3star_recruit Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 No, not this year but I wouldn't want to be him at the end of next season. The only way we have any hope of winning games next year is to restore these kids' confidence in aggressive offensive basketball THIS year. These kids are all going to be back next year and they won't have even the safety net of a Bryant three or an Ohanon herky-jerk finish. You could cut the tension in these games with a knife. We beat the press several times in the first half but instead of our guys cutting to the basket for a layup or a harm, we reset the halfcourt offense, in fear of turning it over. JJ gets a dunk to cut the lead to single digits but then commits the cardinal sin of turning over on an entry pass and rides the bench. We are gunshy and the other team knows it. They know if they put a little pressure on us and we start turning the ball over, the coach will panic and start yanking guys wholesale. At that point the game is effectively over. Also, when you have to yell "move (insert player's name here) during every offensive possession, you aren't showing any confidence in their judgement so it isn't really a surprise that the players are constantly doubting themselves. Brad has an opportunity to stop this pattern right now and start trusting his players more. The record is immaterial at this point because it's already horrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 three star do you think the players do "move" effectively in the half court offense? i dont. even bryant who does seem to run around quite a bit, doesnt effectively use screens. comes wide around them, doesnt use hesitation or misdirection to set up the screens, and by all means doesnt seem to be running at full speed all the time. and that is the best we got at utilizing the motion offense imo. drejaj and brown both stand quite a bit. tell me the last time we had a back door layup or alley oop dunk? what confounds me is why play them if they wont listen? i dont care how good drejaj plays defense or how fast polk can run or bryant can shoot, why not play clarke and meyer and brown if the others dont run the offense effectively. the only way to get the kids attention is the bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cujaysfan Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 i think brad should consider bringing in someone to coach the offense. it just doesn't seem to be working - either he isn't connecting with the kids here - or his philosophy is just out of whack. al maguire did this at marquette - he coached the D - and turned the offense over to one of his assts. worked pretty well for him. i am sure that we can come up with a nice list of candidates for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Three star is right about the press. Several times we beat the press, had Ian on the side, but would not attack the basket even though we would have 2on1 or 3on 2 advantages. We automatically threw it out to set up the half court. It is my belief that the only way to make a team stop pressing is to attack the basket and make them pay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Good points 3 star. To play any sport well you've got to have a certain "relaxation" factor in there. A large part of it is instinct honed by hours and hours of practice. You have to trust those instincts let them take over. You do to much thinking, eg "am I supposed to pass or shoot, drive and dish, or whatever" you're not going to get into any kind of flow or rythmn. Michael Jordan said about his 63 point game against Cleveland a few years back, "I can't remember thinking about anything except how big the basket looked." Whether the pressure comes from a screaming coach or fear of being benched for a mistake that basket is going to look the size of pinhole. Not having seen this team but looking at the results and reading your posts, they sounds as though they are wound tighter than a Martha Stewart cinammon bun. UB has got to remove the fear factor over the remaining games and let 'em play to find out what he really has. What's scaring me is a mass exodus after this year and that ain't good. Prime candidates seem to be DC, JJ, LM, and even DP. Another that wouldn't shock me is IV saying "hey Greece is a whole lot nicer in the winter than the midwest, I'm outta here." Would appreciate anyone telling me if I'm way off base about the above players from someone who has a read on this team's current mental state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUDrew Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 I completely agree, as I said in my post about freeing Dwayne Polk to do his thing. These kids are playing scared. That is very clear to everyone who watches. I too am worried about mass transfers. I would say Danny Brown and IV are the biggest concerns for me. I think Darren Clarke is as good as gone, at least if I were him i would be strongly considering it. I would think Dwayne would stay on because he is from the area and is looking forward to playing again with his buddy Liddell. If we don't get a juco PF who can step in and play, next year may not be much better than this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahok Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Well Said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 why would we worry about mass transfers? most people here are accusing the team of not being d-I worthy so why do we care if any player leaves? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 to some extent I agree Broy, but where are the replacements coming from. Also, if you have a lot of guys boarding the bus what kind of message is that going to send to future recruits? DC leaving isn't going to break my heart, I'd say if LM or IV departed that would be bad. JJ can go but I'd like to see him get a real chance. by that I mean give the kid 25 mpg. Tell him, just play don't worry about the mistakes. Same for DP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUDrew Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 No matter how untalented you may think a team is, if 4 or so guys transfer, and we graduate two more, the team would be in trouble. Let's say DC, Danny Brown, and IV leave, and we lose Bryant and Ohanon to graduation. Then we are left with Lisch, Liddell, Polk, Drejaj, JJ, Husak, Newborne, and Meyer. Even if only two of those guys let we would be in trouble. You need to have bodies, especially if coach wants to "run" more which he claims he wants to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Don't worry about a mass exodus - IV will come back because he is interested in graduating. DC - might be best for him to find another place (his call). JJ - has been here 3 years and if he was going to leave he would have by now. LM - he won't leave, he is finally getting playing time. DP - staying to play with Liddel and Lisch besides, he seems to understand the coach it is the others who are more confused then him. Some of you are running around like the sky is falling - calm down. The team is tight but that is because they are failing - it just might be that this year was going to happen sometime in Brad's first three years anyway. Most of us thought it would be the first year not now - none of have a crystal ball. Lets see where we are next year at this time. Just like a good player does not forget how to play overnight nor does a coach who has always had winning seasons forget how to coach - bumps in the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehms13 Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I talked to DP after the ECU game. I asked him was their any restrictions on him shooting, he said no (if he had the green light to shoot). I encouraged him to take more shots, I told him people (other teams) are totally sleeping on his abilities and not even quarding him with respect to his shot. So show them why they should. He listened, we laughed. I think he'll come around, I agree it does seem to be an element of fear there as u said and too much thinking. It goes beyond thinking this is my shot, it seems like it's more about the consequences if my shot doesn't fall. That's not confidence, I'm hoping the whole team comes around and know their shots will fall and know they can beat these teams, block out all the negativity and just play. Play to have fun. If the game isn't fun, then mentally they're not 100%. Your mentality, abilities, and physical fitness is all a part of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Yes; everyone gets a chance to lose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I think Ian's position is too far from the basket - he needs to get really close...and our strategy has to be to go over the defense to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLU_Nick Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Luke Meyer really moves without the ball pretty good. I like seeing him in there. He doesnt turn the ball over, hustles and can hit an open 12 footer. I was a big fan of chris sloan's attitude and everytime this guy is in the game, we get a spark, even if his shot is not on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 About one year ago, someone posted this thought....."without Varner and Hunt to hang onto.....he(Soderberg) is going to have to play inexperienced freshmen a bunch of minutes despite how much he seems to detest it. That can only be a good thing. Now is the time (for Soderberg) to break away from his Tony LaRussa "young guys don't know what it takes" mindset, while he is still a relatively young coach. That's his (Soderberg's) only glaring fault." Soderberg has stated on numerous occasions that you win, and win big, with experienced juniors, seniors and redshirt seniors. I can only assume Brad thinks that even more after this difficult season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 If there is a mass transfer at SLU, perhaps those making the required mass transfer at Purdue (5-14) will come and join the Billikens!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLURadioBoy Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Does this mean Gene Keady's job is in jeopardy too? "Praises we sing, to you our alma mater, Praise to the white and blue. Our hymn shall ring, in tribute strong to you, We hail Saint Louis U." Official Billikens.com sponsor of Andrew Latimer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 If Brad is truly worried about his job (a joke) he will immediately sign Pierre Pierce and locate this year's juco version of Art Long or Robert Whaley. While Brad is extremely disappointed with the 2004-05 season, it's a learning experience for him. Brad will continue to build his program, the long, hard way. With his two remaining scholarships, I'm guessing Brad will add a high school or prep school post-player and a high school or a prep school 6-5 / 6-6 shooter. If Brad can't find exactly what he wants, he will save the scholarship for the following year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 And he is right for a school like St. Louis or any other non top 25 school ... yes there maybe an exception to the rule once in awhile (ie...Larry Hughes) ... but for the most part we win with Jr's and Sr's. I don't get all the fuss about this season. Yes I predicted a good season ... but in that prediction and I think the same will go for most of the posters on the board .... I was expecting 16-18 ppg from Reggie and a better shooting %. I was expecting 10-11 ppg along with 8 rpg from Tom. I was expecting 10 ppg and 5 or 6 rpg from Izik and 7 or 8 ppg and 6 or so rpg from Vashun. I was also expecting much better from Drejaj backing up the 1 and 2. Yes I was expecting more from Dwayne ... but only because I thought he would be surrounded by a team full of more successful players. He isn't. The only player from above to fulfill my expectations of their season is Izik. When 4 out of 5 of your suppossed team leaders and upper classmen regress for various reasons ... what do we expect. Brad yelled last year ... he yelled the year before. I hope he doesn't quit yelling. Any player who can't handle his coach yelling at him ... please go somewhere else and for god sakes don't join our military either because you will get yelled at. We have to be patient and let our freshmen and Soph's get to be Jr's and Sr's. We have some talent there. IV, DB and DP ... and I think BH will be good also ... he has shown moments. We have 2 guards that we all believe will be very good. We just need to be patient. Now if Brad doesn't keep the pipeline going and we don't continually have freshmen and sophs that are ready to step up and fill the roles of the graduating seniors as these guys leave ... then I will have a problem. Of all the past successful players at SLU how many were great or even good as Freshmen or even Sophomores ... Larry Hughes ... anyone else? Marque ... was a Jr before we saw him really become good. Justin and Maurice were Sr's ... neither were that good as Jr's after coming from JC. Clagett and Highmark weren't successful at all as freshmen or sophs. I believe it was their Jr year that we took off. Fish and Chris were not good freshmen ... or sophomores. I don't know why we expect Dwayne, Danny, Ian, Luke or any other young player to be able to step in and fill the role of an upperclassman just as capably as the older player would have played. We are playing 2 freshmen and a soph major minutes ... our upperclassman have not performed to expectations ... the results of this season are a given with their performance. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Marque started some and played many minutes as a freshman. As a sophmore he was the starter - injury hampered his season. I would say that Marque was very successful as a freshman and sophmore. The problem for Dwayne is what was said earlier - he has nobody around him so he does not have the cushion most freshmen have to cover up their mistakes since the other players are playing poorly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Kneady has already announced his retirement after this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLURadioBoy Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Yeah, I know. Sorry, bad joke I guess. "Praises we sing, to you our alma mater, Praise to the white and blue. Our hymn shall ring, in tribute strong to you, We hail Saint Louis U." Official Billikens.com sponsor of Andrew Latimer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Marque freshman year 6ppg, 50ast, 65to, 1rpg, .095% from 3. and that was on a team with Justin Love as the main scorer, a Jr center in Chris H, Justin Tatum, Mo Jeff as a Jr and a Sr pg to learn from in Dave Ferguson. Dwayne Stats so far this year 5.2ppg 50ast, 39to, 2.2rpg, and .21 from the 3. If Marque was very successfful as a freshman than Dwayne is at least that as he leads Marque in every category except scoring less than 1 point per game less ... on a less talented team ... at least as far as Jr's and Sr's go. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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