great game

[billiken_roy]

i admit, i didnt give us a chance in hell of winning last nite. wait, let me change that. i didnt give us a chance of being close at the end.

morrison is an all-american. batista looks like an nfl all-pro pass rusher, ravio is just smooth and unrattled. and the rest of the gang fills a roster as good as any team in the country.

credit soderberg for playing the triangle. yes, it gave some open looks, but it also held one of the highest scoring teams in the country to 60 points. i kept thinking going into the game, there is no way anyone can guard him one on one. turns out brad agreed and by playing that triangle, whenever morrison had the ball he had at least two guys on him. same with ravio. not allowing the offense to easily flow through ravio and morrison just totally f'd gonzaga up. my guess is that few now nows he has to bring pargo along faster to have an alternative or else he is going to see that damned triangle a lot from here out.

nice nite for johnson and polk to have huge nites. dwayne was marvelous. he used that speed to make gonzaga crazy and he hit some huge shots. he also played very good defense on ravio when in the game and to just ruin ravio's night, when polk would go out then meet mr lisch. ravio didnt like polk and lisch.

justin played very well. he rebounded and played very good defense. he especially should be proud of the job he did on batista when ian got in foul trouble. if justin is going to approach double double every game, this team immediately becomes a major a-10 player imo. we rebounded with gonzaga and that can be attributed imo to the work that justin johnson did last nite.

luke meyer played very well. you cant discount that extra size coming in the game. luke is a very bright player that is never out of position it seems. there is a reason he seems to be in the right place at the right time. and he came up very stong guarding morrison when liddell took breaks.

liddell played great. someone noted his shooting percentage last nite. but keep in mind, i think 3 times he got the rebound of his missed shot and put it back in. the kid is the quickest jumper i have ever seen at slu. sure douglas and jeffers and love could sky, but liddell does as well. plus, tommie has this unbelievable ability to go back up faster than the average guy. watch and see how often he gets the second tip.

lisch didnt shoot well. kevin can make those shots. but he seems to be playing tenative and somewhat scared. he needs to relax and play. i am glad he looks to get it to ian, but he also needs to think about scoring more and not just those 25 footers from the corner. once he loosens up and let's the game come to him naturally he will be fine.

drejaj getting hurt likely will be a tough adjustment for the team. we know how tough the kid is, so for him to not come back to the game tells me he is hurt.

ian was a man. i expected batista to at worst be equal to ian, but likely out play him. ian was far better than batista and that alone might be the number one thing to take with us to conference play. batista is a nationally known quality inside player. we now know that ian is better. at least last night it appeared so. now we need the team around ian to step up another notch to give ian the breathing room to do what he does best.

that was a fun game. it was as close to a wonderful billiken xmas present we could ever want. this team is close. very close.

[Schasz]

Good report Roy and this was the one game that I was really wanting to fly into St. Louis to see, but the timing just was not right for that to happen. It does seem like our team is growing up faster than I anticipated. I am anxious to see how we can do once conference play rolls around. If we can just start getting some consistency beyond the arc then the Bills can be a real threat against any A10 team. I also liked seeing the attendance of over 15K with the Blues really sucking on the ice, we should be able to attract that casual St. Louis winter sports fan.

[Naticat]

Armein Kirkland for Tommie Lidell. In fact I'll trade you every Bearcat not named Hicks,White or Downey for him. I can only imagine the great things he's going to be doing when he's a senior. Kevin too.

[VTIME]

I agree with everything you said, except the drejaj part. We know Lisch is the better player and should start at sg position. Now Brad has to rely on him to do that. Hopefully when/if Drejaj returns he can be the same player he was before, but off the bench. He doenst give us much accept hitting an open 3 every once in a while, but he can do that off the bench. He scored 0 pts last night and we were a two buzzer beaters away from a win. If Doudley missed his buzzer beater and Lisch hits his you have an upset that will be all over sportscenter.

[TheGoat]

>We know Lisch is the better player and should start at sg

>position. Now Brad has to rely on him to do that.

>Hopefully when/if Drejaj returns he can be the same player

>he was before, but off the bench.

V,

While your insight of late has been a welcome change, you are decidedly wrong in this comment. Long term KL may indeed end up being better, but this year AD far and away has been the better overall player. Look at the shooting percentages, especially from 3 wh/ is supposed to be KL's main thing. D is about even. This really isn't a question with regards to this year....long term, I think KL takes it in a walk.

[billiken_roy]

i dont know how many of you know this, but joe montana became the varisty qb at notre dame because rusty lisch got hurt and then joe went on to lead nortre dame that year to a national championship. notre dame then redshirted rusty the following year so as to have him as their qb the following season after joe montana graduated.

now drejaj gets hurt and kevin lisch will likely step into the starting billiken lineup.

ironic. fate payback.

[billiken_roy]

goat, i agree drejaj has had the better shooting year. but kevin is a better defender right now. no knock on drejaj. he is a spectacular defender too.

[kappy96]

I couldn't agree more with starting Kevin over Anthony. This could end up being a blessing. While i'll agree that AD provides the heart, his skills are not equal to Kevin's and the sooner Kevin is able to start, the quicker he will develop. I actually think it makes more sense to bring Anthony off the bench to light a fire if we get off to a slow start. Let's hope he has that opportunity.

[BillikenButch]

Terrific game last night. A lot of players stepped up and showed they want to compete. Great effort and almost great results for a young team.

I do want to share my only frustration. I know Drejaj was out in the second half, but how many jump shots did we take in the first 16 minutes of the second half? Two or three? Until Lisch hit the three I know it had been about 8 minutes since we had taken one.

It is too bad we couldn't make and sink some in the second half, I think it would have made the difference in the game.

