2021-2022 Season

[slu72]

16 minutes ago, bauman said:

Are you related to SLU72 ?

Time to refresh the Yurimania craze, I guess. When I read where he walked to the tunnel for the back thing I started worrying about the whole season going down the toilet. He has been a little injury prone. We definitely cannot lose Yurimania. 

[slu72]

Not having seen any action yet, I have a couple of questions.

Is Strickland 6'7"? He looks like a big dude who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. That's PF material in the A10. 

I'm disappointed in Gibby's 3pt stats. B'roy made the observation Yuri doesn't get him the ball often enough. If we're gonna pick up any of JP's slack, I'd think Gibby would be the first option. But taking 2- 3's for a sniper is not nearly enough. Shooters have to find their rhythm/groove and taking 2 shots is not enough. 

I keep waiting for Williams to go off as I can't get his MSU video out of my head. The guy was unconscious against a team known for tough D. Is it just a matter of time or was that performance a fluke? I don't expect that every game, but do hope he will suddenly start draining 3's from down town in more than just a few games. Am I unrealistic or just too early to tell? 

[rgbilliken]

44 minutes ago, Bills By 40 said:

What's the general consensus on Yuri's ceiling this season?

Maybe I'm drinking the kool aid but I'll be damned if there isn't an argument that YC is a top 10 point guard in the country. After what I saw from him offensively yesterday I'm all-in on the hot take. 

This take isn't even that hot IMO. You want a real hot take? YC was already top 10 PG in the country last year. 

I won't be taking any questions on this topic.

[rgbilliken]

Duplicate post

[Band Legend]

Frank stated on his show this morning that Yuri  has been working with Erwin Claggett on his shooting- just imagine Yurimania knocking them down like the Venice Menace.

[3star_recruit]

1 hour ago, Bills By 40 said:

What's the general consensus on Yuri's ceiling this season?

Maybe I'm drinking the kool aid but I'll be damned if there isn't an argument that YC is a top 10 point guard in the country. After what I saw from him offensively yesterday I'm all-in on the hot take. 

With Perkins' 18-20 ppg gone, there is even more responsibility for the guys that can create off the dribble.  Yuri is not a natural scorer but he is our best creator.  He's also a leader.  If becoming a double digit scorer is what this team needs, that's what he will do.

[slufanskip]

29 minutes ago, rgbilliken said:

Duplicate post

Was worth saying twice

[dennis_w]

2 hours ago, slu72 said:

Time to refresh the Yurimania craze, I guess. When I read where he walked to the tunnel for the back thing I started worrying about the whole season going down the toilet. He has been a little injury prone. We definitely cannot lose Yurimania. 

slu72 and bbf were on yuri from the start and they are not wrong, he will be a star this year and it would be dreadful without him

[Cowboy II]

2 hours ago, rgbilliken said:

This take isn't even that hot IMO. You want a real hot take? YC was already top 10 PG in the country last year. 

I won't be taking any questions on this topic.

-I love the floater in the lane we saw from YC a couple of times yesterday

[Bills By 40]

17 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-I love the floater in the lane we saw from YC a couple of times yesterday

If that's reliable, compounded with the step back charity strip jumper he drilled, and his 3 continues looking smooth like butter, where can't he score?? I think Yuri flirts with a 12p/10a average. 
  

[NH]

We ran our offense through Yuri yesterday in a way we’ve not seen previously. Spread the floor and set ball screen after ball screen for YC and let him make plays from there. Coach Ford alluded to this at media day and he wasn’t kidding. I liked the look of it.

The new “no-middle” defense shows promise still needs work. If you want to give up the baseline that’s fine in theory, but not if our help side defenders are going to foul every time. Our teams under Travis have a penchant for too much fouling on defense, we need to get that under control this year.

[Bills By 40]

2 hours ago, slu72 said:

Not having seen any action yet, I have a couple of questions.

Is Strickland 6'7"? He looks like a big dude who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. That's PF material in the A10. 

I'm disappointed in Gibby's 3pt stats. B'roy made the observation Yuri doesn't get him the ball often enough. If we're gonna pick up any of JP's slack, I'd think Gibby would be the first option. But taking 2- 3's for a sniper is not nearly enough. Shooters have to find their rhythm/groove and taking 2 shots is not enough. 

