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Down the Stretch


SLU_Nick

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One game at a time obviously but the 3 game stretch Dayton, VCU, Richmond will decide the season.  I am mildly alarmed that we have been outrebounded by teams who have absolutely no business outrebounding us.  

Ford has clearly chosen to go with scoring firepower over defense/rebounding and I am really not sure I like it.  I really want to see Ford play French for long stretches at the 4 with either Bell or Linssen plodding down low.  I do not think there would be a true significant drop off if you only had only 2 of Thatch/Jacobs/Jimerson/Perkins/Goodwin on the court (not 3 or 4).  

I really liked what I saw from Phil Russel last night and hope that he can continue to spell Yuri at the point.  He passes well and the ball moves when he is in and if he could hit just 1 of those threes that he has taken, our offense would open up that much more.  I thought they were all rhythm 3s and I had no problem with him taking them.  

I expect Fordham to be tougher for us than LaSalle.  LaSalle is about to get whooped now that the Bills have their legs back.  

And more Hargrove please.  He is such a spark and last night he was beating everyone down the court...conditioning didn't look like a problem to me.  Ford really needs to let them get out and go against Fordham.  If it is 45-41 with 4 mins left in the game on Saturday then I will be one frustrated fan.  They need to get the rebound get it to Yuri and go! 

What else are you guys seeing as key to making a run down the stretch?

-Nick 

 

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15 minutes ago, SLU_Nick said:

I am mildly alarmed that we have been outrebounded by teams who have absolutely no business outrebounding us.  

I think this is because of 2 things.

1) we're taking and missing a lot of mid range jumpers that we were hitting at a good clip before Covid. 

2) when we miss, we miss badly.  Another issue that has since started after covid.  Players are in bad position for ORB. 

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Ball movement - we are capable of being a very good passing team. Even our bigs are good passers. We need to keep the ball moving. We have stretches when we get stagnant - and either just have a two-man game or are left with someone trying to create a shot late in the shot clock. We're tough to beat when make a lot of passes, getting all 5 players involved until we find an open look.

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2 hours ago, Littlebill said:

Bills cruise to an easy win last night over a top 100 team - foot off the gas most of the second half, messing with rotations, playing guys who hadn't been playing, etc.

 

LETS CHANGE IT UP

Yea, we were messing with rotations and really never found one that looked right to me.  I think that 2 big men on the court would improve our performance.  

I think we are pretty fortunate that Fatts Russell was invisible last night.  If he has a regular shooting night, we would have been much less comfortable as fans.  

I thought we played about same as we did against LaSalle except LaSalle shot what felt like 60% from 3 and URI shot what felt like 20%.  I will say that Gibby played much better defense last night then I have ever seen out of him.  

It is good we won, but the A-10 as a whole is really bad and is trending right now to be a one bid league unless the committee gives us a complete pass for our 2 sleepy games.  I think we need to improve and last night's team is one that misses the tourney.  Negative Nick :D

 

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3 hours ago, SLU_Nick said:

Yea, we were messing with rotations and really never found one that looked right to me.  I think that 2 big men on the court would improve our performance.  

I think we are pretty fortunate that Fatts Russell was invisible last night.  If he has a regular shooting night, we would have been much less comfortable as fans.  

I thought we played about same as we did against LaSalle except LaSalle shot what felt like 60% from 3 and URI shot what felt like 20%.  I will say that Gibby played much better defense last night then I have ever seen out of him.  

It is good we won, but the A-10 as a whole is really bad and is trending right now to be a one bid league unless the committee gives us a complete pass for our 2 sleepy games.  I think we need to improve and last night's team is one that misses the tourney.  Negative Nick :D

 

If the Fatts (or was it Steph Curry?) we saw in the last 30 seconds had played and shot that way the whole game, Bills would have been in serious trouble.  Quite a bit of both exaltation and devastation occasioned by his last shot....

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9 minutes ago, WVBilliken said:

So, think this relates to rest of the season ...... any word on Yuri?  Played some competitive basketball way back when and remember those damn ankle injuries can really linger.

1 to 2 weeks I believe I heard on channel 5. Which is way worse than I was expecting. 

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I think Russel will end up having a nice career but I was extremely nervous whenever he was being guarded while bringing the ball up.

I know he didn’t have any turnovers but I don’t think he looked comfortable and it seemed he had a few balls tipped away that went to other teammates or he was able to corral.

part of that was having Fatts guarding him who can strip anybody and part was inexperience but I don’t want him handling it much.

