My only comment

[davidnark]

I now understand why Phil Martelli was coach of the year two years ago. We didn't have a clue how to score or defend against his gameplan.

[bluecrewfinance]

we did have a clue...we trapped them once, forced a timeout, then another on the inbounds play. We pressed Joes in the backcourt late in the second half and forced another timeout...again, a clue.

[Dr Bird]

Brad found a starting 5 that played Xavier hard from the start. Its depressing to the team when that lineup is not rewarded with another start. Instead, we get Danny Brown starting (he did nothing on offense or defense) To make matters worse, Brad starts Polk in the second half. We were outscored a combined 20-2 at the start of each half!

Its not really that difficult. Pick a starting five and go with it for awhile. Who would argue with starting the same 5 that did so well against Xavier?

The only saving grace is I got to sit with Message board regulars Big Al (my dad), BigMacSlu88 (co-worker/friend), my mom and my son. We all agreed is was the most painful Billiken game ever (and that is saying something)

[JaleJarr]

>we did have a clue...we trapped them once, forced a timeout,

>then another on the inbounds play. We pressed Joes in the

>backcourt late in the second half and forced another

>timeout...again, a clue.

My sentiments exactly. when we fell behind double figures in the 1st half I was wondering why didn't we immediately press. Instead we continued to allow them come down and get pretty much what they wanted. After they got what they wanted, we went down passed the ball around the perimeter until the shot clock was in the teens and came away empty handed.

The team came out flat. A byproduct of pressure defense is that it energizes your team. Tonight I can't be too hard on the coaching staff as you must score to set up pressure. I left early in the 2nd half and did not see Tommie's 11 2nd half points. Can anyone tell me how did he score those points.

[JaleJarr]

To make matters worse, Brad starts Polk in the second half. We were

>outscored a combined 20-2 at the start of each half!

I was thinking the same thing when Polk started the 2nd half. I think he had Polk, Lisch, Tommie, Drejaj, and Ian. This could only mean we are about to run St Joes into the ground. No. The same tired offense. Outside of Ian who is going to stop St Joes bigs. Tommie and Polk were isolated on one play and pretty much played hot potato with the ball as neither was a threat from outside. A short time later one of the blue balls came from the stands and play was stopped. I thought how appropriate as this Billiken's offense seems to be suffering from "blue balls, as we are getting nothing.

[Marshall Faulk]

How does Brad not try and get himself booted from tonights game. He seemed way too calm. Prove something to these refs / to the kids (frosh) you will not stand for this type of play. Get fired up, get a t, get kicked out. He sat for the 1st 3 minutes and it was 14-2 by then. All Brad did was once someone took a bad shot they came out. Constant switching. Bogus!!

[bluecrewfinance]

I tried to get kicked out, but it didn't work...I'm not sure if I said anything that was not...I'm sure you can figure it out...a couple of us in the front row were calling out the refs individually during free throws and breaks, and got eye contact from one of them once. I thought, surely, this is it, and I don't have to watch anymore, but no such luck.

I think one of the security people reminded the 5 of us on the band side of the BC front row that we aren't supposed to say f--- about 342 times...in the first half.

[SLUMS81]

Martelli is an experienced coach who has developed a nice program which is consistently successful. Brad admitted post-game that he was outcoached last night.

Having said that, it is easy to be 'outcoached' when your team cannot make a basket.

[billiken_roy]

david, except for the first 4 minutes of the game, st joes did nothing special offensively. we defended fine. in fact, it was likely kevin lisch's best performance yet DEFENSIVELY. st joes did not exactly burn out the scoreboard after the initial run.

the other bright spot of the night was liddell creating some offensive production. i thought it might have been tommie's best performance of the year actually.

however the rest was the worst. drejaj shot horribly, and i thought he let that spill over to the other end. he did not have his best game defensively. for all the talk about vouyoukas not getting the ball, i think ian needs to actually move a little to get open.

[billiken_roy]

tommie in the second half just decided to go to the basket. he hit a couple of pull ups and got to the rim a couple of times plus shot a few free throws. he was about the only player that moved on offense imo.

[billiken_roy]

the georgia tech game a few years back is my nominee for the worst and you can pick any of the lost buy games last year as pretty darn painful as well.

[TheGoat]

completely agree, but after a while they knew what was coming. It was basically Tommie on O vs. the whole St.J D.

[slufanskip]

I agree that Ian needs to do a better job of making himself more available for a pass. IMO Tommie had a subpar game, he scored in trash time when the game was over and St. Joe's didn't care. Where was he late in the first half when they took the lead back up and early in the second when we were dominated. I don't care about coaching in a game where I could have scored 15. We had so many wide open 3's and couldn't hit crap, starting with DB's first shot. How many wide open airballs did we have. We wouldn't have won if we got a point for hitting rim. Ian 2 boards = horrible. When they were up 25 or so, why won't coach put Ian and Bryce in together, what a better time to take a look. Maybe our guards could concentrate on defending the perimiter. When number 12 from St. Joes is taking Tommie and DB off the dribble, that is sad.

