Rupert not having his best game today.
Finally, its not just me. He has not been great. Not sure why some want to bench D'Amico and play him all the time. Team is better when D'Amico is in there right now.
No F'ing way!
TD 16 mins 2 rbs 0 pts 1 ast
CR 17 mins 3 rbs 6 pts 1 ast 1 blk
its not all about those stats. Making teammates better and playing good defense are also important. That is what +/- shows you. It shows you those intangible things that normal stats don't show. Game after game, not just this one, but game after game all season long, +/- has shown we are better with D'Amico on the floor than the other guys.
It's not all about the stats? But you're pointing to a bullshit stat to say we're better with a very small center? You been smoking weed? Points, rebounds, blocks are NOT stats per se - they're facts.
+/- is a questionable stat somebody made up - unless you are playing against exactly the same team at exactly the same point in the game, it's meaningless.
We're far worse with D'Amico playing very small center.
They killed us in the paint - you seriously think little TD playing the lane makes us better against a team like SLU?
His D and rebounding against their bigger guys was worthless - and he can't score and he didn't score and he didn't rebound and he didn't block a shot. He's a decent player but he should be getting some limited minutes at forward.
Mullins' insistence on being a guard only team when he actually has some talent inside is just not smart. And starting D'Amico at center - laughable - especially when we burned the redshirt of a 7 fter who has some nice offensive skills and barely gets a sniff of real game experience. Did I mention he's 7 ft tall.
Reading comprehension is your friend.
I said "those" stats.
I didn't say stats.
I also didn't say those stats didn't matter. I said it isn't all about those stats.
Thank you for participating.
I know weed is legal no but everything in moderation! LOL
"we're a better team with D'Amico at the 5"
"Maryland might be the best team in the country"
"SLU is a top 15 team"
Case closed!
Again, reading comprehension is your friend.
I never said we were better with D'amico at the 5. I said we were better with him on the floor. I'd prefer to see him at the 4 personally, or the 3, Him and Domask at the 3 and 4.
I also never said SLU was top 15, i said they were a top 25, maybe top 15.
And Maryland is damned good. They may win the big 10 this year. That would make them one of the best, if not the best, teams in the country. I stand by that assessment.
Now the case is closed. You can't read.
Thank you for participating. lol
I saw that game. Illinois is not nearly as good as they were last year, but they are good, just not #16 good. Maryland is ranked #22 - that's about right. They were playing at home to a sold out crowd or Terp fanatics. They won't win the Big 10, which is not as good as it was last year. Purdue and Indiana are the class of that league.
SLU is not getting a single vote in the coaches or the AP poll. They're good, better and more talented than us, and their point guard might get a shot at the NBA, but I doubt they'll see the top 25 this year.
We're 5+ on a scale of 1 - 10. They're 6+.
SLU has received Top 25 votes this year.
They're getting no votes in the latest polls - their NET ranking as of today is 66 (doesn't include today's games).
I think SLU would challenge for the MVC title and will probably make the NCAA or NIT for sure.
OKie St Net is 45, UNLV's is 97, Maryland 90, Loyola 28
NET:
Mo. State 72
Belmont 79
Drake's 85
UNI 98
Bradley 102
SIU 137
Evansville 327 out of 358
Rutgers whipped Indiana, picked to win the Big 10, today - home court advantage is huge in basketball.
I don't believe NET rankings are available yet.
Don't know if these are official. Might be like rpi where people unofficially calculate it. I'm sure these will change a lot in a month or two:
updated Dec. 3, 2022
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/
I was at the game. This was our worst defensive effort of the year. Bad timing since we showed an offensive pulse. SLU is very good. They had #13 Auburn beaten at Auburn, but went 1-11 from the free throw line down the stretch to blow it! They had a 5 point lead on Auburn with about 3 minutes left. Maryland is really good and will compete for a big ten title. SLU is top 25, but probably not top 15, IMO.
All that said, I totally agree that D'Amico has no business playing the 5, let alone starting at the 5. He would be more effective at the 4 and would probably produce more at that position. I think we should be playing Rupert about 25 minutes at the 5 and Hornecker about 15 minutes at the 5 until Ebube gets back. I'm baffled by Mullins stubbornness regarding D'Amico at the 5!
I also believe we will still compete for an MVC title. Indiana State is good, so Wednesday night will be a big game and will give us further clarity on how we stack up in the MVC. WE have to hold on to home court advantage in the league.
Agree SLU is probably an NCAA team - they have talent and size and a great point guard. I don't think Maryland will win the Big 10 after watching that game - playing at home in front of 16K crazy fans is a big advantage. Who knows - lots of good teams in the Big 10.
I agree about the stubbornness - just can't understand how he thinks DAmico playing the 5 does anything but hurt us against decent teams with some size. Evansville was a game where CH could have played extended minutes but only got 6 minutes.
I felt like BM was a bit surprised by Watson's remark/question about Hornecker and I didn't care for his answer. Instead of getting Hornecker game experience so he'll really help us in conference, sounds like we will continue to see him getting no more than a sniff for the foreseeable future. Nothing like real game experience to improve skills - way more valuable than practice.
I also do not like jerking a guy out of the game the second he makes a mistake. That just hurts confidence, and with young players, you just have to live with some mistakes I think.
Ebube will probably be out until January.
SIU basketball will wallow in mediocrity until they sign bigger and better players.
Our last Sweet 16 teams wasn't big, but they sure were better. It's all about recruiting. We need more talent for sure.
