I like Trent a lot but he needs to make a fair share of his shots if he is to receive large amounts of PT, imo. This team has some talented guards, most teams would love to have Lance and Banks running running up and down the court. I am curious to see Butler and I wonder why he didn't play last night. Has this been addressed anywhere. D'Avanzo is as advertised and was clutch last night. Harvey is the answer to a prayer. Domask can play a little. Van Plancken will need to show more as time goes on. I suspect he will. Mostly pleased but obviously we need help under the basket. The Murray State game may answer a lot of questions as they will be a highly motivated quality opponent.
on offense, we have multiple players now (domask, harvey, jones) who can create their own shots, shoot the ball, and get to the rim. it's been a long time since we had that many options. we won't worry about being late in the shot clock.
on defense, i don't know how they solve the size/rebounding issues. my guess is that defines the season.
JD Muila is going to be like backup QBs for bad NFL teams: the most popular guy on the team this year without ever seeing action. His loss was a big blow.
I'd like to know more about Dembele's health outlook because, as unaccomplished as he has been in his Saluki career, a rugged body who can rebound and maybe get a few inches off the floor is sorely needed. Rebounding and interior defense is the team's glaring weakness, but if Dembele could give Southern 20 minutes of defense and rebounding, it would help quite a bit. I could also see some lineups with Domask at the 3, D'Avanzo at the 4 (more of his natural position anyway) and Filewich or Dembele at the 5 to try and plug the rebounding black hole at least a bit.
It would be a shame for the rebounding woes to turn what should be a good team into an average or slightly above average team.
I think it’s understated what Brown does on defense. He’s a pest and rarely makes any mistakes and clearly the coaching staff that values defense trusts him. I think with more offensive weapons on the floor, it takes the pressure off of his offense. Hopefully the 3 in overtime is a big confidence boost.
It sounds to me like Lance was on a minutes limit because he was one of the players out with COVID or at least was quarantined and not able to work out. When he’s back and playing full minutes, it’ll be interesting to see who they go with at end of games.
Great win! I think the ESPN win probability was down to 4.5% with about 6 minutes left. I thought about 10 different times during that game that it was over and we found a way to claw back. That's encouraging.
Daulton Banks is as good as advertised. He has a really bright future. I didn't know much about Harvey going into last night and was very impressed. D'Avanzo was really good down the stretch. Domask is a star.
As stated, rebounding and size seems to be a pretty big issue. This team can score though, and I would attribute a lot of the defensive woes to not being able to practice for two weeks and maybe a lack of conditioning.
All in all, a really fun and nice first win of the season.
Great win! I think the ESPN win probability was down to 4.5% with about 6 minutes left. I thought about 10 different times during that game that it was over and we found a way to claw back. That's encouraging.
Daulton Banks is as good as advertised. He has a really bright future. I didn't know much about Harvey going into last night and was very impressed. D'Avanzo was really good down the stretch. Domask is a star.
As stated, rebounding and size seems to be a pretty big issue. This team can score though, and I would attribute a lot of the defensive woes to not being able to practice for two weeks and maybe a lack of conditioning.
All in all, a really fun and nice first win of the season.
I would submit Southern's frontcourt issues are much more about athleticism than size. D'Avanzo and Filewich are big enough, it's more the quickness and ability to play/rebound above the rim that are sorely lacking.
It was very encouraging to see both the number of new players on the floor last night, who were given a chance to show their stuff, AND the contribution made by players who played for the first time in a Saluki uniform. If not for D'Avanzo icing those two free throws, we lose. Harvey is everything that INSALUKI said he would be. and Banks is a preview of 4 years of excellence at point guard. Filewich will be a beast down the road also.
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I was a huge fan of Brown before he started his career. I continued to back him while some called for his head throughout last season. But that was last season. I stand by my thoughts for this year. If he does not improve his shooting, he should not see as much playing time. He may have only missed 1 3pt shot last night, but bc of his struggles, he did not look for his shot like a shooter does. There were also several instances where he was open and his teammates did not pass him the ball. I cannot say for sure that the reason was their lack of trust in him, but it is at least plausible. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but the fact remains is he is supposed to be a shooter, if he cannot vastly improve in that area this year (which I believe HE CAN), then I wouldn't be surprised that he will not be playing much at SIU next year, if at all. I also believe that Banks should be starting over him and move Jones over to the SG position.
Oh, I agree: having Banks (early days yet, I know) seems that it might change things a lot if Brown can't find his shooting touch. However, I do think the coaching staff likes Brown's defense, so he might see playing time for that alone. Time will tell.
