Hang in there

[Iggy]

This is the first game I've missed in about four or five years. I'm stuck out of town on business. Here's the deal:

This year: The lost season...ouch! We thought things would be much better, but our seniors we've counted on are hurt. They must be trying their best, but they're hurt. Big bummer.

Next year: The learning season...watch this team develop...Ian will turn into a stud...Dwayne will be awesome...Luke can really play...and the kids, Kevin and Tommie will show flashes...It'll be a fun year, but don't expect much.

'06 - '07: Wow, we've got a team...Husak, who'd have thought he'd be this good? Tommie and Kevin are taking over... Dwayne can really run this show...NCAA appearance..but a tough draw and a second round exit (again).

'07 - '08: Oh boy! If you don't have tickets for this season, you'll regret it. The best year since Easy Ed!

Hey, a guy can dream...

[slu72]

You know oddly enough I agree. I think we're going to be the St.Joe's of the 2006-07 season. Maybe not undefeated but damn good. Of course, to ensure this I'd like to see the elusive AB II appear on the scene.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Justin Johnson might be the Billikens' poor man's Anthony Bonner.

[Taj79]

I was going to counter with "JJ also might be the second coming of Tyrone Caswell/Johnnie ParkerSr/Sekue Barantine" and then was going to disapper but realized that you are there thicks .... what do you know that is unsaid here? Justin Johnson? To me, JJ, as a thrid-year sophomore isn't anywhere near to what Bonner contributed his first year ... and AB was "limited" as a player that first year as far as the offensive end was concerned.

You must know something to make that kind of comment so share, please?

[Quality Is Job 1]

Two key words in my statement are "might" and "poor-man's." I'm aware that Johnson hasn't matched what Anthony Bonner did his first season. Some of that is because JJ has more talent and experience in front of him than Bonner did, and some of it is because JJ hasn't figured things out yet. He has the physical tools and skills to be a solid forward for the Billikens, but he's not ready mentally. I'm hoping he matures enough to fulfill his potential before he runs out of eligibility (or flunks out or decides to transfer/gets run off).

[SluSignGuy]

With Brad's comment that everything is on the table, everything is possible. What would people think of a line up of

Polk

Bryant

Clarke/Brown/Meyer

Johnson/Newborne

Izik

Let's scrap the Billiken style of Old, and let Polk have his fun.

Steve

[3star_recruit]

"Let's scrap the Billiken style of Old, and let Polk have his fun."

I don't know about scrapping but situational press and traps to get some easy buckets is our only hope, IMO. As Einstein said, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. These kids' confidence continues to erode with each game and is probably down to a nub right now. In the last five minutes of the game, they were just throwing up anything in hopes that the Almighty would have mercy on them. If we can get some transition buckets early in game and get on the scoreboard, maybe the kids will build some confidence and those jumpers in the halfcourt set will start to fall.

Not only does Coach run the risk of wrecking the kids' confidence for the rest of the season, he runs the risk of scaring off recruits. I can't imagine Jarod Leonard or Bobby Hill looking at our games and saying, "I'd love to become a part of THAT!" 53 ppg and visibly bewildered kids is a very hard product to market.

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/...uis_mojf106.jpg

[billiken_roy]

i myself have said on many occasions (dont know if i ever wrote it on the board or not) that justin johnson came in looking physically like bonner as a freshman. but from their first minutes as a billiken, there is no comparison on the inside.

no one ever accused anthony bonner of having no heart, desire, hustle, messing with the wrong things, etc. still no argument from me that justin johnson has the tools, but he needs to turn on the switch in the middle of his chest. however, not sure there is such a switch. you either have it or you dont.

