Drake over The Bills by 10

[thunderdan]

Looks like we'll see a lot of Curcic, which I'm okay with.  Dude plays hard and smart.  Probably gonna see Evans and Jones as well. 

[The Wiz]

45 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

This will not improve the computer’s opinion of the upcoming game

So far on the official injury list...Parker is the only one listed at this time.

[Soderball]

1 hour ago, CenHudDude said:

WOW!  Can it get any worse?  B’Roy might have to suit up for this one.  Doesn’t sound like we will have too many players ready to go

Starting lineup:

Zhang

Van Bussel

Dalger

Medley

billiken_roy

[slufan13]

Are these real injuries or Bruce Zhang knee injury injuries? 

[billikenbill]

There will be no backdoor cover vs. Drake. Whatever the line is, bet the house on it.

[billikenbill]

1 hour ago, Soderball said:

Starting lineup:

Zhang

Van Bussel

Dalger

Medley

billiken_roy

I’d probably go with Thames as the fifth starter. We don’t need a heady, gym rat, coach on the floor type like billiken_roy.

[dlarry]

1 hour ago, billikenbill said:

I’d probably go with Thames as the fifth starter. We don’t need a heady, gym rat, coach on the floor type like billiken_roy.

No but we could use one on the bench. 

[Dr. Holly Hills]

Normally I’d say something positive like “well, at least our bench will get some valuable playing time”. But these guys are so bad, it’s not going to be competitive.

[HoosierPal]

Stu didn't say the named players weren't going to play, just that they are hurt. 

Meadows is a concern.  With his back injury history, this last jolt could sideline him for a while.  He is the one that personally I would put the highest odds on not playing. 

Hughes has started/played hurt in several games.  Jimerson played 36 min with a gimpy ankle Saturday.  No clue on Hargrove's bone bruise.  Sometimes they are nasty, sometimes they can be dealt with.

[The Wiz]

Just released from the official injury report dated Dec. 5....The following players are all listed as questionable for the Drake game....

Hughes...Undisclosed

Meadows...Back

Hargrove...Knee

Jimerson...Ankle

This in addition to Parker who is still out indefinitely with a fractured foot.

The computer has a robot friend  that is learning to bounce a basketball...but he will not be ready to play tomorrow as he tries to swallow the basketball during time outs.

[Lord Elrond]

25 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

The computer has a robot friend  that is learning to bounce a basketball...but he will not be ready to play tomorrow as he tries to swallow the basketball during time outs.

Toyota is working on one of those basketball robots, here’s a picture 

 

[The Wiz]

15 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Toyota is working on one of those basketball robots, here’s a picture 

 

And therein is the problem...He is not looking at the wide open basket...he is looking for ketchup.

[Dr. Holly Hills]

4 hours ago, billikenbill said:

There will be no backdoor cover vs. Drake. Whatever the line is, bet the house on it.

Line is now 16…

[Soderball]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

Stu didn't say the named players weren't going to play, just that they are hurt. 

Meadows is a concern.  With his back injury history, this last jolt could sideline him for a while.  He is the one that personally I would put the highest odds on not playing. 

Hughes has started/played hurt in several games.  Jimerson played 36 min with a gimpy ankle Saturday.  No clue on Hargrove's bone bruise.  Sometimes they are nasty, sometimes they can be dealt with.

yeah but he didn't play well. The Jimerson we saw on Saturday may as well sit.

[The Wiz]

Well , we have finally made it to #1....We have the most players  (5) on the injury report and that doesn't even count the 2 ineligible players. There are a few teams with 4 on the list ( Indiana, Ky, WVU & Ore)...Perhaps would should have a tourney with them...The MIA Classic...of course they would all have to sit out 3 more players to even things up (and wear blind folds)

[NextYearBill]

Give Ford another season. Injuries!!!!!!!

[gobillsgo]

Another game that will be non-competitive by the 10:00 mark of the first half. Yippee!

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

35 minutes ago, NextYearBill said:

Give Ford another season. Injuries!!!!!!!

Lol I swear to god, Chris May is thinking this right now.

[billikenbill]

9 hours ago, Dr. Holly Hills said:

Line is now 16…

Throw in the car, savings accounts, and IRAs!! 5-star lock!!

(Note: Take my betting advice at your own peril. billikenbill is not liable for any losses you may incur.)

[OkieBilliken]

Does another humiliating defeat hasten Travis Fords' departure?  Do we need to root for that??   Hofstra probably looks like it could be a bad loss as well.  This is the first time in my Billiken fandom (est 1982) that the season feels completely hopeless.    Losing like this with freshmen is one thing, but losing with 4th and 5th year players is another.  

