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GDT: UMSL Exhibition


HoosierPal

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7 minutes ago, Billikenbooster said:

Gus was definitely in mid season form last night.

I think between Perkins, Parker, and Pickett,  with all also being around the same height, we are gonna see some steam coming out of his ears trying to figure it out.  I expect him to regularly screw that up, and probably won’t care enough to correct himself. 

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I went to the game last night.  After having time to digest it, here are some thoughts:

* UMSL packed it in.  They seemed to know they had a size disadantage and gave up threes for not allowing easy baskets inside.  This helps explain Okoro's bad night.  He was always double or triple teamed.  It also explains why Thatch didn't look as effective at point.  A point guard never looks special throwing to an open guy right next to him on the three point line compared to driving into the lane and making something happen.  Let's not panic about Okoro or Thatch at the point based on last night.  Also, in the second half, I think that Ford, knowing we were going to win and maybe not caring by how much, clearly told the guys to force the ball inside to our bigs.

* Parker can score.  However, he's just the same as the rest of our guys when he hits a few shots.  He suddenly thinks he can hit everything he throws up and then starts missing.  His defensive effort was decent.  It's his positioning that needs improvement.

* I thought all of the freshmen looked okay.  That includes Hughes, Jr.  I didn't see anything overly special from him.  He hit two threes, which is great considering shooting is his thing.  But, it was only 2-3 shooting.  Nothing to draw huge conclusions over.  Annointing him the backup point guard is way, way premature based on 15 minutes of play.

* Yuri wasn't as good as he can be, but he still stuffed the stat sheet.  No worries about him.

* Forrester looked good.  As many have pointed out, his best skill may be passing the ball from inside the lane.  Still need to see how well he defends a quality big man.

* Pickett is just solid all around.  Solidly built enought to guard a bigger man.  Solid play such that he was 4-6 in 18 minutes.  He will be a guy we want in the line up more than we think right now.  If the other team has a #4 that is really good, Pickett will have to be in to guard him.  If the other team's stud is a guard, then it will be Thatch more often.

* Jimerson was 4-7 from three in 26 minutes.  The shots he took would be no different against better opponents.

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Okoro was hurt last week and missed several straight days of practice. He might not be 100% at the moment. Or maybe he's back to full health and still shaking off the rust. This was a really early exhibition date.

I didn't get to see the game as an out-of-towner but there's nothing I've seen, heard, or read that worries me about any individual player. My concerns are mostly about how they play as a unit.

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2 hours ago, DeSmetBilliken said:

He certainly didn’t credit the basket to Larry Hughes Jr, but I thought he said Kellen Thames. If he said a player or the other team, that’s an even bigger miss.

He said king 

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2 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

So I'm supposed to discard Okoro's season long numbers against real competition last year because he looked subpar against UMSL?  I don't think so.

Heck yes. Discard it all.
Over reaction to 22 minutes of Okoro against a D2 team overrides all of last year. Having Thatch play Pg for 4 min in the first half is more than enough evidence that we are doomed if Yuri can’t go 40. 

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38 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Heck yes. Discard it all.
Over reaction to 22 minutes of Okoro against a D2 team overrides all of last year. Having Thatch play Pg for 4 min in the first half is more than enough evidence that we are doomed if Yuri can’t go 40. 

Hoosier thatch's poor point guard play last night was second half.  

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7 hours ago, gobillsgo said:

Hughes surprised me.  I think he’ll get time this year.  Smooth stroke (seems to have sped up the release a bit from HS).  Might be our best secondary ball handler.

Seems likely if the fact that he got more minutes than the rest of the Freshman combined is any indication.

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44 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Hoosier thatch's poor point guard play last night was second half.  

OMG, we are DOOOOOMEEEEEEDDDDDD.  Thatch played 6 min in the second half when Collins was on the bench....so max 10 min at PG. 

Cancel the season.  Ford doesn't have any idea what he is doing.  I'm impressed that this board has better talent evaluators than the SLU staff.  Awesome.

So you along with several other posters have written him off based on 10 minutes?

