Favorite Memory as an Undergrad Here at SLU

[kcbilliken]

The class of 2010 is graduating later today. I know there are a ton of us that have frequented Bills games the last 4 years moving from the Far away place to our new home at the Chai. I think it would be cool for all posters not just the class of 2010 to share their own favorite memory of watching our team play when they went here. Great way to look back and remember fun times.

Mine is two-fold but very similar. The Mardi Gras game my junior year (2009) when we stormed the court was simply amazing to be a part of...second, was the Mardi Gras game this year...we really saw what this team was capable of as they took out Dayton again in a thriller. This game really proved that they were no longer "Billikids" and gave us all hope for the future.

The Lisch "Hand of God" almost comeback win vs. Xavier was amazing as well the 2008 season.

[joe_davola]

Good thread.

Mine was 1998 and it wasn't at home. It was the first round of the NCAA tournament in Atlanta. Didn't know what to expect when I got there because I had never been to a March madness game with SLU involved. The environment of having fans from other teams, being in a great city like Atlanta, made for a great and exciting time. We obviously won the game and it was just a great memory that I will never forget. Larry the Legend put the finishing touches on the victory by streaking down the middle of the lane and throwing it down with one hand, as the Billiken faithful (small but rowdy) went nuts.

[eastsidejoe]

Good thread.

Mine was 1998 and it wasn't at home. It was the first round of the NCAA tournament in Atlanta. Didn't know what to expect when I got there because I had never been to a March madness game with SLU involved. The environment of having fans from other teams, being in a great city like Atlanta, made for a great and exciting time. We obviously won the game and it was just a great memory that I will never forget. Larry the Legend put the finishing touches on the victory by streaking down the middle of the lane and throwing it down with one hand, as the Billiken faithful (small but rowdy) went nuts.

Davola, you forgot to talk about our preparation for Kentucky at the bar that night.

[bleedtheblue]

Great topic. I'd have to agree on the Lisch vs Xavier in '08. It was ridiculous. Id also have to say watching Lisch's last second game tier vs. richmond last year was pretty crazy. I was watching that game in the lounge in Fusz and everyone in there went absolutley nuts

[billiken_roy]

my favorite memory of billiken basketball while a student is tough since i was a student during the dark ages aka ron ekker days. those of you thinking billiken basketball was not good at any time over the last 20 years are clueless when you compare anything with grawer, spoon, romar soderberg or rickma to ekkertime.

The biggest positive was watching david burns. my gosh he was fast. i still say he was the quickest billiken i have ever witnessed.

as to one specific memory. we were playing the doctors of dunk from louisville who were going to win the national championship that year. i dont know exactly but we ended up losing the game by about 300 points. there were about 5 of us sitting in the student section (as usual) and maybe another 800 billiken fans in the entire checkerdome. everyone had a front row seat if they wanted one.

wiley brown was shooting a free throw. just as the ref handed brown the ball for the first free throw, one of my fellow students picked up his folding chair, held it over his head and charged the end line sceaming like a banshee warrior and cussing perfusely at wiley. air ball. i dont know what the kid's name was, but he should be the original blue crew hall of famer in my book. the rest of the game sucked as usual.

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

Davola, you forgot to talk about our preparation for Kentucky at the bar that night.

Eastsidehoe-

you're weak. Im heading to Joey Bs for lunch right now.

[normanorr]

My favorite game by far was the Xavier game at the Cintas Center in 09. Even though we got blown out, the 5 of us sat right behind the Billiken bench. Not only were we able to listen to all of Rick's comments throughout the game, the 5 of us we able to piss off the whole Xavier student sections. Just another reason why the Billikens fans are becoming the best in the A10: that kind of thing would never happen at the Chaifetz. Looking forward to next season and hopefully I can watch all the games online or on TV from back home.

[kevinfootes]

my favorite memory of billiken basketball while a student is tough since i was a student during the dark ages aka ron ekker days. those of you thinking billiken basketball was not good at any time over the last 20 years are clueless when you compare anything with grawer, spoon, romar soderberg or rickma to ekkertime.

