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Open Scrimmage


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In the immortal words of Dennis Green ... they are who we thought they were.  Any Billiken basketball is better than none but short of a few tidbits, little to take away from today's event.  Thankful it was available.  Sad no Collins and no Parker.  Neither were in the building as far as i could tell but Perkins was despite not playing.  I think this says loads about Perk's current status and going slow.  He is still not one year removed from the injury so I can give it all the time he needs.  I really wanted to see what Parker might add to the table.  What I did see .......

Thatch is the no-shite glue guy.  Distributor.  Defender.  Disrupter.  Team lead.  Canned maybe three threes.  Held his own on point but he is no penetrator ala Collins.  But who is.  

Thames has potential but is somewhat careless with ball.  Needs to shore up that end of the PG game.  Had/made some nice shots.  Ditto with some assists/passes.  Can be a matchup nightmare on defense for smaller guards.  Curious to see him on smaller PGs like Fernandes, Smith, Loyer.  In the PG distribution, I can see Collins 75%; Thatch 15% and Thames 10%.

Jimerson appeared confident beyond belief but near the end, he became 'Jack It Jimerson.'  Didn't keep count but missed more than he made.  Must've taken at least a dozen treys over the course of the game with a few more mid-range, two dunks, and one sweet back door cut.  I thin he can have an even better year than last given the added weapons on this team in Perkins, Parker, and Pickett.

Pickett was steady.  Nothing flashy.  Two or three threes.  Decent defense.  Nothing jumped out as amazing just consistent.  

Okoro will be a load in the paint.  Had a nice baby hook from about 8 feet but mostly was the same tough-as-nails guy down low.  Forrester challenged on a few and registered a block or two but Jake appears an able replacement for Linssen.  He had some nice rolls to the basket and I would have liked to see if he could have duplicated the success Linssen had with Collins in there.  Cisse is Traore 2.0 right now.  Seemed to be rushing things and that's understandable.  He has got to just get better and realize that next year, as of right now, he is the Billiken low post game.  

Hargrove is another glue guy in my book.  Yes, he will get the occasional high flying dunk show highlight but he seemed quite content just in the system.  I think he hit the first three for the white squad to go up 3 to 0 but later the Blue was up 25 to 5.  I see a similar season as last year on the horizon for TJ right now.

Kramer has game and appeared fearless.  Made a few mid- and long-range jumpers.  Had a few shots that were just plain flt.  Played some tough defense, had about three steals and two or so breakaway dunks.

Hughes Jr. held his own and got abused once or twice as well.  Much better showing then recent Billiken walk-ons Courtney, Hines and Eckerle.  Missed a three, got a rebound back, reloaded, eschewed another three and steppe din to hit a 17-footer.  Kid did not look out of place at all.  

Some interesting facts:  Bills led the A10 in scoring, free throw percentage and rebounding margins last year.  Played onyl the ten guys mentioned due to illness and Perk's status.  Changed teams at will trading one player for another and going with different combinations.  Team leaves for Europe in one week.  Corey Tate looks like a house out there.  Courtney and Dziagwa reffed.  Schedule announcement later this week.  Nobody showed badly but the better players appear to be Thatch, Pickett, Jimerson, Okoro and Kramer.  Okay marks to Thames, Hughes, Forrester and Hargrove.  Work needed for Cisse.  

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46 minutes ago, SLU_Nick said:

That was a great treat to watch. I really thought all of the players showed pretty well.  
 

Jimerson seemed to shoot 3/28 from the field but not concerned with that at all. 

u may have 2 change your avatar in next few  years!

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2 hours ago, dlarry said:

Yes but I’m not sure who it is. 

Colin Suhre, who also does baseball, softball, and some other ESPN+ stuff for us. He also announces some regional HS stuff, McKendree sports, and more. He's young and does a really good job.

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2 hours ago, SLU_Nick said:

Where’s the video link? 

Scrimmage is archived here for whoever wants it (and has ESPN+). The first minute or so didn't get recorded but if you skip to 18 minutes in the video, that's where the scrimmage action begins (Hargrove bucket).

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Macaleb Rich was in attendance. Didn’t see anyone else but didn’t really look either.

 

I like Kellen Thames’s game. I think he can be a real contributor this year. Was guarded by a couple big time defenders the whole time in Pickett and Thatch so I’ll give him some slack on a couple of the TOs.

 

all of the new guys are high high energy guys. FWIW, I think Ford is going to have a helluva task keeping some of these guys off the floor. Plus shooters and plus defenders don’t grow on trees around here

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Just now, Littlebill said:

Macaleb Rich was in attendance. Didn’t see anyone else but didn’t really look either.

Cian Medley was on campus for his OV yesterday but left town this morning.

Kennard Davis was on campus for his OV today, per his Instagram. Did anyone see him at the scrimmage? Not sure if he hung around for it or not.

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Thatch was the best player on the floor today.

Jimerson had more burst on his dunks than I've ever seen from him before.

Pickett and Forrester are both workhorses. Smart, experienced, gritty veterans who get the job done and aren't flashy. Players like that can get underrated but are meaningful to a team like this being able to make a March run.

The freshmen all showed some flashes of what they do well but they all made freshman mistakes, too. I don't think we see much of them this season. It's a numbers issue. The rotation is already 9 deep without them. Ford doesn't go deeper than that. Kramer looks the most game-ready to me of the bunch. Thames looks like a pest on defense but turnovers will be a problem for him offensively.

They used every bit of the TV timeout length. Way longer on the last few.

