]

1 minute ago, CBFan said:

We are down 5 players today, Welmer, Santos, Gordon, Thor, and Jacobs.  We have been short handed all season we are competitive and that game was meaningful and fun to be at and I disagree with all that think Ford’s coaching is suspect.  For the third straight season we are short handed and I will judge the coach when we have a full squad.  Davidson is a good team and if JGood does not choke at the line we are in a better mood because we tie or better yet win it.  Our team plays hard and this team is better than last years but we only had 8 players today and we should have won. The season is not over for me and I look forward to the next game and will watch with enthusiasm until the last shot in March, go Bills.

Appreciate your positivity, I really do, but there are plenty of things to criticize about ford’s coaching even with the amount of missing players.

[billiken_roy]

Imo davidson was just better than us.  They had 2 far superior players and bess can only guard one of them at a time.  I question why we didnt bring thatch in for isabel very early on when it was obvious he could only make thor's big brither look like james hardin.  

Speaking of thor the elder, while goodwin's foul was bad, give thor credit for drawing him into that.   Goodwin was guilty of being too agressive.  And the free  throws were brutal by goodwin, but earlier he was making them.

We just arent going to win many games when we play 3 or 4 on 5.   Too often it seems its bess, french and goodwin.

Yes we could have won, but right now our team isnt good enough.   They play hard, but just dont have count on it shot makers.  

Every possession is tough.  Its obvious we are going to play that style the whole season and hang out hat on defense.  

Just been a big disappointment. 

[brianstl]

35 minutes ago, Schasz said:

Watched the game today, and from an offensive standpoint outside of Bess the Bills pretty much suck.

And it isn’t like Bess is getting wide open looks. He hits tough shots.  We do jack offensively to get people open looks.  The first 20 seconds on offense is too often dribbling or passing the ball 30 feet from the basket with nobody moving below the free throw line.

[RiseAndGrind]

The season is over. The rest is just noise  

[Billy Ken]

49 minutes ago, SouthSide_Billiken said:

Until today, I was one of the few who thought that we would still win the conference regular season. I thought that might be enough to give us an at-large bid with a solid performance in the conference tournament. I was also one of the many who thought that we would build on this year's success next year.

My opinion has changed because I no longer believe that Travis Ford can maximize the talent on the roster. He is a wonderful representative of the University. He says all the right things as the face of the athletic department. He gets his teams to play with a great deal of intensity on the defensive end of the ball. Despite all of these things, I do not believe that he knows how to create an offense that maximizes the team's talent. Even if he could create a brilliant offensive scheme, I just do not know if he can effectively communicate that scheme to his players. When players miss open looks, that is on the players. I don't believe that our offense puts them in a great position to consistently make shots. They are constantly rushing at the end of the shot clock. There is no movement away from the ball. They dribble too much. The offense is stagnant and inefficient. Our set plays out of timeouts are atrocious.

All summer we heard about our high flying athleticism. We heard about an up-tempo attack. We heard about a different, more fun style of basketball. This has not materialized. What makes anybody think that next year will be any different? Here are some numbers to put things in perspective. Our KenPom Adjusted Offensive Efficiency thus far is 98.5 (i.e., the number of points we would score given 100 possessions). That places us at 271st in the nation out of 353 teams. Here are some teams that are currently better than us on offense: Fordham (9-11); South Alabama (9-11); James Madison (9-12); and UMKC (7-13). I haven't studied those teams, but I can't imagine that they could come close to matching our athleticism and talent level. Last season, our Adjusted Offensive Efficiency was 102.1 (good for 225th in the nation). Jim Crews' final year our Adjusted Offensive Efficiency was 96.9. This years offense is closer to the 2015-2016 season than it is to even last year's team. Regardless of your comparison, this team has way more athleticism and talent. But alas, Ford cannot capitalize on that.

Given this reality, I am finding it hard to remain optimistic about this season and the future unless we are somehow able to reinvent ourselves on offense. We certainly have the ability to get hot and win the conference tournament on defense and timely buckets, but the long-term sustainability of our style of play just isn't there.

