2022-2023 Season

[wgstl]

17 minutes ago, Bills By 40 said:

Nitpicking here but UAB was at home, and on my f***ing birthday. Both of which make the L a little harder to chew 

Ya Auburn was my bday weekend.  I went from too hyped to f*** everything in seconds.

[majerus mojo]

On 5/17/2022 at 9:24 AM, slu72 said:

Here we go again with high expectations. They scare the hell out of me. Every year we get them we seem to get slammed by the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not going to get too excited until we find out the quality of the guys who fill in the roster holes. Today we just have too many question marks; Perkins recovery, Parker's adjustment to D1, just one big and one PG. Granted this team has talent, but it lacks quantity. 

Skipped the last page or so of posts, but, Sweet 16 is back on. Not sure we've could've drawn up a better off-season to-date all things considered? Inject a few more Rothstein tweets into my veins. 

[billikenfan05]

I'm on my knees corrected on my front court concerns.

[Aquinas]

Perkins, Picket, Thatch, Forester and Okoro.

WOW, how do you like that for a senior class?

[willie]

1 hour ago, Aquinas said:

Perkins, Picket, Thatch, Forester and Okoro.

WOW, how do you like that for a senior class?

Isn’t Fred only a junior?

[Aquinas]

Verbal commits had him as a junior  last year, but I'm not certain.

[RUBillsFan]

7 minutes ago, Aquinas said:

Verbal commits had him as a junior  last year, but I'm not certain.

Fred has 2 years of eligibility left

[BilliesBy40]

12 hours ago, wgstl said:

Ya Auburn was my bday weekend.  I went from too hyped to f*** everything in seconds.

That was a punch in the you know what and I don't mean gut

[Aquinas]

It appears that Momo is the big who will ideally transition us to the next year, after Okoro and Forester graduate. I think he will need minutes, to determine what he will be capable of and to retain him. I wonder if Coach Ford might consider starting Momo with Okoro the first 5 min of each half, like he did with Jimmy Bell. That would guarantee him mnutes and the team experience in playing a big lineup for those games when we need it.

So the game would open with Momo, Okoro, Perkins, Jimmmerson and Yuri. Thats a tall line up. Not the best defensive line up, but it wouldn't be easy to,q go inside.

[BilliesBy40]

8 hours ago, Aquinas said:

It appears that Momo is the big who will ideally transition us to the next year, after Okoro and Forester graduate. I think he will need minutes, to determine what he will be capable of and to retain him. I wonder if Coach Ford might consider starting Momo with Okoro the first 5 min of each half, like he did with Jimmy Bell. That would guarantee him mnutes and the team experience in playing a big lineup for those games when we need it.

So the game would open with Momo, Okoro, Perkins, Jimmmerson and Yuri. Thats a tall line up. Not the best defensive line up, but it wouldn't be easy to,q go inside.

It is a really interesting idea, although it is rare for to play 2 true bugs these days. Okoro would feast on 4s in the A10.

[wgstl]

40 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

It is a really interesting idea, although it is rare for to play 2 true bugs these days. Okoro would feast on 4s in the A10.

Would think momo would play the 4 with his deep shooting ability, if that ever happened 

[Aquinas]

10 hours ago, wgstl said:

Would think momo would play the 4 with his deep shooting ability, if that ever happened 

I think Momo would defend the rim on defense and probably take the tallest opponent in a man to man. A 7 footer can get into the head of the opponent, not just blocking shots but altering shots. Especially with opponents that haven't faced that kind of height. 

On offense he might be able to stretch the floor. I have no idea what his 3 point percentage was. The video clearly shows that he can hit them.  He doesn't have a quick release, but its a high release and would force the defender to guard him at the 3 point line if he can hit the shot at a reasonable rate. 

I would also like to see Okoro add some range. He has a good FT percentage, though a unconventional release. 

[Taj79]

Name the last Billiken big who was a distance shooter.  I believe that might be Rob Loe.  Maybe you throw Cody Ellis in there although I never saw him as a traditional big.  After that, I think you have to scroll down to Ian Vouyoukas.  And Ian only shot 21% from three his senior year with zero attempts his first year here, five his second, and 23 in  his senior year.  I don't recall Foreman having a midrnage game and we all know French had none.

I think we have enough shooters for now.  The key will be the passing out of the post from Okoro, Forrester and Cisse to take advantage of collapses and double teams down low.  

[billikenfan05]

7 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Name the last Billiken big who was a distance shooter.  I believe that might be Rob Loe.  Maybe you throw Cody Ellis in there although I never saw him as a traditional big.  After that, I think you have to scroll down to Ian Vouyoukas.  And Ian only shot 21% from three his senior year with zero attempts his first year here, five his second, and 23 in  his senior year.  I don't recall Foreman having a midrnage game and we all know French had none.

I think we have enough shooters for now.  The key will be the passing out of the post from Okoro, Forrester and Cisse to take advantage of collapses and double teams down low.  

