Shake it off get refocused and beat Valpo Let's Go DAWGS
im pretty rusty but the first play looked to be very close to a 1 4 high set, one of drakes guards was a little low, nonetheless always loved a 1 4 set for a good back door and settling into motion. motion is something that siu does not have. same with set plays a lot of times.My biggest problems with Mullins are:
1) His fascination with "small line-ups"
2) Consistently playing players out of position
3) Allowing players to jack up unlimited 3-pointers when we are literally one of the worst outside shooting teams in the country
4) Lack of "set plays"
5) The continued head-scratching use of Trent Brown in meaningful minutes, while Wonders, Hornecker, Ferguson, and now Banks languish on the bench
I’d be OK with small lineups if there were more dynamic scorers among them, but that ain’t the case.
Mullins has his strengths, but hard to argue with much of the above. Drake had a few really crisp plays today (including on the opening possession) that had me rather envious.
My biggest problems with Mullins are:
1) His fascination with "small line-ups"
2) Consistently playing players out of position
3) Allowing players to jack up unlimited 3-pointers when we are literally one of the worst outside shooting teams in the country
4) Lack of "set plays"
5) The continued head-scratching use of Trent Brown in meaningful minutes, while Wonders, Hornecker, Ferguson, and now Banks languish on the bench
I 100% agree with everything you said here. That's why a couple of weeks ago I stated this is a smoke and mirrors basketball team. This team is MUCH better than what it is showing. Much better! We have damn near lost half of these games we have won. And most of them should not have been even close. Our record is a mirage. We have played most of the season as .500 record team. Sad, cause the players we have on this years team, should be a 2 or 3 loss team at this present time.
SIU is the 24th most experienced team in D1 and 66th in minutes continuity from last year yet plays like a team of Freshmen way too often. That's on the coaching staff. This entire season has been one big disappointment despite the record. SIU has no chance at a postseason tournament unless they get lucky and win 3 games in St. Louis (or 4, I wouldn't even guarantee they won't play on Thursday at this point) and this team has given no indication they can actually pull that off.
The devastating part about all this is you might end up losing Domask and/or Jones after this season. Does that mean another rebuild? Can anyone have any faith in guys like Wonders and Hornecker contributing next year in a big way when Cade can't get even touch the floor yesterday?
The Valley is only going to get tougher going forward. Programs like Illinois State, Murray State, and Northern Iowa won't be down for long and Drake, Bradley, and Indiana State aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
I'm losing a lot of hope for this program again and I hate it because I want Mullins to succeed.
Surprised to see that we shot 39% from three. Not surprised that Drake shot 55%.
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SIU is the 24th most experienced team in D1 and 66th in minutes continuity from last year yet plays like a team of Freshmen way too often. That's on the coaching staff. This entire season has been one big disappointment despite the record. SIU has no chance at a postseason tournament unless they get lucky and win 3 games in St. Louis (or 4, I wouldn't even guarantee they won't play on Thursday at this point) and this team has given no indication they can actually pull that off.
The devastating part about all this is you might end up losing Domask and/or Jones after this season. Does that mean another rebuild? Can anyone have any faith in guys like Wonders and Hornecker contributing next year in a big way when Cade can't get even touch the floor yesterday?
The Valley is only going to get tougher going forward. Programs like Illinois State, Murray State, and Northern Iowa won't be down for long and Drake, Bradley, and Indiana State aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
I'm losing a lot of hope for this program again and I hate it because I want Mullins to succeed.
As I have done in the past, I did not post directly after this loss, as my emotions can most certainly get the best of me. Depressed is the manner in which I am feeling this early Sunday morning.
Unprepared, underachieving, and embarrassing display yesterday afternoon. After a very long week, I truly looked forward to a great college basketball game between my Alma Mater, and another first place team. SalukiWorld, you are correct. A senior laden team should not be displaying this type performance, especially on National TV. It is on Coach Mullins and staff. I am also in agreement that UNI, ISUR, MURRAY, and INDST. will continue to improve, and I will add BELMONT as well. Our players look fatigued, especially MD who along with looking exhausted, was very frustrated, much like the BU game. The spread offense, get the ball to Marcus, stand and watch him TRY to score is quite obviously NOT working. Maybe get players moving, set screens for your better shooters, and get rid of the ball before the double team comes at you!
As I said two weeks ago, Valpo is going to be a difficult game to win there, and Coach Mullins eluded to that in post game interview. Possibly letting fans know a loss is very possible? Was planning on being at BU game, but currently I am disgusted by the ESPNU performance. Hopefully not being too negative today. God Bless and .......
GO DAWGS!!!
SIU is the 24th most experienced team in D1 and 66th in minutes continuity from last year yet plays like a team of Freshmen way too often. That's on the coaching staff. This entire season has been one big disappointment despite the record. SIU has no chance at a postseason tournament unless they get lucky and win 3 games in St. Louis (or 4, I wouldn't even guarantee they won't play on Thursday at this point) and this team has given no indication they can actually pull that off.
The devastating part about all this is you might end up losing Domask and/or Jones after this season. Does that mean another rebuild? Can anyone have any faith in guys like Wonders and Hornecker contributing next year in a big way when Cade can't get even touch the floor yesterday?
The Valley is only going to get tougher going forward. Programs like Illinois State, Murray State, and Northern Iowa won't be down for long and Drake, Bradley, and Indiana State aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
I'm losing a lot of hope for this program again and I hate it because I want Mullins to succeed.
