davidnark Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Clearly we were outclasses and overmatched tonight. Nonetheless, coach seemed to know how to push all of the right buttons to keep us in these type of games down to the wire the last two years. Based upon the bizarre substitute patterns and the uniformly poor results, it appears that coach has little clue how to coach this group of players (which by the way he recruited). This is very scary. How can our staff not know how to mix and match their players? Danny Brown played ten solid minutes in the first half of the last game and didn't get off the bench until we were down by 30 tonight. Clarke, Husak, and JJ--who collectively have played less than 30 minutes all year--entered the game at the first timeout. Meyer road the pine. Polk didn't start and came in and out at bizarre times. Drejaj--who once again proved he cannot stop penetration and can't hit the ocean with a rock while standing on the surf--started and killed us in a key stretch in the second half. All three of our centers split time. I AM CONFUSED, AND I THINK OUR STAFF IS EVEN MORE CONFUSED. Someone provide some analysis and clarification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Questions???? Was the game televised back in St. Louis? What were your expectations for this game? Surely, after a poor start, no one really could have been looking for a nip and tuck game VS the Zags in Spokane. Why start AD at PG? If Game Tracker was correct, he was 0-7 from the field and I just don't think this guy is a PG. Can the HC also be in a slump along with this team? I think he is fair game to question personnel moves. Doesn't this have the aroma of a loooong and losing season? Sure hope we can get a win over Oakland and if not SEMO looks like the next best chance for a win. Did the SLU fans who watched this team in practice over rate the talent of this team? I am beginning to wander!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mobile-iken Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Am I the only one that's dissapointed that Soderberg hasn't given his customary post game radio interview lately? If I am KMOX and he shows up after the next win I would tell him no thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 David, you gave voice to my frustration as well. We are a 1-5 coming into tonight that struggled mightly offensively. What is coach's grand reworking of the starting lineup? Substitute Drejaj (a defensive player who is a poor perimeter shooter) for Polk (a guy who can get us some easy baskets if we turn him loose and put more guys on the floor who can run with him). I was upset before the tipoff and only got progressively confused as I saw the substitutions you mentioned. Sometimes we went big, sometimes small, all 3 centers rotated in 3 minute waves???? I lost count of Drejaj's shooting stats, was he 0-7? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Yep jjray...AD was 0-7 according to the stats sheet. VN shot 6-12 and RB 5-11 and they were our marksmen in this latest loss. http://slubillikens.collegesports.com/spor.../121104aaa.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Look we have a ton of newcomers on the team and the players we have coming back just have not performed up to a decent level. Danny Brown, are you serious? He needs alot of work. He has a good body and can play some D but he may be the worst shooter on the team, his handles are not good enough at this level to get to the basket. frankly I don't know why he was getting time in front of Clarke, hopefully we will see the end of that as Clarke is much more skilled at this point. Clarke should be in the rotation, plain and simple. At this point even if he is not performing in practice or is hurt or whatever was keeping him out of games he has to start playing. He is our second best perimeter player behind Reggie. Johnson and Husak get time because of the foul trouble on Izik and Frericks early on. The Zags also have an extremely good inside game, we needed extra help on them. To Brad's credit we shut down their best player Turiaf, so this strategy seemed to payoff. Drejaj at the point is not the answer. He is too TO prone. In years previous we had Perry and Fischer who masked some deficiences in Drejaj's game and allowed him to flourish. That is not the case anymore. Polk is not a world beater at this point but right now we need 30 minutes from him a game, alot to ask of a freshman pg. A 30 point loss is never good but it is understandable. Gonzaga is a very good team playing at home it is no surprise we got beat badly. SLU is just sadly not that good. I vastly overestimated the talent on this team. Izik is our best overall player, on offense and defense, that in itself should speak volumes of the talent level of the team. If the shooting turns around (at least 45% FROM THE FLOOR) we may be able to have a 10 win season. Anything above that is a pipe dream at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 These games are being lost in the first 5 minutes of the game when we don't score. If scoring 10 points in the first 5 minutes restored his players' confidence in their offensive abilities even if it means deviating from his ideology, Brad needs to bite the bullet for the good of the team. Throw your five best athletes on the floor early in the game, press the other team and get some layups. Get Reggie some open looks off the secondary break while the other team is still trying to match up on defense. Oakland is a poor defensive team -- this is totally doable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Did coach just use this to experiment? That is not as far fetched as it sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted December 12, 2004 Author Share Posted December 12, 2004 Danny Brown is the worse shooter on the team? At a practice I went to early in the season, Danny had tweaked his knee and couldn't participate in team drills. During breaks, he went out on the court by himself and practiced outside shots from beyond the arc. He shot for five or ten minutes straight, and I don't recall him missing a single shot. The last game he played decent minutes, he swished his only outside shot, a three pointer from the corner. He may not be Reggie Bryant, but Danny is not even close to our worst shooter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 I am not sure what Brad did - he did however follow his standard practice of backing off doing anything radical even though he says it. Brad will be very slow to change his overall style - just a fact. 3Star- you are