GDT vs Belmont

[Sheltiedave]

8 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

its  ironic that you mention the big comeback by high point and then mention that ford "rides his stallion for the entire game".    that high point run coincided with ford pulling the entire starting lineup way too early and then having to bring them all back in.   

Roy, he pulled his starting five and the reserves increased the lead. The 5 pt lead bumped to 24 at one point, with starters scoring 9 pts and reserves adding 13 points. The front end of the HP comeback was driven first by trying to get Bell to be an offensive force three times and then by Goodwin loafing on the ball twice. With a 24 point lead early in the season....that is a point that screams for the yuts to get significant playing time for seasoning.

Where they failed was in effort, and changing their style of play to a walk it up half court game to eat clock.

If Ford doesn’t do it against High Point, foul trouble will force him to do it against BC, Dayton, or VCU. You need to admit that there is no singular dictat that applies across the board in a blowout win.

[Quality Is Job 1]

5 hours ago, Sheltiedave said:

I put the thug in to tell quality, and everyone else, my reference name. People have told me they don’t like either thug or bully, so billy it is for me:-)

I'm okay with "bully ball."  The point I was making is that while "bully" may have some negative connotations, it's better than "thug."

[billiken_roy]

33 minutes ago, Sheltiedave said:

Roy, he pulled his starting five and the reserves increased the lead. The front end of the comeback was driven first by trying to get Bell to be an offensive force three times and then by Goodwin loafing on the ball twice. With a 24 point lead early in the season....that is a point that screams for the yuts to get significant playing time for seasoning.

Where they failed was in effort, and changing their style of play to a walk it up half court game to eat clock.

If Ford doesn’t do it against High Point, foul trouble will force him to do it against BC, Dayton, or VCU. You need to admit that there is no singular dictat that applies across the board in a blowout win.

Thats incorrect ford abruptly put goodwin back on when the reserves were collapsing and the unprepared goodwin then added to the collapse with the 2 straight bad turnovers but the reserves were already  in full blow it mode because ford had pulled the starters too soon.

[3star_recruit]

21 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Thats incorrect ford abruptly put goodwin back on when the reserves were collapsing and the unprepared goodwin then added to the collapse with the 2 straight bad turnovers but the reserves were already  in full blow it mode because ford had pulled the starters too soon.

We were up 18 when Coach took out Goodwin, Collins and Jacobs and up 20 when he pulled out French.  The reserves pushed the lead to 24.  We were still up 18 when Coach put Goodwin back in.

[slufanskip]

4 hours ago, Old guy said:

Hey guys, that was a major win by us against a top 50 ranked opponent. This is the 6th game our freshmen play in D1 competition, why all of this searching for "errors" instead of rejoicing about results? How many of our MBMs are locked into a "glass half empty" mode of thinking about our team.

From my point of view, Belmont did their preliminary work effectively and were well prepared against us. They did all they could to neutralize French but just could not, so they adopted the procedure of fouling him to neutralize his drives, knowing he has major problems with  FTs. When, about 4 minutes from the end of the game, they  fouled him again and he scored a number of points in a row (I think it was 3, not sure) this was an enormous boost for us, but a major gut punch for them. "What is a mother to do?" is the thought that must have crossed their minds when French did this. French had, in many ways the best defensive game of his  career.

Bell is not there yet but compared to his performance in prior games he is improving. Yuri has been captured in multiple game films since he started playing this season. He is not an unknown freshman any longer but a threat that needs to be neutralized, as they tried and, to some degree, succeeded in doing. The same can be said for Jimerson. Both of these guys responded to their neutralization efforts by doing new things, more Jimerson than Yuri. Yuri by the way is a tiny guy compared to what he is going against, and now that they know he is a real threat. Yuri will have to expect stronger efforts from the opposition to render him a non threat. These things should be self evident to all.

True really good players like Jimerson and Yuri could be expected to pull new things and defeat the opposition's efforts; but remember these kids are freshmen who never ever played a major top 50 opponent before, and are also new to the new dimensions of play found in D1. I'd say they did just fine in yesterday's game, and the same goes for Perkins, and Bell.

So, French still cannot shoot Fts consistently, what do you want to do about it? Do you want to pull a Crews and punish  the kid after the best game of his career because he cannot shoot FTs regularly? Come on, get a life.

Let's get this straight, WE WON AGAINST A TOP 50 RANKED TEAM LAST NIGHT. What is it about this that is so hard to understand? Does it mean we are going to the dance this year, hell no. In order to do that we need to win a parcel of additional games. Are we going to win these games by playing perfect basketball, who do you think you are kidding in this regard? Of course we are not going to do this, not this year and not with as many freshmen as we have in the team. Does this mean we are doomed because many of our kids are being stopped by teams with a better ranking than ours, or cannot shoot FTs? Again, no way. Any game we play where we out rebound the opposition 60 to 38 will be a game we can win, it may be sloppy, we may make a lot of mistakes, but who cares if we win the game.

I think it is time to get your glasses half full and rejoice about what you are seeing with your own eyes during game time. The games may  be ugly, we may be plagued by all kinds of stupid mistakes, but WHO CARES AS LONG AS WE WIN?

Go Bills! The next game against BC may be easier for us that this monster of a game against Belmont was. Let's to to the heart of Boston, where I lived for 28 years, and show them that, at least from a basketball point of view, we are not a fly over state and that we have to be considered a dangerous opponent. Again, Go Bills!

How was Belmont a major top 50 opponent? 

Did you forget Seton Hall? 

 

[NH]

5-1 overall, 4-2 against the spread. Major improvements demonstrated from our top two players. Multiple freshman showing flashes that they can be big-time contributors as early as this season. The most depth a Billikens team has had since 2012-2013. Count me in the glass half full crowd. Yesterday was a gutsy win that required the toughness we’d been missing in prior weeks. 

[wgstl]

4 hours ago, Old guy said:

Hey guys, that was a major win by us against a top 50 ranked opponent. 

Top 100

[Old guy]

19 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Top 100

That depends upon whose rankings you are using and whether they were pre game or post game rankings. The pre game rankings at teamrankings had Belmont at 40, post game they went down to 51. If you are using someone else's rankings they are probably not the same as teamrankings.

[Sheltiedave]

Belmont will win their conference, their conference tourney, and again will be an at-large if they don’t. That shapes up to be a top 50 team.

As long as they avoid injuries