Tempo could determine where we go

[SLUDrew]

Brad is becoming the boy who cried wolf in regards to pushing tempo, but I believe the style of play exhibited by this year's team will go a long way in determining where we are headed under Soderberg. If he shows a willingness to let his kids play (ie make a mistake or two and stay in the game) and play some fullcourt basketball things could be looking up.

Obviously fans will enjoy it more. Yes, we season ticket holders are all about W's but its not like we are slowing down and going 24-7. We are slowing it down and going 16-13 and ending up with point totals in the 30s and 40s. There is no way on God's green earth season ticket sales are going to rise if things don't change dramatically.

Potential recruits will infinitely more attracted to SLU. If you don't think so, just keep an eye on what Anderson gets done at Mizzou in the next couple years. They may struggle this year, but he will have that program turned around because his style of play speaks for itself. He doesn't have to say he would like to run because his teams already do it. By the way, he had a top 25 recruiting class coming into UAB so don't tell me that type of ball is not player friendly.

This year's team will be better off. In my years of watching college basketball, I have not seen a team easier to prepare for than us. What do we EVER do that is any different than the series before? I would bet that during the entirety of last year we pressed fullcourt (and I mean a fullcourt trap not the token pick up your man fullcourt defense) for a total of about 6-7 minutes and that may be generous. We play man-to-man 99.99% of the time an on the other end pass it around the perimeter for about 30 seconds and usually end up with a challenged shot. There needs to be variety. Not only will it keep the players more interested, but coaches may actually ahve to prepare to play us.

By the way, don't tell me Brad wants these kids to be more aggressive but they just aren't. These kids were all studs in high school and knew how to take over games. Don't tell me there isn't something besides their lack of aggressiveness holding them back. This team played with such hesitation as a group that something else must be going on.

[Pistol]

I don't know if Anderson will be quite as successful in recruiting at Mizzou as you give him credit for. In his system, every player has to run for the entire game, and no one, regardless of talent, plays more than 28 minutes unless the game goes into overtime. It's a fun style to watch, though not always the prettiest. I don't think it's a style that will land every recruit. It allows a lot of fast breaks, turnovers, and crazy plays, but it's also very much a system that every player must adhere to.

Soderberg's teams have almost never played a straight man-to-man. He plays the pack defense of Dick Bennett. It has a lot of characteristics of a man defense, but also has a lot in common with a zone. The only flaw I see in it is that it gives up the perimeter too easily. Guys can close out as hard as they want sometimes, but if an offensive player is more than a foot or two outside the perimeter, he'll always be open.

His motion offense is intended to give players complete offensive freedom to create their own shots. I like the idea, but SLU players have been too tentative with it. I think once we start focusing more on transition ball (and we're heading in that direction- slowly, but surely), the motion offense will become more natural. Soderberg wants to run more; he's made that clear with the press for a couple years now, but never felt he had the horses.

For it all to work better, the fact of the matter is that we must have guys who can consistently knock it down from the 3-point line. Our guys are ready to run, but without someone to bury a few 3's a game, it's not going to work. We've now got guys to take it to the hole, but you can't do that every time. It's very frustrating to watch Polk burn everyone down the floor, then pull out and enter a sluggish half-court offense.

[NashvilleBilliken]

Dude, it's Friday afternoon. You've had several posts everyday this week with a different flavour of what Brad does wrong. You're whole post is written defensively because you already know what we'll say. What's the point?? We get it. You don't think Brad is the right coach for us. Let me guess. You're next post will be something along the lines of how Brad manages his staff poorly. That may be the only facet you haven't criticized yet...it's only a matter of time.

[SLUDrew]

You say he has wanted to run but never felt he had the horses. It is my opinion that he has had the horses to run and in fact has not had the horses to play halfcourt. Should it not be a no brainer that if you have depth at guard and trouble hitting the outside shot that you should "run" more. How about in the second half against St. frickin Joe's when we had 19 points with like 12 minutes left in the game. IS THAT SITUATION NOT BEGGING FOR FULLCOURT? I am sorry but I do not share your confidence that Brad is actually going to speed things up. I think he is a control freak and letting the horses run would mean he would be giving up some of that control.

[SLUDrew]

not to be antagonistic, but don't read my posts if you generally don't like what I have to say. I will not be offended in any way.

[StLouBlue]

With our offense mostly running through IV, I have a hard time believing that we will be more uptempo. IV does a lot of things on the court, running is not something he is good at. I think any uptempo offense next year will probably have to be keyed off the defense. As Pistol said below it is a pack defense that he runs. This is where I want to see more flexiblity where there is more pressure on the wings and guards and allowing IV to matchup inside. The hope is that this would create turnovers and/or allow some of our players to start down court and not be focused on defensive rebounds. I also hope that with many of our key players becoming jrs they will be more efficent at running the offense so we don't have those 40 point games or worse.

[SLUDrew]

Ian could kill teams on a secondary break. For his size he is pretty agile and I would not mind up coming down behind the play, running down the lane and catching a pass from the wing on his way to the hole. The secondary break can be murder to defend.

Beisdes you won't have a fast break on every play. Ian would get plenty of chances.

[Pistol]

I'm just taking his word for it.

If he doesn't live up to that promise more over the next couple seasons, then I would be more frustrated as well. We probably could have pressed and run more this year, but you need both athletes and shooters to make it work.

I think one thing you've never taken into account is that this was a very young team last year, and any young team is going to have some really rough nights like we had against St. Joe's. We got outplayed and outcoached in both of those games, but as this team and staff develops, we won't see games like those. If we see them in the future, go ahead and get mad and call for a new coach.

[NashvilleBilliken]

"I don't know if Anderson will be quite as successful in recruiting at Mizzou as you give him credit for."