Refs sucked ... the worst officiated game I can remember seeing at Savvis ... but they were only the second worst performers of the night.

After this post ... I can't think of this game again. I am going to assume we were all in the same dream and it didn't really happen. I say we all vow to keep quiet and never discuss the happennings at the Savvis center on Jan 25, 2006 again. Let this be our little secret. Anybody talks, watch your back.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[TheGoat]

The one time that he actually had a reason to, was in the second half when we actually started to make a run. We had cut it to 16 points, and they made a horrible call, but the game was still in doubt....although overwhelmingly toward STJ. At the 2 min media timeout BS just about did it with the older ref that was barking at him in the TO huddle! They were going at it pretty good in there.

Has to be the strangest called game I have seen yet. Do you suppose these guys are just trying to impose A-10 "reffing" on us?

[billikendave]

Watched the game from home. Brad was all over the refs and Frank and Scott Highmark could not believe the refs did not T Brad up. They said it wasn't for a lack of trying.....

[billiken_roy]

lisch, drejaj, and meyer shot 2-17 from the three point line. for the season they collectively are shooting 37%. had they just had their average shooting nights, that would have been 7-17 and we are tied.

lisch, drejaj and meyer had open threes. it is time to expect these three players to make their shots.

[Bay Area Billiken]

At the risk of incurring the wrath of this board, two words are offered: Blake Ahearn

[courtside]

The following is what I wrote after the Xavier game...just reapply it as needed.

SLU won fair and square. I rarely do the official talk, but will sparingly. And it isn't happening here.

SLU won, tip cap...move on. I think it wouldn't be a stretch to say SLU surprised X with their tenacity and defensive effort. It's a dreaded Sunday night game at home for X, playing SLU....did they look past them...maqybe. Doesn't matter. Obviously if X matches the intensity of their opponent...most times in the A-10 they will win, including against SLU.

SLU is going to get wins against better teams because of their effort. SLU also is going to lose games because of thier ability level, and inconsistency with less expereinced players, and with less talented players. That is just what they have right now. Throw in a game where SLU struggles with thier play and doesn't bring an "A" effort....people will cry Richmond or something else. Very small margin for error. When good teams match their intensity level, they will lose more games.

It isn't the case on this thread...but I never undrstood why people get so up and down over one game....this team was supposed to be inconsistent and they are.

[billiken_roy]

again, what exactly is your agenda? do you take great pleasure in pointing this out? or do you think mentioning that the slow, no defensive playing, sit in the corner, shooter would have made a couple more threes last night had brad recruiting him 3 years ago and let him play even though he wont play defense and doesnt add much else to the team.

we dont need blake ahearn. we need kevin lisch, anthony drejaj and luke meyer to just make 37% of their shots which we know they can do as that is what they have made for the year. consistency. that is what we need.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Adam Morrison is not the best on defense either.

Yet, we saw him score 41 points on Monday night against USF.

Would SLU have passed on him too because of his defensive shortcomings?

I want SLU to win. SLU is my double alma mater, and I will always root for the Billikens.

I know that defense is important. But so is offense, perhaps even more so. You can't win if you can't score. That is my point.

[billiken_roy]

adam morrison or blake ahearn? i can see how you would confuse the two.

there is a point where a coach indeed will let the defensive shortcomings slide. soderberg did with reggie bryant, he did with liddell. but both of them came with a few more tools in the ole arsenal.

again, what is your agenda? what are you trying to accomplish. are you wanting to create a mob action mutiny? get coaches fired? force players to quit? what is your agenda?

[ACE]

Roy, chill out. I don't know why you are getting so bent out of shape. I was writing my "recruiting mistakes" thread before I saw the exchange between you and Bay Area. There's no question Ahearn or somebody like him could've been a big help to this team. I bet you Brad would admit he made a mistake on this. Follwoing the Iowa game, Brad said that he is to blame for not having better shooters on the roster. Darren Clarke is gone and we have two empty scholarships. Absolutely there would be room for Ahearn on this roster. If nothing else, how nice would it have been to have him in there late in the game against GW to hit some free throws. With Ahearn, teams would collapse on Ian less and play less zone against us. Yes, defense is important, but I hope Brad is a little less rigid in his recruiting in the future. I think it's easier to teach defense than it is to teach shooting/scoring ability. Brad even got Reggie to improve his defense. Bay Area is right on this one.

[billiken_roy]

so again, what is the agenda to bring ahearn up? i dont see the point of the discussion.

[Bay Area Billiken]

The only point is that SLU needs scorers. Frankly what SLU needs is a zone buster. Remember the great Marquette teams under Al McGuire always had that zone buster, Gary Rosenberg, as I recall.

[ACE]

My "agenda" is really simple. I want to see this team win. I don't want to see the coaching staff repeat recruiting mistakes like Darren Clarke. I don't care whether it is Blake Ahearn or somebody named Joe Blow, even coach Soderberg admits he should have another shooter on the roster. If Clarke had turned into Claggett or even Virgil Cobbin, it wouldn't be an issue. I don't see what myself or Bay Area is saying that is so controversial to get you so fired up.