Combo Guard

[ACE]

One thing I pointed out prior to the season that I was concerned about was the fact that we failed to add a combo guard in the offseason. Unfortunately that concern has turned out to be warranted. Sometimes I hear the arguments about "positionless basketball". Put me in the camp that I think some of that is BS. I get it that versatility is very important, but there are still some clear roles that need to be filled. We have a bunch of what I would consider 3s (small forwards) on the roster - Perk, Pickett, Parker, Hargrove, Thatch, but none of them are 1/2 type players. 

This team really could've used a player like Demarius Jacobs. I'm not blaming Ford for Jacobs leaving a few years ago, players are leaving all over college basketball for more playing time, no problem. But get an equivalent player. He got DeAndre Jones to replace Jacobs prior to last year and that made sense,. He did a decent job and I was hopeful we would land a combo guard that was even a bit better than Jones, BUT the problem is we didn't get ANYBODY at the 1/2 position to pick up 15-18 mpg.

I find some of the frustration directed at YC and GJ a bit ridiculous.  I would say that they have been asked to do too much as a result of not having a combo guard. Folks like 3-Star said we were fine heading into the year and that it would be hard to get a guard with YC and GJ on the roster, again I say that's nonsense. A decent versatile combo guard would help this team in so many ways and that type of player shouldn't be that hard to find for a team that had Tourney aspirations.

- Yuri is our best perimeter defender and one of the few players who can create steals, but due to the lack of a back-up PG, he has often had to play more tentatively defensively for fear of foul trouble. He would have been turned loose more defensively, with a decent back-up.

-A secondary ball handler would have been important. Other than Yuri is there anyone else on the roster you would trust to break the press against VCU for example? Jimmer offers no help in this area, plus he is totally reliant on Yuri. He can't create his own shot.

- A secondary facilitator. Yuri is the only one on the roster who can create for others.

- And the combo guard who could help give a different look and cover some of Gibby's deficiencies - a player to provide ballhandling, perimeter defense and who is capable of creating off the dribble would've provided a lot of value to this team, and give us a different look in the backcourt that we currently do not have.

 

 

[willie]

1 hour ago, ACE said:

One thing I pointed out prior to the season that I was concerned about was the fact that we failed to add a combo guard in the offseason. Unfortunately that concern has turned out to be warranted. Sometimes I hear the arguments about "positionless basketball". Put me in the camp that I think some of that is BS. I get it that versatility is very important, but there are still some clear roles that need to be filled. We have a bunch of what I would consider 3s (small forwards) on the roster - Perk, Pickett, Parker, Hargrove, Thatch, but none of them are 1/2 type players. 

This team really could've used a player like Demarius Jacobs. I'm not blaming Ford for Jacobs leaving a few years ago, players are leaving all over college basketball for more playing time, no problem. But get an equivalent player. He got DeAndre Jones to replace Jacobs prior to last year and that made sense,. He did a decent job and I was hopeful we would land a combo guard that was even a bit better than Jones, BUT the problem is we didn't get ANYBODY at the 1/2 position to pick up 15-18 mpg.

I find some of the frustration directed at YC and GJ a bit ridiculous.  I would say that they have been asked to do too much as a result of not having a combo guard. Folks like 3-Star said we were fine heading into the year and that it would be hard to get a guard with YC and GJ on the roster, again I say that's nonsense. A decent versatile combo guard would help this team in so many ways and that type of player shouldn't be that hard to find for a team that had Tourney aspirations.

- Yuri is our best perimeter defender and one of the few players who can create steals, but due to the lack of a back-up PG, he has often had to play more tentatively defensively for fear of foul trouble. He would have been turned loose more defensively, with a decent back-up.

-A secondary ball handler would have been important. Other than Yuri is there anyone else on the roster you would trust to break the press against VCU for example? Jimmer offers no help in this area, plus he is totally reliant on Yuri. He can't create his own shot.

- A secondary facilitator. Yuri is the only one on the roster who can create for others.

- And the combo guard who could help give a different look and cover some of Gibby's deficiencies - a player to provide ballhandling, perimeter defense and who is capable of creating off the dribble would've provided a lot of value to this team, and give us a different look in the backcourt that we currently do not have.

 

 

You make a lot of good points and I agree with most of them but if I could add one player it would have to be a big 4 man. Our worst losses have been to teams with big 4’s . Our rim protection is weak. Guess we should have added 2 players. 

[wgstl]

1 hour ago, willie said:

You make a lot of good points and I agree with most of them but if I could add one player it would have to be a big 4 man. Our worst losses have been to teams with big 4’s . Our rim protection is weak. Guess we should have added 2 players. 

