GDT: SLU v. Wichita State

[wgstl]

17 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Just so all know for perspective, hughes was sick.   Couldn't even leave locker room at half. 

Thames was battling cramps most of game.

Mike Meadows is playing with some muscle strains in his back.   Every time he comes out of the game he puts on a brace with heat and massage.

And our best player was still sitting out with foot in a boot and using crutches.

And somehow we lost 

 

Do you honestly think we win if Hughes,  MM, and Thames are 100% healthy? They MAY have helped in that we lose by around 10. 

[billiken_roy]

Just now, wgstl said:

Do you honestly think we win if Hughes,  MM, and Thames are 100% healthy? They MAY have helped in that we lose by around 10. 

We were within 5 late in the game 

[Soderball]

4 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

And that will help how?   

It will make me feel better and remind you that we can do better.

[HoosierPal]

Meadows + Medley, 11 assists and 1 turnover.

[wgstl]

6 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

We were within 5 late in the game 

Idk. Meadows did dish it out for open 3s, but neither was enough for a win 

[thunderdan]

1 minute ago, billiken_roy said:

With no true center everyone is playing out of position 

Hargrove playing center, he'd be much better guarding power forward and playing away from basketball.

Dalger and Thames playing power forward, Thames for sure would be better at SF.  

Jimerson guarding small forwards be nice if he was guarding the shooting guard 

The only chance imo we had of being successful with this lineup was play a lot of bodies and play hard and fast on both ends.

That already is subsiding so imo we are headed for a mediocre at best season.

20 wins seems like a stretch.   

Totally agree with the idea of playing all-out (and increasing the rotation of players). Press, press, press on defense, and increase shot volume on offense. 

That kind of gameplan (particularly on defense) works great with kids on the bench, hungry for playing time.

[wgstl]

Bruce is fun, but he can’t rebound in even the smallest of ways 

[billiken_roy]

32 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Bruce is fun, but he can’t rebound in even the smallest of ways 

What you are envisioning for a aeven foot freshman is a freshman at Kansas or duke.   Typically we get projects if they are seven foot.

Bruce needs to spend his summer in the weight room and get in better physical shape.

Fit and shape along with his skills will yield a legit player.   

[Soderball]

10 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

What you are envisioning for a aeven foot freshman is a freshman at Kansas or duke.   Typically we get projects if they are seven foot.

Bruce needs to spend his summer in the weight room and get in better physical shape.

Fit and shape along with his skills will yield a legit player.   

He's got upside. Bruce isn't the problem here.

I do question why Van Bussel is here if he's not good enough to get more than one minute with this dire situation. We don't really have space or time for this given the burning dumpster fire at the C position. He needed to find another Forrester, a flawed but workable big man, and failed completely and brought ineligible players instead. Shame, shame, shame.

[slufan13]

This team is bad with or without the excuses

We are 3-2 (or 4-2 if you're Chris May). We would he 3-2 even with a healthy Parker and two eligible big men. 

I'm sure Ford will be around for a long time. Our big donors love mediocrity.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

5 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

4-2 if you're Chris May

Chris May is the John Mozeliak of Billiken Sports.

[gobillsgo]

Next day thoughts on this one are even worse….  What percentage of minutes is being played by 5th year players?  Gotta be super high, especially with Parker and Hughes out.  It was just really comical to hear the announcers talking about this being one of Ford’s youngest teams when we start 3 5th year seniors and a 5th year junior.  This program has been moving in the wrong direction since the Covid year.  Should’ve ripped off the bandaid this past offseason. Instead we’ve got a mediocre roster and a lame duck coach.  

[Old guy]

We keep on sinking slowly in the quicksand. Our TR ranking went down to 153 after last night's loss. They project that we will win 14.6 games and lose 16.4 games for the OOC and Conference games, not counting the conference tournament. We were as low as 114 before the beginning of the season. I think the options for after the conference tournament  are zip.

