DC/Luke Meyer

[SShoe]

Okay, I generally like Brad and what he did the previous two years. However, it just seems more than strange that Darren Clarke has played about 2 games all season and when he gets some big minutes (tonight), he scores 15? All year long we haven't been unable to score and now DC gets some better minutes and a chance to play and he leads us in scoring. The same can be said for Luke in the past two games in which he has had 9 and 10 point games. So I really must question Brad's decisions on playing time. I know he generally decides because of practice and hustle during practice, but practice and games are totally different. I must agree with Allen Iverson. It's just practice. If they can get it done during the game, maybe they should be playing.

[Billikan]

Its all about Brad's loyalty to Reggie. Those two guys are playing in the place of Reggie.

[tseugnekillib]

Brad stated both on his radio show, and at the MAC dinner, that Darren was practicing well enough, but that DC was a shade behind the other five perimeter players and that he (Brad) didn't want to use a six man perimeter rotation. If one of the five other perimeter players would have been injuried earlier, I'm guessing DC would have got a few minutes.

I'm happy for DC. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the shot of confidence to get him rolling!

[jjray]

The bottom line is that DC started the first game of the season, was yanked from the starting lineup shortly thereafter but played small minutes several games after that, and then found his butt riding the bench for the last 2 months during which span our team has been struggling mightly to score points. BRAD SODERBERG'S JOB IS TO PUT THE BEST BILLIKEN TEAM POSSIBLE ON THE FLOOR DURING GAMES, NOT THE BEST WEST PINE TEAM. Practice is a wonderful instrument but, as Vince Lombardi said, "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." I'm beginning to have huge doubts about BS's ability to evalute the value of his own players.

[Billikan]

Thank you--expert coach who has all of the answers. I assume you will be coaching at the D 1 level next year. Maybe you can replace Pete Gillen and coach in the ACC. I have no idea why someone who is so smart as you are about everything in college basketball coaching would lower himself to post on this board and rip a ridiculously bad coach like Brad. Can't you focus on your job search?

The only questin that I have is--when the team is winning next year--I assume you will still hate Brad but at least you will be coaching in a big D1 game so you won't be free to post your criticisms.

[aj_arete]

I find it hard to believe that there are three shooting guards better than Bryant. I'm all for playing your best players and think both Ohanon and Bryant are getting raw deals.

Now people are criticizing Bryant's defense, but last I checked, defense isn't the problem. We need players to put the ball in the hole, and there's no one better than Bryant. I happen to think Bryant must have done something inappropriate off the court to warrant this benching.

I'm sorry, but 15 points against a lowly S. Florida team does nothing for me.

[Tonka]

Billikan, I have a question. I have read many of your replies and I am curious. Are you satisfied with the year we are having? Are you satisfied with offensive schemes this year? What in your opinion do you attribute to the results of the season so far? What do you think Brad has done well and what do you think Brad has done not so well? Lastly, if you were an AD and hired a Coach, what would your expectations be the first few years and over the long haul and what criteria would you use to evaluate the results?

I know you are passionate about your responses, which I respect. So, I want to fully understand your views.

[tseugnekillib]

aj, according to the post-game recap, Bryant was out with the flu. I'm not even sure RB made the trip.

Team defense is not a four player effort.....it takes all five contributing equally.

Reggie didn't do anything off the floor.

Relax, enjoy a rare victory!

[billiken_roy]

they said on the radio and tv that reggie has been throwing up for two days. they considered flying him down separate today, but woke up not feeling much better and decided to let him rest.

[Billikan]

I view the sport of basketball as any other "team" endeavor.

In that regard, the most successful teams have excellent leadership at the top and the most experienced team members are the key to success.

To compare it to coaching, I view the coach as the leader who sets the agenda and gives the direction. The seniors and juniors are the experienced team leaders who are the keys to success on the court.

Most coaches are very loyal to their seniors and juniors because they view them as people who "paid their dues" and for that reason they deserve support and pt.

This years team is a disappointment on a number of fronts. I have said repeatedly that Brad, as the leader, has to take some of the blame for our lack of success. In my view, it was his dogged loyalty to his seniors that caused him all of the problems. Reggie killed us early in the year with his turnovers and his terrible shooting percentages yet Brad still played him big minutes. I understand the mindset but it was painful to watch. Tom Frericks was totally a non factor and was a liability--now we know it was because of his concussions--yet Brad stuck with him because he was a senior--and because he played his rear end off last year.

IO has played the best of the three but he lost us several games with his poor play late in games.

So the coach definitely has to take some of the blame.

However, the experienced guys are supposed to be the heart of any team and they are to lead the way with the young guys. Our seniors, except for the mentoring of Ian by Tom and IO, have done little to truly "lead" the team.

We have one real junior--Drejaj-- who has been wildly inconsistent and cost us some games with his bad play at crunch time and a juco transfer in VN. As with all of our juco players, he is slowly coming around and I would expect him to be better next year.

