2024-2025 Season

[Aquinas]

I don't recall a season with more new faces. I have listed the players by position to make it easier to see how this might come together. Yes, a point guard might be a shooting guard, there are no positions yada yada yada.  The freshman I have listed at the bottom. We don't know real heights and weights on them. One of them could surprise us. I am not projecting anything in this opening post, just player info so there is a quick reference at the beginning of this thread. The Schertz quotes come from SLUbillikens.com. 

Centers:
Robbie Avila 6’10”240 Jr, Center, 31 Min, 17 Pts, 7 RB, 3Pt% 39, FT% 81, Asst, 4.1, Stls  .67,
Indiana State– Missouri Valley, Shertz: “Makes everyone around him better.”

Kilian Brockoff 6’9” 225, SO, Center, 8 Min, 3 Pts, 1.5 RB, 3pt% 38, FT% 57, Asst .3,
UC Santa Barbara – Big West, From Germany Schertz: “He fits us systematically with his combination of size, skill and the ability to think the game.”

Powe Forwards:
A J Casey 6’9” 221, JR, Forward, 9 Min, 2 Pts, 2 RB, 3Pt% 0, FT% 59, Asst, .3 Stls .1,
Miami – ACC, Schertz: Can play with a big and operate as small ball 5. Defensively can guard 1-5.

Kalu Anya 6’8” 215, JR, Forward, 27 Min, 9.6 Pts, 7.4 RB, 3Pt% 27, FT% 51, Asst 1.7, Stls 1.2,
Brown-Ivy League, Schertz: ‘possesses the physical attributes and lateral quickness to guard 1-5.” 

Wings:
Gibson Jimerson 6’5” Sr, 215, Guard/Wing, 36 Min, 16 Pts, 2.9 RB, 3Pt% 36, FT% 86, Asst 2.1,  Stls .66, Billikens-A10

Kellen Thames 6’5” 205, SO, Guard, 19 Min, 6 Pts, 3.7 RB, 3 Pt% 36, FT% 55, Asst .8, Stls .9,
Billikens-A10

Shooting Guards:
Isaiah Swope 5’10” 170, SR Guard, 33 Min, 16 Pts, 3 RB, 3Pt% 36, FT% 74, Asst 2.1, Stls 1.3,
Indiana State, Schertz “His quickness and shooting are at elite levels and is one of the best scorers in all of college basketball.”  

Larry Hughes II 6’4” 185 Jr, Guard, 23 Min, 7 Pts, 2.7 RB, 3 Pt% 35, FT% 77, Asst 1.5, Stls 1.1
Billikens-A10

Point Guards:
Kobe Johnson 6’3”, SR, Guard, 26 Min 6 Pts, 2 RB, 3pt% 28, FT% 79, Asst 2.2, Stls.55,

West Virginia, Big 12 Schertz: “His combination of great lateral quickness, instincts and length gives him a chance to be an elite defender for us.”

Josiah Dotzler 6’3” 185, SO, Guard, 4Min, 1 Pts, 0 RB, 3Pt% 18, FT% 60, .2 Asst, .3 Stls, Creighton – Big East, Schertz: I recruited him out of high school.

Freshman:

Max Pikaar 6’11” 205, FR, Power Forward, Double/Double, 3Pt% 40, FT% ?  Netherlands - Sunrise Christian Academy (Kansas) Schertz – Can handle, pass and shoot at the highest levels Defensively can guard 1 – 4.  On3 3 star

Amari McCottry 6’6” 215, FR, Guard Wing, 22 Pts, 9 RB, St. Thomas More, 247 3 star, Schertz: “His size, skill and explosiveness are all at the very highest level.”

Dylan Warlick 6’5” 210, FR, Small Forward, 20 Pts, 11 RB, Edmond North High, Edmond OK, 247, Rivals and ESPN 3 star, physical player. Schertz "Dylan is a unique player with an equally unique mindset that is the engine of his elite competitive motor.”

[Billiken Rich]

Going to need a damn program, especially if Guy is coming back and being too busy clowning to actually mention who's subbing in.... 

[White Pelican]

35 minutes ago, Billiken Rich said:

Going to need a damn program, especially if Guy is coming back and being too busy clowning to actually mention who's subbing in.... 