[Basketbill]

this year I would settle for winning the A-10, next year the National Championship.....

[Schasz]

I agree that Anthony's injury opens the door for Kevin. This is a great opportunity for him to show us how good a player he can be. Now it is entirely up to Kevin.

[VTIME]

>I couldn't agree more with starting Kevin over Anthony.

>This could end up being a blessing. While i'll agree that

>AD provides the heart, his skills are not equal to Kevin's

>and the sooner Kevin is able to start, the quicker he will

>develop. I actually think it makes more sense to bring

>Anthony off the bench to light a fire if we get off to a

>slow start. Let's hope he has that opportunity.

Glad someone agrees with me. Lisch should start and it will develop him quicker and use Drejaj as a sniper off the bench who can play some D.

[ACE]

If we keep progressing like this, we are going to be pretty tough in the A10.

[willie]

A lot of Drejej's stats were from the first few games. His recent offense has been very limited. Kevin is a much better threat to score. That said what you don't know is the leadership quality. It's hard for a freshman but this should be Tommies Team. He is the guy who's directing trafic and creating the flow of the game. He has a huge basketball IQ.

[waterboy]

I agree on the jumpshots. I did not think that we would be so poor at nailing jumpers with a guard oriented offense. I checked the stats and opponents are making about 3 more three pointers per game than we are and shooting a higher percentage. Some of that may be due to not having a "true" home court where you can practice regularly.

It also looks to me like we do not have the confidence to come down the court and shoot a quick, open jumper in transition before the D is set. Hopefully, the confidence will come as the young team matures.

[BleacherBum593]

Great night of basketball. Shimmy and the girls got it rolling with a big W over Carbondale. If I'm not mistaken, it the girls first win in its last 6 or 7 games.

One of the memories I'll take away from last night was Ian wanting the ball in the 2nd half and going hard to the basket. There will be a few coaches from the A-10 looking at this game and wondering how their going to stop this kid.

In addition, I loved the effort that Husak gave coming off the bench. He seemed to be alot more physical than I've ever seem him play. Looked clumsy at times, but the effort going for the ball was a step up for him.

I was expecting a "trick" defense last night and I wasn't disappointed. Triangle and two D. I thought he might go back to the double down D he used several years ago with Kenny Brown and Chris Sloan. But the triangle and two worked wonders. Alot of fans couldn't understand giving up wide open 3's to some of the Zags, but the D was geared up for defending 3 players. The open shots resulted in very few points by the other Zags.

And the Bills had an awesome night at the foul line - .929 % on 13 of 14 from the line. Best that I can ever remember. Total turnaround from the bricks of the Kenny Brown era.

And to JJ - thanks for the effort - Welcome to Big-Time Basketball. 29 minutes, 10 pts, 8 boards. We need that effort every night in the A-10. Just think Showtime.

[billiken_roy]

i forgot to comment on the lady bills.

i got there just about half time of the girls game and i thought the lady billikens did a great job.

shimmy alone is fun to watch. running up and down her bench high fiving everyone. every player that comes out gets an encouraging word. i love her!

[BleacherBum593]

Shimmy has them playing better nowdays. They looked 100% better than their opening effort at Savvis against UMSL way back when.

[billiken_nate]

I think Ian is unstoppable one on one and that is the differnce between this team and past teams when was the last time we had a dominant big man. With Ian this tem will be special.

[billiken_roy]

i dont remember specific pt vs umsl, but it sure seems like a few of the players on the billiken bench last night for the ladies were playing significant minutes then as compared to last night.

[JaleJarr]

nice nite for johnson and polk to have huge nites.

when polk would go out then meet mr lisch.

ravio didnt like polk and lisch.

Yeah Justin Johnson played as if he knew there were at least 14 NBA scouts in attendance. Loved the way he aggressively finished that pass from Liddell. I was screaming good pass before Johnson received it.

liddell played great. someone noted his shooting percentage

last nite. but keep in mind, i think 3 times he got the

rebound of his missed shot and put it back in. the kid is

the quickest jumper i have ever seen at slu. sure douglas

and jeffers and love could sky, but liddell does as well.

plus, tommie has this unbelievable ability to go back up

faster than the average guy. watch and see how often he

gets the second tip.

I wouldn't say he played great, possibly so-so on the offensive end. I loved how he,Lisch, and Polk stepped up defensively. Lisch is like a virus. He gets in your chest and won't let you breathe. Constantly harrassing the ballhandler.

lisch didnt shoot well. kevin can make those shots. but he

seems to be playing tenative and somewhat scared. he needs

to relax and play. i am glad he looks to get it to ian, but

he also needs to think about scoring more and not just those

25 footers from the corner.

I agree. I was surprised he struggled as much. He and Tommie played tentative. I doubt they played before such a big crowd before. I can't say enough about the turnout. The place was bananas. We played a major role in getting the guys up. SLU looked definitely big time. This night could be the beginnings of something special. It had to open the eyes of some recruits. Keep the momentum going. Tommie and Keivn each looked to get Ian involved. I believe that is something that is drilled by the coaching staff. Their time will come.

ian was a man. i expected batista to at worst be equal to

ian, but likely out play him. ian was far better than

batista and that alone might be the number one thing to take

with us to conference play. batista is a nationally known

quality inside player. we now know that ian is better. at

least last night it appeared so. now we need the team

around ian to step up another notch to give ian the

breathing room to do what he does best.

Is is possible to be 6'10inches and 270lbs and be the most beautiful player on the floor? Ian cannot be stopped by single coverage. The first time I heard Soderberg state this, I almost laughed. Ian's foot work and passing are unmatched at this level. Light years ahead of last year. Ian is so good at this point I no longer care about sneaking up on teams. Come in and get what you got coming. This guy fears no one.