lots of questions

[nostatic]

Nice start for DP: 5 assists, 2 TO -- was Reggie really playing the point in the 2nd half?

Were Ian and Tom on the floor at the same time at all?

How does Reggie only get 5 shots in 31 minutes? -- or were we spreading the ball around and shots were easy to come by?

Nice first game for LM -- 4 pts, 4 reb, 1 steal -- assuming he came in at the #3?

It's a good thing when the two guys you figure are going to lead you in rebounding (TF and VN) combine for a lower total (7) than the two guys that lead the team with 8 each (IO and IV). Are they both physically stronger and more aggressive? If so, that's a big boost.

Did VN only play the #3 or did he spend time at the #4 when IO went out?

[slu72]

67-60 over UMSL? That's not too impressive seeing as how UMSL lost to Ill State by almost 30. Was kind of hoping the Bills would crack the 80 mark against these guys. Should we be worried or was this total experimental night?

[AlumniFan]

I wouldn't worry too much. SLU manhandled UMSL in the first half. I think the second half was Brad's time to try some other things. Brad has the discipline to work on improving his team even if it means a closer preseason game.

[3star_recruit]

Polk wasn't hitting anything last night and had to sit with foul trouble in the first half. If those two things hadn't happened he may have played 40 minutes last night because it doesn't look like anybody else can handle the point position. Maybe Darren Clarke can, but he is nursing an injury and didn't play.

[billiken_roy]

no static said, "Nice start for DP: 5 assists, 2 TO"

while we saw spectacular glimpses of the talent of dwayne polk last nite (great passes, and speed, speed, speed) his defense was not very good. too often he was beat off the dribble. now for someone as fast as him, how is that possible? brad was also screaming at him to stay in the pack when his man did not have the ball. but overall, i thought dwayne did fine.

no static said, "was Reggie really playing the point in the 2nd half?"

sure seemed like he brought the ball up the floor against their press as much as anthony or dwayne. that said, if we have trouble bringing the ball up the floor and getting into our offense against the likes of umsl, i shudder at the thought of uab or louisville where the waves of better athletes will keep coming at us. right now, the second half is somewhat concerning to me because it really seemed the full court pressure was effective against us.

no static said, "Were Ian and Tom on the floor at the same time at all?"

they did play together in the first half for a stretch. nothing spectacular or negative to say about it.

no static said, "How does Reggie only get 5 shots in 31 minutes? -- or were we spreading the ball around and shots were easy to come by?"

i thought overall reggie just didnt fit in last night. there was no effort to look for him and when he did get the ball he really didnt seem to be the same reggie. it wasnt like he was being guarded by gary payton. still when the final buzzer sounded, reggie was at the top of the stat board. it goes to show you how good the young man is. but i want more offense going through reggie.

no static said, "Nice first game for LM -- 4 pts, 4 reb, 1 steal -- assuming he came in at the #3?"

luke was on the wing when he came in and i thought he did a good job. luke meyer is far better than i expected and will contribute imo. he did not look like a freshman imo.

no static said, "It's a good thing when the two guys you figure are going to lead you in rebounding (TF and VN) combine for a lower total (7) than the two guys that lead the team with 8 each (IO and IV). Are they both physically stronger and more aggressive? If so, that's a big boost."

frericks didnt play as much and definitely didnt look like the ferocious tom frericks of last year. ian did ok, but i aint reserving any place in springfield for him yet. newborne though was fantastic. again, i think he reminds me of quitman dillard. looks to score, hustles, i thought he played probably the best defense on the floor last night. if his rebounding stats werent that good, it is because he plays a very credible wing. he played pf a few times, but we cant hitch our wagon to his time there. izik was his usual inconsistent self. i thought in the first half izik played pretty good, to be honest, nothing he did in the second half stood out at all.

while frericks didnt play with the gusto of last year imo, he did have 6 rebs in only 12 minutes. he also made 3 out of 4 ft's.

all in all not a bad nite, the first 5 minutes were especially impressive. but then that attitude and style disappeared.

the blue crew was fantastic! i sure hope the kids keep coming, their show was exactly what this program needs. i noticed that cheryl levrick was over amongst them a number of times smiling and talking to the kids. i really liked that.

what's up with the baby blues new uni's? not sure if i like them or not.