The biggest positive was watching david burns. my gosh he was fast. i still say he was the quickest billiken i have ever witnessed.

as to one specific memory. we were playing the doctors of dunk from louisville who were going to win the national championship that year. i dont know exactly but we ended up losing the game by about 300 points. there were about 5 of us sitting in the student section (as usual) and maybe another 800 billiken fans in the entire checkerdome. everyone had a front row seat if they wanted one.

wiley brown was shooting a free throw. just as the ref handed brown the ball for the first free throw, one of my fellow students picked up his folding chair, held it over his head and charged the end line sceaming like a banshee warrior and cussing perfusely at wiley. air ball. i dont know what the kid's name was, but he should be the original blue crew hall of famer in my book. the rest of the game sucked as usual.

Your friend was screaming like a girl?

[eastsidejoe]

my favorite memory of billiken basketball while a student is tough since i was a student during the dark ages aka ron ekker days. those of you thinking billiken basketball was not good at any time over the last 20 years are clueless when you compare anything with grawer, spoon, romar soderberg or rickma to ekkertime.

The biggest positive was watching david burns. my gosh he was fast. i still say he was the quickest billiken i have ever witnessed.

as to one specific memory. we were playing the doctors of dunk from louisville who were going to win the national championship that year. i dont know exactly but we ended up losing the game by about 300 points. there were about 5 of us sitting in the student section (as usual) and maybe another 800 billiken fans in the entire checkerdome. everyone had a front row seat if they wanted one.

wiley brown was shooting a free throw. just as the ref handed brown the ball for the first free throw, one of my fellow students picked up his folding chair, held it over his head and charged the end line sceaming like a banshee warrior and cussing perfusely at wiley. air ball. i dont know what the kid's name was, but he should be the original blue crew hall of famer in my book. the rest of the game sucked as usual.

you are right about the ron ekker days. the absolute worst. the cheerleaders weren't bad though

[davidnark]

December 1993 -- the then-undefeated Billikens beat Carbondale at an unexpected sellout at the arena. The walk-up crowd was so big and unexpected, minutes before the game started they had to remove the giant SLU banners that covered the top sections behind the baskets. That team ended up opening the season 15-0 and making the NCAA tournament, but that Carbondale game was really the watershed moment when we all understood something special was taking place.

Early that season, the Billikens starting getting votes in the top 25 polls. I would cut the polls out of the paper each Monday and post them on my dorm room door. We crept as high as 16 in one of the polls that year.

[bonwich]

you are right about the ron ekker days. the absolute worst. the cheerleaders weren't bad though

I'm pretty sure at least two of those cheerleaders still have season tickets.

[eastsidejoe]

I'm pretty sure at least two of those cheerleaders still have season tickets.

wouldn't surprise me. they were big fans back then. my bad.

my favorite memory is playing at the old Kiel when we packed 10,000 into the place for a game, probably Louisville but not sure, I had carried my two sons into the game and i was concerned because the place was so loud and was rocking. my sons could not see the game. it was an awesome experience.

[DeSmetBilliken]

I have a few:

The win over #2 Louisville was during my freshman year. We had kept it close the entire game, but Louisville took a 7 point lead with 2:00 left. It looked over at that point. Amazingly, I think SLU went on a 8-0 run to win it in the final seconds on a runner in the lane by Marque Perry. That game started a winning streak that took us from being in position to miss the C-USA Tournament to having a First Round bye.

The win over Iowa in the first round of the NIT was my sophomore year. Iowa led basically the entire game, with the exceptions of 0-0, SLU tying it up in the final minute, and after Drejaj hit the buzzer beater 3 to win it. Chris Sloan could've very easily gotten called for a charge when he passed it out to Drejaj for the winner. There may have been some clock issue as well on that play, but who cares, we won.

I'll also throw in the 2004 C-USA Tournament, which happened the week before the win over Iowa. Since the tournament is single elimination, if the team wins the Band gets to stay, if the team loses the Band goes home the next morning. We won the first round game over Southern Mississippi, then had to play a talented Memphis team the next night who was probably expected to beat us. We won that one, and it was a great feeling in the final minutes knowing that we would get to stay for another day. Our drummer he had to find a music store in Cincinnati the next day so he could buy more drumsticks because he had gotten so excited during that game, leading him to break several drumsticks.

[jzstldc]

My favorite was the upsets of Kansas and Cincinnati in the 1998-99 season when I had 2nd row seats at Kiel.

Both the year with Hughes the year before and the 99-00 season with the upset of Cincinnati in the CUSA tournament are both close seconds.