correct, we are losing these games in the first 5 minutes. Look back and you will see that in just about every game, we have found ourself down by double digits early and had to fight back but it is just too little too late with this team. Brad should finally realize that he is going to have to change things radically - nothing can be worse than a 30 point loss. Yes we have some newcomers but we were all lead to believe that they were upgrades at the talent level from what we had - if that is correct, then Brad has to change his coaching style to take advantage of their skills if that is not correct then he has to change how he evaluates players. Either way, the solution lies with Brad and doing the same thing will only get you the same results. Brad got his new contract and with that comes higher expectations so at this point, I am not giving him the benefit of the doubt anymore - results are what matters. He said show me the money and now he has to show us results. I still think he is a good coach but even good coaches can be hard headed even to their own demise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 the idea was to shut down Turiaf and hope we could stay with them if we did. That meant we needed to be able to paly four big men. I think he is starting to wonder if Husak might work out better than Ian, who seems to get beat by his man to often. Husak clearly alters shots, sets good picks. When the game got out of hand he was experimenting. Reggie and VN, played ok, but reggie seems to start slowly. If we could just score in the first five minutes of a game it would be a relief. Even if the game had been close we had no chance. We could not get a call. Zags have a good team, Morrison is the kind of players I would love to see play for SLU. It amazes me that they were blown out by Illinois....Illini might be that good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_arete Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 against Oakland and the lower tier teams of CUSA. However, this solution is only a band-aid to a more severe problem. While the athleticism improved from last year (and trust me, that doesn't say much), we still don't have the athletes to play that style of ball against most teams in CUSA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Morrison is the first freshman big man NOT to be redshirted his freshman year by Gonzaga in the last ten years. He was the POY in Washington state for the big schools his senior year, and is close in skill set to Tyler Hansbrough. Turiaf will go in the first round in the NBA draft this year, so we are going up against a very good front line. We need four bigs to hold up against this front line, which is the strategy Brad used. Running an effective three to five minute sub pattern, and trying to wear the Zag front line down, is an accepted coaching strategy, and it worked halfway in this contest. We have some better talent, BUT we also have new people who have little to no knowledge of how to effectively play a motion offense, when to set screens, how to play off them, and how to maintain spacing. Newborne did not get minutes early due to this, but he is starting to pick it up. Others are on the same steep learning curve. I am definitely willing to accept whatever lumps we take this year, because I see better times ahead. The fact is we will not be able to find a better coach for the team when we have the talent and court maturity than Brad in two years. We should have little desire to replicate the mistakes made by Notre Dame with their FB coaches, Wisconson when they fired Brad, and countless other situations. As far as playing everyone in a thirty point loss, why not? We won't be dancing this year, and probably won't see the NIT, so respectability has a slightly different definition. At 1-6, you coach a little differently than when you are 6-1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehms13 Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 What I'm interested in seeing for myself when I get to SLU this week is why is there always 3 or sometimes more guys on Reg and he can't get good looks, or get shots to the basket. Where is the rest of the team? What is being taught about getting one of your shooters an open look to the basket. Or if your main shooter is tied up by defenders, the next shooter stepping up or getting open for the pass to put up the shot. I heard several times last night that there were at least 3 guys on Reggie, that leaves some open guys on our team, who comes to Reg to get the ball, who's blocking out or cutting to get open, so Reg can see. I don't know what to say about this start, what I can say is maybe Brad should try a Don Nelson thing and let one of the Asst. Coaches, Coach the game and see what happens..Maybe they have some different strategies, assuming Brad is having a hard time getting the team going. I'm for trying anything at this point..I don't get it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 He shot an airball on the baseline for his first shot - it was way long; too much adrenaline. The 3 ptr was pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 If the team doesn't regain their confidence, they won't even beat Oakland and the lower tier CUSA teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 i did not see the game last night, but it would be my opinion that coach soderberg played the roster trying to give everyone an opportunity to make a statement and step up. someone to become a spark that a fire can be built around. i personally have no problem with that at this point. the seniors had their chance to be the focal point of this team. reggie to a degree has shown he is worthy of being a part of the solution, izik has had a few good games, but also disappeared for his typical stretches as well, i have no idea what is going on with frericks. but there is no doubt in my mind that none of the three seniors are the cornerstones to build the team around this season. and that is something i didnt count on. i assumed that bryant would develop into the team goto guy. a cusa all conference player. one that we could argue about whether or not he is all american worthy or not. i assumed he would take his place in our memories with claggett, love and jeffers as the man. there is no disputing that didnt and isnt going to happen. i assumed that tom frericks would become that rock in the center that we have lacked since bonner. i wasnt expecting bonner, but i was expecting kenny brown, justin tatum, chris heinrich. right now i think more of travis tadyshak. can anyone think of a