The Bills over VCU by 4

[Taj79]

Beating VCU today also sets up a game in their heads should we see them again in DC.  

[RUBillsFan]

1 hour ago, JettFlight5 said:

I will buy this argument.

Winning this game for seeding purposes WHEN we win the A10 tournament is most important, but...

I think there is still a very slim chance of an at-large if we drub VCU today and drub all our best possible opponents St Joes, Bona, and Davidson on the way to the A10 final.  Then lose in a very close / OT game to VCU or Dayton in the final.  We'd also likely need no bid stealers from other conference tournament champions, other bubble teams to do poorly & teams that we played previously to generally do well in their remaining games.  Not to mention some luck w the selection committee.

What to root for:

Bid stealers:

• Need teams already comfortable at larges to win Big 12, SEC, Big10, Big East, Pac12, ACC, MWC, AAC, & WCC
• Need Murray State to win OVC
• Need Loyola Chicago to win the MVC
• Need North Texas to win C-USA OR see below
• Not sure they are an at-large regardless, but South Dakota State winning the Summit would be ideal

Bubble teams we want to lose (in rough order of furthest from the bubble to most secure on the bubble so teams in the middle losing is probably more imporant): Utah State, Missouri State, Washington State, Mississippi State, Oregon, Oklahoma, VA Tech, Florida, SMU, Indiana, BYU, Rutgers, Michigan, Miami, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Wyoming, Xavier, Wake Forest, Creighton

Some combo of these results would be great for teams SLU played in non-conference in their final games & tournament play:

• Memphis wins out & wins the AAC.  Memphis is a fellow bubble team, but I don't see how SLU could possibly pass them, so Memphis winning is probably best for us.
• Mercer wins the S-Con
• SFA wins out & wins the WAC
• Boise wins out & wins the MWC
• UAB is a tricky one, as a fellow bubble team who is behind North Texas, it's probably best/most realistic for North Texas to win C-USA while UAB loses earlier & knocks them back on the bubble. Best/unrealistic result would be UAB wins C-USA while North Texas suffers embarrassing big losses in their final game & 1st rd
• BC wins out & makes an inexplicable ACC finals run
• Auburn wins out & wins the SEC
• Iona wins out & win the MAAC

[almaman]

1 hour ago, RUBillsFan said:

Winning this game for seeding purposes WHEN we win the A10 tournament is most important, but...

I think there is still a very slim chance of an at-large if we drub VCU today and drub all our best possible opponents St Joes, Bona, and Davidson on the way to the A10 final.  Then lose in a very close / OT game to VCU or Dayton in the final.  We'd also likely need no bid stealers from other conference tournament champions, other bubble teams to do poorly & teams that we played previously to generally do well in their remaining games.  Not to mention some luck w the selection committee.

What to root for:

Bid stealers:

• Need teams already comfortable at larges to win Big 12, SEC, Big10, Big East, Pac12, ACC, MWC, AAC, & WCC
• Need Murray State to win OVC
• Need Loyola Chicago to win the MVC
• Need North Texas to win C-USA OR see below
• Not sure they are an at-large regardless, but South Dakota State winning the Summit would be ideal

Bubble teams we want to lose (in rough order of furthest from the bubble to most secure on the bubble so teams in the middle losing is probably more imporant): Utah State, Missouri State, Washington State, Mississippi State, Oregon, Oklahoma, VA Tech, Florida, SMU, Indiana, BYU, Rutgers, Michigan, Miami, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Wyoming, Xavier, Wake Forest, Creighton

Some combo of these results would be great for teams SLU played in non-conference in their final games & tournament play:

• Memphis with optns out & wins the AAC.  Memphis is a fellow bubble team, but I don't see how SLU could possibly pass them, so Memphis winning is probably best for us.
• Mercer wins the S-Con
• SFA wins out & wins the WAC
• Boise wins out & wins the MWC
• UAB is a tricky one, as a fellow bubble team who is behind North Texas, it's probably best/most realistic for North Texas to win C-USA while UAB loses earlier & knocks them back on the bubble. Best/unrealistic result would be UAB wins C-USA while North Texas suffers embarrassing big losses in their final game & 1st rd
• BC wins out & makes an inexplicable ACC finals run
• Auburn wins out & wins the SEC
• Iona wins out & win the MAAC

r u from Ukraine   such optimism 

[Schasz]

4 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

giving the opportunity doesnt end with just getting in.   what if we win the tourney next week?   wouldnt a win vs vcu look better for seedings?  wouldnt the fact we have a 6 game winning streak look better for seedings?   dont get hung up on "just getting in".   we are going to win it all next week.  so lets set up that opportunit to get the best seed possible to put us in the best position to get to the final four.  

Roy...not sure what you are drinking but hope you share it!!!

[juniorbill76]

Again, NBTW.

[Bay Area Billiken]

The Wiz hits the nail right on the head.

[The Wiz]

Nice to finish the regular season with a win...Some would argue that the Bills can't hold a lead.  I would disagree. We won ...winning meams you held the lead..just like RI...where posters said we blew the lead ...no we didn't ..we won the game...blowing the lead was Belmont or Auburn. We have grown since December.  In Dec.,  we broke...now we bend but don't break. It's called being resilient.

