My take

[Quality Is Job 1]

[Schasz]

Lots of frustration at the start of what many thought would be a good to very good season for the Bills. It does appear that the offense is the culprit and one would have to believe that it will get a lions share of the practice time...it must get fixed ASAP!

I don't think that anyone should be piling on Reggie. My one concern for him is his health. I hope that he gets his ankle back to 100% soon, but he isn't the only player on the team who has gotten off to a slow start. Let's see if Coach Soderberg can get the offensive problems fixed. We really need a win over Hawaii.

[billiken_roy]

brehms, in a way, it is the ultimate compliment. i for one think and have said that reggie is the star and i still believe that. i have compared him to erwin claggett, who is a billiken hall of famer, a legend. reggie is that good. however, the fact is, he obviously isnt playing like that right now. if it is the injury, so be it. but that doesnt hide the fact that without THE reggie, this team wont win. we need reggie to be erwin claggett, justin love or marque perry. he has to be able to ignore triple teams and make it happen. if he cant do it because of injury, then i agree it is up to the coach to make the decision to use clarke or meyer or brown instead and let reggie get healthy so he can be the old reggie.

i can believe that the coaches ignored reggie over the summer. i would also think that is pretty common at any school. a team lives by recruiting and it is well known that the summer aau season is the most important time to be on the road chasing recruits.

but the one thing none of us counted on was for reggie to not be at least the same player he was last year. without our three seniors stepping up, the billikens are in bigtime trouble, because i doubt the youngsters are ready to make that larry hughes like impact that would be required to offset the need.

[bonwich]

Somewhere in the middle of the first half, my kid turns to me and asks why Tom was on the bench a good 3-4 minutes ahead of everyone else during pre-game warmups, and also says that Reggie "looks hurt."

She also points out later in the game that Anthony is running around like crazy chasing his guy, but the guy seems to be getting away from him pretty often.

At the end of the first half, she asked why the Billikens didn't seem to know that they were holding the ball for the last shot. (She's about 5-5 and in sixth grade; I really need to get her into organized basketball somewhere.)

Anyway, some of that sure seemed like "out of the mouths of babes." Reg seemed to fire up a lot for stretches in the second half, but if he's really still only 90 percent or 85 percent or whatever, I think he's playing with a hell of a lot of heart.

And then, with about three minutes left, I thought, but didn't say out loud, that the game would probably come down to a last shot by Reggie. And with 10.5 left, you knew Reg would be the key player. What I'd really like to see now is a half-court-view tape of that whole sequence. Reg had 3 people on him. That means at least two of our guys were uncovered. I have to think there was an outlet pass to make -- but, as with the end of the first half, I just didn't feel like the play had been coached clearly.

Unfortunately, I see no immediate solutions other than the team getting used to each other and to the offense, and the two key players (Tom and Reggie) improving a combination of their health, confidence and judgment.

[BillikenButch]

I'd love to see that halfcourt picture, too. My recollection was that the other four Bills were rather bunched up (and easily defended), in an attempt to clear the way for Reggie. I may be wrong.

The way he was defended left little chance for a pass toward the basket however. Did we have any timeouts left?

[billiken_roy]

i felt that reggie should have caught and shot as he curled around the screen instead of putting it on the floor. but of course it is easy for us to look back in hindsight when we dont have an entire team running at us at that second. that all said, there is no one else on the team i want to take that shot at this point in time.

[bonwich]

1. Neither team had any timeouts left.

2. As noted, I figured this would be a patented "Reg last shot." But I would have been just as happy to see anyone shooting a wide open jumper than Reg having to drive through two defenders and a tree for an off-balance prayer.

[brehms13]

Roy its not pretty common for coaches to be out of touch with their players during the summer. It's not common for players to be out of touch at the beginning of the season, it's not common for players nor is it common for your star player, that's unacceptable. What is common is that we don't hear about it until something terrible happens, then comes all the concern. Then the coach is there.

