WBB Offseason

[Lord Elrond]

16 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

It’s certainly interesting that she is spinning the transfers as a purge of players that aren’t up to snuff. Her quote that they weren’t able to get players of the quality they wanted last year was certainly one that got a side eye out of me. 

I would love to know who she’s specifically referring to, but we’re not going to be told that. Nicastro and Connor did very well with their new teams this year after leaving. I think I will keep track of where this year’s players end up and how well they do at the new teams.

[Pistol]

37 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

It’s certainly interesting that she is spinning the transfers as a purge of players that aren’t up to snuff. Her quote that they weren’t able to get players of the quality they wanted last year was certainly one that got a side eye out of me. 

I wouldn't mind it as much if she weren't also playing her daughter over Mya Glanton, Rita Nazario, etc. etc.

Also, her comment must apply to the entire roster because there are just 4 players left - her daughter, Hannah Wallace, Mia Bergstrom, and Marilena Triantafylli. So it's one person who played a little and probably shouldn't have, a promising freshman who played her way into the starting lineup, a promising freshman who played her way into minutes and then lost those minutes inexplicably, and a sophomore transfer who didn't play at all this season.

Those are the only players worth keeping?

(I would definitely keep Wallace and Bergstrom, FWIW. Jury's still out on Triantafylli.)

Hopefully she's not bluffing and we see her put her money where her mouth is and upgrade this roster.

[Lord Elrond]

11 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I wouldn't mind it as much if she weren't also playing her daughter over Mya Glanton, Rita Nazario, etc. etc.

Also, her comment must apply to the entire roster because there are just 4 players left - her daughter, Hannah Wallace, Mia Bergstrom, and Marilena Triantafylli. So it's one person who played a little and probably shouldn't have, a promising freshman who played her way into the starting lineup, a promising freshman who played her way into minutes and then lost those minutes inexplicably, and a sophomore transfer who didn't play at all this season.

Those are the only players worth keeping?

(I would definitely keep Wallace and Bergstrom, FWIW. Jury's still out on Triantafylli.)

Hopefully she's not bluffing and we see her put her money where her mouth is and upgrade this roster.

Of the ones who left with eligibility remaining, Tiera Simon is the one who bugs me most that there was no way to keep her. The only player in the A10 with more rebounds and eligibility left other than Tiera Simon is Laura Ziegler. Tillett is going to find a better player than Simon in the portal? Fine, I’m holding her to her word on that.

[billikenbill]

4 hours ago, Pistol said:

I wouldn't mind it as much if she weren't also playing her daughter over Mya Glanton, Rita Nazario, etc. etc.

Also, her comment must apply to the entire roster because there are just 4 players left - her daughter, Hannah Wallace, Mia Bergstrom, and Marilena Triantafylli. So it's one person who played a little and probably shouldn't have, a promising freshman who played her way into the starting lineup, a promising freshman who played her way into minutes and then lost those minutes inexplicably, and a sophomore transfer who didn't play at all this season.

Those are the only players worth keeping?

(I would definitely keep Wallace and Bergstrom, FWIW. Jury's still out on Triantafylli.)

Hopefully she's not bluffing and we see her put her money where her mouth is and upgrade this roster.

Her daughter doesn’t look like a starter at PG for a small high school. Personally, I think Tillett is full of it and a bad coach. Too much psychobabble and women’s empowerment stuff. Just coach the game and help players get better.

[Lord Elrond]

9 minutes ago, billikenbill said:

Her daughter doesn’t look like a starter at PG for a small high school. Personally, I think Tillett is full of it and a bad coach. Too much psychobabble and women’s empowerment stuff. Just coach the game and help players get better.

