vs Drake (5-1) - Wednesday 1/17/24 - 7 pm - Marquee Sports Network

[CaliRdBrd]

This is what leadership looks like. Action, not words.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

I'm not all that happy with the way things are going, but I'm not planning on posting on a regular basis on another one of these "fire the coach" threads after each and every game. Each and every issue - just like it was with Muller (who I was glad to see go). I support Pedon, want to see him get his 2-3-4 years to get things in gear. Maybe he won't.

But regarding freshman and their "ethnic" persuasion or geographic area of origin - Valpo took our pants down the other day, thanks in large part to a couple of freshman, 6'7 Sepp from Estonia and 6'9 Schweiger from Kansas. In addition to their Brodie/DeVries combo, Drake trotted out 6'9 Illinois kid Ferguson (a junior), who presented a few problems for our boys. InSU runs out 6'10 Avila (now soph) out of Oak Forest. SIU's got Illinois bigs Ebube and D'Amico. On and on.

There's young guys and "local" guys who could help, but unfortunately we don't have them.

I wanna strongly agree with something Brick said - I see screens, I see some cutting, but Brick's point is the key, we have a problem putting the ball in the hole. We also aren't strong, up and down the lineup - Walker obviously is, Foster. I think Burford is pretty solid physically. But we get pushed around, especially in the paint, but all around. We get out worked, out hustled, pushed out of the way. Gotta turn that around.

Honestly, what has Walker done that has everyone so enamored?
I like his size, but will hold off on the excitement.
Also, I’m sticking to my personal plan to give Pedon three years before I even think about contributing to a “fire the coach” discussion.

 

[Adunk33]

Honestly, what has Walker done that has everyone so enamored?
I like his size, but will hold off on the excitement.
Also, I’m sticking to my personal plan to give Pedon three years before I even think about contributing to a “fire the coach” discussion.

I've seen him in a couple scrimmages and the IWU game. I'm not saying he dominated at all, he just played we'll and I'd be interested to see what he could do with some extended run. That, and Coach pulling his RS tells me that Pedon thinks there's something there. In reality, regardless of the severity of Lieb's injury, we're probably in the same spot if Schmitt is getting those minutes at this point. I'm hoping soon, there is a game that we have in the bag and the three freshman can just go out and ball the last 5 min or so. A guy can dream, right?

 

[ISUalum19]

Disappointing game. Expected result. On to the next!

 

[isuquinndog]

May be an unpopular opinion but a bunch of white guys from around central illinois are not going to be the quickest. It's good to bring in some local guys if theyre good. Not to bring them in just to bring them in. Pedon went too far with the local recruiting.

Finally we agree on something.

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

May be an unpopular opinion but a bunch of white guys from around central illinois are not going to be the quickest. It's good to bring in some local guys if theyre good. Not to bring them in just to bring them in. Pedon went too far with the local recruiting.

How many “white guys from around central Illinois” are on Pedon’s roster?

Ty Pence was good enough to be offered by a number of Big Ten programs.
Brandon Lieb looks to have been a mistake, but when you can get a guy who is 7’1 you take a chance when your program already sucks (no matter what race he is)

 

[dpdoughbird06]

I've seen him in a couple scrimmages and the IWU game. I'm not saying he dominated at all, he just played we'll and I'd be interested to see what he could do with some extended run. That, and Coach pulling his RS tells me that Pedon thinks there's something there. In reality, regardless of the severity of Lieb's injury, we're probably in the same spot if Schmitt is getting those minutes at this point. I'm hoping soon, there is a game that we have in the bag and the three freshman can just go out and ball the last 5 min or so. A guy can dream, right?

We were on a nice run heading into an officials timeout. Then the Jumbotron panned to Adunk and suddenly Drake comes alive. Some correlation/causation there?

 

[Hamdonger]

We were on a nice run heading into an officials timeout. Then the Jumbotron panned to Adunk and suddenly Drake comes alive. Some correlation/causation there?

Dammit I KNEW IT!!! He'd better buy the rounds at Fiala Brosefs.

 

[dpdoughbird06]

Dammit I KNEW IT!!! He'd better buy the rounds at Fiala Brosefs.

In fairness we were on it, too, but behind a pair of kids flexing the State Farm roll-out banners.

There weren’t a lot of fans for the cameras to choose from…

 

[WilmatheWorm]

Listen, the game last night was competitive and well-played. Sure, the home team lost, but I haven't seen the crowd like that all season. The students were actually standing and cheering! And, why shouldn't they? Even though the home team lost, I'm sure everyone on this thread can agree they were well-coached: Great game plan.... and the passing, shooting, and blocking-out were on point.
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Great, great, GREAT YMCA Game at halftime. Those boys gave it their all!