Bottom line is Reg is hurt, I don't think he should be benched, but I'm not the coach. I'm tired of hearing all this crap about his play, when everyone in America knows he's playing hurt. If you all feel he should be benched, then who do u tell it to? Who has control of that? Certainly not Reggie...but the talk here on this board doesn't sound like a tone of he's hurt blah..blah..blah..it sounds like his ability of getting the job done is in question (the coaches or a teammate should get in his face) and that he somehow could do things differently. The only thing he can do differently is not to play at all, and even the coach has to agree on that. Getting in his face won't change the fact that he's playing on a bum ankle. U're probably not stating that but others are. I posed this question before, what if he's playing to the best of his ability right now, what if he's plaqued by this injury all year. Then what? What will be said if he misses the next 5 games, 10 games, will their still be complaints about Reg's inability to play. Hell yes, my proof that regardless of What decision is made, no one will be satisfied. Ultimately Reg, still carries the blame for being hurt.

[darrenpais]

I dont know what to feel personally .. i am a die hard Billiken and Reggie is my favorite player in ALL of college basketball .. i love the guy .. he s probably the only basketball player who walks on campus with a smile and without the demeanor that he is 'the ######' , when in fact we all know that he is the best, ... without a healthy reggie the rest of our season is doomed.

I also consider soderberg to be a great coach .... and clearly now , somethings not working out ... they need to practice something theyre not ..

I know just one thing .. they WILL figure it out .. they re a good team , a well coached team , a talented team and a dedicated team .. they will all have to come together and they will ... maybe we just need to wait that little bit longer

go bills .. kick some hawaii ass

[billiken_roy]

brehms, there is no doubt something is up. so your saying his ankle is not right doesnt surprise me. i wish they would let it heal whereby when cusa games come up he is in better shape. i dont see how a college athlete that practices and plays hard every day can recover from any such injury without rest. they sat ian saturday. let reg sit for the good of all.

[brehms13]

Out of the mouths of Babes..like I said, I didn't see the game, I'm going on what Reg has said and what others have posted. That was my point, where was the team. Reg didn't know, he said he really couldn't see anything but the guys on him, he thought it was less time on the clock than there actually was, so he put up a shot. He didn't question his teammates, or where they were, when I asked he was like " I don't know", "I should've done this" and "I've should've done that", but I told him, u did what u could do. It's done, move on. I know its easier said than done, but what could I say to him.

What I want to get across to everyone is Reg's play isn't 100%. We should all know by now what he's capable of and those who don't know, u don't know. Not yet anyway. To think that the coach or anyone else can spark some sort of magic to make him unhurt and to magically make his game better is crazy. Reg already has that spark, he already has that determination, u say Reg how's the foot, how's the ankle, he's like it's okay, just swelling, no pain (He'll never complain). Who's gonna believe he's not feeling any pain, with the way u all says he looks (I only hear the games can't see them). Same as with our dad and his life threatening stroke, ask Reg, how's your dad.."he's okay".."he's coming along". He doesn't fall victim to his circumstances, he plays on in spite of them. He's working his butt off out there, to at least contribute, and to get better. If the doctor says sit, I'm sure he would sit. If the doctor says play, he's gonna play. As far as the other guys (seniors) I attribute that to the coaching and their need to get some offensive plays going and to start putting some confidence into your VETEREN PLAYERS. They get the backlash now when they're losing but no one cared about Izik or Tom on offense when they assumed they had better players than them. Matter of fact people were complaining about Izik all summer long. I say if he does nothing else this year, he's already proven most wrong, because no one thought he'd get the 23 points, majority of the board didn't have high expectations for him. But now we do..., where's the confidence in his abilities, where's the confidence in Tom's. It was all about the new guys, now we're back to the guys that have been here. Uhm?? (not u specifically Bonwich, last paragraph is general comments)

[brehms13]

U're right, No one can be the blame for what's going on, but everyone can be part of the solution. It's just hard reading post, where people who obviously don't know Reg assumes that an "in your face" approach is the way to go, when it's not.

I'm an avid believer in this team, in their abilities, I don't care to look at who was here last year, what so and so did, I'm about the team we have now. I feel they're capable of great things and it will happen. It's hard swallowing losses, I hate having to talk to Reg after a loss, he's not angry or nasty, he's oddly always positive, but this last loss, he took personally. We'll see what's up Saturday, I will make sure I'm listening.

