RACERS vs SIU Edwardsville Game Thread

[Tick21]

Just curious, was Gilmore honored last night as part of Senior night? I know he didn’t get to start, and I’m not sure what his intentions are as far as returning next year or not?

[Racerofwesttenn2]

Gilmore plans to return

[smidge34]

Just curious, was Gilmore honored last night as part of Senior night? I know he didn’t get to start, and I’m not sure what his intentions are as far as returning next year or not?

No, like RacerofWestTN said that answers that question.

Like somebody mentioned on another thread, knee jerk letting them come back.

[Tick21]

I was that somebody. It was not directed to just the Senior class, but all of them. Giving everybody an extra year (when nearly all teams played at least 20 games) was ridiculous. It also makes it more difficult for high school seniors and JUCO’s to be recruited. Fewer spots available.

[runningracer]

Demond was playing very well last night. He was holding his spot, instead of jumping in anticipation of a shot, still getting his share of blocks. He was rebounding by blocking out, having a good game until the injury. He could have scored more, but was not getting passes when open on the low block.
Knee injuries can be tricky. As soon as the swelling goes down, they will be able to get a final conclusion. He will probably be out next week, due to soreness, but may be back for the tourney, in a best case.
Keep your fingers crossed, and pray for this young man. He showed a lot of character yesterday.

[runningracer]

Gilmore is a quality player. I hope that he wants to come back. We will probably have some transfer, but I hope it is due to talent level. This has been an odd year, and next year may be as well. College basketball is going to be different. Schools will have some adaptation to do. It will be interesting to see what schools like EIU will do with seven seniors.

[Tick21]

RR, I agree with you on both of your posts. Knee injuries are nearly impossible to know how severe they are when they happen. I’ve seen players continue to play for awhile with an ACL injury, and I’ve seen people in great pain (like last night), and it turned out to just be a sprain. I hope and pray for the best, but I fear the worst.

And while I think the NCAA messed up granting all players another year, I’m happy for Gilmore (no pun intended). I always enjoy watching him play.

[02Racer]

It appeared to me that the ice on Demond's knee was right on the knee cap so that doesn't really make me think ACL/MCL.

[Handicap]

I was that somebody. It was not directed to just the Senior class, but all of them. Giving everybody an extra year (when nearly all teams played at least 20 games) was ridiculous. It also makes it more difficult for high school seniors and JUCO’s to be recruited. Fewer spots available.

I thought returning seniors didn't count against the scholarship limit

[Tick21]

I was that somebody. It was not directed to just the Senior class, but all of them. Giving everybody an extra year (when nearly all teams played at least 20 games) was ridiculous. It also makes it more difficult for high school seniors and JUCO’s to be recruited. Fewer spots available.

I thought returning seniors didn't count against the scholarship limit

I don’t know, but if that’s the case, does that mean EIU can have 20 scholarship players to our 14? I wouldn’t think so, but I may be wrong.

[speck]

I was that somebody. It was not directed to just the Senior class, but all of them. Giving everybody an extra year (when nearly all teams played at least 20 games) was ridiculous. It also makes it more difficult for high school seniors and JUCO’s to be recruited. Fewer spots available.

I thought returning seniors didn't count against the scholarship limit

I don’t know, but if that’s the case, does that mean EIU can have 20 scholarship players to our 14? I wouldn’t think so, but I may be wrong.

I believe Handicap is right.

[smidge34]

They do not count against the scholarship limit is what Neal said on the radio awhile back. .

[Tick21]

I was wrong then. Obviously it won’t limit scholarships for JUCO’s and High Schoolers then. However, it will make it tougher to get playing time.

How many new players will we have? I’m guessing 3 or 4, and at least two of them need to be considered immediate impact players.

[wkeown]

And a zero offensive threat McMullen. He struggles to catch the ball lol, I’m almost to the “don’t freaking pass the ball in the paint to Brion” mode I was a few seasons ago every time somebody tried to feed him a pass in the paint last night hahaha.

Losing Demond would be a big old deal. Plus end of season this will most assuredly affect next season well into conference play if not the entire year. Let’s just hope he heals like Adrian Peterson.

I had to laugh about the Brion comment because you are absolutely right. Ironic that he had NFL aspirations at TE, but dream big I always say because the alarm buzzer is coming soon.