I hear you, but I keep reading the posts on the men’s side, where the common opinion seems to be that winning the  conference tournament is all but impossible. Tillett did that, something no women’s coach has ever done here before. Then, we won the WNIT, while only playing 1 home game, 4 away games, and 1 neutral site game, 6 wins in a row. I don’t think those accomplishments are signs of a bad coach. I do think it’s possible that her message to her team has gotten stale or changed over time. 4 Longwood players followed her to St Louis, which I took at the time as evidence she could gain player loyalty. The past two years, this year in particular, with players leaving, there’s not much evidence of that same loyalty. Right now I’d say she needs to deliver on getting better players. But this is the Show-Me State, so I’m not going to get too excited on who she gets or doesn’t get, I’ll judge by results on the court next year. 

[billikenfan05]

10 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

I hear you, but I keep reading the posts on the men’s side, where the common opinion seems to be that winning the  conference tournament is all but impossible. Tillett did that, something no women’s coach has ever done here before. Then, we won the WNIT, while only playing 1 home game, 4 away games, and 1 neutral site game, 6 wins in a row. I don’t think those accomplishments are signs of a bad coach. I do think it’s possible that her message to her team has gotten stale or changed over time. 4 Longwood players followed her to St Louis, which I took at the time as evidence she could gain player loyalty. The past two years, this year in particular, with players leaving, there’s not much evidence of that same loyalty. Right now I’d say she needs to deliver on getting better players. But this is the Show-Me State, so I’m not going to get too excited on who she gets or doesn’t get, I’ll judge by results on the court next year. 

What? Where are these posts?

Getting an at-large on the Men's side of the A10, seems all but impossible anymore. But winning the tournament is always wide open.

[Lord Elrond]

11 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

What? Where are these posts?

Getting an at-large on the Men's side of the A10, seems all but impossible anymore. But winning the tournament is always wide open.

May just be my impression. The A10 for the men ha become a one bid league, and I don’t see that changing the way things are going, so any discussion otherwise just seems delusional.

[billikenfan05]

1 hour ago, Lord Elrond said:

May just be my impression. The A10 for the men ha become a one bid league, and I don’t see that changing the way things are going, so any discussion otherwise just seems delusional.

That's the thing, I just don't see how the top of this conference is any worse than it was 5 years ago. Obviously they are worse off as it pertains to metrics, but I just don't think they are any worse as teams. If it's a scheduling issue, that needs to be rectified. 

[courtside]

17 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

Of the ones who left with eligibility remaining, Tiera Simon is the one who bugs me most that there was no way to keep her. The only player in the A10 with more rebounds and eligibility left other than Tiera Simon is Laura Ziegler. Tillett is going to find a better player than Simon in the portal? Fine, I’m holding her to her word on that.

Laura Ziegler entered the transfer portal last week. 

[brianstl]

It sounds like Jill Pizzotti is going to have the interim tag removed and be named the coach of DePaul.

[courtside]

SLU is adding Jada Tiggett as a transfer. 6’2 Guard/Forward from North Carolina Central University, via Winchester/Temecula in Riverside County, CA. She played 2 seasons at NCCU. 

Defender, rebounder, shot blocker. 3 sport athlete in high school. 

[courtside]

Doug Bruno has advocated behind the scenes for Jill Pizzotti to get the job. Others on DePaul’s list included:

Bart Brooks (Belmont)

Carly Thibault-Dudonis (Fairfield)

Carrie Moore (Harvard)

Erin Dickerson-Davis (William & Mary)

Kristen Gillespie (Illinois State)

(Brooks was an 11 year DePaul assistant. Gillespie’s dad played college basketball at DePaul with Bruno. CTD has turned down multiple P4 interest the past few cycles.)

[billikenbill]

35 minutes ago, courtside said:

SLU is adding Jada Tiggett as a transfer. 6’2 Guard/Forward from North Carolina Central University, via Winchester/Temecula in Riverside County, CA. She played 2 seasons at NCCU. 

Defender, rebounder, shot blocker. 3 sport athlete in high school. 

Role player possibly adding rim protection and rebounding. Tillett is going to have to step it up to have any shot at a winning season. Another losing season and that seat has to get very warm, or may contain an eject button.

