Soderberg's Show Tonight

[Billinikens]

Wondering if Blue Crew will be there to pose questions again this week..

If so, seems like the board wants to know where JJ was at.

I personally would like to know what is going on with us always walking the ball up the court instead of pushing the tempo. Seems like TL is at his best in those situations and DP succeeds that way as well.

I'm also a bit curious if AD's foot is bothering him again. I didn't see him limping at all Saturday, but he sure wasn't as aggressive as he had been in the past few games.

And IV seems to disappear for long stretches of the game. I think it's more that we stop getting him the ball, but he also could be more assertive sometimes. Maybe get some fire in the belly and go hard to the offensive glass. LM and TL are much better rebounders on the offensive glass than he is and we all know they don't approach his size.

Any other thoughts we should ask the coach about?

[SLUDrew]

All good points.

I especially would like to know why we NEVER push tempo, and why when LM was getting killed in the second half did we not go to JJ? What has he done that he doesn't even get a sniff?

[billiken_roy]

i dont think we ALWAYS walk the ball up the floor. i think we are better at taking the opportunities that come our way as compared to the previous few seasons.

the biggest problem with running a break is we have no decent power forward to assist ian in rebounding and then throwing outlet passes. if the guards like tommie and luke have to stay inside to rebound, that is two less people to be out on the break. and if the other team gets a couple of folks back, there is no advantage to continuing on with the break at that point.

a lot of the ills we continue to feel could be fixed with a good power forward.

[Scoop]

You mean we don't play a power forward who can rebound and hit the outlet. He warms the bench.

You can't argue with that. JJ can flat out rebound. Someone has to fill the lanes for an outlet to be throw. We don't run in transition.

[edwphll]

This team sorely needs a power forward,or two. SLU will never win big without them,

[willie]

I agree. Thats why talk about Kalen Grimes is crazy. If that kid would want to come home I would welcome him with both arms open. My criticism of our staff is not that we haven't been able to recruit a power forward but we really haven't tried. Take some of those scholarships and throw them at a couple of kids. Will a reach work? I don't know, but you have to try because I do know that you can't win at a high level with a power forward the size of Luke Meyer.

[willie]

I think taking a shot at an Obi is great. Lets bring in 2 more Obi's

[slu72]

My guess as to not pushing it, is to allow IV time to set up. Remember the offense goes through him. Would someone remind UB he said he and JJ had a come to Jesus meeting, but now we're back to the same situation. I think it's fair to ask from an interested fan's point of view if JJ is not our solution/future at PF. Probably won't get a straight answer, but it's worth a shot because it's so freaking frustrating to us all. Just say, All the fans are wondering about PF. Obvious that is a glaring weakness of this team. Yet we have a 6'8" guy riding the pine that at times has played the PF effectively.

[billiken_roy]

jj can but only does when he wants. there is no consistency to his game.

[billiken_roy]

i agree with that.

[SluSignGuy]

I haven't seen JJ as much this year as most of you, but when I have...despite the occasion shot from too far out, he has proven valuable on the boards. Brad just needs to swallow the fact that he may have a power forward that may not practice hard or play the pure Soderberg style to a T. JJ is the best Powerforward we have...FREAKING PLAY HIM.

This is my biggest peeve with Soderberg.

[Bay Area Billiken]

From one Coast to the other, literally from Coast to Coast, I agree with you SLU Sign Guy. Also, I applaud your work with this Board, that is a veritable lifeblood for those of us away from St. Louis that still care very deeply about our alma mater. (On a side note, I will never forget my first year out here. All I could get was the mere score in the SF paper. It said SLU beat Butler. I found out a week later that the result was wrong, and that SLU actually had lost the game!)

JJ may not be optimal, but it is pretty clear that he is the best that SLU has at power forward. Keeping him languishing on the bench is serving no useful purpose that I can detect. Sometimes he is really needed, like last Saturday early in the second half at Dayton. In the words of the late, great Al McGuire, "Games are won and lost at the beginning of the second half." How true that continues to be.

And yes, when JJ was playing, he proved that he could rebound. Sometimes he could hit the mid-range jumper too.

This is not 20-20 hindsight. This poster was calling for JJ early in the second half of the Dayton game. Free JJ, please.

[billikenmetz]

Here's a great question:

Why do we suck?

[Scoop]

Even if he wants to its hard to pad your stats from the pine.

[billiken_roy]

if we "suck", how do you define the 200+ teams worst than we are? out of 334 teams in division one, where is the line of "suck"?

[bluecrewprez]

We will be there and I'll put all of the questions out there (and any others you come up with). I've got a few questions for him myself tonight--mainly about TL's performance at Dayton and what the heck has been going on with IV lately. I know IV had the flu a few weeks back, but his fatigue from 1 yr+ of constant basketball is really starting to show and affect the games (obviously).

