@salukiworld it’s 2.5 years in. Anyone even thinking about firing the coach and starting from scratch deserves to be kicked out of watching sports forever.
I'm guessing you were trying to be kind, but just finishing in the top HALF of the MVC next year would be a huge disappointment in my opinion. Domask, Jones, Muila, Brown, Harvey, and Verplancken will all be seniors. I want to see them finish in the top 3, or 4 at worst, and have WINS against the other teams in the top 3-4 in the league.
Yeah I was being nice. Next year we should be going into Arch Madness with the feeling that we can win it, something we haven’t really had as a fanbase since 2008.
This team can win Arch Madness this year; the chances are obviously low, but this is the first year in the Barry or Bryan eras in which there isn't an opponent that is head and shoulders above SIU. Maybe we don't match up well with certain teams, but we've hung with and nearly won against all the top teams; in years past there was always a Loyola, Creighton, or Wichita that was a guaranteed loss (and likely blowout) in St Louis, but not this year.
Do we as fans have the *expectation* that we're going to win it this year? No, I don't think any of us do, but we certainly should have the feeling finally that we could, it just isn't likely.
@usmcsaluki After watching our games this year I've sadly come to the conclusion that we're a middle of the pack, mediocre team. We have some talent but not enough.
People think this website is always negative and toxic but I think people are pretty tame here compared to what I’ve seen on social media. A lot of people are beginning to grow impatient.
My thing is, expectations need to be raised. SIU hasn’t competed for the Valley in 14 years and that’s far too long. I also think it’s way too early to be done with Mullins. He’s going to (and should) get 5 years to figure this thing out and that’s more than enough time to build a program even with all the COVID stuff and injuries. I gave B***y a lot longer of a leash than most here but it was clear by year 5 and through year 7 that he was never going to elevate SIU above average and couldn’t muster even a fluke run in Saint Louis.
Even with 5th year guys and Loyola leaving, I don’t expect SIU to win the Valley next year but they’ve really got to at least compete and finish in the top half of the Valley and start beating the top tier teams in the conference. SIU hasn’t beaten an above .500 Valley team since Mullins’ first season when they beat Loyola and Northern Iowa. Even bad teams are able to steal at least one at home in the Valley. Illinois State beat Northern Iowa and Bradley; Valpo beat Northern Iowa; Indiana State beat Missouri State and Bradley.
We don’t allow the crap you are seeing on social media. There is positive and negative everywhere. I feel like we do our best to keep it mostly civil
People think this website is always negative and toxic but I think people are pretty tame here compared to what I’ve seen on social media. A lot of people are beginning to grow impatient.
My thing is, expectations need to be raised. SIU hasn’t competed for the Valley in 14 years and that’s far too long. I also think it’s way too early to be done with Mullins. He’s going to (and should) get 5 years to figure this thing out and that’s more than enough time to build a program even with all the COVID stuff and injuries. I gave B***y a lot longer of a leash than most here but it was clear by year 5 and through year 7 that he was never going to elevate SIU above average and couldn’t muster even a fluke run in Saint Louis.
Even with 5th year guys and Loyola leaving, I don’t expect SIU to win the Valley next year but they’ve really got to at least compete and finish in the top half of the Valley and start beating the top tier teams in the conference. SIU hasn’t beaten an above .500 Valley team since Mullins’ first season when they beat Loyola and Northern Iowa. Even bad teams are able to steal at least one at home in the Valley. Illinois State beat Northern Iowa and Bradley; Valpo beat Northern Iowa; Indiana State beat Missouri State and Bradley.
We don’t allow the crap you are seeing on social media. There is positive and negative everywhere. I feel like we do our best to keep it mostly civil
It's not really uncivil, just a lot more hot takes, especially on Facebook
I have confidence in Mullins, but he needs to be able to identify and address the deficiencies with this team. I like a lot of our talent, but some aren't playing up to their potential. Again, there's also some fundamentals that are lacking. SIU's offense isn't good. They need motion in order to effectively get open shots. Offensive rebounding is non-existent. Understanding that rebounding is 80% effort, it makes me wonder which guys want to elevate this team and which guys are picking and choosing when to play hard. Domask and Jones have one more season, it would be nice to send them out with an opportunity to play in the post season.
I have confidence in Mullins, but he needs to be able to identify and address the deficiencies with this team. I like a lot of our talent, but some aren't playing up to their potential. Again, there's also some fundamentals that are lacking. SIU's offense isn't good. They need motion in order to effectively get open shots. Offensive rebounding is non-existent. Understanding that rebounding is 80% effort, it makes me wonder which guys want to elevate this team and which guys are picking and choosing when to play hard. Domask and Jones have one more season, it would be nice to send them out with an opportunity to play in the post season.
Hopefully Jones and Domask have 2 more seasons as Salukis following this year. SIU lists them as Juniors, but the covid rule will give them an extra year. They can play as 5th year seniors in 2023/24 if they wish.
We are not athletic or long enough IMO.
People shitting on the offensive sets, but we had a ton of open looks…I mean a TON. We just missed a really high percentage of those open looks. We shot the ball 12 more times than they did and only turned it over 7 times. The rebounding numbers were skewed by the shear number of bricks we threw up. Last night wasn’t about the offensive scheme it was about the players not making shots.
Don’t get me wrong, there are times we struggle to get open looks against good defensive teams and I think some tweaks need to be made, but we are in a shooting funk and unfortunately it is as a team not one or two individual players. Lance and Marcus missed 6 or 7 wide open threes combined. Verplanken missed both his threes both wide open and Brown only made 1 of his 4 (2 misses were open looks). Not sure what is going on, tired legs, mental block, whatever but those guys make the majority of those shots when they are playing well.
I thought the defense struggled in the second half too (maybe letting offense dictate defense unfortunately), so that combined with a poor shooting night equals blowout.
Agreed, for a team that according to BM is a "good shooting team" we are missing a lot of OPEN shots and bunnies near the rim. I understand a player or two in a funk, but the WHOLE team? It doesn't make sense. And I hate seeing SIU miss so many FTs. We are at 68.5%, which is ranked 250th in D1. But believe it or not, it is better than last year when we shot 66.5% So how does that make us a good shooting team?
JD Muila and Steven Verplancken shouldn't be D1 starters. Even on average teams. Filewich shouldn't be a starter either but he at least has offensive ability and is just as good a rebounder and defensively as Muila. Coupet is a very average player and would be a 6th or 7th man on a good team even at 24 years old.
Have a lot of holes to fill.
JD Muila and Steven Verplancken shouldn't be D1 starters. Even on average teams. Filewich shouldn't be a starter either but he at least has offensive ability and is just as good a rebounder and defensively as Muila. Coupet is a very average player and would be a 6th or 7th man on a good team even at 24 years old.
Have a lot of holes to fill.
Filewich is nowhere near as good defensively as Muila. Not sure what games you have been watching. Filewich is better offensively, but much worse defensively.
