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Gibson has made significant improvements year to year. 1. He has developed probably the fastest release in college basketball. He came in as spot up 3 point shooter. If I combine his medical redshirt freshman year and his following first full year, its 31 games. In those games he had 19 FT attempts, an indication that he rarely drove to the basket. One year later he had 95 FT attempts and last year he had 140. He made 121 FTs last year. Why because he added driving to the basket to his game. On offense he moves well without the ball, catches it well and puts the ball up from unbelievable angels under the basket. He didn't do any of that when he got here. He had 67, 2 pt attemps in the first 31 games, he had 184 last year. He had 24 assists in the first 31 games, he had 69 last year. His defense has also improved. In his first 31 games he had 1 blk, 4 stls and 45 RB, last year he had 7 blks, 22 stls and 95 RB. Gibson has done a tremendous amount and made big strides impoving his game, especially for a guy with average athletic ability. I dont just think he has made some improvements in his game, I think his work ethic and improvements are exemplary.

In the era of constant conference realignment, and the obvious desire for an invite to the Big East, I think it is tone deaf of the marketing department to tease announcements of anything that is not that as a BIG announcement. To me it wreaks of a small time program when you try and over-hype an apparel deal as "big," and makes your fanbase begin to to tune you out when you actually want fans to "tune in" when the announcement is made

No surprise. He's a junior, has played in less than 10 games so can't he redshirt and maintain his 2 years of eligibility? Amari McCottry is the better player IMO and was taking his minutes. Good move for Hughes Jr ..... not too great for the team. He wants to play and that's not happening at SLU in all likelihood.

Jimerson is at 1892. Claggett is at 1910. If Jimerson continues his hot start he will pass Claggs in the next game. While Jimerson has played 6 seasons, he is only at 135 games played. Douglas played 128 games, Gray 129, and Bonner 133 to set their records. Jimerson is only slightly ahead in those categories. No need for an asterisk next to Gibson's name.

i dont know why the mbm's turned on his defense. imo he was still the best defensive guard we had. no one doubled better than he did as last season. he led the team in steals last year when he got the opportunity to play more after yuri graduated. other than medley and meadows he led the team in assists even though he had limited minutes playing point guard. we all knew that schertz doesnt employ a traditional point guard. the majority of offensive possessions Avila is more or less the point guard. we have seen swope's mediocre at best decision making so he wasnt a point guard either imo (one hell of a scorer though. i think he is a fabulous addition) so it has befuddled me why schertz didnt give him more time. you all can say he wasnt producing, but anyone that has ever played basketball at any level knows how much stress and pressure it puts on a player when they lose their spot and are faced with trying to win that time back. truth is he regressed in those efforts, and my guess is a family decision was made to look for a new opportunity elsewhere. those thinking he is lindenwood bound i think are way off base. i dont think he is duke or kentucky bound, but he will find a home. and it wouldnt surprise me we end up with some regrets in a couple of years. good luck Larry. I for one wish you were still a billiken.

SLU has a transfer commitment from Emma Parker, a 2024 goalkeeper from the University of Arkansas. Emma emerged as the number 2 (out of 4) keeper on a team that was ranked number 1 in the country at times this season. She played in 4 games. Arkansas was a Sweet 16 team this season that lost to Stanford in PK’s, after a 1-1 2OT game. Emma played club soccer primarily for the SLSG 05 team with fellow Billikens Jordan Gary, Autumn Jackson, and Lucie Schwartz. They were 4 time qualifiers for the ECNL Champions League Playoffs. Emma also played her final season with the 06 SLSG team that was 2 time ECNL National Champions. On the SLSG 06 team, she played with Billiken Audrey Smith and future Billiken Ava Rademeyer. Emma played one season of high school soccer before playing Spring Soccer for the SLSG Super Cup team that included few additional incoming Billikens. A 6’1, multi sport athlete, Emma played volleyball, and, she ran track while at Eureka High School. She was a State track qualifier in the 100 and 200 meters. Emma was also a 4 time All State high school golfer. SLU now has 3 goalkeepers for their 2025 roster, which is a typical amount.

There is no right and no wrong here. We had unrealistic expectations about what is de facto a brand new team that has not gelled together yet. 8 games or not, we still have a way to go before we are a team playing like a team. What we have to do is to eliminate all the dreams of sweet sixteen play and the like. This year the very best we can do is to win the A10 tournament and perhaps a game or two IF we go to the dance. At this time this looks like a difficult dream to achieve.

Quinnipiac should be the Pollsters, rather than the Bobcats.

Not even close, mrjoelabs, there are at least 5 or 6 teams that are worse than Chi St. In fact, a good case could be made that Chi State is the best 0-11 team in D1.

The exorcised demon left the boy's body and immediately headed to West Pine Gym to possess the SLU men's basketball program.

Here’s some good news- The A10 is #6 in Conference NET and tops among non-Power 5 conferences.

And if my aunt had balls she be my uncle

I don’t think I’m as discouraged as most. The offensive was absolutely humming. Big 3 combined for 73. We won on the glass. They got irrationally hot in the 2H. 63% from 3 on the road? Ok.