[NashvilleBilliken]

JJ JJ JJ! Grill him...make him answer. Let him know that just about every die hard fan in Billiken land is going nuts over this thing. A ultra athletic, strong, tall player riding the pine. Third on the team in rebounding. If you compare Ian's rebounding to JJ's and factor in the minutes played, it's almost identical. Why the short leash? After earning a starting spot, why NO more minutes. Why does Brad have it out for him?!?!?

[billiken_roy]

prez said about ian, "but his fatigue from 1 yr+ of constant basketball is really starting to show and affect the games"

dont give coach soderberg his answer. i would say something to the effect, "can you explain how ian just goes off versus a team with far superior inside players like fordham, and then a team with lesser inside players like dayton he is pretty much a non factor both scoring and rebounding?"

[SLUAvtr]

I second, third, and fourth that Diane!!!! Playing VN over JJ over the weekend had me practically tearing my hair out. I'm not knocking completely on VN, but I'm sorry, we need a better inside presense on Saturday, and VN was NOT the answer.

[Cowboy]

the answer about iv imo had better not be the 1 yr of playing as that means the coaching staff has not found the time to get him the rest he needs, like last week, or over christmas

but the other side of the coin says he is 20 or whatever yrs old and should be able to handle that

[Slumn1]

I hope that what is going on with JJ stays between UB, JJ and the team. Obviously there is an issue or some issues and it would not be right for coach to make it public. Let's face it, either JJ violated a team rule, doesn't work hard in practice or something else that needs to be kept private. Do you really think that it would be right for coach to dis JJ by making it public? Do you really think that if all were right with JJ that coach would keep him on the bench? Lighten up and let coach make this decision and respect it.

[billiken_roy]

i personally dont think the coach owes us an explanation, but in the same sense to expect no one to question it considering the obvious skills that johnson possesses would be difficult as well.

i will say that it is obvious that brad soderberg wants to win. thus, if he doesnt play the likes of johnson when the power forward position is our most glaring weakness would surely tell the world something aint right and never has been.

what is more distressing to me is why doesnt someone ask johnson why he wont do whatever it is that our coaches want to play? my gosh, we all want coach to ignore whatever it is that johnson is or isnt doing, i think we should be asking johnson to start doing the things that coach soderberg wants him to do. considering johnson has an nba body, it is very distressing to consider johnson wont conform imo.

[slu72]

I think it was Tom Kite , when told Tiger wasn't playing in a tournament when he first got on tour was because he was tired, "there was only one thing that made me tired when I was 20 and it wasn't too much golf." Most if not all D1 players play hoops year round, maybe not at the international level, but they all play every day....can't imagine this is the reason for IV's play in the last two games. Maybe a little mental burnout, which he's got too dig deep and overcome. More to the point is what the other teams are able to do to him when: 1.) we don't shoot well from the outside, and 2.) he's the only inside threat we have. It was clear Dayton was ganging up on him with quicker guys from even the little live streaming I got. Watching him try to dribble out of double teams was woeful. When he got the ball low, he was able to make some nice moves. IV ain't the problem, the #4 spot and pitiful perimiter shooting is.

[NashvilleBilliken]

If there were issues with violation of team rules, grades, etc, we would know about it. Everytime a player gets suspended it's on ESPN.com. JJ was reprimanded for a violation of team rules last year and it was reported to the media.

This isn't grade school ball. This is big time D-1. If JJ has a problem, he needs to fix it. And I don't see a problem with Brad telling the public. Especially since we are a program hunting for fans and $$$$.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Agreed, again.

There are going to be games when the team is having trouble shooting.

However, as die hard Billiken fans, we need an explanation for why the only real power forward on this roster, all 6'8" of him, has been banished to the bench. We need JJ. Free him, please. He may not be the panacea, but it appears that he is the best SLU has for that position, especially against opposition athletic power forwards. And there is no question that JJ can rebound.

Also, this is not a slight at Luke Meyer. But at 6'5", there is only so much Luke can do when thrust into the power forward position on a Division 1 basketball team playing in the 9th highest rated conference.

One thing to consider, when Spoon coached the Billikens, the early NCAA teams were like Lilliputians out there. We had a 6'3" wide bodied power forward (Donnie Dobbs) on the first NCAA team. We had a 6'6" Center (really a forward) in David Robinson on NCAA team 2. (I'll never forget SLU nearly beating Wake Forest and Tim Duncan with that second NCAA team.) But Spoon had the guards harass and pressure the other team's guards way away from the basket.

Really, we have been searching for a good power forward since Anthony Bonner graduated.