Hopes for the Season

[municup14]

For UE I could go on and on on why our program is where it is but I'm not.I know some
people who have close ties to the coaches and according to them our coaching staff
will be beyond happy if we finish 500.
A lot of this is because of the time frame on getting a new coaching staff.
For me and the fans I hope we can at least be competitive .

[siudawgs]

My (semi-realistic) goals for SIU:
- Stop scoring in the 50s so damn much
- Top three MVC regular season finish and ideally contention deep into February
- As has been mentioned, make some long-overdue noise at Arch Madness. I think it's been since the Eisenhower administration that the Salukis have had an all-tournament team member
- NCAA or NIT bid (also long overdue)
- See some of the young guys (D'Amico, Wonders, Ebube, etc.) give hope for sustained success once Domask and Jones have left, whether that's after this year or next

As for the Valley, same goal as always: more than one bid. Probably will require a big non-conference showing from Drake.

[Adunk33]

For the Birds, my hopes is to see something different. What does that mean? Clean up the silly mistakes that lost games over the last two years. In early comments from Pedon he talked about being a disciplined team the doesn't beat themselves and specifically made reference to "playing off of two feet." I don't know if he watched tape of last year's teams (I would think so since there are with 6 returners he'd need film on), but he would see the guards would drive and jump and try to make a pass mid-air. With no scholarship guards returning, I'm hoping that gets better.

Other than that, I'm hoping for an identity. The last few season was run n gun, half court sets with a lot of high ball screens and weave hoping for an open 3. If the shots aren't falling, you aren't winning. Pedon said during his intro presser that he wants be able to play through the paint and force the opposition to go through them. Do that, and you'll at least be competitive in the league.

Do the Redbirds have the pieces to be competitive in the league? Who knows. Can the players successfully implement Pedon's system? Again, who knows. A lot of outsiders see this as a brand new and "young" team. However, there are zero scholarship players with less than 1 year of experience. Ryan Schmitt is the only one with less than two. They could very well be a little farther along with the amount of experience they have on the roster.

I find it interesting that Mo State has almost a completely new roster and yet, was chosen 4th in the league? Dana has proved he can bring in talent. He has not proved he can get it to work together for a viable on-court product. I'm not saying ISU should've been selected that high by any means, just find it interesting.

In a perfect world, the Birds are competitive in the league and get hot in STL. In a hopeful world, they finish league play in the middle of the pack around .500 and win a game or two in STL.

Then the rebuild starts. Though, after the 22-23 season, the Birds will only have two players who had exhausted there eligibility, there could be a chance to "run it back" or rebuild, starting with what appears to be a very solid class of '23 that is coming in.

[BEARZ77]

I have to just scratch my head when people talk about Dana ; I mean I question some of his coaching as much as anyone, but it's like people just overlook he's been in the league 4 years and has finished 3rd x2 and 2nd x1 besides the one lower half finish [6th]. I guess you're saying a coach can challenge for the league title in the MVC w/o putting a "viable on court product" out there. That certainly doesn't speak well for the rest of the league. He's swept teams like Bradley and SIU the last two years and yet people give more credit to the Wardles and Mullins of the world. The old "he's got more talent" argument is strange because each coach uses his abilities to try to win games ; in the end you either win or lose, so you can explain it anyway you want , but it's still the same outcome.

[Adunk33]

I have to just scratch my head when people talk about Dana ; I mean I question some of his coaching as much as anyone, but it's like people just overlook he's been in the league 4 years and has finished 3rd x2 and 2nd x1 besides the one lower half finish [6th]. I guess you're saying a coach can challenge for the league title in the MVC w/o putting a "viable on court product" out there. That certainly doesn't speak well for the rest of the league. He's swept teams like Bradley and SIU the last two years and yet people give more credit to the Wardles and Mullins of the world. The old "he's got more talent" argument is strange because each coach uses his abilities to try to win games ; in the end you either win or lose, so you can explain it anyway you want , but it's still the same outcome.

I was probably harsh with my words, coming from a jaded perspective, having ISU with a solid amount of talent, consistently finishing 1 through 5 from 2013-2019 (3-way tie for 5th in '19), and never getting over the hump. With Muller as one of Dana's mentors, it's hard for me to separate the two. I see a lot of similarities. Solid recruiters but when it comes to in-game stuff and fundamentals, sometimes, you are left scratching your head. I love Dana and want him to be successful, he's a Redbird. I'm admittedly bias, but it's hard for me not to see some of Dan's tendencies in Dana.

