Observations after the OOC

[Crewsorlose]

It wasn't the OOC schedule we'd lined up in the offseason, but it served some purpose. What can be said about the Bills through 8 games

• This is not an awful FT shooting team waiting to show its true colors. French is still lost, but Goodwin at least has reverted to what he was as a frosh, and it's not a mirage. He's shot 35 FTs and is at 71%. Linssen appears able to stroke it, and Yuri appears to be better without tape on his wrists. The team average will always be hurt if French is a 30% shooter, but this is at worst an average FT team. 
• Going 2-1 against the top part of the schedule (NC State, LSU, Minnesota) was a nice accomplishment. In retrospective, most realistic fans would gladly take that. 
• Goodwin has to be leading candidate for A-10 POY and dark horse for 2nd or 3rd team All-American. He deserves it at this point (17/11/4 in 31mpg). 
• Rotation appears to be nine guys. I really hope that Bell is getting at it in practice because we will need him in some big games due to fouls and depth. Wonder if Ford will at least play Bell for the first four minutes against bigger teams like Duquesne. 
• Offense has looked great in stretches and team can really run. A long way from not being able to finish a 3 on 2 fast break. But the team sometimes struggle to run through sequences on offense that results in looks in the last 10 seconds. 
• Anybody thinking this team will go 18-0 or 17-1 is setting themselves up for disappointment. This is a really good team that can play great. 14-4 or 15-3 makes for a very nice season and would put us in line for a 6 or 7 seed. 

[Littlebill]

Just now, Crewsorlose said:

It wasn't the OOC schedule we'd lined up in the offseason, but it served some purpose. What can be said about the Bills through 8 games

• Anybody thinking this team will go 18-0 or 17-1 is setting themselves up for disappointment. This is a really good team that can play great. 14-4 or 15-3 makes for a very nice season and would put us in line for a 6 or 7 seed. 

While I don't think that undefeated or one loss is likely, I think it is a distinct possibility. The league is not good this year - I don't think there's another tournament team unless we lose in Brooklyn. We're the clear class of this league. The only unknown is Bona. They may be good enough, we just don't know yet due to small sample size.

[CenHudDude]

2 hours ago, Littlebill said:

While I don't think that undefeated or one loss is likely, I think it is a distinct possibility. The league is not good this year - I don't think there's another tournament team unless we lose in Brooklyn. We're the clear class of this league. The only unknown is Bona. They may be good enough, we just don't know yet due to small sample size.

 

2 hours ago, Littlebill said:

While I don't think that undefeated or one loss is likely, I think it is a distinct possibility. The league is not good this year - I don't think there's another tournament team unless we lose in Brooklyn. We're the clear class of this league. The only unknown is Bona. They may be good enough, we just don't know yet due to small sample size.

Watch out for the Rams from the Bronx.  I heard that they are still undefeated after going undefeated in Brooklyn last March.

[Brighton]

The Bills are that program now where anything less than an NCAA bid is a disappointment. I don’t care what seed they get. Just get in.

[CBFan]

Our team is fun to watch in the non-conference.  The Billikens move the ball to the front court quickly and have scored really well in most games.  Defensively the Billikens need to improve because they give up too many points.

Jordan Goodwin is a great Billiken and has put this team on his back and will carry the team to the big dance.

Yuri Collins dose a great job of running the offense.

Perkins is a great scorer and always finds a way to score double figures.

Jimerson while down in scoring the last couple of games is a scorer and will bounce back from his slump, remember the Tulane game.

French is the same player as he has been the last 2 seasons.  French rebounds defends and is good in the post but free throw shooting never improved.

Jacobs has done everything this team needs from a 6th man.

Hargrove has done everything this team needs when called upon and should get more of Thatch’s minutes.

Thatch has a great motor plays hard but struggles in the offense.

Linssen can score but in my opinion is a terrible defender against other teams bigs and some of his minutes should go to Bell.  Linssen is a great addition to the team.

I don’t know why Bell does not play much especially when going against other teams bigs defensively.  I do not believe that Bell is a worse defender than Linssen.

Thank you coach Ford for building this team.  I do not understand what is going on with Bell but in coach Ford I trust.

Merry Christmas

[VeniceMenace]

17 minutes ago, CBFan said:

Our team is fun to watch in the non-conference.  The Billikens move the ball to the front court quickly and have scored really well in most games.  Defensively the Billikens need to improve because they give up too many points.

Jordan Goodwin is a great Billiken and has put this team on his back and will carry the team to the big dance.

Yuri Collins dose a great job of running the offense.

Perkins is a great scorer and always finds a way to score double figures.

Jimerson while down in scoring the last couple of games is a scorer and will bounce back from his slump, remember the Tulane game.

French is the same player as he has been the last 2 seasons.  French rebounds defends and is good in the post but free throw shooting never improved.

Jacobs has done everything this team needs from a 6th man.

Hargrove has done everything this team needs when called upon and should get more of Thatch’s minutes.

Thatch has a great motor plays hard but struggles in the offense.

Linssen can score but in my opinion is a terrible defender against other teams bigs and some of his minutes should go to Bell.  Linssen is a great addition to the team.

I don’t know why Bell does not play much especially when going against other teams bigs defensively.  I do not believe that Bell is a worse defender than Linssen.

Thank you coach Ford for building this team.  I do not understand what is going on with Bell but in coach Ford I trust.

