I will never understand Troy @ the 5 and the redshirt burning for 5 min of garbage time. If I were the parent of those two young men…….
Enlighten….if you were the parent of these young men….what would you do?
Kind of curious.
Every time there is a hiccup people seem to just want to blow everything up and start over last night was disappointing yes but things happen for whatever reason but the comparison of Wardle and DeVries is warranted but let us look at that shall we Wardle didn't win the Valley until his 7th year which was last year Brian is in year 5 DeVries was an assistant for 18 before he got a head job and learned from Altman and McDermott Brian hasn't even been coaching for 17 years not to mention being a first time head coach thru covid then the NIL and the portal I think it is hard for comparisons and I believe this program is on the verge of being back just look at the improvement certain players have made year to year again last night hurt and no one probably took it worse than the staff but I believe good things are coming and currently being 12 and 6 and above 500 in the conference everyone would have taken it and been ecstatic if you had those predictions before the season
I'm not advocating for Mullins to be fired, but if you want to compare Mullins to Wardle and DeVries, you aren't doing yourself any favors. Wardle didn't win the regular season title until year 7, but he did win the Valley Tournament in year 4 and 5. DeVries had a nice start to his career and obviously having Tucker has helped tremendously with sustaining that.They have basically been competitive since year one. Schurtz has also rebuilt ISU blue up pretty quickly in to a contender. His style of play I think just relates to today's youth better and makes recruiting much easier (see Conwell and Swope).
Having said that, all three of those guys had extensive experience prior to their current jobs (via Asst Coach and/or Head Coach) that Mullins didn't have. That's the risk we (and he) took when we hired him. You always knew there were going to be growing pains for him and not just game management lessons but lessons in putting together a staff and recruiting (both HS and the portal). Hopefully last night was a big lesson learned about not trying to shorten the game so early in the second half and just run your sets...especially when you had been extremely successful in the first half doing just that, but I digress.
He just hired someone who was a big time recruiter to help supplement one of those deficiencies and his offensive schemes this year have certainly improved from last year. As long as things don't spiral this year, I'm of the mindset to give him a short extension with buyout protection for SIU and see what he can do on the recruiting front next year. I'm so tired of the blow it up and wait 2-3 years to be competitive again cycle we've been on the last decade and a half (but my patience is certainly waning right now). We all really want him to succeed and he's ran a very clean program to date so I'm for giving him a bit more leash than you might do otherwise.
All that said, if this turns in to a big slide and we finish bottom 4 or 5 and the team looks disjointed, I don't have a problem pulling the plug either. Probably would be best for both parties before things get too ugly like they did with Lowery.
@siu_2011 I agree the style of play in previous years has significantly impacted recruiting. And, for the reasons you stated. I'm hopeful the slight change in style of play and a more experienced recruiter will result in better recruiting this spring. If it doesn't, next year could be pretty grim.
I was hoping the new assistant Coach would help with both recruiting and in game play. Does anyone have any comments on that?
I knew these 3 games starting with drake and ending with uni were going to be critical for how this season goes, and for Mullins future. The first 2 have been worse case scenario, and who knows what will happen Saturday. I'm for giving Mullins the best chance to be the coach of siu future. Those decisions should be made after this season. The 1st step is winning the valley conference, and/or competing for it every season. That is a reasonable expectation for siu coaching staff to be top 3 every year. Maybe we win tournament to get into big dance sometimes. Going to be very difficult to get at large every year. Hopefully siu can get over 20 wins finish top 4 this year, no way we win conference this year. I feel 2 year extension would be best chance for success, but I do realize the urgency for success, it's a gamble either way
I was hoping the new assistant Coach would help with both recruiting and in game play. Does anyone have any comments on that?
yeah, wasn’t he supposed to be one of the best recruiters in the game? And we have no recruits for next year yet?
You could see the game unravel in the 2nd half. The two clones of Jim Les and Anthony Manuel took over. We didn’t have anyone that could guard them. At one point Ebube was guarding Manuel, and he took him to the hole. X couldn’t guard him either. Then you had Les driving to the hole and scoring on several plays . Sad. Never should have happened. I think Mullins called 1 timeout during the run, and 1 to set up the potential game winner. The lineups he puts out there are baffling at times. But, hey he’s the coach and that’s his job.
As for the loss…not unexpected and one that will not affect their post season chances. If this loss would have happened in our heyday. I would have been devastated. But, I’m used to it and know the only way SIU will ever make the tournament again is to win the tourney.
I agree with the poster who questioned the assistants on staff. Think we really need at least one older, very experienced assistant. As for BM, I'm really undecided.
