Sunday Morning... the Final Four

[LastWarrior]

I was firmly on the Buzz bandwagon until spending a bit of time studying up on the other candidates.  As of this morning, I'm firmly on the Chris Lowery bandwagon and really hope that he is our next coach.  His teams have great *edit* intensity and defensive style of play.  He's young (35) and a minority candidate which IMO would be a refreshing change.  Also, take a look at his recruiting classes at SIU... in my opinion, they were better than our classes under Crean with the exception of the DJ/ Jerel/ Wes/ Burke year.  Also, the Illinois player of the year, Kevin Dillard is a SIU commit and a point guard.  There has been a lot of talk around Buzz being able to keep the incoming recruiting class together but i'm now doubtful of that happening.  Nick Williams seems to be already out the door and the comments from Hurley suggest that MU isn't even a finalist for Taylor (KU, Florida, & Michigan).

Chris Lowery Profile http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/lowery_chris00.html

[mutpm]

Great up-tempo offense?  In his 4 years at SIU, his teams pace of play rank has been 273, 318, 313, and 305.   He may have the other factors you list, but up-tempo is not one of them. 

[LastWarrior]

Great up-tempo offense?  In his 4 years at SIU, his teams pace of play rank has been 273, 318, 313, and 305.   He may have the other factors you list, but up-tempo is not one of them. 

interesting stat as whenever I saw SIU play (which was often as i'm in Chicago) his teams played fast & intense.  Maybe I just caught them on good nights but those numbers surprise me.  So perhaps the better choice of words would have been fast & intense.

[Pardner]

Painter and Weber filled the SIU recruit pipeline as we discussed which accounted for their recent success.  He is attracting local guys to SIU where MU needs a national pipeline.  SIU has much lower academic standards than most schools (although improving)...the nickname, "Carbongdale" exists for a reason.

I like his coaching style but they underachieved this year with his recruited players.  I think he has had success as a recruiter in the region (or hope of success).  Can he recruit in the BE?  Can he get good students to MU?

All of the guys on the list have doubts about them.  I would list him #2 behind Buzz who I think has national contacts.  

Also, when he signed his extension, he claimed loyalty to the school and players...and now he is looking.  How do we feel about that?

[mutpm]

I realize stats don't tell the whole story, but I am a little worried about how his teams have produced offensively in his 4 years at SIU.  This year, SIU ranked 115th in Offensive Efficiency.  His best year was ranked 64th back in 2005.  Defensively, there is nothing to complain about.  His worst ranking was this year and it was 29th.  

The other thing that worries me is that SIU has ranked over 200 in turnover % in each of the past 3 years.  They have been very good at forcing turnovers, but they turn it over a lot themselves.  Using this year's numbers, SIU averaged 62.7 possessions a game and turned it over 21.8% of the time, or about 13.5 times a game.  That leaves only 49 possessions a game in which they had an opportunity to score.  A lot of turnovers can be mistaken for fast.  

To put it in perspective to this year's MU team, MU averaged 68.1 possessions a game and turned it over 18.4% of the time, or about 12.5 times a game.  That left 55 possessions a game in which they had an opportunity to score.  This is the type of offense we've become accustomed to at MU.  If we win, I don't care what style we play.  I just don't want to slow it down and turn this back into Mike Deane style of basketball.