What if....

[slu72]

UB doesn't land the next AB this spring either in a JUCO or a prep or hs star? What does that do for us next year? We have two guys returning that are supposed to be PF's; VN is 6'6" but hasn't shown any PF inclinations, i.e. slasher, monster rebounder, or a guy who can put it back after a miss. JJ should wear a bumper sticker POTENTIAL PF ONLY. Does VN become the man by default? Does UB have to go with POTENTIAL PF ONLY? Or does DB take that spot? Can DB take that spot? Or does it go to LM? Assume the guard positions are TL, DP, and KL. IV has to be the #5 man, so what do we do about #4? I think one of the reasons UB started VN with the 3 frosh and 1 soph on Sunday was he's got to count on VN being next season's PF. Thank God we're leaving CUSA. I don't think a PF has to be the requisite 6'7"-6'9" guy. 6'6" could do the job, but he's got to have the mental makeup to play that role. Right now I don't see that person on the team.

[SLUDrew]

I think it all depends on who we are playing what style coach wants to play next year. Ith the depth we will have at guard, and given that the vast majority of our talent will be at the guard spots, coach may want to get out and run on teams. Remember, he has said that he would prefer to play that style. If we do play a lot of run and gun, you may see a lot of both VN AND JJ. Both can run the floor, catch passes on the run, distribute, etc. I don't mean to take away from IV. He has earned the right to be a go-to-guy and eat up a lot of minutes on the floor, but if the majority of you talent is at guard, I think you need to take advantage of that and, dare I say, play an uptempo game.

[billiken_roy]

imo if we dont get AT LEAST one inside player than can substantially contribute next year we are in trouble. if i was the coach i would be looking for two new inside starters for next year. maybe that would motivate the comingbackers a little over the summer.

[bauman]

I know we keep hearing that we are going (maybe just hoping) to get a PF who can come in and have an impact immediately, but my concern is that Brad and his staff have so far not shown the ability to get such a player. I think it is imperative that they get "their man" or we will be wasting DP, KL and TL much like I think Spoon did with HW, SH and EC. Just imagine how good that team would have been with some above average big guys.

[slu72]

I tend to agree with Broy. If we're left with VN/JJ at the PF and IV(who I happen to think is coming along) we are in big trouble. If you're going to run you need to get rebounds and for that you need a solid #4. The fact that DePaul got 18 offensive boards says we ain't going to have many chances to run without a monster on the boards. the other thing that scares me is if we have no viable inside game, our guards are going to be seeing a lot of zones to reduce their effectiveness.

[Major Majerus]

All that's required of us to have a nice inside game is to have Ian shoot 75% at the stripe. He has the soft stroke; it's just focus. Look what a great ft shooter Sloan eventually became. This next isn't directed at your post - it's just in the spirit of the thread. We fixate too much on size for the 4. Rebounding is primarily quickness - add heart and hops and moderate size - and you have a winner. I think Crum's national champions didn't have a guy over 6'6. We want to sign the guy who always winds up with the ball when it's contested; we don't want to limit our thinking with a closed mind empirical standard.

[billiken_roy]

last night on espn we saw what real power forwards are. syracuse with hakeem warrick, uconn with charlie velavenzulea (sp?) and the boone kid. then in the nightcap, we see joey graham at ok state and taj gray at oklahoma. now those are real power forwards. add something remotely close to any one of those, and i would be overjoyed.

[davidnark]

We have our starter at center for the next two seasons, and he is as good as any starting center we have had since the Big Chill showed big promise.

I would love to see the staff land two legitimate power forwards.

[willie]

I made the comment to one of my kids that Ian is the best center we've has since Melvin, and I liked Heinrich.

[SShoe]

Everybody's looking for another AB. At this point I'd be happy with another Tatum or Jeff harris type of player.

[davidnark]

He plays very good post defense. He passes very well. He has nice moves around the basket. He screens out for rebounds as good as anyone on the team. He even had a great dunk putback in the last game. Admittedly, he could improve his quickness and agressiveness, but overall I think he is everything we could ask for in a center.

It is a shame that some folks won't accept him because he isn't a flashy leaper or dunker. If we ever get consistent outside shooting and a strong power forward, Ian could really be a difference maker in this program.

What I also love about Ian is that, unlike Kenny Brown and Chris Heinrich, I don't cringe waiting for a turnover or brick everytime he touches the ball on offense.

[slu72]

Broy, you are right or take Hicks from UC or Whithers from Charlotte. Hell, I'd take Eddie Badsen from charlotte and make him our PF. Guy is only 6'6" but plays much bigger. VN is not the answer and if he starts next year, and I hope I eat these words, we're gonna suck again. This guy has played a lot of minutes and been to the FT line like 5 times...5 freaking times! Clearly he is not a scoring threat and the other team knows it. He's playing a position where he's bound to get fouled just by wearing the uniform. It's either JJ or someone else (mystery recruit)for the #4. Or we convert DB into the role. From what all you guys say the kid is a mini sloan right now.

[billiken_roy]

showed promise is the key word then and now. call me when promise fulfilled.

