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Hochman article


slu72

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Hochman certainly makes it sound like the sky is falling on the Bills. He was especially critical about our lack of FT ability. His comment about the team not staying behind practice and shoot a 100 FT's was disheartening. Seeing as how FT's have been a prime factor in two of our recent losses one would think the players would gladly take this task on themselves.

The overall tone of his article is that this team is falling apart right before our eyes both literally and physically. For sure, injuries aren't helping matters, but Hochman seems to indicate there has to be some reason for the departures too. I'd agree to an extent. First, it doesn't help to lose two players during mid season. Second, while Gordon may have been a troubled soul, he was our highest visibility local recruit in some time. The optics of his leaving in mid season, well, leaves one with a lot more questions than answers. I just hope it doesn't lead interfering with future local recruiting, and St Louis kids start thinking that SLU's not a real good place to play college ball.

Then the rumour about an altercation in the locker room at halftime of the Davidson game has to make you wonder what the hell's going on with # TeamBlue. Losing always breeds dissension. And when you were so highly touted in the preseason the losses become magnified and leads to a lot of finger pointing. Which is everywhere on this board right now, and, if it continues, will lead to guys just quitting on themselves, their teammates, their coach, and their fans. Easy to develop a "who gives a F attitude" with everyone just looking toward to the end of a long and very frustrating season. We may well be at that "all is lost point" you see in the movies. Hopefully, like the movies our protagonists dig deeper and turn it around to gain victory at the end. Sadly, this is not a movie but real life.

I sense most of us posters are really down at this point. Myself included.  It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd shows tonight at Chaifetz. Of course, with typical Billiken luck we are competing against Trump's State of the Union. If we have a rivalry game, it's Dayton and their rabid SV donned boosters, who I expect will show up in numbers tonight an no state of the union speech is as important as cheering on their beloved Flyers. Funny, how the tables have turned on the two teams. Dayton supposedly in a rebuild mode being atop the conference vs the preseason highly touted Billikens who are stumbling and fumbling their way towards another lost season.

Of course, a W tonight may be just the spark we need. So, it's time to suck it up and start screaming Go Bills shoot down the Flyers!

 

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14 minutes ago, slu72 said:

Hochman certainly makes it sound like the sky is falling on the Bills. He was especially critical about our lack of FT ability. His comment about the team not staying behind practice and shoot a 100 FT's was disheartening. Seeing as how FT's have been a prime factor in two of our recent losses one would think the players would gladly take this task on themselves.

The overall tone of his article is that this team is falling apart right before our eyes both literally and physically. For sure, injuries aren't helping matters, but Hochman seems to indicate there has to be some reason for the departures too. I'd agree to an extent. First, it doesn't help to lose two players during mid season. Second, while Gordon may have been a troubled soul, he was our highest visibility local recruit in some time. The optics of his leaving in mid season, well, leaves one with a lot more questions than answers. I just hope it doesn't lead interfering with future local recruiting, and St Louis kids start thinking that SLU's not a real good place to play college ball.

Then the rumour about an altercation in the locker room at halftime of the Davidson game has to make you wonder what the hell's going on with # TeamBlue. Losing always breeds dissension. And when you were so highly touted in the preseason the losses become magnified and leads to a lot of finger pointing. Which is everywhere on this board right now, and, if it continues, will lead to guys just quitting on themselves, their teammates, their coach, and their fans. Easy to develop a "who gives a F attitude" with everyone just looking toward to the end of a long and very frustrating season. We may well be at that "all is lost point" you see in the movies. Hopefully, like the movies our protagonists dig deeper and turn it around to gain victory at the end. Sadly, this is not a movie but real life.

I sense most of us posters are really down at this point. Myself included.  It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd shows tonight at Chaifetz. Of course, with typical Billiken luck we are competing against Trump's State of the Union. If we have a rivalry game, it's Dayton and their rabid SV donned boosters, who I expect will show up in numbers tonight an no state of the union speech is as important as cheering on their beloved Flyers. Funny, how the tables have turned on the two teams. Dayton supposedly in a rebuild mode being atop the conference vs the preseason highly touted Billikens who are stumbling and fumbling their way towards another lost season.

Of course, a W tonight may be just the spark we need. So, it's time to suck it up and start screaming Go Bills shoot down the Flyers!

 

Billikens basketball is always > than the state of the union address.

I think the 8 pm start is worse for folks like my wife and I who get up at 4 am and exercise and we have the hour drive to mid Jeffco after getting out of the parking garage.  Old people need thier sleep and that start gets us home hopefully around 11.

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The sky was falling at the end of last season due to Situation 2.  But Coach Ford's recruiting gave us hope.  Many of us thought this season could be salvaged because of Gordon.  And most of us thought Coach Ford had restored our title hopes by signing Isabell.  Both of those players have been monumental disappointments, one because he's no longer here and the other because he's playing way below expectations. That's why the sky is falling.  The margin for error at this level is incredibly thin.  Two busts at starting positions can be the difference between a conference title and fighting to finish .500.

