GDT BC: Where Eagles Die

[slu72]

2 hours ago, moytoy12 said:

I disagree that we necessarily need 2 bigs starting *every* game.

Moytoy, I really respect you BB IQ, but can't figure out why you're so against starting Jimmy B. I thought he held his own today and helped get the W. 

[wgstl]

2 hours ago, moytoy12 said:

I disagree that we necessarily need 2 bigs starting *every* game.

Because it forces opposing teams to throw their 4 in French rather than their 5. 

[WVBilliken]

4 hours ago, Clocktoweraccords2004 said:

Gibson scores and plays amazing defense. What does Jacobs do to deserve the starting spot over him? 
Before y’all go off about how starting doesn’t matter... we haven’t been good at the start of games recently. 

Ball handling guard versus shooting guard/small forward ..... and I am thrilled about Jacobs' development.  He handles the ball well, good defense, shooting has been good.  And I could give a damn who starts.  

 

[mdscott24]

3 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

I posted this a couple pages back:

Coach Ford speaking at length in postgame interview about Thatch's struggle with illness, how he doesn't want to put Fred in a bad spot and how desperately we need him. Jeez, with how well we're already playing halfcourt defense, how dominant can this defense be?

Thanks for the info.

 

[HoosierPal]

4 hours ago, Clocktoweraccords2004 said:

Gibson scores and plays amazing defense. What does Jacobs do to deserve the starting spot over him? 
Before y’all go off about how starting doesn’t matter... we haven’t been good at the start of games recently. 

Look at minutes played. That is what truly matters.

The key run started at the 14:30 mark of the second half. Players on the floor then are what counted a lot more than who lined up for the tip. 

[Taj79]

Guys are stepping up at various times.  It's what good teams do.  I'll take it.  Guys have ways to go and we really haven't seen anything from Thatch or Hankton.  My OCC is now +2.  Instead of 8 and 5 I'm at 10 and 3.  Auburn and KState loom large still.

[juniorbill76]

So far we’ve managed to avoid the unexpected loss. If we continue to win all the games we’re “supposed to” that in itself would be quite an accomplishment. Ask Kentucky and Duke.

[TheChosenOne]

5 hours ago, moytoy12 said:

I'll give you 15 points and when I (hopefully) lose, I'll buy you drinks at the 'Fetz in February. Deal?  If I win the bet, we'll both be pissy and you won't owe me anything.

I like it, but if you win I buy you a drink at the 'Fetz.

[mrjoelabs]

46 minutes ago, juniorbill76 said:

So far we’ve managed to avoid the unexpected loss. If we continue to win all the games we’re “supposed to” that in itself would be quite an accomplishment. Ask Kentucky and Duke.

Absolutely.  Honestly, I thought Ford coached his ass off today.  And what he is getting out of Bell, who most of us thought would barely crack the roster this year, is a revelation.  The D came to play in the second half until the big run.  They are learning.  I was negative about bad D when it was warranted, but to go on the road and win this was nice.  I want to know where the Gotham title banner is as well. 4-0 baby

[RUBillsFan]

13 hours ago, wgstl said:

Kenpom has us up to 108, finished 106 last year 

Key difference:

Last year 106 put us firmly 4th in the A10 according to KenPom.

This year 108 puts us in 7th.  It’s going to be a lot harder to run the table in the A10 tournament because the rest of the league is much improved.

That being said this team is exceeding my expectations so far.  While I fear an inexplicable loss if French & Goodwin both have poor games / foul trouble, I don’t feel like the team has played their best yet.  

[RUBillsFan]

12 hours ago, slu72 said:

Moytoy, I really respect you BB IQ, but can't figure out why you're so against starting Jimmy B. I thought he held his own today and helped get the W. 

Not @moytoy12, but I’ll give my opinion.  Spacing the floor is very important on offense.  Playing French and Bell together clogs the paint area (especially with others who aren’t outside threats like Goodwin and Collins* on the floor as well) and doesn’t give either enough room to operate.   Watching games so far it seems like both French and Bell have played their best when the other isn’t on the floor.  French has put up better 2nd half numbers which is when he’s not playing with Bell and Bell has played well in the Seton Hall and BC games when French was limited by fouls in the 1st half.

I understand the perceived benefits of starting Bell, but IMO the results haven’t born out those benefits.

* - both Goodwin and Collins have good %s, but in small samples and I’m not ready to call them outside threats the same way I would Weaver or Jimerson.

[Clocktoweraccords2004]

13 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Let’s take away some of Goodwin’s minutes and give them to Hargrove. I trust the MBM’s who are complaining about TJ’s involvement would approve. 

I don’t think that but definitely Jacobs 

[Clocktoweraccords2004]

10 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Look at minutes played. That is what truly matters.

The key run started at the 14:30 mark of the second half. Players on the floor then are what counted a lot more than who lined up for the tip. 