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5 minutes ago, majerus mojo said:

Yea I would much rather see Goodwin run point or even Jacobs vs. Russell with Yuri out. 
 

Still a lot of guard/wing minutes to dole out between those two and Thatch, Perkins, Jimerson, Hargrove. 

Agree.  Give me 35 minutes of JGOOD at the point (health cooperating).  Think we forget he was our primary ball handler for a huge chunk of his career.  

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28 minutes ago, majerus mojo said:

Yea I would much rather see Goodwin run point or even Jacobs vs. Russell with Yuri out. 
 

Still a lot of guard/wing minutes to dole out between those two and Thatch, Perkins, Jimerson, Hargrove. 

I agree, but I don’t mind Russell coming in to give the other guys a breather against Fordham and LaSalle (I’m aware we already lost to LaSalle, but that was an extenuating circumstance).

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I don't see the same thing you guys see in Phil Russell.  A healthy Fatts would have eaten him alive.  It was close as it was.  He's young and he's learning.  We will need him this week against both Fordham and La Salle if Yuri and Jacobs are down.  So th emore experience, the better.

I second Nicks call of the crucialness of the games coming up specifically Dayton, VCU and Richmond.  That is indeed make-or-break city.  Would like to 1) be healthy on all fronts for those three, and 2) use the Fordham and La Salle games to prime the engine up for the stretch drive.  Given the Collins/Jacobs/Perkins/Goodwin dings, both may be tough events to accomplish.  One game at a time.

I understand the calls for Bell/French or French/Linssen or Bell/Linssen down low.  As three star always says, it's about matchups.  On the offensive end, all three are the same player, operating within the restricted area.  Putting two in at the same time cramps space down there offensively for us.  None have shown an ability to step out to 10 or 15 feet and give the remaining big room to move.  Just doesn't seem to work.  Try it.  Experiment a little.  See what foes.  Now's the time.  Defensively, who is going to cover a three?  Notice I didn't say an opposing 4 because none of the remaining opponents plays two real "bigs" with the exception of maybe Mason.  Fordham has two bigs on the entyire roster with Soriano and Eyisi and both are rarely in the game together.  That means French or Linssen is on the perimeter guarding a 6'3" guy shooting from distance.  Ditto La Salle.  They have Moore and Kimbrough, neither play at the same time, and the rest of the lineup are 6' to 6'6" jump shooters and slashers.  Dayton has Tshimanga and prayers.  VCU might play Stockard and Douglas or Ward so it could work there.  I'd counterpunch at taht point if that happens.  Richmond has Cato on the inside and that is it.  And then Mason can come with Oduro and Wilson as their double bigs and usually do.  So it comes down to matchups and proves three-star's point.

Not only is this not a big man's league, the big men in it are limited to say the least.  That's why Toppin was so special.  He wasn't a true big man given he was a guard all through high school and was extremely mobiel and athletic.  Tre Mitchell is good, but he doesn't excite me as Toppin did.  Mahkel Mitchell is mediocre for now.  Hughes is a defnder, so is Osunniyi.  There is nothign dynamic across the entire league as I see it.  It's been a guard's league and remains so today.

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1 hour ago, Taj79 said:

I don't see the same thing you guys see in Phil Russell.  A healthy Fatts would have eaten him alive. 

Yes, a healthy fatts who is top 5 in the league would have eaten a walk-on playing in his 2nd meaningful game of his career. Joke aside , my only issue is Russell not hitting 3's like he is supposed too. 

Also didn't someone say he was a very goof defensive player at V? 

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16 hours ago, Gremio14 said:

If the Fatts (or was it Steph Curry?) we saw in the last 30 seconds had played and shot that way the whole game, Bills would have been in serious trouble.  Quite a bit of both exaltation and devastation occasioned by his last shot....

Well we have often seen a guy in the last 2 minutes start chucking from downtown and hitting them.  The game score all of a sudden looks like a close one when it really was not.  The defense lets them shoot from way out because there is no need to risk a foul and extending the game plus with no pressure the player shooting doesn't worry about missing - it has no impact on the game as far as winning or losing.  What we saw from Fatts that night is not that uncommon.

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1 hour ago, cheeseman said:

Well we have often seen a guy in the last 2 minutes start chucking from downtown and hitting them.  The game score all of a sudden looks like a close one when it really was not.  The defense lets them shoot from way out because there is no need to risk a foul and extending the game plus with no pressure the player shooting doesn't worry about missing - it has no impact on the game as far as winning or losing.  What we saw from Fatts that night is not that uncommon.