[BEARZ77]

All valid stuff, same things most Bear fans see; but it gets old hearing how flawed he is from teams he's been kicking their ass. Jake is his krypto and Devries has gotten him twice at St Louis on the last shot, but hell, those are the leagues two best coaches. I just find some of the minimizing of what he's done silly; the goal is to win, but somehow his wins are less valid because he recruits better, is such a bizarre take by some. Every coach has strengths and weaknesses and they blend those to be the coach they are in order to win. He recruits well, but no one in this league simply out talents the other teams consistently; he wins because he's been a better coach than the guys he beats , just like Jake and Devries have been better than him. Simple.

I'm not a Dana apologist, he needs to be better . I like him alot as a person and admire what he and his wife do and bring to our community. He like most coaches has that "coaching arrogance" that is usually both their strength and weakness. I hope to see him grow in his weaker areas ; like anyone I'd like to win the league and especially the MVC Tourney sometime reasonably soon, but I can live with being top 3-4 every year, because I think he's an asset to the University.

[Birdfan2018]

All valid stuff, same things most Bear fans see; but it gets old hearing how flawed he is from teams he's been kicking their ass. Jake is his krypto and Devries has gotten him twice at St Louis on the last shot, but hell, those are the leagues two best coaches. I just find some of the minimizing of what he's done silly; the goal is to win, but somehow his wins are less valid because he recruits better, is such a bizarre take by some. Every coach has strengths and weaknesses and they blend those to be the coach they are in order to win. He recruits well, but no one in this league simply out talents the other teams consistently; he wins because he's been a better coach than the guys he beats , just like Jake and Devries have been better than him. Simple.

I'm not a Dana apologist, he needs to be better . I like him alot as a person and admire what he and his wife do and bring to our community. He like most coaches has that "coaching arrogance" that is usually both their strength and weakness. I hope to see him grow in his weaker areas ; like anyone I'd like to win the league and especially the MVC Tourney sometime reasonably soon, but I can live with being top 3-4 every year, because I think he's an asset to the University.

Freshman (8-21) (5-13) 2.0 Pts 2.5 Reb 0.6 Ast Tom Richardson
Sophomore (10-19) (4-14) 0.7 Pts 1.0 Reb 0.4 Ast Porter Moser
Junior (17-13) (8-10) 1.8 Pts 2.2 Reb 0.7 Ast Porter Moser
Senior (9-19) (4-14) 6.0 Pts 4.1 Reb 1.8 Ast Porter Moser

Chipola- 2008-09 Assistant
Tennessee St 2009-11 Assistant
Wichita St 2011-12 Assistant
Illinois St 2012-14 Assistant
Tennessee St 2014-18 Head Coach

Like Dan Muller, Dana Ford is a good recruiter. But Dana didn’t have good coaching at Illinois State. And as his stats show, he wasn’t a very good player either, except for his shot from the beak (as called by Mark Johnson) to beat Creighton (I think) at the buzzer. Will be interesting to see if Dana can get the Bears to the top in the next season or two, or if he’s just a good recruiter that can win as a coach as needs to take the Porter Moser route and go back to being an assistant under a top head coach for a few more years. I do think that bringing in Chris Lowery will definitely help. He brings a ton of knowledge & coaching experience.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Lowery’s in Evanston now.

I’m still morbidly curious how he’d do on a second go-around.

[SalukiBand]

Lowery’s in Evanston now.

I’m still morbidly curious how he’d do on a second go-around.

Believe it or not, he's 50 now. He's spent a lot of years in the Big 12 and now, the B1G. Do you think he would want to go back to the grind of being at a "mid-major" school? Wonder if he ever showed any interest in going back to Evansville (his home town) with the several occasions that it has been open?

Here's a recent interview with him and Mike Reis (long-time SIU radio guy) during the SIU-Northwestern football game this fall.

https://soundcloud.com/mikereis-siu/sal ... ris-lowery

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Lowery’s in Evanston now.

I’m still morbidly curious how he’d do on a second go-around.

Believe it or not, he's 50 now. He's spent a lot of years in the Big 12 and now, the B1G. Do you think he would want to go back to the grind of being at a "mid-major" school? Wonder if he ever showed any interest in going back to Evansville (his home town) with the several occasions that it has been open?

Here's a recent interview with him and Mike Reis (long-time SIU radio guy) during the SIU-Northwestern football game this fall.

https://soundcloud.com/mikereis-siu/sal ... ris-lowery

That was a good interview. Interesting answer. Hard to believe he was 39 last time he was a head coach. Hope he gets another shot and does well.