Coach Ford managed to recruit a future NBA draft pick, Juwan Evans, at Oklahoma State during the darkest days of his coaching career.  Recruiting will not be a problem.  And based on his recent radio comments he will no longer use multiple transfers as a shortcut to success.  But yeah, this season is going to be pretty dark.

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hochman says , "Many players coach Travis Ford has recruited have left the program, including the talented handful that was Carte’Are Gordon. We counted eight players since Ford was hired in March 2016."

bennie. you do know that 5 of those 8 were kind of forced on the team by our wonderful title IX gang and the BoT.  one was a transfer before the season started (johnson) one was a turn pro in iceland (Thor) only gordon seems to be something that might have been avoided.  

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1 minute ago, billiken_roy said:

hochman says , "Many players coach Travis Ford has recruited have left the program, including the talented handful that was Carte’Are Gordon. We counted eight players since Ford was hired in March 2016."

bennie. you do know that 5 of those 8 were kind of forced on the team by our wonderful title IX gang and the BoT.  one was a transfer before the season started (johnson) one was a turn pro in iceland (Thor) only gordon seems to be something that might have been avoided.  

I'm not sure Gordon could have been avoided, unless Travis said, "ok, Cart'are, I'm gonna make you the whole show. Do whatever you want. You want to punch out X's lights, go ahead have at him. You want to skip classes, I'll speak to your profs. You want pizza delivered every night to your room, I'll have coach Tate take care of that for you." I get the feeling young Mr. Gordon is a very high maintenance individual. He manages to say the right things in his interviews, but his actions are sorely lacking.

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56 minutes ago, slu72 said:

Hochman certainly makes it sound like the sky is falling on the Bills. He was especially critical about our lack of FT ability. His comment about the team not staying behind practice and shoot a 100 FT's was disheartening. Seeing as how FT's have been a prime factor in two of our recent losses one would think the players would gladly take this task on themselves.

The overall tone of his article is that this team is falling apart right before our eyes both literally and physically. For sure, injuries aren't helping matters, but Hochman seems to indicate there has to be some reason for the departures too. I'd agree to an extent. First, it doesn't help to lose two players during mid season. Second, while Gordon may have been a troubled soul, he was our highest visibility local recruit in some time. The optics of his leaving in mid season, well, leaves one with a lot more questions than answers. I just hope it doesn't lead interfering with future local recruiting, and St Louis kids start thinking that SLU's not a real good place to play college ball.

Then the rumour about an altercation in the locker room at halftime of the Davidson game has to make you wonder what the hell's going on with # TeamBlue. Losing always breeds dissension. And when you were so highly touted in the preseason the losses become magnified and leads to a lot of finger pointing. Which is everywhere on this board right now, and, if it continues, will lead to guys just quitting on themselves, their teammates, their coach, and their fans. Easy to develop a "who gives a F attitude" with everyone just looking toward to the end of a long and very frustrating season. We may well be at that "all is lost point" you see in the movies. Hopefully, like the movies our protagonists dig deeper and turn it around to gain victory at the end. Sadly, this is not a movie but real life.

I sense most of us posters are really down at this point. Myself included.  It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd shows tonight at Chaifetz. Of course, with typical Billiken luck we are competing against Trump's State of the Union. If we have a rivalry game, it's Dayton and their rabid SV donned boosters, who I expect will show up in numbers tonight an no state of the union speech is as important as cheering on their beloved Flyers. Funny, how the tables have turned on the two teams. Dayton supposedly in a rebuild mode being atop the conference vs the preseason highly touted Billikens who are stumbling and fumbling their way towards another lost season.

Of course, a W tonight may be just the spark we need. So, it's time to suck it up and start screaming Go Bills shoot down the Flyers!

 

+1  Good summary.

And I am not familiar with internal locker room talk/dissension.  And as mentioned, probably best not to be publicly discussed even if we/some know the talk/issues.

Mixed opinions from me -- glad Coach Ford tried to win this year -- for us and for Foreman/Bess with the quick fixes from the disasters of S2 but maybe a more steady rebuild would have been better.  But the risk/gamble of signing both Gordon and Pearson (let's not forget him) last Fall makes things tough now.  Grade of A for effort.

From a numbers/odds perspective, hoping the dissension (if there is any) is between underclassmen and the Seniors or among the Seniors.  Our locker room will be drastically different next year as probably 7-9 guys have left or will leave:   Santos, Gordon & Thor are gone;  and Isabell Wiley, Foreman and Bess will also be gone. Welmer is likely gone?  Maybe another?

 

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I think 3 things have lead to the losing streak.

1. Tougher competition. Conference games are hard especially on the road.

2. Our guys are tired. We may be down to 6 scholarship players tonight. Our top guys have been playing over 35 minutes a game they just don’t have their legs.

3. Frustration. Losing is is tough and the more they lose the hard it is to climb out of the hole.

A big win tonight and I think they can get back on track.

The first win during a losing streak is the hardest.

