Practice

[Major Majerus]

Exactly one hour, from 8-9. Short warm-up on spacing and passing to set up open 3 pointers or isolating a cutter down the lane. Then a scrimmage. 3ptrs - Newbourne 4/5; Drejah 3/3. Polk dunked right over Bryce. Because Luke is still wearing a cast, the walk-on pg had to cover Kevin, and completely shut him down.

Now that the BS is over, here's what I saw. The whole practice after warmup was a scrimmage. Brad quipped that defense starts next week; he just wants them to run and play to get into game shape. High energy everywhere to start, and some slowing down towards the end. I sat downstairs next to the players, and thus got a good look at them. Here are my conclusions from this limited exposure:

Bryce - kudos to Hammer Bodies and Big Men's Camp - he gets set down low and looks for the ball...and actually works with it, finishing a lot. He also looks for the pass from a driving guard, and finished some of those. He once tried to lay it in, and was fouled, but didn't finish. Showed a soft hook once. Brad told him his highest % shot was a dunk...They shot FTs as part of the scrimmage and Bryce had a nice touch. He played OK defense; hard to tell because...

Ian - looked dominant. Finished time after time against Bryce. Was wanting the ball - always - and getting it. Finishing with both hands. He can turn either way with his back to the basket. When they collapsed on him, he got it outside for the open look. A real force inside. Several dunks. Can't see much baby fat on him now. Forget last year - big upside here. He'll get 30 minutes, but we'll be happy to see Bryce for 10.

JJ - Stud. Energy, showing a good shooting touch, but picked up some garbage pts. too. Expect a lot more.

Newbourne - stud, but today, JJ had the edge. Probably a better comfort zone for each of them.

Obi - Stud, and he's getting the brace off in about 2 weeks. Too early to tell if he's going to help this year, but a great body, and a nice stroke, too.

Luke - still in a cast, but there.

Drejah - same old, but it's clear he's gotta play. Very aggressive on the drive and passing to the bigs, but did not look for the 3.

Kevin - clearly looked like the best shooter on the team, and doesn't take but a split second to spot up. Very active, and great hands on defense. Can take any of them to the hoop 1/1, or stop and pop. Absolutely no adjustment pains here. No type of support on his knee. Pure shooter - how strongly can I say this? All freshman team.

Danny - Had a great looking shot; right along with Kevin's. Good shape, and aggressive. Got a clean shot off on the baseline on an out of bounds play starting with 2.2 on the clock - all net.

Polk - actually, I didn't see him bring any more than he had at the end of last year. Shot looked the same, but he hit a few. I think he needs the extra heart beat to get his feet set for the 3.

Liddell - his body style looks like Larry's - really lean. Can slash to the bucket with the smallest opening; can just blow down the lane if there's an opening. Did not attempt an outside shot. His team was Ian, Vashun, Polk, and the unknown pg. Since Ian was calling for the ball, he wasn't looking much to score. I want to watch him work with Kevin and see how they feed off each other.

Unknown small pg who showed a lot of heart and hustle. Got a lot of shots considering...but didn't hit a high %.

Did I miss anyone? In any event, based on this limited amount of time, my opinion is last year's team could not beat this year's team. A healthy Ian, Tommie, and Kevin will make you forget last year's unhealthy big 3. I can't make it Friday nite, but will attend some practices next week, and hope to see some of you there to compare notes. I suspect the first week will be defense mostly. Rammer and Earl were there this morning. The guys on the board still suggesting a losing season are way off base, IMO. Expect a strong season NOW. The future has arrived.

[3star_recruit]

Based on what I've seen in practice, I have no doubt that we'll be better than last year. The more crucial question is how does our personnel compare to the top half of the A-10? GW and Charlotte are better than us at practically every position. Middle of the pack teams like Fordham and UMass return multiple double digit scorers, including an All-Conference 1st and 2nd teamer. We could be significantly better than last year and still finish 14-15.

The A-10 is gonna be tough the next couple years. At least we won't have to worry about taking RPI hits in conference.

[billiken_roy]

your notes on ian, bryce, johnson, newborne and obi wan are extremely encouraging! that made my day.

nothing i didnt expect on your words for lisch and liddell.

your opening paragraph was downright mean!

