New GLVC Member - Lindenwood

[LeoTheLion]

(muttering to self....)

Saw both games in the recent home stand. Just as they did with the n/c Bellermine game LU got off to a big start against S&T, then hung on for a five point game. Christian had a great game netting twenty along with (again) Crockett. Lots of trips to the line but only hit about half their FT's. Need to improve in that department. Bhinder, never much of a scorer but one hell of a play maker had a hesitant game and only netted one point.

They won by five against Maryville too. Crockett had a bad first half (back problems) but got great in the second. Not the top end of the conference for opponents and a lot of NAIA teams for non-con opponents, but it's nice to be 8-3.

Women split, losing to Maryville. Bildner missed both games with a bad back. Hopefully she'll be back shortly because her leadership makes all the difference in this team.

I am back after a long hiatus again. This Lindenwood men's team is easily surpassing my expectations. I knew T.J. would step up but to say he has stepped up would be an understatement... 24 ppg, efficiently might I add, has been incredible for the early season success. Vijay is an excellent 2nd option and Anthony Christian was huge these last two games. Luka looks to have come on strong as of late after working through some early season injuries and Scales is a great deep threat off the bench. It will be interesting to see how the game plan changes as we get into the heart of the conference schedule as I am sure teams will gameplan to stop Crockett and Blackmon. With the next three games on the road followed by two top 25 opponents at home we will see what they're made of.

[LeoTheLion]

[Grizzled LU]

To put this season in context, LU lost to Bellermine by 8 and 9 points. Last year they lost to Northwest by 31 and 34 points. At this point, I'm still satisfied with this club given the start with a kludged together team. My question now, is what comes up for next year.

In some ways there's similarities between the two teams I follow in that SDSU's coach took off for UNLV with the only returning starter and the top freshman pick. An assistant coach was named HC and had to get a lot of players. He has a ton of freshmen and sophomores, has been hit with numerous injuries and (unexpectedly) they're leading the Summit. Who fits that pattern with LU? Kitchell? I'd feel better with three Kitchells rather than one.

So as the present, experienced team leaves, I want to see some good, high school kids making commits to LU. Didn't like Lance very much as a head coach but he did have some recruiting connections in Wisconsin. Like to see some recruiting rumors on '20-'21 players.

My take on Bellermine is that they could win the ASun right now. They and Liberty should be the top two programs in the conference. I suspect that the GLVC has more quality depth than the ASun right now.

On the women's side, Hennessey Handy is going to be out for the rest of the year and might have to take a medical red shirt next year. Jamie Bain looked good as a Freshman. Wish I could see more promising youngsters on the bench for the men. LU will need some luck to get into the men's tournament.

[crazznewt]

A friend of mine from Bridgeton that made the short trip to see the Bellarmine Men play, said the crowd didn't appreciate some antics by BU Women's Coach Dugan and a couple of her players.

If a coach is so passionate that respect is disregarded, what is stopping the players from mimicking the coach?

[Knightmoves]

Lindenwood has a good team. I am not sure anybody in D2 has more quality losses. That sounds sarcastic, but it's not meant to be. I guess at some point, you have to beat somebody you are suppossed to lose to, but my guess is they will pick up some home wins against some good teams. I'd like to see them start doing that on Monday.

I do agree with Leo, that LU needs to do better with shot selection, which I think they did fairly well against BU.

[LeoTheLion]

To put this season in context, LU lost to Bellermine by 8 and 9 points. Last year they lost to Northwest by 31 and 34 points. At this point, I'm still satisfied with this club given the start with a kludged together team. My question now, is what comes up for next year.

In some ways there's similarities between the two teams I follow in that SDSU's coach took off for UNLV with the only returning starter and the top freshman pick. An assistant coach was named HC and had to get a lot of players. He has a ton of freshmen and sophomores, has been hit with numerous injuries and (unexpectedly) they're leading the Summit. Who fits that pattern with LU? Kitchell? I'd feel better with three Kitchells rather than one.

So as the present, experienced team leaves, I want to see some good, high school kids making commits to LU. Didn't like Lance very much as a head coach but he did have some recruiting connections in Wisconsin. Like to see some recruiting rumors on '20-'21 players.

My take on Bellermine is that they could win the ASun right now. They and Liberty should be the top two programs in the conference. I suspect that the GLVC has more quality depth than the ASun right now.

On the women's side, Hennessey Handy is going to be out for the rest of the year and might have to take a medical red shirt next year. Jamie Bain looked good as a Freshman. Wish I could see more promising youngsters on the bench for the men. LU will need some luck to get into the men's tournament.

I see your point that they have had competitive games but if you take out the 4 NAIA games we have a record of 4-7. Of those 4 D2 wins Maryville is 4-10, S&T is 3-10, Ohio Valley is 4-14 which leaves us with one decent win against a 10-7 UW-Parkside. Hoping things start to click as we enter the second half of the season.

[LeoTheLion]

Losing streak extends to 6 games with another abysmal shooting performance. UIS up next.

[Grizzled LU]

And.....another loss to UIS. First time in program history, I think. No dis to the coach who had to put together a team in September, but it's time to start recruiting new blood for next year.

[Grizzled LU]

Well, back in December I said this team looked happier. Bet they don't now. Didn't catch tonight's McKendree game but followed the game tracker. Getting off to a huge lead and then dropping in overtime is disconcerting. Short bench and inability to play defense will get ya every time. Recruit some new blood, please.

Since I haven't posted lately, UMSL looked better than any D2 team I've seen, including Bellermine and (last year) Northwest.

Like the men, the women also cracked 100 and look to be fine.

[LeoTheLion]

Agreed, Grizzled. I don't even know if you can go as far as saying they were playing defense when you give up 81 points between the second half and overtime. How you score 116 points in a game and don't win is beyond me, not much else to say really. Losing streak extends to 8 with #20 Southern Indiana up next... will we win another game?

[Grizzled LU]

Well, another game, another loss. Hoping for double digit victories for this year which is about what I would have picked when the season began. At least there was some indication that they played a bit of defense against Truman. Always wondered whether a team full of Juco's could play defense since the name of the game in a juco is to get a lot of points so you can go someplace else. Still think we have the better coach as compared to last year, we'll see who he recruits. And... the GLVC has more depth than the MIAA. Very few easy teams, although that may be a function of LU's ineptitude.

[LeoTheLion]

The losing streak has been broken... 6 games left to get to double digit wins*


*Including 4 NAIA wins

Hoping for better in the 20-21 season.

[Grizzled LU]

LU's win streak stopped at one. USI had a lot more depth off the bench, was able to actually make FT's, and was able to lay on a whole mess of points in the last two minutes, and not just free throws only. Let's hear some good things about recruits. No hard feelings against the present staff given the time frame of coming on board, but it's time for uplifting news.

[Grizzled LU]

http://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/lindenwood

Here's the recruiting page. What do you think? Frazier Ott (6'8) only commit. To me it looks like he needs about 25 more pounds on him. In any normal program they'd redshirt him, but this isn't a normal program.

[Grizzled LU]

Another McKendree loss 68-80. Another late collapse. I guess the defense was better since they didn't give up 120+ points but this team is going nowhere fast. LU led most of the game, dropping a twelve point loss in the last couple of minutes is disconcerting to say the least. Let's see a couple interesting signees. This year is done. Hope they get ten wins. Not much of a goal.