Brad on 590

[AlumniFan]

Brad was just on 590 with Rammer. Interesting comment was that he said the Billikens will have a very good second half signing period. Also said that they were very close on several non-St. Louis area kids in the fall.

Sounds like he is pretty positive on the Spring signings even though he obviously cannot get into specifics.

Thoughts?

"A strong man stands up for himself; a stronger man stands up for others." - Ben

[billiken_roy]

if he was truly real close on something, i believe something would have leaked out by now. and if he truly has something in his pocket, wouldnt he push for the recruit in question to publically verbal to slu?

[DoctorB]

I believe pushing for the kid to say anything can be construed as a violation of NCAA rules; anyway, this administration is quite tight lipped, and those seemingly bland comments, which are the first time I have heard about them, I think are in fact very, very positive code words from our coach. We should expect some really good things in both spring and fall of 2007.

[billiken_roy]

doc if it truly is a signing of consequence, the signee or verballer will have plenty of opportunities to declare his intentions that would not be coerced by slu employees. i was never implying that slu should be releasing information or trying to make the student athlete publically declare his intentions before the spring signing date.

[slufanskip]

How can you recruit a kid without pushing him in some way to commit?

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman

Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would have helped club.

[billiken_roy]

i am saying you cant make him go to the press. sure i want him to commit. but i as well think that making that player go to the press or if we go to the press with a verbal commit before the signing date that probably isnt ncaa right.

the player can tell whomever he wants. but that must be his decision.

[slufanskip]

I would think you can push him to verbal ... and even to make it known ... but I don't think we can do it. I don't know the facts though

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman

Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would have helped club.

[Also Receiving Votes]

I don't believe liars.

[Hardball]

I can't really beleive what I am reading. Let me see it I got this right. We are holding a schoolie for a player that will not give us a verbal. How desparate can we be? I don't care who the recruit is. I wouldn't take him unless he wanted to come here and be a Billiken. You wonder why BS never gets recruits this is reason number one. SLU will always be the saftey net for players who want better offers if BS continues to allow the players to dictate the terms of the committment. I can't think of one program that operates in this way. This recruiting ship is so out of control it is frightening.

On another note I listened to the show last night and had to think BS is loosing his mind. He talked about a formula for points per possession with an ideal target of .9 points but mentioned SLU only had .82 at SIU.....I thought to myself he is making this way harder then it needs to be. BS please spend your time trying to get more shots for KL or improving Ian's freethrow % but stop all the mathimatical formula's for points per possession.

[DoctorB]

none of what you 2 are saying seems accurate. all he said was they are very hopeful, right? who said anything about someone not willing to give a verbal. He said we are very close with some guys, that's all.

give me a break.

[slu72]

Close only counts in horseshoes.

[Billikenexpress]

>I can't really beleive what I am reading. Let me see it I

>got this right. We are holding a schoolie for a player that

>will not give us a verbal. How desparate can we be? I don't

>care who the recruit is. I wouldn't take him unless he

>wanted to come here and be a Billiken. You wonder why BS

>never gets recruits this is reason number one. SLU will

>always be the saftey net for players who want better offers

>if BS continues to allow the players to dictate the terms of

>the committment. I can't think of one program that operates

>in this way. This recruiting ship is so out of control it is

>frightening.

>

>On another note I listened to the show last night and had to

>think BS is loosing his mind. He talked about a formula for

>points per possession with an ideal target of .9 points but

>mentioned SLU only had .82 at SIU.....I thought to myself he

>is making this way harder then it needs to be. BS please

>spend your time trying to get more shots for KL or improving

>Ian's freethrow % but stop all the mathimatical formula's

>for points per possession.

Beggars can't be choosers.

[Sheltiedave]

Hardball, it is a metric, and a key one at that, to drive success. If you get to a certain level, you'll be winning if you hit your other metric windows. Maybe we should switch back to walking the ball up the court to hit a .82 ppp metric, so you can complain even more.

There is nothing wrong with using metrics to get people to buy into extra effort and improvement. "Just win, baby" is not a very effective coaching strategy without overwhelming bball talent on the roster. What the hay, though, you would find innumerable ways to criticize Brad.

Founding member of a new club...Hardball for coach, Problack for lead recriter...AKA HOPFAR

[Hardball]

Metric Windows to get people to buy into extra effort and improvement? How about just running their A$$ of in practice to get the buy in? I have heard many former players of Roy Williams say their practics were so hard the games were piece of cake. I can't really recall one former Jayhawk under Roy Williams talk abour .09 points per possession as being the goal. What other coach have you ever heard talk about metric formula's? I heard last week Roy Williams wants a hundrend possessions a game but heard no mention of a metric formula. Who else can you point to that uses these same metrics?

All this thought put into the metric formula and if we just would have made our freethrows the outcome could have been very differnt. Let's spend the time on teaching our players the art of the freethrow as opposed to metric formula's.

I would be interested in learn BS's metric formula for recruiting.

[Billikan]

You are one of the most brainless immature idiots that I have ever encountered. You can debate the quality of our team--you think it is terrible and I think it is good-- but you have not right to continue to personally insult the integrity of our coach. I have gotten to know him and he is as straightforward a man as I have ever met. The fact that you think you can just come on the internet and call the man's integrity into question is a tribute to the new era of jerks like you who, without any basis whatsoever, have an ego the size of the moon, and without any personal success whatsoever, feel it is their right to try to destroy people. Take this and your racist drivel and go to some board where idiots like yourself can insult each other.