[slu72]

Unca great report. Encouraging to say the least. As one of those at this time thinking .500 would be special, I'd caution that if you went back and got last year's posts on early practices you would have read many positives as well. I especially remember those about VN and DP ...energy, leader, vocal, quick as a cat, etc.....but then very little of this showed up once the games began. Believe every poster on the board who is predicting 10-13 wins would love nothing better than to have this team prove them wrong to the tune of about 10 games. But until they actually get into games, not scrimmages, this team's gonna have to prove themselves to a whole bunch of Missourians, ie show me.

[Box and Won]

It's good to see JJ show some intensity in practice though - it seems like that's always been a problem for him.

I think that VN will be more of a contributor this year. I thought he improved as the season went on last year, and became a decent defender. He and JJ both have pretty good jumpers when they're "on."

[davidnark]

By the time the conference season rolls around, our freshmen will have a dozen games under their belt, including games against several of the top teams in the country. This should give them plenty of opportunity to adjust to D1, particularly considering that Liddell is an extra year removed from high school and played with a team filled with D1 talent. In light of this, why do you assume that that GW and Charlotte will be better than us in the backcourt?

[3star_recruit]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/men...lantic10/gw.htm

Senior-to-be forwards Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Mike Hall haven't signed with agents, but will test their NBA draft worth. If they don't play well enough at the NBA draft camp in Chicago June 7-10, then both will return to school. If they opt to return to school, then the frontcourt will be talented and battle-tested with Mensah-Bonsu (12.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg), Hall (10.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg) and Omar Williams (9.5 ppg) all returning for their senior seasons.

In the backcourt, 6-5 junior-to-be J.R. Pinnock (13.4 ppg) — the Colonials' superb sixth man — will step into the starting five to replace leading scorer T.J. Thompson (13.6 ppg). Pinnock will be joined in the starting backcourt by 6-4 junior-to-be guard Carl Elliott, an unselfish floor general who can be more of a scoring threat if head coach Karl Hobbs needs him to be.

http://www.cstv.com/tsx/current/m-baskbl/ncch.html

Power forward Curtis Withers is one of the nation's most underrated players. Withers is a tenacious rebounder and can score inside or outside. He'll be joined by a slew of fellow seniors, led by cat-quick point guard Mitchell Baldwin and 2004 super subs E.J. Drayton, LeeMire Goldwire and F/C Chris Nance. Throw in Oklahoma transfer D'Angelo Alexander (9.6 ppg in 2003-04) and JUCO gems Marcus Bennett, Jerell Jamison, Antwon Coleman and Courtney Williams, Charlotte appears to be plenty deep enough to excel in Lutz' fast-paced style

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2114035

Charlotte loses two starters in defensive specialist and versatile scorer Eddie Basden (15.2 points per game) and shooter Brendan Plavich (13.7 ppg), but returns five seniors, including Curtis Withers (18 points, 8.1 rebounds per game), who immediately could challenge La Salle's Steven Smith as the best player in the A-10.

Joining him in the lineup will likely be forward E.J. Drayton (8.7 ppg) and guards Mitchell Baldwin (7.5 ppg) and DeAngelo Alexander (a transfer from Oklahoma). Lutz said the word out of the adidas camp was that Alexander was playing at a "high level," and he should be ready to have an impact on the perimeter.

The other spot could be up for grabs, although the 49ers do have a potential gem in their recruiting class in 6-foot-9 JC transfer Courtney Williams, who averaged 12.1 boards a game last season

[guest]

their better players. i.e. Pops comes in off the bench a lot (almost as soon as possible).

Pops is what we all dream JJ would be and more.

Mike Hall is that Power Forward we are always looking for.

Omar is my favorite, a big guy that can shoot.

JR definitely has NBA Potential.

Carl Elliot reminds a lot of Jeffers (minus the D).

If you ask my friends, I am a GW Pessimist (I argue with people after every game, win or lose). But this year, if GW is not dancing, I am very dissapointed.

