What’s the excuse for tonight?

[VeniceMenace]

Things that make you go hmmm….
 

The Pokes banded together as a team, and had a chance to get the game to overtime. They were down three points with six seconds left. Out of the timeout Travis Ford called the most Travis Ford play ever. Give the ball to Smart and let him run down the court to jack up the running three point shot.

Coaching is all about how you handle different situations, and coaches at this level are expected paid to put their team in the best position to win.

There is an argument for putting the ball in your best player's hands to let them make something happen, but that's a very basic answer to the generic situation of "what do you do when you're down by a possession with a few seconds left?"

With the K-State game there were other variables to consider. The Pokes were down three points. Smart isn't a great three-point shooter. Forte, on the other hand, is one of the best shooters in the nation, and he has crazy good range. Even Markel Brown would be a better option, as he's also a better shooter than Smart from behind the arc, and he has tremendous elevation on his jumper which makes it hard to defend.

Any coach should have an instant understanding of all this. Why Ford didn't use the timeout to find a way to get the ball to either Forte or Brown is beyond me. If either one misses that's one thing, but there's little doubt they were the best options given the situation.

Ultimately the loss shouldn't be totally pinned on Travis Ford, but it does begin to show a pattern. A pattern where Ford continually makes suspect decisions in close games.

[MusicCityBilliken]

Love to get Carrawell to come. Could be our Shaheen Holloway. Watched him when I lived in Asheville playing in the G league. He checks a lot of the boxes> Local, played for Coach K and was his assistant, assistant at Marquette, lots of overseas playing experiences, able to teach, etc..)

I think if he's successful, rather than him running off to a P6 school, we could make it worth his while to stay.

[wgstl]

Is carrawell known to be a recruiter or x and 0 guy ?

[Soderball]

33 minutes ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

Love to get Carrawell to come. Could be our Shaheen Holloway. Watched him when I lived in Asheville playing in the G league. He checks a lot of the boxes> Local, played for Coach K and was his assistant, assistant at Marquette, lots of overseas playing experiences, able to teach, etc..)

I think if he's successful, rather than him running off to a P6 school, we could make it worth his while to stay.

Uh, i'm sure VCU didn't expect Shaka Smart to bolt when that football money came calling either.

The only way to make it "worth his while" is to pay 10 million a year. You got that?

My point is, don't fall into the trap of some "other programs" in thinking that they are special. If you aren't KU, UK, UNC; you aren't special.

If we fire Ford to take a shot at some assistant, we are bigger buffoons than even I thought. We need to hire a name coach. Someone looking to get back into the big time. Rick Pitino. Chris Mack.

 

I watched plenty of assistants fizzle out at too many other programs, if you guys are OK with a 50/50 chance of another Crews era with 20-loss seasons.. wow. Truly MBM level.

 

5 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Is carrawell known to be a recruiter or x and 0 guy ?

this.. also irrelevant. Why not both? Hire someone with a proven track record and proven connections to land NIL transfers RIGHT F*$&ING NOW.

[wgstl]

1 minute ago, Soderball said:

this.. also irrelevant. Why not both? Hire someone with a proven track record and proven connections to land NIL transfers RIGHT F*$&ING NOW.

I cant ask if this guy is a main recruiter who is used to pulling in 4 and 5 stars? or if he is a high IQ coach...

[MusicCityBilliken]

12 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Is carrawell known to be a recruiter or x and 0 guy ?

Hard to tell. At Duke, you don't recruit you select.

[wgstl]

10 minutes ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

Hard to tell. At Duke, you don't recruit you select.

this is a good point. 

[juniorbill76]

I figured out the problem. Ford needs to go back to wearing a suit on the sidelines to demonstrate seriousness and respect for the game and the fans.

[Billiken Rich]

1 hour ago, juniorbill76 said:

I figured out the problem. Ford needs to go back to wearing a suit on the sidelines to demonstrate seriousness and respect for the game and the fans.

Absolutely gottdamned right!

 

 

[joe_davola]

1 hour ago, juniorbill76 said:

I figured out the problem. Ford needs to go back to wearing a suit on the sidelines to demonstrate seriousness and respect for the game and the fans.

Just needs to be sure it actually fits instead of looking like Josh on Big after he walks away from the car and turns into a child with a suit on.

[slufanskip]

I’m wondering why Gibson never seems to take any heat or be held responsible for losses. 
 

in our 5 losses 10-38 from 3

Last 3 losses 4-23

Last 2 losses 1-14

He probably hasn’t been coached to shoot well. 
 

Like many others I’m not happy with Ford as this should have been the year. I’m choosing to wait the year out before deciding which camp I’m in, but this board chooses a few scapegoats and the rest of the players seen to get a pass. 

[billiken_roy]

skip i say it is fatigue.   he gets no help it seems to me to get open.   he runs constantly and gets beat to hell every possession.   imo he needs to rest more to be effective but you know the system requires the main players to pay as much as possible.   no matter how many credible players we have.  

[dlarry]

24 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

I’m wondering why Gibson never seems to take any heat or be held responsible for losses. 
 

in our 5 losses 10-38 from 3

Last 3 losses 4-23

Last 2 losses 1-14

He probably hasn’t been coached to shoot well. 
 

Like many others I’m not happy with Ford as this should have been the year. I’m choosing to wait the year out before deciding which camp I’m in, but this board chooses a few scapegoats and the rest of the players seen to get a pass. 

I’ve seen plenty of people going after Jimerson.

Every game you hear how he can’t make a big shot, can’t play defense, disappears in big moments. 
I’ve seen his last 5 game stats pointed out a lot and not in glowing terms.