[billiken_roy]

in my "let's try something different" lineup, luke meyer plays and is told go score all the points you can.

as much as i am amazing myself saying this, i throw husak out there and tell him to clog the middle, block shots and pull down rebounds.

i give reggie one more shot and becoming reggie bryant again, but i tell danny brown to rev the engines.

again, amazing myself, i tell justin johnson this is his last chance it is now or never, and throw him out there. one relapse in hustle and effort and he can pack his bags for the naia world.

and of course i tell polk to become tiny archibald. make him stay up all night watching old kansas city kings archibald film or something.

[billiken_roy]

three star your picture speaks volumes. ian and frericks arent even watching and luke is chomping at the bit to get in the game. of course this is a snap shot, and for all we know the next second, frericks and ian were up on their feet screaming and luke was winking at a baby blue. but judging from what we have seen in the last month, i am betting this picture might be accurate.

[BillikenButch]

Other than playing time, why would a talented big guy come to SLU?

[billiken_roy]

why wouldnt one? the chance to start and star immediately. a top academic school. playing in major conferences, cusa now and a-10 next year. very good group of guards coming up in polk, lisch, liddell, and meyer. it seems like a perfect opportunity imo. not like some schools where you have to wait your turn. should be pretty obvious you get a chance to shine immediately.

[BillikenButch]

Obviously that is not enough, since we have been looking for "AB II" for the past 15 years.

We are a top 100 academic school (a factor that some very talented players could care less about)

We play in a Top 6 conference (along with about 90 other teams)

We have always had a pretty good group of guards to play with.

Correct me if I am wrong, but since AB we haven't developed a good big man since Jeff Harris.

I think that after when one of the assistant coaches leaves (how long do we really expect Beane to stick around, he has Head Coach written all over him), we need to hire a legitimate big man coach to recruit these players. I am not sure if AB is the guy, but I think the program should show a commitment to the big player with a coach who has some credibility.

[3star_recruit]

Athletic big guys are the most sought after commodity in college basketball. You'd have to do a hell of a snow job to get them to come to SLU when there are so many run and dunk opportunites out there to entice them, from UConn to Louisiana-Lafayette.

[billiken_roy]

the journey to find bonner II:

spoon was probably the worst big man recruiter that saint louis university ever had. he wouldnt try to recruit a big man to save his life. he fell into the three with hughes simply because hughes brought them all with him. baniak and tatum were on his national championship aau team. heinrich was even a larry recruit as he played on larry's nike camp team.

romar tried to recruit inside help. got real close on jamal sampson, jawad williams, chucky hayes, david lee and darius miles. but second place dont cut it.

i have no idea what the soderberg plan is for recruiting inside players. imo, our big man talent that is able to contribute right now is worse than it has been since the days of ekker. now if vouyoukas and husak turn out in 2-3 years, great. but that doesnt help us now. why get involved in two projects at one time when we dont have anything else to really offer up?

[billiken_roy]

still 3 star, the fact that virtually every team we have played and lost to thus far has had better inside players than we have had on the floor. when that list of teams includes eastern michigan, oral roberts, university of wisconsin - milwaukee, and hawaii, you have to question why we cant recruit at least as good as the likes of that?

we know brad can recruit. if he couldnt, the likes of polk, liddell, and lisch wouldnt be billikens. so i am not buying the precious commodity deal or cupboard bare angle. i dont have a clue what is going on and it bothers the hell out of me.

[Bay Area Billiken]

that Coach Soderberg's vow that everything is now on the table, might mean opening up his offense? Frankly, what do we have to lose? Most recruits want to play an up tempo game.

This poster is sitting here almost 2,000 miles away and must rely on the reports received from stltoday.com, billikens.com, etc. But the most fundamental point in basketball is the need to make baskets, score points. If the "motion" offense is not working, how about trying to open up the game? It is my understanding that Polk can play a running game, and Luke Meyer was a big scorer in high school at Borgia.