Once the coach finally decided to play Ian, and then Luke and then Danny with Polk playing more and now with Clarke we have a team with much more energy but they will also make mistakes. The DePaul game told the tale for me. When Meyer was in the game we were much better than when Reggie was in the game. The same was true tonight when Clarke got Reggie's minutes.

The entire team, including the coach, has to take the blame for this bad season. BUT, I put very little of the blame on the freshmen and sophomores because they could not be expected to carry this team early in the season. Now they are battle tested and they can play big minutes they should get the bulk of the pt and we will be happy to see a group of hustlers going after it.

Maybe I have been a fan too long so I remember some long very bad times. Yes, I am disappointed. yet I am also encouraged about the future. Ian gets better every day. Polk is playing better. Luke Meyer is the new Chris sloan. Danny Brown is an athletic runner and defender who needs polish but has potential. Clarke showed tonight that he may still be in the mix. If you add to that young group Lisch and Liddell and at least one other quality recruit--hopefully a four--then we have the makings of a very intereresting team that will be fun to watch for next year and thereafter.

The problem I have with so many of the posters is that they are fair weather fans and many don't have a clue about the non statistical contributions that are so important to a team's success. Then we have the group that hates Brad and slams him for everything. They want him fired and they encourage recruits not to come to SLU. I am perplexed as to why they even bother posting but it really burns me up to read those diatribes.

Bottom line, I see good things ahead but this year was a disappointment.

[Billikan]

I respectfully disagree with you and would ask if you go to the games. I sit close to the floor with a large group and there is not one person who is not totally frustrated with Reggie. he has missed wide open shots and thrown up wild shots in crunch time. His defense, particularly his help defense is very spotty. But the key factor is the energy level. For some reason his energy level is well below the other younger players. You can see the difference when he enters the game. And 15 points against any conference USA team on the road--with a good shooting percentage, is a terrific accomplishment. He didn't need 14-17 shots like Reggie in order to get his 15 points.

[Schasz]

I'll just say that fans are entitled to express their opinions and I would love to see lots and lots of positive posts; however, for that to happen all the time one has to understand that the team has to provide a reason for the positive comments to appear. This has been an entirely frustrating and disappointing experience for the players, coaches, and yes the fans too. Many fans have expressed their frustration and that is to be expected. Some have questioned Coach Soderberg's coaching and frankly that is fair. All in all, I think that the comments on this website are tame even the ones of a negative nature. I see some glimmer of hope for the future after watching the team last night against a pretty bad basketball team, but there is a lot of ifs ands and buts in that glimmer. IMHO that's just some of the baggage of being a Billiken fan.

[slufanskip]

I agree with Billikan ... though I don't think he stayed with Reg and Tom because they were Sr's. He stayed with them because they were proven. They had been there done that. When a baseball player goes in a slump ... you don't bench him ... you ride him out, just knowing he will come through. I think it was the same with Tom and Reg. If I was coach I would have also played them, and Just like I did as a fan ... I would have kept believing they were going to break out of the slump and revert to the form that they had previously shown. What would be tough is to know when to break it off when to sit the established slumping player ... especially if you were seeing positive signs in practice and occasional flashes in games, especially if there were injuries involved that they were coming off of. As a coach ... it would be hard to sit the player that has proven success, but slumping a little and coming off of an injury for an unproven player, especially if that player leads your team in scoring.

I can get on Brad for staying with the vets too long. I agreed with him and would have done the same.

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[billiken_roy]

i think the problem with reggie is we want reggie to be marque perry, justin love or mo jeffers. we want him to be the man, take over games etc. however, i have decided that reggie bryant is just a very good shooter. if he was the third option on this team we would love reggie bryant. sitting on the wing waiting for the defense to collapse on a slasher or a kick out pass from a very good center, reggie bryant would be very effective. however, this team doesnt have that level of personell. and we needed reggie to step up to that level. nothing against reggie, he is every bit the shooter that virgil cobbin was a better player than a corey fraizer was, but he just isnt going to be that top gun.

[billiken_roy]

billikan, i pretty much agree with everything you said. except i am not as down on izik and reggie. i have accepted the fact they just arent top guns and we cant expect them to fulfill the roles as the team leaders. they would have been excellent 3rd and 4th guys on any team. but they just arent good enough to be the goto guys.

i was looking a the media guide last night for the game by game results of the 1991-1992 season. that was grawer's last year and the freshman season for claggett and highmark. if you look at that season, you will see a lot of similar scores and heart break. and the one thing i did not remember, they did not win a single game in the great midwest conference that year. so in many ways, this team is at least better than that one and has the same long term hope if not more.

remember, when claggett and highmark made it to the top, they never really had a center. as much as i dog vouyoukas, i am not foolish enough to believe he will remain at that level. if he improves as most expect, that alone will make us a better team in the next couple of seasons.

