Kansas State observations from da Natuzzi

[Sheltiedave]

I was very happy seeing how the Bills showed their character in this game. Teams can go either way when injuries strike. We have had Thatch, Hankton, and now Jimerson go down, and at no point have we come out looking flat or dispirited. It is a credit both to the team and the coaching staff.

1) Ford played Hargrove and Weaver for 34 minutes, vs their seasonal average of 22 minutes, as  the Jimerson makeup timeshare. They both popped leading to the second point.

2) our bench beat their bench by being markedly more efficient, a wrinkle not seen since Majerus’ time. Our three man bench played 64 minutes, and had a line of               31pts, 10/14fg, 4/8 3pt, 7/8ft, 6rb, 3ast, 3stl.

KSU 5 man bench played 95 min, and a line of                                       31pts, 10/18fg, 1/3 3pt, 10/13ft, 6rb, 10ast, 3 stl.

Our bench won the game, and Ford’s player development and integration for this team has been superior to date.

3) Ford has been willing to allow secondary players to run amok, concentrating on shutting down their main man. This game was about shutting down Sneed and forcing their pg into poor passing situations, and realizing marked success with both. Keeping game scores way down makes teams uncomfortable, and keeps them out of a good rhythm.

4) All of the players have bought into the ensemble offense attack. They probe for weaknesses, and when they find a favorable set, they hammer that combo. Everyone got to make plays, and then by the end of the game, Collins closed it out. No longer are we looking strictly at one or two players. It is no longer the Isabell and Bess show, but something lesser in parts and greater in whole.

5) Here is to everyone getting the flu before one of our tough games projected for a loss. We are almost paper thin now, but we can enjoy everything breaking for the better while the wins pile up.

[Aquinas]

I will add that the team attitude appears exceptional.  It looks like they are having a lot of fun, while playing a very physical game. They are looking for ways to win, even when things go wrong, like missed free throws. This is especially remarkable for a young team on the road.

[Clock_Tower]

10 hours ago, Aquinas said:

I will add that the team attitude appears exceptional.  It looks like they are having a lot of fun, while playing a very physical game. They are looking for ways to win, even when things go wrong, like missed free throws. This is especially remarkable for a young team on the road.

Good points.  And example of that good team attitude may be the longer written comments from Jimerson to the team and the team's response to want to win the game for him.  

And yes, as to your "on the road" comments, outside of the Seton Hall game, our toughest games have been on the road -- BC was an actual road game, Auburn might as well have been a road game and this K-State game was in KC and all but a road game. Yes, the young, fearless talent does not realize they are supposed to the struggle on the road... but maybe they play the way they do because of their leadership --- French, Goodwin and Coach Ford.

This is not the same team we watched against Florida Gulf Coast!! 

[Sheltiedave]

French and Goodwin have provided stellar leadership and investiture in Supporting the team. When your best players are doing all the dirty work, the young players figure out they need to tailor their game to do likewise.

It is the old adage “Fake it until you make it” that makes the hard work pay off. You start off making the offense extend 1 foot than two or 3 feet and then you realize they are 5 feet out of their comfort zone when triggering a play. A play that normally starts 18 seconds into the 30 sec clock now is starting at 22 or 23 seconds. All these little challenges, making the opponent work outside their comfort zone, add up to a big difference in energy at the end of the game.

If Jacobs continues to pick up additional pg skills, and Ford and Co get another game ready big, we can make some real noise next year and send French and Goodwin out in the style they deserve.

[courtside]

It's a good win for SLU. Rough season thus far for K-State. The hope is that K-State can pull off some Big 12 wins. They do not have a single current top 150 Ken Pomeroy win yet. Best win so far is 153 North Dakota St. 3 of their 6 wins thus far are against teams that have won 1 game each all season.

 

[wgstl]

12 minutes ago, courtside said:

It's a good win for SLU. Rough season thus far for K-State. The hope is that K-State can pull off some Big 12 wins. They do not have a single current top 150 Ken Pomeroy win yet. Best win so far is 153 North Dakota St. 3 of their 6 wins thus far are against teams that have won 1 game each all season.

 

It was a good road win, I agree that if it was a home game we could talk about some things. 

[Old guy]

3 hours ago, Clock_Tower said:

This is not the same team we watched against Florida Gulf Coast!! 

This is one of the most truthful statements that has been posted so far this season. All the best. Go Bills!

[Slu let the dogs out?]

2 hours ago, courtside said:

It's a good win for SLU. Rough season thus far for K-State. The hope is that K-State can pull off some Big 12 wins. They do not have a single current top 150 Ken Pomeroy win yet. Best win so far is 153 North Dakota St. 3 of their 6 wins thus far are against teams that have won 1 game each all season.

 

And yet Kenpom has K State at 86 and Saint Louis at 91. I thought we were supposed to take Kenpom seriously. Or is that not accurate? I guess NET is all that matters from here on out? Please advise...

