Ford- Less with More (and the last great four year Billikens)

[laker119]

5 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

Fair point but why does it seem like we are an Angels fan base with this take?  2 great players but never any titles.

I can see the comparison, and as far as team success I can’t argue it.  I was just saying that calling Yuri’s time here forgettable is being facetious

[brianstl]

it isn’t fair to Yuri, but as it stands right now everything he has done is connected to seasons that were disappointing.  It isn’t Yuri’s fault, but people will connect him to that disappointment.  It is just the way it is when you are the face of the program when it comes to how fans view the players.

[brianstl]

Guys like Yuri get too much blame when stuff goes bad and if we were in the top 20 he would be getting all the praise.

[HoosierPal]

It wasn’t that long ago that we were a great defensive team. No one hit 40% from the arc on us. Goodwin, Bess, Roby…those guys could defend the arc. And they played for Ford. What happened?  

[cheeseman]

1 hour ago, laker119 said:

I can see the comparison, and as far as team success I can’t argue it.  I was just saying that calling Yuri’s time here forgettable is being facetious

Yep - just like Trout and Oshani (sp) 

[slu72]

4 hours ago, Soderball said:

Good. Hire the sleazeball. Win games.

College basketball is sleazy now. N I L & transfer portal. Whatever. Let's win.

You beat me to it. 

[TheA_Bomb]

Yuri wasn't perfect last night but no one is. Blame the coach for not being able to coach defense and not having the veteran team able to play smart down the stretch. 

[BC1764]

3 hours ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said:

Criminal. The one has said repeatedly he was injured.

Not sure why everyones been dumping on Yuri recently. Not a great look when some in the fanbase can't support the biggest local product for the team. Especially when hes leading the entire country in assists lol. It honestly be comical if it wasn't so sad. Hopefully as time passes people can take a step back and see it from a more logical perspective.

What have the numbers done for SLU as a TEAM ?

[BANGheGOTit]

16 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

where did i say i dont want to do better?   i have been ford's biggest detractor concerning his game time coaching and player development.   long before this board got riled up about him.  

i just do not want to start over and i have absolutely no confidence that Saint Louis University will hire the likes of spoon or rickma to take over the team.   this means a start over and typically that is a five year minimum step back that typically means nothing or a rise to a level we are at now.   

i have written it here a trillion times.   guarantee me we get the likes of beard, or we convince the likes of jay wright to take over the team (just examples of sure thing coaches, not necessarily endorsing such) i'm all in.  but if we are going to hire the next great asst to head coach (typically a fail) or some mediocre mid major or low major lateral move, i'd just as soon keep ford.   at least he brings the players that make us competitive.   

the bigger question is why it is allowed to continue?   why hasnt slu made him change his ways.   we see glimpses of change, and then after a couple of great games, it is right back to the same old thing.   why does ford allow certain players to play the way they do which is detrimental to the bottom line?   i see no effort from slu to make ford make changes.  

You get one life on earth—live it!  Don’t stay inside being frustrated, or wanting more—but being afraid to make a change…unless you’re happily content with your situation as it is.  No there are no guarantees in a new coach, but this is a completely different job now.  There is money, facilities, portal, and NIL.  You say it’s a 5 year rebuild??? Crews won 28 and 27 games before the back to back 11-21 seasons.  He obviously could coach but couldn’t recruit.  He won with RM’s players but had 2 great years.  Travis followed those 2 crap seasons with 12 wins, and 17 wins.  Season 3 he won 23 games.  WHERE IS THE 5 YEAR NEW COACH REBUILD? There were 3 straight losing seasons under 2 coaches (but Ford as a new coach only had 2), one barely above .500 and then it was 23 wins—this was done without the portal and NIL.  So sick of hearing about being scared of a rebuild—THIS was supposed to be THE year—if Ford can’t even give you his 23 win seasons that only get you a NIT bid now WHEN WILL HE?  The only thing that makes me slightly on your side is if he keeps the PG and 7’ recruits, jimmerson stays, and he somehow changes his philosophy.  Maybe when he doesn’t have Yuri to cloud his game management skills he can actually do better.  So ready for the Yuri era to be done.  

