Game today vs UIS at 2pm

[Birdswin]

I agree with 222 - the dippin dots like was ridiculously long. The line for beer on the South end was much, much longer than the stand up in the NE corner.

Torres, Hillsman, and Copeland were turnover machines today - terrible. Very disappointing effort. Have to wonder about communication between the coaches and the players - once again, there is something not right.

 

[DWRedbird]

It was nice to get a win, hopefully it snaps the guys out of a funk, and we know what we need to work on going to TCU.

My other thoughts

--Beard played pretty well in the minutes he was given, hustled really well and was fun to watch. I hope he can infect the rest of the team with his hustle and tenacity on both ends.

--We still need to rebound much better. I'm going to say this every game until it happens, but we need all 5 guys crashing the defensive boards. We are going to continue to have trouble until we do that.

--Fisher looked locked in today. I know it was against lower competition, but if he can play like that against D1 competition he'll help us a lot more.

--I know our coaching staff isn't wild about runners in the lane, but honestly we seem more efficient shooting those than quick in the shot clock 3's so I'd say shoot all the runners we want.

--Was nice to see us make our FTs. I don't expect us to shoot 100% every game, but this was really good to see.

--Agree that Reeves needs to work on his foot work defensively.

--Nice to see Horne have a good game at both ends. Hopefully he is this locked in for the rest of the year.

 

[Atrey22]

Random post game thoughts...thank you Hank Beard for the 2nd half energy & effort to give the 3700 Black Friday fans something to cheer about. Good effort from Horne & Boyd too. Nice to have some quality depth & hoping Taylor can get healthy in the next week or so too. Defense still has a lot of work to do. GREAT to hear Steve Adams voice of the Redbirds back as the PA! The 7 members of our pep band were barely audible from the south end-please multiply!! Even though we are 3-4...I think we can be pretty good if we stay healthy.

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

Fear the Beard

My ears weren’t working again, I thought they said “Beer Can”, so I went and got another beer!!

Was impressed with Horne’s play today, and the hustle from Beard (Hein 2.0)

 

[schoolsportsfan]

No way there was 3700 people in attendance.

 

[ISU FAN 1]

Keep hearing about depth. Reserves being indiscernible from starters. If ISU has 10 starters, positive results should be abundant. If the win/loss results are mediocre to poor, it likely indicates ISU has a roster full of reserves. I’m not ready to declare this “depth” as significant.

 

[WoodlandWarrior]

Sadly, the 0-3 performance in the Paradise Jam has soured expectations.

 

[CB2K]

The Dippin' Dots line was crazy long but they were also selling popcorn there as well so who knows what the rush was.

Dan was quite disappointed with some of the starters as he pointed out on the post game; he said starting has to be earned and there may be some changes. Belcher, Jones and Dan were very upset when Boyd came down the court with the ball ahead of everyone else, stopped 3 feet behind the three point line with a defender on him and jacked a three and missed it badly. That was the tipping point -- Dan was already frustrated and yelling at the team more than usual up to this time. Boyd is the best scorer on the team and I told my wife we won't see him the rest of the game -- and so it was.

This team has been in every game and ahead in most of them. I see potential on this team. They have talent and depth but they have to play tough defense and work the offense by driving more and being patient to make it all work and come together.

I enjoyed hearing the jawing and smack between Copeland and some of the opponents he faced. You could hear the coaches and players more because of the light attendance. Students were obviously on break and the holiday didn't help either.

TCU will be a tough test. I hope they can bear down this week and work on improving defense, blocking out, etc. I like our future on this team -- for a long stretch there were 3 freshman playing a lot of minutes together -- Reeves, DJ and Abdou. These guys are just going to get better and better.

I haven't heard any details regarding Taylor but since he didn't even dress we all know it is serious.

 

[DWRedbird]

Dan was quite disappointed with some of the starters as he pointed out on the post game; he said starting has to be earned and there may be some changes. Belcher, Jones and Dan were very upset when Boyd came down the court with the ball ahead of everyone else, stopped 3 feet behind the three point line with a defender on him and jacked a three and missed it badly. That was the tipping point -- Dan was already frustrated and yelling at the team more than usual up to this time. Boyd is the best scorer on the team and I told my wife we won't see him the rest of the game -- and so it was.

The interesting thing was right after he shot it, Boyd immediately looked over at the bench and knew he'd done something wrong. And then as soon as play stopped, he was saying he knew he did it, and Jones went over and just laid into him, before Muller had a chance. But, I think it sent a message. Play within the system or don't play. We'll see how the team bounces back.

