This is a rebuilding year.
There. I said it. Did not want to say it. Did not want to even think it. But here we are. There are programs across the country that do not have to subject themselves to rebuilding years, that can reload and for whom a down year is a difficult 8/9 game and a longshot second round game against the 1 seed.
The SLU basketball program has not reached this level. When five senior starters depart, the Billikens do not have nine McDonald’s All-Americans at the ready (hello Kentucky), nor do we have a Statue of Liberty torch out for seven or eight transfers (looking at you Iowa St). Turnover means freshmen, and freshmen need time.
If the Game Nine result took us out of Drive and into Neutral, this tweet put us in full Rebuild.
Transcript: #SLU HC Jim Crews on status of Grandy Glaze. Will have more from today’s media sesh on @InsideSTL later. pic.twitter.com/YiGUKmN1Xh
— Brian Hank Haenchen (@Brian_Haenchen) December 12, 2014
Lineups
In this space, we continue to explore the various ways Jim Crews assembles, dissembles and tries to make some semblance of his basketball team.
Starters: McBroom, Yacoubou, Roby, Agbeko, Manning
I find it interesting that the Starting Lineup has been relatively stable and consistent, when compared with the minutes allocations overall. McBroom and Yacoubou have likely played the most Meaningful Minutes of anyone on the roster, and could reasonably form a good backcourt next year. Manning is the tallest guy, a primary backup last year, and is a Senior.
Minutes Leaders (non-starters in Bold):
- McBroom (31)
- Yacoubou (30)
- Austin Gillmann, Roby (25)
- Yarbrough (23)
The Safecracker seems to be tiring a bit of the tinkering and twisting and turning. The starters got extended run. All twelve played but five guys went under double-figure minutes for the first time all season.
SLU Player Stats
(Definitions at bottom of post)
- You can see Yarbrough’s terrific game was almost completely offset by the counter-weight of Jolly, Bartley and Reynolds. These are the types of rough edges smoothed out over weeks and years.
- I know it is hard to add from the table above but it comes to 2 for 19 from three. You can’t even beat South Dakota Tech shooting 2 for 19 from three.
Summary
SLU suffers a second home loss to a team well outside the Top 100, as Experience and Poise somehow trump Horrific Outside Shooting. Grandy Glaze is likely out for the year, which after this game actually qualifies as very, very good news. Here’s to learning and growing and honest reflection, and to saying this next year: the Grandy Man can cuz he mixes it with joy and makes the world taste good (makes the world taste good).
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AdjGS: variation on the Game Score metric created by John Hollinger, detailed here. Hollinger’s original formula is Adjusted to reallocate the points in the game by ratio of the player’s overall impact. Credit to the team at Rock M Nation for this improvement.