[guest]

less assists and less turnovers with less time never. polk is a great raw talent. ok ready. i'm not here to argue. i just have and opinion just like you. ok, polk is young you expect turnovers, but at 30 minutes a game. come on he's a freshman, so basically what we're doing here is trail and error, we're just gonna let him make mistakes, 30 minmutes a game worth. or we bring him in to pick up the tempo. ease his way into the line up. make him smarter player. and i never said you know nothing, i said learn a little more. i learn something new every time a watch a game. watch some the great coaches see the chemistry and balance thats on the floor.

[guest]

i do not believe reg is the problem, it takes a special player to be able to take tough shots. if you don't take shots you don't make any. reg is not the problem, like i said in a previous post, the younger need to rally around the older guys and lets get the job done. without reg's fearlessness on offensive, billikens are easily 0-4, and probably lose every game by 20 points. reg is great tell him to keep pushing himself. but not to injured himself any more.

a lack of commmunication seems to be the problem with this team. i agree on that. theres always time to talk to your players, star or not. i believe we will get it fixed. i believe that these loses are better earlier in the season than later in the season. the ncaa commitee likes teams that are hot towards the end of the season, so lets learn from these loses and lets get this win column moving.

[slu72]

Brehms you're frustration with some of the posters is justified. Think we're all just a little po'd we lost to these type of programs. My guess is Uncle Brad thinks a 60% or 75% Reggie is better than anyone else he's got to put on the floor, hence his playing hurt. Also, anyone that thinks this team can achieve the lofty goals we all had for it two weeks ago without RB is either smoking crack or a complete idiot when it comes to college hoops. I wish we had a reliable backup for Reggie, but sadly we don't. As to Reg's feeling low about his last play, well, let's just say if others had performed as expected, that game would never have come down to a last shot affair. There is just no reason for 6-9 players to be missing 3 foot open look shots time after time after time....Let's just all hope the worst is behind us and we put some kind of streak together, because that's what it's going to take to salvage the season. And Brehms if this spiral continues, be prepared to see posts in mid January that say bench all the seniors and play the new guys the rest of the way.

[slufanskip]

Brehms ... how come when a poster or two say something you don't agree with you always jump on the entire board like we have no clue? Maybe i'm missinterpreting ... if so I apologize ...but that is how it seems to me.

Reggie is a Sr and the best player on the team, with that come expectations ... most of us know he is hurt, but don't really have a way of knowing how hurt he is. I know I would not question Reg's heart, I saw him play last year while being the only offensive weapon on the team and get literally beaten up game after game. In watching the games it is clear that Reg is not performing at his best so of course we are going to wonder and question why. We are fans ... most of us donate alot of money to the program because we do care so much.

As far as getting in someones face and getting on them ... I wouldn't guess that would work with Reg anyway .... it seldom does with the quiet type people ... now with AD ... who is very emotional and wears it on his sleeve it my get him pumped ... different people different approaches.

I appreciate your posts and the "inside information" we get from you and all the family members who post ... just if you are going to challenge someone for posting something you don't agree with ... pay attention to who said it and challenge that person ... I bet 90% of the time they post something negative due to being frustrated because they also care a great deal.

I hope you let us know when you are coming and stop by and say hello to a few of us if you get the time.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[guest]

i don't want to speak for anyone, but it's tough to swallow some of the negative comments, knowing how hard these kids work, day in and day out. everything they do is for basketball and the coaches and the fans.

[brehms13]

I responded to Big Al's post. In that response I did say it wasn't all on here but most, and that's simply my interpretation. Most of the post were about his bad shots etc... In my reponse to Bonwich's post I said, this is not u personally but generally speaking. When I write my post, I normally try to respond to what's posted and also to bring up points on my own. I don't think the whole board feels the same way. I said before, I don't even remember names half the time, so I just respond in general. I'm getting better at it. When I have something to say, I don't go back to the different post and say well, who said this , who said that, I have a tendency to address all the concerns in one post. If to u that's offensive "my bad". That's just me. I have a bad habit, of taking exceptional notes to what is being said and not to who said them.

