West Ill - Postgame thoughts

[davidnark]

-We struggled for much of the game because once again Brad allowed the other team--a much lesser team in this case--dictate the matchups. Western Illinois was quick on the outside and thin inside--why not take advantage of this mismatch?

-Brad's pack defense was awful on the perimeter. In today's big men-starved game, why do we run a defense that is focused on shutting down the interior and giving guards open looks outside? Why don't we pressure the ball outside the three point line?

-This team in general, but particularly Polk (and to a lesser extent Meyer), really struggles in the half-court offense. Western Illinois had a strategy to drop everyone on defense off their shot, which forced SLU into a half-court offense for most of the game. The results weren't pretty.

-This was my first look at Knollmeyer. He looked like a competent, prototypical power forward. He was tenacious, reliable with his offense on the block, and strong. Why is Brad contradicting his own guidance and still experimenting with a guard at the power foward spot? Give the kid a chance? It will pay dividends in the long run.

-We couldn't hit the side of the barn today. Isn't this what Maquire was brought in to help fix?

-Kevin looks like he isn't right physically; whatever injury he is fighting is hurting his form.

[Billiphan]

Thank god TL and LM showed up today. DP had a nice first half. IV and KL were non factors. DB and JJ contributed at times. I don't know what we finished for the game but early free throw shooting was bad. This will continue to haunt us if we don't fix it. Overall, I think a pretty poor game over a bad team. THere's not a lot to be happy with today save for TL. he was the difference maker in the second half that he needed to be. I'm gonna give KL the benefit of doubt right now with his injury. I don't think he was really good on either end today. I agree with Nark's assessment of AK. Nothing too flashy but would like to see some more minutes of him. A win is a win but they need to get better.

[cheeseman]

Defense - in particular perimeter defense - has been a struggle this year. I am not sure why we are having so much trouble. If it is the pack defense then something has to change. If it stricly effort - I find that hard to believe - then my question is why. I have to really say that I never did not think we would win today so maybe that is why I am not that upset with the game as a whole. KL stuggled today for sure but hopefully he will get over his injury and play like we know he can. Free throw shooting was improved for the game and that is what really was the difference today. If we shoot 50% like in the past couple of games we might very well have lost the game.

[tseugnekillib]

Billiken lose....it's Brad's fault.

Billikens win....it's Brad's fault

Billikens shoot 3-18 from the 3-pt line at home and struggle to win.

#17 Marquette shoots 3-18 from 3 at home and lose....go figure.

KL doesn't score a field goal in the 36 minutes he played....I would have never thought that would happen!

[davidnark]

So you sat there for the first 30+ minutes thinking Brad and his team are doing a great job...excited that this hyped SLU team was struggling to maintain a lead at home against a sub-300 rpi team? When the teams walked on the court for tipoff and Western Illinois' frontcourt consisted of a pair of undersized beanpoles you didn't question why Brad once again elected to sit his five big men not named Ian who are at leat 6'8" and 230 lbs? When Western Illinois turned the game into a half-court contest early on you didn't wonder why Brad subbed JJ in for Ian, who had only one foul at the time, instead of going bigger and stronger with his substitution pattern? When we through up brick after brick from outside you didn't wonder whether it was a good time to give Dustin some minutes?

We all have different expecations, but the team Brad coached today struggled to beat one of the worst teams in the country. Good teams--NCAA tournament teams--dominant poor teams at home.

[courtside]

>

>Billiken lose....it's Brad's fault.

>

>Billikens win....it's Brad's fault

>

>Billikens shoot 3-18 from the 3-pt line at home and struggle

>to win.

>#17 Marquette shoots 3-18 from 3 at home and lose....go

>figure.

>

>KL doesn't score a field goal in the 36 minutes he

>played....I would have never thought that would happen!

Last time I checked, Marquette played a legit top 10 ball club with an All American at small forward, and SLU played well...Western Illinois. The comparison is ludicrous.

With that said, a win is a win any time.

[tseugnekillib]

courtside....the thrust of the comparison was the 3-18 shooting from the 3pt line, sorry you missed it. It happens to very good teams (Marquette) and to average teams (SLU).

To me it's amazing how difficult shooting 3s can be at times. I would compare it to hitting at the major league level. For example, Lance Stemler was shooting .500 from the 3pt line, going into IU's game today against Kentucky. Against Kentucky, LS goes 0-7 and 0-6 from 3, while playing 37 minutes. Again, shooting 3's may be as difficult as hitting against major league pitching.