[RUBillsFan]

I was at the game in KC and re-watched some of the 1st half last night.  Overall, I love Yuri, but I wanted to call out a really air-headed freshman mistake play on defense that I noticed on the re-watch.  Mostly because Hargrove & Perkins catch a lot of flack for their defense, but this might have been worse than anything I've seen them do.  K-State came down with the ball and it appeared that we were in a 2-3 zone defense.  The players moved like a zone and no one was guarding a specific player.  Yuri moved that way as well and was playing one of the top 2 spots in the zone to start.  However, a K-State player cut through the lane and Yuri just followed him as though he was playing man-to-man D.  This left a giant hole where Sneed caught a pass and nailed as wide open a 3 as you'll ever get in DI ball.

To be fair to Yuri, shortly after that K-State was on a fast break and he positioned himself well to cut it off.  It was nearly 3 on 1 with Yuri back and other help coming quickly.  K-State ended up pulling back out rather than getting an easy 2.

[CBFan]

All good posts and the reason I thought our team would have a good season was because of the strong foundation of French and Goodwin the teams leaders.

When I was a kid I was more concerned of my parents consequences over the police and I am sure the players would rather hear it from coach Ford over French and Goodwin.

Every single point in the game mattered.  Jimmy Bell hitting 4 free throws was beautiful.  Weaver coming in and hitting big 3’s being the next man up for Jimerson.  Perkins being the leading scorer and Hargrove contributing preventing offensive droughts.

Our team faced a lot of adversity with some questionable calls especially a BS technical at a critical time and injuries and prevailed.

Merry Christmas team blue thank you for the fun season rest well.

[billiken_roy]

13 minutes ago, Slu let the dogs out? said:

And yet Kenpom has K State at 86 and Saint Louis at 91. I thought we were supposed to take Kenpom seriously. Or is that not accurate? I guess NET is all that matters from here on out? Please advise...

Kenpom has hated and cheated against slu forever.   Dont read.   It is garbage and part of the ncaa deep state.

[Slu let the dogs out?]

7 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Kenpom has hated and cheated against slu forever.   Dont read.   It is garbage and part of the ncaa deep state.

I heard Ken comes up with his yearly rankings over a slice of pizza at Comet Ping Pong in DC

[Box and Won]

8 minutes ago, Slu let the dogs out? said:

I heard Ken comes up with his yearly rankings over a slice of pizza at Comet Ping Pong in DC

Ken is part of a secret society called the Pentavirate that runs everything in the world.  They meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado known as The Meadows.  He replaced Colonel Sanders after the Colonel went tets-up.  Oh, I hated the Colonel with his wee beady eyes.

[Sheltiedave]

Mike Smith at the P-D is the Master at Arms for this organization. I know because he has a pentagram tattoo on his right shoulder, he went to Mizzou, and he is the worst moderator on Stltoday and makes fun of SLU.

Now THAT is deepstate.

[courtside]

41 minutes ago, Slu let the dogs out? said:

And yet Kenpom has K State at 86 and Saint Louis at 91. I thought we were supposed to take Kenpom seriously. Or is that not accurate? I guess NET is all that matters from here on out? Please advise...

I am just the messenger here. I do believe K-State will get some good Big 12 wins to help not only their rankings but SLU’s win quality as well. 

Without digging too deep into it, Pomeroy uses past and predictive data in his model. He is big on offense/defense efficiency per possession. He is big on schedule strength and has a luck factor. 

What stands out? He has K-State 333 ranked in luck factor, meaning fewer have been unluckier this year according to his model. The other is defensive efficiency which he has about twice as good as SLU’s. 30’s to 60’s comparison.

In the end many of these models even out and become comparable. Having a strong record/undefeated teams, etc helps in the NET rankings by some comparison. 

K-State’s 5 losses: Only one was double digits. 

SLU just needs to keep winning games. K-State, while not an elite team this season, will certainly probe to be a good road win for SLU. 

 

[3star_recruit]

38 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

I was at the game in KC and re-watched some of the 1st half last night.  Overall, I love Yuri, but I wanted to call out a really air-headed freshman mistake play on defense that I noticed on the re-watch.  Mostly because Hargrove & Perkins catch a lot of flack for their defense, but this might have been worse than anything I've seen them do.  K-State came down with the ball and it appeared that we were in a 2-3 zone defense.  The players moved like a zone and no one was guarding a specific player.  Yuri moved that way as well and was playing one of the top 2 spots in the zone to start.  However, a K-State player cut through the lane and Yuri just followed him as though he was playing man-to-man D.  This left a giant hole where Sneed caught a pass and nailed as wide open a 3 as you'll ever get in DI ball.