[Dr Bird]

31 minutes ago, gobillsgo said:

Next day thoughts on this one are even worse….  What percentage of minutes is being played by 5th year players?  Gotta be super high, especially with Parker and Hughes out.  It was just really comical to hear the announcers talking about this being one of Ford’s youngest teams when we start 3 5th year seniors and a 5th year junior.  This program has been moving in the wrong direction since the Covid year.  Should’ve ripped off the bandaid this past offseason. Instead we’ve got a mediocre roster and a lame duck coach.  

The general consensus is that AD May probably did not have the financial wherewithal to rip the bandaid.  He likely did not have the "will" to either.  I find the growth of Thames, the emergence of Bruce, and the general likeability of our players as compelling enough to keep watching/attending.  We should be a much better team come Feb than we are now.

[wgstl]

11 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

What you are envisioning for a aeven foot freshman is a freshman at Kansas or duke.   Typically we get projects if they are seven foot.

Bruce needs to spend his summer in the weight room and get in better physical shape.

Fit and shape along with his skills will yield a legit player.   

Im not saying he needs to be a good rebounder, just not a bad rebounder.  7'1 and his 40 min average is 4.3 rebounds. Only Cian is worse at 2.5 rebounds per 40.

 

Also, apparently I've missed a few of Bruce's shot selections, I do not recall him attempting 6 shots from "deep 2".  Last night was the first time Ive seen that. 

[wgstl]

1 hour ago, gobillsgo said:

Next day thoughts on this one are even worse….  What percentage of minutes is being played by 5th year players?  Gotta be super high, especially with Parker and Hughes out.  It was just really comical to hear the announcers talking about this being one of Ford’s youngest teams when we start 3 5th year seniors and a 5th year junior.  This program has been moving in the wrong direction since the Covid year.  Should’ve ripped off the bandaid this past offseason. Instead we’ve got a mediocre roster and a lame duck coach.  

Min usage in order, Gibby, THJ, MM, Dalger, LHJ, Cian, Thames so on.  So ya, a lot of minutes taken by the seniors.

[TheA_Bomb]

29 minutes ago, Dr Bird said:

The general consensus is that AD May probably did not have the financial wherewithal to rip the bandaid.  He likely did not have the "will" to either.  I find the growth of Thames, the emergence of Bruce, and the general likeability of our players as compelling enough to keep watching/attending.  We should be a much better team come Feb than we are now.

I've come to accept that we lack the funds to make a change. I agree he probably didn't have the will either. I wonder did he see the fanbase unrest coming or is he clueless? I think he needs to go for this terrible Ford contract. It shows a lack of understanding the marketplace. No one was coming for Ford and there was no need to extend at such a high per year salary. There was no reason for such a high salary to begin with.

Also, I don't think the team will be better. The team lacks depth inside. Zhang is a long term project in a microwave world.

I watch because I am a SLU fan and it's sports anything can happen.  All it'll take is to get hot in March. SLU MBB killed my optimism last year so I wouldn't bet on it.

[gobillsgo]

44 minutes ago, Dr Bird said:

The general consensus is that AD May probably did not have the financial wherewithal to rip the bandaid.  He likely did not have the "will" to either.  I find the growth of Thames, the emergence of Bruce, and the general likeability of our players as compelling enough to keep watching/attending.  We should be a much better team come Feb than we are now.

As A Bomb said, if we are truly stuck with a whale of a contract that prohibits us from making a change, May’s head should roll.  I don’t anticipate Bruce or Thames being on the roster if/when Ford leaves, and I don’t anticipate us ever being consistently good if Ford stays, so feels like a lose/lose situation. 

[Dr Bird]

9 minutes ago, gobillsgo said:

As A Bomb said, if we are truly stuck with a whale of a contract that prohibits us from making a change, May’s head should roll.  I don’t anticipate Bruce or Thames being on the roster if/when Ford leaves, and I don’t anticipate us ever being consistently good if Ford stays, so feels like a lose/lose situation. 