I do think the offense has improved this year with much less talent and that we are using our bigs better. But I also think some of our wins were mainly because we had one of those rare great-shooting nights.
My biggest concerns:
1. Does Mullins listen to his assistants? Is he flexible and self-reflective enough to change things? I don't see great adjustments at halftime.
2. Odd/bad personnel decisions by BM. D'Amico or Hensley should not be playing the 5 ever IMO.
3. When I see Bradley, UNI, Indiana St., Drake come in here, it is clear they are a notch above us in raw talent. What attracts recruits? the town? the pizza? the campus? the record last year? the coach (and his personality, staff, etc.)?
Scherz is bringing in good players, but we haven't done a good enough job at that. You can coach until the cows come home, but without good talent, you aren't winning this league!
Another portal year like this one and I won't be on the fence about BM.
SIU's wins this year have come against an average of 236.27 on KenPom
Average loss is 103.66 on KenPom
SIU played the 338th of 362 non-conference schedules in the country. We thought coming into the year that this would be a tough schedule, it wasn't at all. Not their fault at all that teams like Saint Louis and Oklahoma State were much worse than expected.
The win total this year seems to be a bit of smoke and mirrors. They are much more efficient against the bad teams they've played this year which is leading to them having their best KenPom season in the Mullins era.
The Bradley game was definitely a bad loss, no doubt about that. I agree with some others who have commented that there is a lot of season left and maybe we need to see how it plays out. There will have to be a decision made at the end of the season to either extend or dismiss.
I am not as concerned about our lack of early signees in recruiting. With the portal, most schools are sitting back to see who is available at the end of the season. Without knowing who you may also lose in the portal, it is difficult to see what you need.
I remember Paul Lambert being on the hot seat after replacing Jack Hartman. He brought in a recruiter in Herm Williams who went south and brought in Joe Meriwether, Mike Glenn, the Abrams brothers and others. The program got better quickly and Lambert got hired by Auburn. Hopefully the new recruiter can help this happen again, without losing a coach when it does.
Every time there is a hiccup people seem to just want to blow everything up and start over last night was disappointing yes but things happen for whatever reason but the comparison of Wardle and DeVries is warranted but let us look at that shall we Wardle didn't win the Valley until his 7th year which was last year Brian is in year 5 DeVries was an assistant for 18 before he got a head job and learned from Altman and McDermott Brian hasn't even been coaching for 17 years not to mention being a first time head coach thru covid then the NIL and the portal I think it is hard for comparisons and I believe this program is on the verge of being back just look at the improvement certain players have made year to year again last night hurt and no one probably took it worse than the staff but I believe good things are coming and currently being 12 and 6 and above 500 in the conference everyone would have taken it and been ecstatic if you had those predictions before the season
Stop it. Way too much common sense in here. FIRE EVERYONE EVERY TIME THEY LOSE!!!
It is amazing what ONE half of basketball can do (and I fully understand that it wasn't necessarily just this game)..... If SIU maintains their 20pt lead and wins the game in dominant fashion against a preseason top Valley team and then happened to beat Northern Iowa on the road, it would be at least arguable that Mullins would be in the running for Valley Coach of the year, especially when you consider that we were pegged 9th. Now, after the collapse, many are talking about whether or not he deserves to be around after this season. And sadly.............as I said before, it's warranted and, more importantly, incredibly sad. I graduated decades ago but still watch or listen to 95% of EVERY game. I simply LOVE this program and it kills me to see us struggle without an obvious light at the end of the tunnel. Let's beat UNI and get back on track, PLEASE
I am with you. The only reason I have ESPN plus is for Saluki sports. I get to watch football, baseball, and basketball and now they even on demand them. i want to give Bryan a few more years to win for two reasons 1) he is a Saluki. 2) who else you gonna hire. Most good assistants make as much as he does.It is amazing what ONE half of basketball can do (and I fully understand that it wasn't necessarily just this game)..... If SIU maintains their 20pt lead and wins the game in dominant fashion against a preseason top Valley team and then happened to beat Northern Iowa on the road, it would be at least arguable that Mullins would be in the running for Valley Coach of the year, especially when you consider that we were pegged 9th. Now, after the collapse, many are talking about whether or not he deserves to be around after this season. And sadly.............as I said before, it's warranted and, more importantly, incredibly sad. I graduated decades ago but still watch or listen to 95% of EVERY game. I simply LOVE this program and it kills me to see us struggle without an obvious light at the end of the tunnel. Let's beat UNI and get back on track, PLEASE
