The Wiz Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Thatch First, let's start with some well wishes to Fred Thatch . Even though his bball days end with a thud, it doesn't change the fact that he was a great basketball player who gave it his all and a fine representative of SLU. We wish him well on his future endeavors. Ford interview... After the UMass game , Ford shared his thoughts on the game. A couple of items stood out to me. One item he mentioned was effort. He wished "...the team had brought their A game and if not that then at least their B+ game". Well you know that rang a bell with me right away. I have been saying through the threads that we need to be an A team to do some Dancing. In addition, I have said all season that our overall grade has been B+. Ford didn't say "then at least bring our B game", he said bring our B+ game. Hmmm.....you don't suppose he reads the board, do you? The irony here is that right after the interview , I was working on the numbers and noticed we graded out at a B ...the first time we have been below B+ this season. What is B? B is where you don't want to B. B teams have a 2/3 chance to go to the NIT. The other item in the interview that struck me was when he was lamenting about our defense. He said we need to play more defense but he didn't want to give up offense to do it. Well just in case he reads the board, here is my first suggestion...Don't stop playing offense. As you will see below, we are a B+ offense but a D defense. How about dropping back a little on offense to pickup some defense. How about a slight drop to a B offense to move up to a C+ defense. With a better defense , you wouldn't need to score as many pts plus you would not be as dependent on the shooting percentages. Also with a better defense, you may have more chances on offense.....Rant over Game Outlook So how with all this gloom and doom can I forecast a 9 pt win over St. B. As mentioned above, we still are a B team (pretty good). And St. B is a C+ team. They are not very good on offense or rebounding and so-so on defense. I have no doubt that there will be some posters who will jump out and say "fix the computer" but it doesn't change the fact that we are the better team (even with all that's happened) and we should win this game. A quick look at the report card... ...................SLU....................St. B.........................SLU..........................St. B .................................OFF..........................................................DEF............. PPG...............B+........................D.........................D....................................B- FG%...............C+.......................D+.......................A-...................................C 3P%...............D.........................B-.........................C-..................................A+...14th ITN FT%...............B+........................D+.................................................................. Reb...............A+...8th ITN.........D........................C-....................................C+ OFF Rebs = total rebs...DEF Rebs = opp reb UP...............Off....PPG...FG%........Def.....none Down.........Off.............FT%...........Def.......3P%.....PPG Opp TOs....F-...18th WITN...I have added this stat for now...It usually not a major variable but in this case it is so low it is having an effect on games. I will drop it when we move above F-. Top 100 In The Nation SLU Assts...Collins... 1st...unch......77th all time D1 list Reb...Okoro...46th...dn Blks...Okoro ...49th...up Off Reb...Okoro...25th ...dn St. B PPG...Banks...82nd Stls...Luc...95th Blks...Venning...75th Injury /Illness report and misc The Bills... Thatch...ACL...out for season Pickett...Illness...Questionable for Sat St. B... none Keys to the game ....Defense...While St. B has a so so defense the one area they shine is on 3P D...The question is will our struggling 3P shooting be able to deal with their shut down arc defense. And if not, will we cut down on some of the 3s and transition to a closer in game. Their below average offense does have a few players that can hit from the arc. So again defense( 3P) for the Bills will be important. St. B does not have much depth...essentially this team has 2 guards (Banks and Luc) and 2 forwards (Venning and Farrell).... Whenever St. B makes starter substitutions... we need to open up or widen a lead. WWN2D2W...Make the slash...45/35/75...Hold their top 4 scorers to 50 pts. which should allow us to keep them under 70 pts....11 TOs...Beat them on the boards by 8. Bottom line....Make some shots (especially 3s)...play some D (especially 3s) and win one for Fred. CenHudDude likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soderball Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 It's amazing to me just how bad the A-10 really is this year. C+. Yikes. Schmidt's group must be awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay Area Billiken Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 cbssports.com has SLU -8, o141. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgstl Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 I’ll wait for team rankings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenbill Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Fix the computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiseOfTheBillikens Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 1 minute ago, billikenbill said: Fix the computer. I mean he's basically right on line with Vegas everytime. BrettJollyComedyHour likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay Area Billiken Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 The algorithms are not wrong. SLU has been underperforming. Line has dropped to SLU -7.5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old guy Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Team Rankings has SLU favorite to win by a 9 pt spread, they are giving us 3 stars of confidence. This makes sense since it is a home game. Team ranking pre game stats are similar to those we have had against our recent opponents. We are superior to St. Bona in 6 out of 8 offensive categories, and in 4 out of 7 defensive categories. This is a game we can and should win. But we all know that we could and should have won a significant number of games that we lost. Also on the bad side Perkins and Jimerson were scoring poorly in the game against UMass, and we lost Thatch for the rest of the season due to injury. Team Rankings also lowered us from 2nd in A10 to 5th in A10 prior to this game. I hope we win but I am not feeling certain about it like I was in prior games. wgstl likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettJollyComedyHour Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 8 hours ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said: I mean he's basically right on line with Vegas everytime. Yep. Not the Computer's fault that we perform below expectations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Elrond Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 