GDT - Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers

[SluSignGuy]

Anyone know where to find an attendance figure?  They may not post them for exhibition (they did not last year, but it is posted in Box Scores for the regular season).

50/50 raffle was only $183.

[Tonka]

41 minutes ago, SluSignGuy said:

Anyone know where to find an attendance figure?  They may not post them for exhibition (they did not last year, but it is posted in Box Scores for the regular season).

50/50 raffle was only $183.

[thetorch]

Billikens Basketball is back.  It's a beautiful thing.  

Attendance was the lowest I can remember for an exhibition at Chaifetz.  Was there 1k?   We usually get a solid 2-3k.

My father can't climb the steps so we changed our seats to 114 handicapped.  Gentleman sitting next to me was 80+ with a Billikens prosthetic.  Now that is a fan.

Sincere continues to impress.  Got to the basket at will.  Finishes strong.  Wasn't shooting outside much.  His 1 on 1 defense is not good, he gets lost in switches but he is aggressive.  We need to play more zone with him out there.  Best player on the floor.  He had some sloppy TOs.

Jimerson continues his shooting woes, but he didn't get many good shots either.  Had some drives and did a chunk of his scoring late.  Forced to guard much bigger players early on, gassed him a bit.  He was on guards in the 2nd half and played better.

Meadows had a couple drives, not great on D, was a little loose with the ball.  Not terrible, not great either.

Hughes II was nice.  He's a sniper.  His shot is so smooth.  Offensively doesn't do much else.  Love his defense, guarded every player on the floor.  Stood his ground with their big man after Ford took Dalger and Hargrove off him.  As the NBA guys say he is a nice 3 & D man.

Hargrove obviously outmatched inside but he's trying.  Ran the floor well and kept the pace up.  Hit a couple 3s, couple dunks, a nice cut.  Gotta rebound better but that is a big challenge for a 6'4 center.  His defense wasn't terrible, he missed a couple assignments in transition but giving up 3-6 inches what can you do?

Dalger didn't have his best game.  Took some ill advised shots with men open, really struggled defensively, outside and in.  Airballed a 3.  Led the team in boards.  His defense is going to keep him off the floor.  Thought he would be better with the ball.

Thames is a mix of Hargrove and LH2.  Versatile defensively, not quite as good as Larry and foul prone.  Runs the floor, gets open on cuts and can make some athletic plays, but not making many basketball plays on offense yet.  Loved his putback dunk.  Put in time on their big inside on defense.  Rebounded OK considering.  Wish he could shoot or do much of anything on offense besides dunk.

Cian has work to do defensively but he's a floor general.  Several nice passes, and he knows how to run a 2 man game.  He will be needed because without that or Parker's 1on1 play we are going to struggle in the halfcourt.

Curcic played the least, only took 1 shot.  For a 5th or 6th guard he's good.  His defensive positioning is sound and he hawks the ball.  I feel like he may have a big game or two this season.

Lamont Evans was the only other guy who got in.

Felt we pushed the pace enough.  I'd like to see more pressing than we did.  Played some zone in the halfcourt as well.  As a team we just are not good defensively.  We need to play mistake free basketball with our lack of rebounding a defense, hard to when you push the tempo.  Nothing I saw tonight really changed my season outlook but I think we have a perimeter core that with some development and added pieces could get us back into contention next season.

[slu72]

Thanks Brock Vice. Hope that Creighton bench is comfortable. We wouldn’t have as big a problem if had honored his commitment. 

[JMM28]

5 minutes ago, slu72 said:

Thanks Brock Vice. Hope that Creighton bench is comfortable. We wouldn’t have as big a problem if had honored his commitment. 

Brock Vice seems really smart right now. 

[Basketbill]

10 minutes ago, JMM28 said:

Brock Vice seems really smart right now. 

Still a tool

[TheChosenOne]

I had a worst-case scenario built in my mind and the reports from last night and the various open practices have pretty well eliminated that from being in play. The worst case for me would have been Parker and Hughes having difficulties stepping into increased minutes/roles. Just above that scenario was the post position being a massive question mark throughout the season. Reports have raised that concern slightly with high praise for Ezewiro. However, he needs a transfer waiver. So, we wait to see how that plays out. Without Ezewiro it is down to rookies and that is a hard position to throw at freshman, so while we will have bodies with the freshman assuming health and eligibility, the level of production is hard to project. Another exhibition on Sunday, and then a week off before we take on Southern Indiana on Monday and Lincoln. It appears Southern Indiana lost their top six players from last season and Lincoln is D-II, so consider that a few more weeks of practice and tune up games. Lets continue to build over these next few weeks and as a fan I will do my best to not overreact either direction.