Merry Christmas

Issue with Bell has been that he was hurt. Is the ongoing issue perhaps that he’s ideally suited for the half-court game? Sure hope he can earn more minutes soon because he can be pretty dominant in stretches, based on last season.

[slu72]

No bad losses is a plus. I think Minnesota might be better than folks are thinking. We lost that game because our 3 pt game disappeared. Make just 3 more and maybe a W. Also, Jimerson had a chance w/ 2:30 left to cut the lead to 4 but missed. 
I doubt we’ll go undefeated but shouldn’t lose more than 3. We’ve got to figure teams will play slow down against us, and that will make some games closer than they should be. Just keep playing bully ball and we should be fine. 

[majerus mojo]

Jacobs has been so good. Feels like he needs more minutes but I’m honestly not sure where they come from? Maybe a more even split with Jimerson, though that will be match-up dependent and is splitting hairs. I do prefer JG starting/DJ off the bench. Hargrove could see more minutes too, but, basically, we’re loaded... 

MPG thus far:

Goodwin 31

Yuri 29

Perkins 28

French 25

Jimerson 23

Jacobs 18

Thatch 13

Linssen 13

Hargrove 10

Bell 8

[almaman]

we have to accept players 6-11 would surely start at 3/4s of D-1 teams.

[Matty Light]

2 hours ago, slu72 said:

No bad losses is a plus. I think Minnesota might be better than folks are thinking. We lost that game because our 3 pt game disappeared. Make just 3 more and maybe a W. Also, Jimerson had a chance w/ 2:30 left to cut the lead to 4 but missed. 
I doubt we’ll go undefeated but shouldn’t lose more than 3. We’ve got to figure teams will play slow down against us, and that will make some games closer than they should be. Just keep playing bully ball and we should be fine. 

Perkins was cold. What's the best way to get a cold shooter hot? Have him keep shooting until he gets hot. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work. After starting the 2nd half cold, Jacobs should have been given more minutes and FGAs.

This team can score in a vast number of ways. This is not the Mike Crawford Billikens anymore. We had French dominating the offensive post against the Gopher's big stiff. We stopped feeding the ball inside in the 2nd half.

It was Perkins' first bad shooting game. It happens. We stuck with the strategy of "shoot until your hot" when we didn't need to.

Also, when the other team has one dominant scorer, do not help off him. Period. The very first play Jimmerson left Carr to double on the interior. Ball went right to Carr for an open 3. That can't happen. KYP: Know Your Personnel!

Lastly, I've never seen a team with as much hops as the Billikens attempt to go vertical over the defense so seldom. It puts pressure on help defenses, and the outnumbered defenders on a fast break. Please, Bills, take a chance on this strategy. It will only open things up and lead to more points.

Next up, avenge the Dukes and onward to 2021. Merry Christmas, Billiken Nation!

[BilliesBy40]

1 hour ago, Matty Light said:

Perkins was cold. What's the best way to get a cold shooter hot? Have him keep shooting until he gets hot. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work. After starting the 2nd half cold, Jacobs should have been given more minutes and FGAs.

This team can score in a vast number of ways. This is not the Mike Crawford Billikens anymore. We had French dominating the offensive post against the Gopher's big stiff. We stopped feeding the ball inside in the 2nd half.

It was Perkins' first bad shooting game. It happens. We stuck with the strategy of "shoot until your hot" when we didn't need to.

Also, when the other team has one dominant scorer, do not help off him. Period. The very first play Jimmerson left Carr to double on the interior. Ball went right to Carr for an open 3. That can't happen. KYP: Know Your Personnel!

Lastly, I've never seen a team with as much hops as the Billikens attempt to go vertical over the defense so seldom. It puts pressure on help defenses, and the outnumbered defenders on a fast break. Please, Bills, take a chance on this strategy. It will only open things up and lead to more points.

Next up, avenge the Dukes and onward to 2021. Merry Christmas, Billiken Nation!

Yuri was on Carr, not Jimerson. And it wasn’t really a double team. Yuri thought Carr was going to take the hand off and then got greedy by going for the steal when Carr didn’t go to the hand off.

[Billikenbooster]

Destroy the Dukes!!

[JettFlight5]

Whole lotta good stuff this OOC season...

1...Jordan Goodwin. Enough said. He has taken his game to a new level this year. 

2...DJ taking the 6th man role and running with it as well as he has.

3...This is the most offensively varied and talented team under Travis Ford here and it's not remotely close.

4...The continued evolution of Yuri Collins, the point maestro. 

5...An overall solid performance on a schedule that was blown up and started over.

Yes, Minnesota was a downer compared to the rest of OOC, but there's a lot of good things happening in Midtown. 

[almaman]

TF & TJ must have an understanding or some such that a big chunk of JGs minutes are his when Jordan finishes.

[BilliesBy40]

3 minutes ago, almaman said:

TF & TJ must have an understanding or some such that a big chunk of JGs minutes are his when Jordan finishes.

Huh?

[Compton]

Looking beyond the Bills, my primary observation at this point is that the A10 is looking pretty bad. 

Highly touted Richmond just lost to Hofstra. VCU missed an opportunity losing to Penn State (albeit on the road). Dayton's looking okay with a couple SEC wins. But it's a pretty steep drop off after those potential contenders, with a lot of really uncompetitive looking teams. It's not looking like a three bid league at this point.