The only hope I have is that we are still suffering the long-term effects of the ineptitude of Pestello and the Title IX office's handling of last year. Perhaps if we had the roster Ford envisioned we'd see a different product. Even then, I am skeptical.

I am sick and tired of waiting for next year. Hopefully, the staff can figure this out and give these guys a chance to succeed the rest of the way.

I like Ford, but he has a bit of a used car sales feeling, always has I believe. Agree with your post. It’s really not much of an offense at all and the last three years we’ve seen athleticism get better, but what a dumb team basketball wise. I’m tired of the talk and hype. Wait until next year, if this thing doesn’t take off and the AD isn’t canned I’m done as a Billiken fan. AD didn’t hire Majerus, he owns Crews and Ford. Blew getting us into Big East, he blames Biondi but he had zero clue what do, from inside source in school leadership. A lot still to be written yet. But two sexual assaults, the transfers, I know they say that’s part of the new world, a kid leaving his home team for DePaul said a lot to me, shouldn’t have even been offered a scholarship with his history, but what do I and about 100 high school coaches in the area know? Today’s game was depressing to leave the arena. 

[moytoy12]

11 minutes ago, Billy Ken said:

I like Ford, but he has a bit of a used car sales feeling, always has I believe. Agree with your post. It’s really not much of an offense at all and the last three years we’ve seen athleticism get better, but what a dumb team basketball wise. I’m tired of the talk and hype. Wait until next year, if this thing doesn’t take off and the AD isn’t canned I’m done as a Billiken fan. AD didn’t hire Majerus, he owns Crews and Ford. A lot still to be written yet. But two sexual assaults, the transfers, I know they say that’s part of the new world, a kid leaving his home team for DePaul said a lot to me, shouldn’t have even been offered a scholarship with his history, but what do I and about 100 high school coaches in the area know? Today’s game was depressing to leave the arena. 

We consistently do the basic things wrong and that’s really worrisome.  For example, I’ve never seen a team throw so many lazy passes over the course of the last couple of seasons. How does a coach allow this to happen?  It’s a third grade thing yet we do it game in and game out.   

[billikenbill]

S

17 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

The season is over. The rest is just noise  

This, so much this. Just hoping to finish above .500 in the conference at this point. Will the CBI even be interested?

[Quality Is Job 1]

29 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Imo davidson was just better than us.  They had 2 far superior players and bess can only guard one of them at a time.  I question why we didnt bring thatch in for isabel very early on when it was obvious he could only make thor's big brither look like james hardin.  

Speaking of thor the elder, while goodwin's foul was bad, give thor credit for drawing him into that.   Goodwin was guilty of being too agressive.  And the free  throws were brutal by goodwin, but earlier he was making them.

We just arent going to win many games when we play 3 or 4 on 5.   Too often it seems its bess, french and goodwin.

Yes we could have won, but right now our team isnt good enough.   They play hard, but just dont have count on it shot makers.  

Every possession is tough.  Its obvious we are going to play that style the whole season and hang out hat on defense.  

Just been a big disappointment. 

We could refer to Ingvi as "Thor" because that was his middle name.  I don't see why anyone would refer to Jonaxel as "Thor."

[Billy Ken]

Agree! Terrible passing, awful shot selection and free throws....could be one of the worst Bills team ever. How as a coaching staff do you A. realize guys who can and can’t shoot free throws B. Fix bad free throw shooting????? Two arm underhand them if it’ll work! Same stupid mistakes, turnovers every game. 

[Quality Is Job 1]

16 minutes ago, Billy Ken said:

I like Ford, but he has a bit of a used car sales feeling, always has I believe. Agree with your post. It’s really not much of an offense at all and the last three years we’ve seen athleticism get better, but what a dumb team basketball wise. I’m tired of the talk and hype. Wait until next year, if this thing doesn’t take off and the AD isn’t canned I’m done as a Billiken fan. AD didn’t hire Majerus, he owns Crews and Ford. A lot still to be written yet. But two sexual assaults, the transfers, I know they say that’s part of the new world, a kid leaving his home team for DePaul said a lot to me, shouldn’t have even been offered a scholarship with his history, but what do I and about 100 high school coaches in the area know? Today’s game was depressing to leave the arena. 