If Momo can stretch defenses it's going to open up driving lanes. Why wouldn't you want a stretch big who can play down low and shoot? Our guards under Majerus were awesome but Loe unlocked much more of their potential.

[Taj79]

True.  But history shows we are not a team that uses bigs that way.  Not only Ford, but Crews, Majerus and Soderberg.  Spoon had all guards and the greatest big in modern SLU history, Anthony Bonner, did not have that part in his game repertoire.  

Ford seems a creature of habit.  He goes 8 men deep.  Perkins, Pickett, Collins, Jimerson, Okoro, Thatch, Forrester, and Parker make eight leaving a substantial bench in Hargrove, Kramer, Cisse, Thames and Hughes polishing pine.

 

[3star_recruit]

2 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

True.  But history shows we are not a team that uses bigs that way.  Not only Ford, but Crews, Majerus and Soderberg.  Spoon had all guards and the greatest big in modern SLU history, Anthony Bonner, did not have that part in his game repertoire.  

Ford seems a creature of habit.  He goes 8 men deep.  Perkins, Pickett, Collins, Jimerson, Okoro, Thatch, Forrester, and Parker make eight leaving a substantial bench in Hargrove, Kramer, Cisse, Thames and Hughes polishing pine.

 

Or he goes 9 deep, like he did the year before when we had Perkins.

[billiken_roy]

8 or 9, the point is not everyone is gonna play and there are some names on that bench that will likely be disgruntled.  

[slufanskip]

Lets just divvy up the minutes fairly. Everyone gets 15-16 mpg. That is what's important right? Keeping the scrubs that the coaches aren't good enough to "coach up" happy? 

[wgstl]

2 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

Lets just divvy up the minutes fairly. Everyone gets 15-16 mpg. That is what's important right? Keeping the scrubs that the coaches aren't good enough to "coach up" happy? 

no one should feel left out  

[ACE]

56 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

True.  But history shows we are not a team that uses bigs that way.  Not only Ford, but Crews, Majerus and Soderberg.  Spoon had all guards and the greatest big in modern SLU history, Anthony Bonner, did not have that part in his game repertoire.  

Ford seems a creature of habit.  He goes 8 men deep.  Perkins, Pickett, Collins, Jimerson, Okoro, Thatch, Forrester, and Parker make eight leaving a substantial bench in Hargrove, Kramer, Cisse, Thames and Hughes polishing pine.

 

• Why do you keep saying this? See my post from yesterday...

Look at the 2020-21 season, looks to me like Ford went a minimum of 9 deep and even more often 10 deep (with Bell being the 10th)

Perkins

Goodwin

French

Jimmer

Linnsen

Thatch

Yuri

Jacobs

Hargrove

Bell

 

Nine players averaged double digit minutes and Bell averaged 8.8 mpg and played in every game, but two.

Based on the very recent past, I'm not sure why some people are worried about this. I expect a similar breakdown of minutes this year as we saw in 2020-21.

If Perkins doesn't get hurt this past season, Ford is playing 9 deep and if Williams didn't suck so bad, he probably would have gone 10 deep.

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, wgstl said:

no one should feel left out  

Everyone gets a participation ribbon after the game and an ice cream cone. And let’s not keep score so everyone can be a winner. 

[3star_recruit]

1 hour ago, billiken_roy said:

8 or 9, the point is not everyone is gonna play and there are some names on that bench that will likely be disgruntled.  

Welcome to sports.

[almaman]

1 hour ago, slufanskip said:

Lets just divvy up the minutes fairly. Everyone gets 15-16 mpg. That is what's important right? Keeping the scrubs that the coaches aren't good enough to "coach up" happy? 

that's what our COY did when all RM folks had left the building. Didn't work so well.

[HoosierPal]

2 hours ago, ACE said:

• Why do you keep saying this? See my post from yesterday...

Look at the 2020-21 season, looks to me like Ford went a minimum of 9 deep and even more often 10 deep (with Bell being the 10th)

Perkins

Goodwin

French

Jimmer

Linnsen

Thatch

Yuri

Jacobs

Hargrove

Bell

 

Nine players averaged double digit minutes and Bell averaged 8.8 mpg and played in every game, but two.

Based on the very recent past, I'm not sure why some people are worried about this. I expect a similar breakdown of minutes this year as we saw in 2020-21.

If Perkins doesn't get hurt this past season, Ford is playing 9 deep and if Williams didn't suck so bad, he probably would have gone 10 deep.

This was the COVID season, and there were several players who maybe never got back to full playing fitness.  Coach had to juggle his lineups to accommodate the situation.  French and Jacobs in particular were compromised for a while.  French missed the first two games with an injury.  Thatch was coming off his medical situation and was treated with caution for a while.  I would consider the 20-21 season as a deviation from the normal.

As for the upcoming season, we shall see what Ford does, when Ford shows his hand.

[johnbj14]

Yuri officially withdrawing from the draft. The pieces are all in place for next year for a huge season. Get a backup guard and who knows what heights these guys can reach.