[HoosierPal]

From the PD article:  https://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/slu-overcomes-absent-players-to-win-first-exhibition-basketball-game/article_f9ca88ea-72ab-11ee-89fc-b788ec0d3e0b.html

 

The issues with 6-10 Stef van Bussel from The Netherlands and 6-7 Abou Magassa from France are not in the same classification as Ezewiro’s attempt to gain immediate eligibility after more than one transfer.

 

“It’s totally not uncommon from what I’m hearing,” Ford said of the glitches with international players. “I haven’t dealt with it very much at all. They just happen to be our centers, and we have Bruce out but hopefully he’s ahead of schedule.”  (Zhang has a knee issue.)

[billikenfan05]

13 minutes ago, TheChosenOne said:

I had a worst-case scenario built in my mind and the reports from last night and the various open practices have pretty well eliminated that from being in play. The worst case for me would have been Parker and Hughes having difficulties stepping into increased minutes/roles. Just above that scenario was the post position being a massive question mark throughout the season. Reports have raised that concern slightly with high praise for Ezewiro. However, he needs a transfer waiver. So, we wait to see how that plays out. Without Ezewiro it is down to rookies and that is a hard position to throw at freshman, so while we will have bodies with the freshman assuming health and eligibility, the level of production is hard to project. Another exhibition on Sunday, and then a week off before we take on Southern Indiana on Monday and Lincoln. It appears Southern Indiana lost their top six players from last season and Lincoln is D-II, so consider that a few more weeks of practice and tune up games. Lets continue to build over these next few weeks and as a fan I will do my best to not overreact either direction.

I think I came away more impressed with our guard core than everyone on here. 

[GoSluBills]

I was actually a fan of Dalger's energy, 8 rebounds in 20 minutes which led the team. 

 

[Pistol]

9 hours ago, SluSignGuy said:

Anyone know where to find an attendance figure?  They may not post them for exhibition (they did not last year, but it is posted in Box Scores for the regular season).

50/50 raffle was only $183.

That number is wild. I went to a high school football game on Friday (my FIL insists on taking my son a couple times a season) and it was their smallest crowd of the year. The 50/50 raffle winner got over $560.

[gabriel]

1 hour ago, JMM28 said:

Brock Vice seems really smart right now. 

Does he? Going to ride the bench for a top program and eventually transfer out when they recruit over him. 

[Dr. Holly Hills]

If they can’t play defense, I’d rather them lose than win early and lull us into a false sense of positivity (like last season).  With so many bigs out, I still give them a pass though.

[billiken_roy]

30 minutes ago, TheChosenOne said:

I had a worst-case scenario built in my mind and the reports from last night and the various open practices have pretty well eliminated that from being in play. The worst case for me would have been Parker and Hughes having difficulties stepping into increased minutes/roles. Just above that scenario was the post position being a massive question mark throughout the season. Reports have raised that concern slightly with high praise for Ezewiro. However, he needs a transfer waiver. So, we wait to see how that plays out. Without Ezewiro it is down to rookies and that is a hard position to throw at freshman, so while we will have bodies with the freshman assuming health and eligibility, the level of production is hard to project. Another exhibition on Sunday, and then a week off before we take on Southern Indiana on Monday and Lincoln. It appears Southern Indiana lost their top six players from last season and Lincoln is D-II, so consider that a few more weeks of practice and tune up games. Lets continue to build over these next few weeks and as a fan I will do my best to not overreact either direction.

i would take the freshmen bigs in a second compared to what we played at big last night.   the reason the game was close was the defense and rebounding down low.   the size of all the bigs alone would have nullified most if not all of that.   meanwhile the freshmen bigs would be gaining valuable experience that will only payoff down the road.   just seeing the four of them standing at the end of the bench chomping at the bit to get in the game was painful as hargrove (who was trying hard) and jimerson (we all know he is a gamer) were trying to defend and rebound with the bigger kids even though they were out of position due to necessity.   sigh.  

if you think about this "delay" how stupid is it considering the money the kids are being allowed to make now and all the transfer exceptions that were made the last 3 years.   come on ncaa be consistent and knock off this unfair attempt to try to take back your power.  i seriously doubt if our uniforms said "Kansas" on the front, if these kids would be sitting out.

