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Why I think we'll be better


ACE

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This may be overly optimistic and I haven't seen the newcomers play yet, but here goes.

1) The core of the team should be more comfortable in year two of Bradball. I generally expect at least a little improvement from each returning player with IO being the one who will improve the most.

2) Depth - particularly in the frontcourt. Johnson could give us an athletic look off the bench we haven't had in a while. I don't think the loss of KBrown will be as great as some think. While his defense was tremendous, his free throw shooting was a killer. We might lose a little with Frerichs defensively, but hopefully we'll get a little better offensive production, particularly free throws. The Greek sounds intriguing. I think asking him to be better than Braun is not asking too much. I'm guessing Husak will redshirt and anything from Varner will be a bonus.

3) Players will be in better roles - IO and Sloan will now play in their proper positions. We will have a true point guard in Morris. This will relieve some of the burden off of Fisher and Drejaj, who imo, are not what I would consider true point guards, but they are two of our best defenders. Brad will have the flexibility to use several different guard combos depending on the match-ups. Bryant, while I certainly don't expect to be as good as Marque, fits the mold of a two-guard. He'll give us better three-point shooting than we've had there. Drejaj showed flashes of being a three-point shooting threat late last year, and if he can continue to develop that, it will be huge.

In summary, I see a deeper, bigger, more athletic, better shooting and more versatile roster. While I certainly wish we had a star-caliber player like Dwayne Wade, I think there are a lot of good components for a shrewd coach like Brad to mix and match with.

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Interesting take on next year ACE. It is something of a puzzling transformation. For example, Kenny was a very good defender and okay rebounder. But as we all know his free throw shooting was unbelievable. I remember on one or two occassions praying late in the game that he would not be fouled even when we were done, fighting the clock, and scoring while the clock was off was exactly what I should have been praying for. Do the pluses and minuses cancel each other out?

Marque was a better all around player than Reggie. Reggie will be a better shooter than Marque. Frierichs will shoot free throws better than Kenny (I have never seen him shoot free throws but I KNOW he will be better). If Morris is a true point guard that will be great, but he has never played in Brad's system. Every + I come up with may be balanced by a -. I think the key will be, as you suggest, is how much have the returnees improved? IO, JJ, Fish, Anthony, & Reggie have been out there scrimmaging very hard all summer.( I hope I'm not missing somebody on the seldom AWOL list). Husek and Floyd started late but also have become regulars in the scrimmages. Everyone else is a sometimes participant. This is not a criticism of anyone by the way. SLU, thank goodness, still requires actual attendance in summer school courses, in internships, etc.

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i still say the unknown greatest question mark is that heart and soul of a true goto warrior. perry might have had as big of a heart as we have ever seen in billiken blue.

will bryant be able to step into those shoes? who knows. we will have to wait and see. love and jeffers surprisingly increased their production and responsibility levels tremendously from their previous billiken seasons.

I also continue to not be sold that our inside recruits will exceed what kenny brown and chris braun did. i know that isnt much, especially offensively, but still, other than spot bright spot reports from his greek junior olympic performances, the greek is the only hope for improvement imo. nothing we have heard about fericks other than his free throws makes me believe he will match kenny brown.

i will continue to wait until december to weigh in.

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Roy,

You failed to mention Johnson. Are you not counting on him?

I have the hope that he can be a valuable asset off the bench, providing athleticism and some scoring. Those are two qualities we didn't have an overabundance of from our frontcourt last year.

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Good analysis. By mid-season we should be better at every position except Marque's (and I am still not sure what position Marque played) and our bench should be much stronger at nearly every position.

The impact of Kenny Brown has been greatly exaggerated. I have heard glowing stories of Kenny's ability to run the floor on offense, but I don't remmber him making any more of a fast break impact than Heinrich or Baniak. Does anyone else remember the two fast break dunks by Heinrich toward the end of the game at the dome against Illinois? Matt Baniak also had a few flashy fast break dunks in his day. Kenny Brown's defense was good, but he didn't block too many shots, and his offensive limitations were a huge liability. If Frericks is coachable on defense, then he may be an upgrade from Kenny before the season is through.

I like our versatility at guard and our potential stregth and size in the front court. Roy is correct when he voices concern regarding who will supply the heart. We would have lost another five or so games last season had Marque not found a way to score when we needed some big buckets down the stretch. Hopefully, Fisher, Bryant, or Drejaj will fill the void.

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Thank You David ... I agree 100% with your statements about Kenny Brown. He was very good defensively ... but that is it. I'm sorry but I thought he was a terrible offensive player. He was a liability at the end of the games. If he could have made any free throws at all Marque may not have had to hit so many game winning shots. Brad seems to think that TF is a good defensive player and any shortage he has as compared to KB should easily be made up on the offensive end.

I also agree Marque will be hard to replace ... but overall depth should relieve some of the offensive burden he carried. CS, IO, and AD should all be improved. AD especially made great strides as the season progressed ... I will bet he is working incredibly hard on his perimeter shooting. I can't possibly believe some JJ and Ian won't give more production than CB did last year. I am cautiosly optomistic about this coming year. Having Brad as our coach is also a definite plus.

