i agree with some of what i've read above, but the biggest thing of all this team needs to focus on is developing quality big men to bang in the post. Love Rupert, but he's just too short for that, and frankly so is Domask against the 6'10 - 7' PAIRS of beasts on every other good team in the valley. Ebube doesn't need to lose 20 lbs to play, he just needs to keep at it and get some time on the floor in tough games to develop his skill set further. Hornecker might need more seasoning, but let him do it on the fly and i bet you see some magic.
To everyone on this board...go look at the season stats for this year and look who the best shooters are, you might be surprised...and yes i know small sample size for some...but keep in mind also the huge minutes that went to players who were NOT producing offensively in a standout way.
I'm glad Mullins is our coach, and i hope he keeps learning and is willing to adjust. When this team was incredible before we had amazing big men like Timmons and Carr or Falker and Shaw who were always in together taking care of the boards and scoring at will while racking up blocks.
Xavier Johnson is a stud and i'm glad he is a Saluki. I hope he is back next year. I love Jones, but i think his time here is done (best for everyone). I hope Domask is back, too - but he should be at the 3 not the 4/5. XJ at point, maybe Domask at point a little because he can handle the ball fine, literally any other guard who can actually score (maybe Foster Wonders will be the guy and nice to have his height?)...AND 2 BIG MEN DAMMIT!!! That's your starting 5 and that team would defend well and score a lot more. Let's see it get some run.
Rupert can spot a big man for short stretches and he can spot Domask when he needs a rest. D'Amico, Dalton and AJ sub in as needed and let's see who contributes more.
I think we should play in CBI if we get the opportunity. Drake played in it last year with a 24-10 record. Assuming our seniors come back, any additional experience is a plus.
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I think we should play in CBI if we get the opportunity. Drake played in it last year with a 24-10 record. Assuming our seniors come back any additional experience is a plus.
Only if Cade, Ebube, Wonders, Ferguson, etc are going to play big minutes
@salukiworld They absolutely should, this should be all about preparing for, 23-24.
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I see a lot of similarities to Porters Loyola teams in terms of generating open 3s and playing defense, the difference is we haven’t found the guys who will lock up and consistently make shots yet, but hopefully that’s coming.On the flip side, I trust that Mullins will make the corrections necessary to fix the offense. I’m proud of how this team competed and I’m proud of the way they represented SIU. They seem like a great group of kids that love being Salukis and the effort was always there (just maybe not the execution). I did not think we had the talent to beat Drake or Bradley in the tournament, so this is about where we should have finished. If Mullins can field even an average offense, paired with this defense, then we’ll be dancing next year.
Great post, and thank you for sharing your thoughts PD. I wholeheartedly agree with you.
The offense must absolutely be redesigned and improved. From what I have encountered this year, all of our student athletes have represented the university wonderfully. I also believe the overall student body is improving and enrollment is increasing. As I posted two weeks ago after the BU loss at home. Drake and Bradley are Tier 1, SIU, Belmont, Indiana St. are Tier 2, at least for this season. Newton, JD, and Brown move on. Enter Scottie, Cade, Ferguson, Foster and Davis and that’s a bright future. Being amongst the throng of Saluki fans this weekend was once again amazing, and extremely enjoyable. All of us want so badly to have a winner. BM is young, and in his first HC coaching job. However, even this loyalist realizes that adjustments/changes need to occur, most notably offense, set plays, and press breakers. Than perhaps with staff? Most definitely will not hold my breath on staff unless someone chooses to leave.
GO DAWGS!
Looking forward to your season recap. You seem to know a lot about basketball.
Supporter of the Fab 4: Scottie Ebube, Foster Wonders, AJ Ferguson & Cade Hornecker.
They’re the ones that can get us where we haven’t been in 15 years.
We should take a CBI bid.
Use it to work on depth and offense.
