GDT: SLU v. Illinois St.

[Compton]

Great game. Jimerson w/20. Parker one board from a double-double. Hargrove outscoring ISU's starting forwards combined. Got the win. Beat the spread. Good to get a look at Zhang - although rough watching the foul-turnover-foul sequence before he got benched. Zhang getting yanked made me wonder why van Bussel didn't play.

Hopefully guys stay health and some of our depth develops (van Bussel and Curcic), because the increased pace clearly tires our guys out along with the other side.

[3star_recruit]

I expect Jimerson to disappear from outside at the end of games.  That's been his modus operandi ever since he's been here.  But at least he somewhat made up for it by living at the line.

Sincere is the only guy who can consistently create his own shot.  He has to understand that with great power comes responsibility.  When he forces a shot he can't compound the mistake by committing a silly foul a few seconds later.

We go as these two guys go.  Medley isn't a scoring threat at this point and Hughes is showing the same streakiness I saw from him in high school. 

I look forward to seeing Bruce's development by conference time.  I think it will be significant.

[gister]

2 hours ago, slu72 said:

9 minutes w/o a FG. How TF does that happen? The HC should be able to design something to come up with a freaking bucket or two. 

Remember, the legendary Coach Majerus and SLU hold the record for the fewest points in a division 1 college basketball game.

[SLU_Nick]

Great win.  A wire to wire win was unexpected and awesome.  
 

onto Wyoming! 

[Brighton]

3 hours ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said:

Relax... He's not that special. 

A seven footer on a middling mid major program isn’t special ?

I know you’re one of the more prominent Ford slurpers, but this is beyond ridiculous.

 

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

28 minutes ago, Brighton said:

A seven footer on a middling mid major program isn’t special ?

I know you’re one of the more prominent Ford slurpers, but this is beyond ridiculous.

 

Unhinged.

There were 7 footers on the other bench today. Height is only part of the equation. Bruce transfering out mid season is no where on my list of billiken worries 

[Brighton]

Give it time. Players of his caliber don’t grow on trees, and I’m skeptical he’ll remain here due to Ford’s lack of player development.

[Crewsorlose]

The late game meltdown didn't come with a loss. In the end the team took care of the ball, made FTs, and got stops. Sincere Parker needs to grow up fast. That needless intentional foul made gave the other team four points, put our best scorer on the bench, and fouled out Hughes on the continued possession.

Meadows would have helped. I can't really blame Ford. Certain teams just get tight and the coach and crowd get tight and it becomes almost a culture. Still, it's college basketball. There are basically five newcomers in the rotation last night (Meadows, Medley, Zhang, Thames, Dalger). Let's not burden them with a history they're not a part of. 

I almost didn't renew this year but I'm glad I did. I like this team. Thames is fun. The crowd love for Zhang was great. Who knows what he can be? Parker has talent. TJ looks like a leader. They play with energy. Brad could be a difference maker if he gets eligible. 

The lower bowl was pretty empty last night but it was still fun and the crowd was the biggest of the season. So what if they go 1-2 in Myrtle Beach? Let them grow. 

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

17 minutes ago, Crewsorlose said:

The crowd love for Zhang was great.

I loved that everyone instinctively knew to just go "Bruuuuuuuuuce" when he played.

[billikenfan05]

24 minutes ago, Crewsorlose said:

The late game meltdown didn't come with a loss. In the end the team took care of the ball, made FTs, and got stops. Sincere Parker needs to grow up fast. That needless intentional foul made gave the other team four points, put our best scorer on the bench, and fouled out Hughes on the continued possession.

Meadows would have helped. I can't really blame Ford. Certain teams just get tight and the coach and crowd get tight and it becomes almost a culture. Still, it's college basketball. There are basically five newcomers in the rotation last night (Meadows, Medley, Zhang, Thames, Dalger). Let's not burden them with a history they're not a part of. 

I almost didn't renew this year but I'm glad I did. I like this team. Thames is fun. The crowd love for Zhang was great. Who knows what he can be? Parker has talent. TJ looks like a leader. They play with energy. Brad could be a difference maker if he gets eligible. 

The lower bowl was pretty empty last night but it was still fun and the crowd was the biggest of the season. So what if they go 1-2 in Myrtle Beach? Let them grow. 

I like this post. I really enjoyed this team for 30 minutes last night, was legit excited. But I do think Ford is way too risk averse down the stretch. Go for the knockout, don't try to win on points.