surprise surprise, problems with the microphones a couple of times when they went to the little in the stands stuff. i dont know if all of you noticed, but the first young lady they used for the triva question was also a baby blue. after the bit was over, she dashed down the stairs and was taking off her clothes before she got under the stands in an attempt to get ready as quickly as possible for halftime. she is a babe! the second young lady that hosted the dance contest was a cutie as well. imo both are an improvement over the sideline ladies from last year.

i thought it might have been the best pre-season crowd we have had in a long long time. i am sure claggett days were as good or better, but i would guess the attendance to be the best since spoon left for a pre-season game. the students coming out like they did really made the place seem fuller. they should get all the credit. and whatever the campus did to get them out they need to keep doing it.

this is what i took away from the game: i really like newborne. polk will emerge. luke meyer will contribute. our bigs have to get better. and our offense needs to get better, especially vs some pressure.

last question, what was up with darren clarke sitting out?

[slufanskip]

That was a hard game to assess anyone on it was UMSL. the way we played the 1st half is what we should have expected. The second half was horrible. We got out hustled and out rebounded by UMSL Yes UMSL.

DP ... good moments on the break ... but rarely beat his man off the dribble in the half court and as Roy said ... he got beat off the dribble himself

VN ... was awesome. He will be a big improvement

IV ... looked good on the boards, but needs to work on his offensive moves close to the basketball.

RB ... did he play besides the last 5 minutes?

AD ... lets hope he is still hurt and not in playing shape.

IO ... looks stronger ... but we got to witness the return of the dipsy doo tonight. Izik throw it down hard ... PLEASE

TF ... good rebounding job 12 minutes? I am curious as to why.

LM ... He looked ok ... but his feet are slow. I will be surprised to see him get much if any time in CUSA play. He looks like his moves are calculated he needs to loosen up and play with confidence

Tonka ... definately looked to be on the roids. With him behind me I feel I now have the freedom to get incredibly loud and obnoxious in the stands ... as long as Tonka has my back.

We should not have had to go small with UMSL ... we should have been able to dominate them with our size and inflict our game on them ... not the other way around.

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[Taj79]

... taht is ... IF we can't dominte the likes of UMSl with our size, what does that tell you about the talent in our bigs? It seems to indicate to me that for the time beign, we need to take TF, IO, IV and VN and roll them into two players ..... say count TF adn IV at the five and the others as our four. Add them up and hope they are (Combined) what we need at the four and five.

What this tell sme is that we are not good enough to coast agaisnt anybody. Bring the lunch pails once again every night. A win's a win. Improvement can be had.

Here's hoping the ladies under my old pal Tim Champion win today and lock up their first ever NCAA soccer berth. Debbie Yow just locked up another two-year extension over here at UMd. Seems her and the lady at Cal are the only big-time program ADs that are women since the Washignton broad got fired over the Neuheisel thing.

P.S. When is signing day or when does the signing period start?

[Mobile-iken]

Tonka ... definately looked to be on the roids. With him behind me I feel I now have the freedom to get incredibly loud and obnoxious in the stands ... as long as Tonka has my back.

Hemorrhoids or steroids?

[slufanskip]

Steroids for sure ... now that Barry has had to cut back, I think Tonks is getting his share. Actually I am sure Tonka knows I am just kidding him ... but if we had a position open for strength coach. We missed out on not hiring him.

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[BleacherBum593]

Clarke - didn't dress because of a nagging injury (foot, IIRC). Also, my man Wendell didn't dress (didn't ask him why) and JJ is still serving his suspension.

We looked good for about the first 10 minutes, but then seemed to lose the intensity. Second half, I was very surprised that Coach didn't pull Izek, but let him play the final 5 minutes of the game. Experimentation? With UMSL penetrating the lane and dishing off to people running the baseline, Izek stood around "flat-footed" the whole time. In addition, I don't think he had more than 1 rebound in the last 5 minutes. We had the height of advantage, but UMSL nullified it with their all out hustle in the last 5 minutes. I would think in the future, Izek will find a seat on the bench for that type of effort. And Tom F will find himself getting those minutes.

Liked Newborne's efforts early. Scored inside and out.

Polk - showed good things will be coming in the future. Liked his penetrations and dishes on more than 1 occassion. Defense was lacking at times as UMSL's point guard blew by him. Probably the first time that's happened to Polk in a ballgame.