What’s crazy is the most ridiculous loss - Iona- was without their best player, who plays the 4. Could have been way worse 

[Aquinas]

2 hours ago, willie said:

You make a lot of good points and I agree with most of them but if I could add one player it would have to be a big 4 man. Our worst losses have been to teams with big 4’s . Our rim protection is weak. Guess we should have added 2 players. 

The short comings of not adding a 2nd ball handler and a 4 has really hurt us. I was hoping maybe Picket would cover the lack of a 4, but not when  facing a real 4. A 6'7" rebounder with attitude  would have helped a lot. 

I have no idea how hard it is to land the players we want or need.  Have to believe that Coach Ford was looking for both of those needs.

[TheA_Bomb]

You can live with only 1 big on defense if you play zone d and have good help defense.  We don't do that well.   TJH is athletic enough to guard a bigger player 4 if we go smaller line up and stay in M2M.

 

I have just never seen a "system" cohesive offensive or defensive philosophy employed effectively/consistently.

[BANGheGOTit]

5 hours ago, ACE said:

One thing I pointed out prior to the season that I was concerned about was the fact that we failed to add a combo guard in the offseason. Unfortunately that concern has turned out to be warranted. Sometimes I hear the arguments about "positionless basketball". Put me in the camp that I think some of that is BS. I get it that versatility is very important, but there are still some clear roles that need to be filled. We have a bunch of what I would consider 3s (small forwards) on the roster - Perk, Pickett, Parker, Hargrove, Thatch, but none of them are 1/2 type players. 

This team really could've used a player like Demarius Jacobs. I'm not blaming Ford for Jacobs leaving a few years ago, players are leaving all over college basketball for more playing time, no problem. But get an equivalent player. He got DeAndre Jones to replace Jacobs prior to last year and that made sense,. He did a decent job and I was hopeful we would land a combo guard that was even a bit better than Jones, BUT the problem is we didn't get ANYBODY at the 1/2 position to pick up 15-18 mpg.

I find some of the frustration directed at YC and GJ a bit ridiculous.  I would say that they have been asked to do too much as a result of not having a combo guard. Folks like 3-Star said we were fine heading into the year and that it would be hard to get a guard with YC and GJ on the roster, again I say that's nonsense. A decent versatile combo guard would help this team in so many ways and that type of player shouldn't be that hard to find for a team that had Tourney aspirations.

- Yuri is our best perimeter defender and one of the few players who can create steals, but due to the lack of a back-up PG, he has often had to play more tentatively defensively for fear of foul trouble. He would have been turned loose more defensively, with a decent back-up.

-A secondary ball handler would have been important. Other than Yuri is there anyone else on the roster you would trust to break the press against VCU for example? Jimmer offers no help in this area, plus he is totally reliant on Yuri. He can't create his own shot.

- A secondary facilitator. Yuri is the only one on the roster who can create for others.

- And the combo guard who could help give a different look and cover some of Gibby's deficiencies - a player to provide ballhandling, perimeter defense and who is capable of creating off the dribble would've provided a lot of value to this team, and give us a different look in the backcourt that we currently do not have.

 

 

It would be interesting to know what the total assist stats are on the Yuri-led teams Vs some of the other teams in Billiken history or even comparable current teams.  Comparing stats to a few A10 or Mid-Major teams, trying to find teams with similar offensive production—seems like SLU bigs have fewer assists, but so do the guards.  I’m seeing teams with lots of 2-4 assist guys or better.  Having one guy avg 10 doesn’t seem to be having any effect on scoring compared to other teams.  Is the rest of our roster just bad at finding the open man, are they relying too much on Yuri? Is Yuri taking chances from others because they rely on him too much?  Is it the offense we run or a combination of all?  You’d think having one guy dominate in assists, setting records, would lend itself to a good offense, but I’m not seeing the end result being much (if any) better, and sometimes worse than comparable teams.  

[Coach314]

I think they have chosen to play small vs playing positionless ball.  To me positionless ball would be having two 6'6-6'7 forwards who have guard skills and can create for themselves and others along with a Center who can shoot with handles.  A combo guard and a PF would have greatly helped this team this year.

[Slowry]

You said you thought Yuri was asked to do to much.  I can see that.  But when Yuri has his off games I think it’s because he tries to do to much.  I can’t  think that Ford wants him to play hero ball.  I think the criticism towards him is because we see how good he is.  So when he goes off his rocker and makes dumb decisions it’s frustrating because we know he’s better than that.  He’s shown he’s better than that.  We just need him to be more consistent with his decision making.