[dlarry]

I have a few:

The win over #2 Louisville was during my freshman year. We had kept it close the entire game, but Louisville took a 7 point lead with 2:00 left. It looked over at that point. Amazingly, I think SLU went on a 8-0 run to win it in the final seconds on a runner in the lane by Marque Perry. That game started a winning streak that took us from being in position to miss the C-USA Tournament to having a First Round bye.

This was mine too. I was living in Cape then and didnt get to go to many games. I came home for that one and wasnt not disappointed.

The drive make to cape after the game and celebrating at bars probably want one of my better choices in life but I made it home and the Bills got a big W

[bills10]

Beating Dayton this year both times has to be my top two, with the home game winning out. I will not forget that game, or the dismay from all of my family members after that shot by KM. And then I loved the proof that we owned UD this year when we beat them readily at their own place as well.

[AlumniFan]

The win over #2 Louisville was during my freshman year. We had kept it close the entire game, but Louisville took a 7 point lead with 2:00 left. It looked over at that point. Amazingly, I think SLU went on a 8-0 run to win it in the final seconds on a runner in the lane by Marque Perry. That game started a winning streak that took us from being in position to miss the C-USA Tournament to having a First Round bye.

The win over Iowa in the first round of the NIT was my sophomore year. Iowa led basically the entire game, with the exceptions of 0-0, SLU tying it up in the final minute, and after Drejaj hit the buzzer beater 3 to win it. Chris Sloan could've very easily gotten called for a charge when he passed it out to Drejaj for the winner. There may have been some clock issue as well on that play, but who cares, we won.

I distinctly remember those two games. The Louisville game, which was at home, was one of the few home games in the past 20 years that I missed. I was sick and came home from work and just could not answer the bell to drive back down for the game. I remember telling my wife we would just watch the game on television because there was no chance we would win. STUPID!!!!

The Iowa game I watched at the bar in The Clevelander in South Beach. At the beginning, I was the only one watching the game at the beginning, but because of my yelling and screaming, by the end there were probably nearly 70, maybe even 100 people all screaming and yelling, cheering on the Billikens!!! What a great memory!

I cannot remember any favorite games from undergrad because that was back before they invented basketball...but still after Bonwich. My favorite memory would have been Larry Hughes' only game in Carbondale where he brought the team back from the brink with about 2:00 minutes left and down at least 12 points. Larry went on to score like 100 points and the Saluki fans walked out in stunned silence. That was a great game!

[thetorch]

The trip down to Atlanta as a freshman was legendary. Nothing topped that, Billiken wise, during my extended stay in college.

[MusicCityBilliken]

Favorite memory:

This is easy, had to be my freshman year (70-71), it was MVC co-champion year with Louisville and Drake. We had players like Irving and Rogers back then. To determine the champion we had to play in a play-off at Bradley. Our game was with Louisville. It was a great game. Down a lot most of game then the last we came alive and almost pulled it out. Our crowd was unbelieveable quite large and we made a lot noise in the old Robertson Field House.

[Box and Won]

Mine both came in the magical 93-94 season.

Early 1994, camping out in front of the Arena box office to get tickets for the Cincinnati game (we wouldn't have the option of getting student season tickets until the next season), which we won. Got a seat in the second row of the student section.

St. Patrick's Day 1994, Humphrey's opened early in the morning. Skipped class to meet up with friends and get a table. Watched the Billikens make their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 40 years. Awful game, but what a great day. A year earlier, I was in high school; instead, I was drunk at 10 in the morning, getting ready to watch my beloved Billikens in the Big Dance. Life was good.

[kmbilliken]

you are right about the ron ekker days. the absolute worst. the cheerleaders weren't bad though

I'm sure Coach Ekker would agree with you.

[Iggy]

How about when Bobby Cremins brought in the number one team in the nation? Marc Price, John Sally. We were up by a couple with just a minute or two to go before we folded. I think we lost by 5. I remember they gave out 'Wreck Tech' t-shirts. We sure gave them a scare.

A couple of those NIT games at the old Keil were pretty cool too. The place was rocking.

[waldo027]

Drejaj's 3 vs. Iowa and Ian Vouyoukus's tip-in at the buzzer vs. Mo State.

[BillikenROAR]

My favorite moment was when John Stamos came to the xavier game..

[FromDaEastSide]

Beating Cincinnati at home on Valentines Day in 1999 after losing to them every other time during the Undergrad Years.