Cue Billiken Law Steve Bashing for not going to SLU

[billiken_roy]

david, initially i was going to defend your position. i agree that our guards will more than hold their own with all the teams in the a-10 imo. however after re-reading 3 star's original post you responded to and then reading the 3 star reply to your post, i think the words "practically every position" becomes significant.

while we all believe vouyoukas will hold his own, we all pretty much agree we have a major unknown at pf. off the top of my head, gw and charlotte and fordham imo appear to have major major advantages at the 4 spot. i was studying gonzaga's roster the other day. i dont even want to think about the inside action in that game.

i give major kudos to coach soderberg grabbing the talented guards we got, but one cant help but wonder why we are in the position we are center/power forwardwise for the overall roster. until newborne, johnson or obi wan show us, we have to fear that huge hole.

of course many are going to tell me about how hard it is to find good bigs. but i cant help but go back to last year and the likes of oral roberts, hawaii, uw-milwaukee, and oakland all had much better insider players than we did. if they can find them, why cant we?

our season will be defined by our inside play. and if we try to use 4 guard the likes of polk, drejaj, lisch and liddell to play significant minutes, i fear the final results. it puts way too much on the shoulders of ian unless the guards all at once become reggie miller like from the field. i dont see that happening overnite.

[Billiken Rich]

At Least GW Steve sounds better than SEMO Rich.......

[kshoe]

Its nice to see that everyone on this board doesn't think we are heading to 7-11 wins this coming year.

Its awfully easy for people to underpredict and then if they are right play the "I told you so card" but if they are wrong they get to enjoy it with everyone else.

[tseugnekillib]

JJ problem has always been 100% consistency of effort. One cannot scrimmage with high intensity for 12 minutes, then take a water-break and leave that high intensity next to the Igloo water cooler!

JJ is big enough and shoots well enough to be a factor. If this is the year JJ does reach that consistency level....he will be doing it as a junior leaving even more promise for his senior year.

Here's hoping.....

[Taj79]

... UNCA's original post has JJ, Newborne AND Obi all listed as STUDS!!!! Pardon me while I reserve judgment on this juggernaut. Two freshmen, a sophomore PG, a gritty senior with quetionable offensive talent, a "soft" foreign big man, and no four to speak of ..... Hmmmmmmmm....

Wax poetically all you want and you hereby have permission to bash me later when you are all right and I am on the outside looking in.

[Major Majerus]

The interesting thing I saw from sitting next to the players was the widespread gladhanding JJ got from all of his good plays, and there were a lot of them. It seemed like they know what he's capable of, and are really praising him for producing. Sometimes peer pressure and high expectations are the most important motivators. He has a lot of bounce to him, and I'm a big fan of his potential.

[Major Majerus]

When I say "stud", I'm referring to the physical attributes you want to have in a 4. They have it, and Obi might have the stuff to play 3 with that stroke of his. The bodies are there. What they produce, well, we'll see. Soft foreign big man? I'm telling you, Ian will be the man. He wants the ball, and he's after every rebound. Of course, what I saw today was Brad just telling the guys to play. So...every rebound was in play; you didn't see guys dropping back on D until it was clear who was getting control of the ball. Rhetorical question...why are so many posters loath to accept that players can improve every year? They generally do. Highmark, Claggs, and H did. Roland Gray and Bonner did. The coaches expect it, and so do I. Not all do, of course, but some do. Dwelling on last year's problems and expecting more of the same is having your head in the sand.

[slufanskip]

Well said Unca ... as you all know I have been a big defender of Ian. I think he will be very good. I saw him at the soccer game and he looked good. I never thought he was soft last year. In fact I thought he was pretty good as a starter. This year I expect more.

I also expect more from all the freshman from last year. Tommie should be an impact player and I think Kevin will also be a major player.

Like everyone else ... I have the same questions at the 4. If only one of the 3. VN, JJ or Obi steps up ... we will be a pretty good team.

This year I am looking for improvement. I think .500 is possible. The following year, I expect us to be very good.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[Basketbill]

it seems like we get reports of how great they look in practice, I hope you are correct, but I am looking at this season with caution. While on the one hand I hope Luke, Danny, Dwayne all improve their three point percentage, FT's and Kevin and Tommie come in and have an immediate impact, and that Ian matures into a dominate junior, and Bryce looks to be the replacement for Ian in the future, and Obi can play ................I am skeptical. I expect we see great games, and bonehead plays that tear our insides out.