[BANGheGOTit]

2 hours ago, brianstl said:

Guys like Yuri get too much blame when stuff goes bad and if we were in the top 20 he would be getting all the praise.

He’s part of the reason we aren’t in the top 20.  He’s a great assist man, he makes way too many ill-advised shots and drives, espionage in late game situations.  He’s not top 10 ITN overall. I’d be curious how many top 20 teams would rather have him than who they have.  He’s not the sole reason we aren’t ranked—much of that is on Ford, but the combination of Ford and Yuri together is just not getting it done.

[Soderball]

3 hours ago, brianstl said:

Guys like Yuri get too much blame when stuff goes bad and if we were in the top 20 he would be getting all the praise.

Yuri is a great collegiate level PG. None of the losses this year are his fault. Not a single one.

What I am saying is not that he is not a great player, but that being good at basketball is forgettable. What's unforgettable are TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES.

That the coaches had no clue he was injured and then he suddenly appears on game day and announces he can't play, no forewarning to fans who bought tix, and then he less than a week later takes us on his goofy transfer portal trip... No thanks man. Not buying it.

Im very ready to move on, see new faces, and put the past few years behind us.

[BANGheGOTit]

1 hour ago, BC1764 said:

What have the numbers done for SLU as a TEAM ?

Blasphemy!  You’re taking about the greatest PG ITN.  The good Dr should remove his name and call it Yuri Arena.  While you’re at it take down all banners and replace them with images of Yuri.  He sets records,  The team record means nothing!  Looks like his numbers are on pace to get SLU to a CBI game maybe.

[Soderball]

On 2/22/2023 at 4:24 AM, billiken_roy said:

where did i say i dont want to do better?   i have been ford's biggest detractor concerning his game time coaching and player development.   long before this board got riled up about him.  

i just do not want to start over and i have absolutely no confidence that Saint Louis University will hire the likes of spoon or rickma to take over the team.   this means a start over and typically that is a five year minimum step back that typically means nothing or a rise to a level we are at now.   

i have written it here a trillion times.   guarantee me we get the likes of beard, or we convince the likes of jay wright to take over the team (just examples of sure thing coaches, not necessarily endorsing such) i'm all in.  but if we are going to hire the next great asst to head coach (typically a fail) or some mediocre mid major or low major lateral move, i'd just as soon keep ford.   at least he brings the players that make us competitive.   

the bigger question is why it is allowed to continue?   why hasnt slu made him change his ways.   we see glimpses of change, and then after a couple of great games, it is right back to the same old thing.   why does ford allow certain players to play the way they do which is detrimental to the bottom line?   i see no effort from slu to make ford make changes.  

Roy, the guy is paid $2,400,000 dollars every year from SLU. He is the head coach.

He is not told to change, he tells others to change. He's the highest paid person on campus. He is in charge. He decides. He rules.

You don't tell a head coach to "change" .. they rule until they are removed or leave.

He isn't listening to some administrator that makes a fraction of what he does. Head coaches will never do that. Not a single one.

[wgstl]

11 hours ago, BANGheGOTit said:

He’s part of the reason we aren’t in the top 20.  

Yes he is part or the problem. So is Ford, Gibby, Perkins, picket, The bigs and every one else down to the Student assistants. 

[billiken_roy]

10 minutes ago, Soderball said:

Roy, the guy is paid $2,400,000 dollars every year from SLU. He is the head coach.

He is not told to change, he tells others to change. He's the highest paid person on campus. He is in charge. He decides. He rules.

You don't tell a head coach to "change" .. they rule until they are removed or leave.

He isn't listening to some administrator that makes a fraction of what he does. Head coaches will never do that. Not a single one.

i assume you have never managed a staff in any organization.   everyone but the chairman of the board has a boss and has to take orders from someone.  ford has may, pesty and the BoT chairman he answers to.  plus i would assume Doc C would have his attention as well as i suspect he is contributing to that $2.4 mill and is under no obligation to continue such.   