Asinine, baseless, and inaccurate accusation.  This statement should not stand.

[Billy Ken]

1 minute ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

Asinine, baseless, and inaccurate accusation.  This statement should not stand.

Really? Really? These are all facts. There has been 2 sexual assault issues with players being expelled/withdrawing while AD has been there. He hired Crews, who won with Majerus players and players running team, ask one of them sometime and now he’s hired Ford in year three. I read OK State message boards and its scary how similar they are and this board is when it comes to Ford, I like him, just saying. Plus EVERYONE in town around high school AAU basketball knew CG was insane, but the coaches at slu thought they could change that, who did that workout? To say this is wrong, please tell where I am off? Thanks 

[Billy Ken]

Weren’t both sexual assault cases not national news good, bad or indifferent? That’s the perception any way sorry. How many has Dayton, VCU, other A10 MBB programs have over same time span? I really don’t know. I’d be curious. 

[billikenfan05]

12 minutes ago, Billy Ken said:

Agree! Terrible passing, awful shot selection and free throws....could be one of the worst Bills team ever. How as a coaching staff do you A. realize guys who can and can’t shoot free throws B. Fix bad free throw shooting????? Two arm underhand them if it’ll work! Same stupid mistakes, turnovers every game. 

Lol take a little nap and calm down. 

[cheeseman]

58 minutes ago, CBFan said:

We are down 5 players today, Welmer, Santos, Gordon, Thor, and Jacobs.  We have been short handed all season we are competitive and that game was meaningful and fun to be at and I disagree with all that think Ford’s coaching is suspect.  For the third straight season we are short handed and I will judge the coach when we have a full squad.  Davidson is a good team and if JGood does not choke at the line we are in a better mood because we tie or better yet win it.  Our team plays hard and this team is better than last years but we only had 8 players today and we should have won. The season is not over for me and I look forward to the next game and will watch with enthusiasm until the last shot in March, go Bills.

I forgot about Jacobs - his shooting would not have been any worse.  I think we miss Gordon more than I originally thought.  Foreman is not the player he was last year for whatever the reason.

[Coach314]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

If coach can find him, one of the four open scholarships needs to go to a 40% 3pt, 80% FT player.  Perkins and Jimerson are great but we need two shooters in the backcourt at all times.  I don't care whether he's 6'4 or 6'1.  I don't care if he's just an average athlete.  Bess is having to play Superman precisely because we don't have enough ballhandlers who can shoot the ball.  The perimeter spacing is non-existent. 

Isabell has reverted to form.  The 34% he shot from 3 at Drexel against inferior competition was a mirage.  He's giving us a respectable effort but his shooting just isn't good enough.  

I've suggested that Yuri's time on the floor be limited to 10-12 minutes because of his offensive limitations.  I don't think we have that luxury given our point guard situation.  Goodwin gives us every thing he has but one thing he doesn't have is good decision making at the end of games.  He doesn't think like a point guard.  Our success next season hinges on how quickly Yuri can get up to speed.  We can survive 15 minutes of Goodwin at the point but not 30.  The remainder of Goodwin's minutes need to be at the 3.

This team is 90% rugged determination and 10% finesse.  Once that balance reaches 70/30 we will be fine.  Until then, it is what it is.

 

Great points.  Goodwin has always played better off ball.  But I think that was the selling point to get him.  "We can make you the next Marcus Smart".

[slu72]

Two factors lost this game for us; 

1) no credible outside threats allowed Davidson to pack the inside. 

2) we dick around with the ball too much on the outside and don't get it to someone in the middle who can distribute. 

Oh, one more thing, Foreman sucks right now.