New bellarmine thread

[BellarmineGrad]

Re: New bellarmine thread

I liked that turn-and-slam power move from Weyer at the end of the first half. Hope to see more of that this season, in addition to him splashing in the threes.

Wabash Little Giants? Is that like "jumbo shrimp"?

[Knightmoves]

Re: New bellarmine thread

I agree about Penn. His speed and true ambidextrousness look like a lethal combination. He has good size and can shoot. He has the tools to be a dominant 2.
The freshmen looked really good moving the basketball. They look to have already learned the offense. I predict that at some point in the early season, Scotty will get irritated by the play of the starters and take all five guys out and replace them with five first year players.

[BGrad1971]

Re: New bellarmine thread

I agree about Penn. His speed and true ambidextrousness look like a lethal combination. He has good size and can shoot. He has the tools to be a dominant 2.
The freshmen looked really good moving the basketball. They look to have already learned the offense. I predict that at some point in the early season, Scotty will get irritated by the play of the starters and take all five guys out and replace them with five first year players.

Penn has some "hops" too -I saw him really elevate on an attempt to snag a rebound. Reminds me of Chris Dowe coming off the bench his freshman year.

[WestSideMafia]

Penn has some "hops" too -I saw him really elevate on an attempt to snag a rebound. Reminds me of Chris Dowe coming off the bench his freshman year.

[KnightStalker]

Re: New bellarmine thread

I agree about Penn. His speed and true ambidextrousness look like a lethal combination. He has good size and can shoot. He has the tools to be a dominant 2.
The freshmen looked really good moving the basketball. They look to have already learned the offense. I predict that at some point in the early season, Scotty will get irritated by the play of the starters and take all five guys out and replace them with five first year players.

Think Penn will ultimately be the starting PG (maybe by his junior season). The last 3 minutes of the game, when Scotty put in the newcomers (4 freshmen and transfer Claycomb) was the best part of the game. Penn put on a show, with his passing and ball handling. Penny and Younker looked pretty good in their first appearances of the season. Although the Wabash kids looked a bit tired by that point, the BU New Boys on the Block (NBB) outplayed them very convincingly. Of course we are talking Wabash here, but it was encouraging to see that unit play well together so early in their stint at BU.

[Knightmoves]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Reminds me of Chris Dowe coming off the bench his freshman year.

I had the exact same thought.

Penn, however, has more good players to beat out for minutes than Dowe did.

[BGrad1971]

Re: New bellarmine thread

I had the exact same thought.

Penn, however, has more good players to beat out for minutes than Dowe did.

Dowe had some AWFULLY GOOD players in front of him, but I would agree not as many of them as Penn will have to beat out.

[BGrad1971]

Re: New bellarmine thread

I know its way too early to be worrying about post season play for this season, but what the heck, we BU fans find plenty of things to worry about. Four pretty decent D2 teams are playing an early season couple of games in St. Joseph, MO. Yesterday Ferris State defeated Fairmont State (WV) in a close game, and Northwest Missouri St. defeated Northern State (South Dakota) in overtime. All four teams were highly ranked most of last year. I wish D2 had a little more of these intersectional meetings. Today they switch partners and FSU plays NW Mo and Northern St. plays Fairmont.

[BGrad1971]

Re: New bellarmine thread

I know its way too early to be worrying about post season play for this season, but what the heck, we BU fans find plenty of things to worry about. Four pretty decent D2 teams are playing an early season couple of games in St. Joseph, MO. Yesterday Ferris State defeated Fairmont State (WV) in a close game, and Northwest Missouri St. defeated Northern State (South Dakota) in overtime. All four teams were highly ranked most of last year. I wish D2 had a little more of these intersectional meetings. Today they switch partners and FSU plays NW Mo and Northern St. plays Fairmont.

Should have also mentioned that Queens (in final 4 last year) beat William Jewell handily and Tarleton State (Texas) another good D2 team beat Missouri Western which will play Fairmont today (not NW Mo State as I had previously stated). The GLVC rep William Jewell lost also to Tarleton St. I guess William Jewell was invited to this classic because it was being played in their backyard (St. Joseph, MO). Looks like they were outclassed by the competition.

[BGrad1971]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Drury heads out to California for intersectional D2 games and comes back with 3 losses. Tough road trip although Lindenwood makes the same trip and comes back 2-1. I know taking 3 losses out of region will hurt your nationwide rankings, but the important rankings in the end are the regional rankings. How do the people doing the ranking consider out of region schedules and results? Do they get thrown out? Would BU have had a better chance last year in their ranking vs Ferris State if they had beaten Lincoln? If they had lost games at Barry and Lynn, how damaging would that have been to regional rankings?