It's funny to see what did and didn't get called by the grad assistants serving as refs. Seeing the chippy stuff get ignored really brought me back. Was also entertained by Courtney's whistle giving Okoro FTs to ice the second 10-minute set and Ford giving him s**t.

It's hard to say exactly what this team will look like when Collins isn't out there. Everything runs through him; this is more like a preview of what we'll look like when he goes to the bench in a blowout.

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45 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Colin Suhre, who also does baseball, softball, and some other ESPN+ stuff for us. He also announces some regional HS stuff, McKendree sports, and more. He's young and does a really good job.

He was awfully complimentary of us.  While it’s appreciated (and true) it was almost too much 

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The descriptions of the two public scrimmages so far appear to me to show a reasonable level of capacity for the coming season. It is early and the new freshmen players still have a lot to learn. Gibson and Thatch are performing well. Perkins is still a question mark in my mind, but should progress before the season starts. Picket and Forrester appear solid and ready to go. Thames and Kramer show promise. In all this appears to be a good start for the season.

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7 minutes ago, Old guy said:

The descriptions of the two public scrimmages so far appear to me to show a reasonable level of capacity for the coming season. It is early and the new freshmen players still have a lot to learn. Gibson and Thatch are performing well. Perkins is still a question mark in my mind, but should progress before the season starts. Picket and Forrester appear solid and ready to go. Thames and Kramer show promise. In all this appears to be a good start for the season.

I have to say, your insight of Billiken performances, based solely on descriptions  you read on Billikens.com, are always spot on.  Keep the high level breakdowns coming.

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3 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Unofficially team was 9 of 29 today from the arc. 

28  3PA would be quite a number.  If that comes to pass , the Bills would be a top 10 team in 3PA.  Of course it is not about attempts...it is about 3PM.  For some context, it would break down like this....

On 28  3PA/gm

8  3PM/gm  =  F...Time to shoot more 2s

9 /gm...........= D+...Still better off shooting 2s

10/ gm.........= B+....It's working ...keep them coming

11/gm...........= A+...Championship 3 team

As you can see the margin between greatness and mediocrity is small ...only 3 baskets....Remember though this is a difference of 9 pts/ gm which is huge and is within the spread of most of the meaningful games we will play  this season. It is a gamble to rain 3s but if the Bills can pull it off it will be a great year.

 

 

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11 hours ago, cgeldmacher said:

This

I wasn’t able to watch it all but the parts I did Thatch was awesome.

Draining 3s, put backs, strong defense, getting to the bucket.

If Thatch can do those things consistently there is no telling how good this team can be. 
 

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1 hour ago, dlarry said:

I wasn’t able to watch it all but the parts I did Thatch was awesome.

Draining 3s, put backs, strong defense, getting to the bucket.

If Thatch can do those things consistently there is no telling how good this team can be. 
 

On my personal spreadsheet, I had Thatch 'penciled in' as off the bench.  I'm erasing that and changing it to starting.  He has to be on the floor A LOT. It really doesn't matter if he starts or comes off the bench, he will get his minutes.  Now I'm predicting he will be second in mpg after Collins.  

And I believe we all will be interested in how Coach adjusts his historical 8 +2 rotation pattern.

 

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8 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

On my personal spreadsheet, I had Thatch 'penciled in' as off the bench.  I'm erasing that and changing it to starting.  He has to be on the floor A LOT. It really doesn't matter if he starts or comes off the bench, he will get his minutes.  Now I'm predicting he will be second in mpg after Collins.  

And I believe we all will be interested in how Coach adjusts his historical 8 +2 rotation pattern.

 

I also thought Fred was the best player on the floor but let’s not forget this was an early practice with 3 of our best players absent. 

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6 minutes ago, willie said:

I also thought Fred was the best player on the floor but let’s not forget this was an early practice with 3 of our best players absent. 

Coach Ford has been singing Fred's praises as a practice performer for years.  I expect him to be our best guard in practice when Perkins and Yuri are out.  In the 2nd half of last season we finally got to see that Fred for an extended period.  He averaged 11.5 ppg 6.1 rpg and 1.8 apg in conference.

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1 hour ago, dlarry said:

I wasn’t able to watch it all but the parts I did Thatch was awesome.

Draining 3s, put backs, strong defense, getting to the bucket.

If Thatch can do those things consistently there is no telling how good this team can be. 
 

I hope Thames sticks like glue to That h for the next two years and learns everything about how he plays the game.  Thames’ natural talents combined with Thatch’s preparation, effort, and smarts would make a pretty amazing player.

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I caught the replay this am. First, pretty nice that ESPN thinks enough of us to broadcast a scrimmage. Second, little disappointed in the fan turnout. Need more hype? 
Fred was tough on both sides. How does he not get 25+ mpg? Whether he starts or comes off the bench he’s a plus, says Captain obvious. I liked Pickett and Forrest as well. They could be real difference makers come A10 play. I thought the FR played well. Especially Thames on D. Kid has quick hands. He’ll be a terror for A10 sized PG’s. Overall, we still have a ways to go to being a top 25 team as we were a little careless with the rock and missed some wide open 3s. But my hopes are high for this group. 

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1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

Coach Ford has been singing Fred's praises as a practice performer for years.  I expect him to be our best guard in practice when Perkins and Yuri are out.  In the 2nd half of last season we finally got to see that Fred for an extended period.  He averaged 11.5 ppg 6.1 rpg and 1.8 apg in conference.

I have mentioned this before with Fred. During the last half of the season he also was beginning to be a guy that didn't need the Yuri feed. He is showing the ability to create on his own in addition to his hustle scrap points. He's really been looking good. 

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