cheeseman Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 Sheltie and SLUfan - you both missed my points. I was not demeaning the recruited players then or now and yes I know that in their Jr and Sr years we went the NCAA tourney. My point was that Grawer was forced to put those three freshmen in a position to deliver and because who he had there as upperclassmen could not deliver. I am not sure we are in any different situation now - Brad has to count on AD, IV, VN, to provide the leadership for next year while the freshmen are able to develop. I worry if this can happen. Consecutive 5 win seasons would be a disaster for the program. Grawer won 5 that year - got fired - Spoon came in and won double figures and got things looking up. Would the same had happened if Grawer had stayed - who knows, can't rewrite history. What is the difference here is that Brad could have double 5 win seasons and if lucky a double digit season after that before anything can even look better. If Spoon had come in and had a 5 win season following Grawer's, would Waldman, Robinson or others have come - who knows, can't rewrite history but I sure would not have wanted to find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 3 Star - you are correct. Also, when will SLU fans stop being happy with going to the NCAA tourney 2 years in row and then miss it for 3 years? I want a competive team every year - I realize that you can still have an off year once in awhile but the facts do not point to this being only an off year. I still keep hoping for the Bills to put together a string of wins to show growhth. They almost had it going but then laid the egg at ECU. If the future is going to be better, Brad has to pull a rabbit out of his hat with the last two schollies this spring or else we might just see this year repeated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 Exactly 3star...how can one look at Billiken history and say that is where we are headed. This team for the most part couldn't throw it in the Gulf of Mexico if I gave them 3 tries. We need some players who can shoot the basketball with some decent accuaracy. Maybe Polk will get his shot back...mabe Luke will find his HS stroke...we are going to hope Kevin doesn't have problems adapting to D-1 ball in his Frosh year...we'll keep our fingers crossed that Coach Soderberg finds at least one diamond in the rough with his two sholies...hopefully, Ian will show us the promise next year on a consistent basis. Lot's of if ands and buts for next year, but that goes with the territory of being a Billiken basketball fan. I'll be hoping for improvements from some of our returning players so we don't have back to back losing seasons, but frankly, it is a wait and see, work in progress proposition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 3star, you state thay our guys can play....but that they shouldn't be asked to "consistently make 17-20 footers". Not sure what shooting percentage you mean by "consistently", but I'll settle for somewhere in the middle of the conference FG shooting percentages or slightly above average. If our guys can't shoot 17-20 footers at least at an average rate .... than they CAN'T play! Across college bball, the majority of offensive scoring (field goals) start from some sort of half-court set. Fast break lay-ups generate a minority of all college field goal points. Texas Tech put a serious ass-kicking on Missouri a couple of weeks ago (in Columbia) using Bobby Knight's motion offense. Tech scored from outside and inside. It was a classic demo of the motion offense, perhaps you saw it. (Of course, I believe the majority Tech's minutes were played by experienced seniors who could shoot a little!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 29, 2005 Author Share Posted January 29, 2005 "If our guys can't shoot 17-20 footers at least at an average rate .... than they CAN'T play." Then Josh Pace can't play and Joah Tucker can't play and Errol Knight can't play and Stetson Hairston can't play and D.J. Strawberry can't play ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 Last season Stetson Hairson shot 44% from the field, 33% from 3-pt land and 79 % from the free throw line. I'm guessing the first two numbers are in the average range, while the 79% is above average. I have never seen numbers on the other players mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 29, 2005 Author Share Posted January 29, 2005 Great, but we're talking about 1) this season 2) and the ability to hit 17-20 foot jump shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 Heck, with those kind of shooting stats a player like Hairston would be getting big minutes on the '04-'05 Billikens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SShoe Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 Everybody likes to talk about the future with Polk, KL, TL, but after today and watching Danny block that shot of Novak's and play well on the offensive end, I might suggest (and don't get me wrong I love Polk) if Polk doesn't start shooting from the outside (which he probably will) you might see a starting rotation eventually of DB, TL, KL with either KL or TL running the point. Danny Brown has looked extremely promising this year and I just wouldn't be surprised if he became a starter. I'm just throwing this out there as another possibility. Willie suggested earlier today that Brown will be a starter next year. I might like that idea with TL coming off the bench because he can play so many different positions. DB will be the man though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.