Yes and I’m saying that lineup should start. Some teams are much harder to come back from a deficit...

you want a team who always has to “come back” 

[dennis_w]

30 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

Not @moytoy12, but I’ll give my opinion.  Spacing the floor is very important on offense.  Playing French and Bell together clogs the paint area (especially with others who aren’t outside threats like Goodwin and Collins* on the floor as well) and doesn’t give either enough room to operate.   Watching games so far it seems like both French and Bell have played their best when the other isn’t on the floor.  French has put up better 2nd half numbers which is when he’s not playing with Bell and Bell has played well in the Seton Hall and BC games when French was limited by fouls in the 1st half.

I understand the perceived benefits of starting Bell, but IMO the results haven’t born out those benefits.

* - both Goodwin and Collins have good %s, but in small samples and I’m not ready to call them outside threats the same way I would Weaver or Jimerson.

It may simply be that CF knows he needs to bring jb along and is giving him minutes now, because he knows he needs him ready later. Those 4 or 5 minutes in earlier games certainly paid off against BC. I dont disagree with your point, just Cf might be playing the long game here

[Clock_Tower]

33 minutes ago, dennis_w said:

It may simply be that CF knows he needs to bring jb along and is giving him minutes now, because he knows he needs him ready later. Those 4 or 5 minutes in earlier games certainly paid off against BC. I dont disagree with your point, just Cf might be playing the long game here

Agreed.   Coach Ford really appears to have a grasp of his players and how best to fit them together -- and not just for a 4 minute stint, but over the duration of the game, the OOC and the season.  

A few additional comments

1.   Prior to the BC game, I would have predicted predict a loss if you told me the following would not score: Yuri (0-5), Thatch (0-1) and Hankton (0-1).

2   This team's overall defense continues to improve

3.   Guys appear to be more and more comfortable -  still a long way to go - but a grasp of the offense appears likely for these guys.

4.  If the progress continues, Coach Ford will be considered for coach of the year awards 

[CBFan]

42 minutes ago, dennis_w said:

It may simply be that CF knows he needs to bring jb along and is giving him minutes now, because he knows he needs him ready later. Those 4 or 5 minutes in earlier games certainly paid off against BC. I dont disagree with your point, just Cf might be playing the long game here

I agree Dennis and I think starting Jimmy this season has paid off in this game.

For our team to be able to compete with other teams bigs we must have Bell playing at a higher level and so far playing Bell has helped so let it ride.  The free throws and that blocked shot by Bell was a big help to go along with the rebounds and a field goal.

Our teams shooting will improve there is no doubt that Jimerson’s, Collins, Perkins, and Thatch’s shooting percentages will improve and our secret weapon Hargrove will emerge in February but we need to get Bell to play at least at a DJ level to win the A10.

Happy Thanksgiving 

[DoctorB]

1 hour ago, RUBillsFan said:

 I don’t feel like the team has played their best yet.  

Say what?  Boy are you in for a surprise in February, when we really start clicking.  We are not even in the vicinity of "our best," but you would never know it with the stabilizing force of Has & JGood.  Those 2 are really awesome right now.  My comparison for HF?  Charles Oakley.  I'd also like to send a shout out to Jimmy Bell, who I thought was a key silent force in the first half, helping keep us in the game while HF was on the bench.  That whole effort, mostly by freshmen, was at  gut check time, we could have easily been blown out and given up early. KUDOS to players and staff for hanging in there, it will pay dividends.

Happy Thanksgiving for this fun and far-from-our-best-yet team.  It's going to be a really great ride, folks, let's enjoy it!

[Old guy]

Everything in life is based upon ifs. This year the ifs appear to be falling our way which is great!

For the remaining games of the ooc, I think we will win again S Illinois, Tulane, and Beth-Cook. I think the games against Auburn and KState will be iffy, but we may be able to win one. From that point of view our ooc record may be 9 - 3 if we lose against both Auburn and KState, or 10 - 2. Given the strength of our ooc compared to some of the others in A10, I think it is possible for us to dominate conference play and go to the Dance this year. This, of course, requires that the ifs keep on falling our way as they have mostly been falling this season. This is not as far out as it may appear to you all. Team rankings latest projection (which is based, as most projections are, upon past events) for our final win/loss this year is somewhere between 17 - 14 and 20 - 11. My personal projection is probably exceeding the 20 - 11. If all the ifs continue falling our way I see a possible maximum W/L for the season up to 26 - 5, plus a trip to the Dance in March. This optimal result is NOT likely to happen, it is a best case scenario, but it is quite likely, in my opinion, that we will end our season with over 22 or 23 wins, and a possible trip to the Dance as well.

If something happens and the ifs start falling against us, all bets are off (of course this is just a phrase, I do not bet). Playing with probabilities inside your head can be a most amusing thing to do. Seriously now, what I say in the prior paragraph is starting to go our way. There is no indication that it will reverse itself, not so far at least. Just look at the visible progress our team is making. In my opinion this may be a wonderful season!

Anyone wants to call me captain obvious now? I guess I may be qualifying for a new name like "dreaming fool" or something like it. Who cares, I am happy.