[Hardball]

Thank you for your response to my post Billikan but why the name calling.

I have never questioned the quality of our current roster but have expressed concern about the state of the program for this year and the years to follow. I have questioned the results of late spring signings and no early fall committments but is that not acceptable. I haven't called BS names or questioned his character just questioning how his metrics of points per possession comes into play in order to win basketball games. Sheltidave said to me "Founding member of a new club...Hardball for coach, Problack for lead recriter...AKA HOPFAR". I didn't take exemption to that suggestion and start calling people names. So why should you be so hostile? I am just stating that IMO BS's focus on points per possession is making it way to difficult in winning games. I think you can break it down to simple rebound advantage,freethrows attempted and made,number of possessions (Roy Williams), made field goals, made 3PT field goals.

I guess "idiots" like myself are not allowed to question the current regime in any way. Should we just continue to listen to how great things are and be happy we just have a team. That is totally ridiculous. My discussion points are at least basketball related as opposed to your womanly rants and name calling.

[RealisticBilliken]

Hardball - your reply was way to long to Billikan - he's a joke, please save your time and don't post a reply to his comments.

[Billikan]

My reply was directed to the idiot PUTZ who insulted Brad and called him a liar.

As to your post, I would like to know your personal experience in college basketball recruiting at the D1 level. I have not done it but I have talked to more than 20 coaches who have yet I do not ever claim to be an expert.

[Hardball]

Billikan I have never recruited in D1 basketball but I am an avid follower of the college basketball scene. Therefore, I do know there are many D1 coaches out there getting it done with far less than SLU has to offer. How about Winthrop? Air Force? At some point people have to realize that if this reruiting situation does'nt turn around drastically in the near future the University will make the decision for all of us. The fact that BS is struggling in the recruiting department does not make him a bad guy or even a bad coach but unfortunately the recruiting aspect is a big part of a programs success. It is ok that supporters of the program can question the past recruiting results. Doesn't mean we are any less of a supporter of the program than anyone else. Just supporters that look around and see other schools enjoying success and want to have the same experience hear at SLU. Not really to much to ask, is it?

The reason the SIU game was so disturbing is that we could have won that game. That win would have looked good at the end of the year in the event the A10 is a two bid league. Yet it probably missed freeethrows that caused the final result. This has been a problem for the last several years and apparantly hasn't been fixed. Whatever the staff is doing it is not enough. It is on their shoulders to provide the players a solution and then it is up to the players to execute. What is even more disturbing is that BS stated on his show the other night after all they have tried he really did not know how to fix the problem. What? Even if he believes that, why make such a claim? The players look to the Head coach for leadership and knowledge and it can't be very comforting to hear that your Head Coach does not know how to fix a problem.

[moytoy12]

Shaq must have had some horrible coaches.

Couldn't it be argued that the coaching staff developed a scheme that got our players the ball in positions where the player would either score or be fouled and it is up to the player to execute the free throws?

[willie]

So how do you fix a freethrows problem? You act like that is something a coach can do. Why can't Shaq shoot throws. How about Bruce Bowen or Tim Duncan. If it was easy or coachable why haven't these professional coaches done their job? I think Brad is doing the right thing by not making a big deal out of it. He said at the Billiken Club meeting last night he told the players to get in the Gym and work it out. It's all about routine and confidence. When you've got the answers go sell yourself to Shaq. I'm sure he'll pay you big money.

[Hardball]

Mo, freethrows are the problem. Not the play to get the freethrows.

Although, I guess one could question why SLU would run a play that would result in either a basket or a freethrow attempt to a particular player if that player your throwing it to can't make a freethrow?

[billiken_roy]

hardball, where were you the last 10 years when we have been having the same recruiting woes? why is it just a concern now?

imo, the biggest part of the program's problem continues to be instability of the head coach. i.e. we switch coaches every 5 years or so. until that levels out, we will forever be starting over.

i for one think we have a coach that is very level headed, is a long range thinker, a straight shooter, and has the integrity that matches the university. i think you are playing pin the tail on the donkey to expect to find more than that with an outside assistant coach or a lower d-1 head coach and i am realistic enough to see that a university that pinches penny's like we do (see our lame marketing, sports information, and billiken apparall efforts) knows we arent about to go out and hire rick pitino or roy williams.

watch and see if we pony up for shimmy. you can bet that woman is going to be a target in the next couple of years. any bets on what the university will do?

[TheRaginCajun]

But you don't keep a guy around just to build stability in the head coaching position if the guy can't get it done and I think that is the question some people have. Is Brad Soderberg the guy to turn this program around? I will hold-out my judgement till the end of the season, but if no tournament bid comes and there is not an impressive signing in the near future, I may be in the camp that says show Soderberg the door. For the sake of him and the program, I hope he gets it done. I feel like it would hurt in our attempts to land Suggs, Brandenburg, and Griffey.

[Kahok]

There are hundreds of recruiting services, and they are always trying to out scoop each other, if the Bills had a high quality lean for the spring they would have already have published the story.