The Official Beat the Saint Louis Billikens in the Stu Thread

[Mistachill]

You skipped the entire question

So did you Mr X and many on this board because according to you Mr X" Rhoades lost the locker room during that season." Those are your words lol

"MAKING EXCUSES SINCE 2012"

Have a great day!

And you have skipped all question regarding your true intentions being in this forum.

 

[G-Man]

Someone who isnt learning on the job like Phil MJ. IMHO If we were looking for a project, Ed should have hired A power 4 assistant coach with a proven track record like Kimani Young (Uconn) or Iowa State assistant coach JR Blount.

Ridiculous. Then you’d say that we should have hired someone with head coaching experience.

 

[share the ball]

We held St. Louis more than 20 elbow their average and this wasn’t cause we were sitting on the ball.

in their games against the better competition so far the Billikens scored 71 vs Santa Clara, 78 vs Stanford and 78 vs Grand Canyon

their inflated points per game is coming against lots of Quad 4 opponents but no debating VCU and St Louis both like to play fast

honestly I did not come away overly impressed with st louis' offensive weapons - I was most impressed with their physicality/strength

 

[G-Man]

My assumption is PMJ likes having that spark off the bench. However, I agree he should be playing way more minutes even coming off the bench. The question is where do those minutes come from? Who's minutes are you reducing to get Hill more burn? Jennings is our most impactful guard defensively. With that being our team's biggest weakness do you make it worse playing your best defender less?

Do you completely bury Nowell on the bench and give all of his minutes to Hill? Do cut into Nyk's minutes, the guard with the highest ceiling on the team?

I get the problem, but what's the solution?

Less minutes for Tracey at the 3 position for one. Maybe there are even times where Tracey takes a few minutes from Evans as part of a small lineup.

Nyk will be better playing 25 minutes than 28-30 or whatever he’s been at recently. except for last night.

I think think Brandon’s minutes need to stay the same as he is a difference maker on the defensive end, and in certain
matchups can get to the rim and draw fouls like he did against the Bonnies.

 

[G-Man]

in their games against the better competition so far the Billikens scored 71 vs Santa Clara, 78 vs Stanford and 78 vs Grand Canyon

their inflated points per game is coming against lots of Quad 4 opponents but no debating VCU and St Louis both like to play fast

honestly I did not come away overly impressed with st louis' offensive weapons - I was most impressed with their physicality/strength

True. They also have depth that they haven’t had in recent years.

 

[G-Man]

Not assessing blame. Just know what I see. The lack of rim protection is obvious and we constantly get beat on simple pick and rolls. Can’t keep guys in front of us.

Last night it seems that every time we got close we gave up a layup or a dunk.

Very frustrating team to watch

It’s great having a big that is an offensive threat (honestly Lazar is more than a threat, he’s good), but he’s not a rim protector, nor is he good in his defensive positioning or intensity.

 

[G-Man]

Lazar must have played soccer at some time…he has already come back from season ending injury several times.

He was agonizing on the bench holding his knee when young Martelli get in his face…next thing you know he was ready to get back in the game

I don’t even worry about him when he goes down anymore. It’s European Soccer Player Syndrome at its finest.

 

[G-Man]

This may not be popular, but I think Belle is playing really well and always plays hard. Sure, he missed a couple of bunnies, but so did everyone else. Thing is, he took it to the basket hard, which is what we have been waiting for him to do. Do we get the same effort from Evans? Can we give him some of Evans minutes? Mitchell plays the same position as Evans as well. Can we give him 5-10 and not task him with guarding the opponents big man.

Evans played 34 minutes last night to Belle's 23. Kind of sucks for Belle because he also backs-up Lazar. I think he should be rewarded for how he is playing and Hill also.

When the shots aren't falling, we need the effort that Belle brings.

He makes a lot of big plays when we need them.

Whenever Evans drives into the lane to throw up one of those floating semi-hook shots I cringe. It’s rare that they actually go in the basket.

 

[G-Man]

Look at the most effective line up for VCU. It synchs with what I have been thinking. Three guards. This team seems like it has to make some sacrifices when it comes to D.

Interesting no Tracey in there. Anywhere to find cumulative +/- in scoring differential for the players? I would think this too would be an indicator but perhaps these efficiency ratings incorporate scoring differentials??

 

[mrgeode]

honestly I did not come away overly impressed with st louis' offensive weapons - I was most impressed with their physicality/strength

Same. Also mildly surprised they seemed to function just fine without Avila (although of course that was one night and one particular match up)

 

[share the ball]

Whenever Evans drives into the lane to throw up one of those floating semi-hook shots I cringe. It’s rare that they actually go in the basket.

one of the surprising stats to me at this juncture is that Evans has shot 16 free throws for the year through 16 games and has played the most minutes of any player. Jennings shot 15 free throws in one game alone. _ lazar has attempted 6 times as many FTs as Evans

your comment above caused me to look at that given the floaters you mentioned

another fascinating stat is our primary 3 guards (Jennings, Lewis and Hill ) are a collective 136 for 158 from the charity stripe or 86.1%
that is phenomenal

 

[rambunctiousrowdyram]

You're right! This is the least motivated and inspired VCU team Ive ever seen in life. In my opinion, it starts with the head coach. He is always calm on the sidelines...Shaka, Wade, Rhoades always was energetic. Even Odom at times. Sad to see VCU basketball in state of no hunger.

Martelli is not calm. He’s absolutely lost his crap at moments. He could at least have a few T’s this year.

——
As far as if this is just symptom of NIL will then that just this team then because Russell, Shulga, Bairstow, etc never hesitated to dive for a ball. We had NIL teams that absolutely played like heck.

 

[dwhite]

Less minutes for Tracey at the 3 position for one. Maybe there are even times where Tracey takes a few minutes from Evans as part of a small lineup.

Nyk will be better playing 25 minutes than 28-30 or whatever he’s been at recently. except for last night.

I think think Brandon’s minutes need to stay the same as he is a difference maker on the defensive end, and in certain
matchups can get to the rim and draw fouls like he did against the Bonnies.

Starting 5:
Lewis
Hill Jr
Tillery
Evans
Djokovic

Bring Jennings, Nowell, Tracey, and Belle off the bench mix in Evans at the 5 when Lazar isnt playing.

 

[Mr X]

Notice he never addresses his true agenda on this forum. Just tossing shade endlessly during tough times and disappears when things go well. Pretty lame.

I noticed that he/she has been contradicting themselves for about 12,13 years. Pretty funny reading through old posts.

What a loser.

 

[duncanlamb]

one of the surprising stats to me at this juncture is that Evans has shot 16 free throws for the year through 16 games and has played the most minutes of any player. Jennings shot 15 free throws in one game alone. _ lazar has attempted 6 times as many FTs as Evans

Phil is an analytics guy. Getting the right players to the line.

Since Evans is a career 54.9 Ft shooter, he isn't going to be in a position to get attempts by design.