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Florida Gulf Coast from da'Couch .....


Taj79

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.... in Maryland is back but I got nothing that hasn't already been said.  But old habits are hard to break.

Some notes:  the threat of our three-point shooters is real after at least this game.  This will give French and Goodwin the room to maneuver down low.  How refreshing that was.

Jimmmmerson's first shot made me smile ---- he can shoot it and he kept on shooting it.  Add in Weaver, Perkins, and Collins and the threat exists in multiple forms.  This is huge as we depend on our Big Three to dominate the inside.  Also Gibson's defense was not too bad and he stayed on his man many times.  And many of those times his man was on the point.  Danny Mac asked Hmark if he was a Hmark clone and Scott replied "no, he plays defense."  Weaver and Perkins were complimentary players last night.  It worked out well.

Given last night's performance, dare I mention Collins in the same breath as HWaldman?  A true point guard that appears truer than our last good ones Mitchell and Jett.  But it is one game and it was FGCU so I'm not quite on the Yurimania train but all signs are pointing up.  The key to me is that he had options, viable options, in Goodwin, Jimmmerson and French.  He played tenacious defense and handled the ball with ease.  Last year, it always seemed an adventure with Isabell and Goodwin as the primary ballhanders.  Yuri put that fear well aside.  And Weaver was decent too.  With that pressure gone, Goodwin looks much more comfortable than ever before.

According to the game log, Goodwin made eight shots and outside of the lone three, the seven others were listed as "layups."  I disagree with at least one because that was a turn-around jumper from the right side lane in the second half but even six layups underscore where Goodwin's strength lies.  And that plays well considering the opening statement of this post.  As Jordan goes, so goes this team.

French went nuts in the second half but by then FGCU was pretty well exhausted and spent.  I can see this trend developing if our press and exterior shooting is consistent game by game.  No one can handle him singularly down low.  And his FT% doubled last night to 67%!  And it looked good .... the one he missed was on line just short.  When he is done, his career block record will be untouchable.  

Thatch is an athlete, no doubt.  His offense needs refinement but he's getting there.  

I understand some of the raps on Jacobs and Yuri fans are already starting to call for him to start over Demarius but as I noted last night,he was one three-pointer away from double digits.  Granted it all came in mop-up time but the promise seemed to be there.  I am pleased on this one game but we will need more as time moves on.  But with college ball being a guard's game, I am happy with him, Goodwin, Thatch, Weaver, Collins and Jimmmerson in our backcourt.  Our press was certainly disruptive and took the Eagles out of their game but it also led to lost men on defense and them raining threes.  Valpo will be interesting to say the least.

Perkins did more than enough to show his promise going forward.  His defense was okay, but he is no interior defender.  Too slim.  But teaming him with Bell and French shows promise.   If Perkins scores one more basket, ditto Jacobs, and Collins makes those two free throws at the end, that is seven guys in double figures for scoring.  On the Billikens?  Who were those guys?

DoctorB's take on Jimmy Bell notwithstanding, the kid has a ways to go.  That's okay.  I think more SLU freshmen put up numbers ala Bell than what we saw from Jimmmerson and Collins last night.  His foul flurry at the end might be more indicative of the future as he moves through the learning process and gets better.  Hankton showed little to me but we will need him too as the season progresses.  I would have loved to have seen Hargrove but c'est la vie.

Lost in the euphoria is a still somewhat dismal 55.6% from the line.  Didn't matter last night but i suspect it will somewhere down the line.  The Big Three were six-of-nine so that's better.  Collins will get better I am sure.

As someone said last night, we have truly entered the Ford era.  We finally have enough depth to play the style I think Coach wants.  Plus that defensive plays well into our offensive style ---- somewhat bully-ball.  It appears promising to me that fans around the A10 are going to hate Jimmerson and Collins for four years to come.  Someone else can say "are they still here ... haven't they graduated yet?"

I expected a win and got it with ease.  Da'Couch hasn't been this comfortable in an early season game in years.

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7 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

.... in Maryland is back but I got nothing that hasn't already been said.  But old habits are hard to break.