Unless you were the poor soul that had SLU -8.5 :)

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3 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

Im with taj on russell.   Not even hines 2.0.  But hes a freshman.  He has time to develop

Hines and Russell were comparable players at the high school level.  Both are short combo guards. Hines averaged 20 ppg at Parkway North and was a good shooter in high school.  His jumper was never consistent at the college level, neither at juco or a SLU.  We've got years to determine whether Russell's jumper will translate.

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2 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Hines and Russell were comparable players at the high school level.  Both are short combo guards. Hines averaged 20 ppg at Parkway North and was a good shooter in high school.  His jumper was never consistent at the college level, neither at juco or a SLU.  We've got years to determine whether Russell's jumper will translate.

I wasn't crazy about the 3 he took early in the clock. 

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I have no idea if Russell will be any good in his career, he's only a few games in, especially during this weird season it's hard to get a read. But, considering both DJ and YC were out, thank goodness he's on the roster to at least give us a few minutes. 

Kudos to Ford for being creative in landing a quality walk-on for a 14th roster spot. I like how relentless he is trying to fill roster depth - you can never have too much. That's why Sodie's "save the scholarships" approach used to drive me nuts.

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4 hours ago, Taj79 said:

I don't see the same thing you guys see in Phil Russell.  A healthy Fatts would have eaten him alive.  It was close as it was.  He's young and he's learning.  We will need him this week against both Fordham and La Salle if Yuri and Jacobs are down.  So th emore experience, the better.

I second Nicks call of the crucialness of the games coming up specifically Dayton, VCU and Richmond.  That is indeed make-or-break city.  Would like to 1) be healthy on all fronts for those three, and 2) use the Fordham and La Salle games to prime the engine up for the stretch drive.  Given the Collins/Jacobs/Perkins/Goodwin dings, both may be tough events to accomplish.  One game at a time.

I understand the calls for Bell/French or French/Linssen or Bell/Linssen down low.  As three star always says, it's about matchups.  On the offensive end, all three are the same player, operating within the restricted area.  Putting two in at the same time cramps space down there offensively for us.  None have shown an ability to step out to 10 or 15 feet and give the remaining big room to move.  Just doesn't seem to work.  Try it.  Experiment a little.  See what foes.  Now's the time.  Defensively, who is going to cover a three?  Notice I didn't say an opposing 4 because none of the remaining opponents plays two real "bigs" with the exception of maybe Mason.  Fordham has two bigs on the entyire roster with Soriano and Eyisi and both are rarely in the game together.  That means French or Linssen is on the perimeter guarding a 6'3" guy shooting from distance.  Ditto La Salle.  They have Moore and Kimbrough, neither play at the same time, and the rest of the lineup are 6' to 6'6" jump shooters and slashers.  Dayton has Tshimanga and prayers.  VCU might play Stockard and Douglas or Ward so it could work there.  I'd counterpunch at taht point if that happens.  Richmond has Cato on the inside and that is it.  And then Mason can come with Oduro and Wilson as their double bigs and usually do.  So it comes down to matchups and proves three-star's point.

Not only is this not a big man's league, the big men in it are limited to say the least.  That's why Toppin was so special.  He wasn't a true big man given he was a guard all through high school and was extremely mobiel and athletic.  Tre Mitchell is good, but he doesn't excite me as Toppin did.  Mahkel Mitchell is mediocre for now.  Hughes is a defnder, so is Osunniyi.  There is nothign dynamic across the entire league as I see it.  It's been a guard's league and remains so today.

French is quick enough to guard a wing but as you alluded to the main problem is paint congestion playing alongside Linssen.  If you've got a big that can defend centers and shoot threes, then you can play French exclusively at the 4.  Not many Rob Loes or even Cody Ellises to go around.  Without the Australian pipeline, we wouldn't have had them either.

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17 hours ago, Fraz said:

Agree.  Give me 35 minutes of JGOOD at the point (health cooperating).  Think we forget he was our primary ball handler for a huge chunk of his career.  

If Goodwin plays 35 minutes at the point with a banged up shoulder against Fordham something is wrong

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4 hours ago, wgstl said:

Yes, a healthy fatts who is top 5 in the league would have eaten a walk-on playing in his 2nd meaningful game of his career. Joke aside , my only issue is Russell not hitting 3's like he is supposed too. 

Also didn't someone say he was a very goof defensive player at V? 

Yes he was. Hopefully it translates. He worked super hard on the defensive end. I've seen the work ethic translate. 

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