Don't you know...it's all about hype, baby! Anderson will turn Mizzou into the next Duke. Lance, never having played a college game, made us a lock for a NCAA bid...DM and AK, having never played a college game, are non-contibuters who, if we're lucky, may turn into role players someday.

[Pistol]

I agree with you here, Drew: Ian can do a lot in transition, and has moves that almost no other big guys have. I would like to see him with some open space this season- he'll surprise some people.

[billiken_roy]

imo to be successful at a fast break offense, the biggest key is actually having a couple of extremely good inside defenders and rebounders. when our best rebounder is our point guard, it is pretty hard for tommie to stop the drive, get the rebound and throw himself an outlet pass.

the day we have two anthony bonner's under the boards is the day we will average 70+ ppg.

[pompeytir]

...IV has some very good post moves but have you ever seen IV dribble a basketball? Catch the ball on the run, dribble, step and finish? NO you haven't, because IV hasn't either (at least in games). The only way Ian is going to 'kill teams on the 2' break' is he runs over a few of their players as he falls over.

I don't see why SLU doesn't attempt to run the basketball more.

One needs to realize however that running a full-court defense doesn't really work for a lot of teams because you have to be dedicated to that system (and the minute by minute ups and downs of the system) and recruit players for it. Plus you have to have a working knowledge of the system. In the ACC, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-10 how many teams run a pressing system? One-Tennessee and they shouldn't have made it out of the 1st round of the NCAAs.

[SLUDrew]

Pistol, you clearly have more confidence in Coach than I do. I do hope you are right. I would love nothing more than to eat crow when the Bills are dancing and Brad has landed some top flight talent.

[SLUDrew]

I am not saying we need to run 40 minutes of hell. I am just saying we need push it more than we do. Pushing tempo a few more times than never shouldn't be that hard.

[moytoy12]

And "pushing tempo" applies to the offensive sets we run. How many times have we passed the ball around the perimeter to see the shot clock run down.

This also might be a product of not having the rebounders that broy spoke of above. However, if UB knows he doesn't have the horses to push tempo, then why state that the team will do it?

[billiken_roy]

moytoy, everytime i have heard coach soderberg talk about this aspect of the billikens it was more of a "we'd like to start trying to push the ball more" not "we are going to become loyola marymount or unlv". and imo, last year we pushed the ball more than any season since hughes left.

johnson, ikeakor, and/or knollmeyer are the keys to the team being able to pull this off. they start playing with some sort of dennis rodman (on the court not off) mentality, and that allows more than kevin lisch to release down the floor. until then, vouyoukas cant do it alone and that means the likes of liddell and meyer have to stay home to rebound too often.

[moytoy12]

roy, i hear what you are saying. I was trying to point out that "pushing tempo" doesn't necessarily mean to run the fast break after every missed shot. And that "pushing tempo" could also mean to speed up the play on the offensive end after crossing half-court. Therefore, the focus of "pushing tempo" is a broader concept than what is being discussed.

[Pistol]

Roy, I agree- the bigs play a huge role in possessing the ball and getting a nice outlet pass to Kevin, Dwayne, or Tommie. However, JJ will NEVER be a "key" to anything that this team does. JJ attempting to be this type of player would just become a turnover machine.

[billiken_roy]

my point was identifying the position of power forward. anything consistently positive that justin johnson gives us is great. while i too dont expect it, i believe justin has always had the physical tools to do it. maybe he just cant focus. who knows.

[tseugnekillib]

......"slowing it down....ending up with point totals in the 30s and 40s".......

In the 29 games that SLU played last year(while going 16-13)they scored the following game point totals......

77,74,73,71,70,70,

69,69,66,64,64,64,63,63,61,60,

59,58,58,57,56,56,54,52,50,50,

44,

39,37.

To summarize, in 90% of SLU's games during the 2005-2006 season, the Bills scored in the 50s,60s or 70s.

As Brother Joe Konitzer S.M. used to tell us .... "boys, never let the facts screw-up a strong opinion"!

[jjray]

>johnson, ikeakor, and/or knollmeyer are the keys to the team

>being able to pull this off. they start playing with some

>sort of dennis rodman (on the court not off) mentality, and

>that allows more than kevin lisch to release down the floor.

> until then, vouyoukas cant do it alone and that means the

>likes of liddell and meyer have to stay home to rebound too

>often.

I agree wtih your point Roy that we can't be a fast break team until we are a solid enough rebounding team with our bigs such that the guards can release; however, you have left Ian and our 3 out of the equation. We had one solid rebounder last year--Ian. Further, I submit JJ does an excellent job of boxing out his guy on the defensive end thus clearing space for others to grab a board (and he's a great offensive rebounder). Problem: JJ averages less than 15 min per game. Second, our 3 was often 6'2" Anthony Drejaj. My point is that I think we have bodies at 4 who can rebound between JJ, Obi and AK but coach has to stay away from the 4 guard set except for very limited stretches if we are to improve on the defensive glass. Further, we need a bigger body in at 3 who can help rebound--Luke, D. Brown, and Maguire all fit the size requirement at wing. We need to rebound 3-5 to allow the guards to push it the other way.

Lastly, uptempo is more than just breaking after a missed shot, there is also the press / trap. I dearly want us to press or trap on occasion in those games when the matchups favor it. We have size, speed, and athleticism at guard. We'll face teams on occasion prone to cough up the ball when rattled or who lack the quickness a Dwayne Polk brings to the table.

I don't expect Coach Soderberg to make any drastic changes in tempo and am not asking him to. However, I think he will have to be willing to allow the players out of the pack defense on occasion to change the mentality of our players re: running.