My hope is that I enjoy the games and that I do not end up in the middle of the Kennesaw State game thinking about how my season tickets are an investment for the future arena. Two years ago that game occurred against Mid Tenn. St. and again a week later against SMS.

[slu72]

agreed. We get these glowing reports from practices and intra squad scrimmages every year. Then we go and lose our first two games in the Paradise Jam to Austin Peay and E. Michigan. For one who lives out of town, it's a bummer getting up at 5:30am rushing to the pc to find out we lost to teams who we were expecting to blow out by 15 or so pts. Not setting myself up for that kind of disappointment this year. The #4 position, unless someone steps up, is going to kill us this year. And we also have to expect it's going to take TL and KL a few games to get up to speed at this level. And face it we don't have a proven player who provides us with a comfort zone like Justin Love, Marque, or Mo. This going to hurt us in close games.

[Basketbill]

agreed we do not have a goto guy defined, but from accounts of how tommie and kevin played in the past they want the ball in those situations.........Izik was the only one who wanted to ball in those situations last year.

[Taj79]

...as I said, when I am proven all wet, let the bashing begin. I expect that and most assuredly will deserve it. But I learned a very valuable lesson a few years back from none other than billiken-roy who went to early season practices and declared that team (I believe it was Sloan's JR or SR year) to be the mopst talented team ever in b-roy Billiken history. I seem to recall that it sucked more oftern than not as far as wins were concerned. So call me hesitant to accept our three potential 4's as studs, among other things.

And if you're talking about bodies, well, then wouldn't Fabio be a stud in that respect? How many times have we seen teams cower in the presence of a Cincinnati or a Louisville forearm shiver? Granted, that was then and not now but until I get shown results on a real court in a real game, I reserve the right to withold judgment. A stroke in a gym is not the same as a stroke in game, in front of thousands of screaming fans with real or imagined pressure riding on it.

And in case you hadn't noticed, foreign big men are all usually soft. Its a different game on the continent than here in the states. Wasn't that proven to our detriment in recent Olympics and world games? European big men don't usually stand up in the grind that is under the boards in the American version. Again ... I'll believe it when I see it after Curtis Withers plants a well-placed elbow into Ian's gut, face or other body part. Now, maybe he'll respond as an erupting volcano. Maybe not. But what is going on in West Pine right now is not what I will take to the bank in the grind that becomes January and February.

I am not loath to accept the fact that folks improve. I'll give you the five names you mention ... who, by the way, would probably all be included on the Billiken Top Ten list of all time. That's not fair. Stars improve. What about the marginal guys? Guys like Sekue, KB, Izik, Sloan, Deiner, Braun? Did these guys improve? I would offer not enough to make a difference. And I would also offer that the Billiken rolls are more dotted with players like these than the five you mention. And if improvement is as you say it is, then are not the other players at other schools improving as well? One aspect does not stand in isolation without impact from others.

You can call it having my head in the sand if you so like ... that's one adage and given that the argument can't be answered without proof, its just as good an adage as any. I like this one "Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." My success level is one that is measured by attaining an NCAA bid after a season. I don't care how you do it, just do it. I used to include NITs but I don't now. So in my 30 or so years of association with this program, divided by four NCAA appearances, that gives me a return of success at 13% ... or a little better than 1-in-10. You're telling me this is that one year? With no proven four, an evolving big man, no outside shooting, and two freshmen guards?

When you get done yelling at me ... I'd like to start discussions on buying your Arch from you. Or that bridge in Brooklyn you have for sale. Hope srpings eternal as they say and I'd like to believe that I'm somewhere in the middle as far as optimism is concerned.

But I have to admit that I am getting to the point where I recommend ignoring you guys going to the gym and offering reports. Don't get me wrong -- I consider b-roy a real and trusted friend but I must temper his reports or go insane. I read them. And I respect them. But I have to caution that the reports are more often than not tainted with rose-colored optimism that is suspect because of our intense "homerism" with all that is Billiken.

Given the above at face value, I think the bar is getting set quite high for "suspects" like JJ, Ian and Newborne. JJ, for example, has been with the program like what(?) three years now? This is his fourth? I'll take it a little slower .....

