This was very difficult to watch after a decent start. It was both offense and defense that faltered. Defensively, we were horrible, allowing many wide-open threes. Offensively, we shoot way too many threes and the wrong players are shooting those. Few get to sharper their three-point shooting when LJ has the ball - he shoots from anywhere instead of driving. We seemed to have turned the corner on turnovers until tonight. Then, why are we playing so many players - there is no continuity with so many different lineups. It is difficult to see this team winning the conference or the tourney playing so many players, especially if JM, TB, and JN continue to get valuable minutes. Yes, it is nice to be 15-5, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
@barkeep-1967 Yeah. They won. Against arguably the worst Valley team I’ve seen in 30 years. Amazing job.
but, hey, win is a win.
People here aren’t idiots. We know what we saw. It wasn’t encouraging.
Bow Em
I am not an idiot. That's a good mantra for a Wednesday. 😆
Evansville won the last 30 minutes 62-52. Luckily, SIU won the first 10 minutes 25-8. But that last 30 minutes was as bad as it seems.
Came out of this game with Domask exerting far too much effort and the 3 point issue getting worse, not better. Sure felt like this was going to be a much needed get-right game for the shooting after the first few minutes.
Just shows you how things can go south in a hurry. Gotta hand it to Evansville for not throwing in the towel. A lesson I hope was not lost on our guys (though I don't think they have even come close to doing that this season)
Yeah, glad we won, but it was still painful to watch.
Agree that we need a core 7-9 guy solid rotation, but in BM's defense, he probably figured last night was a rare opportunity to get as many guys PT as possible, which ultimately led to some of the chaos on the floor. Would love to see a few bigs on the floor together.
If this team ever gets its collective act together, it could be a beautiful thing, Most likely, what we have seen, is what we will continue to get. Buckle up.
March on triumphantly!
I have no problem whatsoever with Mullins playing everyone last night; I just wish he had been able to give more time to guys like Ferguson, Hornecker, Ebube, etc. If you can't go deep into the bench at home against Evansville, that's a problem.
And I get the argument for shortening the bench to like an 8-man rotation to try and have more rhythm, but in Southern's case this year, I'm not sure there's enough of a distinction between guys 6, 7 and 8 and the others that it's worth the downsides of shortening the rotation to that extreme.
And yes, there are downsides. Let's say you only go 8 deep most nights. That means your three subs at this point are Banks, D'Amico and Muila. You're really not going to give Ebube and Wonders minutes coming off a redshirt year? Brown's done playing? Not to mention AJ and Cade, and I think there's a case to be made that AJ can give this team something it's lacking.
Shortening the bench might sound good, but it would A) Likely increase the chance of transfers in this climate and B) What if Domask and/or Jones don't return? You feel good about sustaining success next year with the younger players having so little opportunity to develop?
Not saying there's a clear-cut right answer here, but it's not as straightforward as some are suggesting.
As we are compassionate fans and only want the best for the Salukis and this maybe a little pollyannish I do believe we need to lay off Trent Brown somewhat this young man has given his all for four years and he is struggling now but haven't we all struggled at times in sports and life and we seem to recover better with encouragement instead of a daily beat down I still believe he will come out of it an help this team when we won't expect it and then like usual we will back on the bandwagon about we were all behind him everything that happens is not always his fault
Every time I go out for a run I don't beat my personal record for time; that's usually the goal, to always improve, but to achieve that is pretty hard if not unrealistic. I think the same kind of thing applies to teams and how well they perform over time; we shouldn't expect hockey stick type, perpetual growth.
Am I happy with the win last night? Not really; it was ugly for every reason everyone has already mentioned. Just adding some context in that these games will happen; it's on the coaching staff to limit them and create gradual, persistent growth.
I personally feel that had coach kept the core rotation in and, for the most part, only went 8-9 deep, this would have remained the blowout it was early on. Saturday's game is a BIG one, but if we do lose (which is a definite possibility) I, for one, will not be pointing to the Evansville game as the reasoning. I mean look, we absolutely shellacked them the first game and then got beat down by St Louis.
While I remain critical of the Coaches recruiting and lack of creativity on the offensive side, one thing this staff does as well as anyone is game planning for the upcoming team. They obviously put in a ton of time watching and reviewing film and their preparation keeps this offensively challenged team in nearly every game and I suspect it will keep them in Saturday's game as well.
In the end, SIU is 15-5 and in first place in the MVC. I worry about the three point shooting and Domask wearing down as we turn to March but as long as they keep winning, I can’t complain too much
I’m really confused why there hasn’t been an adjustment yet. It seems like they’re trying to short themselves out of a slump.
3 point %: 29.9% (323rd in the country)
3 point attempts per field goal attempts: 48.5% (6th in the country)
2 point %: 58.5% (6th in the country)
In the end, SIU is 15-5 and in first place in the MVC. I worry about the three point shooting and Domask wearing down as we turn to March but as long as they keep winning, I can’t complain too much
I’m really confused why there hasn’t been an adjustment yet. It seems like they’re trying to short themselves out of a slump.
3 point %: 29.9% (323rd in the country)
3 point attempts per field goal attempts: 48.5% (6th in the country)
2 point %: 58.5% (6th in the country)
Honestly, it's really hard to thread the needle on this. Obviously, when they aren't shooting well, we all would prefer they stop taking the threes and drive to the basket more. Other teams know that too so they aren't going to close out as hard and will give you those open looks from outside to protect the driving lanes. You need to shoot and knock down enough to keep them honest, so those driving lanes continue to exist. Northern Iowa did a good job of this, but they normally play that pack line defense anyway.
I agree with all of this. I have been thinking the same thing. It would be hard to choose which players don't play. I expect if we all ranked the players after one two, we would get many different opinions.I have no problem whatsoever with Mullins playing everyone last night; I just wish he had been able to give more time to guys like Ferguson, Hornecker, Ebube, etc. If you can't go deep into the bench at home against Evansville, that's a problem.
And I get the argument for shortening the bench to like an 8-man rotation to try and have more rhythm, but in Southern's case this year, I'm not sure there's enough of a distinction between guys 6, 7 and 8 and the others that it's worth the downsides of shortening the rotation to that extreme.
And yes, there are downsides. Let's say you only go 8 deep most nights. That means your three subs at this point are Banks, D'Amico and Muila. You're really not going to give Ebube and Wonders minutes coming off a redshirt year? Brown's done playing? Not to mention AJ and Cade, and I think there's a case to be made that AJ can give this team something it's lacking.
Shortening the bench might sound good, but it would A) Likely increase the chance of transfers in this climate and B) What if Domask and/or Jones don't return? You feel good about sustaining success next year with the younger players having so little opportunity to develop?
Not saying there's a clear-cut right answer here, but it's not as straightforward as some are suggesting.
On a rainy day in Southern Illinois it is great to be Saluki and be able to complain about a victory over a rebuilding UE team. Could we have played better probably but a win is still a win. Will we have to play better to win the league absolutely. Feel like maybe the team was trying to impress the home crowd and took UE a little to lightly. No Worries for the first time since 2007 SIU is in first place after 9 games. Go Dawgs
The post game interview with Marcus was somewhat enlightening. If you haven’t heard it he basically said that they took their foot off the gas and instead tried to wow the crowd with some razzle-dazzle. Pretty easy to understand given who they were playing and given that halfway thru the first half they were on track to win by a score of 100-40. Another way to look at it is we have been having horrible first halves and good second halves…we stopped that trend! 😊
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