[billiken_roy]

it has always been my belief that the most vital but maybe the least noticed cog to a "running game" is the bonner II player that will dominate the boards, throw outlets, get out on the break or at least trail the break and be able to finish with authority. just take a look at any cincy team in huggins reign and see if they dont have a bonner playing for them.

getting big guys to set picks and clog the middle is one thing, getting big guys to do the above but also rebound like demons and finish at the other end as well is another issue.

i.e. to try to run the floor with this team might be suicide. now if we had 4 polks, we could play uab ball as 3 star eludes to and gamble on the inside guys effectiveness to create havoc in the backcourt and control tempo with that. however, as much as i like our guards, i dont know if other than polk we are uab like in personnel yet.

[Bay Area Billiken]

So it sounds like Coach Soderberg's chief recruiting task is to get that illusive power forward. SLU has been searching for the power forward since Anthony Bonner graduated. Bonner was such a good player, a quality individual, and he improved during his 4 years at SLU. Can't we find somebody like him somewhere?

Could Justin Johnson be a "poor man's Anthony Bonner" if given a chance? I know there have been issues with Johnson, but why not give him his chance now? What good does it do having him sitting on the bench? What do we have to lose? Maybe Johnson will develop into that power forward.

[Schasz]

this current edition of SLU basketball resemble UAB...heck the other night they dropped 100 points in ONE GAME and it was against freakin Alabama if memory serves me. Heck, at our current offensive output we'd be lucky to put up 100 in two games. It looks like this is going to be a very tough and probably losing year for the Bills. I would hope that our younger players get plenty of PT before this season is finished.

[3star_recruit]

Every team on your list except Hawaii -- where Sensley hails from and only returned to after bouncing from at least three different schools -- average at least 70 ppg and get up and down the floor. It's a much more attractive brand of ball to athletic big men.

I commend the staff for bringing in a strong crop of guards but talented, athletic guards WAAAAY outnumber talented, athletic big men. If the best the staff has to offer is 53 ppg and the halfcourt Chinese drill, it may be another 15 years before a Bonner quality power forward signs here.

[3star_recruit]

Good heavens man, situational traps and pressing for a few minutes a game is not "UAB ball". There are teams without UAB-level athletes that do it to get easy baskets. All I'm asking is that the staff try it for a couple of games to see if it jumpstarts the offense. Or they can continue on the present course, which is to have about 10 points at the 10 minute mark of the first half.

[cheeseman]

I agree that Brad has to start playing the younger players - at least they will get better and we will know what we have or have not. I doubt the record will be any worse off given what I have seen so far from our upper classmen. At least when he goes to recruit he could say our record sucked but we are very young and will be very improved next year because of it. The team's confidence is shot and he has to turn it around - at this point playing the others and the freshman may be the only thing that makes sense.

[jjray]

>With Brad's comment that everything is on the table,

>everything is possible. What would people think of a line

>up of

>

>Polk

>Bryant

>Clarke/Brown/Meyer

>Johnson/Newborne

>Izik

I'm not sure Clarke is an upgrade over Newborne at 3. If you want Newborne to go to the bench, then I would insert Luke Meyer at 3 or even Danny Brown. Clarke has disappeared. However, I like your idea Steve of try to get more scoring on the floor. As Center has been our biggest black hole on offense, might as well let Izik give it a try and go small. I suppose you are inserting JJ at PF to try and balance the height a bit with removing Frericks / Ian from the lineup. We can't get any worse.

[Bay Area Billiken]

This poster's 7 years at SLU coincided with the "Ron Ekker Era" and the first 3 years of Rich Grawer's Billikens. Thus, I have probably personally witnessed the bottom of the bottom re SLU Hoops. My first year in California, the Billikens turned the corner and went 18-12. But improvement was evident in Grawer's second and third years, and one could tell that things were going to get better.

SLU has good young talent and 2 talented recruits on the way. There may be some growing pains, like Grawer's last year and the first year of Spoon. But after that, look out for the Billikens. Let's get a power forward to go with Polk, Meyer, Lisch, and Liddell. Then we will be talking NCAA. Keep the faith, Billiken fans.