 

[redbirdron1]

Sarge's man Beard did give us a nice lift and appreciative of his steady minutes.

Here we R a few games in and the selfishness starts to take over with some players.....gonna
happen and Dan responded with penalty time on the folding chairs. They'll respond.

Happy for DJ's performance and not pleased with Reeve's D - cmon, he's a Simeon guy and should know how
to slide his feet on D. Rey plays pretty well against that level of competition and nice for him not to go against multiple
6'11 guys but really.......that position on the team has some catchin up to do.

This group must play with savvy for 40 minutes.....if so maybe a shot to be competitive in MVC. Otherwise - potential is for Thursday nite
in St. Lou.

 

[ricohill]

I thought we played this like an exhibition game and did what we needed to win. What was concerning to me is what has been brought up earlier. I was up behind the ISU bench yesterday. Dan was all over guys. Fisher was yelling at guys to talk on defense and no one seemed to listen. This was supposed to be a cohesive team that didn’t have attitude issues. It looked yesterday like teams of the past. Bad shots, bad passes, and bad attitudes. I hope this was just a one game thing. However, you could start to see the same issues of past Muller teams. Is Dan losing it on them already and losing another team?

 

[Redbird222]

I thought we played this like an exhibition game and did what we needed to win. What was concerning to me is what has been brought up earlier. I was up behind the ISU bench yesterday. Dan was all over guys. Fisher was yelling at guys to talk on defense and no one seemed to listen. This was supposed to be a cohesive team that didn’t have attitude issues. It looked yesterday like teams of the past. Bad shots, bad passes, and bad attitudes. I hope this was just a one game thing. However, you could start to see the same issues of past Muller teams. Is Dan losing it on them already and losing another team?

I am optimistic for several reasons that the message will be heard

1. This team has much more character than the two previous years. They have already demonstrated this. They seem care. Yes there were a few guys going through the motions yesterday against a D2 team.
2. There is more depth and interchangeable parts on this team than the past two years. I believe the warnings were idle threats whereas nonconforming this year could result in reduction of playing time

3. It doesn't appear we have players playing to showcase themselves for their future professional careers.

4. There is conviction in Dan's voice whereas last year there was just utter frustration. Some of the words are the same or close but the tone is different ... my opinion.

5. We have assistant coaches sending messages as well. They are engaged.

6. Dan continues to communicate that these players are practicing well. That's a different message from last years team. I dont recall that the second half of the valley season.

Time will tell but I am hoping this is more a Tulsa 2016 wake up vs Valpo 2019 crap in your the bed the rest of the year game.

 

[Baltimore Bird]

I did not watch any of the Paradise Jam games. Yesterday, was a big step backwards in effort and valuing the Bball from the 1st 3 home games. I hope it was a hangover from the trip and Thanksgiving. That kind of effort will have us playing on Thursday night in STL as the underdog.

 

[Birdswin]

As for the attendance number - while I was at the game - my guess to my wife was 3,500. More than I expected. so for an actual reported number of slightly over 3,700, would be correct. I know from a good friend who sells beer - beer sales were much higher than expected - they only had half of the "stations" set up as they usually have.

 

[Adunk33]

I forgot to mention that this game likely confirmed that Sissoko will RS. As we pulled away in the second half while Beard and Donnelly were getting a lot of PT, Sissoko, urged by his teammates, went and sat in one of the seats on the bench typically occupied by the reserves. The staff didn't seem to consider putting him in.

Last thing about Beard- dude's on-ball defense is really good. He was swarming his guy. He stops and starts really well and has great feet. I know it was against D2 but I liked what I saw from him.

 

[JHBird]

Keep hearing about depth. Reserves being indiscernible from starters. If ISU has 10 starters, positive results should be abundant. If the win/loss results are mediocre to poor, it likely indicates ISU has a roster full of reserves. I’m not ready to declare this “depth” as significant.

I think you're on to something there. We lack a quality five starters. Right now the two I always want on the court are Boyd and Chastain...maybe Copeland. The rest are a bunch of decent backups, with some promising freshman. Still thinking we will look a lot better by mid season. A lot of new faces. I actually like rooting for this team; I got pretty sick of last years team of talented under achievers.... but I sure wish we still had Phil. We could use his quick post moves and offensive rebounding.