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. I think it is time for happy thoughts.

 

 

[Clock_Tower]

6 minutes ago, DoctorB said:

Say what?  Boy are you in for a surprise in February, when we really start clicking.  We are not even in the vicinity of "our best," but you would never know it with the stabilizing force of Has & JGood.  Those 2 are really awesome right now.  My comparison for HF?  Charles Oakley.  I'd also like to send a shout out to Jimmy Bell, who I thought was a key silent force in the first half, helping keep us in the game while HF was on the bench.  That whole effort, mostly by freshmen, was at  gut check time, we could have easily been blown out and given up early. KUDOS to players and staff for hanging in there, it will pay dividends.

Happy Thanksgiving for this fun and far-from-our-best-yet team.  It's going to be a really great ride, folks, let's enjoy it!

Well said.   Like your point and emphasis that our Juniors (Goodwin and French) are now the stabilizing force -- which we desperately need early In this season.   And while we will need them strong throughout the season, the plan is for the others to step up so that these 2 don't have to have career games each game for us to win.   If Yuri, Thatch, Jimerson, Perkins and Jacobs can average 8 ppg or more each game, then we won't need Goodwin and French to carry the team each game.

[Clock_Tower]

17 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

Being the third best player on this year's team is a lot like being "tallest dwarf."  It's not exactly a badge of honor.  What we have is two dominant players and it appears the third will change every 2-3 games.  Yuri was clearly the third guy the first 4 games.

The first 4 games were some of easiest games -- and against teams who also wanted to run and shoot.   Call them dwarfs, but Jimerson had as many points (11) as French yesterday and a few other good games, Jacobs had his breakout game, Perkins was strong yesterday, Thatch is not healthy but will come up big for a few games once healthy again - and Weaver will only get better as the season goes on.   All I know is that dwarfs can play bullyball 

[moytoy12]

15 hours ago, slu72 said:

Moytoy, I really respect you BB IQ, but can't figure out why you're so against starting Jimmy B. I thought he held his own today and helped get the W. 

Oh man, I really don’t have much BB iq, but appreciate the kind words. Let me rephrase a little bit. Not necessarily against starting Bell, but I think the lineup with Perkins instead of Bell is our most effective lineup at the moment.  Also, let me say that I am a giant Bell fan. So proud of the kid. He has been thrown into the fire and has exceeded my expectations.  Can’t wait to see him dominate in two years and looking forward to his progress until that point. 

Sorry if I missed it, but do we know the illness that Thatch has?

[slu72]

1 minute ago, moytoy12 said:

Oh man, I really don’t have much BB iq, but appreciate the kind words. Let me rephrase a little bit. Not necessarily against starting Bell, but I think the lineup with Perkins instead of Bell is our most effective lineup at the moment.  Also, let me say that I am a giant Bell fan. So proud of the kid. He has been thrown into the fire and has exceeded my expectations.  Can’t wait to see him dominate in two years and looking forward to his progress until that point. 

Sorry if I missed it, but do we know the illness that Thatch has?

I agree on Perkins should play a lot. I hope our starting lineup going forward is: Collins, JGood, Jimerson, Bell, French. But Bell comes out after the 4-5 minute mark and Perkins gets inserted. I think our offense runs the smoothest thru Yurimania. JGood is our most adaptable player, so he doesn't really even need a position designation. To get off to quicker starts I'd like to see how Jimerson can do right from the opening bell. And Jacobs, while I like him, is just not assertive enough out there. French needs no explanation. Bell just to get him some minutes. Not sure how well he'd do coming off the bench cold. But I agree Perkins should get more minutes going forward. I wouldn't disagree with him starting. 

One disappointment has been Hankton. I expected with him buffing up he'd be a legit stretch 4. So far, meh. 

[slufanskip]

48 minutes ago, DoctorB said:

Say what?  Boy are you in for a surprise in February, when we really start clicking.  We are not even in the vicinity of "our best," but you would never know it with the stabilizing force of Has & JGood.  Those 2 are really awesome right now.  My comparison for HF?  Charles Oakley.  I'd also like to send a shout out to Jimmy Bell, who I thought was a key silent force in the first half, helping keep us in the game while HF was on the bench.  That whole effort, mostly by freshmen, was at  gut check time, we could have easily been blown out and given up early. KUDOS to players and staff for hanging in there, it will pay dividends.

Happy Thanksgiving for this fun and far-from-our-best-yet team.  It's going to be a really great ride, folks, let's enjoy it!

Agreed and had we not played Bell the minutes he got earlier in the year, would he have been able to effectively step up while French was out? 

 

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, slu72 said:
 

One disappointment has been Hankton. I expected with him buffing up he'd be a legit stretch 4. So far, meh. 

According to Coach, Hankton is still recovering from his injury.  Are you dismissing his Valpo game?  

[slu72]

23 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

According to Coach, Hankton is still recovering from his injury.  Are you dismissing his Valpo game?  

No. I forgot about the injury. He does seem a bit fragile.