Meyer - good upperbody for a freshmen. Worked hard. Needs more game time to keep improving.

Reggie - IMHO, he wasn't working hard to get the open shot. Only saw him work hard once or twice in the 2nd half to get his shot. But, when he did, he nailed it. That'll change as the level of competition picks up and the situation(s) call for him to step it up.

Overall, I thought we didn't take advantage of our height advantage enough. We should have pounded the ball inside more. Defensively, we weren't sealing off UMSL and going hard to the boards. Drove me crazy in the last 5 minutes as UMSL whittled the lead down to about 6.

Roy - the Baby Blues look to be trying to capture the "harem" look this season. Send them down my way next Saturday (Section 108). Only able to seem them when I looked up at the big screen. Billiken huddles keep getting in the viewing way.

[guest]

I agree with most of what you said. I have a few questions: What about Bryce? Why didn't Brad put him in? And why didn"t Frericks play more? And did anyone else think Polk loafed on defense? Is Meyer going to play off guard or a 3?

[BleacherBum593]

I was wondering also why Bryce didn't play when we had the big lead in the first half. I've heard nothing on that. Could be he was planning on letting him get some playing time late in the 2nd half, but when the lead evaporated, he nixed the ideal. Bryce and the walk on freshman were the only 2 who didn't see action last night.

On Meyer - I think he'll see more time at 3-4 than as a guard this year.

[slufanskip]

I can't imagine him playing the 4 at all.

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[Tonka]

Skip, So you noticed my fidgeting in my seat? Or was it the memory foam I was sitting on for relief? I try and hide it a little under my coat. It's also why I stand a lot. Hemroids are terrible!

Come on man, quit kicking sand in my face. You big guys like to bully people around!

I saw some new faces around us Skip. Too early to tell whether they will contribute to the yelling.

[Tonka]

I was greatly impressed with the athleticism on this team! They still look raw as I expected they would be. I was impressed with Polk in that he looked comfortable out there. He was quick and seemed to glide across the floor. The guard he was matching up against was quick as hell and I think he flew by Polk a few times that I didn't like. I have to keep remembering he's a freshman. He made some great passes. Ian did look way better than last year! Good call to those who said that from watching practices. Newborne looked great. I think these guys still need to get in a flow and get used to playing with each other. It seemed to me that Coach was trying to get a lot of players invloved to see what they can do come game time. I think he realizes Reggie is Reggie and we know what he can do. I really think IO will come around with this team this year. I would have like to see more of Tom as some of you mentioned. LM was definitely better than I anticipated as well. I think a lot more will be cleaned by next week. Great crowd! Students - appplause! applause! applause! you know the students had a good showing last year too as compared to year's past. Hopefully this will continue to grow!

[slufanskip]

Yea there were a few ... the big guy behind me was killing me though ... his kids would be fighting and he would tell them to quit and they would tell him NO ... they also kept kicking the back of my seat ... I was about to tell him to smack them before I do. I know if they sit there all season there will be words. There were different guys there last season.

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[guest]

You really can't tell much now--the players have been together with Coach Brad only 20 days--maybe 14 practices. I think Polk's mistakes on defense will be corrected--Soderberg is really an expert on that. I wish our Greek player, who I like, would work out in the gym--he still does not have strong hands and arms. He is a good athlete, but loses the ball easily in the crowd. Where did we get that junior college kid--from Mississippi? Wow, he looked impressive. I think Meyer will be better than Sloan--he is very aggressive and will be a strong off guard. But it is early, and we will need to wait until after the Virgin Islands trip to assess the team.

[brehms13]

Well according to all of the reports from u guys, it sounds like we did well, but still have much room for improvement. Here's my optimism coming.......I'm thinking if they did well last night with all the injuries this team has going on...the once everyone is 100%, this team will be AWESOME! I read that at least 5 players have injuries, Reg told me that Ian has a fractured finger.....so I'm glad.

I'm sure Brad got on the guys about the 2nd half......they'll pick it up, I"m sure.....

I can't wait to get there.....believe me I'll BRING MUCH NOISE!!!!, hopefully all will understand, I just can't Keep quiet at anygame......