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57 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

hochman says , "Many players coach Travis Ford has recruited have left the program, including the talented handful that was Carte’Are Gordon. We counted eight players since Ford was hired in March 2016."

bennie. you do know that 5 of those 8 were kind of forced on the team by our wonderful title IX gang and the BoT.  one was a transfer before the season started (johnson) one was a turn pro in iceland (Thor) only gordon seems to be something that might have been avoided.  

Henriquez, Graves and Bishop are the ones you need to blame. Not the Title IX gang or the Board of Trustees. Remember Jim Kavanaugh is on the BOT.

So playing pro basketball in Iceland is better than  playing basketball at SLU. Who knew? Doesn't say much for the state of SLU basketball does it.

 

 

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11 minutes ago, stlwaino50 said:

Henriquez, Graves and Bishop are the ones you need to blame. Not the Title IX gang or the Board of Trustees. Remember Jim Kavanaugh is on the BOT.

So playing pro basketball in Iceland is better than  playing basketball at SLU. Who knew? Doesn't say much for the state of SLU basketball does it.

 

 

tilky where you been?   never mind please leave. 

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Tonight looks tough.  We have done a good job of holding teams down that have one dominant scorer, we have not done nearly as well with teams that are balanced.  A dinged up Bess diminishes, or takes away our best player on both sides of the ball.  To have a chance, we need to have Bess at full speed, stay out of foul trouble, have some shots go down and avoid stupid turnovers.... piece of cake

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1 minute ago, Glorydays2013 said:

Crazy how we went 5-0 and now we might struggle to finish’s outside the bottom 4 of the conference. 

Players are getting “injured” too much and it sounds like bs. Sometime is fishy 

Yes, sometime IS fishy. Mostly Fridays in Lent.

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1 hour ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said:

Holy fuok your post quality keeps getting worse. It's amazing. 

When KC and Jacobs transfer remind me later. These guys don’t wanna play. I grew up with people who had all the attention on them and use “injuries” as an excuse. Jacobs is cleared to play but clearly doesn’t wanna play. That means more than nothing. 

Its ok though, we will all see soon enough in the off-season. When I’m right you’ll make up an excuse that it was for another reason like you’ve done in the past. Keep bad posting. Enough excuses for this team 

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8 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

When KC and Jacobs transfer remind me later. These guys don’t wanna play. I grew up with people who had all the attention on them and use “injuries” as an excuse. Jacobs is cleared to play but clearly doesn’t wanna play. That means more than nothing. 

Its ok though, we will all see soon enough in the off-season. When I’m right you’ll make up an excuse that it was for another reason like you’ve done in the past. Keep bad posting. Enough excuses for this team 

so if you are correct, then why would we care if they transferred?  you are a trainwreck.  never seen a fan like you.  which probably means you arent a fan. 

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8 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

When KC and Jacobs transfer remind me later. These guys don’t wanna play. I grew up with people who had all the attention on them and use “injuries” as an excuse. Jacobs is cleared to play but clearly doesn’t wanna play. That means more than nothing. 

Its ok though, we will all see soon enough in the off-season. When I’m right you’ll make up an excuse that it was for another reason like you’ve done in the past. Keep bad posting. Enough excuses for this team 

Lol wut? 

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10 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

When KC and Jacobs transfer remind me later. These guys don’t wanna play. I grew up with people who had all the attention on them and use “injuries” as an excuse. Jacobs is cleared to play but clearly doesn’t wanna play. That means more than nothing. 

Its ok though, we will all see soon enough in the off-season. When I’m right you’ll make up an excuse that it was for another reason like you’ve done in the past. Keep bad posting. Enough excuses for this team 

Glad you are hard to understand, makes it easier to accept your posting as garbage.

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16 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

When KC and Jacobs transfer remind me later. These guys don’t wanna play. I grew up with people who had all the attention on them and use “injuries” as an excuse. Jacobs is cleared to play but clearly doesn’t wanna play. That means more than nothing. 

Its ok though, we will all see soon enough in the off-season. When I’m right you’ll make up an excuse that it was for another reason like you’ve done in the past. Keep bad posting. Enough excuses for this team 

Dumba$$ you were the one anointing this team the a10 title 3 months before the season started. You said we would blow out most teams in the a10. You have never been right. I'd be willing to bet you have been wrong more consistently than anyone on the board. Half the board has you muted and you still end up with a handful of troll/bad post every time you say something. And now you are saying these guys are faking injuries. 

To be a good team you need chemistry. You need players to play their roles. You need team first guys. This is why the 2012 teams were so great. They didn't have the athleticism these guys have but they played the game the right way and it showed (almost) every night. How highly they are recruited out of high school means nothing when the games are played. All that recruiting hooplah just makes uninformed people like yourself think they know everything. Take a hike glory ravs. Leave the board to real fans.

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19 minutes ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said:

 

To be a good team you need chemistry. You need players to play their roles. You need team first guys. This is why the 2012 teams were so great. They didn't have the athleticism these guys have but they played the game the right way and it showed (almost) every night. How highly they are recruited out of high school means nothing when the games are played. All that recruiting hooplah just makes uninformed people like yourself think they know everything. 

This would have meaning if we had a coach instead of a recruiter.

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