5 minutes ago, BrettJollyComedyHour said: Yep. Not the Computer's fault that we perform below expectations. That’s right, the computer isn’t missing shots or playing bad defense. If we play up to our average we win this. The IBM card readers and magnetic tape reels on the computer are humming along just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlarry Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 10 hours ago, Bay Area Billiken said: cbssports.com has SLU -8, o141. Bonnies the points and the over all day. Schasz likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westy03 Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 35 minutes ago, dlarry said: Bonnies the points and the over all day. Yeah I would hit the over. Bills can’t stop anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlarry Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 4 minutes ago, Westy03 said: Yeah I would hit the over. Bills can’t stop anyone. I think the Bills pull it out but I would guess around 80-75. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juniorbill76 Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierPal Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Bona has yet to win a true road game this season. https://www.a10talk.com/bonnies-head-west-to-face-slumping-slu-saturday/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobillsgo Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 1 hour ago, dlarry said: Bonnies the points and the over all day. I don’t bet against SLU, but if I did I’d be hammering this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenHudDude Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 1 hour ago, HoosierPal said: Bona has yet to win a true road game this season. https://www.a10talk.com/bonnies-head-west-to-face-slumping-slu-saturday/ The most interesting quote from Coach Schmidt about the Billikens: “They’re well-coached and have solid players”. It’s obvious that Schmidt doesn’t read Billikens.com. Would somebody please send him a link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierPal Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 (edited) 20 minutes ago, CenHudDude said: The most interesting quote from Coach Schmidt about the Billikens: “They’re well-coached and have solid players”. It’s obvious that Schmidt doesn’t read Billikens.com. Would somebody please send him a link? Here, call Schmidt up and give him the link. 716-375-2207 That's from the Bonnie website. His email isn't listed, but his assistant's are listed if you want to talk to them. https://gobonnies.com/sports/mens-basketball/coaches Edited January 7, 2023 by HoosierPal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BACKHANDtheRICAN Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Why won't the wiz let the board hire a 3rd party firm to audit is program logic? There is something massively off.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenHudDude Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 3 hours ago, HoosierPal said: Here, call Schmidt up and give him the link. 716-375-2207 That's from the Bonnie website. His email isn't listed, but his assistant's are listed if you want to talk to them. https://gobonnies.com/sports/mens-basketball/coaches Thanks for the number HP, but I think I’ll pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wiz Posted January 8, 2023 Author Share Posted January 8, 2023 A lot to like in this game...For those that follow me, you know that the computer always assumes that SLU will play a "normal" Billiken game. But what happens if the Bills actually play a good game...you have today's results. Whatever the cause was...whether it was win one for Fred or the Bills got tired of playing poorly or Ford read my spread thread...the bottom line was... this is what the Bills can and should do every game. Play with a purpose. Play like you are the best team in the A-10 (which they are)...the naysayers will say..."Yeah but...". The "only yeah but" is....St. B just beat UMass by 19 pts. ...2-1 with 15 potential wins to go. Now let's see what happened....Bolded statements from my original post. Don't stop playing offense. With a better defense , you wouldn't need to score as many pts plus you would not be as dependent on the shooting percentages. ...Jackpot...And the Bills lived happily ever after. I have no doubt that there will be some posters who will jump out and say "fix the computer" but it doesn't change the fact that we are the better team (even with all that's happened) and we should win this game. ....Double Jackpot Make the slash...45/35/75...Another winner...49/ 42/ 83 Hold their top 4 scorers to 50 pts....And now a lottery winner...St. B top 4 scorers...50pts...This includes holding Banks , one of the top scorers in the A-10 and 82nd ITN to only 1 pt...he averages over 17/gm...excellent keep them under 70 pts... 55 pts ... and the hits keep on coming Beat them on the boards by 8... Bills by 10...one more time. Bottom line....Make some shots (especially 3s)...play some D (especially 3s) and win one for Fred. ...We did (42%)...we did ( 23%) and we did. No reason why we can't keep it going...Just Do It QUAILMAN likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old guy Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 We have always been capable talent wise to win more games than we have this season. Your model is excellent and is spot on. Then there is Ford... I still want him out at the end of the season. One win does not make him a winner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fraz Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 12 minutes ago, Old guy said: We have always been capable talent wise to win more games than we have this season. Your model is excellent and is spot on. Then there is Ford... I still want him out at the end of the season. One win does not make him a winner. A late season run in this powder puff conference shouldn’t surprise anyone. Just keep getting better. I’m keeping the faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennis_w Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 37 minutes ago, Old guy said: We have always been capable talent wise to win more games than we have this season. Your model is excellent and is spot on. Then there is Ford... I still want him out at the end of the season. One win does not make him a winner. want all you want, ford is not going to be fired Billiken Rich likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old guy Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 23 minutes ago, dennis_w said: want all you want, ford is not going to be fired I agree that he may or may not be fired at the end of this season, it is not up to me. However, keeping Ford as a coach is not up to you either. Both of us are free to express our opinions. You do not to like mine and that is entirely fine with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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