Billikens Notebook Week 2 & 3: More Effort Needed, But Possibilities Abound

Week 2 (and 3, down below) of our Billikens Notebook is very different than last week’s robust breakdown, no quotes this times around, just a couple dozen quick observations and thoughts from observing (some of) Monday & Tuesday’s practices at Chaifetz. 

• Both days featured a HEAVY dose of dribble & dribble-driving drills that showcased some early takeaways from new & returning pieces of the roster
  • Jamison White looks to have the strongest dribble among the Billikens group of bigs
  • Elijah Strong had some very impressive plays, garnering some loud reaction during a crossover drive drill, but also had a number of plays they went haywire
  • I’ll ask again, who is going to stop Amari McCottry when he gets a couple steps towards the rim? The dribble is low & tight & the added strength has made him borderline unstoppable getting downhill.
  • “Magic Mel” Jermel Thomas is living up to Schertz claims as the “purest PG” he’s had here in St. Louis—he moves fluidly, has a tendency to get defenders off balance before moving past them the other way. Sounds like he needs to improve his decision-making in the early scrimmages but 1v1 he’s already polished.
  • Cam Hutson didn’t get a lot of minutes and got even less shots last season—those will both change this year. Didn’t jump out in the dribble drills, but stood out working both ways and crossing over in the dribble-drive moves.
  • Trey Green’s reverse finish is perfect. And its such a great move for a small guard because his it takes something Trey is already great at—getting defenders behind him and keeping the ball at a max distance—and adding in the bonus of using the rim to protect his shot further.
    • This gets back to one of Green’s biggest points where he spoke to the media on Day 1 of the summer, mentioning “ball handling” & “getting into the paint” and connected it to developing his game as a lead-guard, noting that you don’t see 6-foot 2-guards in the NBA
• There was plenty of work on the other side of the ball as well, with the both days featuring plenty of working on team defense, switching and communication
  • It’s harder to find the standout in this drills but the struggles really stand out
    • Younger players like Ahmad, Mel & Sheek, and transfer big man Alon Michaeli, had some struggles in the 1v1 drills, but that brought on coaching from older players like Amari McCottry and Ishan Sharma
      • Speaking of Sharma…He was the loudest player throughout all the defensive drills. Pointing out switches, coaching players between players, leading every rep he took in the 4v4 drills and continue to communicating from the sideline. It’s fair to say the returning players have appeared to step up both mentally & physically. But it’s not all roses…
    • As reported directly from Schertz by Stu Durango, he’s not happy where the team is and there was a fair bit of coaching going on during the defense part of practice. Schertz clearly wasn’t happy with the effort level.
• Wednesday also saw former Indiana St. wing Julian Larry join the coaching staff. Larry was part of 2023-24 Sycamores team that took the nation by storm before transferring to Texes for his final college season. Julian pushed the Billikens defenders on transition defense, with Coach Boisvert warning his current players what his former used to do to team in those scenarios, calling him a “terror in the Mountain Valley Conference”. The always present cutting from Larry (and Jayden Kent) was there as well once the drills moved to the halfcourt
  • Larry putt up 11-3-5-2 in 34 minutes per game on that ‘23-24 ISU squad, starting 38/39 games. He was one of the first players off the Texas bench in ‘24-25, putting up 5-2-3-1 in almost 20 minutes per game

And now we’ve gotta skip to Week 3 of practice, where the Billikens were back in the Pavilion for a practice with plenty of spectators. 

• The Billikens coaches are coming up with a lot of drills that are baking in some entertainment while still getting the job done. Thursday’s example? Tag.
• I’m obsessed with Kellen Thames shooting stroke. It already looks a little different than how I mentioned in my first Billikens Notebook
• Jamison White continues to be my early standout for the summer. It’s hard to know what to expect from a freshman, even one as highly rated as Jamo, but the smoothness of his game is undeniable. He was deadly in both the roll and the pop during pick-and-roll drills—the jumper is smooth, the dunks are velvety. 
  • It wasn’t a perfect practice for the freshman, he caught the line of the day from AC Zak Boisvert approximately 22 minutes into practice after a couple reps came up short
• There was a good chunk of different pick-and-roll drills and after watching enough it dawns on you—you can run PnRs and Reverse PnRs with almost any two-man combination across the entire roster
• With the departure of Robbie Avila, Schertz has already said they don’t expect the same amount of playmaking and ball handling from the bigs, but I’m still keeping an eye on it.
  • Despite being the tallest of the bunch, Jax Kerr’s dribble is strong. Elijah’s is (sorry for the pun) the Strong-est of the group. More smoothness from Jamo. Michaeli is solid. 
    • Kerr did have some smooth passing in a team offense drill, snapping crisp passes to Sharma in the corner. We’ll have to ask how much he took from a year full of Avila tutelage.
    • Speaking of dribbling, Thames crossovers might be even deadlier than before.
      • (I’m probably thinking about his shot too much…)
• One of the more fascinating aspects of the practice is that every player was wearing either a black or white wrap on their left forearm. That’s where a sensor was to help track their sweat. Those numbers, which required players to check in whenever they drank a Gatorade during the practice, would be used to track the players sodium and hydration levels. This then allows the Billikens to dial in player-by-player hydration plans based on how much a player sweats and the nutrients their body needs.
  • This did mean players having to regularly run off during drills when the wraps would fall off.
• This day has a light atmosphere overall, what with the games of tag, but it was helped out but the assistant coaches being VERY ready to hype up any managers who pulled off stops against the Billikens in the solo drills. Every block was celebrated. Every steal was championed as loud as Coach Gray could yell.
• Cam Hutson is the player no one is talking enough about. His defense in practices was already impressive as a freshman last season and his three-point shot looks even more solid. He’s a 3-and-D dream. 
  • It’s not just fundamentals either, Hudson’s got some hops & almost pulled what would have been an insane one pump dunk on the baseline
• Kellen Thames put on a show through most of the drills, knocking down shots from corners and putting together a mini-dunk show
• Was he showing out for a crowd? The Billikens continue to open the doors to potential recruits, fans and, one has to assume, NIL boosters and Thursday had another solid group on the sidelines.
• Freshman Yousaf Ahmad, the 6’7 point guard out of Toronto, was running and riding the back off to the side
• Thames did not reach his predicted 43+ inch vertical during testing. BUT, I was told that most early summer measurements are underwhelming because of the time off and the Billikens staff are confident he’ll get at least 43 once he’s fully geared for the season.
• Two more quick notes following up from our Week 1 notebook: They see Jax Kerr, who went from 198 to 220 over the last year, having a frame that best holds around 230 lbs. Badara Diakite, who doesn’t have the shoulder width of Kerr, will probably max out closer to 215.

• OH, I would be remiss and in great trouble if I failed to mention that Josh Schertz went 3-3 from deep during Tuesday’s practice. I believe he then had a finger injured by an errant pass. It’s tough out there for the most wanted college coach in America…

The Billikens will practice & hold a media availability on Wednesday afternoon and then the summer’s first open practice from 5-7PM on Thursday. Players and coaches will gather for a fan meet-and-greet afterwards. 

Following more Billikens updates from Matthew Rocchio on X @RoccSTLreal