[billiken_roy]

4 hours ago, Slowry said:

You said you thought Yuri was asked to do to much.  I can see that.  But when Yuri has his off games I think it’s because he tries to do to much.  I can’t  think that Ford wants him to play hero ball.  I think the criticism towards him is because we see how good he is.  So when he goes off his rocker and makes dumb decisions it’s frustrating because we know he’s better than that.  He’s shown he’s better than that.  We just need him to be more consistent with his decision making.

sure ford wants him play that way.   if not why does ford leave him in the game?   

[TheA_Bomb]

5 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

sure ford wants him play that way.   if not why does ford leave him in the game?   

See criticisms of Ford teams with Smart. They (OSU fans) had the same complaints. Similar results. 

[Billiken Rich]

5 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

sure ford wants him play that way.   if not why does ford leave him in the game?   

That is a good question.  Of all the players deserving the hook once in a while it's Yuri.  The problem is that everyone from Ford to Yuri to the snack vendors behind section 110 know that our offense sucks without Yuri on the floor.  The time for making the hook statement with Yuri was years ago but it should've been done at some point.....

[wgstl]

Yuri is the only one who has taken over to win a game late. That's why ford wants him to keep doing it.  Before someone says well no one gets the chance, there have been plenty of close games where a player could have, but didn't.  

[Cowboy II]

-could we have the combo guard on the roster? Larry

 

[wgstl]

6 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-could we have the combo guard on the roster? Larry

 

Future CG, yes.  Not ready to be the CG we needed this year to be. 

[Taj79]

Our problem is no secondary point guard.  Perkins can be a 2 and so can Parker.  Hughes is too raw and was not a PG in high school.  Thames was but doesn’t play.  That and a missing 4 are all on Ford IMHO.  He’s the chef and bringing the ingredients in.

[wgstl]

Just now, Taj79 said:

Our problem is no secondary point guard.  Perkins can be a 2 and so can Parker.  Hughes is too raw and was not a PG in high school.  Thames was but doesn’t play.  That and a missing 4 are all on Ford IMHO.  He’s the chef and bringing the ingredients in.

I was yelled at for this preseason. 

[laker119]

6 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Our problem is no secondary point guard.  Perkins can be a 2 and so can Parker.  Hughes is too raw and was not a PG in high school.  Thames was but doesn’t play.  That and a missing 4 are all on Ford IMHO.  He’s the chef and bringing the ingredients in.

I was screaming for Thames against RI.  At this point, why not see what he can do?

[Taj79]

Because Ford is who he is and that ship has sailed.  I remember him saying both Hughes and Thames will play.  Liar?  Coachspeak?  Same old Travis.

[wgstl]

14 minutes ago, laker119 said:

I was screaming for Thames against RI.  At this point, why not see what he can do?

Isn't he injured?  I thought he's been injured for like the last month. 

[wgstl]

5 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Because Ford is who he is and that ship has sailed.  I remember him saying both Hughes and Thames will play.  Liar?  Coachspeak?  Same old Travis.

Lets be honest, the fact LHJ has played as much as he has is already a little surprising. 

[NoCoBillsFan]

11 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Isn't he injured?  I thought he's been injured for like the last month. 

Yeah he got hit by a car. But then again he didn’t really play much before that either

[SLUMS81]

Thames was doing monster jams during pregame warmups.  Doesn’t look like someone on the pup list.

11 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Isn't he injured?  I thought he's been injured for like the last month. 

 

11 minutes ago, wgstl said:

 

[slu72]

Could this kid Vice be our PF next year? 

[ACE]

27 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Lets be honest, the fact LHJ has played as much as he has is already a little surprising. 

The fact that he has played at all supports my point. He has had to because of the absence of any other options. And btw, this is not at all a knock on LHJ. He has shown some nice flashes and I think can develop into a decent contributor, but on a team that had Tourney aspirations, there was a clear need that wasn't addressed.

[Billiken Rich]

So we had Yuri, Pickett, Perkins, Thatch, Kramer, Thames, Parker, Hughes, and Gimerson and you wanted another guard?  Obviously, Kramer and Thatch aren't available and Perkins is a shadow of his former self and we know that now.  What kind of combo guard do you think we could've gotten with this kind of playing time available?  Not a great one.  To those who wonder why we don't a have another forward, Daniel Rivera, the forgotten Billiken was supposed to be here too.  I'm not saying we couldn't use a solid 4 and combo guard but lets be a little bit fair here.....