[courtside]

>courtside....the thrust of the comparison was the 3-18

>shooting from the 3pt line, sorry you missed it. It happens

>to very good teams (Marquette) and to average teams (SLU).

>

>To me it's amazing how difficult shooting 3s can be at

>times. I would compare it to hitting at the major league

>level. For example, Lance Stemler was shooting .500 from

>the 3pt line, going into IU's game today against Kentucky.

>Against Kentucky, LS goes 0-7 and 0-6 from 3, while playing

>37 minutes. Again, shooting 3's may be as difficult as

>hitting against major league pitching.

Perhaps you missed it...Wisconsin guards a tad better(sarcasm) than Western Illinois. It is not a level comparison. You have to take into consideration the opponent's defense, and how they played too. I don't think Flowers and Taylor etc...guarded for western Illinois unless I missed something.

With that said,...don't care if you win by 1 point or 30.

SLU isn't going to learn anything agsint Western Illinois. They did against Texas A&M, Houston...and will against UNC.

[tseugnekillib]

David, sorry for a quick response but I was in agony for 35 minutes of the game. I was thinking SEMO, UALR, McKendree, etc. I really wanted a big win so that the reserves could get some minutes.

IV had two early first-half fouls....the first at 14:50 and the second at 8:52.

I want DMc to play as well.....and he will. The kid can shoot! Personally, I wouldn't have played DMc in a pressure situation against a "should-win" game. I would have stayed with my veterans. I would feel better with DM playing against a conference team or a tougher non-conference foe. You just had to beat WIU. But that's just me!

David, if you and I coached our boys on the same grade-school team.....the boys would really be confused!

[Tonka]

If finally hit me today after hearing it in so many post game interviews with Brad. Rammer often asks him things and he often says..."I don't know." or "I just can't put my finger on it" or "I have no idea", etc. Several things come to me when I here these things. First off, I appreciate his honesty. Many people act like they know all and never admit when they don't. I then think of how often I hear Coach say this.

My question to you all is, shouldn't he know some of these things? Today's answers about not knowing was when Rammer was asking him about his defense. I guess you could look at it a couple ways, but I feel he should know most of the time. There are going to be times when a Coach is stumped at why things happen and it's good when he admits that. But, if you're the head coach and have been coaching your team and you teach them things in practice, when you don't see things in the game shouldn't you know reasons why things happen whether it was poor execution, laziness, no heart, not coming to play, etc.

If I am a player and I hear my Coach say as often as Brad does that he doesn't know, then I'm thinking if he doesn't know then I sure as heck don't know. I appreciate his honesty, but there's a certain amount of confidence you have to exude. If you lose, you should probably know most of the reasons why.

Again, this is something I just noticed today, but I have heard this from Brad in many post game interviews and wanted to see what you all thought.

[Schasz]

Hmmmm!!! Today I had to run a ton of errands as I am getting ready to go on another cruise tomorrow. From the sound of it, the team had a game where you would figure that we would hammer the opponent and it did not happen. I appreciate the folks that saw the game and commented on what they saw today.

Hopefully, they will take some positives from the win and work on the things that did not go so well. I am a bit concerned that our shooting beyond the arc is still a problem. Our FT is also a concern and those things will have to get better if we are going to make the Big Dance this year...stay tuned is the operative.

[Tonka]

Schasz,

A big problem today from beyond three way KL. He is playing with a hurt elbow and it shows on his shot. Once he heels that will improve. This also brings up a good point. If KL has a bad elbow should Brad have considered giving him less minutes if not sat him out all together especially knowing who we were playing today and give him time to heal.

Kevin brings more to the floor than his shooting and I can see why he didn't sit in him but then again, since he playing him KL took a number of shots and I wonder if that's going to lead to the elbow not healing.

[Billikan]

I think you make an interesting point. Brad seldom, if ever, calls out his players during any public interview. He takes the blame and gives them the credit. This is unusual for most coaches but it is the sign of a very good leader. My guess is that in his gut Brad knows what we who were at the game know, there are times that the guys are not playing hard enough on defense--compare the first ten minutes of the second half to the first half, and there are times when the scheme backfired--we went to a half court trap with a classic sort of run and jump defense in the first half and they were hitting open shots which result when the trap is not strong. We did much less of that in the first 10 minutes of the second half and our defense looked much stronger.