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because of comments i have heard about justin johnson over the last year, i am not counting on justin to be an intergal part of the puzzle. if he surprises and has matured, then we have a nice upside. however, i have heard such a wide spectrum of reports on what we are to expect from justin, i am not counting on him at this time. i hope he proves us wrong.

tseugnekillib did make an interesting observation on the board a few days ago though when we were discussing shaw. it would seem that if justin johnson is a credible player that will give us quality minutes and production, then it would explain the seemingly disinterest in recruiting a power forward this recruiting season.

who knows.

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for a set of point guards that were/are not really point guards, they sure had a lot of games with low turnovers last season. they werent as good as h, but really what point guards have the billikens had that were as good as h? none.

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good point Roy ... I agree, we seem to protect the ball well ... not great assist numbers either though. I think that our style last year probably had something to do with both numbers being low. Not a lot of cutting to the basket or driving passes.

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How many times did marque, fish, or drejaj drive and dish to Brown, Sloan, diener for a three only to have them miss the basket. Regardless of how good the pass was if the ball does not go in the hoop it does not show up as an assist.

I would hope that with batter overall shooting assists will increase. Perhaps as well Marque was his own worse enemy, too good not to take the last shot and everyone in the arena new it. Perhaps in the silver lining of next season, no one will know who will take the last shot, I would hope that we have Sloan, Bryant, Drejaj, Fish, IO and Clarke eager to take these shots. I am hoping two or more of these players will be up to the task. I bet it is Drejaj and Ike.....

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There is a big distinction between a guard who can handle and protect the ball well and and a good point guard who can handle the ball, quarterback the offense, and penetrate the defense. Eight years ago, we had two point guards who could do all of those things (H. Waldman and Carl Turner); last year we did not.

Last year's numbers were also a little misleading because we didn't have many guards who tried to create their own shot. A guy like Drew Deiner may not turn the ball over much, but he also doesn't create any offense. To a much lesser extent, the same could be said last season about Josh Fisher and Anthony Drejaj.

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bigmac, i am not going to say the team will be better without seeing the players play as a team. as individuals, from what we have been told, i do not see where any will be better than what they are replacing with the exception of possibly bryant and morris and the hopes that ian and clarke might have some big time POTENTIAL.

that said, potential doesnt spell immediate results as in next season.

so no i am not weighing in.

funny bigmac, you ripped my stances last year for being too positive and now you are all over me for being too negative. guess i know where i stand with you. i guess i wont count on you buying me a beer at a future billiken club meeting.

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I think SLU will play better than last year, but I'm not sure our record will be better. Let's see our C-USA road schedule before predicting wins and losses.

I find it interesting that starting conference play we will have a fairly mature team that should be capable of absorbing coaching and accepting defined roles. On January 1st, Frericks will be 22 years/9 months old; Fisher 23/2; Morris 20/10;Clarke 19/3; Drajej 20/11; Bryant 23/5; Johnson 20/3; Varner 24/0; Izil 23/11; McClain 21/11 and Sloan 21/6. The only "pups" on the team are Bryce at 18/9 and Ian at 18/7. Granted talent outscores age, but SLU has the makings of a mature, workman-like bunch.

The depth on the perimeter is a huge plus. If the "bigs" break even every night out, I think SLU will be in good shape. I also see some versatility which could give SLU some good matchup possibilities late in the game.

Final thought, Coach Soderberg should have a better feel about "who can do what" with the returning core players, including JJ and RB. He will be ahead of where he was last October.

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all i know is that teams with single digit turnovers typically win games. the billikens averaged just over 10 a game last season.

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like i said, h was the best billiken point guard in my billiken recollection. so if you want to compare to that and then call our guards substandard, i think that is a little unfair.

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I would be glad to buy you a beer Roy. In fact I have never been to a Billiken Club meeting and I look forward to attending my first...

Can you tell me when the next one is?

I honestly don't remember ripping you for being overly positive last year, but sometimes I have a hard time remembering last week. I do find your current negativity hard to stomach because you are the most frequent poster on the board and I wish you would give these new guys a chance before referring to them as "Heinrich clones".

I do remember ripping you for thinking that Heinrich and Jeffers were NBA players the year before last. I'm not here to rip anyone I just want to have a good time and talk Billiken basketball.

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...just optimistic.

You (and Nark) may be right on with your analysis. The Billikens could very well be better in 2003-04 than in 2002-03.

The reason for my pessimism has been the sheer number of newcomers. I believe this squad has more potential than last year's squad, but potential doesn't always pan out.

The Bills should have better ballhandling, shooting, depth, versatility and athleticism -- particularly in the backcourt -- this year than last year, assuming everyone stays healthy. What we don't know is if the team will have as much personality, grit, determination, and leadership. Those things, along with the currently apparent lack of a sure-fire go-to guy who can take over down the stretch (like Marque Perry did last year), could cost the Bills some games early so that even if the team is better by the end of the season, it could be too late for a significantly improved record.

What I'd like to see is for the team to speed the tempo of the game on both ends of the floor.

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