I keep waiting for Williams to go off as I can't get his MSU video out of my head. The guy was unconscious against a team known for tough D. Is it just a matter of time or was that performance a fluke? I don't expect that every game, but do hope he will suddenly start draining 3's from down town in more than just a few games. Am I unrealistic or just too early to tell? 

I'm starting to worry that Strickland won't find himself a role on this team but if he were to develop a skillset that enabled him to defend the 4 for any significant stretch of minutes all of a sudden we have an athletic undersized 4 on defense, which works fine for the A10 and maybe a lot of our competition, and the potential for a REALLY fast and REALLY athletic offensive lineup. 

Imagine Yuri with the ball in transition with Hargrove, Nesbitt, Strickland, and Okoro running the floor 

Final thought the shooters will figure it out, I'm not worried. Perimeter defense has room for improvement but the bigger issue yesterday was dumb luck on Lindenwood's behalf. A lot of their points came off highly contested shots that had no business going in - shite happens. 

[billiken_roy]

there's more to college basketball than 44 inch vertical jumps.   sure doesnt hurt, but a lot of other stuff needs to be perfected yet.   i hope he does as that near the end of the game dunk was probably the most enjoyable moment of the game.   love to see those a lot.  but he isnt close to playing a significant role at this point imo.  

[NoCoBillsFan]

5 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

there's more to college basketball than 44 inch vertical jumps.   sure doesnt hurt, but a lot of other stuff needs to be perfected yet.   i hope he does as that near the end of the game dunk was probably the most enjoyable moment of the game.   love to see those a lot.  but he isnt close to playing a significant role at this point imo.  

I thought his two attempts at posterizing defenders from a mile away from the basket were pretty enjoyable too

[dennis_w]

47 minutes ago, Bills By 40 said:

If that's reliable, compounded with the step back charity strip jumper he drilled, and his 3 continues looking smooth like butter, where can't he score?? I think Yuri flirts with a 12p/10a average. 
  

i think for the team to be successful yuri needs 12/10

[Bills By 40]

17 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

there's more to college basketball than 44 inch vertical jumps.   sure doesnt hurt, but a lot of other stuff needs to be perfected yet.   i hope he does as that near the end of the game dunk was probably the most enjoyable moment of the game.   love to see those a lot.  but he isnt close to playing a significant role at this point imo.  

11 minutes ago, NoCoBillsFan said:

I thought his two attempts at posterizing defenders from a mile away from the basket were pretty enjoyable too

Of course there is, but those things you can teach. You can't however teach what he's able to do physically and my statement comes mostly from a place of wishful thinking because I so WANT there to be a place for him on this team and there's most definitely a front court void, where at this point is a more likely landing spot for him IMO than any significant back court minutes. 

@NoCoBillsFan He looks like Ja Morant out there, if he dunked on me like that I'd have to quit basketball 

[billiken_roy]

but Ja plays point guard.   i.e. strickland doesnt exactly have the inside the lane build.   i think he would need to develop a more consistent outside shot and develop dribbling and passing and show a little more basketball savvy.   then we can talk about his playing more.   he is never going to be a power forward / center imo.   just too slight of build.  but like i said and you as well.  wow on the athleticism.

[Bills By 40]

14 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

but Ja plays point guard.   i.e. strickland doesnt exactly have the inside the lane build.   i think he would need to develop a more consistent outside shot and develop dribbling and passing and show a little more basketball savvy.   then we can talk about his playing more.   he is never going to be a power forward / center imo.   just too slight of build.  but like i said and you as well.  wow on the athleticism.

NBA =|= college. With the right defensive skillset he could survive there in stretches to relieve the front court foul trouble situation we're going to find ourselves in. We thought Perkins was going to do it for 30MPG with the same body +1", minus a great deal of athleticism...why is this any different? 

I could see plenty of matchups where he's qualified to guard that position and being that quick and athletic for any stretch of time gives us the option to get out and run some teams down while FO and ML get some beauty rest. 

[billiken_roy]

because perkins would have outscored his man.   refer to highmark / spoon legend. 