[Soderball]

36 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

Does another humiliating defeat hasten Travis Fords' departure?  Do we need to root for that??   Hofstra probably looks like it could be a bad loss as well.  This is the first time in my Billiken fandom (est 1982) that the season feels completely hopeless.    Losing like this with freshmen is one thing, but losing with 4th and 5th year players is another.  

It's just like Crews' last two years. In the grand scheme of things all that matters is firing this guy.

On the upshot it's easier to fix things FAST than ever before. hire a coach who has players and win immediately, just like USU did. Providence grabbed mediocre Kim English because he had players immediately and they are pretty good, too. It's just about finding the guy who's got players ready to roll from the gate.

Ford has to GO.

[Soderball]

1 hour ago, billikenbill said:

Throw in the car, savings accounts, and IRAs!! 5-star lock!!

(Note: Take my betting advice at your own peril. billikenbill is not liable for any losses you may incur.)

16 is a lot. The best lines for us this year was Utah State, Wichita state(that was my super lock of the century of the millennium) .. and SIU. The computers and bettors are onto us now and we lost the insider edge.

Wichita especially I watched the game the night before between LU and WSU. That was free money if I've ever seen it, seeing WSUs size it was easy to know the bills had a bad matchup.

So the super locks were 2/3.. not bad. 16+ I don't like as we are in the need to blowout territory and lethargy becomes as much of a factor as anything. Look what happened to the USU Aggies, clearly superior and still fell apart late. Will drake keep up the pressure to win by 20? That's not a sure betting thing as much anymore. Lines that are 30+ get even more ridiculous.

[Soderball]

Also keeping a coach for 8 years is way too long unless the guy is Bob McKillop or Bennett; or is at a blue blood program like UK or KU.

I would make a serious argument that changing up your coach every 3-4 years is not a bad move; as these guys cultivate recruits and bring them in, and once their recruits are gone move on to the next coach.(ideally they will be out-and-up on their way to the P5 gig they wanted, not fired for being bad)

Ford has exhausted his enthusiasm and can't recruit real talented guys anymore; he's going with plan C and D and giving us guys like Dalger who just can't play.

There's NOTHING WRONG with coaching changes in the current way the game is played. This four years of eligibility, player development, and keeping coaches on extended contracts is tired, old stuff that doesn't work with how the game is played now. We want to keep rotating players through. and avoid long-term financial commitments like we have done with failed Travis Ford. Nowadays coaches bring the "core" players WITH them. They are a package deal. Roles and weaknesses get filled thru bringing in 1 and 2 year guys thru the transfer portal. That's how to become a winner at a non-name school like SLU.

[The Wiz]

A nice 1st half by the Bills ....Just not enough horses to finish the game. But you've got to like the way they battled.  I mentioned in a previous post how the Bills battled USU down to the wire.  Some said USU let up which is why the finish was close.  I don't happen to believe that.  I believe the Bills fought them to the end....while their 16 point lead gradually faded... Nobody can say that in this game,  Drake let up for almost the entire game.  USU is currently in line for a Big Dance bid.  After that game, I said they will be our toughest opponent and by staying close in that game meant we are capable of beating anyone on our remaining schedule.  The Drake game is a further confirmation that we can play with anyone on our schedule.....and we did it , even being severely undermanned.

A side note...I find it amusing when posters use the word "lock"  and "bet the farm" when Vegas shows an inflated spread.  It isn't even the  posters or the forecasters that are the issue...it is the bettors who believe the posters and forecasters who use the word "lock".  ....It is their belief in the word lock that inflates the spread which leads to their doom.  Where is JT (not to be confused with TJ) Barnum when you need him.

Well, let's see what happened this game....Bolded statements are from the original post above.

Target slash...49/51/40/72...Target means this is what we need to do to win....And we far exceed those numbers in the first half (60/ 61/ 57 / 88) and we opened a huge lead... And of course we failed those numbers badly in the 2nd half ( 30/ 35 / 14 / 79 ) and the lead faded away.  But let's see what the whole game looked like...Actual slash... 44 / 47 / 36/ 82....What did we need to make the slash?...2 more 2s and 1 more 3...Totals up to 7 pts...that is how close we were....Make the numbers...win the game.

