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.
Ebube didn't touch the floor the last 3 games and didn't get in when it was garbage time. You have to wonder if he's even back next year.
I thought X was a great addition and if Domask/Jones were back, I’d love him back too. Newton was a big miss for me. I think Verplancken was a pretty big loss and Newton was a bit of a downgrade there. Newton was an empty-stats guy on horrid Evansville teams
The big loss was Ben Coupet - 11 ppg and a very good 3 pt shooter - led the MVC. Also averaged almost 5 rbs per game.
Newton played spirited D - didn't add much to the offense.
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.
Ebube didn't touch the floor the last 3 games and didn't get in when it was garbage time. You have to wonder if he's even back next year.
Wouldn't hurt my feelings. I know some on here were excited over a few dunks! My take was that he wasn't very quick, was very out of shape, and was a defensive liability. If he comes back, I hope he works his butt off and comes in lean and mean. You can't teach 6' 10".
I was more impressed with Rupert and Hornecker. Cade has a sweet stroke, good FT shooter, etc. Real waste that he didn't get a lot more floor time. Also, Clarence Rupert can be a player. Tons of energy, quick, and good around the basket. Also has good hands and can catch the ball. I thought he played great at the MVC tournament. Mullins complemented him too.
I'd be happy with Hornecker and Rupert. A more disciplined, leaner Ebube would be a nice bonus.
My concern would be that, with three bigs, Mullins would be jerking them out of the lineup every 3-4 minutes. That's a coaching mistake and a confidence/momentum killer he did all season.
I thought X was a great addition and if Domask/Jones were back, I’d love him back too. Newton was a big miss for me. I think Verplancken was a pretty big loss and Newton was a bit of a downgrade there. Newton was an empty-stats guy on horrid Evansville teams
The big loss was Ben Coupet - 11 ppg and a very good 3 pt shooter - led the MVC. Also averaged almost 5 rbs per game.
Newton played spirited D - didn't add much to the offense.
Yeah Coupet was a big loss too. Verplancken is averaging 13.1 PPG on a 17-14 Weber State team. I think he would have been a big piece here. The defense improved this year but you never replaced their scoring.
So SIU has no chance of a CBI or NIT bid?
So SIU has no chance of a CBI or NIT bid?
NIT, no
CBI or whatever the 3rd Tournament is these days, if they want to
@salukiworld Ok thanks. Do you know if Mullins contract is up?
He had a 5 year contract but got an extra year when Jerry Kill left so it runs through the 24-25 season now. So 2 more years as of now.
@salukiworld ok thanks. I just didn't understand his small lineups. Time and Time again, SIU takes the big guy out, opposing team would just drive the ball down. It was maddening to the point I wonder if he's the guy. He also didn't play his best players.
@salukiworld ok thanks. I just didn't understand his small lineups. Time and Time again, SIU takes the big guy out, opposing team would just drive the ball down. It was maddening to the point I wonder if he's the guy. He also didn't play his best players.
I think people are attempting to be positive, and in some cases overly positive, at this point.
But I’m gonna guess most people kind of realize where we are at right now as far as coaching.
If Hinson had started a certain player nearly 50 games, this board might have been shut down. That was pure negligence.
The defense was great for the most part. But I can’t ever remember a less entertaining or enjoyable Saluki team to watch.
It just wasn’t good/fun basketball to watch most of the season.
Happy we won 23 games, but we got a long way to go.
And, if we lose Ebube, I am going to be pissed off, plain and simple.
Fire away, homers.
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.
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.
Ebube didn't touch the floor the last 3 games and didn't get in when it was garbage time. You have to wonder if he's even back next year.
Wouldn't hurt my feelings. I know some on here were excited over a few dunks! My take was that he wasn't very quick, was very out of shape, and was a defensive liability. If he comes back, I hope he works his butt off and comes in lean and mean. You can't teach 6' 10".
I was more impressed with Rupert and Hornecker. Cade has a sweet stroke, good FT shooter, etc. Real waste that he didn't get a lot more floor time. Also, Clarence Rupert can be a player. Tons of energy, quick, and good around the basket. Also has good hands and can catch the ball. I thought he played great at the MVC tournament. Mullins complemented him too.
I'd be happy with Hornecker and Rupert. A more disciplined, leaner Ebube would be a nice bonus.
My concern would be that, with three bigs, Mullins would be jerking them out of the lineup every 3-4 minutes. That's a coaching mistake and a confidence/momentum killer he did all season.
1. I think there's a pretty solid chance your skepticism about Ebube ends up looking really bad down the road. Yes, he needs to be in better condition going forward (and he will be) and develop further, but if you can't see the upside, don't know what to tell you.
2. You don't want to go into next year with just Rupert and Hornecker as your two options at the 5. You're then one scooter accident away from seeing D'Amico battle 265-pound guys under the rim.