Some notes:  the threat of our three-point shooters is real after at least this game.  This will give French and Goodwin the room to maneuver down low.  How refreshing that was.

Jimmmmerson's first shot made me smile ---- he can shoot it and he kept on shooting it.  Add in Weaver, Perkins, and Collins and the threat exists in multiple forms.  This is huge as we depend on our Big Three to dominate the inside.  Also Gibson's defense was not too bad and he stayed on his man many times.  And many of those times his man was on the point.  Danny Mac asked Hmark if he was a Hmark clone and Scott replied "no, he plays defense."  Weaver and Perkins were complimentary players last night.  It worked out well.

Given last night's performance, dare I mention Collins in the same breath as HWaldman?  A true point guard that appears truer than our last good ones Mitchell and Jett.  But it is one game and it was FGCU so I'm not quite on the Yurimania train but all signs are pointing up.  The key to me is that he had options, viable options, in Goodwin, Jimmmerson and French.  He played tenacious defense and handled the ball with ease.  Last year, it always seemed an adventure with Isabell and Goodwin as the primary ballhanders.  Yuri put that fear well aside.  And Weaver was decent too.  With that pressure gone, Goodwin looks much more comfortable than ever before.

According to the game log, Goodwin made eight shots and outside of the lone three, the seven others were listed as "layups."  I disagree with at least one because that was a turn-around jumper from the right side lane in the second half but even six layups underscore where Goodwin's strength lies.  And that plays well considering the opening statement of this post.  As Jordan goes, so goes this team.

French went nuts in the second half but by then FGCU was pretty well exhausted and spent.  I can see this trend developing if our press and exterior shooting is consistent game by game.  No one can handle him singularly down low.  And his FT% doubled last night to 67%!  And it looked good .... the one he missed was on line just short.  When he is done, his career block record will be untouchable.  

Thatch is an athlete, no doubt.  His offense needs refinement but he's getting there.  

I understand some of the raps on Jacobs and Yuri fans are already starting to call for him to start over Demarius but as I noted last night,he was one three-pointer away from double digits.  Granted it all came in mop-up time but the promise seemed to be there.  I am pleased on this one game but we will need more as time moves on.  But with college ball being a guard's game, I am happy with him, Goodwin, Thatch, Weaver, Collins and Jimmmerson in our backcourt.  Our press was certainly disruptive and took the Eagles out of their game but it also led to lost men on defense and them raining threes.  Valpo will be interesting to say the least.

Perkins did more than enough to show his promise going forward.  His defense was okay, but he is no interior defender.  Too slim.  But teaming him with Bell and French shows promise.   If Perkins scores one more basket, ditto Jacobs, and Collins makes those two free throws at the end, that is seven guys in double figures for scoring.  On the Billikens?  Who were those guys?

DoctorB's take on Jimmy Bell notwithstanding, the kid has a ways to go.  That's okay.  I think more SLU freshmen put up numbers ala Bell than what we saw from Jimmmerson and Collins last night.  His foul flurry at the end might be more indicative of the future as he moves through the learning process and gets better.  Hankton showed little to me but we will need him too as the season progresses.  I would have loved to have seen Hargrove but c'est la vie.

Lost in the euphoria is a still somewhat dismal 55.6% from the line.  Didn't matter last night but i suspect it will somewhere down the line.  The Big Three were six-of-nine so that's better.  Collins will get better I am sure.

As someone said last night, we have truly entered the Ford era.  We finally have enough depth to play the style I think Coach wants.  Plus that defensive plays well into our offensive style ---- somewhat bully-ball.  It appears promising to me that fans around the A10 are going to hate Jimmerson and Collins for four years to come.  Someone else can say "are they still here ... haven't they graduated yet?"

I expected a win and got it with ease.  Da'Couch hasn't been this comfortable in an early season game in years.

Good post. Couple of comments. Jett and Mitchell were score first points. Yuri is a past first point. Somewhere around 25 minutes seems right to me. A lot of people need to play. 

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1 minute ago, almaman said:

 

One of the coolest stats from last eve was 9 of the 11 3 by new guys on 16 shots.