But slufanskip, I'm sure the school appreciates your financial support, the players as well, if u're referring to scholarships (as Reg has one). I'm talking about those posters who say, Reg needs to do this, the coach needs to get in Reg's face, He was triple teamed but should've made the shot; things like that (again don't remember who said them, just remember the comments)to me these comments discount all of his efforts. He's playing hurt. I don't remember many posters asking questions as u say, I remember posters making comments that I felt needed responding to, so I did. They make assumptions, they speculate. I want the whole board to recognize, that if they think it's hard to lose these games, think of how hard it is for the players and coaches. If u went back and look at the posts this summer many people slept on Izik, barely mentioned Reg, Tom was only mentioned, when saying he was hurt...My comments are based on what's posted on this board and I just like bringing them up to prove my points. The seniors were an afterthought before the season, now they're the only thoughts, Why wouldn't I bring that up? This makes for good debating, good conversations and insightful dialogue.

My family and I will be in St. Louis 12/14 - 12/19.

[Billiken Rich]

I assume they like the cheering when things go well? They have to expect some beefing when they lose to Austin Powers and Eastern Wherever and Little Oral Annie. I'll start bitching about Brad when we are losing to directional schools AND hitting some shots. From all the reports and from watching the preseason games You can see that we aren't a great shooting team. I didn't get to see the Oral Annie game, I'll admit, but it sure seems that Thicks is right, that we need a leader. Reg and tom aren't doing it be they injured, out of shape, or whatever.

I'm not ready to write off this year yet but the pipe dreams of Reggie and Tom leading us to the NCAA tournament are going up in smoke barring another CUSA Tourney run......

[slufanskip]

Your exact writing was you know nothing my friend ... I watch plenty of college basketball 43 years worth and alot of time actually on the floor playing, studying, and learning. ... you are in the minority by far in your opinion that Drejaj should start over Polk.

You also said more assists with less time.

I'm still curious who you are with your college ball experience.

Polk doesn't make 30 minutes a game worth of errors ... you my friend really need to learn.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[guest]

I am not trying to pin him with the loss at all. I think he moves on offense well and shoots from 3 decent if he has some time to get his shot off. And I think his defense is above average, and he rebounds well for a guard, and his ballhandling is improved.

However, I still do not think he should be starting, well maybe at the point. Tutt was able to lose him off the screens. Based on the one game, I thought Brown matched up better on "D". He probably doesn't have a quick enough release to play the 2. He is probably to short to play the 3. I am not sure how he would match up against a Derrick Brooks from SIU. I think he has looked good guarding PGs in the past. But I though Polk looked pretty good also.

[Sheltiedave]

Brehms, you may notice I left Reg's play out of my critiques. I know how much an injury puts you off the top level you need to play day in and day out. I have had back surgery, and I've never been the same. You can fight through the pain, but 80% is not 100%.

Reggie is not getting much explosion, little burst, and doesn't have the same elevation on his shot, all because his legs are not what they should be if he weren't injured. Even with that, he guts it out, and has never failed to answer the bell. With the game on the line, his number was called - and he tried as best he could to win it. I walked away without bitching, because I always want the ball in his hands with four seconds left for a jump shot.

I also feel that we will come around. The injury will pass, and Reggie will be able to train Dwayne and the others about his feel for the game. It is going to be a hard season, because everyone is new to each other, and it usually takes two full years for players to learn how everyone plays to the point where it is automatic. We don't have that. We just have to fight through everything and stay together, and keep busting axx to make the Dance.

[Billikan]

It is always someone else's fault. No one takes responsibility. These posts are similar to what I see in society as a whole.

How about the players stepping up and playing the game and hitting some easy shots?

[guest]

good teams always fall early, great one bounce back and make it to the big games. i think we can do it. this team is very talented.

[tseugnekillib]

anyone who suggest or states that the Billikens don't practice their offense is either totally clueless or is just being silly!