previous billiken that not only didnt live up to the expectations and needs that we had but also just flat out regressed like frericks has? i felt izik was the final piece in our puzzle. the guy that could be the difference maker. if he played like he has this year, he would adequately be our fifth starter. if he used that great potential and became a 15 point 11 rebound guy that gave the other team fits with his athleticism, i thought izik could carry us to the ncaa tourney. of the three seniors, izik has probably given us the least to b!tch about, but he sure isnt that 15 and 11 guy either. and as of late when we really needed him to step up (stop the opposing power forward) and at least play defense, he hasnt. ian and bryce arent capable of stepping in and giving us izik and frericks expectations. johnson maybe has the athleticism, but how can anyone not question the rest of his game? newborne has shown flashes, but then he isnt chris sloan. bottom line, we cant keep up on the inside and thus put all the pressure on our inexperienced guards. i assumed drejaj would step up offensively more. he not only hasnt improved his ball handling and shooting skills, one could question whether he hasnt regressed offensively as well. that leaves our fresh/soph guards. to expect them to carry this team is beyond reasonable. i say throw em in as much as possible and give em some freedom to grow. one things for sure, brad needs to get out there and find credible inside players for those last two scholarships now. no more expecting maturation and development of his projects. we cant wait. he cant afford to waste the talented fresh soph guards and lisch and liddell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 brehms13, my opinion only: every team we play knows Reggie is the only shooter we have on the floor. As the clock begins to wind down on an offensive possession, Reggie gets doubled. His only chance to get a clean look is to shoot very early in the possession--which he was doing against the Zags and, consequently, put up solid numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 brehm's, i know this doesnt sound fair, and in a way it is a backdoor compliment, but imo, the fact reggie doesnt just take over and score regardless of how many players are guarding him is the number one thing i didnt count on. in the past, perry, jeffers, love, hughes, have all been able to take over games and make plays regardless of the talent matchups and double and triple teams. fair or not, the team could lean on them in their final years to be the rock. this team doesnt have that rock that would at least make it a 500 team. we assumed that reggie and to a lesser extent, frericks were givens, and frericks and to a lesser extent, reggie have not provided anything to build off. when you start asking for the support players to step up and be the man, you know you are in trouble. and that is where this team is. it looks like reggie had a good game last nite, but to be honest, in a game like that, after looking at the success of the rest of the team, it wouldnt have broke my heart to see reggie shot another 12-15 times last night. even if he only makes 30% of that extra shots, it probably would have been better than the 12-15 shots that the rest of the team took instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Brehms, it hurts, but let me be the first to apologize - we have regressed this year. Like Roy, I was counting on a little improvement out of Tom, Izak, and a good step up with Va'shun. Coupled with Dwayne's PG skills, I figured we would have an established inside game that would augment and promote Reggie's skills. Unfortunately we have seen a big step backwards, so Reggie is playing out his senior year, injured, before a half empty house with a(currently) lousy team. The best time to judge a person is not when they are in the winner's circle, but when everything is against them. Once again Reggie showed he has the guts and spine to play a great game against a top 25 team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehms13 Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 So basically u think it's time for Reg to step up and be selfish with the ball, take more shots? I've been thinking about that, I think that's an important trait Reg doesn't possess but deeply needs. I don't know Roy...We'll see..It's hard because if Coach doesn't feel the same way and Reg does shoot more that may cause some issues. On the other hand, Coach could be waiting for the day Reg, does finally step up and take control of the team, shooting and leading wise. Though I still think the other players have to step up and help on the offensive end, I definitely see what u're saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehms13 Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 I'm glad Reg's game is getting better..since the injury(still a long way to go, but he'll get there), he was feeling really bad about that. He's still working his tail off getting extra time shooting around etc..I know none of us counted on this record this season, namely the players. This is Reg's last year and who wouldn't want to go out with a bang, but unfortunately things don't always go our way. I'm still optimistic, this team will turn around, hopefully it will be soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 I agree with that and said it earlier. The success of this team depends on Reg and Tom. They need to be selfish and take over the game. Reg needs 15 shots as a minnimum, Tom needs 10. We must find a way. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_arete Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 but we know how stubborn Brad is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 brehms, you know as well as everyone else that if anyone on this team has the ability to lift the team up on their shoulders it is reg. of course one doesnt want to resort to that extent from the onset, but we now have had a few games for others to step up and do their share. it is pretty obvious, they either cant or wont. if someone doesnt soon, it is going to be a long season. besides, if i remember correctly, when marque started taking things into his own hands, others picked up as well. when hughes carried the team, all at once baniak stepped up. when justin love took over in memphis, all at once jeffers and love picked it up. words arent going to light the needed fire for the players, so i think it is time someone just did it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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