[Lord Elrond]

1 hour ago, courtside said:

SLU is adding Jada Tiggett as a transfer. 6’2 Guard/Forward from North Carolina Central University, via Winchester/Temecula in Riverside County, CA. She played 2 seasons at NCCU. 

Defender, rebounder, shot blocker. 3 sport athlete in high school. 

A occasional starter, but mostly a backup on the #341 NET team in the NCAA.  She compares to Marcavia Shavers, a much better shot blocker than Shavers (61 blocks, one of the best in the MEAC vs 3 for Shavers, but not as good a shooter percentage wise last year (Tiggett slash .407/.235/.606, Shavers slash .491/.000/.547) Note: Shavers never attempted a 3.  Tiggett got exactly the same number of rebounds (117) as Shavers last year, but took about 100 more minutes of playing time to do it.

[billikenfan05]

11 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

A occasional starter, but mostly a backup on the #341 NET team in the NCAA.  She compares to Marcavia Shavers, a much better shot blocker than Shavers (61 blocks, one of the best in the MEAC vs 3 for Shavers, but not as good a shooter percentage wise last year (Tiggett slash .407/.235/.606, Shavers slash .491/.000/.547) Note: Shavers never attempted a 3.  Tiggett got exactly the same number of rebounds (117) as Shavers last year, but took about 100 more minutes of playing time to do it.

Jada Tiggett sounds like the fake name Bel Tillett would use to check into a game incognito. 

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

1 minute ago, billikenfan05 said:

Jada Tiggett sounds like the fake name Bel Tillett would use to check into a game incognito. 

Just add a fake mustache and a monocle, they'll have no idea.

[billikenfan05]

[OkieBilliken]

12 hours ago, billikenbill said:

Role player possibly adding rim protection and rebounding. Tillett is going to have to step it up to have any shot at a winning season. Another losing season and that seat has to get very warm, or may contain an eject button.

OMG we are portalling in non-starters from MEAC teams.  Are we going to be terrible????   I was in school the year we went 0-26!!!!   We actually won a total of SEVEN conference games over a 7 year period.  I refuse to go back to that time.   GOTTA GET SOME DAMN PLAYERS NOW!!!!

[Lord Elrond]

15 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

OMG we are portalling in non-starters from MEAC teams.  Are we going to be terrible????   I was in school the year we went 0-26!!!!   We actually won a total of SEVEN conference games over a 7 year period.  I refuse to go back to that time.   GOTTA GET SOME DAMN PLAYERS NOW!!!!

 

[OkieBilliken]

33 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

 

Yeah easy for you.  Do you know the suffering of sitting in an empty West Pine Gym losing to some Patriot League school by 50?    Have you ever looked at a new schedule and said, "Thank God we are playing McKendree.  We may get a win this year?"  We had two coaches who had a combined 20-138 record.    If you didn't live through you wont understand the anxiety.   

[TheA_Bomb]

1 hour ago, OkieBilliken said:

OMG we are portalling in non-starters from MEAC teams.  Are we going to be terrible????   I was in school the year we went 0-26!!!!   We actually won a total of SEVEN conference games over a 7 year period.  I refuse to go back to that time.   GOTTA GET SOME DAMN PLAYERS NOW!!!!

This is kinda how I feel about this addition too. Doesn't look good. 

[Lord Elrond]

Well, if Coach Tillett thought this announcement would calm down the fan base…

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

44 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

This is kinda how I feel about this addition too. Doesn't look good. 

100% agree. A starting rotation with Bel Tillett is looking more and more likely  

[billikenfan05]

39 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Well, if Coach Tillett thought this announcement would calm down the fan base…

I would be interested to know if she has her finger on the pulse of the fan base. 

[Lord Elrond]

13 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

I would be interested to know if she has her finger on the pulse of the fan base. 

Good point, I’d like to know that too