For those who say we were playing a "pack defense"--they were not watching the game. the open shots were coming when we were double teaming the ball and trapping. When they moved the ball and avoided the trap then they got some open 3s and they hit them. If they missed like we did then the defense would look great.

On the other side of the ball, our offense produced plenty of wide open shots but we missed shot after shot so then our offense looks unproductive. We need to tighten up the defense like we did in the second half and hit some shots and we will be a better team. If we keep missing those open shots it will be a long hard year!

[NuBillsFan]

Fellow Posters -

I have only followed the Billikens the last 2 or 3 years and just found out about this board a few months back. But I just have to ask - is anyone else as befuddled by Soderberg's coaching as I am?

Points to ponder -

* Why not play your 7 footer against a much smaller team?

* What has happened to Ikeakor?

* Wasn't Mcguire recruited to improve the woeful shooting?

(Jr. High teams can go 3-18!)He hasn't even had a chance.

* Why not give Knollmyer more p/t @ the 4 spot?

Is it just me, or is this a very middle-of-the-pack D-1 team? I am afraid that UNC is really gonna embarrass the Bills and ruin X-Mas for the team!

I know it is still early, but this squad does not look close to being a NCAA team...

[davidnark]

Beware of the ground on which you are treading. I have raised very similar questions and regularly take a beating on this board for having the gall to question Professor Soderberg.

[pompeytir]

I was at the game...and I was watching.

-The open shots were from the pack defense, the team didn't trap that much (a half dozen times). UB needs to develop a zone defense (what they should have played today) or let go of the help defense and have his players stick on their shooters. WI could have been up 10 at half if they had hit 1/2 of their open shots. Are they practicing the defense as much this year ?(I didn't see it when I've been there)

-I think the help defense is fine against teams that can't shoot or have a dominate big man. Unfortunately this year the team has poor rotations so that isn't even working.

-Ikeafor isn't playing becuase he's a mess defensively and despite what you saw in a 30 point loss to A&M, he has an extremely poor handle and no real basketball instincts. He hasn't played ball in two years, he will be a long term project. Stop by practice some time and watch the drills, it's fairly evident that he needs a lot of work and besides the walk-ons he's the next worse player. He's also out of shape too. UB put him in against Quincy and yanked him after one minute because he hasn't figured out what a box out is and has been chastisted in another game for the same thing (i.e. UB exploded on the side lines).

-Polk is really the best defensive player on the team and he gives them the most energy on defense. They are different defensive team with him in the game. I would love to see his +/- for the game; it's probably best on the teams for today. His 'J' is still awful but he's getting more aggressive in the half court with his floaters.

-Knollmeyer is now a favorite of mine but he looked bewildered defensively. He's still struggling playing the pack defense as a '4' and turned his head continually along with losing his defensive assignment in the post (more time in practice the better he will get). Offensively he looked fine, I didn't see a back to the basket game but he was aggressive. He brought energy and some brute fouling (he's a foul waiting to happen right now) and I'm glad that IV was in foul trouble so he could get some time. UB needs to develop the bench.

-Wondered where Husak was but if your going by the height factor your very wrong about his advantage in the game. Husak isn't a post player and looks much more comfortable on the perimeter. There was no mismatch to be taken advantage in this game, #24 was extremely active in the first half (8 points) and looked good as their undersized center. IV had problems guarding him and picked up some fouls.

-Maguire isn't playing because essentially he's Danny Brown except he has a weaker handle, slower feet, no speed and doesn't know the system well. If WI was getting open shots all game, Maguire wasn't going to make things any better. He's a guy UB needs to figure out his spot roles but I don't think he would make a difference today.

-One thing I would like to see changed is having Lisch run the fast break/secondary break. Tommy and Dwayne don't really get their head up moving down the court and a lot of time there are guys open that they don't see or get the ball to. Lisch was known to have great court vision in high school and we saw some of it last year. I would love to see some more layups on the break instead of the usual secondary break '3' (that the team isn't hitting right now. Also, Tommy on the wing to drive one on one wouldn't be too bad instead of trying to take it to the hole and split two or three guys. Also, Lisch can hit the pullup from the top of the key alot more accurately than Tommy; I just see a lot of advantages to Lisch running this or at least giving him a chance.

So...develop a zone defense, bench and keep throwing in the trap every once in a while (it was a great change of pace).

