Let's Not Overreact About Husak

[aj_arete]

Is he a 7'0 gazelle? No. Did he show a variety of post moves? No. Is he polshed? Of course not.

However, big men are very tough to judge. I remember reading awhile back how god awful Bryant Reeves was his freshman year at OSU. Then we saw what eventually happened to him.

It'll be interesting to see what sort of style Brad employs the next few years. Will it be a plodding, half-court style based on precision, smart fundamentals, solid shooting. If that is the case and Bryce bulks up significantly, he could be a strong contributor to Bills in 2 or 3 years.

However with the addition of Polk and possibly Liddell, Evans, along with Clarke, we could see a more transition-based team based on quickness and athleticism. I have no idea about the new Greek recruit (6'10?), but maybe he will be more suited for that style. I seriously can't see Husak ever being comfortable with this type of team.

Looks like Brad may be covering his bases depending on the type of recruits he can lure to SLU. It's too early to tell how this team will look and play in the next couple of years. Let's give Brad and Bryce more time.

[Billikenbooster]

aj-

understand completely what you say. just seems from his body type that Husak is not a kid who will ever bulk up well. he may get stronger, but his shoulders are just not that broad. that will not change over the next four-five years.

in the warm up he did make 4-5 consecutive threes. what we don't need is another inside guy who thinks he can make threess, though. we need someone who can rebound and defend.

[kshoe]

if Nick Smith at Illinois can become a contributor then Husak could too but given waht I saw last night its going tobe a while and only if things fall just right will he help this team out in the future.

[billiken_roy]

aj, if we had the luxury of having 2-3 returning inside players i would defend bryce to the end. i agree he deserves the time to develop. however, to bring in such a raw player when our inside presence is virtually nothing right now seems suicidal for next season imo. right now i am more worried about next season than being content to say, "you just wait until 2006".

[Mobile-iken]

What exactly were you guys expecting from a kid headed to Elon College? Some of you need to take a deep breath and give Brad and this kid a chance!

[thetorch]

We have AJ being the voice of reason and hoping for the best from the billikens while Roy is about ready to fire Soderberg for bringing in a 7 foot project.

I never thought I would see something like this.

[Quality Is Job 1]

I wasn't expecting much out of Bryce Husak Saturday night; the problem is that his production was even less than what I expected. I am willing to give the kid and his college head coach a chance; however, I was presenting an open-faced evaluation of what I saw on one night. I'm sure that by January 2006 I'll have a better read on Husak's game. The issue is, as Roy expressed, is that SLU has serious frontcourt questions as of now. I'm not mad that Husak is at SLU, but I was expressing my opinion to others in the community that we'll have to wait quite a while for production from him.

[3star_recruit]

Nobody should be surprised Husak is a project based on Brad's own comments:

"I don't want people to get the impression that he will come in and be a 30-minute per game player, but few big men his age are. Because we were in a position to sign five players this year, it was a great time to take on a player that will work hard and become a valuable post player in our conference."

But the other guys can play, again based on Brad's words.

"Tom brings that strength, rebounding and defensive ability that we need to fill the hole left by Kenny Brown and Chris Braun," Soderberg said. "He also has the ability to score in the post, so we can throw it to him with some confidence."

"Ian has excellent post moves, great hands and tremendous passing ability," Soderberg continued. "He's serious about becoming an outstanding player, and that passion for the game also is a highly desirable quality."

Coach hasn't given me any reason not to trust him, and I'm not about to start now. You'd think from some posters hand-wringing we're replacing Mourning and Mutombo instead of Brown and Braun in the frontcourt.

[Schasz]

I'd agree with those sentiments and add to the sky is falling posters that we already knew these recruits weren't Mickey D AA's. It was a darn near certainty that Husak was going to be redshirted next year.

Let's give Coach Soderberg the benefit of some time to work with all of these bigs and then after some practices, we can see what next season looks like as far as post play is concerned. How about some patience being exercised.

[billiken_roy]

3 star what is scary is it appears we arent even replacing braun and brown. and we are also faced with replacing one of the best crunchtime players in billiken history. i dont see it yet. but as i have preached, we have to wait until december to see what we have. all i am saying is no one should expect to improve on last year at this point in time.

