The real problem is......

[Billikan]

that our Billikens do not have the talent to compete unless we shoot the ball well and defend ferociously.

I said at the beginning of the year that I was amazed at the optimism of this group in light of the fact that we lost our best player and our two best newcomers were required to sit out. I said that we were thin at guard and if we had injuries it would hurt us badly.

The SMS game is a perfect example. For those of you who say we were not ready to play I say you are full of it. We came out and played hard early and played great defense but we kept missing shots. We lost our best scorer on a bad call and our replacement can barely walk--Drejaj was hobbled before his injury and he got hurt again. The only reason that Ahearn scored in the first half was because of stupid plays. His first three came after the Bills stole the ball and it rolled to an SMS player who chucked it to Ahearn who was behind the play and he hit from 25 feet. The second involved one of the worst defensive plays I have ever seen by Izik. As we fell back on defense he went into the paint and left his man wide open at the 3 point line--the result was that Josh had to guard two men and when he covered Izik's man it left Blake wide open for a shot. Blake never made anything when he had a hand in his face in the first half. He got some open looks in the second half and hit some free throws. He reminds me of what we thought we had in Diener. A player with limited defensive ability who can stroke the 3 ball. So far Blake has demonstrated that he can make them. He really is a perfect spot up shooter if he is not guarded. I see not evidence that he can get his own shot or beat a defender.

The talent level on this Billikens team is very limited. Clarke is a green freshman who is not ready for prime time. He can occasionally hit some open 3s but the rest of his game is a long way from big time D1 ball. I love Hunt and his heart and desire but he is not a D1 player and we are hurt when he plays more than very limited spot duty. Drejaj is hurt and his shooting touch left him when he injured his ankle. He is a shadow of his former self.

That leaves Fisher and Bryant--two excellent guards--a strong defender and a wonderful offensive player. But we need at least 2 excellent guards to play behind them. The problem with sitting Bryant with two fouls is that we have no one else now that Drejaj is hurt. You all should remember that rich Grawer had a lock cinch rule that he never violated on the two fouls in a half rule. I don't necessarily agree but many coaches use the rule. My guess is that it will change at the guard spot because we are so thin there.

Up front we have big tom who is a decent but not great player at the post. He hustles and is strong but his fundamentals need work and he gets dumb fouls. IO is an enigma. He hustles at times but then he seems lost on defense and he can't rebound defensively worth a damn. He has some offensive skills but they are ofset by his dumb plays and turnovers. Sloan is a warrior but he is not an offensive force and he seems like he is always mad about something. the refs give him nothing and it seems to affect this attitude.

Varner is tough but slow. tonight he killed us with his two misses on the front end of the one and one at a time when it appeared that we had turned the tide. He also missed a layup and gave up several layups on defense. He is at best a fourth or fifth man off the bench up front. But he is our first option and it shows our lack of talent. JJ is hustling much more but he is a long way from being a complete player. He should be no better than 9th or 10th in the rotation. I hope that situation is improved when Ian gets eligible but I think we all beleive it will take him some time to get acclimated to D1 ball in the United States.

I am still hopeful that we can get better and finish at .500 or so but the conference looks to be very very good so we may be in for a long year. Yet I will cheer for our guys and support them and the coaches. It is absolutely ridiculous to suggest that we should talk about coach Brad leaving--stupid, ignorant people call for a coach's head after a tough loss. I hope this crowd can avoid the poisonous atmosphere that is prevelant in so many schools when their beloved team loses a game.

Steve, as I said in my response to your survey this board is not a "community", it is just a bunch of people who will turn on a coach in a minute. People do not attack like that if they are all part of a community with a common goal. The loss was painful but reading the posts here was far more painful and I am sure very hurtful to any on the team or the coaches who might read these little diatribes. I am positive that no one feels worse than coach Brad. Let's give him a little slack and hope taht we will have real D1 players in the game at all times next year.

[3star_recruit]

Sloan has shown in the past that he is a much better player than we've seen the last four games. I'm not sure what the problem is.

I understand that Drejaj is playing hurt but the same open looks he makes in warmups, he is missing in games. Again, I'm not sure what the problem is.

[Schasz]

On AD if his ankle is screwed up then it seems logical that the same holds true for him that did for IO when he played hurt...it's going to limit him...I give the kid props for giving it a go. The difference would be that even injured AD plays stronger D than IO does at 100%.

You won't see me get on Coach Soderberg this year, as I said before the season started that ANY postseason play by our Billikens would be a real accomplishment. I'm hoping that with the remaining schedule we can finish at least .500 if not a game or two above, but I'm not sure what anyone was smokin to think this team had anywhere near 20 wins in them this year.