[kdubnation]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Drury heads out to California for intersectional D2 games and comes back with 3 losses. Tough road trip although Lindenwood makes the same trip and comes back 2-1. I know taking 3 losses out of region will hurt your nationwide rankings, but the important rankings in the end are the regional rankings. How do the people doing the ranking consider out of region schedules and results? Do they get thrown out? Would BU have had a better chance last year in their ranking vs Ferris State if they had beaten Lincoln? If they had lost games at Barry and Lynn, how damaging would that have been to regional rankings?

I believe, though I could be wrong, that out of region games like that will still have some effect on the regional rankings due to ranked W/L vs. unranked W/L. If the teams that beat them end up in their region's top 10 at any point, that will hurt less than if they do not, in other words.

[Knightmoves]

Re: New bellarmine thread

I believe, though I could be wrong, that out of region games like that will still have some effect on the regional rankings due to ranked W/L vs. unranked W/L. If the teams that beat them end up in their region's top 10 at any point, that will hurt less than if they do not, in other words.

The losses will significantly impact Drury's regional ranking. The first and most important criterion is record against D2 teams. I know that fans and even coaches talk about "in region" games as extra important. A few years back the NCAA issued revised criteria and de-emphasized "in region" games. Assuming the three teams that beat Drury go on to have good seasons, the losses may not be overly damaging to their PI, but PI is not the principal criterion in selection. I'm not saying those losses will keep Drury out of the tournament, but the losses probably have already precluded Drury from the #1 ranking. I suspect, however, that the 4-8 teams in the final regional rankings are going to have more losses than usual and there are going to be a bunch of teams in the hunt for those spots.

In region games are important for a simple reason, however. When you win one, you have also tagged a regional competitor with a loss.

[BellarmineGrad]

Re: New bellarmine thread

...PI is not the principal criterion in selection.

Yeah, even though I am a numbers guy, I think that we here overrate the PI; we likely could come up with accurate regional rankings without the calculations.

[Scotty4prez2020]

Re: New bellarmine thread

First game tonight. A true in-region road game. Any idea of the starting lineup tonight? Knights must come out and play their best basketball right from the tip to prevent the early season upset.

[Knightmoves]

Re: New bellarmine thread

Not really sure of the starting lineup and I doubt that play in the exhibition games is a big factor. If I had to guess: Eberhard, Corbett, Cook, Jenkins, Ramser. Eberhard and Corbett I think are definites (excluding injury). Everybody else is a maybe. Could very easily see Weyer or Chitty starting. Based on the exhibitions, I think Weyer should be getting the nod. At some point I would like to see Chitty, Cook, Eberhard, Corbett, Weyer in the game together. That lineup would depend on Cook being able to defend a smaller guy on the perimeter, which I think Scotty would not do. I single out Cook, because he is clearly the quickest of the big guys.

I know its cliche, but the starting lineup is not what matters. Scotty has 200 minutes to dole out and with the exception of Eberhard, who is likely to get 30 minutes in any reasonably close game, the other front court players, Weyer, Cook, Corbett, and eventually Palombizio are probably going to divide up the minutes pretty evenly, which you have to figure is 20 minutes apiece. In any given game, of course, coach may go more with a hot hand. If Cook plays up to his talent (not a criticism of him or anyone else) he may end up being a 30 minute guy.

Backcourt is pretty much the same situation. You've got 4 guys, Chitty, Jenkins, Fleming, Ramser dividing up 80 minutes of playing time and it may well be 20 minutes apiece. (Penn could throw a wrench in that whole plan, however, because he may have the most talent of all of them.) I love all four of these guys. If Scotty wants to push the ball, however, Chitty is undoubtedly the guy. Frankly, any combination of the two can shut down the other team's guards. If you want a little more physical, higher risk D, Jenkins and Chitty together are tough to beat. In fact, those two together with Eberhard, could probably set the team record for steals in a season. It's never been Scotty's style, but I would enjoy seeing some full court pressure. Not just ball hawking the 1, but full out zone press. Don't think that will happen but I do think the guards are going to be pressuring the ball handlers from the inbounds. No opponent will match BU in depth, so I expect coach to try to wear down the opposition. These means significant minutes for a whole bunch of players

As I have previously stated, turnovers are my biggest concern for this team. Expect to see this team commit more fouls than BU teams of the recent past.

You can tell I'm jazzed about the start of the season. In fact, when I look down the bench, it's pretty hard not to be jazzed about the next 4 seasons.