slu72 Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Check out our preseason predictions. Most of us had 20-22 win season for this team. Now we can't beat SEMO at home. This could have been our last shot at a win this year. Where were we so wrong in our assessments of this team? This season has become a total embarrassment and with conference play just around the bend we are in some serious deep doo-doo. Anyone going to Charlotte on 1/15? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 1) We didn't realize how good the players that graduated were. 2) We didn't realize how serious Reggie's injury was and that Tom not playing all summer would kill his game. 3) We didn't realize that of the 19 wins last year many wer simply lucky and you can't get the same luck every year and sometimes that luck turns the other way. Its time to play the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Every team loses players in college ball...the good programs simply reload, i.e., the Zags. Obviously, we aren't very talented. We got hammered by the best team that we have faced so far...the Zags. Unfortunately, that won't be the only bad beating of what shapes up as a putrid season for Bills fans. Last night had to be a real meltdown losing to SEMO on the home court. I don't see many more wins the rest of the way...might as well play the younger players and get them some experience for next year when we will get Kevin and Tommie in the mix. One would also hope and pray that the coaches will be able to bring in reinforcements for the bigs with the last two scholies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 schasz, we basically lost floor time players in sloan and fisher and reserves hunt and varner. we gained polk and newborne and meyer and brown plus husak became eligible to play after redshirting. the in should have more than offset the out. i.e. reloaded to at least match last year's team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 I will agree with the notion that what we have coming back and new players should more than make up for what we lose, but I will NEVER whine about the loss of the graduating players. Our coaching staff's job is to enusure that we have adequate to better replacements. The fact that we don't this season is their fault...plain and simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsWin Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Talented we definately reloaded on. What we didn't reload was the heart that Fish and Sloan brought. I feel expecially Sloan just HATED to lose and we don't have that attitude this year. I feel Meyer will be that in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenButch Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 I see it as if we have lost 3 starters. TF is a non factor. Clearly Sloan and Fisher have not been replaced in quality by Polk and Newborne. TF is a non-factor and Reggie is 75% of what he was last year because of injury. Taking Reggie off the team really shows the lack of talent. IO played OK, but I was unimpressed by the rest of them. How far back would we have to go to find a time when someone on this team other than Reggie would start for the Billikens? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehms13 Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 I'll be at the Charlotte game..with bells on.. I don't think this could've been our only win..I think we will win some more games..I think the team was overrated because everyone assumed we have "saviors" of recruits coming in and we forgot that they are still freshman, or newcomers to Division 1 ball, and that they have to learn and grow. Sloan and Fish were both 5th year players last year..Reg is a 5th year player this year..with the exception of Tom, Izik and Drejaj the rest are fairly new..So there's a big gap of experience when u compare the two teams and for some reason most didn't expect that. I was very skeptical coming into this season, I didn't expect this losing streak, but I didn't expect the Reg comments either..but I do think the team will turn around, the coach just need a different approach..that's part of the game being versatile, we have to adjust to new players and work within their capabilities, comparing them to Sloan and Fish isn't fair to me..because of the desparity in experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 schasz, that is the point, it is plain to see that if you just isolate on the individual player and watch his skills and athleticism, it appears they are indeed adequate to better replacements. it is just the parts dont fit when you put the puzzle together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted December 30, 2004 Author Share Posted December 30, 2004 My take is we underestimated the difficulty a frosh would have playing pg. Way overestimated VN and IV's impact. Agree with the TF and RB points. Still we should have had enough reserve talent to have been a lot better than what we are showing right now. Also, while I think UB is a hell of a coach and the best man for SLU, think he's got to look inside himself and figure out where he's got to make adjustments to salvage at least a modicum of respectability for this team. I don't think the answer is benching RB, give the man his due afterall. AD? Face it he's at best a 10th man. His game, shot, handles have not shown improvement. From all I've heard I'd like to see us go with a lineup of DP, RB, DC OR DB, JJ, IO. With LM, BH, and TF off the bench. I don't know about IV but his heart doesn't seem to be in this type of game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 the last ten minutes of the game last nite, imo there was no doubt that polk was the best player on the floor. polk is better talentwise than a lot of previous point guards. i would take him over jamal walker and carlos mccauley and john redden now and when he learns how to play he might be really good. that said, he might like perry end up on the wing as a score as well where the billikens can use him like uab used finley for a couple of years as the scorer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 the two