[bauman]

Good first half, but we lost the 2nd half to a so-so Div 2 team by 38-27. That just shouldn't happen. I won't repeat much of the good some of you have already mentioned, but will point out a few of the concerns that I saw. In spite of some of your comments (and I hate to get on the young man so often) but IV's rebounds basicallyfell in his lap. I was surprised by BS's decision to start him so I watched very closely while he was in and he NEVER got more than 2" off the floor, in fact on 3 occasions UMSL players between 6'5" and 6'7" who were behind him actually got the rebound because they went up for the ball. If you disagree with me just watch next game.

Also, it seemed like many of the players who I have seen knock down the 3 in practice were reluctent to shoot it last night. If you can shoot and you are open, "let it fly".

VN, who I like very much and who surprised somewhat with his offense, was a big disappointment on the boards-he came in with a rep as a big time rebounder and he did NOT hit the boards last night.

I guess this is why we play 2 exhibition games. Also I think DC could have helped. Should we be concerned that he is going to be injury prone?

[billiken_roy]

while polk is obviously raw, he is obviously supremely talented. imo, the only billiken in my memory as fast was him was david burns. he will be known (and dreaded) by the entire conference by march.

i dont know what was up with reggie not shooting more. hopefully it was all about seeing what everyone else can do. it was obvious he could pretty much do what he wanted when he wanted. he too is not a question mark.

drejaj is drejaj. as the backup guard and stellar defender, we know what we will get with him.

luke meyer is a pleasant surprise and can only get better imo. we didnt get to see clarke last nite, but even if for some unsuspecting reason he isnt a contributor, we are obviously set at the guard spots imo. however, it bothers me that we struggled with the umsl full court pressure. my bets are that with the skills we have with the ball though, it wont be a problem.

i have been saying for months that this season depends on our bigs. especially newborne and izik imo. after the couple of practices and last nite, i think newborne is more than expected, especially if we use him as primarily a wing.

but the rest continues to be our question mark. while ian, izik and frericks had nice rebounding stats, in truth, with our size advantage, they should have been even better rebounding. none of the three consistently for the entire game showed up. there is our team. we get maximum stats from ian, izik and frericks, we got something. if they are so so, so will this team.

[BillikenButch]

Baby Blues looked D2, they are definitely slipping and the outfits were poor (they didn't fit and were poorly tailored)

Polk has some work to do, but he held his own which is really as good as we could hope the first time on the floor.

Luke Meyer was impressive. He will get plenty of time with that kind of hustle and he isn't afraid to shoot. VN was terrific.

[billiken_roy]

slulaw75 said, "I wish our Greek player, who I like, would work out in the gym--he still does not have strong hands and arms. He is a good athlete, but loses the ball easily in the crowd."

first, slulaw, i think you are new. welcome to the board!

second, i totally agree with the above statement. if ian wants to succeed in america, he needs to become a little meaner with the ball. when the likes of umsl can keep him from going back up and scoring while getting fouled, what is going to happen vs hicks and maxiell. get to work ian.

[billiken_roy]

brehms said, "I can't wait to get there.....believe me I'll BRING MUCH NOISE!!!!, hopefully all will understand, I just can't Keep quiet at anygame"

brehms, lucky for you, most of the parents and family typically sit more or less behind the billiken bench. and except for the students, all the rowdy's are over there including skip and tonka who everyone in the building hears every game.

my section plays lawrence welk music.

[billiken_roy]

a couple of the baby blues need to get with the conditioning coach. to wear those belly shirts in their condition isnt good. sorry if that offends anyone, but well, it's true.

second, the one tall girl is on the wrong team. jill needs size bad. i think the tallest baby blue who no doubt is very attractive and a good dancer, needs to be playing center for the jillikens!

btw, i liked the mia johnson girl and the rest of the freshman were talented too for the jillikens, however they were so sloppy and made way way way way too many mistakes. jill has her work cut out for her. especially considering the lack of size they have.

[billiken_roy]

too be fair on newborne and rebounding, he played only a few minutes at the power forward spot. to expect him to dominate reboundingwise from the perimeter would be asking a lot imo.

i completely agree on ian. and anyone else question why izik was down the floor so often when we were trying to fast break? shouldnt he have been under the basket rebounding? occasionally one of the bigs might be out there if their man stepped out as well, but it seemed to me that izik was out on the break every time. i will watch closer next saturday for all three reboundingwise.