May be a good time for DR to sit. The last few games I have been noticing a lot of him standing around and out of position for both offensive and defensive rebounds. His effort against EIU was a little better at the beginning of the game, making me think that the coaching staff had been working on him a bit, but before the half was ending I started seeing the same lackadaisical standing around the rim behind opposing forwards. I’m not trying to knock DR as some of that problem is conditioning. He just isn’t built like a workhorse rebounder. He is built and moves more like a center. But at 6-8 that is not gonna amount to much success past KY Region 1 basketball. Sometimes bench perspective can be more beneficial than playing time. Hope so because he seems like a great dude, has a nice touch within 15 feet, and an overall is an big asset to the program.

[75Fan]

Demond is one of the best mid-range shooters we've ever had, IMO.

I hope he is not seriously injured and will come back sooner rather than later.

[runningracer]

While seniors do not count against the scholarship limit, they do cost the school tuition, room, board, books, and miscellaneous expenses, if a school has more than the normal 13. Also, it is difficult to get a lot of playing time for 13, so the more players a team has, the more potential problems there might be in keeping everyone happy.

I figure there may be two or three transfers out of Murray, for various reasons. I do not anticipate more than 13 when practice starts next fall. There should be some quality recruits available for schools that have openings, as some of the larger schools that take one and done players may wind up not losing as many as normal, leaving some top notch recruits, or transfers available at the mid major level.

Donnie Tindell would love the opportunity to coach EIU next year, as he could give scholarships to 20 players, if the administration allowed it. Never understood why he brought in so many players each year at Morehead.
Going to be interesting to see how many players Spoon winds up with next year. I predict 13. Probably 4 of the 7 seniors will return. I would not be surprised if Jay let the seniors make that decision. Those that graduate may want to move on with their career, so it is hard to know until an announcement is made.

[jcruse64]

Demond was playing very well last night. He was holding his spot, instead of jumping in anticipation of a shot, still getting his share of blocks. He was rebounding by blocking out, having a good game until the injury. He could have scored more, but was not getting passes when open on the low block.
Knee injuries can be tricky. As soon as the swelling goes down, they will be able to get a final conclusion. He will probably be out next week, due to soreness, but may be back for the tourney, in a best case.
Keep your fingers crossed, and pray for this young man. He showed a lot of character yesterday.

I thought the same thing, and pointed out to our seat mates that DR was not letting himself get caught on the head fakes, and was being very disciplined. He was on the way to having one of his better games, I think. Also agree about his mid range shot. First few times he pulled off for that was after his missed 3's, and I was like, "Nooooo!!!". But he just started knocking them down, and has gotten really good at that.

I missed the play where he was injured; what exactly happened?? Hope it's nothing major and he heals quick. I like him, and it's been frustrating watching him "regress" this season, when he looked so good towards the end of last season.

[smidge34]

I was at the game and missed it and haven’t watched a replay but somebody said Juice fell/was pushed into his knee.

[Ghughes]

Demond was playing very well last night. He was holding his spot, instead of jumping in anticipation of a shot, still getting his share of blocks. He was rebounding by blocking out, having a good game until the injury. He could have scored more, but was not getting passes when open on the low block.
Knee injuries can be tricky. As soon as the swelling goes down, they will be able to get a final conclusion. He will probably be out next week, due to soreness, but may be back for the tourney, in a best case.
Keep your fingers crossed, and pray for this young man. He showed a lot of character yesterday.

I thought the same thing, and pointed out to our seat mates that DR was not letting himself get caught on the head fakes, and was being very disciplined. He was on the way to having one of his better games, I think. Also agree about his mid range shot. First few times he pulled off for that was after his missed 3's, and I was like, "Nooooo!!!". But he just started knocking them down, and has gotten really good at that.

I missed the play where he was injured; what exactly happened?? Hope it's nothing major and he heals quick. I like him, and it's been frustrating watching him "regress" this season, when he looked so good towards the end of last season.

I have been noticing DR's better patience on defense and not falling for the head fakes in recent games too. That's very promising. Also, his mid-range shots has been reminding me of someone else in a Racer uniform. It took me a couple of games of watching his form, and it finally came to me. Anyone remember seeing Ron "Big Cat" Johnson who played for Coach Luther?
I hope Demond isn't hurt too bad, and that he can recover back to full strength and confidence in his knee.

[STLRacer]

That game as a whole was such an impressive response to the last game. They had fire, they weren't standing around and they were trying to make good looks. This team has a bit of a live and die by the three feel at times, but we have some really high level shooters on the team, so they have a good chance to hit a lot of them as long as they are doing the little things to improve the looks. Great overall effort IMO. This team just bounces so quickly from a team that looks like it could make a run tournament weekend to looking like a team that will get bounced early, hope we look like this at the right times. Of course that analysis has such a bit asterisk with it. Hoping for the best for DR, he was in a ton of pain so I am really worried. Hope it looked worse than it was, we need the big fella majorly.