@salukiworld ok thanks. I just didn't understand his small lineups. Time and Time again, SIU takes the big guy out, opposing team would just drive the ball down. It was maddening to the point I wonder if he's the guy. He also didn't play his best players.
I think people are attempting to be positive, and in some cases overly positive, at this point.
But I’m gonna guess most people kind of realize where we are at right now as far as coaching.
If Hinson had started a certain player nearly 50 games, this board might have been shut down. That was pure negligence.
The defense was great for the most part. But I can’t ever remember a less entertaining or enjoyable Saluki team to watch.
It just wasn’t good/fun basketball to watch most of the season.
Happy we won 23 games, but we got a long way to go.
And, if we lose Ebube, I am going to be pissed off, plain and simple.
Fire away, homers.
I've been conditioned over the years to be onboard with defensive-focused basketball, and I'm good with that if it leads to success, but in comparing SIU to some of the other top teams around the conference, there are two things I'm jealous of:
- Having 4-5 guys on the floor at any given time who are confident offensively and legit scoring threats
- Teams looking to score/attack in the first 10-15 seconds of the shot clock instead of grinding possession after possession/often settling for poor shots late in the clock. There's a time and a place for that, but there's also huge benefit to a more attacking offensive mindset.
@salukiworld ok thanks. I just didn't understand his small lineups. Time and Time again, SIU takes the big guy out, opposing team would just drive the ball down. It was maddening to the point I wonder if he's the guy. He also didn't play his best players.
I think people are attempting to be positive, and in some cases overly positive, at this point.
But I’m gonna guess most people kind of realize where we are at right now as far as coaching.
If Hinson had started a certain player nearly 50 games, this board might have been shut down. That was pure negligence.
The defense was great for the most part. But I can’t ever remember a less entertaining or enjoyable Saluki team to watch.
It just wasn’t good/fun basketball to watch most of the season.
Happy we won 23 games, but we got a long way to go.
And, if we lose Ebube, I am going to be pissed off, plain and simple.
Fire away, homers.
I've been conditioned over the years to be onboard with defensive-focused basketball, and I'm good with that if it leads to success, but in comparing SIU to some of the other top teams around the conference, there are two things I'm jealous of:
- Having 4-5 guys on the floor at any given time who are confident offensively and legit scoring threats
- Teams looking to score/attack in the first 10-15 seconds of the shot clock instead of grinding possession after possession/often settling for poor shots late in the clock. There's a time and a place for that, but there's also huge benefit to a more attacking offensive mindset.
I mean I get that Mullins’ hands might be tied with certain players, based on what he sees in practice that the public doesn’t see or hear about.
If Bryan Mullins wants to play 5 guards basically that’s fine.
BUT if you’re gonna play five guards because they’re so good defensively, then how in the hell are you not turning that great defense to easy points on the other end?
It was clear that NOBODY could shoot the ball worth a damn.
I refuse to believe that having Lance Jones, Xavier Johnson and Jawaun Newton all on court at the same time couldn’t have produced quite a few transition baskets.
If someone tries to take Mullins side on that one issue, I just don’t believe they’re being truthful.
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 want those teams to be really good. Like dominate the non con good. Like if we finish top 4 we are an at large team good. I am sick of the struggle by everyone in the non conference and then 3rd place is meaningless. These teams are too good to not be having non conference seasons that put the Valley in 3/4 bid territory. I'm sorry, Bradley, Drake, Missouri State, SIU, Belmont etc... just did not pull their weight in the non conference. This has to change. accept going to the big schools and playing. All these teams need to dominate the bad teams. Can't work on things or worry about PT, if you play a bad team you need to win by 20, you just have to. 12 point wins, as stupid as it is, against bad teams actually hurt you. It's dumb but that is where we are in college basketball. We need the Valley to have a big November and December every year. At large hopes were dashed before a valley game was ever played and every single team in the conference is to blame for that especially the garbage at the bottom pulling everyone down like Evansville, UIC and Valpo... Those teams have to be at least competent.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.
I think we knew it would be a bit of a tough year for the Valley with Loyola leaving and 3 new teams coming in. The portal also killed Missouri and Murray State last offseason as well as UIC and Northern Iowa.
I think a team like Murray State is going to take a step up next year too if they can keep their players from the portal. Perry, Wood, and Moore are a good group of guards. Murray played the entire year without a single Senior on their roster and struggled a bunch but also played Drake a lot tougher than we did on Friday.
Northern Iowa is bringing in the best recruiting class in the conference and had just 1 Senior on their roster (Betz). I think Phyfe could be back too if he's healthy enough. They're the team that's going to take the biggest jump for me.
Basically, this season was about as down as we'll hopefully see the Valley in awhile. That's why SIU can't be satisfied with finishing in 3rd place and making it to Saturday because other teams are going to pass you up if you continue to play the same way.
