Welcome Mike Meadows II

[RUBillsFan]

2 hours ago, Dr Bird said:

Really good game vs Santa Clara below (18 Feb 2023 game):

 

I wonder how often a team has a player go off for 39 points, but still loses by 19+ points?  Not even looking at his exploits from the FT line, he shot 64% from the field and took 1/3 of the team's shots.  His teammates meanwhile shot just 32% from the field.  That's not a recipe for success especially when you allow the other team to shoot over 56%.

[brianstl]

Yeah, can he defend the paint?

[TheA_Bomb]

1 hour ago, brianstl said:

Yeah, can he defend the paint?

No. But there's good #s on the stat sheet and I didn't expect much this late.

[HoosierPal]

From the Field of 68 Daily

2. Meet me in St. Louis

Many teams have either wrapped up foreign tours or are doing that now. And some are still making moves in the transfer portal. Like Saint Louis. The Billikens hauled in the Portland transfer, who was heading to Cal until the Pac-12 fell apart. The 6-2 guard averaged 11.0 points, 2.7 assists and efficiently shot 45% from the field and 35% from downtown on healthy volume. Saint Louis was looking to upgrade its point guard situation after Yuri Collins left for the pros — leaving Sincere Parker and Cian Medley as the only point guard options until landing Meadows. He shouldn’t have much issue making the switch to the Atlantic 10, as he faced comparable teams while at Eastern Washington and Portland. The Billikens will rely on Meadows to help star scorer Gibson Jimerson get clean looks from the perimeter and become a reliable second-scoring option. The overall roster might not have the same shine as the past few years, but Travis Ford has won at least 20 games in four of the past five seasons and should be in position to do so again.

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

From the Field of 68 Daily

2. Meet me in St. Louis

Saint Louis was looking to upgrade its point guard situation after Yuri Collins left for the pros — leaving Sincere Parker and Cian Medley as the only point guard options until landing Meadows. He shouldn’t have much issue making the switch to the Atlantic 10, as he faced comparable teams while at Eastern Washington and Portland.

so Hoosier, you dont like young hughes to be an important part of the point guard solution for the billikens?   interesting. 

[gobillsgo]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

From the Field of 68 Daily

2. Meet me in St. Louis

Many teams have either wrapped up foreign tours or are doing that now. And some are still making moves in the transfer portal. Like Saint Louis. The Billikens hauled in the Portland transfer, who was heading to Cal until the Pac-12 fell apart. The 6-2 guard averaged 11.0 points, 2.7 assists and efficiently shot 45% from the field and 35% from downtown on healthy volume. Saint Louis was looking to upgrade its point guard situation after Yuri Collins left for the pros — leaving Sincere Parker and Cian Medley as the only point guard options until landing Meadows. He shouldn’t have much issue making the switch to the Atlantic 10, as he faced comparable teams while at Eastern Washington and Portland. The Billikens will rely on Meadows to help star scorer Gibson Jimerson get clean looks from the perimeter and become a reliable second-scoring option. The overall roster might not have the same shine as the past few years, but Travis Ford has won at least 20 games in four of the past five seasons and should be in position to do so again.

How the A10 has fallen… “comparable” to Eastern Washington and Portland. 

[wgstl]

2 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

From the Field of 68 Daily

2. Meet me in St. Louis

Many teams have either wrapped up foreign tours or are doing that now. And some are still making moves in the transfer portal. Like Saint Louis. The Billikens hauled in the Portland transfer, who was heading to Cal until the Pac-12 fell apart. The 6-2 guard averaged 11.0 points, 2.7 assists and efficiently shot 45% from the field and 35% from downtown on healthy volume. Saint Louis was looking to upgrade its point guard situation after Yuri Collins left for the pros — leaving Sincere Parker and Cian Medley as the only point guard options until landing Meadows. He shouldn’t have much issue making the switch to the Atlantic 10, as he faced comparable teams while at Eastern Washington and Portland. The Billikens will rely on Meadows to help star scorer Gibson Jimerson get clean looks from the perimeter and become a reliable second-scoring option. The overall roster might not have the same shine as the past few years, but Travis Ford has won at least 20 games in four of the past five seasons and should be in position to do so again.

20 wins!!!

[Billiken Rich]

5 minutes ago, wgstl said:

20 wins!!!

Really need to get that bad post button back.....

[Brighton]

Just now, Billiken Rich said:

Really need to get that bad post button back.....

Someone's triggered...