(Inflammatory political snark)
On rebounding:
A 6'4" Freshman Guard, Tywhon Pickford for Northern Iowa lead them in rebounds for the 2017-2018 season with 248 rebounds. Pickford finished 2nd in the Valley that season to Missouri State's, Alize Johnson with 384 rebounds. Just for comparison, our own Randal Falker had 277 rebounds for the 2006-2007 season. Rebounding is more about positioning/skill/athleticism (in that order) than size.
Hopefully Eric Butler at 6'3" will have those rebounding qualities.
On rebounding:
A 6'4" Freshman Guard, Tywhon Pickford for Northern Iowa lead them in rebounds for the 2017-2018 season with 248 rebounds. Just for comparison, our own Randal Falker had 277 rebounds for the 2006-2007 season. Rebounding is more about positioning/skill/athleticism (in that order) than size.
Hopefully Eric Butler at 6'3" will have those rebounding qualities.
I'd like to know WHY Butler didn't play at all yesterday. I would have loved to see his defense. Hopefully he'll be in there Sunday.
On rebounding:
A 6'4" Freshman Guard, Tywhon Pickford for Northern Iowa lead them in rebounds for the 2017-2018 season with 248 rebounds. Just for comparison, our own Randal Falker had 277 rebounds for the 2006-2007 season. Rebounding is more about positioning/skill/athleticism (in that order) than size.
Hopefully Eric Butler at 6'3" will have those rebounding qualities.
I think Verplancken was a good rebounder in JUCO. He had Jeff Early type numbers for a guard. Also thought the rebounding looked better in a small sample size when Long was on the court yesterday
I was a huge fan of Brown before he started his career. I continued to back him while some called for his head throughout last season. But that was last season. I stand by my thoughts for this year. If he does not improve his shooting, he should not see as much playing time. He may have only missed 1 3pt shot last night, but bc of his struggles, he did not look for his shot like a shooter does. There were also several instances where he was open and his teammates did not pass him the ball. I cannot say for sure that the reason was their lack of trust in him, but it is at least plausible. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but the fact remains is he is supposed to be a shooter, if he cannot vastly improve in that area this year (which I believe HE CAN), then I wouldn't be surprised that he will not be playing much at SIU next year, if at all. I also believe that Banks should be starting over him and move Jones over to the SG position.
Oh, I agree: having Banks (early days yet, I know) seems that it might change things a lot if Brown can't find his shooting touch. However, I do think the coaching staff likes Brown's defense, so he might see playing time for that alone. Time will tell.
(Inflammatory political snark)
On rebounding:
A 6'4" Freshman Guard, Tywhon Pickford for Northern Iowa lead them in rebounds for the 2017-2018 season with 248 rebounds. Just for comparison, our own Randal Falker had 277 rebounds for the 2006-2007 season. Rebounding is more about positioning/skill/athleticism (in that order) than size.
Hopefully Eric Butler at 6'3" will have those rebounding qualities.
I think Verplancken was a good rebounder in JUCO. He had Jeff Early type numbers for a guard. Also thought the rebounding looked better in a small sample size when Long was on the court yesterday
We got to hope that Filewich and/or Dembele will be an eventual part of the solution. Not fair presently particularly on Filewich but he will get more agressive and comfortable in his role as he racks up some minutes. Just hope Dembele can get his legs and help out also
On rebounding:
A 6'4" Freshman Guard, Tywhon Pickford for Northern Iowa lead them in rebounds for the 2017-2018 season with 248 rebounds. Just for comparison, our own Randal Falker had 277 rebounds for the 2006-2007 season. Rebounding is more about positioning/skill/athleticism (in that order) than size.
Hopefully Eric Butler at 6'3" will have those rebounding qualities.
I'd like to know WHY Butler didn't play at all yesterday. I would have loved to see his defense. Hopefully he'll be in there Sunday.
Surely it was a numbers thing. There are only so many minutes to go around, and we have a LOT of guards to fill them. 9 players played yesterday. Getting 10 players a decent amount of minutes can be very difficult in a 40 minute game.
I am honestly not worried about results this season. Winning is nice and losing will still suck, but in my mind this entire year is basically a free "exhibition" year to me.
I just want to see the young guys such as Filewich, Banks, and Butler develop. I want the still young but not as much guys like Harvey, Domask, and Brown to refine their games. I want Verplancken and Dembele to develop enough to give 5 to 10 minutes a game. And I want next years recruits to stay healthy heading into next season.
I love the talent coming in and I am cautiously optimistic about the future. I think this team could be dangerous in a season or two.
Very nice highlight video from last nights game!!
https://twitter.com/SIU_Basketball/status/1334355022931496961