How can you not get excited.  Im already pi$$ed I cant even watch the valpo game

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1 minute ago, wgstl said:

How can you not get excited.  Im already pi$$ed I cant even watch the valpo game

bummer although for us radio fall back always satisfying with or HOF radio duo.I couldn't watch first half and risked a ticket getting home for second half but they made it so much fun. Frank C just said Yuri fave Bill since Highmark!

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10 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

Something about Jacobs I've noticed since he's been at SLU is that he seems to only really assert himself when playing with the reserves.  Not sure what that really means, but just an observation. 

It looked to me he just isn't confident enough in himself. Like he's always second guessing "should I get the ball to one the 'main 3?'" It looked like he was playing with much more confidence at the end there, when he was the "vet" on the floor, and that's when he scored all of his points.

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Taj

Agree with you and the others on most issues but FGSU did not appear exhausted and spent in the second half.  In fact, they played better in the second half than they did in the first half.  They did not go away - they increased their game. And our our offense (and French) kept up with them - though our defense did not. 
To me, though, the test will be how we play (and shoot) when the opposition does not want to run full court like FGSU did.  With the shot clock going down to 5 seconds, will our shooters continue to shoot 40% from the three-point line. How much room will Goodwin and French really have?
French Goodwin and Thatch all dominated this past game, though, all three of them primarily shot the ball from within 5 feet of the basket. I remain hopeful that Thatch does have the outside shot we want him to have but I did not see his outside shot against FGSU. 
Weaver?  Yes. He can make the 3 pointer with 5 seconds left on the shot clock.  Jimerson?  I think but alot to ask of a Frosh. Perkins?  Not sure. No doubt he can shoot the ball, but can he run a deliberate half court offense to get himself open against the better A10 defenses? The others ?  I hope.  But I suspect efforts to make us play a deliberate half-court offense will be more of a conference tactic than OOC

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54 minutes ago, Clock_Tower said:

Agree with you and the others on most issues but FGSU did not appear exhausted and spent in the second half.  In fact, they played better in the second half than they did in the first half.  They did not go away - they increased their game. And our our offense (and French) kept up with them - though our defense did not. 

There is too much noise in the 2nd half numbers to really draw any conclusions.  SLU was up 22 so they let off the gas on D, the pressure on D wasn't nearly as intense/physical as the 1/2 half, Thatch was mostly out, Ford was giving some lineup combos longer run because of the score (we went a while without any of the "big 3", Hightower played almost 3 minutes, etc.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't be working on some of the defensive issues in the 2nd half, but I'm not going to try to parse anything from the numbers at this point.

I agree that FGCU didn't look exhausted on offense.  We gave the shooters better looks / stopped forcing as many turnovers and they capitalized - if they had tired legs I wouldn't have expected that.  Their defense wasn't very good all game, but it was especially bad in the 2nd half and perhaps you could say that had something to do with being tired or basically saving it for the offensive end.  I'd definitely say that French wore them out inside on defense given 1st & 2nd half splits.

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I keep on talking on the disruption caused by our new full court (havoc like) style of play and its contribution to our win. I want to show the statistics that indicate this is what is happening. All of these are from the FGCU game, I know this is not the do all or be all of all games, just the first one of the season. Here are the stats:

SLU     Score: 89                                             FGCU       Score: 67

               FGA: 71       FGM:  34                                            FGA: 52         FGM: 27

               3ptA:  27     3ptM:  11                                           3ptA:  27       3ptM:  12

              #players scoring over 10pts:  4                           #players scoring over 10pts:  2

              #players scoring 5-9pts:  4                                   #players scoring 5-9pts:  3

           Rebounds total:  41                                              Rebounds total:  28

              Offensive:  21                                                         Offensive:  9

              Defensive : 20                                                        Defensive: 19

           TO:  9                                                                      TO:  18

           Steals:  10                                                              Steals:  4

Look at the stats. We pushed FGCU into making errors and TOs, we overpowered them with rebounds, we stole more balls from them than they did to us, all of it by a wide margin. Just look at the number of offensive rebounds we made, this being a traditionally weak area for SLU, just about the same number as the defensive rebounds. We beat them in scoring by a wide margin, however, the important issue here is that a lot more of our players (8) did score a significant number of points than theirs (5) did.