 

[Aggie]

Drake is very well coached, and they do, do stuff with Brodie and Devries that we don't match up well with. Lewis is 6'8 but doesn't have the speed to keep up with him . I thought Davis did the best on him but Devries is still 4 inches taller then him where Devries can shoot right over when he wants to. Brodie is 6'10 and he has 3 inches and 40lbs on Foster. Drake does do a good job of attacking weaknesses and exploiting them.
I like Pedon, I think he's very personable and good with the community. We don't have an AD or President and Muller comes off the books this year after we bought him out with 2 years left. Pedon has 5 year deal worth $550,000 annually. By comparison Josh Schertz makes $365,000 annually. People wanted a change, we got it and he's getting paid. Whatever happens, happens and now we are kind of stuck for at least 2.5 more years.

Why a five year deal on an unproven candidate? I just do not understand ISU wanting to outspend other valley schools just to outspend them????? Three years I am totally ok with, but five? And we wonder why with more resources we have less. Someone has to get the spending under control. We are not the big whatever.

 

[SgtHulka]

I saw nothing that 7 new faces can’t fix

If Chase took off his red shirt to get some transfer portal clips he might want to do something of note. Most likely, he took it off to make sure he’s in the next episode

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

Why a five year deal on an unproven candidate? I just do not understand ISU wanting to outspend other valley schools just to outspend them????? Three years I am totally ok with, but five? And we wonder why with more resources we have less. Someone has to get the spending under control. We are not the big whatever.

It was Lyons that gave Muller the ridiculous contract that handcuffed Illinois State.
It was Brennan that gave Pedon this 5 year deal.
So the problem lies with the President that hired these two AD’s. Have to do a better job with hiring competent AD’s who will make wise choices with hiring/contracts with head coaches.

 

[BirdGrad2011]

It was Lyons that gave Muller the ridiculous contract that handcuffed Illinois State.
It was Brennan that gave Pedon this 5 year deal.
So the problem lies with the President that hired these two AD’s. Have to do a better job with hiring competent AD’s who will make wise choices with hiring/contracts with head coaches.

You can’t do a 3 year deal. That signals to recruits the head coach might not be here for his career. 5 years is standard.

 

[DaveBird10]

Why a five year deal on an unproven candidate? I just do not understand ISU wanting to outspend other valley schools just to outspend them????? Three years I am totally ok with, but five? And we wonder why with more resources we have less. Someone has to get the spending under control. We are not the big whatever.

I definitely don't like our spending and that needs to get under control. Bottom line is Pedon is paid among the top in the MVC and he has a 5yr deal. With how much we have spent and without an AD and President, Pedon is getting 2.5 more years thru year 4 so we better hope that he turns this around.

 

[DWRedbird]

It was Lyons that gave Muller the ridiculous contract that handcuffed Illinois State.
It was Brennan that gave Pedon this 5 year deal.
So the problem lies with the President that hired these two AD’s. Have to do a better job with hiring competent AD’s who will make wise choices with hiring/contracts with head coaches.

The number of years isn't necessarily the problem its the terms of the buyout. Muller got 500k per year left on his contract when he was let go. If Pedon's buy out terms are significantly less than that, the number of years isn't terrible.

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

The number of years isn't necessarily the problem its the terms of the buyout. Muller got 500k per year left on his contract when he was let go. If Pedon's buy out terms are significantly less than that, the number of years isn't terrible.

I agree. It wasn’t the 5 years, it was the $550k/yr to an unproven head coach. I believe his salary is in the top 3 or 4 in the MVC.

 

[BirdGrad2011]

I agree. It wasn’t the 5 years, it was the $550k/yr to an unproven head coach. I believe his salary is in the top 3 or 4 in the MVC.

There are literally posts crying about us not spending enough and acting like basketball is our sport. Now the crying is we overspent.

 

[Redbird222]

I agree. It wasn’t the 5 years, it was the $550k/yr to an unproven head coach. I believe his salary is in the top 3 or 4 in the MVC.

Assistant coaches at P5 make 350 to 600k from the limited research I have done. I believe Pedon was making 500k

 

[Seven]

I agree. It wasn’t the 5 years, it was the $550k/yr to an unproven head coach. I believe his salary is in the top 3 or 4 in the MVC.

That's a feature, not a bug! The higher your salary, the better your candidate pool. If the hire was missed, then that was on the people making the hire. But the salary is a feature that made their ability to find the best candidate possible easier.