Does Anyone Really Think Ford Still Is A Good Coach After This Mess?

[BilliesBy40]

13 minutes ago, AnkielBreakers said:

I looked this up. The answer is [drum roll] New Mexico!!!! Amazing. One team. That’s it. Just as a memory for everyone, Duke beat us by 40.

We beat a ranked Xavier. Congrats. We got like 10 bites at that apple during the Majerus-Crews years. It is a little different in conference and not fair to compare.

Bringing up the Duke loss is really something. We trotted out a bunch of Freshmen because of Situation 1. Comparing Ford to Majerus in any capacity is like comparing Brett Jolly to Larry Hughes. 

[gobillsgo]

27 minutes ago, AnkielBreakers said:

I looked this up. The answer is [drum roll] New Mexico!!!! Amazing. One team. That’s it. Just as a memory for everyone, Duke beat us by 40.

We beat a ranked Xavier. Congrats. We got like 10 bites at that apple during the Majerus-Crews years. It is a little different in conference and not fair to compare.

We also stomped a ranked Butler three times in one season and made the tournament three years in a row (yes, last two not technically under Majerus but we know that was his team being coached through his players.) What is Ford’s record vs our top conference rivals?  Hint: not very good. 

[Compton]

19 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

He can't win post season games that matter.

 

The 2019 A10 championship mattered.

[gobillsgo]

5 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Bringing up the Duke loss is really something. We trotted out a bunch of Freshmen because of Situation 1. Comparing Ford to Majerus in any capacity is like comparing Brett Jolly to Larry Hughes. 

I was gonna say that Jolly might at least win the tip if they lined up, then thought about that for a second and realized Jolly undoubtedly would not win the tip against Hughes. 

[billiken class of 15]

8 hours ago, Compton said:

 

2019: A10 Champs (4 wins in 4 days)

 

Ford helped us climb out of a self-dug hole in 2019. Remember the expectations going into the season?

Furthermore, in every year of Ford's tenure, we have been in a position where we had to win the A10 tourney in order to make the NCAA tournament. This includes years with a double-double machine/future NBA player, and several strong, highly-rated, local recruits. We have to expect better, right?

Ford is not a bad coach. He's fine. He's a fantastic recruiter and he represents the program with class. He's also a classic underachiever, which dates back to his days at OK State. We have to decide what our expectations are for this program. 

[gobillsgo]

3 minutes ago, Compton said:

 

The 2019 A10 championship mattered.

Sure it mattered, but we were overwhelmingly picked first in conference that year. We choked our way to a 6 seed. We should’ve been expected to be competing for the tournament title. Isabell and Bess took over that tournament, it’s not like Ford worked miracles. 

[slufan13]

Ford is going to win you 20 or so games a year and give you a chance at the tournament. He's done that his whole career. 25 years of results say he's probably not going to give you much more than that and in most years, he isn't going to do worse than that. 

The A10 is down although I think it'll get better as teams get healthier (Dayton's guards, Perkins, etc). I still say this team is talented enough to make it to the NCAA's and win a game. From there it's all about matchups. The team has an elite point guard, an elite shooter, and a few really really strong complementary pieces. That is the DNA of a non-major conference team that can make a run. The depth is once again worse than expected and the team has too many inexcusable no-shows.

We could do a lot worse than Ford. I personally believe we could do better. It's not really worth much of a discussion unless this team misses the NCAA tournament this year.

 

[GoSluBills]

The next two games are really telling. They are absolutely must win, and if we do win and assuming we take care of SIUE we are right back on track for an at-large. But we absolutely can't lose the next two games. 

[AnkielBreakers]

54 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Bringing up the Duke loss is really something. We trotted out a bunch of Freshmen because of Situation 1. Comparing Ford to Majerus in any capacity is like comparing Brett Jolly to Larry Hughes. 

That is a ridiculous comparison. Travis Ford is more like comparing Dwayne Evans to Larry Hughes. Both good, or great. The difference is that LH was off the charts.

I am going to simple call it. We will beat Boise State.

[papal]

I don't consider this year's recruitment as strong.  We also need better recruits from the portal.  Don't know about the 7 footer from China-?is he a project or the real thing?

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

The k state win in Kansas City was a fun game to be at.

[BilliesBy40]

5 minutes ago, AnkielBreakers said:

That is a ridiculous comparison. Travis Ford is more like comparing Dwayne Evans to Larry Hughes. Both good, or great. The difference is that LH was off the charts.

I am going to simple call it. We will beat Boise State.

Dwayne Evans won more NCAA tournament games in four years than Travis Ford has in 23 season as a head coach. Try again.

 

The real ridiculousness is comparing Ford to Majerus in any capacity. 

[Old guy]

I believe that the key to retain or fire Ford this year is making the NCAA tournament. We will see what happens against Boise and Drake. I agree if we choke again, particularly if the choke comes at last 3 or 4 minutes of the game when we are ahead, there should be a serious effort to get rid of him.