[RUBillsFan]

52 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

so Hoosier, you dont like young hughes to be an important part of the point guard solution for the billikens?   interesting. 

Those aren't Hoosier's words.  He copied/pasted from https://www.thefieldof68.com/ daily newsletter.  I think it does go to show that you should take what they're saying with a grain of salt since they mention Parker as a PG option over Hughes.

As @gobillsgo mentioned they're also comparing EWU & Portland to the A-10 which is a little suspect.  I think they're actually saying the opponents those teams faced in the Big Sky (EWU) and Portland (WCC) are similar to A10 opponents.  I'd agree on the WCC.  WCC (Gonzaga, St Marys, San Francisco, Santa Clara, & for last season anyways BYU) is actually probably better than the A10 right now.  Big Sky isn't terrible.  It's one of the better low major / nearly always one bid conferences out there.  It regularly has teams who would be upper half in the A10, but A10 is indisputably better top to bottom.

[wgstl]

1 hour ago, Billiken Rich said:

Really need to get that bad post button back.....

Because the article said 20 wins? Weird. 

[HoosierPal]

4 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

so Hoosier, you dont like young hughes to be an important part of the point guard solution for the billikens?   interesting. 

I didn't write the article. It came from Field of 68 Daily.   So I don’t understand why your comment is directed at me.  

[billiken_roy]

not a good excuse Hoosier but i had no idea what field of 68 daily is/was and skipped right over that and read the post thinking you wrote it.   i apologize completely and now that i know what "field of 68 daily" actually is,i will avoid it as they obviously know little about the billikens yet seem to be passing themselves off as some sort of expert.

again i apologize for my sloppy/ lazy mistake. 

[Billiken Rich]

7 hours ago, wgstl said:

Because the article said 20 wins? Weird. 

We both knew what you were doing...........

[wgstl]

2 hours ago, Billiken Rich said:

We both knew what you were doing...........

I’m highlighting that the 20 mark is stupid in basketball in this day of age. Was that wrong?  You’re a good poster, you should know that 20 means nothing now, maybe 15 years ago. So is a bad post worthy? I’ve only gotten one bad post ever, by a troll who was banned. Don’t be on his level. 

[Billiken Rich]

26 minutes ago, wgstl said:

I’m highlighting that the 20 mark is stupid in basketball in this day of age. Was that wrong?  You’re a good poster, you should know that 20 means nothing now, maybe 15 years ago. So is a bad post worthy? I’ve only gotten one bad post ever, by a troll who was banned. Don’t be on his level. 

20 wins has become a bad joke by the sodomize Ford crew as you well know.  Pretending something otherwise is a lie.  We are men of action.  Lies do not become us.........

[cgeldmacher]

On 8/10/2023 at 9:54 AM, billiken_roy said:

so Hoosier, you dont like young hughes to be an important part of the point guard solution for the billikens?   interesting. 

I have always looked at LHJr at a better option as a shooting guard than as a point guard.  The special talent he had in high school that got him looks was his flashes of showing elite shooting ability.  Our best case scenario is that he steps in, after this season, as Jimerson's replacement as our top outside shooter.  To me, if he's having to worry about running the point, he won't be developing like he should at this best qualities.

[Taj79]

I think LHJ is an emergency option at PG.  Go with a combo of Medley and Meadows and use LHJ and Thames if needed.  Freshmen PGs in the A10 are a dime a dozen .... Collins, Baldwin, Smith, Fernandes, Greer, Richardson, Rozier.  Some better than others but all with learning curves along the way.  

[wgstl]

He's a CG period, imo.  He can play Point and he can slide to SG.  We haven't had many CG who play a lot of minutes in a long time. Hes the type that if we played a team who presses a lot, I would be ok if he played the most minutes on the team that game. 

 

One step further, Larry may be better than MM(meadows) by the end of next season.  They are similar players too.  I don't think MM is a PG, he is also a CG

We would see a rotation where 3 players can all handle the ball. 

 

MM has some interesting numbers, here are some to compare. 

strengths

Shot 48% from "long 2" last year,  Our best player shot 42%.  That's a knockdown jump shooter. 

Also only turns the ball over 1.6 per 40, that would be 4th best on our team this year.

Those are really his only strengths that he will bring that we lacked or didnt have last year. 

Where he needs to improve

 MM does struggle finishing around the rim, right there with Yuri and JP at 53% which is last on the team.

at .6 stls that would rank 3rd but that's because the whole team is pathetic there. 

at .2 Off rbs he would rank towards dead last. 