[billikenfan05]

11 minutes ago, Dr. Holly Hills said:

If they can’t play defense, I’d rather them lose than win early and lull us into a false sense of positivity (like last season).  With so many bigs out, I still give them a pass though.

We may not win a game if our bigs don't become eligible. A D2 big killed us last night. Time to shine Svet Sotirov. 

[gabriel]

Not saying that this team will be, but you can be very successful in college basketball without a traditional 5. Takes a really good X's and O's coach which this team doesn't have but it's not impossible. 

[billiken_roy]

Just now, billikenfan05 said:

We may not win a game if our bigs don't become eligible. A D2 big killed us last night. 

you got to question why ford never allowed the wing or point guard defender to double down on the D2 Big that was playing the part of the 5th grade bully just backing down hargrove.   both medley and hughes are quick enough to double and get back out to get a hand in the face of that point guard or wing the center would have been forced to pass out to.  

a friend of mine asked, "was ford just testing hargrove to see how he handled things?"   i dont know but if that is what ford was doing, it was a fail. 

[cheeseman]

Just now, billiken_roy said:

you got to question why ford never allowed the wing or point guard defender to double down on the D2 Big that was playing the part of the 5th grade bully just backing down hargrove.   both medley and hughes are quick enough to double and get back out to get a hand in the face of that point guard or wing the center would have been forced to pass out to.  

a friend of mine asked, "was ford just testing hargrove to see how he handled things?"   i dont know but if that is what ford was doing, it was a fail. 

When has Ford shown on a consistent basis that he knows how to coachd?

[brianstl]

14 minutes ago, gabriel said:

Does he? Going to ride the bench for a top program and eventually transfer out when they recruit over him. 

On Creighton's Bahamas tour Vice averaged 4.6 ppg, 6 rpg and 9 mpg.  He had a double/double (12 and 10) in the first game of the tour.  In the three games he played 13, 3 and 11 minutes.  

[billiken_roy]

Just now, gabriel said:

Not saying that this team will be, but you can be very successful in college basketball without a traditional 5. Takes a really good X's and O's coach which this team doesn't have but it's not impossible. 

i agree but even more than a good x's and o's coach, the players got to execute.   how many times did we fumble away fast break opportunities last night?   even then, i just enjoyed the fact we were using our smaller size and greater quickness to try to play faster.   now we just have to minimize the mistakes.  and before someone qoutes turnover stats (i honestly dont know what our turnovers were last night.  i am sure they were double digits) a mistake can be something that doesnt show up in the box score.   hesitating to double on defense, not using a screen correctly, not getting out to cover a three point shot, not blocking out on rebounds which lets the taller opponent a chance to get the rebound, etc.  

[gabriel]

6 minutes ago, brianstl said:

On Creighton's Bahamas tour Vice averaged 4.6 ppg, 6 rpg and 9 mpg.  He had a double/double (12 and 10) in the first game of the tour.  In the three games he played 13, 3 and 11 minutes.  

Gothca - didn't know that. Figured he would just ride the bench behind Kalkbrenner. Going to drive me insane if he makes an impact on that team this year.

[SluSignGuy]

28 minutes ago, Pistol said:

That number is wild. I went to a high school football game on Friday (my FIL insists on taking my son a couple times a season) and it was their smallest crowd of the year. The 50/50 raffle winner got over $560.

Its a low number but also first game of season (e.g. they may not have as many cheerleaders selling tickets as normal)

[Slu let the dogs out?]

34 minutes ago, brianstl said:

On Creighton's Bahamas tour Vice averaged 4.6 ppg, 6 rpg and 9 mpg.  He had a double/double (12 and 10) in the first game of the tour.  In the three games he played 13, 3 and 11 minutes.  

[JMM28]

56 minutes ago, gabriel said:

Does he? Going to ride the bench for a top program and eventually transfer out when they recruit over him. 

I believe he will be a rotation guy on a top 15 team in the country, so yeah. He won't have to play in the shithole facilities across the A10 either! Bonus! 

[Box and Won]

13 minutes ago, Slu let the dogs out? said:

Don't worry - that was all against hotel busboys.