Charlie Spoonhour managed to keep most key players except for Julian Winfield, because he communicated a clear vision of where we could go.  Any new coach's first task is to "re-recruit" anyone on the roster worth keeping.  Besides, "re-recruiting" happens every year now due to NIL (at least for would-be 1st time transfers).

 

[slu72]

42 minutes ago, Dr Bird said:

The general consensus is that AD May probably did not have the financial wherewithal to rip the bandaid.  He likely did not have the "will" to either.  I find the growth of Thames, the emergence of Bruce, and the general likeability of our players as compelling enough to keep watching/attending.  We should be a much better team come Feb than we are now.

I do like your optimism, Doc, but the root of the problem is our coach. Yes, we’re undersized and getting hammered on the boards. That has been a major reason for the 2 Ls at the Beach. At both ends. We’re getting only one shot on O while our opponent is getting 2 on most of their missed shots. Also, our interior D is weak because of our size. We can correct this to some extent by getting Bruce more minutes. He is a disruptor on inside D. He should be getting 20 mpg minimum. He needs work on being more aggressive on the boards and putbacks. He needs minutes to develop, but Ford doesn’t see it that way. So, we keep getting destroyed on boards and drives. Now, does it matter if you’re getting destroyed by playing small or a developing FR? No. So, play the developing big because our small size vets ain’t suddenly gonna miraculously grow to be 6’9” and up. Size matters. Sometimes, a coach has to live with growing pains. 
Other players who should be getting more minutes are Thames and Courcic. Thames is sneaky good and Courcic can shoot. But here again Ford lacks the courage to give them more minutes. In Thames case, he should be a starter. 
Look, in a season like this where expectations are low give us hope for the future by seeing what our developing young guys can bring to the party. It really comes down to is Travis coaching for his job or the future of the program. Given his contract it should be for the latter, because winning only 12 or 14 games is inevitable under either approach. 

[Cowboy II]

-our inability to make shots at or very near the basket is mind blowing

-last night in the second half we had several opportunities to make a basket where it would have gotten us to within 4 or 5 points and we missed every time

-if the graphic was correct we ended the game with 3 timeouts that were not used...............in a 19 point loss

[dlarry]

They will most definitely get better but it won’t matter when it comes to wins and losses unless Ezewiro is cleared. (highly unlikely)You can’t win against good teams with a 6’5 center. 

 

I like watching Bruce, Thames, Hughes, Hargrove and the rest but when it comes to wins and losses we are in a world of hurt.
 

[TheA_Bomb]

49 minutes ago, Dr Bird said:

Charlie Spoonhour managed to keep most key players except for Julian Winfield, because he communicated a clear vision of where we could go.  Any new coach's first task is to "re-recruit" anyone on the roster worth keeping.  Besides, "re-recruiting" happens every year now due to NIL (at least for would-be 1st time transfers).

 

The roster is not good.  I'm not hating on these guys.  I appreciate just about everyone that comes to play at SLU.  But, the construction of the roster isn't good and outside of just a couple guys (LHJr being one). I wouldn't fret too much about losing any of them.  

We need an extreme make over of the AD and MBB.

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, gobillsgo said:

As A Bomb said, if we are truly stuck with a whale of a contract that prohibits us from making a change, May’s head should roll.  I don’t anticipate Bruce or Thames being on the roster if/when Ford leaves, and I don’t anticipate us ever being consistently good if Ford stays, so feels like a lose/lose situation. 

Do you really think the biggest contract in Billiken history the highest paid employee at SLU and probably top 5 in the state university wise is a decision by Chris May alone?    

He may have recommended, but I'm guessing our BoT made that final decision. 

[Lord Elrond]

1 minute ago, billiken_roy said:

Do you really think the biggest contract in Billiken history the highest paid employee at SLU and probably top 5 in the state university wise is a decision by Chris May alone?    

He may have recommended, but I'm guessing our BoT made that final decision. 

That’s probably true, but if it is true, then Chris May also can’t make a decision to change things on his own either.