Starting 5 All-Time Billiken Killers

[papal]

Disagree in part about Buddy Brehmer.  Agree he was a terrible coach.  I was a sports report for U. Newspaper when Brehmer came on board.  He did more to hurt program than even Ecker.  Bobby Cole, Rich Niemann, Barry Orms, Rich Parks, John Kilo were all recruited by John Bennington.  Our freshman recruiting class under Brehmer consisted of the following: Vince Clarke, Randy Keys,Len Menconi,Danny Suess, John Grandone,John Stanton,Jerry Jung,Dale Cashon,Dave George,Jerry Goodin,and Tom Thomas.  He did recruit Joe Wiley and Jim Irving later on.  We went from a nationally ranked team under John Bennington to the bottom of the pack in the Mo Valley

[Quality Is Job 1]

23 minutes ago, papal said:

Disagree in part about Buddy Brehmer.  Agree he was a terrible coach.  I was a sports report for U. Newspaper when Brehmer came on board.  He did more to hurt program than even Ecker.  Bobby Cole, Rich Niemann, Barry Orms, Rich Parks, John Kilo were all recruited by John Bennington.  Our freshman recruiting class under Brehmer consisted of the following: Vince Clarke, Randy Keys,Len Menconi,Danny Suess, John Grandone,John Stanton,Jerry Jung,Dale Cashon,Dave George,Jerry Goodin,and Tom Thomas.  He did recruit Joe Wiley and Jim Irving later on.  We went from a nationally ranked team under John Bennington to the bottom of the pack in the Mo Valley

Though I recognize that this is a departure from the original topic, I'm curious about this, @papal.  I figure that was when freshmen were ineligible, but they had a freshman team that played a limited schedule against other freshman teams and maybe some junior colleges (I guess).  I think I've seen where Lew Alcindor's freshman team at UCLA beat the "varsity."  So my question is, Did all of the freshman team get scholarships, and how many were there on a team?  Following up, Was there a limit on the number of total scholarships back then, encompassing both the varsity and freshman squads, and were the freshmen basically trying out to make the varsity as sophomores?  How did it work?

[papal]

I believe freshmen did receive scholarships, but they may have been partial.  I am not sure about limit on total scholarships.  Freshman were trying to make varsity as sophomores; but for some, like Harry Rogers, it was a given;  As mentioned above (without trying to offend the names listed), Buddy Brehmer did an awful job of recruiting(the freshman team was all white with one exception). He was either partial to one race or could not judge talent.  There was no one from the Public High League(which was loaded with top-notch talent) in his first recruiting class

[MusicCityBilliken]

49 minutes ago, papal said:

I believe freshmen did receive scholarships, but they may have been partial.  I am not sure about limit on total scholarships.  Freshman were trying to make varsity as sophomores; but for some, like Harry Rogers, it was a given;  As mentioned above (without trying to offend the names listed), Buddy Brehmer did an awful job of recruiting(the freshman team was all white with one exception). He was either partial to one race or could not judge talent.  There was no one from the Public High League(which was loaded with top-notch talent) in his first recruiting class

As I recall, remember this is going back almost 50 years, they fired Buddy the end of the 68-69 season, hired Polk for the 69-70 which had a losing but promising season (used pick up the games on the radio even back East). The next season 70-71 (year I arrived at SLU) he turned the program around. I recall senior night against Bradley when we drew over 14.000 in the old Arena and made the trip to Bradley for that disappointing game with Louisville for the MVC crown. A lot of those players must have been Buddy recruits. Also, things were bad with Buddy but, I would say, not as bad as the Ekker situation when we came close to losing the program. 

I was close with several players that lived on my 3 Gries floor that freshman year and heard a lot of Buddy stories. You're right, he was quite a trip. The pluses for Polk was he was one of the best defensive coaches in basketball at the time but, the rap was, could not recruit.

Also, freshmen were given full scholarships, Dangos and Reis, who lived down the hall from me had them. But the Freshmen team had a lot of  walk-ons. 

[Bobby Metzinger]

Can we add a coaching staff of Pitino, Huggins, Calipari and Xavier assistant/"Real World Cincinnati" participant Mario Mercurio to that list?

Also, Huggins' assistant and current Ole Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy should be a no-brainer. I've never in my life seen a coach literally turn around and offer a squaring off venue to fans after the game until sitting behind the UC bench my freshman year at SLU doing S.I.D. intern work for Doug. I think it was the old Knights Inn in Bridgeton. Surprised Kennedy knew where that was.

Mercurio photo courtesy of XU.

 

[billikenfan05]

31 minutes ago, Bobby Metzinger said:

Can we add a coaching staff of Pitino, Huggins, Calipari and Xavier assistant/"Real World Cincinnati" participant Mario Mercurio to that list?

Also, Huggins' assistant and current Ole Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy should be a no-brainer. I've never in my life seen a coach literally turn around and offer a squaring off venue to fans after the game until sitting behind the UC bench my freshman year at SLU doing S.I.D. intern work for Doug. I think it was the old Knights Inn in Bridgeton. Surprised Kennedy knew where that was.

Mercurio photo courtesy of XU.

 

Mercurio is a class act. He's been able to laugh off his episode with the SLU flags. He's always taken the time to talk whenever I've seen him in St. Louis always reiterating a standing invitation to be his guest at an X game if I'm ever in Cincinnati 

[hsmith19]

If we're disqualifying guys who killed everybody, Micah Mason led the nation in three point shooting once or twice. He lit everybody up from outside too.

[Matty Light]

When I think of SLU killers, I always think of Melvin Levett of Cincinnati.  He seemed to always have a huge game, or at least hit a dagger 3-point shot to bury us.  I was glad when he finally graduated.  And wouldn't you know it, we finally beat the Bearcats the first season he wasn't on the team--there only loss of the season going into the NCAA tournament. for only their 3rd loss of the season going into the Big Dance.

[DeSmetBilliken]

On December 19, 2016 at 3:40 PM, Bobby Metzinger said:

Can we add a coaching staff of Pitino, Huggins, Calipari and Xavier assistant/"Real World Cincinnati" participant Mario Mercurio to that list?

Also, Huggins' assistant and current Ole Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy should be a no-brainer. I've never in my life seen a coach literally turn around and offer a squaring off venue to fans after the game until sitting behind the UC bench my freshman year at SLU doing S.I.D. intern work for Doug. I think it was the old Knights Inn in Bridgeton. Surprised Kennedy knew where that was.

Kennedy I think torched SLU as a player at UAB once or twice in the early 90s.

[slu72 fan]

Larkin nobody compares. 3 straight years he put a dagger in our hearts with the key play, be it a steal, assist, rebound or basket. I hate the thought of the guy. 

[OkieBilliken]

On ‎12‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 5:36 PM, slu72 fan said:

Larkin nobody compares. 3 straight years he put a dagger in our hearts with the key play, be it a steal, assist, rebound or basket. I hate the thought of the guy. 

Completely agree on Byron Larkin.   My first Billiken game I attended ever was spoiled by the 20+ points he put up.  It was Roland Gray/Monroe Douglass sophomore years I think.  We could just never beat Xavier those years until the very end. 

[pakapablo]

Blake Ahearn

[pakapablo]

Ron Baker - Wichita State

[Adman]

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