His "whole buncha guys" never gets old.

[Billiken Rich]

21 minutes ago, White Pelican said:

His "whole buncha guys" never gets old.

Such a useless  'bag......

 

[Aquinas]

We have 3 solid starters in Avila, Swope and Jimerson. After that we have Hughes Thames, the transfers and freshmen with question marks. So I decided see what the ISU starters, did in their first year under Schertz, as compared to the previous year. I believe all those players were rated 2 stars out of high school.  Our current freshman each have at least one 3 stars rating. Avila came in under Schertz as a freshman. Conwell Kent and Swope transferred from other schools and Larry was a freshman at ISU the year before Schertz arrived.  I have bolded the first year under Schertz: 

Robbie Avila Freshman under Schertz – A solid first year for an 11-20 team.  Followed by a big jump last year.
2022 Min 21, Pts 11, FG% 54, 3P% 34, FT% 71, Asst 1.6
2023 Min 31, Pts 17, FG% 54, 3Pt% 39, FT% 81, Asst 4.1

Julian Larry Freshman at ISU before Schertz. He had a modest improvement in points, but a big improvement in efficiency. He never became a big scorer, but was very efficient. He made another step up in efficiency in his second year under Schertz.
2020 Min 20, Pts 4, FG% 31, 3P% 27, FT% 68, Ast 1.6
2021 Min 30, Pts 5.7, FG% 48, 3P% 35, FT% 82, Ast 2
2022 Min 26, Pts 7, FG% 59, 3P% 46, FT% 82, Ast 3.3
2023 Min 34, Pts 11, FG% 52, 3P% 46, FT% 78, Ast 4.8

Ryan Conwell Transferred as Soph from USF.  Big jump in everything, in year one (last year).
2022 Min 19, Pts 5, FG% 34, 3P% 30, FT% 82, Ast 1.9
2023 Min 34, Pts 17, FG% 48, 3P% 40.7, FT% 85, Ast 2.5

Jayson Kent Transferred as Jr from Bradley. His Pts and Min dropped, Efficiency improved. His big jump came in the following year (last Yr).
2021 Min 20, Pts 7, FG% 38, 3P% 26, FT% 64, Asst .5
2022 Min 15, Pts 5, FG% 47, 3Pt% 27, FT% 80, Asst .4
2023 Min 30, Pts 13, FG% 64, 3P%37, FT% 84, Asst .6

Isaiah Swope Transferred as a JR from Southern Indiana, Ohio Valley Conf: He had a big freshman year at Southern Indiana, then some of his numbers dipped a little.  Some of that is probably better competition and some a knee problem that required surgery at the end of this last season.
2022 Min 32, Pts 16, FG% 46, 3P% 42 FT% 74, Asst 3.5
2023 Min 33, Pts 16, FG% 43, 3P% 36, FT% 74, Ast 2.1

So how will each of the new players respond to Schertz? Most players improve from one year to the next, but the improvements under Schertz in efficiency numbers, are very impressive. At least one of our transfer power forwards, needs to step up and then probably 2 guards.  

[slu72]

Based on the above re player development under Schertz, I get the feeling Schertz is a Rick clone, ie a BB savant. We all saw how Rick’s boys improved under Rick’s tutelage, and Schertz seems to strike the same chord. This will be a pleasant change from Travis’ coaching philosophy. Ford’s idea seemed to be to recruit the best athletes and hoped they’d improve by osmosis. Bess showed improvement here, but I think that was due more to his individual drive than Ford’s coaching. On the flip side of the coin, French was basically the same player his senior year as his Freshman year. I think the same can be said for Yuri and a host of others. As examples, French never developed a 10-15 foot shot, and Yuri’s 3 pt shot never improved beyond a certain point. In both cases they would have been so much more effective had they made these strides. Yes, both were good players but they could have been better with good coaching. I don’t like kicking Travis when he’s down but there’s no denying the guy had some major shortcomings beyond his ability to recruit good players. Schertz seems to be a different animal. 