Amen, Amen, and Amen! SLU came very close to knocking off Auburn at Auburn last week. We, uncharacteristically, literally gave the ball to SLU at least 6 times on unforced turnovers. Were we expected to win this game? Hell no. Could we have won it? Hell yes. Our singular focus needs to be on finishing in the top 4 of the conference come Arch Madness.Everyone should take a breath. Southern Indiana aside, we've lost to two likely NCAA Tourney-level teams, and beat another in Oklahoma State - at their place.
If Mullins can continue to make adjustments and start going with a little more height and offensive options at the cost of some defense, this team could be what everyone is wanting. Oh, and we're also down Scottie Ebube.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
SIU plays a stretch of #273 Alcorn State, D2 Lincoln, #352 Chicago State, and #271 SEMO after the Indiana State game. Guessing this is a stretch where we'll see a lot of Hornecker.
The Indiana State game on Wednesday is pretty big. Lose that game and I think we're going to be staring down another average season in the Valley.
So I’m sitting here, chasing three Jamesons with a Bell’s Two Hearted Ale. And like a meteor strike out of a distant galaxy it hit me how being a college basketball coach is akin to being married. One day you are the greatest thing since grilled oysters (they really are good), and the next you are lower than a Kentuckian’s IQ. I threw that in for any Racer Fans who may be lurking.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
So Dawgs lost to a good team with a terrific point guard on the road. Hoops is always a lot about momentum and the guys had it at about the 10 minute mark,closing to 2 after being down what?--17? A home game at that point would have been way different. Then 3 unfortunate calls and poof---
So get the Trees!
It feels like half the board doesn’t have a high standard for this team, and the other half sets the bar probably too high (based on the past).
The expectation for this group probably, oddly enough, sits between those two places.
I just wish we were good enough to compete for a conference title. That’s probably not going to happen, but I just wish I saw some more clear growth.
Bow Em
So I’m sitting here, chasing three Jamesons with a Bell’s Two Hearted Ale. And like a meteor strike out of a distant galaxy it hit me how being a college basketball coach is akin to being married. One day you are the greatest thing since grilled oysters (they really are good), and the next you are lower than a Kentuckian’s IQ. I threw that in for any Racer Fans who may be lurking.
You think it’s bad here, look on Twitter.
I’m never happy about losing to SLU. That out of the way, we must remember that first of all, we almost never win there, not even with some our best teams against some of their worst. Secondly, SLU is very much a contender to win the A10 and a likely NCAA team.
The only bad loss was USI. Taking that game on was a bad idea. That doesn’t mean that Mullins is a bad coach. He is a good coach. Sure recruiting could be better, but with some of the issues SIU as an academic institution still has, he’s limited there.
Interesting the crowd who wants Mullins out omits that part. Some selective memories on their part.
It feels like half the board doesn’t have a high standard for this team, and the other half sets the bar probably too high (based on the past).
The expectation for this group probably, oddly enough, sits between those two places.
I just wish we were good enough to compete for a conference title. That’s probably not going to happen, but I just wish I saw some more clear growth.
I’m sure we had discussions about the direction of the university in the past. I just didn’t dream it would get so bad that it would affect recruiting. But it has.
If Mullins didn’t have a weak SIU behind him I might feel differently. But I think a lot of folks upstate don’t know how close SIU was to being on the brink in 2017/2018. And that mess is still having effects on recruiting.
If Mullins didn’t have a weak SIU behind him I might feel differently. But I think a lot of folks upstate don’t know how close SIU was to being on the brink in 2017/2018. And that mess is still having effects on recruiting.
They have 2 of their highest rated recruits ever in the last 2 years here or coming in (Hornecker and Davis). Troy D'Amico was one of the top recruits from Illinois they got in some time. I don't think recruiting has been much of an issue.
The problem for me has been in-game coaching and offense, don't really see where the school's problems come into play there.
If Mullins didn’t have a weak SIU behind him I might feel differently. But I think a lot of folks upstate don’t know how close SIU was to being on the brink in 2017/2018. And that mess is still having effects on recruiting.
They have 2 of their highest rated recruits ever in the last 2 years here or coming in (Hornecker and Davis). Troy D'Amico was one of the top recruits from Illinois they got in some time. I don't think recruiting has been much of an issue.
The problem for me has been in-game coaching and offense, don't really see where the school's problems come into play there.
When some of these recruits are in the system longer, things will change positively. Read my response to Dools. Also realize this was always 5-6 year rebuild. You’re starting to sound like a UT fan TBH.
When some of these recruits are in the system longer, things will change positively. Read my response to Dools. Also realize this was always 5-6 year rebuild. You’re starting to sound like a UT fan TBH.
In the age of the transfer portal, rebuilds should happen much faster (look at Indiana State). I'm not a Barry Hinson fan and he needed to go but he didn't have SIU in an awful spot, he just couldn't put SIU over the top.
I'm fine with giving Mullins 4 years to build his program but the time to win is now. This is a good roster led by a bunch of Seniors. SIU is the 19th most experienced team in all of college basketball. Last year we complained that the COVID Seniors were the reason why SIU wasn't winning. Now SIU is that team with a bunch of old players. The time to win is now and right now I think they're the 4th best team in the Missouri Valley, which is having a down year. There are a lot of teams out there like Murray State, Illinois State, Belmont and Northern Iowa that are reloading right now that can easily blow by you in the next 2 years.
There were never going to be any at large bids out of the MVC in its current state though. This team is good enough to be top 4 this season. Beyond that it’s all a crap shoot in STL.
That is pretty much where we are at now, and probably always were. You can be the cream of the crop in the MVC this year, but unless you win in St. Louis, you probably aren't going to the big dance. I agree that it is very unlikely the Valley gets more than the automatic bid, which makes a top 4 finish in the Valley and the first-round bye that much more necessary. If we get lucky enough to dance, most people will have forgotten what place we finish years from now.
