Question for the Great Basketball MInds Here

[AZ BU Fan]

JL will be on the radio in Chicago....Early on with JL we were all excited JL would be able to recruit Chicago, particularly when SM came on board. Since then, not so much. Are JL and BU going to try and commit more resources to the Chicago area, hence JL's radio appearance?

What is sad is Peoria regularly gets most of the top BB talent in the state through Peoria via the ILL HS Tournaments. This doesn't seem to be translating to more BU recruits from around the state outside the Peoria area, even with BU's Sweet 16 run. If I remember correctly, weren't Bruce Webber and Illinois interested in moving the State tounaments to Champaign to help with their recruiting. Any ideas on how BU can take better advantage of all the prospects coming through Peoria at tournament time?

[SFP]

I believe this has nothing to do with JL. The top recruits just have to want to come to Peoria. It will take a bit of success before a pipeline can be developed. I'm comfortable with JL's recruiting and is only getting better IMO.

[MacabreMob]

Didn't BAM recently decide to pay into or buy into the Chicago System? BAM's biscuits were getting warm and he was not playing "the game" or "politics" with the Chicago League and AAU circuit... he then gives in to it (Chicago Politics wins as usual ), and all the sudden BAM gets a lot of studs.

In the meantime - Bradley misses out on some of the Chicago talent.

But there is NO relation.

[romar]

Since everyone seems ready to storm the castle and run the coach out and give up on the program- I would ask how do you propose that you would fix this team and program?

And try to be realistic..

Last night was a bit embarassing- but that team was 7-1 and had an RPI of 43. Lesser conference yes- but they out hustled us time and time again.

And by the way, last time I checked, the coach doesn't shoot Free throws for the team...

So weigh in-

I know I'm late to the game for my 2 cents but here it goes.

I have no idea why Merf departed (still waiting for the PM on that BTW), but I think BU needs to bring in an assistant known for D (someone MO-like).

I think BU needs to utilize it's depth defensively, meaning turn up the aggression. To clarify, they have many more fouls to give & by playing completely in their opponents grill they can develop O from their D (which I have heard their coach preach).

Sure they may get some early fouls called, but to me the nature of officiating is to mold to the game & if they are bumping & hand checking & bellying up early, those things refs tend to call fouls to start the game usually become just hard play late in the game. They really need to push their opponents as far from the basket as possible & I believe BU has the depth, athleticism & number of fouls to give to achieve that goal. SIU used to do this with relative success for years and the times BU has done it back to them they have blown them out. A "you have my ball & I'm gonna take it back" mentality would help a ton. I see that thought process in DSE right now and think that is the biggest reason he has become a quick fan favorite.

Basketball is a game of desire as much as skill, BU has skilled players but at times I feel they lack the desire to get a little dirty and things like steals, deflections, taking charges and boxing out for rebounds has much more to do with "want to" than the size & skill the good Lord gave you. To quote a Chicago radio guy, I'd like to see BU become a little more "grindy" on the defensive side of the ball.

Before anyone accuses me of wanting to go back to Slo-Mo ball, I am going to say that IMO, BU had defensive athletes playing basketball back then (with a skilled player sprinkled in), but now we seem to have more skilled players all around and would like to see the pendulum swing back closer to center, more balance on both ends of the court.