philliken Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I was thinking last night about how much I was hopeful for when Majerus was announced as our coach. My first thought was that we were almost assured to go to the Dance in a few years. I hoped to be ranked nationally, and make a consistent run to make the tournament perennially. I thought a Sweet Sixteen was more than possible; and had a pipe-dream that we could reach the Elite 8 at some point. Fast forward years later, and while we haven't reached the Sweet Sixteen; we are close to being a top-ten team, and are looking at our third straight invite. It's amazing to think that before Rickma, we would have killed for a 13-seed at large bid (or hope for 4 W's in Atlantic City). Now we're sitting here talking about the longest winning streak in Bills history, best record to start a season, and the possibilities are endless. My expectations have already been surpassed. I know most of us are true homers; but what were your honest expectations several years ago? ---------------- For right now, it's actually not hard being a Bills fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenLaw Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 My expectations were pretty much what's going on now. Majerus's first year at SLU was also my freshman year, and I honestly expected the success would materialize sooner (while I was still in undergrad, at least by my senior year). Unfortunately my senior year was also the year that our star players were suspended for their roles in the rape of a student. As it turns out, I'm still a law student and so I do get to enjoy their success now as a student, sort of. So that's pretty cool. I just hope Coach Crews has what it takes to continue the momentum once Majerus's recruits all leave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Tournament. period. Not a sweet sixteen. Elite eight and beyond a pipe dream (we're talking crack and peyote not just weed.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 For most future recruits, they're not going to know RM built this foundation for our success. They'll associate with JC, a recent national coach of the year honoree. I think JC will do fine. I like our frosh. Like the AY transfer. Not sure about our incoming class since I've only see one of them play for just a few minutes. I do think having CC on his staff will help in Big10 country, especially Indiana. Sure would like to see CE and BC bring some young Aussie talent to his attention and help convince them SLU's where you want to be. Obviously, a big boost would come from getting in the Beast, although I think the A-10's a stronger conference this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlarry Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 My expectations....when the national championship. Then blast the Miami Heat in an after tourney scrimmage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenfan05 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 My expectations were pretty much what's going on now. Majerus's first year at SLU was also my freshman year, and I honestly expected the success would materialize sooner (while I was still in undergrad, at least by my senior year). Unfortunately my senior year was also the year that our star players were suspended for their roles in the rape of a student. As it turns out, I'm still a law student and so I do get to enjoy their success now as a student, sort of. So that's pretty cool. I just hope Coach Crews has what it takes to continue the momentum once Majerus's recruits all leave. Alleged... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenLaw Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Alleged... Yeah, I think you used to have, in your signature, something about not beating dead horses, so I'm going to stay true to that and not take this bait. I have my own understanding of what happened that night and how it was handled, as I'm sure you have yours, and there's really no reason to bring it all up again at this point. All I will say generally is that attitudes about rape in our culture, especially on college campuses and also with respect to law enforcement, are definitely not where they need to be. But back to what our expectations were when Rick Majerus was hired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Yeah, I think you used to have, in your signature, something about not beating dead horses, so I'm going to stay true to that and not take this bait. I have my own understanding of what happened that night and how it was handled, as I'm sure you have yours, and there's really no reason to bring it all up again at this point. All I will say generally is that attitudes about rape in our culture, especially on college campuses and also with respect to law enforcement, are definitely not where they need to be. But back to what our expectations were when Rick Majerus was hired. Give me a freaking break. Particularly the part about not taking the bait since you brought the whole subject up in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills By 40 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 My expectations....when the national championship. Then blast the Miami Heat in an after tourney scrimmage Typo aside, +100. Lebron James<Dwayne Evans. Chris Bosh<Rob Loe. Dwayne Wade<Jordair Jett. Ray Allen<Joey LePak. Bills by 20 in a thrashing in South Beach. Lebron fouls out in first quarter and commits four lane violations on DE free throws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 RM pretty much did what I thought he would do. If not for the situation, we'd be looking at our 4th straight trip to the Dance. Also, Willie's academic failings prevented the program from reaching even greater heights. I really think one of the greatest things RM did for the program was navigating it through the situation. He wasn't happy with the ruling, so it would have been easy for him to bail on the school. He hung in there and became committed to developing the freshman class of (RL, MM, JJ and DE) during his only losing season. That year, he was also his most active with the local media, telling anybody who would have him on the air, that this young team was going to be special. He told the fans to stick with them and they would be rewarded. We certainly have. I had a lot of respect for Spoon, but it should now be clear to all that RM is the greatest Billiken coach in the modern era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM28 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 When he was first hired I thought he could replicate his sustained success at Utah, though maybe without the highest peak. I expected Rick to leave and the program to come back down to earth. Pulling Crews out of his retirement was a beautiful last staff move by Rick to leave the program in good hands. The staff now has a nice look to it. JC and Platt as the old dogs, Bronson as the young up and comer, and Cheaney tops it off nicely. Actually having multiple grad assistant/video coordinator positions was long overdue and I am glad Rick/Crews got that done. It will be interesting to see what happens next season and beyond, but I will worry about that in June. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayne's_World Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 It's interesting that RM knew that his poor health would prevent him from continuing to coach, and that he specifically picked Crews to take over. He had an eye for finding diamonds in the rough in terms of recruits, and I think he knew Crews was one of the best underrated college coaches out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenLaw Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 RM pretty much did what I thought he would do. If not for the situation, we'd be looking at our 4th straight trip to the Dance. Also, Willie's academic failings prevented the program from reaching even greater heights. I really think one of the greatest things RM did for the program was navigating it through the situation. He wasn't happy with the ruling, so it would have been easy for him to bail on the school. He hung in there and became committed to developing the freshman class of (RL, MM, JJ and DE) during his only losing season. That year, he was also his most active with the local media, telling anybody who would have him on the air, that this young team was going to be special. He told the fans to stick with them and they would be rewarded. We certainly have. I had a lot of respect for Spoon, but it should now be clear to all that RM is the greatest Billiken coach in the modern era. Agreed, he definitely deserves credit for coaching through the scandal and developing the guys that are seniors now. Especially considering his deteriorating health at the time. No doubt he is the best coach of the modern era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 It's interesting that RM knew that his poor health would prevent him from continuing to coach, and that he specifically picked Crews to take over. He had an eye for finding diamonds in the rough in terms of recruits, and I think he knew Crews was one of the best underrated college coaches out there. I recall several years ago in a radio interview, they asked RM something along the lines of what other coaches did he really respect. He said that if he ever had an opening on his staff, he would contact Jim Crews. When Moser left, sure enough Majerus contacted Crews, but got turned down before settling on Whitesell. Then when another opening came up, Majerus contacted Crews again... and of course the rest is history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills By 40 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 My favorite was against the Sparties in Columbus two years back. We were playing a team much better than ourselves yet we were able to hang in the game despite a horrid shooting percentage. RM made Tom Izzo look like an amateur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeSmetBilliken Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I think I expected consistent NCAA appearances when we hired Majerus, but thought they would come sooner. I didn't realize how wide the gap was from where we were in 2007 to where we needed to be in order to get to that NCAA tournament and Top 25 level. Now I'm just hoping that the next generation of SLU players can continue this, as I really don't want to go back to the level of 2007 and before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 My expectations were for us to be a tourney team consistently and every so often make a sweet 16. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 My expectations were pretty much what's going on now. Majerus's first year at SLU was also my freshman year, and I honestly expected the success would materialize sooner (while I was still in undergrad, at least by my senior year). Unfortunately my senior year was also the year that our star players were suspended for their roles in the rape of a student. As it turns out, I'm still a law student and so I do get to enjoy their success now as a student, sort of. So that's pretty cool. I just hope Coach Crews has what it takes to continue the momentum once Majerus's recruits all leave. Get your facts straight - no rape took place. It was only alleged and never proven by evidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Could we just delete this BS and maybe the latest Billikenlaw troll? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I was hoping we would be a Dance squad every 7 out of 10 years. I fully expected Majerus to come in and do what he did but once that was accomplished, then the questions would come. Those questions, for me, always revolved around sustainability. I never really knew how long Rick would last but figured, eventually, there would be a falling out because this IS Saint Louis University. Something would happen. Not so much "the situation" but more with Biondi and the powers-that-be. I would offer that guy still doesn't get IT in terms of athletics. And the falling had started. The bickering over charters. Spending dollars to recruit ANZUS. The geography of the conference. Biondi's lack of NCAA attendance. Rich without a contract extension. Just small warning cracks. Frankly, I thought he'd walk aftere his contract expired --- I came into the den of the beast, raised it up to its highest levels, and left, personal legacy intact and quite possibly elevated even higher. Who would sustain that was my question and my greatest fear. He wasn't going to be here forever (and that was no slight on the facts of the matter as they have since played out). How woudl we continue? I though tjensen, bu tthen Al left. I didn't like Crews and am still leaving the jury box open. But there was no real other option after what he did last year. But the future remains clouded, framed by the questions in Athlon's: "Crews' recruits will have to carry on. Can they? Only time will tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgeldmacher Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Yeah, I think you used to have, in your signature, something about not beating dead horses, so I'm going to stay true to that and not take this bait. I have my own understanding of what happened that night and how it was handled, as I'm sure you have yours, and there's really no reason to bring it all up again at this point. All I will say generally is that attitudes about rape in our culture, especially on college campuses and also with respect to law enforcement, are definitely not where they need to be. But back to what our expectations were when Rick Majerus was hired. As a law school grad myself, I'm a bit disappointed that you were prepared to assign a label such as "rape" based upon your own "understanding of what happened that night." I also have an "understanding" about what happened that night which is, like your opinion, based upon what I have heard from other people and not at all based upon what I know for a fact to be true. Because my understanding of what happened that night is not reliable as it is based upon many levels of hearsay, I don't use terms like "rape" or "innocent" when bringing up that incident, which I try not to do if possible. I strongly suggest that in the future, you use the same level of discretion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slubilliken09 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Speaking of expectations after the Majerus hire... I was expecting us to be a mainstay in the top 30-40 and in the top 2 teams of the A10. Just thinking back to being excited about our presence in the finals of the CBI (against VCU, no less) is funny. I don't think I expected us to have such success that we have had. A 4 seed last year? 13th ranked this year? Making the dance for 2 straight years and hopefully a third? All great things that have exceeded my expectations. Go bills. RIP Coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmith19 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 He was hired right before my first year of law school. All I hoped for then was to get back to the tournament and maybe even a national ranking. It took a couple years longer than I was hoping, but he delivered on my expectations and then some even in spite of him having to leave the team before his contract was up. I didn't start even thinking about Elite 8 or anything more until we hung with Michigan State that first year. After that game, anything started to seem possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NextYearBill Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 honestly, we are where I thought we would be. but I had HIGH expectations.... literally and figuratively Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicCityBilliken Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I recall a radio interview his 1st year and he admitted it would take 5 years to turn the program and culture around. He said he did not want any one and done type players. Rather looked at players attitude and willingness to adjust to his system that we are witnessing now. Gave the example of Kyle Cassidy and how he recruited him, maybe not the best example. Also mentioned Herb Sendek of Az State, that he had initial success when arrived only to have it peter-out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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