p diddy Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 our serious lack of talent really hurts. good coaching and overachieving can get you only so far. I'm am really concerned that a mid major program like sms can put recruit that many good players, while we're hard-pressed to find more than two. the bears had better players and more of them than we do. hinson can go to his bench and pull out cowell, easley, mitchell and shavies. What do we have to offer? Ross VArner and Phillip Hunt. totally unacceptable. i'm really bothered that every year, we get stuck in the pattern of depending on one scorer and surround him with a bunch of role players. that is the recipe for a mediocre team. it was clearly evident when reggie went to the bench and sat out 16 minutes. easley of sms has been buried on the bench for several games, yet he comes in and whips us in the second half for 11 points. he is clearly better than anybody we have at the three spot. johnson is their leading scorer and i don't think he even played in the second half. they had better inside players and the two st. Louis kids really made our coaching staff look pretty foolish. maclin said in the post-dispatch that he was basically going to make slu regret not recruiting him, then he goes out there and completely whips our tails with little resistence. once, he got done ravaging us inside, blake killed us from outside. i still have hope for the future because we have some good players coming in. we had better come up big with that last scholarship. if we win our next two home games, we would be 6-5 going into the conference season. still a tall order in my book, but I would take that record. remember, there are no more gramblings or savannah states on the schedule. Let's go get butler next week merry christmas, everyone bad boyz for life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 The only one on the coaching staff that was present when he was being recruited was soderberg. I am certainly not going to fault him for not demanding Romar not recruit Hollins and Kern and sign Maclin. Regarding Ahearn, good game blake, we'll get you next year...With reggie, tommie, dwayne and luke in our arsenal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 everyone cries about varner, but seriously, explain to me why the likes of justin johnson and darren clarke are sitting and phillip hunt and ross varner get time instead? there is your equalizer's right there. i know it has been said that clarke and johnson either dont get the system or that they are still young and learning or just not playing hard in practice. but if they are that slow in the mental aspect that we have to play with phillip who is far too small to be effective at this level, and ross varner who is just not talented enough, then it is time to look at our recruiting efforts and ask why we are bringing in players like darren and justin. if our system doesnt let those two thrive with the obvious athletic ability that they have, then either our system must be too difficult or we arent bringing in the right players. what will it take for darren and justin to get it? i have never been an advocate of "chasing off players" ala pretty q, but maybe they need to go somewhere else if they arent going to cooperate and contribute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 i think maclin was in the year before not hollins year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Brad was not even with the team, so how does he make the coaching staff look foolish for not recruiting him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 i never said the coaching staff was foolish for not recruiting maclin. while i agree that maclin would look right now in a billiken uniform, you have to remember that macklin was probably at least 25 pounds heavier when he was at cbc. couple that with him probably 6'5" size, he didnt appear to be a player that would help us. i dont blame romar for passing on such a project then. kudos to macklin for having the dedication to get into shape 3 years later and play as well as he did last night. from the way it sounds, we saw his best game of his career last night though, not the general macklin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Hopefully, that will be true as SMS now has a 3 game winning streak and I think they lead the overall series some ridiculous figure like 14-6, but unlike the ***** Cats, we don't duck them and we should continue playing the darn game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 which is what my comment was about. Isn't Maclin a soph? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 I may just be whistling in the dark, but I suspect after reading Coach Soderberg's comments in the P-D today that we will see some subtle adjustments starting with the Butler game. I have no idea what they will be, but he is giving the players a couple days off while he does some sole searching. IMHO if we are going to lose then I would rather lose with better/younger athletes on the court...at least they are picking up valuable experience...think of it as on the job training...we've all gotten it in our career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Darren didn't practice on Thursday because of the same flu-like illness that keep him from playing Wednesday against Grambling. He did however practice on Friday. It's interesting that SLU loses a road game against a decent in-state rival and now some are ready to suggest that certain inexperienced players need to go somewhere else. With the 5/8 rule, we would have to replace these two young athletic prospects with walk-ons.....that makes no sense at all. Patience, better days are coming. Remember, it's not easy being a Billiken fan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 you are correct. and as i said above, i have never advocating quin like chasing. i need to calm down. darren and justin will come around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 What are we going to do with our remaining scholarship? Are we going to use it? Are we still recruiting anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 we better get a quality inside player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Agreed. Hopefully Ian and Husak will be capable players, but I'm not counting on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Again I'm perfectly fine with the notion of being patient and have preached it myself to some of the young Billiken fans. I forgot about DC's flu bug. He should be good to go and hopefully we'll see that in his minutes. I still want to see JJ's minutes go up (13 last night and Varner's (25 last night) go down. If we have to take our medicine this year then so be it...let's just take it with the younger talent getting some meaningful minutes, and learning the ropes for the better days to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 JJ and DC are freshmen ... lets relax ... It is obvious Brad was recruiting 4 year college players ... ie Bryce and Ian (whom he new would probably lose 10 games when recruiting him ) At this point 1 year and on to the NBA players aren't waiting in line to come to SLU. He has JJ and DC for the next 4 years ... he has to make them learn the system and play his way ... otherwise when they are at the same level in 3 years that they are at now ... some one will say " Why didn't Brad force them to learn and play the game correctly ... he just can't develop players" I get the impression Brad wants Jr and Sr dominated teams ... when they graduate the sophs are ready to step in with 2 years under their belt. Well this takes time ... Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 "otherwise when they are at the same level in 3 years that they are at now ... some one will say " Why didn't Brad force them to learn and play the game correctly ... he just can't develop players" Learning the job and doing the job don't have to be mutually exclusive. That's the point of "on the job training". Winning isn't the most important thing, it's the only thing. Teaching JJ and Darren "how to play correctly" is secondary. Their high school coaches should have taught them that for the most part. Tommie, Luke and Dwayne all have excellent fundamentals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Sorry ... but I disagree ... Brad has a system and the players are going to get it before they play ... I agree with him. They are 18 and 19 year old kids ... you can't tell them one thing and do another. If he deems they need to work harder in practice but plays them anyway ... what does that tell them. Right now he is telling them there are rewards to be had ... but this is what you have to do to get them ... now it is up to them. It is not Brads fault that he doesn't have Jr's and Sr's that can play without us needing JJ and DC to play substantial minutes. He has to stick by his system if we are going to get to be a consistent NCAA team Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 I've heard we have the inside track on Hsk Rlvd of Croatia, a 6'9 PF who weighs 255, and averages a double double for his club team. Aside from playing D1 hoops and getting an education at a quality American university, he wants to get on Wheel of Fortune so he can buy a vowel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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