players last night that showed something we havent seen is clarke and meyer. meyer came in and just played hard, was constant motion and desire. clarke showed some speed and athleticism. i like danny brown, but i like meyer more. i like anthony drejaj, but i like clarke more. play meyer, polk and clarke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 brehms you are right we over estimated how much experience is needed compared to outright talent. i gush about polk's skills as much as anyone, but he is nowhere near as good of a point guard as what josh fisher was by the time he left slu. you needed an ak 47 to steal the ball from josh, he never broke down on defense, he rarely pushed the panic button, he was so consistent from beginning to the end of a game. we see stretches where polk looks like allen iverson, we see far more stretches where he looks very ordinary and small with mental lapses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehms13 Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Agree..I was discussing defense with some acquaintances that felt Reg's defense was terrible..I said I felt it wasn't terrible, I saw the way he defended against Oakland and Dayton..his man didn't score on him the man who was scoring was defended by other teammates, Drejaj shut a guy down on Oakland who had mad recruiters watching..so I felt that if the coaches feel the same way about Reg's defense and Drejaj's offense, then why not recruit players to compliment those inefficiencies..if u want a run and gun team recruit a big man who can run and score and get rebounds... That does fall on the coaches..then it wouldn't be a whole season of losing games because u want the players that u do have to play a different game other than the one they're capable of playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenButch Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Until he shows it for 40 minutes, he is just a short guy who does not seem to know where to go on the floor. By the way when was the last time you saw so many shots blocked by a team that has no business blocking shots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 I know this is a ridiculous statement but IMO Dreja is killing this team and I don't understand why he is playing 30 min. per game. Statistically he is awfull. Shooting percentage is terrible,way to many TO's He kills ball movement because he's slow, and is not a shut down defender,he gambles continually then gets beat off the dribble. Where is his passion for playing the game? To me he just looks like he is going through the motion. If I were the coach I would totally take his min. away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Why not develop Clarke as the backup PG? I'd rather see him than Drejaj out there whenever Dwayne is on the bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 I agree - he's been painful to watch this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 DP ... is not being utilized properly. His quickness rarely comes into play. TF ... does not get enough touches to make an impact he is avg. 4 rpg at 15 minutes per game. IO ... roams around the perimiter and then consistently walks when he tries to drive ... even though he has proven to be effective down low. RB ... who has a great 3 pt shot can't seem to get the ball with space to get that shot off on a consistent basis. Sorry ... but I have been a big UB fan ... but he needs to take a step back and look at his talent and the way he is utilizing it. I am more unhappy with UB than I am with any of the players. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 You're right in the last statment. Tons of praise were sent Coach Soderberg's way when we won with inferior talent the last two seasons, so he has to take the heat for this big meltdown. Afterall, these are his players and right or wrong expectations were not for a piss poor losing season. In college ball, the buck stops with the HC...they are the ones making the big bucks, so they take the fall when things go south. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 a lot of those "blocked shots" had assists from the lazy a$$ed refs that had only called 1 foul on semo in the second half with about 6 minutes to play. they blow the whistle on some of them, that nonsense stops and our shots are then getting to the rim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 i have defended drejaj to the end of the earth, but imo, if he cant make any shots, he is a huge liability for a team that needs to score points. he did not improve his ball handling over the summer either and the fact we really had no other point guards on the team and only polk coming in, that was inexcuseable. i remember a story when i was in college in the early 80's where after darrel griffith's junior season, denny crum came to him and said he might have to play some point guard next year and wanted him to consciously work on his dribbling. supposedly he hit the gym doing drills for 2-3 hours a day working on his ball handling and the next season was poy in college basketball and went on to a long nba career. now i know drejaj isnt darrell griffith, but all the more reason where it dictated he should have been working on that aspect of his game. if it was announced tomorrow that he and dwayne clarke were switching spots in the rotation, it would be fine with me. my guess is that we would get more athleticism, at least as much offense, and if we give up some hustle and defense, clarke's positives outweigh it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLIKNS Posted December 31, 2004 Share Posted December 31, 2004 72,please check and make sure that`s the correct date,and day of thw week,before you drive all that way.Just kidding,can`t let you forget.Hope you have a fun trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty Posted December 31, 2004 Share Posted December 31, 2004 His offense is pitiful and his recruiting is very suspect. Now before you mention TL and KL, they have yet to play a game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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