 

[HoosierPal]

Bringing the ball up court under no pressure can be done by anyone. Heck,French occasionally dribbled the ball across the center line. Yes, against a press a quick thinker, an adept ball handler and passer is needed. How much full court intense pressure did we see last season?  Maybe 10% of possessions. Token pressure is more common and we saw that more often than a ‘Havoc’ type press. 

The PG is the one who sets the offense and initiates the play. If the play breaks down, he needs to recognize time and positioning of players. It is an advantage if the PG can create a shot for himself as needed. 
I think we have several players who can handle that role. 

[HoosierPal]

Looks like Meadows was wired here (through Harriman?).  No big deal.  When did the staff shift the priority to a combo guard from a big?

 

[johnbj14]

Don’t think this was Harriman who was lead on Meadows. SLU was in contact with him before Chris came on staff. Travis coached Mike Meadows Sr. in high school, so guessing that had a lot to do with it. 

[Pistol]

32 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Looks like Meadows was wired here (through Harriman?).  No big deal.  When did the staff shift the priority to a combo guard from a big?

 

Could've gone either direction and for the same reason: We had players at both positions but minimal experience. If Ezewiro is eligible, we're less worried about 3 freshman bigs. If he's not, let's hope at least one of them is well ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, Medley and Hughes as primary ball handlers leaves us very inexperienced at PG. Meadows mitigates those concerns.

Maybe they know something about Ezewiro (I'm skeptical) or maybe after summer practices they decided the G position had less depth or was less game-ready than the PF/C position.

SLU was recruiting Meadows at least a few weeks before Harriman was hired.

March 6 - Meadows announces he has entered the portal. SLU initially reaches out after this date.
March 29 - Meadows commits to Loyola Marymount.
April 18 - Meadows decommits from Loyola Marymount.
April 27 - Harriman announced as SLU assistant coach.
May 1 - Meadows commits to Cal (which by this time has Mark Madsen's staff in place).
June 30, July 27, August 4 - Pac 12 falls apart.
August 6 - Meadows announces he's leaving Cal.
August 9 - Meadows commits to Saint Louis.

[Cowboy II]

34 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Could've gone either direction and for the same reason: We had players at both positions but minimal experience. If Ezewiro is eligible, we're less worried about 3 freshman bigs. If he's not, let's hope at least one of them is well ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, Medley and Hughes as primary ball handlers leaves us very inexperienced at PG. Meadows mitigates those concerns.

Maybe they know something about Ezewiro (I'm skeptical) or maybe after summer practices they decided the G position had less depth or was less game-ready than the PF/C position.

SLU was recruiting Meadows at least a few weeks before Harriman was hired.

March 6 - Meadows announces he has entered the portal. SLU initially reaches out after this date.
March 29 - Meadows commits to Loyola Marymount.
April 18 - Meadows decommits from Loyola Marymount.
April 27 - Harriman announced as SLU assistant coach.
May 1 - Meadows commits to Cal (which by this time has Mark Madsen's staff in place).
June 30, July 27, August 4 - Pac 12 falls apart.
August 6 - Meadows announces he's leaving Cal.
August 9 - Meadows commits to Saint Louis.

-I settled on interesting to describe that timeline

[The Wiz]

Just catching up for the summer. Not much has happened since I last checked in.  However, Meadows was an interesting pickup.

Here is my take....

His most recent season.....

45.7 /35.9 / 77.8

B+ / B+ / A

Not bad...I see him as a  difference maker...

BUT ...the computer differs with me a bit....the computer sees Meadows as a potential difference maker.  The computer's reasoning is... it isn't a full sample size.

Here is the sample size percentage...80/ 92 / 98...where 100% = a full sample size.

So being the human here, I have the right to tweak the numbers...If Meadows makes 1 more FT out of 63 and 2 more 3s out of 64....the sample size changes to 82/100/100 pretty close to full and definitely meaningful sample.....the slash line grade changes to  A / A+ / A+...add in a respectable 2-1 Ast/TO ratio and a few rebounds and he is a difference maker.

So  who is correct?.. the computer or The Wiz....Well since the computer is artificial intelligence (emphasis on artificial) and will never "see the kids play" I will go with myself.

Will Meadows be a difference maker?...Check back on Xmas eve and if he is listed as a reindeer (top 6 in mpg)  on the the Xmas poem... then he will be a difference maker.