Welcome to havoc SLU style, our own brand of disruptive play has been launched. I pray and hope this is just the beginning of something wonderful. Now onto Valpo which I think we should win like the wiz says "if we play like we did against FGCU". I say our kids will be plagued by less jitters and more familiarity with D1 play (the freshmen I mean), we are likely to play better. Havoc #2 game, SLU style, is coming soon, to your TV. Get ready ladies and gents, enjoy the show. Go Bills!

If I happen to be wrong, please forgive my enthusiasm and optimism. I am one of the MBMs, however rare and scarce we may be, who thinks we are going places this year. This is just the beginning of it all! Welcome to havoc SLU style brought to you by game statistics. Long live disruption as a style of play for SLU!

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Let me just say this:  All full-court defensive schemes are not "havoc."  There are various schemes of full-court — or 3/4-court or half-court — pressure.  I did not see the Billikens employing Shaka Smart's "havoc" techniques.  See, "havoc" uses forwards to trap, double-team, and overwhelm ballhandlers suddenly in the backcourt, very often fouling but getting away with it in the process.  That's not what I'm seeing the Billikens doing.

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OK, Quality is Job 1, technically the havoc or disruption used by Shaka is different than the disruption or havoc used by Ford. I should say starting to be used by Ford. Both are disruptive, I hope we can see throughout this season how far we can go with Ford's brand of disruption. As I  have mentioned many times I know little about the technical aspects of basketball play and you are correct, of course. This does not mean we are not disrupting the opponents as part of our play.

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Full-court pressure defense has been around for much longer than the term, havoc, which is a specific flavor of pressure defense that Smart was instrumental in developing.  Very few teams are built to employ "havoc."  Better terminology is pressure or the press.

Also, the goal of presses isn't always to turn the other team over but to wear them down.  It's often both.  And then sometimes teams employ pressure out of desperation in order to come back — like Crews's suddenly installing one against North Carolina State in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

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3 hours ago, Old guy said:

I keep on talking on the disruption caused by our new full court (havoc like) style of play and its contribution to our win. I want to show the statistics that indicate this is what is happening. All of these are from the FGCU game, I know this is not the do all or be all of all games, just the first one of the season. Here are the stats:

SLU     Score: 89                                             FGCU       Score: 67

               FGA: 71       FGM:  34                                            FGA: 52         FGM: 27

               3ptA:  27     3ptM:  11                                           3ptA:  27       3ptM:  12

              #players scoring over 10pts:  4                           #players scoring over 10pts:  2

              #players scoring 5-9pts:  4                                   #players scoring 5-9pts:  3

           Rebounds total:  41                                              Rebounds total:  28

              Offensive:  21                                                         Offensive:  9

              Defensive : 20                                                        Defensive: 19

           TO:  9                                                                      TO:  18

           Steals:  10                                                              Steals:  4

Look at the stats. We pushed FGCU into making errors and TOs, we overpowered them with rebounds, we stole more balls from them than they did to us, all of it by a wide margin. Just look at the number of offensive rebounds we made, this being a traditionally weak area for SLU, just about the same number as the defensive rebounds. We beat them in scoring by a wide margin, however, the important issue here is that a lot more of our players (8) did score a significant number of points than theirs (5) did.

Welcome to havoc SLU style, our own brand of disruptive play has been launched. I pray and hope this is just the beginning of something wonderful. Now onto Valpo which I think we should win like the wiz says "if we play like we did against FGCU". I say our kids will be plagued by less jitters and more familiarity with D1 play (the freshmen I mean), we are likely to play better. Havoc #2 game, SLU style, is coming soon, to your TV. Get ready ladies and gents, enjoy the show. Go Bills!

If I happen to be wrong, please forgive my enthusiasm and optimism. I am one of the MBMs, however rare and scarce we may be, who thinks we are going places this year. This is just the beginning of it all! Welcome to havoc SLU style brought to you by game statistics. Long live disruption as a style of play for SLU!

i am with you old guy, i believe that we are going somewhere and will be a force  in conference play.

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