random thoughts after the loss

[jjray]

(a) Danny Brown is a revelation. 6'4" or 5", athletic, solid defender, and skilled at the offensive end. He ran the point for about a 3 minute stretch today and I liked what I saw. I wish he would look for his shot more often. This kid needs to play more. What a find late in the recruiting cycle.

( JJ is the real deal. Coach has to play him. He gives a legit low post presence. Tom and Izik are inconsistent inside on the offensive end. JJ is probably our best offensive rebounder and he plays solid D. He looks energized and more into the game now that he is getting regular minutes.

© Izik has turned into an excellent defender, defensive rebounder.

(d) How can Dwayne Polk be a 60 something percent free throw shooter? The kid missed the front end of a 1-1 when we were down 3 with 2 minutes to play. It was a killer.

(e) Drejaj is pressing on the offensive end. I much prefer the look of the team on the offensive end with D. Brown in the lineup as opposed to Drejaj. Please send Drejaj back to his roll of defensive specialist!

This should be our lineup:

Izik 5

Johnson 4

Brown 3

Reggie 2

Polk 1

Drejaj / Newborne / Frericks off the bench. If any of the guards gets in foul trouble or has an injury, Clarke should be the next off the bench.

[davidnark]

I agree with your thoughts. Am I correct when in saying that Danny Brown, not Drejaj, was in the game during our one real good stretch in the earl to mid part of the second half?

Drejaj plays hard and does some things well, but his poor shot selection, turnovers, poor free throw shooting, and inability to stop penetration by quicker players has KILLED US all year. I agree that it is time to give Danny a chance in the three spot.

[kevinfootes]

He played well defensively today, but he's so passive and can't make the easy shots. I don't see how you could count on him to play the 5 spot.

[Box and Won]

You are correct, sir. Drejaj has got to go - Danny is clearly better. I was impressed with his defense today, and it was nice to see him do a little scoring as well.

[jjray]

>He played well defensively today, but he's so passive and

>can't make the easy shots. I don't see how you could count

>on him to play the 5 spot.

Izik is averaging 10 points, 7 boards per game and shooting 50% from the field (going into today). How in the name of rational thinking could you conclude "Izik just kills SLU"? I don't see how we can be effective on the offensive end with him out of the game. Also, no one can claim he is "passive" defensively. Did you watch the game today? Did you see the 2 steals? How about the 3 amigos who are the alternative at center? Just check the stats. I believe they are shooting a collective 30% from the field.

[3star_recruit]

"Drejaj plays hard and does some things well, but his poor shot selection, turnovers, poor free throw shooting, and inability to stop penetration by quicker players has KILLED US all year."

If it wasn't for Drejaj's stellar defense against Oakland's leading scorer, our only win would be at Troy. He leads us in free throw shooting. He had 1 turnover today, albeit at a crucial time in the game.

Brad's propensity to walk the ball up the court and run out the clock with a slim lead even when we've proven we can run against a team (Hawaii game and this one) has deprived the Bills of 2 extra victories. Of course, he will blame the players again, tell us how much he believes in the system and that these guys just have to make shots in the halfcourt set.

Our coach appears to distrust young players more than Larry Brown. He would have lost the game if he was coaching Dayton because Brian Roberts would have played about 10 minutes and would rarely have the ball in his hands.

[cheeseman]

I think the problem with IO is that he makes critical turn overs at the wrong time - when we go in a stretch when we do not score for 5 or 6 possessions, we need the experience of senior - IO - to stop the bleeding - make a shot or get to the ft line like Sloan and Fish did last year. IO plays well at times but when it comes to crunch time he is usually nowhere to found. Anybody can play well when things are going your way - it when you need a critical possession and you deliver that makes you a senior leader.

[billiken_roy]

fyi, drejaj has the the second highest free throw percentage on the team. he missed two crucial free throws today, but his free throw shooting has not KILLED US all year. and overall his defense is better than anyone else on the team, so i dont think he can be included in that either. drejaj is not the problem.

[billiken_roy]

turnovers are not the team problem. if they happen at inopportune time, the bigger question is probably why was there an inopportune time? we should have controlled this game and walked away with it today. we have no killer instinct. and no one to rely on in crunch time. soft soft soft. as i said in another thread, no one has that "you arent going to beat me" attitude imo except for maybe drejaj, and we all know he doesnt have the skills to carry the mission. i dont know if you can teach it. and folks, hate to disappoint you, but in the games in years past that i watched tommie, he doesnt appear to have it either. tremendous skills, but too often i have seen him defer to lesser teamates down the stretch instead instead of owning the games. btw, tommie was at the game today. i saw him in the hallway.