"doesnt look like you are playing much defense scott.   better outscore your man if you want to keep playing."

[majerus mojo]

13 hours ago, slu72 said:

Not having seen any action yet, I have a couple of questions.

Is Strickland 6'7"? He looks like a big dude who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. That's PF material in the A10. 

I'm disappointed in Gibby's 3pt stats. B'roy made the observation Yuri doesn't get him the ball often enough. If we're gonna pick up any of JP's slack, I'd think Gibby would be the first option. But taking 2- 3's for a sniper is not nearly enough. Shooters have to find their rhythm/groove and taking 2 shots is not enough. 

I keep waiting for Williams to go off as I can't get his MSU video out of my head. The guy was unconscious against a team known for tough D. Is it just a matter of time or was that performance a fluke? I don't expect that every game, but do hope he will suddenly start draining 3's from down town in more than just a few games. Am I unrealistic or just too early to tell? 

I’d lean too early to tell given our 0-0 record, though am jealous of the MBMs who can already drop takes after two exhibitions. Saw the team play with your own eyes, huh? Must be pretty, pretty nice. As an out of towner, I am forced to assume all negative or pessimistic takes are bad until I can overreact on my own accord. 

9 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

but Ja plays point guard.   i.e. strickland doesnt exactly have the inside the lane build.   i think he would need to develop a more consistent outside shot and develop dribbling and passing and show a little more basketball savvy.   then we can talk about his playing more.   he is never going to be a power forward / center imo.   just too slight of build.  but like i said and you as well.  wow on the athleticism.

Seems like Ford has the blueprint for Strickland right in front of him with how he brought Hargrove along his first two seasons. Strickland will play sparingly, but if he surprises us with his jumper/some other facets, there could be more minutes in store for him next season. 

[HoosierPal]

https://www.si.com/college/2021/11/02/ncaa-basketball-rankings-every-team-daily-cover

Sports Illustrated has 'devalued' the Billikens, putting them 95th nationwide and 6th in the A10.

For those who just want a recap of the top half of the A10:

St. Bonnie 23

Richmond 46

Dayton 65

VCU 83

Davidson 93

Bills 95

George Mason 107

[Bills By 40]

7 hours ago, majerus mojo said:

I’d lean too early to tell given our 0-0 record, though am jealous of the MBMs who can already drop takes after two exhibitions. Saw the team play with your own eyes, huh? Must be pretty, pretty nice. As an out of towner, I am forced to assume all negative or pessimistic takes are bad until I can overreact on my own accord. 

Seems like Ford has the blueprint for Strickland right in front of him with how he brought Hargrove along his first two seasons. Strickland will play sparingly, but if he surprises us with his jumper/some other facets, there could be more minutes in store for him next season. 

I'm afraid if we don't see much more of him this season that we won't see him at all next year except for in a different uniform

[stmdragons]

6 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

https://www.si.com/college/2021/11/02/ncaa-basketball-rankings-every-team-daily-cover

Sports Illustrated has 'devalued' the Billikens, putting them 95th nationwide and 6th in the A10.

They also list George Mason 7th in the A10, which is questionable at best.

[Bills By 40]

12 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

https://www.si.com/college/2021/11/02/ncaa-basketball-rankings-every-team-daily-cover

Sports Illustrated has 'devalued' the Billikens, putting them 95th nationwide and 6th in the A10.

You beat me to it. Hate the ranking, seems the only thing national analysts care for is returning seniors. 

Opponents: 
Memphis 6th (1st AAC)

Bonnies 23rd (1st A10)

Auburn 27th (5th SEC)

Richmond 46th (2nd A10)

UAB 50th (1st CUSA)

Drake 53rd (2nd MVC)

Belmont 57th (1st OVC)

Dayton 67th (3rd A10)

VCU 83rd (4th A10)

Boise St. 91st (4th Mountain West)

Davidson 93rd (5th A10)


Silver lining I guess - according to this wanker Kevin Sweeney we have ~14 games against top 100 programs and 9 against top 57. That is a lot of chances to make him look stupid(er)

[slufan13]

I know loss of Perkins is big but for those of you degenerate gamblers like myself, I think SLU is worth a bet at 28:1 to win the A10 regular season on DraftKings