[Marlow]

Kenny Brown's improvement on offense throughout the course of last season was remarkable. At the beginning of the season, he couldn't hit a layup, a ten-footer, or a free throw to save his soul. I'm sure most fans were praying that no one would throw him the ball--I know I was. Even though his defense was solid and necessary, he was a huge offensive liability. As the season progressed, so did Kenny. Heck, by the end of the season, he was even hitting a few ten footers. KB did not improve this dramatically under Romar. Kenny Brown's improvement last year is one heck of a testament to the coaching of Brad and his assistants, as well as the system that Brad plays--and KB's willingness to work. With KB as evidence, I have faith that Brad knows precisely what he is doing. He is recruiting players to fit a system, and he has hired assistants who are capable of coaching the daylights out of players so that each one becomes a better fit for the system. As a result, he needs players who are willing to listen and work (ala Kenny Brown) so that the coaching and the system can take root. This is precisely how they beat Louisville, Cincy, and Memphis--three schools who are loaded with athletes who probably lit it up during all star games. Granted, we'd all like a few McDonald's All Americans fit Brad's system, but in the meantime I have total confidence that he has brought in players who will max out just the way Kenny did. Those players and that system will always cause problems for the all-star heroes.

[jjray]

Well said Marlow.

[kshoe]

a lot of the posters that last year were very optimistic about our chances and were generally called “optimists†(including B-Roy and myself) are much more cautious about this coming season while many of the “realist†posters from last year are now predicting NCAA births and a perfect Billiken future.

I think the logic is that last year the “optimists†were basically right on, to slightly disappointed with the overall season while the “realists†set the bar so low that Soderberg comes off looking like the greatest coach in the world. The “realists†are now willing to give Brad a free-ticket on this apparent mediocre recruiting class and think Brad will simply coach them to greatness. The “optimists†expected success last year, especially from Marquee, and thus do not think Brad necessarily walks on water.

That too me is why you see some of the traditional roles on this board changing. I did not mean to put words into anybody’s mouth and apologize right now if I did.

[Quality Is Job 1]

You have to count me as last year's most enthusiastic optimist. You're also right, as far as I'm concerned, that there has been a swap in expectations between last year's optimists and pessimists. I'm not going to say that I'm pessimistic about this season, but I'm less optimistic than many.

I believe that it will be a building year. There will be six players that have never played a regulation game for the Billikens, and only four players return that were a regular part of the rotation last year (only two of which have been part of the rotation for the last two years). The Bills have to replace most of their scoring, rebounding, heart-and-soul, and defense up the middle. Brad Soderberg is going to have to build a team out of what he's got, but he won't be able to do it on press clippings.

I don't expect an NCAA Tournament bid, barring a C-USA Tournament run. Nor am I expecting the 2003-04 season to be like 2002-03. My guess right now is that their record will be like the record of the 2001-02 team (15-16, only this year they'll play fewer games as a result of not playing in an exempt tourney).

[Billiken Rich]

Speaking for the realist wing of Billikens.Com (or more likely just myself) Brad has earned little honeymoon period. I did'nt give him one to start with. He gets high marks from me for taking Marquee and a dozen role players to the NIT. Seeing a team get better and better as the year go on is something we haven't seen in a while. (Romar's teams seemed to stumble and bumble there way through. Don't tell me about the Memphis miracle. That team shouldn't have had to win the cusa tournament to see post season. The last year of Heinrich, Tatum, Baqniak et al was god-awful.) I have confidence in his recruiting after seeing Drejaj and IO. He doesn't get a free pass but I'll not call the season a loser without seeing the players. BTW: An allstar game is the most idiot thing in any sport. Lets take a team sport and make it all about the individual! I'd almost prefer Brad's players not do well in an "allstar" game. Guess what, MY FAVORITE ALL TIME BILLIKEN, DREW DEINER COULD PROBABLY DROP 100 POINTS AT AN ALL STAR GAME WHERE NOBODY PUT A HAND IN HIS FACE!

[Billiken Rich]

It's way too early to judge Brad but seeing last years team gel was nice. If Brad can turn JJ, Husak, and Frericks into decent players it'll be more then Lorenzo and Charlie were able to do. When was the last time we had a good redshirted player?

[StLouBlue]

Was John Redden a redshirt? I know he started as a walk-on, but I am not sure if he also redshirted his first year. If not one at least one of the Luechtefeld's was a redshirt and they all turned out to be decent players.

[StLouBlue]

Also from the realist side (I picked 14-14 no postseason), I agree Brad does get a little more of a honeymoon. I think he did a outstanding job coaching this team last year. Around mid-season this was a team that could have quit on him and started going through the motions but they didn't. Now some may say the seniors, especially KB & MP, should get partial credit and you will probably also be right, but I will still give this as a plus to Brad.