[3star_recruit]

"no one has that "you arent going to beat me" attitude imo except for maybe drejaj,"

Double standard. When Drejaj has made poor decisions during a game this season, he still plays 30 minutes because of how much the coach values his defense. When Darren Clarke and Danny Brown have made poor decisions during a game, they've gotten a seat on the bench.

You've got to give these kids confidence that they can mess up without being jerked out of the game.

[davidnark]

The problem with stats is that don't account for how bad Drejaj has been in the clutch this season. Today's game was a perfect example. He hit some nice shots in the first half, but when the game was on the line he airballed two threes, missed the front end of two one and ones, and turned the ball over. He has fallen apart down the stretch multiple times this season. In his defense, the same thing can be said about several other players.

I definitely do not view Drejaj as our best defensive player. He gambles a lot on the ball and ends up giving up a lot of penetration. Even if it isn't Anthony's player that scores off the penetration, it forces one of our other players to double off, which leads to easy buckets by the player who was left. He also tends to give up open threes against taller guards due to his limited size and jumping ability.

These are just my observations. I would like to see Brown get a shot in the starting lineup and take away quite a few of Anthony's minutes.

[tseugnekillib]

Obviously, Soderberg trust his freshman point guard. DP played 35 minutes today. 4 rebounds and 4 assists and only 1 turnover......good numbers for a freshman point guard. But how do you explain only one attempted shot and that (I believe) was a first half running floater in the lane?

Before the season I would have bet that DP would be averaging 10-12 pts a game. Is he size a problem? Is he having trouble adjusting to the D1 competition level? He seems to pass up decent shooting opportunities, shots that AD (a lesser skilled shooter) takes in a flash. Hopefully, DP will score about 10 first half points against SIU-C to get him going.

[brehms13]

I can live with that line up, but I'm still a believer from my two games, seeing for myself, that Drejaj should start over Polk.

[brehms13]

U have some valid points. There were 5 count them 5 NBA scouts there at the Oakland game to see one of Oakland's players, what do u know?? it was the one Drejaj played all night that he...shut down..Why shouldn't he get the starting position, he comes up big when we need him the most.

Only Brad distrust his seniors, he has no confidence in them whatsoever and he blames them when the younger guys mess up. I've seen it for myself and heard him for myself..I don't even rely on what's said in articles anymore because it's a whole new ball game when the camera's are off.

[3star_recruit]

Polk's offensive game largely consists of scoring in transition and making high risk manevers in the lane to get his floater off (which technically isn't a good shot, so barely shoots it at SLU) There's no way he's going to average 10-12 ppg playing halfcourt 95% of the time. If Brad wanted to play halfcourt basketball he shouldn't have signed a fast break point guard. If he wanted a guy that could catch and shoot threes in a halfcourt set he should have signed Ahearn, not Clarke.

Before the season:

“With Dwayne Polk on this team, we’re not doing the job if we don’t run,†Soderberg said. “We need to devise a simple, solid plan for offensive transition. We need to run to win more.â€

[3star_recruit]

I agree, now that it's been firmly established that there's no plan in place to run. Might as well grind it out with Drejaj.

[Billikens_Fanatic]

>"The problem with stats is that don't account for how bad

>Drejaj has been in the clutch this season."

Everyone on the team has been bad in the clutch this season. I can't think of anyone who hasn't. Drejaj's not the problem, and if everybody on the team played as hard as he does for 40 minutes every game, this team would having a winning record.

I think the team poster handed out before the game is a microcosm of what's wrong with this year's team. Everybody except Frericks and Meyer had their jerseys on backwards, "proudly" displaying their names. College basketball is about the name on the front of the jersey, not the back. Everybody on this team is caught up in their own personal stats, trying to be the leading scorer, and making the big play rather than coming together and collectively winning as a team. This mentality only tears our team apart, as the lack of team chemistry is blatantly obvious this year. Under Brad's system especially, this attitude will never work.

There are many times during the game when it looks like nobody on the floor cares, at all. They play as if it's a pick up game at the Simon Rec and their team is losing 10-1 in a first to 11 game. Lazy passes, giving the team open shots, taking shots with a man in the face with 30 seconds on the shot clock, stupid turnovers, dumb fouls, not fighting for rebounds, not diving after loose balls, etc: everyone on this team does it. There's not a trace of passion or love for the game in any of the guys. Which is why it should come as no surprise that in close games, we just can't deliver down the stretch. It's not because we lack talent, because in past years when we've lacked as much talent as the other team, we've been able to pull it off W. It's because nobody cares if we win or lose, or at least they don't care as much as teams past and the opposing team. Nobody on this team steps up and takes charge with 2 minutes left, and is set on taking the team to victory.