[VeniceMenace]

I think SLU still would have won but the Burford scratch before tipoff was a serious blow for IL State. Looking at the PT Zhang got 8 minutes….agree a quick one- or two- minute sub for Hargrove during the drought could have helped. 

[TheA_Bomb]

I was in an oil rig in the gulf why didn't SVB get any minutes?

[billikenfan05]

9 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I was in an oil rig in the gulf why didn't SVB get any minutes?

Zhang is clearly the better option and if Zhang ain't getting minutes the last 12 minutes, SVB isn't sniffing the court.

[3star_recruit]

22 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I was in an oil rig in the gulf why didn't SVB get any minutes?

The two guys we rely on to score stopped scoring.  Putting another non-scorer who is also foul-prone on the floor during the run would have made it even worse.  Thankfully the defense was pretty solid all game and preserved the win.

The only sub that could have helped was Bruce but apparently coach didn't want to put him in the pressure cooker this early.  

 

[Taj79]

A win is a good thing.  Noted on the plus side:  speedy play, hustle, swarming rebounds, Zhang looked pretty good.  

On the bad side:  I'm still confused as to just what our offense is supposed to do.  When we run set plays after timeouts, we seem to do well.  The rest seems to be a Chinese fire drill usually resulting in Parker going one-on-one (17 shots last night).  Parker, Hughes and Hargrove commit dumb fouls and last night, so did Medley.  We had 8 total assists last night --- Collins used to get that in a quarter.  Hargrove did well against Leib -- made him look slow but tall.  No van Bussell --- not even a minute or two.  I don't think Ford is willing to play two pojects; until he overcomes that fear, development will be slow.  Adding Magassa will just add another uniform to the bench; adding Ezewiro will relegate the freshmen to spectator status.  

You also saw the downside of our pressing defense last night in that our legs took the second half off and we could not score.  Highmark talks about when the legs go so goes the shots and when you are essentially a jump shooting thing, well, there you go.  This has the makings of being Sincere Parker's team but he's got to get smarter.  I have never seen an intentional foul on the guy covering the shooter on a free throw.  Medley is not an offensive option right now.  Shades of Dwayne Polk but years left to develop.  Attendance was listed at just over 5200.  Likely a different game if Buford played.  Forty-six total fouls called.  Fouls and injuries showed just how lacing in depth we might be.  We've lamented our lack of size, but losing Hughes and Meadows weith medley and Parker in foul trouble really showed a definite weakness in the overall roster.  I think Curcic should have gotten a few spelling moments.  Good FT shooting and decent FG shooting was nice but our FG% essentially stopped with 13 minutes to go.  Nice to be heading to Myrtle at 3 and 0.  

Should be a few rows behind Ford for all three games in Myrtle.  Up close and personal.

[ACE]

9 hours ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said:

Unhinged.

There were 7 footers on the other bench today. Height is only part of the equation. Bruce transfering out mid season is no where on my list of billiken worries 

A public service announcement - do not feed the troll.

[Old guy]

12 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

 Should be a few rows behind Ford for all three games in Myrtle.  Up close and personal.

Restrain yourself Taj.

[HoosierPal]

12 hours ago, thunderdan said:

Yet another fun 25 minutes of Billiken basketball, followed by a maddening final 15. What do we attribute this to, over the years???

Parker is a gifted scorer. But he’s below-average at every other aspect of the game. When he gets the ball, he literally puts his head down and is determined to shoot (even if it’s a terrible shot). The stupid fouls (technicals/flagrants) are not a good sign.

Saw encouraging things from Bruuuuuuuuuce. Looked winded fairly quickly, so maybe there WAS a knee issue, preventing him from getting his conditioning up. Still, looking forward to his development.

This team is stealing the rock at a much higher rate than last year’s squad. Just need an inside presence on D (TJ did an admirable job, despite being undersized).

3-point defense continues to be an issue. A good shooting team is going to expose that.

Success at the free throw line (particularly Gibson) won us the game tonight. Team free throws hadn’t looked good, the first few games. Hope this is the start of a positive trend.

I’m not worried about Cian, like some are. Yes, he’s undersized, but we have experience with that here. He takes care of the ball and is a tenacious defender. His game will evolve, with time.

Yes, we should’ve won by 15, but we DID beat the spread. 

Couple of issues/questions where I am requesting your opinion.