Let's see what happened tonight ...bolded statements from the original post.

TOs...VCU is 4th ITN (A+) in opp TOs...  one of the paradoxes is VCU also is very TO prone (F) ..And this turned out to be true....17  for VCU to 18 for the Bills...high numbers  but almost a match.

 it is not just the number of TOs ..It's the points off TOs...as I mentioned in an example above , St. B had less TOs than VCU but they got bombed by VCU 24-12 on pts off TOs....Not the Bills...despite having just 1 more TO than the Rams...The Bills outscored the Rams 20-11 on pts off TOs...excellent...beat the Rams at their own game.

47/37/77... This was an exceed....46/ 46/84...1 extra 3 and 2 extra FTs worth 5 pts..a difference maker in a 4 pt game.  Zeroing in a little more... the VCU slash was 46/ 18/ 80 almost a match EXCEPT 3s...huge difference ...great defense at the arc, Bills.

score at least 70 pts ...70 was a magic number because when a team scores 70 against VCU it is almost a sure win. The Bills had to make a very difficult decision at the end of the game ...score 70 on that last FT or miss it and give The Wiz the spread. Hey.. last home game of the season.. with a win in the pocket.. they gave a tip o' the cap to The Wiz and made the 4 pt spread.  Thx guys.

Rebs  6+ ...This was a little short but no damage with some good 3P shooting ...not only some extra pts but also less reb chances.

keep their top 3 scorers to less than 40 ..46 of which V Williams had 26 of those pts. which brings us to the last stat ...... 

One last stat ... This stat was not just important in this game but will be vital in A-10 tourney... VCU had 9 pts off the bench... The Bills had 33pts...nearly half (48% from the bench).  In a grueling tournament where you play 3 or 4 games in a row.. having a bench that can score is huge. There are no other A-10 teams that can score nearly half their points off the bench. 

Bottom line...The depth/pts off the bench plus tonight's quality win makes for a brighter outlook as The Bills go in to the Tourney. We have the MO(mentum)..now let's go (Bills).

[Taj79]

A couple of things:  VCU's 18% three point percentage was not surprising.  If you take Williams out, they shot 0-for-9 from three.  Granted, they played without Tsohonis but still I have said all year their basketball skills (shooting from distance) were relatively weak.  While our good friend lester has been banned from the board, this would have led to  some decent questioning of our man once all was said and done.  Also, their collective centers (Ward, DeLoach, Stockard and Brown-Jones combined for seven points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks.  Linssen and Okoro more than matched that with 14 points, 12 boards and 3 blocks.  

Second, the bench points were somewhat skewed considering we brought Okoro, Jimerson and Nesbitt, three normal starters, off the bench.  That's 29 of those 33 points right there.  

[The Wiz]

30 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

A couple of things:  VCU's 18% three point percentage was not surprising.  If you take Williams out, they shot 0-for-9 from three.  Granted, they played without Tsohonis but still I have said all year their basketball skills (shooting from distance) were relatively weak.  While our good friend lester has been banned from the board, this would have led to  some decent questioning of our man once all was said and done.  Also, their collective centers (Ward, DeLoach, Stockard and Brown-Jones combined for seven points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks.  Linssen and Okoro more than matched that with 14 points, 12 boards and 3 blocks.  

Second, the bench points were somewhat skewed considering we brought Okoro, Jimerson and Nesbitt, three normal starters, off the bench.  That's 29 of those 33 points right there.  

Oh no ...not this post ...not on Senior night....Save Brandon Courtney... Now tied for the all time FG% and 3P% shooting record for 1 game (100%)...You leave me no choice but to play the 180 card...It is true ...Brandon scored 3pts (beautiful shot from the arc in a pressure moment) in just 1 min of play.   3Pts/ min= a rate of 180 pts / game.  Nice

The bottom line still holds true...we have the best bench (not just quantity but quality) in the A-10  which could be a major factor when teams are playing multiple games in multiple days.

FREE Brandon

[SLUMS81]

One critique of TF:  Wondering why we didn’t use a zone defense for at least part of the second half, when VCU either scored or drew a foul almost every trip down the court, was struggling from 3 point range, Thatch and Okoro were in serious foul trouble, and  JNez and TH were not at their best.

Majerus  would never use a zone defense either.

I don’t understand coaches’ obsession with man-to-man defense.

 

   

[billikenbill]

We went zone from the under 8 on but VCU shredded it like it wasn’t there.

[billiken_roy]

51 minutes ago, SLUMS81 said:

One critique of TF:  Wondering why we didn’t use a zone defense for at least part of the second half, when VCU either scored or drew a foul almost every trip down the court, was struggling from 3 point range, Thatch and Okoro were in serious foul trouble, and  JNez and TH were not at their best.

Majerus  would never use a zone defense either.

I don’t understand coaches’ obsession with man-to-man defense.

 

   

zones typically hurt rebounding as you dont have an assigned man to block out.   but other than that, i agree use the zone more.   i personally like multiple defenses switching throughout the game to keep the opponent off kilter a little.