I'm convinced that the majority of the posters on this board care more about the team winning than the guys on the team. In the recent past, we've had Fisher, Sloan, Marquee, Jeffers, and Love which would ensure that all five guys on the floor would put it all on the line for the victory. There's nobody that has that kind of devotiion to the team or basketball on this year's team. Unless a few guys have a huge change of heart somehow, I'd anticipate the rest of the season to be this disappointing and frustrating.

[AlumniFan]

The only comment that I have regarding your post is that I think Polk and Drejaj have shown a lot of passion and do get pumped up. I'm not sure about the other players. It also wouldn't hurt if the 14 fans in the stands would quit sitting on their hands and make some noise.

[Mobile-iken]

Do a post game interview? I was unable to listen.

[davidnark]

no

[jjray]

Our PG has to be able to add some level of scoring and/or creating easy buckets for his teammates. Dwayne is quick off the dribble but not all world. He also has not shown much of an outside shooting touch. He is, however, all world moving speeding up the floor with the ball in transitions. However, as 3Star points out, we don't run. When Dwayne pushes the ball up the court, he often backs it out (due to lack of numbers) and waits for his teammates. Occasionally he will hit Reggie for a quick shot but that is rare. Polk is not helping us in the half-court offense and that is where Soderberg wants our offense to start.

I'm with Brehms and 3Star: if we are not going to run, then Polk should have his minutes cut. But give them to Drejaj? No way. The motion offense is designed for shooters. It creates open looks from 15' and out based on the high picks. Ahearn was the perfect player for this offense. Well we took Clarke instead but the kid has never really been given a shot. He played point his senior year in HS. He is supposed to be a shooter. I say give him minutes at point, especially in the 2nd half of tight games. Having both Polk and Drejaj in games at the same time strangles our offense. Polk does not shoot and Drejaj turns into a brick layer in the 2nd half. We need another shooter on the court and when I look down the bench there only two candidates: Danny Brown and Clarke. We need Danny Brown's body at 3 (plus his offense skills--he can slash and he can shoot) so that leaves Clarke to take some minutes at point.

If Coach keeps his head in the sand with this "the players just have to hit the shots", our team will get ground into dust in CUSA this season. The accident of Izik getting 2 fouls early against Oakland is the only reason JJ got minutes early in that game (or at all for that matter). JJ all by himself has raised the level of this team. We sucked before JJ entered the rotation and we are only marginally better at the moment. It is time to do further searching for a hungry player who can deliver (Drejaj is certainly hungry, he's just killed us on the offensive end in the 2nd half). Suggestion: D. Brown heavy minutes at 3, put Clarke in the rotation at point and go with him in the crunch UNLESS the other team presses.

[Mobile-iken]

As I posted after our last loss, that really hacks me off...He's fine to give the interview after a W but he can't hack it after a loss???

[tseugnekillib]

No team fast breaks 95% of the time and no team runs a half-court offense 95% of the time.

If all your point guard can do offensively is run a fast break and push-it, push-it, push-it, then both that player and his team are in trouble.

After nine games, DP is shooting 7-32 (22%) from the 3pt line and

12-20 (60%) from the FT line. DP will shoot much better this season and I hope it starts next week!

btw, Travis Diener played 37 minutes against Arizona and got 17 shots in a 48-43 loss. DP may never be a Travis Diener, but he going to be significantly more productive than we have seen thus far this year. I can only assume it freshman growing pains.

[guest]

"( JJ is the real deal. Coach has to play him. He gives a legit low post presence. Tom and Izik are inconsistent inside on the offensive end. JJ is probably our best offensive rebounder and he plays solid D. He looks energized and more into the game now that he is getting regular minutes."

3 rebound--------2 pts-------23 Min----------I don't understand your post.

[guest]

"There's not a trace of passion or love for the game in any of the guys."

What a stupid comment! Obviously you do not know any of the guys. You do not understand how it eats at them when they make a mistake, miss a shot, lose a game, or sit on the bench and watch their teammates lose not being able to do anyhing about it. If you have ever played the game you would undestand that the SLU players go through all of these emotions.