As I have done in the past, I did not post directly after this loss, as my emotions can most certainly get the best of me. Depressed is the manner in which I am feeling this early Sunday morning.
Unprepared, underachieving, and embarrassing display yesterday afternoon. After a very long week, I truly looked forward to a great college basketball game between my Alma Mater, and another first place team. SalukiWorld, you are correct. A senior laden team should not be displaying this type performance, especially on National TV. It is on Coach Mullins and staff. I am also in agreement that UNI, ISUR, MURRAY, and INDST. will continue to improve, and I will add BELMONT as well. Our players look fatigued, especially MD who along with looking exhausted, was very frustrated, much like the BU game. The spread offense, get the ball to Marcus, stand and watch him TRY to score is quite obviously NOT working. Maybe get players moving, set screens for your better shooters, and get rid of the ball before the double team comes at you!
As I said two weeks ago, Valpo is going to be a difficult game to win there, and Coach Mullins eluded to that in post game interview. Possibly letting fans know a loss is very possible? Was planning on being at BU game, but currently I am disgusted by the ESPNU performance. Hopefully not being too negative today. God Bless and .......
GO DAWGS!!!
Your post isn't negative, its realistic and accurate. These are the types of issues basketball savvy SIU fans have been seeing and commenting on throughout the season despite the decent W/L percentage.
I want Bryan Mullins to succeed so badly, but its also totally fair to point out that he and his entire coaching staff are still very green and philosophically stubborn, which plays a significant role in these deficient areas.
--Insert something witty here--
I hope the entire team, coaches and players, are feeling salty today and use it to fuel them for these last few weeks. A 4-0 finish to the regular season and good weekend in St. Louis would have us all feeling a lot differently about the season, but another performance in any way resembling what we saw yesterday and I’ll join those who call this season a disappointment.
Not sure how realistic it is to fix the systemic weaknesses that were displayed so painfully at Drake this late in the year, but some competitive fire from the coaches and team leaders, starting Tuesday, should be the minimum expectation. It’s cliche, but we’ll see what these guys are made of now.
I would like to see some fire and emotion from the coaching staff. The staff seems as deflated as the players. Maybe BM shows this at other times than during games. Where is the fire he displayed as a player ?? Very embarrassing game. As I have questioned before, is this as good as it gets ?
Fair question. My fear is that Mullins will cut his teeth here and, having learned from his experiences and mistakes here, will go on to greener pastures, or become another Weber taking the Salukis to the promised land and then move on to greener pastures. After such a disappointing loss, such are the musings from this old Dawg.
Random stream of consciousness:
You reap what you sow. Playing Domask as many minutes as he has played when he had previously worn down was a foolish move. We have talked about having such a deep team, but only play 7-8 players any kind of minutes since the turn of the year. Ebube’s inability to play more minutes at this point of the season should get the Strength and Conditioning Coach fired. I mean, that’s your job (though some fault has to go to Ebube as well). The inability to either get Wonders/Hornecker/Ferguson ready or incorporated should lose someone else their job. The offense doesn’t create enough open looks for the right players. The doubling of Domask screams for a 3 pt specialist that we either don’t have or don’t play. Why recruit offensive players like Wonders or Hornecker if you are only going to play defensive players (plus Domask)?
We are way too easy to guard. Switching everything also makes us easy to attack. Only Ebube is a difference maker from the 3 headed monster we play at the 5. Brown doesn’t add anything positive on either end of the court and is too small to play when we switch everything. Beating SIU is easy: pack the lane, double Domask, and make SIU guards beat you from 3. Hope the coaches figure it out, because I think they are wasting a pretty talented team. Would like to see Ebube-Domask-Wonders-Jones-X on offense once and see how it goes. Also, Ebube, D’Amico, Domask, Jones, X for a bigger look.
Just for fun to kinda lighten the mood a bit, does anyone think if Mullins was a top assistant at say a Duke, Kentucky, Kansas type of program, that he could get the McDonald’s All-American type recruits to buy in and play this balls to the wall defense he likes?
Serious question.
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.
Just for fun to kinda lighten the mood a bit, does anyone think if Mullins was a top assistant at say a Duke, Kentucky, Kansas type of program, that he could get the McDonald’s All-American type recruits to buy in and play this balls to the wall defense he likes?
Serious question.
No, because they would probably get paid more than him.
@rockin-dawg An excellent analysis! In the area of set plays we need to set OFF THE BALL SCREENS to get more cutting. We also need to get the ball into the lane/post areas by PASSING rather DRIBBLING. Finally, burning up Hornecker's redshirt then not playing him at all is coaching malpractice. This coaching staff needs to get better!
Yes we don't screen much to get guys open.
And unfortunately, a lot of our players always turn the wrong way on a pick and roll - high school freshman stuff. When you turn away from the ball handler after a pick instead of towards him, if you DID get a pass, it would hit you in the back of the head! Coaching.
"Finally, burning up Hornecker's redshirt then not playing him at all is coaching malpractice."
It may have been Hornecker's decision to not redshirt. If it was BM, you're right.
SIU finished #125 in KenPom last year. They're at #131 right now.
I wondered what the difference was between this year and last year. I looked at the overall and non-conference strength of schedules. This year, overall is 225 and non-conference is 270. Last year, overall SOS was 138 and non-conference was 311.
That means the non-conference schedule was marginally better this year (with Oklahoma St., UNLV and SLU) than last season and the conference opponents are significantly worse than they were last season.