Man… I had so much fun this year. Let me start by saying if Drake doesn’t return everyone I think we have a very very good chance of dancing this year and that sucks and I really hope Marcus and Lance come back because of that.
This program is coming back. Were you there Friday? Do you see the sleeping giant that is SIU basketball? A glimmer of hopes and we showed up and showed out. SIU ringing through the halls, you’ll never take that feeling away from me as bad as Saturday sucked.
if Marcus Trent and Lance are done I’m going to miss them. Could you ask for better people to rep our school and community? So proud they are Salukis, so proud Bryan does not budge on character.
Finally, this is the beginning, not the end. There is much talk about the offense and I get it. But damn, this team makes extra passes and gets open looks consistently. I said it before and I’ll say it again, if we get a group that will consistently make shots we will looks very similar to those dominant Loyola teams. You can see the vision. Even against Drake when we were up early we got 3 or 4 wide open looks to take the lead to double digits and just didn’t hit them… but look at this program, playing hard is non negotiable, giving up isn’t an option, that’s culture, that’s how you build the program. It’s close everyone, it’s close. Love these Salukis and I can’t freaking wait for November 2023!
Drake certainly played up to their potential towards the end of the year and really showed they are at another level, but I don't subscribe to the notion that Bradley was a tier higher than us - we were pretty darn evenly matched.
Been waiting my whole life for SIU to have good Bigs. True Bigs. Not 6 foot 7 MVC Bigs.
So I am incredibly excited about Ebube and Hornecker. Mullins deserves a lot of credit for landing both of them.
Supporter of the Fab 4: Scottie Ebube, Foster Wonders, AJ Ferguson & Cade Hornecker.
They’re the ones that can get us where we haven’t been in 15 years.
I really liked that the basketball team competed very hard and hope academically that model remains the standard (I think it will). Mullins & Co. need to be commended for that and the conduct of the team on and off the court.....I am looking forward to seeing D'Am with more playing time and hope XJon returns if the other do not...I hold reservations on Foster and Cade as both look overmatched right now, hopefully with increased playing time each live up to their hype coming in...I'm excited about the Vashon kid and think he is going to be a handful....Floorburn U was back and loved that too.
Hell of a season. SIU won a lot this season and was thankful that we could beat OK State early in the season. Following that up with a loss to Southern Indiana was absolutely unacceptable and SIU needs to beat St. Louis U. I liked this team. They played hard. I think SIU had more talent than they demonstrated at times. The coaching staff has to improve on the offensive sets. We have to have a better scheme for offensive rebounding and maintain what we're doing on defense, if we want to take a big step forward. Ebube and Honecker both need a lot more minutes to really see what they can do. Ebube received some minutes this year and was always impressed with his energy and hops. I think he has a huge upside. I think Wonders has a great deal of potential too and I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of him next season. SIU will have several departures but the cupboard is not bare. Looking forward to seeing who the coaching staff lands to fill gaps and to take another step forward with the talent level.
Go Dawgs!
Love all the positive takes that came out today above...especially regarding character and academics. SIU was in danger of running down a dark path coming out of Lowery years with respect to GPA and the impact it would have on the program. BBQ helped a bit, but Mullins will keep it at the highest level possible and these current Saluki ballers have done their part. I expect to see that continue for sure 👍
I posted in another thread but I would like to see the development of a mid range game like Drake their mid range game is what sets them apart as all starters are capable and it sets up their overall game and makes them hard to double team as it sets up the 3 point game and the back door game if you double team anybody they back cut to the basket the benefit of having multiple options to score not 2
If Marcus and Banks come back and Foster and Cade get some tic this team could be better. The problem is UNI and Belmont are gonna be really really good next year. Bradley could be if Mast comes back.
Been waiting my whole life for SIU to have good Bigs. True Bigs. Not 6 foot 7 MVC Bigs.
So I am incredibly excited about Ebube and Hornecker. Mullins deserves a lot of credit for landing both of them.
Me, too. But I'd be more excited if he actually played them.
