courtside Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I am curious by some recent posts I have seen on the board. People flying off of the handle after 1 game(or two), making big statements and conclusions. Does anybody just judge one game for one game? Or comparing players on SLU to other teams...is anybody seriously going to judge the play of Mizzou's Horton or SLU's Polk on one game, or even part of one game. What if SLU plays Louisville this year and Francisco Garcia has a poor game? Will people say he a good player? Anybody judge SLU's players or team, or other teams on a little bit more than that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehms13 Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I for one think the team will improve. It's new players, it's old players adjusting to new players, it's coach and his staff trying new things, so it will take time to come together. I personally made my comments the other day based on that one game. I felt like everybody including the coach had an off day (game) and spoke on it. I certainly don't think that will be the case every game. I'm definitely not in panic mode, because I'm optimistic. Things have already begun to come together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 courtside, I agree with you and posted my thoughts on that after the first game. I do agree with a lot of what has been stated in threads though. Brad makes defense a priority and often we find ourselves struggling to get points offensively. I think this team will be okay and I think that will happen sooner than later. The frustrating thing is that some of these early season losses hurt us later in the year and can really affect the outcome of the postseason for us. Conference USA will be so tough this year and perhaps the toughest in years, so we have to be prepared for that. If we do not pull some upsets in conference games, then these early losses against beatable teams kill us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLIKNS Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Seems like we always struggle in these preseason tourneys.Remember Hughes` year we went 0-3(tough games all,but gooseegg) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted November 23, 2004 Author Share Posted November 23, 2004 ...I am just waiting for a Garcia,Banks, Diener, whomever, to play a poor game against SLU and I can read how they aren't that good. SLU will get better on D, and turnovers...the offense will be the question as has been the case so far under Soderberg. People want to see games in the 70's with more frequency...at least I do. You have to be very strong mentally, fundamentally, night in and night out to win in the 50's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Yes, we will get better but we have again dug ourselves a big hole in a quest for an NCAA dance ticket. It's getting to be an old story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I think people are flying off the handle due to the unrealistic expectations. Everybody was expecting an NCAA tourney appearance. Frericks was going to be all-conference. I am ecstatic about Polk but most people were thinking he was going to surpass Fisher's senior year performance. Newborne was going to come in and average double figures at the D1 level after averaging 10 a game in juco land. People are just discounting how good D1 really is. What is hurting the Bills is Bryant being hurt. He is their one true offensive weapon, and when he is struggling they are going to struggle. People are also discounting the fact that Sloan and Fisher could score a little bit. Everybody was expecting the other players to improve offensively and would carry us to the dance. The other players do need to score more just to replace what Sloan and Fisher did. I know they both avged around 10 a game last year. but in the Bill's offense that is actually around 13-14 for most other teams. I am not putting down any of the individual players. Polk seems to be doing very good for a freshman. I think Frericks is a solid starting center. If Bryant is healthy, the Bills are going to be hard to beat. But if he is hurting, they might struggle a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Most of those hopes you mentioned in the first paragraph may still be realized. Those are things that will have to played out over the next three months. Good teams improve over the course of a season. But what happened this weekend was straight out of the Twilight Zone. I don't think expecting to beat Austin Peay without their best player and Eastern Michigan, a middle of the pack team from a mid-major conference, are unrealistic expectations. I don't think expecting this team to average more than 52 ppg through the first two games against mediocre competition are unrealistic expectations. Those should be minimum expectations. There are going to be a new players in a program every year, and some of them are going to play key roles. But that doesn't mean the coaching staff has a built-in excuse for the team stinking up the joint for the first two weeks of every season. East Carolina was much more impressive than we were this past week and they were one of the worst teams in the conference last year. Conversely, our team is going to the wire to scratch out a win against 250+ RPI team, Troy St. That just shouldn't happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Coach Soderberg has stated on many public occasions that he knows what the typical basketball fans want: 1st = score in big numbers and win 2nd = score in smaller numbers and win 3rd = score in big numbers and lose 4th = score in small numbers and lose Soderberg also tells the story about when Wisconsin got back from playing in their first-ever Final Four that Coach Bennett had a letter on his desk from a major Wisconsin money-booster that said, "Congratulations on taking Wisconsin to its first-ever Final Four. Now please resign immediately, because I can't stand your style of basketball". Supposedly, it hurt Coach Bennett deeply. Coaching.....It's a tough business! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I think many casual fans, especially in St. Louis, want 2nd and 3rd to be reversed, so that it would look as follows: 1st = score in big numbers and win 2nd = score in big numbers and lose 3rd = score in smaller numbers and win 4th = score in small numbers and lose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 In any case, 4th was the story of this weekend so even without any athletic department rep reading this board, he knows we're pissed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehms13 Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I don't think they were unreasonable expectations either, shoot, i had those same expectations, but to rip the players about it and think the coach is untouchable isn't fair. (Not saying u personally did, generally speaking) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 coaches recruit and coach. players practice and play the games. as a player when you shoot 16-61, or when you shoot 1-14 from 3 and give the opposition 17 more free throws ....well then your inviting a loss regardless of the D1 opposition. hopefully, this weekend our favorite players will play up to OUR expectations and that SLU will win! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.