[billiken_roy]

while i have questioned specific instances in games with coach soderberg, overall, this might have been coach soderberg's most challenging season. not having someone step up and become the goto guy he could lean on to take over games is a tremendous hurdle to overcome. how many of those close games over the last two seasons we won would have been won without marque, josh and chris? in all likelihood, we could have easly lost another 5-6 games the last two seasons if we didnt have that on floor take over refuse to lose guy. this team doesnt have that. plus to break in polk, brown, meyer, johnson, clarke, and vouyoukas for big minutes is a tough job. if you think about it, we are sitting on some unexpected experience for next year.

to blame brad for the season is understandable. he is the head coach and the buck has to stop somewhere. but on the other hand, it isnt from lack of effort. he has been trying to find the spark all season. many combinations, different styles of play, those that have been to practice know he has varied his approach in practice, he has done what he can. i think what is important is that even though the team is headed for a sub 500 record, we as fans can see that no one has given up. even in the losses to marquette and depaul, we walked away thinking those were good efforts we could have won. i for one feel a lot better about things than i did two months ago. i am disappointed as hell, i really believed the record would be reversed of what it is right now, but after seeing what has transpired, i understand and have accepted this season for what it is. anyone that cant see the progress and light at the end of the tunnel just isnt trying.

[cheeseman]

Billikan and Roy - valid points. Skip - the only question I have for you is when does a coach realize he is throwing good money after bad. When the team is 2-10, should he realize that the seniors and juniors are not delivering and that he needs to salvage what he can by investing what he has left in the future or continue down the same losing road and find out the next year that your young players are not any better and war tested? That is the only point I have been making about Brad - he just took to long realize this - I am glad he has and now all of us have something to look forward to next year. He now has something to sell spring and fall recruits - yes we struggled but look we finally started to see some consistency by playing or youngsters so the future looks bright and will be brighter when you come.

[billiken_roy]

looking back at this season, i am betting that the decision of when to make the switch was made for him by the players by their play and attitude. when the younger guys were truly deserving they got their chance. when they truly were playing at a level that could be considered equal then they got their shot.

at the beginning of the season, when luke meyer was on the floor he had no confidence. he would look to get rid of the ball as soon as he got it and when the horn sounded for a sub it looked like he wanted off the floor.

that was puzzling since he had been such a dominating scorer in high school. the last couple of weeks, his whole approach has turned around. and thus, it has allowed more of the luke we saw in high school to emerge. thus he is now being rewarded with the time.

[3star_recruit]

You'd look lost too if you only played a 3 minute stint before being yanked from the game instead of being allowed to play through your mistakes and get rid of the butterflys. This hurt Polk's development as well because when those other guys were on the floor for their three minutes stint, he had no one to pass it to -- they would just pass it right back to him.

[aj_arete]

SLU that close this year. Watch bits and pieces of the televised games and only saw the Oral Roberts game in person. Admittedly, Brad's style is not all that fun to watch when we're losing. As for Bryant, I just remember what a good player he was last year, and now all of sudden, they're ready to discard him like yesterday's garbage.

Yeah, I read that he had the flu, but I was wondering if there were some other underlying factors there.

Then you've got Ohanon, who's been our best player, and he's sitting out for long stretches. Now I'll admit that he's been inconsistent, he's an upgrade over Newborne and Johnson.

[kshoe]

to "maybe" win one more game this year by playing IO and RB as much as possible or play the kids and a) see if they can't improve on the play of RB and IO and improve towards next year. I'm all for playing the kids at this point. We have nothing to lose and there is only upside. Neither Reggie's or IO's ability to earn a living playing basketball will be affected by them not playing much these final games.

[guest]

Anybody remember the game where Troy went for 24 pts (I think) his freshman or sophmore year? Nobody was guarding him and he hit a bunch of 3's. Did anybody expect him to be a scorer going forward?

A month ago, everybody was saying "Why hasn't Justin Johnson been playing?" after he scored 11 or 12. Now people are doing the same thing with Darren. I think Darren found himself some looks yesterday. I also remember Darren looking like crap against SIU both on offense and defense so I will take a "wait and see" approach.

[jjray]

>>The problem I have with so many of the posters is that they are fair weather fans and many don't have a clue about the non statistical contributions that are so important to a team's success. Then we have the group that hates Brad and slams him for everything. They want him fired and they encourage recruits not to come to SLU. I am perplexed as to why they even bother posting but it really burns me up to read those diatribes.<<

Don't be so thin skinned. An honest opinion is an honest opinion and everyone is entitled to theirs. You as well as I as well every poster on the board. I went to my first Billiken games in the early 70s and have followed this team through thick and thin. If you don't like my posts, don't read them.

[billiken_roy]

i actually thought of the troy robertson explosion after the game last night while watching mi$$ouri p!ss away another game. i remember spoon telling bob ramsey to not beleive that we just found the mother lode that troy wasnt going to do that again real soon. spoon was right.

the difference though is that darren to a degree created some of his opportunities last night, plus had two outstanding passes and generally played well at all aspects of the game last night. more than troy sitting in the corner and hitting 4 or 5 uncontested 3's. there was no way i expected to see that performance last nite.

[aj_arete]

You're giving the young players a false sense of accomplishment by playing them over more talented players. Admittedly, I haven't watched the Billikens lately and maybe Meyer, Clarke and Newborne are better than Bryant and Ohanon. However if they're not outperforming them in practice, I think you're sending the wrong message to the team.