[Schasz]

1 hour ago, slu72 said:

Based on the above re player development under Schertz, I get the feeling Schertz is a Rick clone, ie a BB savant. We all saw how Rick’s boys improved under Rick’s tutelage, and Schertz seems to strike the same chord. This will be a pleasant change from Travis’ coaching philosophy. Ford’s idea seemed to be to recruit the best athletes and hoped they’d improve by osmosis. Bess showed improvement here, but I think that was due more to his individual drive than Ford’s coaching. On the flip side of the coin, French was basically the same player his senior year as his Freshman year. I think the same can be said for Yuri and a host of others. As examples, French never developed a 10-15 foot shot, and Yuri’s 3 pt shot never improved beyond a certain point. In both cases they would have been so much more effective had they made these strides. Yes, both were good players but they could have been better with good coaching. I don’t like kicking Travis when he’s down but there’s no denying the guy had some major shortcomings beyond his ability to recruit good players. Schertz seems to be a different animal. 

We'll soon find out if Coach Schertz is a good HC at SLU. I'm excited to see how our Billikens do under his coaching. 

[dlarry]

23 hours ago, Billiken Rich said:

Going to need a damn program, especially if Guy is coming back and being too busy clowning to actually mention who's subbing in.... 

correction….If Gus is coming back.

[NextYearBill]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5527619/2024/05/30/college-basketball-top-25-nba-withdrawal-prospects/

 

#21

[HoosierPal]

37 minutes ago, NextYearBill said:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5527619/2024/05/30/college-basketball-top-25-nba-withdrawal-prospects/

 

#21

. Article is locked. 

[White Pelican]

3 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

. Article is locked. 

 Yep, locked. But TIL that the NY Times owns The Athletic.

[CenHudDude]

NYB don’t keep us in suspense.  Were the Billikens ranked?

[NextYearBill]

6 minutes ago, CenHudDude said:

NYB don’t keep us in suspense.  Were the Billikens ranked?

#21

[brianstl]

[Dr. Holly Hills]

Couldn’t wait for last year’s season to end.  Can’t wait for this one to begin.  Families that I haven’t heard from or seen in years asking us if we renewed our tickets!!

[Spoon-Balls]

[Billikenbooster]

I love this time of year…optimism, no TO’s, or A10 refs fxxing with you, every recruit hits 90% of his FT’s, every returnee has a Conklin summer…ahh, the summer!!!

[Old guy]

51 minutes ago, Billikenbooster said:

I love this time of year…optimism, no TO’s, or A10 refs fxxing with you, every recruit hits 90% of his FT’s, every returnee has a Conklin summer…ahh, the summer!!!

You are correct, the summer is the time to dream, the difference this summer is Schertz and the team he recruited. This is what gives some substance to the summer dreams this year. As far as the A10 refs go, and after having watched most of the free televised ISU NIT games last season, I can say that Schertz is not a coach that screams constantly at the refs like our prior coach did. Schertz is polite in his dealings with the refs. This may be an important factor that improves the way the refs deal with the Bills next season. 

I am looking forward to it.

[bauman]

When is the last time anyone ranked us 3 spots higher in a national poll than Kentucky?

[wgstl]

12 minutes ago, bauman said:

When is the last time anyone ranked us 3 spots higher in a national poll than Kentucky?

AP poll 2013 

[almaman]

3 hours ago, bauman said:

When is the last time anyone ranked us 3 spots higher in a national poll than Kentucky?

maybe the "who would hire Ford after being fired by OSU?" poll bacndaday?

[slu72]

32 minutes ago, almaman said:

maybe the "who would hire Ford after being fired by OSU?" poll bacndaday?

I’d agree there were some on here that weren’t fans of the Ford hire. At the time I thought he was maybe the best choice we had as he was a proven Major D1 coach with a winning record, albeit nothing spectacular. A lot of us never looked behind the curtains to see what was propping up his coaching reputation. As we know now it was his ability to land talent but sorely lacking in coaching skills and philosophy. Maybe the clue should have been his last year at OSU where he had talent but couldn’t seem to get out of their own way. Ah, well, live and learn. 

[TRN]

 

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

The beginning of something great,

To all of us who have endured,

May we begin.

Hopefully this thread is one to look back on.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

2 hours ago, TRN said:

 

Vibes immediately better than the last few Ford seasons. Schertz has been nothing but the real deal so far.

 

 

Smoothies!!!