[tseugnekillib]

pompey....I'm not so sure the defense was the biggest problem of the day. SLU forced WIU into 23 turnovers, which is about 8 more that WIU has been averaging (per game) this season. You don't get 23 turnovers in a game by sitting all day in a pack defense.

imo, SLU's lack of scoring....missed 3's and missed early free throws ..... made the final score closer than it should have been.

btw, WIU's Chris Gonzalez was 3 for 15 (20%) for the season from the 3pt line coming into the Savvis. Against SLU he goes 4 for 4 from the 3pt line! When your hot, your hot!

[pompeytir]

I would agree with you that the defense wasn't the biggest problem(cold shooting) in the game but after having such a stellar defense the last few years seeing the defense the way it is now just makes its deficiencies stand out that much more. Most of us have been clamoring for UB to adapt his pack defense on a game by game/player by player matchup.

As for the offense, generally speaking its been good but when the shooting goes cold everyone is cold. I’d love to see someone off the bench spark the team one of these times

[Billiphan]

I think the most depressing part of this game was that we all expected a blow out. I mean that's what's suppose to happen when a "good" team plays a "bad" team at home. If we're a top 64 team and WI is a sub 300 team than we should easily win that game by 20+. As is stands, we struggled for much of the game. The concern is, at this pointin the season the Bills haven't done anything all that great. Aren't we all waiting for them to have that "game." If we're all honest, at this point do they really look like a tournament team? Unfortunately I don't think so but we got time.

[slu72]

Only got to listen to the last 5 or 6 minutes. IV? WI is a small team and IV gets only 8 points? This from a guy who said he's got to start playing more aggressively? So far, we're beating the teams we should...6 of them. There's got to be surprise wins comong, or I'm thinking we may be over rated, and this sesaon isn't going to turn out like we thought it would.

[Sheltiedave]

Did anyone notice Knollmeyer played eight minutes, and scored seven points, grabbed three rebounds, and looked fairly competent out on the court? He is a freshman thug. Good thing, too.

[kshoe]

I would offer that we've all seen the opposite of Brad's honesty when it comes to questions regarding his team. It wasn't too long ago that every Mike Martz press-conference resulted in about 10 "Shoot, we'll fix that" comments per session. Maybe there is a happy medium between Brad's "I don't know" answers and Martz's "We'll fix it" (and it never gets fixed) answers but if I had to choose one, I'll take Brad's.

[cheeseman]

Pompy - you better be careful saying Polk is the best defensive player on the team. Nobody can say something like that without naming Luke with that mantel. I agree with you Polk does a nice job when he is there and he deserves to play. The problem is, that as long as Luke also has to play PF then this team will struggle at times. Many have talked about Luke having such a nice game but he sure missed many open shots that he should have hit. I agree he was good with his FTs. He is a hard nosed player but he has his limitations. One question that enters my mind is - if AD was the spark plug for defense in past, why has Luke not filled that void?

Bryce - haven't some of you seen enough this year? He is not even the first guy off the bench to spell IV. First is JJ and now Adam. He is sinking lower on the depth chart. Unless a mircle comes, he will be a 4 year bench rider - a wasted schollie.

Adam, may have looked a bit antsy on defense but I thought he played well enough when he was in there. I disagree, I think the kid has a very good back to the basket game.

[slufanskip]

I think Kevin and Dwayne are the best defensive players on the team. I've never heard anyone say Luke was ... unless it was a question on the scoreboard during the game, then Luke would be.

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[AlumniFan]

"-One thing I would like to see changed is having Lisch run the fast break/secondary break. Tommy and Dwayne don't really get their head up moving down the court and a lot of time there are guys open that they don't see or get the ball to. Lisch was known to have great court vision in high school and we saw some of it last year. I would love to see some more layups on the break instead of the usual secondary break '3' (that the team isn't hitting right now. Also, Tommy on the wing to drive one on one wouldn't be too bad instead of trying to take it to the hole and split two or three guys. Also, Lisch can hit the pullup from the top of the key alot more accurately than Tommy; I just see a lot of advantages to Lisch running this or at least giving him a chance."

I think you have hit on a key point here. How many easy scoring opportunities have we missed because the ball isn't thrown down court to a wide open guy? Kevin moves the ball much quicker than Tommie and does seem to see the floor better than Dwayne. That said, there have been times when Kevin has missed an open man as well. Of course, the minute you start hitting those guys, the opponent will, or at least should, adjust, but a few quick baskets like that would have made a big difference at SIU-C.

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