[wgstl]

Just now, Old guy said:

I believe that the key to retain or fire Ford this year is making the NCAA tournament. We will see what happens against Boise and Drake. I agree if we choke again, particularly if the choke comes at last 3 or 4 minutes of the game when we are ahead, there should be a serious effort to get rid of him.

Choking so far isn't the problem.  Memphis was a little alarming, yes. We have 2 losses in which the game was well over before halftime.  Providence(NIT at best) we had to do some serious climbing to get back into.  

[dlarry]

What worries me is the “bad matchup” games. A lot of the losses in the Ford era we end up saying “it was a bad matchup.” It’s almost always said against long, athletic, shot blocking teams. I 100% agree with this. These teams are definitely a bad match up for most Ford teams. 
The problem is we lose these games by 20+ points. 
I understand some teams matchup better than others but you can’t get absolutely destroyed by any team that is a poor matchup.  
Ford needs to adjust to these “bad matchups.” 
Losing the occasional bad matchup game is fine but you can’t routinely lose these game by over 20.

[wgstl]

3 minutes ago, dlarry said:

What worries me is the “bad matchup” games. A lot of the losses in the Ford era we end up saying “it was a bad matchup.” It’s almost always said against long, athletic, shot blocking teams. I 100% agree with this. These teams are definitely a bad match up for most Ford teams. 
The problem is we lose these games by 20+ points. 
I understand some teams matchup better than others but you can’t get absolutely destroyed by any team that is a poor matchup.  
Ford needs to adjust to these “bad matchups.” 
Losing the occasional bad matchup game is fine but you can’t routinely lose these game by over 20.

The bad matchup thing is funny to me, and you're completely right.  Its funny because the last few years we're like we have the pieces that can play against anyone, Jgood can play the 1-4, Fred can play the 2-4, pickett 2-4 etc....But then when we play big p5 schools or schools with just pure legth who are good, all of a sudden French is too small, Fred and pickett keep getting swatted or couldn't finish, Jgood had problems finishing against length and especially Yuri.  For the last 4 years this has been a big problem. I'm sorta getting tired of these shorter "bully ball" guys who cant finish around the rim against good competition.  

[dlarry]

4 minutes ago, wgstl said:

The bad matchup thing is funny to me, and you're completely right.  Its funny because the last few years we're like we have the pieces that can play against anyone, Jgood can play the 1-4, Fred can play the 2-4, pickett 2-4 etc....But then when we play big p5 schools or schools with just pure legth who are good, all of a sudden French is too small, Fred and pickett keep getting swatted or couldn't finish, Jgood had problems finishing against length and especially Yuri.  For the last 4 years this has been a big problem. I'm sorta getting tired of these shorter "bully ball" guys who cant finish around the rim against good competition.  

It’s the same thing too.

Iona blocked 8 shots in the first half. 
First play of the second half Perkins drives to the rim and gets swatted. 
 

I about threw my drink at the TV. It’s so frustrating. 
The definition of insanity!

[Brighton]

1 hour ago, billiken class of 15 said:

Ford helped us climb out of a self-dug hole in 2019. Remember the expectations going into the season?

Furthermore, in every year of Ford's tenure, we have been in a position where we had to win the A10 tourney in order to make the NCAA tournament. This includes years with a double-double machine/future NBA player, and several strong, highly-rated, local recruits. We have to expect better, right?

Ford is not a bad coach. He's fine. He's a fantastic recruiter and he represents the program with class. He's also a classic underachiever, which dates back to his days at OK State. We have to decide what our expectations are for this program. 

Dates back to UMass really.

[Compton]

25 minutes ago, Brighton said:

Dates back to UMass really.

.639 winning % and the best and second best conference records in the last 20 years in just a three year tenure before OSU plucked him.

[Slu let the dogs out?]

3 hours ago, Box and Won said:

I don't have any.

Children?

No, elephant books.

I've been laughing at this for 20 minutes straight. Good thing I work from home...

[Slu let the dogs out?]

19 hours ago, Billiken Rich said:

M. Emmet Walsh was one of the best character actors in history..........with Mack from "Cannery Row" being my favorite.....

Great actor!

[Billiken Rich]

35 minutes ago, Slu let the dogs out? said:

Great actor!

Doh!  I thought he was deceased.  Apparently he's still kicking.........

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

33 minutes ago, Billiken Rich said:

Doh!  I thought he was deceased.  Apparently he's still kicking.........

You might have been thinking of Harry Dean Stanton, often compared to M Emmett Walsh in terms of popularity and types of roles. I think Roger Ebert once said that if either actor was in a movie, it was a worth seeing, even if it wasn't great.

[Matty Light]

15 minutes ago, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

You might have been thinking of Harry Dean Stanton, often compared to M Emmett Walsh in terms of popularity and types of roles. I think Roger Ebert once said that if either actor was in a movie, it was a worth seeing, even if it wasn't great.

Wasn't Walsh also the sniper in The Jerk?

He hates these cans!

[Box and Won]

1 minute ago, Matty Light said:

Wasn't Walsh also the sniper in The Jerk?

He hates these cans!

Random son of of a b, typical run of the mill bastrd.