 

[slufanskip]

45 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

skip i say it is fatigue.   he gets no help it seems to me to get open.   he runs constantly and gets beat to hell every possession.   imo he needs to rest more to be effective but you know the system requires the main players to pay as much as possible.   no matter how many credible players we have.  

I do think he works hard and he does get consistently held with no call but he’s a D1 basketball player averaging less than 32 mpg 13 games in. 
 

If Perkins finds his stroke and maintains it plus Parker becomes what he was advertised as, it will help GJim but he has to shoot better. If he just shoots his avg vs Boise and SIUE we win both. I’m not saying it’s just him. I’d actually say we have just 3 players playing to or above what I expected. Pickett, Thatch, and maybe Forrester
 

 

[slufanskip]

59 minutes ago, dlarry said:

I’ve seen plenty of people going after Jimerson.

Every game you hear how he can’t make a big shot, can’t play defense, disappears in big moments. 
I’ve seen his last 5 game stats pointed out a lot and not in glowing terms.

 

I must have missed most of those, though admittedly my reading of the board is decreasing. 

[billiken_roy]

Skip you do realize he has a better fg% this season than Collins and Perkins right?

[JettFlight5]

@Soderball

I agree with some of what you said, especially to go get someone that's done it before. Chris Mack would be a great hire, but the gutless athletic department won't even make the call. 

What I don't agree with is that SLU is somehow sacrificing success if Travis Ford is fired. 1 NCAA in 6 chances (4 if you don't count the two post-Crews years) is not success...it's more settling for mediocrity that we're all used to. Going to the NIT should get coaches fired, not extended. 

[cheeseman]

20 minutes ago, JettFlight5 said:

@Soderball

I agree with some of what you said, especially to go get someone that's done it before. Chris Mack would be a great hire, but the gutless athletic department won't even make the call. 

What I don't agree with is that SLU is somehow sacrificing success if Travis Ford is fired. 1 NCAA in 6 chances (4 if you don't count the two post-Crews years) is not success...it's more settling for mediocrity that we're all used to. Going to the NIT should get coaches fired, not extended. 

This not the AD call.  Not knowing the terms of Ford's contract I would still think the school would have to have some angels step up.  I do agree that his success has not been what we should be happy with.  I would also suggest that the local recruiting pipeline would suffer at least at first.

[slufanskip]

1 hour ago, billiken_roy said:

Skip you do realize he has a better fg% this season than Collins and Perkins right?

Yes. I would expect him to have a better FG% than Collins didn’t you? As for Perkins, I thought he’d be better sooner but I did not think he’d shoot the 3 at a better rate than GJim and I’m not surprised he has a better FG%. 
 

You’re making my point though, Jim is 4 for 23 from 3 in our last 3 losses and you’re defending him. Iona game shooting his average wouldn’t have made a difference, but if nothing else changes but Jim shots his avg vs Boise and SIUE we win both and we are 10-3. 
 

Ford has his faults but no matter how hard you try you can’t blame 0-5 and 1-9 on Ford. 

[Billiken Rich]

4 hours ago, slufanskip said:

I’m wondering why Gibson never seems to take any heat or be held responsible for losses. 
 

in our 5 losses 10-38 from 3

Last 3 losses 4-23

Last 2 losses 1-14

He probably hasn’t been coached to shoot well. 
 

Like many others I’m not happy with Ford as this should have been the year. I’m choosing to wait the year out before deciding which camp I’m in, but this board chooses a few scapegoats and the rest of the players seen to get a pass. 

When absolutely needed he's is rarely to be found.  Mr Clutch, he is not.  Having said that we nearly never set a screen for him.......his wide open shots hitting the backboard not the rim are not fatigue, they are inexplicable

[billiken_roy]

56 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

Yes. I would expect him to have a better FG% than Collins didn’t you? As for Perkins, I thought he’d be better sooner but I did not think he’d shoot the 3 at a better rate than GJim and I’m not surprised he has a better FG%

Then why was Yuri doing all the shooting down the stretch?

[slufanskip]

27 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Then why was Yuri doing all the shooting down the stretch?

I don’t know, I wasn’t involved in the game planning but on a 1-9 day from 3, had he kicked to Jim for another miss, half the board if not more would be complaining about his decision making. 
 

All this discussion about why we list is silly. Besides Perkins we were 2-15 from 3 and 15-45 from the field overall Just hit some fuuking shots and we win easily. And all this BS about not having open looks is just that BS. We’ve been missing tons of open looks in our losses. That’s it. 

[billiken_roy]

I never said pass to jimerson.  But there were other players on the floor down the stretch.   One of  them was having his best game of the year.  You wouldn't know it though considering Yuri didn't look for anyone.  He was going to the basket.

[slufanskip]

45 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

I never said pass to jimerson.  But there were other players on the floor down the stretch.   One of  them was having his best game of the year.  You wouldn't know it though considering Yuri didn't look for anyone.  He was going to the basket.

Ok. How does that change my point about Jimerson. I didn’t say anything about Yuri at all, you changed it to that to defend or deflect Jimerson’s crappy game. I didn’t say it was only Jimerson that had a poor game. My original post simply pointed out that Jimerson has shot poorly and it’s rarely mentioned

[JettFlight5]

5 hours ago, cheeseman said:

This not the AD call.  Not knowing the terms of Ford's contract I would still think the school would have to have some angels step up.  I do agree that his success has not been what we should be happy with.  I would also suggest that the local recruiting pipeline would suffer at least at first.

I am not saying you are wrong about the recruiting at all. But is that the price of progress? This becomes a moot point if the squad makes some NCAAs.