As far as recruiting goes, last years class was a complete throw together at the last moment class and my expectations were low. I was suprised w/ AD's energy & defense and his shot looks good as he showed at the end of the season. IO showed some talent, but still not sure how he will fit on this team. If JJ develops into a player and Bryant becomes our scorer this will end up being a very good recruiting class. Brad has found players that have fallen to him, ie players that he wasn't recruiting for months, but rather players that just ended up finding him. AD, IO & JJ were like that, but that was completely understandable since he was just throwing a class together and had no real time to recruit. Husak & Ian were also short time recruits, I don't think Brad was recruiting them for more than a month before each was offered and signed. I don't know if this is a good thing or not. AD & IO(to a degree) were successful like this, but we will have to see about JJ, Husak & Ian. Here I will give Brad the benefit of the doubt and figure he is a good talent evaluator & also knows the type of player he wants, even if he has a short amount of time to access that talent.

As far as the whole Husak/Frericks/Ian replacing Brown & Braun. The big question mark is how good is Frericks? Brad thinks he is good enough to mostly replace what we got from KB otherwise he would not have taken 2 potential projects in Ian & Husak. If neither Ian or Husak are ready that means Varner or JJ will be backing up Frericks which is really scary. If Frericks is not close to KB level and Ian & Husak aren't ready, we could be seeing a lot of Varner & JJ & IO at the center position. I guess this is what Roy is talking about--a very scary idea. I hope Frericks is as good as Brad expects and then the rest should work out.

I also agree that it is way to early to think about how we will do, especially without seeing a schedule. This team looks like a .500 team now, but with a lot of question marks.

[Basketbill]

I am not sure where I fit in your categories but I agree with your summary of the feelings of the board.

I look at this team as having the potential to be better than last year. Yes Roy I hear you saying the Loss of Marque at crunch time will hurt, however I hope that this team is better overall and therefore the crunch times will be less frequent and a player will grow into that roll with time.

PG Fisher will start backed up by Morris and Drejaj.

2G Drejaj will force Bryant to play defense but both will get minutes, and Bryant will score.

3 Sloan will not be kept out of the line up, Clark may back up here, but will push to take minutes at the @ gaurd spot.

4. Ohannon on Defense and the 3 on offense.

5. Frericks, but pushed by the Ian, Varner will be available for role play and hack a shack defense.

Comparing the above to last year despite losing marque we are deeper at Gaurd, have more versatility on offense with two scoring threats, (IO and Bryant) and 3 or 4 complimentary scoring threats, (drejaj, Sloan, Clarke, and ?Morris)

As for our frontline, yes there are questions, but I suspect Frericks will produce rebounds, and points similar to Kenny, If however he shoots better from the line that may well be a substantial diffenece and make up for any defensive deficiency if it exist. Ian at this time is an unknown, but Brad has been very complimentary of Ian. That is not what he has been about Husak. If you recall he said Bryce runs well, catches the ball well etc.....He did not say he is highly skilled, or passes the ball well or can be a special player....At this point I would have to trust Brad's judgement.

No doubt marque will be a big loss, but hopefully with a more experieced Drejaj, Sloan, Fisher, Ohannon, and with the addition of Reggie and Clarke, we will not have to rely upon one player so much. Hopfully games like Tenn Martin etc will be games that are over with five minutes left rather than trying to come from behind etc...

[Basketbill]

I take it that you mean a player who did not transfer and thus require a redshirt year.

So Ryan leuchtefeld is proabably the best one of recent years, but I would not call it a way to spend a scholarship.

[billiken_roy]

i guess if i step back and try to think about this from a different viewpoint, i can see what kshoe is saying. it makes sense to me.

[billiken_roy]

actually i might not be as pessimistic as what it seems. i just dont want to make statements yet at this point without seeing how a couple of key spots are fulfilled and who becomes the go-to and step up players. last year it seemed a heck of a lot easier to predict as good if not a better record than the year before since we returned the entire starting five. this year we dont and we lost our two best players. thus my reluctance to step up at this time.

[Major Majerus]

Actually, I was at the All-star game years ago that showcased Deiner along with the MU recruits and other big national names - at Maryville College. Drew didn't play a whole lot, and NEVER touched the ball when he was in - nobody would pass it to him!

[Billiken Rich]

I forgot about him. Still I would hope like heck that JJ, Husak, and any potential Brad redshirt recruits have more upside than Ryan. How many people remember the patented "Leuchtefeld Swipe" one handed rebound maneuver? It was guaranteed never to result in a rebound.

[jjray]

Dr. Freud, I think you have a point. Put another way, once burned, twice shy.