To be fair to Yuri, shortly after that K-State was on a fast break and he positioned himself well to cut it off.  It was nearly 3 on 1 with Yuri back and other help coming quickly.  K-State ended up pulling back out rather than getting an easy 2.

I saw that brain cramp as well.  I also saw Yuri take two charges Saturday that both resulted in the back of his head slamming against the floor.  It's a very real possibility that he was in bit of a fog on that play.  I was surprised he was mentally and physically sharp enough at the end of the game to close it out the way he did.  He's a tough little dude.

[almaman]

24 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

Ken is part of a secret society called the Pentavirate that runs everything in the world.  They meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado known as The Meadows.  He replaced Colonel Sanders after the Colonel went tets-up.  Oh, I hated the Colonel with his wee beady eyes.

Lot's of Colonels peddling fowl these days. I thought Reba was a great one.

[willie]

13 minutes ago, courtside said:

I am just the messenger here. I do believe K-State will get some good Big 12 wins to help not only their rankings but SLU’s win quality as well. 

Without digging too deep into it, Pomeroy uses past and predictive data in his model. He is big on offense/defense efficiency per possession. He is big on schedule strength and has a luck factor. 

What stands out? He has K-State 333 ranked in luck factor, meaning fewer have been unluckier this year according to his model. The other is defensive efficiency which he has about twice as good as SLU’s. 30’s to 60’s comparison.

In the end many of these models even out and become comparable. Having a strong record/undefeated teams, etc helps in the NET rankings by some comparison. 

K-State’s 5 losses: Only one was double digits. 

SLU just needs to keep winning games. K-State, while not an elite team this season, will certainly probe to be a good road win for SLU. 

 

Just win baby win. 

[RUBillsFan]

56 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Kenpom has hated and cheated against slu forever.   Dont read.   It is garbage and part of the ncaa deep state.

Kenpom had SLU rated #14 in the nation for the 2011-12 season in which the NCAA gave us a #9 seed and pitted us against KenPom #12 Memphis in the 8-9 game.  I think just like any other ratings system there are times he has us too high and times that he has us too low.  He doesn't reveal the proprietary formula he uses, but it is a formula so he can't be biased against  a specific school.  The formula may be biased against a certain style of play which underrates the Bills this year.

[cgeldmacher]

3 hours ago, courtside said:

It's a good win for SLU. Rough season thus far for K-State. The hope is that K-State can pull off some Big 12 wins. They do not have a single current top 150 Ken Pomeroy win yet. Best win so far is 153 North Dakota St. 3 of their 6 wins thus far are against teams that have won 1 game each all season.

 

K-State is my exception to the let's all cheer for the teams we've played rule.   With the way Weber recruits in St. Louis, I hope they tank and tank bad.

[RUBillsFan]

24 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

I saw that brain cramp as well.  I also saw Yuri take two charges Saturday that both resulted in the back of his head slamming against the floor.  It's a very real possibility that he was in bit of a fog on that play.  I was surprised he was mentally and physically sharp enough at the end of the game to close it out the way he did.  He's a tough little dude.

I actually missed it when I saw it live because I was on the far end of the arena.  I saw Sneed was wide open for the 3, but I didn't see how it happened.  On TV, it was a forehead slapping type of moment.  Again, just a freshman mental mistake by Yuri that I'm not necessarily worried about him repeating.  I more wanted to point out that all the newbies have brain farts at this point in the year.  We need to avoid those in the tough conference games ahead.  Also, I was surprised / glad that Ford didn't immediately yank Yuri out of the game.

I think that this particular play was before Yuri took the charges, but I could be wrong.  Either way you're right about him being tough as nails.

[wgstl]

40 minutes ago, Sheltiedave said:

Mike Smith at the P-D is the Master at Arms for this organization. I know because he has a pentagram tattoo on his right shoulder, he went to Mizzou, and he is the worst moderator on Stltoday and makes fun of SLU.

Now THAT is deepstate.

huh?

Yes he a huge mizzou guy, not sure ive heard him to talk down on SLU.  In fact, we talk often about SLU. 

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, Sheltiedave said:

Mike Smith at the P-D is the Master at Arms for this organization. I know because he has a pentagram tattoo on his right shoulder, he went to Mizzou, and he is the worst moderator on Stltoday and makes fun of SLU.

Now THAT is deepstate.

Sheltie's best post ever!

[Littlebill]

29 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

K-State is my exception to the let's all cheer for the teams we've played rule.   With the way Weber recruits in St. Louis, I hope they tank and tank bad.

How about they finish about 72nd in NET? Gives us a Q1 win but probably a disappointment of a season for them

[billikenfan05]

1 hour ago, cgeldmacher said:

K-State is my exception to the let's all cheer for the teams we've played rule.   With the way Weber recruits in St. Louis, I hope they tank and tank bad.

Weber was a pissy little baby after the loss too.