[billiken_roy]

cant argue with anything there.

i would like to add a couple of box score observations from last night that help explain the loss. first off we got outrebounded 40-23. and that difference included 5 more offensive rebounds than what we had. until we get our rebounding straightened out, i think this continues. if i remember correctly we were getting beat on the boards at the beginning of last season and then kenny brown and sloan really went to work. i believe down the stretch we generally were winning the rebounding battles. if we get 5 more offensive rebounds, that turn into bunny putbacks or fouls, this whole game is changed dramatically.

second, the foul shots. we are 7 for 13 they are 25 for 35! my gosh, i dont care what you say, that game was not that lopsided. fine our fouls are fouls (i dont totally agree with that as there were a number of phantom fouls imo) but it sure seemed they got away with a lot as well. when the fisher kid was guarding reggie, he was constantly being held and pushed. reggie should have made a living at the line in the second half. he shot 8 of our 13, he probably should have shot 18.

but even if you want to concede the free throw disparity, what's with the only 7 made? and of those 6 misses, i believe 3 were on front ends of 1 and 1's? we have 5 more free throws going into the last 5 minutes we dont have to go into the catch up routine.

last, the only other observation i have is that it seemed we got outhustled last night. i never thought i would say that about a brad soderberg team. i know at least 3 of ahearns baskets came on broken plays where josh had left him to go for a loose ball and we were beaten to it by sms who then got it to ahearn. i dont blame josh for that, one of the efforts in particular josh almost got to and he came from far across the floor to try to get to drejaj's deflection and he damn near got it. but still why are we not getting those loose balls last night?

i personally did not have us winning last night. but i thought if we played like we did against arizona we would have won that game going away. instead we played a repeat of west virginia. it is way too early to be calling for heads etc. in fact if you think about who we lost from last year and what has happened with recruits and all this year (morris not getting in, ian having to sit, reggie still getting into the flow after his suspension, frericks getting circus flu) it is understandable we have gotten off to the start we have. however, it is time for players to step up. imo, we need to win out going into the conference season. 6-5 going into the conference season is not going to put us into good ncaa position. if we want that rpi in good position after say a 9-7 conference run, we need to win all 3 of these big games. my guess is we win at least one and maybe two, but it will sure make the jouney easier if we could win all three.

[aj_arete]

SLU hired Brad too late in the recruiting season, thus they were forced at grabbing a Drejaj and Johnson late in the game.

I'll wait a bit on Clarke before judging him and it's true that SLU's talent level is mediocre. However, that was the case last year too. The difference is that Brad still coaches here. SLU will remain a tough team to beat at home in conference. They will still struggle to win ANY games on the road because they're unable to get to the FT line on the road.

Remember this team was only a few Marque Perry miracle finishes from having only 13 wins. Yes, T&T was right in calling the Billikens the Perries last year. He was that huge last year.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Roy, you suggested that the Billikens won the "rebounding battles" down the stretch last year, but that's not true. Over the Bills' last 11 games (at least), the Bills got outrebounded in every game they won and lost the games in which they outrebounded their opponent. Go figure.

I believe the SMS game was the first time the Bills have been so badly outplayed on the glass this season. It suggests, to me, that the Bears were much hungrier (Tamar Maclin in particular) than the Bills.

[aj_arete]

I've been trying to hammer all along. SLU's inside deficiencies DIDN'T just occur. We've been outmanned down low with the exception of the Heinrich, Tatum years for as long as I remember. The problem is on the wing where we have no one other than Bryant, who can score consistently.

[brehms13]

I agree with some of your comments. I personally questioned some things within the team. I see no go get em' attitudes, I see players just content and some times confused. In order to win games whether big or small, you have to play with heart and you have to play smart. Meaning, right now, we don't have a "big man", why aren't we double-teaming on the defensive end, especially when the opposition is bigger. I don't understand sitting Reg the whole half, maybe Coach had something else in mind. Players need to get pumped. Stop passing. I talk to Reg before every game so he can get pumped and in turn get his team pumped. He played hurt the whole second half, he's limping a little but was determined to play on. We need the whole team to play with the same intensity (when possible), especially on the defensive end. This team won't make it on one person, The players has to step up and play every game like it's their last. The coaches have to make wise decisions. I know Reg wouldn't have fouled out either (normally) but from what I was told, the refs were on him hard. Other teams know he's the go to guy, he's not getting respect from the refs, i'm sure he has to earn it being in a different conference and all, but they were looking and waiting for him to foul. Also there is no motivation within the players. Get pumped, play hard. All who can shoot, shoot the ball. Warm up early, just because u miss a shot doesn't mean be afraid to take one the rest of the game. In general over the last few games that I've managed to watch, that's what I sense from this team. I'm not blaming the coach or the team, I'm trying to find solutions. I think this team is talented, maybe the coach missed out on some recruitments, maybe he didn't. It's not all about getting people who can play, you don't want kids playing with nasty attitudes, poor grades, baggage.....you have to look at every aspect of their life at that point. I just hope they can get it together, no one is respecting SLU right now, NO ONE, but that will change. We knew who the players were at the beginning of the season, we knew what we were working with, make the best of what we have. We can certainly complain when players or coaches or refs aren't giving their best, we also can encourage and not harp on things, that we can't control right now. SMS had players that were rejected by SLU, so??? The season has started, we can't turn back time, it's exhausting, just pick up and move on. All I care about is if these players, play hard, stay focused and hush the critics. I know some of my comments aren't in direct response to your post, but it was on my mind. Peace