With the SLU men’s basketball Billikens not having made the NCAA tournament since 2019, this season could be the one that puts coach Travis Ford in the hot seat. Ford is currently in his seventh season and has only made one appearance in March Madness. With 4-year point guard, Yuri Collins, joining the Golden State Warriors G League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors, the Billikens need to rely more on senior shooting guard Gibson Jimmerson to make crucial shots if they want to make it out of the A-10 tournament.
Unfortunately, the season has not gone that well for the Billikens. Finishing fourth in the Myrtle Beach Invitational tournament, with double-digit losses to the University of Vermont and Wichita State. They did manage to scrape by with a 1-point win against Dartmouth. Even earlier in the season, they had a close call against Southern Indiana, a program that was in Division 2 just two seasons ago, winning by only 12 points. It is clear that the Billikens have some work to do if they want to be competitive in the coming weeks.
One of the reasons for these losses could be the Billikens’ shaky defense. Travis Ford’s defensive strategy has never been particularly strong, and losing their best defensive player, Fred Thatch Jr., who played with the Billikens for 5 years before getting injured, has certainly affected the team. Finding a way to improve their defense will be one of the biggest challenges for the Billikens. Ford’s coaching style focuses more on shooting and passing, likely influenced by his own experience as a 5-foot-9-inch point guard from Kentucky. He tends to recruit a lot of 6-foot point guards, such as Yuri Collins and former Saint Louis player Phill Forte, who played for Ford at Oklahoma State and is now an assistant coach for North Texas.
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see if coach Ford utilizes freshman 7-foot center Bruce Zhang more. Zhang, who returned from an injury in November is only averaging 2.7 points per game.
In addition to Jimmerson, the Billikens have other options on the team. Fifth-year player Hargrove has been put in the power forward spot and scored a season-high 27 points against Southern Indiana. Hargrove has not always been consistent, but he has shown improvement in his 3-point shooting over the years, especially recently in a conference match at Duquesne.