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13 minutes ago, Compton said:

Seems likely if the fact that he got more minutes than the rest of the Freshman combined is any indication.

Junior had a strong second half in his senior season of high school and his been playing with more consistency ever since.  The freshmen are competing to see who gets to play 5-7 min a game.  In that scenario, Coach Ford probably values the player more who protects the basketball than the guy who plays better defense but is looser with the basketball. 

That's just where the competition stands now.  If one of our future opponents exposes us defensively, I could easily see those minutes swinging Thames' or Kramer's way. 

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22 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

OMG, we are DOOOOOMEEEEEEDDDDDD.  Thatch played 6 min in the second half when Collins was on the bench....so max 10 min at PG. 

Cancel the season.  Ford doesn't have any idea what he is doing.  I'm impressed that this board has better talent evaluators than the SLU staff.  Awesome.

So you along with several other posters have written him off based on 10 minutes?

You seem like you’re a lot of fun at parties. No one has written off either Thatch or Okoro.  And no one is claiming to be a better talent evaluator than Ford or any of the other coaches. 
 

Posters in this thread, including myself, are simply giving an account of the game last night for those who were unable to attend.  And Thatch and Okoro were unimpressive, so I said that in my report.   I’m not saying they should be cut from the roster.  
 

we’ve got some sensitive posters in this thread. 

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2 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

Junior had a strong second half in his senior season of high school and his been playing with more consistency ever since.  The freshmen are competing to see who gets to play 5-7 min a game.  In that scenario, Coach Ford probably values the player more who protects the basketball than the guy who plays better defense but is looser with the basketball. 

That's just where the competition stands now.  If one of our future opponents exposes us defensively, I could easily see those minutes swinging Thames' or Kramer's way. 

Barring a bunch of injuries I will be shocked if there is 5-7 minutes for the freshman unless we are blowing out everyone. 

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6 hours ago, gobillsgo said:

I think between Perkins, Parker, and Pickett,  with all also being around the same height, we are gonna see some steam coming out of his ears trying to figure it out.  I expect him to regularly screw that up, and probably won’t care enough to correct himself. 

Plus 2 of them are “Javon’s”

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4 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

OMG, we are DOOOOOMEEEEEEDDDDDD.  Thatch played 6 min in the second half when Collins was on the bench....so max 10 min at PG. 

Cancel the season.  Ford doesn't have any idea what he is doing.  I'm impressed that this board has better talent evaluators than the SLU staff.  Awesome.

So you along with several other posters have written him off based on 10 minutes?

There is nothing wrong with being a little concerned about the back up point guard position. 
 

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1 hour ago, willie said:

Barring a bunch of injuries I will be shocked if there is 5-7 minutes for the freshman unless we are blowing out everyone. 

I tend to think you are right, providing someone emerges as a credible backup point guard.  If not, I would not be surprised legend Jr emerges.   Imo he was the surprise of the night 

Don't get me wrong he's not going to play 20+ mpg likely, but yuri isn't going to play 40 mpg either.

Now who might emerge for those minutes?

Maybe Fred just had a bad night

Maybe while yuri rests the team defers to Perkins or Parker to be a college team version of James harden or what Westbrook used to be.

But I wouldn't write off all the freshmen yet.   

 

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I am not concerned as to who gets mop up minutes in the OCC.  I am not concerned about who mans the point in regular season games.  We all know who that is.  What concerns me is who is thrust into the role due to foul trouble or injury and has to play our point for more than half the game.  Hopefully, as Ben Fred said in his article, Saint Louis can avoid the bad mojo that has seemed to plague us these last few years of the Ford regime.

No injury, no worries.  The same is the case across the A10.  Smith at Dayton.  Fernandes at Umass.  Baldwin at VCU.  Loyer at Davidson.  It's all part of the game.  

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16 hours ago, dlarry said:

There is nothing wrong with being a little concerned about the back up point guard position. 
 

I totally agree.  I just don't think that concern should be based on a few minutes of time that Thatch was at PG during the UMSL game when we were clearly trying to force the ball inside to get our bigs some work.  If you were concerned about it before Monday, or not, Monday should not have done much for your opinion.

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