In order to win we need to hold them to 73 pts....close but not good enough...every point matters

Stop Devries and Brodie...Hold Brodie to under 50% on FG%...We did and that was the key to us leading for most of the game....We held Devries to  10pts (half his normal total) and Brodie to 44% (way below his 70% average )...but because we were under manned  lesser players scored a bunch.....Hold DRK's top 2 to 27pts...You will note here I didn't say to hold Devries and Brodie to 27 but their 2 top scorers to 27...Plan B was if  Devries and Brodie get into trouble  let some else shoot and then pray...that worked tonight ...on another night when the Bills had an extra player or 2 plan B would have faltered.

Rebounding should be close this game...Bills win this battle ...on most nights this stat alone would have been enough to put us over the top but there was one last item we need to take care of....

Match them on TOs and steals. ..Steals ...8-7 advantage Bills......almost there.......TOs ...14-10 advantage Drake...fail... This was one of the keys to the game....14 isn't a terrible number  but the +4 is damaging....this team cannot afford to lose giveaway battles.  Drake had 14 pts on 14 Bills TO( 1pt/ TO)....take away those 4 extra TOs and you subtract 4 Drake pts PLUS the Bills have 4 more chances to score 3 pts.

Bottom line...More players and we don't run out of gas and beat them....The takeaway is... we can beat anybody left on our schedule ...particularly if we get some additional players ....through healing or the NCAA.

 

[Soderball]

53 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

A nice 1st half by the Bills ....Just not enough horses to finish the game. But you've got to like the way they battled.  I mentioned in a previous post how the Bills battled USU down to the wire.  Some said USU let up which is why the finish was close.  I don't happen to believe that.  I believe the Bills fought them to the end....while their 16 point lead gradually faded... Nobody can say that in this game,  Drake let up for almost the entire game.  USU is currently in line for a Big Dance bid.  After that game, I said they will be our toughest opponent and by staying close in that game meant we are capable of beating anyone on our remaining schedule.  The Drake game is a further confirmation that we can play with anyone on our schedule.....and we did it , even being severely undermanned.

A side note...I find it amusing when posters use the word "lock"  and "bet the farm" when Vegas shows an inflated spread.  It isn't even the  posters or the forecasters that are the issue...it is the bettors who believe the posters and forecasters who use the word "lock".  ....It is their belief in the word lock that inflates the spread which leads to their doom.  Where is JT (not to be confused with TJ) Barnum when you need him.

Well, let's see what happened this game....Bolded statements are from the original post above.

Target slash...49/51/40/72...Target means this is what we need to do to win....And we far exceed those numbers in the first half (60/ 61/ 57 / 88) and we opened a huge lead... And of course we failed those numbers badly in the 2nd half ( 30/ 35 / 14 / 79 ) and the lead faded away.  But let's see what the whole game looked like...Actual slash... 44 / 47 / 36/ 82....What did we need to make the slash?...2 more 2s and 1 more 3...Totals up to 7 pts...that is how close we were....Make the numbers...win the game.

In order to win we need to hold them to 73 pts....close but not good enough...every point matters

Stop Devries and Brodie...Hold Brodie to under 50% on FG%...We did and that was the key to us leading for most of the game....We held Devries to  10pts (half his normal total) and Brodie to 44% (way below his 70% average )...but because we were under manned  lesser players scored a bunch.....Hold DRK's top 2 to 27pts...You will note here I didn't say to hold Devries and Brodie to 27 but their 2 top scorers to 27...Plan B was if  Devries and Brodie get into trouble  let some else shoot and then pray...that worked tonight ...on another night when the Bills had an extra player or 2 plan B would have faltered.

Rebounding should be close this game...Bills win this battle ...on most nights this stat alone would have been enough to put us over the top but there was one last item we need to take care of....

Match them on TOs and steals. ..Steals ...8-7 advantage Bills......almost there.......TOs ...14-10 advantage Drake...fail... This was one of the keys to the game....14 isn't a terrible number  but the +4 is damaging....this team cannot afford to lose giveaway battles.  Drake had 14 pts on 14 Bills TO( 1pt/ TO)....take away those 4 extra TOs and you subtract 4 Drake pts PLUS the Bills have 4 more chances to score 3 pts.

Bottom line...More players and we don't run out of gas and beat them....The takeaway is... we can beat anybody left on our schedule ...particularly if we get some additional players ....through healing or the NCAA.

 

The slash lines you post are too optimistic wiz. The Bills are a good shooting team but the numbers you post result in the Billikens winning a national title.

This team needs to be able to play defense and we just don't have the bodies to do it.

Your spread was actually pretty on the money. Good job.