1.  Our first three opponents, yes they aren't very good, hit 29% from the Arc.  What is your benchmark, your suggested goal, for our 3-poiint defense?  25%?

2.  Were you at the game?  My first thought on the Poindexter FT where Parker was whistled was, lane violation on ISU.  I couldn't see any lane violation, but what else could it be?.  What was your first thought on the whistle? Then I went to 'flop' on Poindexter.  He went down fairly easily.  I was pretty amazed when, after a few minutes, they called a flagrant on Parker.  There is contact on every FT attempt, both along the lane and whomever is blocking out the shooter.  I don't remember ever seeing a Flagrant call on blocking the shooter.  Watching the TV tape this morning, I can certainly see where there was contact, but it wasn't a flagrant in my book, it was a play on.  And yes, that 6 point play was meaningful.  The first two were in the book, but in my opinion the next four FT were unearned gifts.  If the ball is in our hands, Hughes doesn't get called for the subsequent foul.

Again I am asking your opinion.  Whatever you believe is fine.

[dlarry]

9 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Couple of issues/questions where I am requesting your opinion.

1.  Our first three opponents, yes they aren't very good, hit 29% from the Arc.  What is your benchmark, your suggested goal, for our 3-poiint defense?  25%?

2.  Were you at the game?  My first thought on the Poindexter FT where Parker was whistled was, lane violation on ISU.  I couldn't see any lane violation, but what else could it be?.  What was your first thought on the whistle? Then I went to 'flop' on Poindexter.  He went down fairly easily.  I was pretty amazed when, after a few minutes, they called a flagrant on Parker.  There is contact on every FT attempt, both along the lane and whomever is blocking out the shooter.  I don't remember ever seeing a Flagrant call on blocking the shooter.  Watching the TV tape this morning, I can certainly see where there was contact, but it wasn't a flagrant in my book, it was a play on.  And yes, that 6 point play was meaningful.  The first two were in the book, but in my opinion the next four FT were unearned gifts.  If the ball is in our hands, Hughes doesn't get called for the subsequent foul.

Again I am asking your opinion.  Whatever you believe is fine.

I was confused by the flagrant as well. 
I replayed it a few times when I got home and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. 
I would love a ref explanation on that one. 
Maybe he said something? 
I didn’t see any elbows. 

[CenHudDude]

1 hour ago, dlarry said:

I was confused by the flagrant as well. 
I replayed it a few times when I got home and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. 
I would love a ref explanation on that one. 
Maybe he said something? 
I didn’t see any elbows. 

Can you get a flagrant “for saying something?”  Just asking.

[dlarry]

41 minutes ago, CenHudDude said:

Can you get a flagrant “for saying something?”  Just asking.

Good point. Probably not. 
I would guess that falls into the “stick and stones” theory. 

[Dr. Holly Hills]

37 minutes ago, dlarry said:

Good point. Probably not. 
I would guess that falls into the “stick and stones” theory. 

S&S theory was probably 2 generations ago.  If silence is violence,  words are barbarity…

[thetorch]

Parker is a hot head.  He has a history of getting techs and ejections in JUCO and now has done it in two games early in the season.  I can't hear what he says on the court but he's really bothering the opposing team and the officials.  

Regardless of the veracity of the offenses, speaking from a referee standpoint, a player like that has a target on his back.  He will be watched very closely by the officials every game and won't be given the slack that other players get.  The opposing team will also look for ways to get him in trouble.  These techs and ejections will be part of the scouting report going forward.

[Bills By 40]

5 minutes ago, thetorch said:

Parker is a hot head.  He has a history of getting techs and ejections in JUCO and now has done it in two games early in the season.  I can't hear what he says on the court but he's really bothering the opposing team and the officials.  

Regardless of the veracity of the offenses, speaking from a referee standpoint, a player like that has a target on his back.  He will be watched very closely by the officials every game and won't be given the slack that other players get.  The opposing team will also look for ways to get him in trouble.  These techs and ejections will be part of the scouting report going forward.

Wednesday's technicals, both of them, were terrible. I was courtside and can confidently tell you they were bad, bad calls. No comment on last night's, missed it in live time. 

That is all.

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

1 minute ago, Bills By 40 said:

Wednesday's technicals, both of them, were terrible. I was courtside and can confidently tell you they were bad, bad calls. No comment on last night's, missed it in live time. 

That is all.

If he bumped the ref like it's being reported it's a tech. No respectable ref will put up with that bs