[willie]

Since Tom has left and Ian has started it is more than just promise. There has been nothing wrong with his productivity. If you want to say he hasn't played enough games you have a point. My point is he's doing a pretty good over all job right now,and he will only get better.

[billiken_roy]

davidnark said, "What I also love about Ian is that, unlike Kenny Brown and Chris Heinrich, I don't cringe waiting for a turnover or brick everytime he touches the ball on offense."

of course i wont defend heinrich. it makes me sad to see folks using the excuse he is better than heinrich. i think rich nieman is better than hienrich, but he is probably nearly 60 years old as well. but for the record, kenny brown had 26 turnovers his senior season. ian has 19 already, and that is taking into consideration he didnt play the first month of the season much, and there are 9 games left to play.

i believe by the time ian has graduated, even i will be saying that ian was better than kenny brown. but he is not better than him now. his defense consists of trying to hold the opponent. he has more double fouls this year than all our billiken centers together over the last 20 years. he should be able to seal people out, he is as wide as a house. right now, i agree he is the best we got. and he is doing an adequate job. but to rave about him, and declare he is our center for the next two years, etc. just seems wrong. there is a lot of improvement he can make and needs to make if we are to become a good team.

[billiken_roy]

a pretty good job and he gets us more than 5 rebounds.

a pretty good job he gets us at least one put back bunny. he only had one offensive rebound, and he didnt put it back in he threw it back out.

a pretty good job he makes at least a couple of those 5 or 6 shots he got fouled on and is going to the line for the conventional 3 point play. two of those and we win the game.

ok if you dont want to concede the couple of inside shots while being fouled then on a pretty good job he converts more than 6-11 on the free throws. plus two of his misses were front ends of one and ones.

marlon brumfield didnt miss a shot, and almost out rebounded him 2-1. marlon brumfield is not going to be a first round draft pick. but you all are satisfied ian was outplayed by marlon brumfield.

[willie]

He shoots free throws like Blake Ahern compared to Kenny Brown.

[kshoe]

good PF's out of highschool just aren't out there at this point. You have to sign those guys in the early signing period. The few that are left will be coveted by every program in America and will be impossible sells coming off this season.

We missed our starting PF when we missed on Matt Shaw. Its that simple.

Both of the final roster spots should be used to sign guys that can play the 4. In my opinion you should sign one JUCO that can rebound (probably doesn't have much scoring ability or he'd go to a better program) and take a shot on a strong athletic highschool kid that can't shoot worth a lick. Hope that just one of them can give you some quality minutes next year on the defensive end next season and maybe one of them develops some offenseive skills by the next year.

The 05-06 class needs to be big-man heavy and only outstanding local guards should be pursued in my opinion.

[billiken_roy]

that is true. his ball looks good going to the rim. one of my favorite billiken rich lines about kenny brown shooting a free throw one time, "he was wide right".

[billiken_roy]

if we want to take stock in any recruiting rumors, he is chasing leonard who is a sg/sf, the younger hill from vashon, who is a sg, and dustin mcguire who is a combo forward. no big men in site for those two scholarships.

we need the bigs now. idealy they would contribute or be able to compete right away, but realistically, kshoe you are probably right, there wont be much left bigwise in the spring that is an immediate impact like guy. so, especially if they will be semi projects again, i would get these guys now. assuming ian continues to improve, he has two years he can man things while projects progress.

[tseugnekillib]

I didn't see Matt Shaw as the solution to our power forward problem if he would have had to play four years in C-USA. I couldn't picture him having much success against the size/strength that Louisville, Cincy, Memphis, DePaul and Charlotte put under the basket. Matt would have benefitted from a redshirt-strength building year.

Now if Matt was a senior in high school this year with SLU going to the A-10, that might be a different story.

[slufanskip]

If we want to run ... all the more reason we need IV. You have to get the board to run. You don't run off made baskets.

I would not label JJ as someone who can get down the floor quickly. IMO he is rather slow. His feet are so big he can barely get them out of his own way

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[slufanskip]

If we had Matt Shaw right now there would be posters complaining he isn't dominate yet.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[kshoe]

we were on our way to the A-10, although in my opinion players are players and a good one can play in any league. The whole argument that you should recruit certain players to play in certain conferences just doesn't cut it. If the MVC and A-10 are so hopeless undermatched compared to CUSA and the other big boys then why do they always beat those teams when the NCAA tourney comes around?

Looks like Matt is averaging 5 points in only 15 minutes a game. If he were playing for the Bills he'd probably get 20-25 minutes a game and likely would be our third leading scorer.

On another subject, I saw Blake Ahearn was the MVC player of the week with 38 points in only 44 minutes last week. You always told me to wait a few years before comparing the DC vs. Ahearn decision. Seeeing as DC is deeeep on the bench and a possible transfer candidate it sure seems to me we'd be better off with Blake. Again, don't give me the "Blake is only having success against the MVC argument" as the MVC currently has an RPI higher than CUSA and the A-10.

[Schasz]

You make very valid points as for whatever reason(s) Clarke has been a bust and we are sooooo piss poor shooting from beyond the arc, Ahearn or someone who can shoot like him would have been a godsend for the '04-'05 Billikens.