[kshoe]

You may recall Roy and others predicting good things during Sloan's final two years but you act like we stunk those two years. We finished 4th in CUSA both those years and were 1 or 2 games from the dance. We didn't make the ultimate goal but we weren't bad either. Meanwhile, I distinctly remember a bunch of the "realists" on the board predicting doom and gloom and 8 win seasons those years too. They were wrong, just like all the positive people were wrong last year. If flies both ways.

I just don't get how long term supporters of the team can consistently predict such negative things for this team such as single digit wins. Players improve and we are adding at least two very good players to this years team. We will be fine, whether you and SLU72 want to believe it.

[billiken_roy]

i believe the season was sloan's freshman season. we had jeffers, love, perry, edwin, sloan, etc. assuming my memory is ok, my point was that the athleticism went 10 deep for the first time in billiken history. during spoon's two good seasons, we were lucky to have 2 players on the bench that could walk and chew gum. but spoon's teams were obviously more successful because they had a better starting five. but the point i was making those years ago was that the depth of the billiken team was credible all the way to the end of the bench because there werent eric jones and seke barrantine's at the end of the bench for the first time.

otherwise, i think you have pretty good post. you are correct, we have to stay tempered knowing we have a boat load of freshmen and sophomores. talented ones. probably the deepest talentwise for two consecutive classes, yet admittedly still young.

[Major Majerus]

Maybe that's why I'm so optimistic about this crew - the talent level goes all the way down the bench. And, I sensed that the players know it, and have confidence in each other. The two new faces, before official practice has begun, have already proved to their teammates that they belong. Good teams have chemistry. If you think you have a chance to win, you put out that extra effort - which often becomes contagious. This team will get after it. Combined with talent, that's all we can ask as fans. When you think in terms of basketball IQ, we have it.

[slu72]

Jeez, Kshoe, we're trying to be objective here. Last year I predicted 19 wins and we had 3 seniors returning, one of them a second team all conference player. Ok, crap happens, but all those guys played against AP and EM in the Virgin Islands. Ooops, sorry, I don't think RB played much if at all, but with all the excitement expressed last year about VN and DP it should have been enough to get by two teams with rpi's near the 200's. My problem is the guys that go to the practices, and don't get me wrong I enjoy the optimism and the reports, is that they are judging this in a vacumn. It's like looking at the local hs star who eveyone in the stands thinks can play for NC or Duke, when in fact he couldn't start for Savannah State....we've got to see how these kids play the games against top notch d-1 talent which they will face against the likes of Iowa, Zaga, NC, Charlotte, et al. We've seen AD play for 3 years, he's not the answer/saviour in fact he's regressed. JJ? our version of the enigma machine...three years should have been enough for something other that highlight dunks in warmups. VN, how can a guy at the pf position avg 15-20 mpg and get like 6 fta's for a whole season? IV, at last a positive, he has shown improvement....let's hope it continues. As for the rest, well, we'll just have to wait and see. But please prove TajMahal79 and me wrong...we'd like nothing better than to eat that species of crow.

[Taj79]

... I respect each and everyone's point. I am only reserving judgment until there is tangible evidence one way or the other. I hope those with high hopes are correct. I apologize to roy if I interpreted his previous statements wrongly. But to say the team is the best (fill in the blank) tends to set expections on high. Which is what we all want.

For the record, I have never predicted how a Billiken team will do in any preseason poll. Go check them out .. my predicitons are not in there. I did this because it is unfair without some documentation to support your conclusions. Right now, we have instances of JJ going against Newborne at West Pine Gym. Neither of which is Curtis Withers, Pops Mensah-Bonsu or Jason Maxiell at the Shoe, Freedom Hall or the USF Thunderdome.

I think an average team will win its home games and lose on the road. Give or take a few "oopsies" in each instance. A good team will win all its home games, most neutral court games and steal a win or two on the road in unexpected places. A great team will win all games at all locations with losses at the expected tough places in conference and out. A bad team only wins a couple at home for the most part and looses a couple of those as well. Without numbers, I am hoping for an average team right now unless proff turns this elsewhere.