I’m guilty of jumping on the bandwagon of a team that has no post play, and really struggles with depth. This is a huge wake-up call. I’m honestly gonna be pleasantly surprised if they can finish 500.
Given how good the Valley is this year, it's hard not to think about SIU as being a Thursday team this year. Even Evansville is killing it so there's not many teams for those 4 spots.
I don't know if we were that bad or Drake that good. A real stinker after coughing up that early 10 point lead. How many bunnies did we miss and how many times did we try to force it inside when there was nothing there? And don't even get me started on Hemphill's picks.
We better make some serious adjustments tomorrow or it will be another blow out. On the positive side, Harvey showed some nice moments. Domask? What is going on there?
I don't know if we were that bad or Drake that good. A real stinker after coughing up that early 10 point lead. How many bunnies did we miss and how many times did we try to force it inside when there was nothing there? And don't even get me started on Hemphill's picks.
We better make some serious adjustments tomorrow or it will be another blow out. On the positive side, Harvey showed some nice moments. Domask? What is going on there?
It's a combination of both. SIU has played 3 pretty bad Valley games so far, they were lucky to take the first one in ugly fashion. Drake is clearly better though.
Drake is playing beautiful, unselfish, uptempo, high-pressure basketball. Their athleticism really pops against the Salukis, who have good talent and play hard, but are not super athletic outside of Jones.
Speaking of athleticism, the Bulldogs present some tough matchups for Domask, but as a go-to player, he needs to be able to meet that challenge and perform ... hopefully he bounces back tomorrow. Drake is really deep, so SIU needs its bench guys to give them more as well. Verplancken has been awfully quiet offensively as he adjusts to D-I ball.
As has been mentioned, SIU has not played well in its three MVC games. No need to panic, especially with such a young group that has a few personnel holes still to fill, but it is time to make some adjustments and find a few answers.
Drake is playing beautiful, unselfish, uptempo, high-pressure basketball. Their athleticism really pops against the Salukis, who have good talent and play hard, but are not super athletic outside of Jones.
Speaking of athleticism, the Bulldogs present some tough matchups for Domask, but as a star player, he needs to be able to meet that challenge and perform ... hopefully he bounces back tomorrow. Drake is really deep, so SIU needs its bench guys to give them more as well. Verplancken has been awfully quiet offensively as he adjusts to D-I ball.
As has been mentioned, SIU has not played well in its three MVC games. No need to panic, especially with such a young group that has a few personnel holes still to fill, but it is time to make some adjustments and find a few answers.
Good analysis. I was thinking the same thing regarding our lack of athleticism. The announcers mentioned Drakes starting lineup is older than the Chicago Bulls! They are all 22 and 23 years old. We have talent, but it is very young. We also didn't value the ball enough tonight. Drake is a very good, veteran team. It will be interesting to see who emerges between Drake, Bradley and Loyola. They are all good and a cut above the rest of the valley.
Tough to beat 22-23 year olds with a bunch of 19-20 year olds. Veteran teams is what made the Valley great during its heyday. That said, with some maturity and an infusion of inside help (Muila, Ebube, D'Amico) we are going to be very, very good the next few years. Oh, and Drake is very, very good right now!
Drake is playing beautiful, unselfish, uptempo, high-pressure basketball. Their athleticism really pops against the Salukis, who have good talent and play hard, but are not super athletic outside of Jones.
Speaking of athleticism, the Bulldogs present some tough matchups for Domask, but as a go-to player, he needs to be able to meet that challenge and perform ... hopefully he bounces back tomorrow. Drake is really deep, so SIU needs its bench guys to give them more as well. Verplancken has been awfully quiet offensively as he adjusts to D-I ball.
As has been mentioned, SIU has not played well in its three MVC games. No need to panic, especially with such a young group that has a few personnel holes still to fill, but it is time to make some adjustments and find a few answers.
Yep, and that's the basketball that UE was playing too. Not saying that we're playing selfishly at all, but your description is fitting. We've been absolutely destroyed by teams that set up and do ball movement in the half court.
(Inflammatory political snark)
Ok I think I got them all. Good lord leave for an hour
No just No this board will not ever become political. Austin you know better
Tough to beat 22-23 year olds with a bunch of 19-20 year olds. Veteran teams is what made the Valley great during its heyday. That said, with some maturity and an infusion of inside help (Muila, Ebube, D'Amico) we are going to be very, very good the next few years. Oh, and Drake is very, very good right now!-
Rockin' Dawg - I thought basically the same. Drake is a veteran team with older players, good ones, and they are, as a team, very good. I think right now the best in the league but time will tell. We are very young, we have talent, but are still finding our way early in a season with very young players and many new ones trying to learn each other. Tonight was, hopefully, a learning experience and I trust it was for Brian and the coaching staff. I just want to see us get better game by game and see where we are at about the half way point....
@atlantasaluki. Is Jakolby Long still on the team?
Media guide said he was hurt for the Evansville game. Not sure which game but Mullins mentioned before he's been battling injuries since preseason I think.
I think SIU is in a really bad spot this year. Young team trying to grow and asked to go on the road to Drake, Bradley and Loyola 6 times is a recipe for a really tough valley season. Under normal circumstances I think this is a top 5 team, under these I agree we will struggle to avoid Thursday.
Sample size is a bit small to be predicting anything about Thursday night. I would offer this, though, regarding our youth. I am wondering if not having any crowds, especially at home, has more of an affect on younger players who may still depend more on the crowd to pump up their adrenalin than do older players. Just a thought. I know every team in the Valley has to work with this, but could it be a factor in particular for our young Salukis?
May be early but the Turds, The Trees ,Valpo and UNI look like the Thursday teams to me
Sample size is a bit small to be predicting anything about Thursday night. I would offer this, though, regarding our youth. I am wondering if not having any crowds, especially at home, has more of an affect on younger players who may still depend more on the crowd to pump up their adrenalin than do older players. Just a thought. I know every team in the Valley has to work with this, but could it be a factor in particular for our young Salukis?
Also, the Banterra Center brings a lot more energy than most, if not all, MVC arenas. Considering the excitement drifting over from last year, paired with a 7-0 record and a win over Butler, I think we would have had plenty of 6,000+ crowds this year. I honestly believe that no fans affects SIU more than most teams in our league.