[JMM28]

Chris May has done a pretty solid job with hires across sports that kinda matter. He has righted the soccer ship on both sides of the gender aisle. Lisa Stone was a good hire on the women's side and Tillett has started off with a season Travis Ford could only dream of. 

[Aquinas]

13 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

It wasn’t that long ago that we were a great defensive team. No one hit 40% from the arc on us. Goodwin, Bess, Roby…those guys could defend the arc. And they played for Ford. What happened?  

Different players. You would think that a team filled with athletic wings, would be good at guarding the 3 point line. But we have problems. Some of our players still get lost on the floor.  We some times double the ball when it goes inside, leaving a player on the perimeter. We often double because our bigs are in foul trouble or they can't stop their big guy one on one. The team that is able to make an additional pass to an average, to good 3 point shooter kills us. I have never seen a team give up so many wide open 3s.

Its the same story with forcing turnovers. A team filled with athletic wings should generate a lot of turnovers. We don't. Far too often our guys don't seem interested are motivated to play high energy, focused defense. We get a big lead and they relax, throw a soft pass, pick up a stupid foul, not get back on defense or lose track of their man. Its frustrating to watch. 

[wgstl]

3 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

i assume you have never managed a staff in any organization.   everyone but the chairman of the board has a boss and has to take orders from someone.  ford has may, pesty and the BoT chairman he answers to.  plus i would assume Doc C would have his attention as well as i suspect he is contributing to that $2.4 mill and is under no obligation to continue such.   

I'd like to see Pestys basketball knowledge. 

Most bosses who had bosses have a general idea on how the person should be performing that said field.  I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess Pestello doesn't have a great understanding of basketball Xs and Os.   Same with everyone else. 

[wgstl]

1 minute ago, Aquinas said:

Different players. You would think that a team filled with athletic wings, would be good at guarding the 3 point line.

Perkins and Gibby have below average athleticism.  The most athletic wings we have see less minutes than Perk and Gibby. 

[gobillsgo]

When it comes to Yuri, the main point I have is look how we play when he’s not on the court for extended periods…. Bad. The team generally goes as Yuri goes.  He’s not perfect, but he’s the best pure PG we’ve had since I’ve followed the team (early 2000s).  I think the majority of fans recognize this, and there’s a vocal minority that does not. But I think just about everyone will miss Yuri when he’s gone next year. 

[ACE]

1 minute ago, wgstl said:

Perkins and Gibby have below average athleticism.  The most athletic wings we have see less minutes than Perk and Gibby. 

Pickett is an average athlete as well. I have talked about the lack of a combo guard as really hurting us - not only the lack of a second reliable ballhandler/distributor, but also the need for perimeter defense. We never adequately replaced Jacobs. 

[wgstl]

1 minute ago, gobillsgo said:

When it comes to Yuri, the main point I have is look how we play when he’s not on the court for extended periods…. Bad. The team generally goes as Yuri goes.  He’s not perfect, but he’s the best pure PG we’ve had since I’ve followed the team (early 2000s).  I think the majority of fans recognize this, and there’s a vocal minority that does not. But I think just about everyone will miss Yuri when he’s gone next year. 

Yuri gets a lot of heat from fans simply because he's a national name. 

[JettFlight5]

5 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Yuri gets a lot of heat from fans simply because he's a national name. 

Being a national name on a bad team is probably pretty tough. 

[wgstl]

3 minutes ago, JettFlight5 said:

Being a national name on a bad team is probably pretty tough. 

He probably feels he has to take over just to prove its not the bad team.. idk. Yuri has defiantly had games to receive some blame, I just don't think it was in the Richmond game.

[wgstl]

33 minutes ago, ACE said:

Pickett is an average athlete as well. I have talked about the lack of a combo guard as really hurting us - not only the lack of a second reliable ballhandler/distributor, but also the need for perimeter defense. We never adequately replaced Jacobs. 

idk why I always forget about Pickett.