Fingers crossed that is code for explosive diarrhea

USC 4 SLU 3 OT Plays and sequences that stood out in the game. It’s always fun to compare pregame scout with post game analysis. The game was as expected from both teams. USC’s unique version of a 4-3-3 vs SLU’s 4-2-3-1. USC started 10 Seniors, 2 of which were grad transfers. Their only wrinkle was the non Senior. Instead of Gonzalez or McDougal, they went with Freshmen Derrien as their lone defensive midfielder, and they moved Farmer back to center back next to Courtnall. Farmer gave them an experienced reliable defender and Derrien gave them more offense from the defensive midfield position. 2 routine late first half wing forward subs and that was it for USC the entire game. SLU also shortened its bench a bit as expected for the game. Former National Champion USC coach Keidane McAlpine recruited half of USC’s starters. He took the Georgia HC position a few years ago to be closer to his former Birmingham home. Alukonis added the experienced transfers as well as some younger depth/future stars. 9th minute, USC had a 7 pass sequence from a left side throw in, Jackson, Sampaio, Derrien,, Algoa, Griffiin, Hayes, Derrien, to Colbert running onto a ball edge of the box. Puricelli came out but she bobbled it on the slide. Ensuing scramble was Colbert to Derrien, to Griffin who slotted a through ball to Jackson cutting. Jackson stopped her run and turned and took a left footed shot off of the post from 10 yards. Typical USC type of sequence. 0-0 11th minute, a 4 pass USC sequence and goal. Sampaio, Jackson, Alagoa, Colbert, SLU had 6 defenders but Colbert squared it to Hayes top of the box who was trailing the entire play. She ran onto it in full stride, cut right and she hit a perfect shot through Heckel’s legs far post corner. Puricelli was screened and deep near post. SLU was defending cutters in the 18, and they gave Hayes just a step for a quick shot that needed to be blocked. Talked about Hayes pregame as the Texas A&M transfer who is USC’s most prolific nature scorer and shot taker.0-1. After the USC goal, SLU started doing a better job jumping passing lanes. But USC’s pace at outside forward was given SLU some challenges at times (Colbert was getting a few diagonal balls chipped in space) Lots of tests for Schreiber who did well overall. (Luebbert who splits time there has had a long term injury since the A10 semifinals) Eva has had to go the full 90 for a while. 25th minute, nice sequence for SLU winning midfield 50/50 aerial duels, Le up to Simon back to Schwartz up to Larson squared to Gaebe whose through ball inside the 18 for Simon was cleared last second by Farmer. Moving Farmer to CB was helpful at times for USC. 28th minute. 9 pass USC sequence. Courtnall, Griffin, Farmer, Courtnall, Derrien, Harris, Sampaio Hayes, Jackson. But Hayes was offsides on front. 33rd minute: Heckel, Schwartz, Heckel, Schreiber, to Larson who made a long diagonal run through the middle of the USC defense. Larson got past Derrien and Courtnall. Left footed shot from 18 was well struck but at the head of Gladu. Anywhere else and it’s 1-1. But Hannah would get another chance and bury it later. 35th minute Sawyer played an aerial ball edge of the box for Gaebe to Larson to Simon to Gaebe, but her shot was blocked by Courtnall from 10 yards. After more sustained SLU pressure, USC countered with Hayes up the left wing. Diagonal ball to George was well defended by Schreiber as was her through ball to Hayes (Heckel). Late first half rest subs for USC’s burners on the outside.(Colbert and Jackson) made those plays easier to defend. Then Hayes sat for the final 8 minutes. Those attacking forwards weren’t subbed out again all game for USC. ……………… 44th minute Sawyer won a 50/50 ball at midfield to Larson. Larson’s downhill run was cleared to Schwartz who placed it left side of the box to Howard. She made a quick cut back on Griffin and Farmer and she tried to bend a 20 yard shot into the top far corner. (She did this often as a youth player). Gladu back pedaled and she got a hand on it tipped off of the cross bar straight down. Gaebe beat Courtnall for the tap in goal but Gladu was somehow able to get a foot on it while lying on the ground to flick it just enough to prevent Gaebe’s goal. …………….. Halftime …………….. 47th minute. Harris, Alagoa, Sampaio, to Jackson diagonally. Left edge of the box with Houck, near post routine upper 90 save for Puricelli. ……………. 48th minute. Simon won a foul on a 50/50 aerial duel with Derrien. Houck free kick flicked on by Heckel for Gaebe was too far across the end line. 48th minute. SLU pressure forced a turnover, Schwartz to Gaebe, who flicked it in behind for Simon but Farmer cleared it away. Another turnover forced by Sawyer to Simon back to Sawyer in behind was scooped up by Gladu. Same sequence, Sawyer’s pressure bothered Harris, and Larson’s pressure bothered Farmer’s who received a squared pass from Harris. Larson steal and left footed shot from 18, upper near 90. 1-1 game. Again Farmer moved back to center back for the game. 50rh minute after a few minutes of additional pressure and forced turnovers by SLU, Sawyer placed a long target pass to Gaebe, Her through ball to Larson and Simon was cleared by Farmer. 52nd minute Schreiber long pass up the line to Gaebe in the corner. 1v1 with Courtnall. Good help from Greiffin getting back to knock it away before Gaebe could shoot or find Sawyer who was open cutting in right side of the box. 54th minute. Another forced turnover Houck on Jackson, who squared Gaebe. Emily turned, beat Derrien but her low far corner shot from 20 was wide just beyond the post. 56th minute. Sampaio wide to Jackson who made an end to end run in space. Her cross for Hayes was defended by Heckel. Foul on Heckel. Bad call there. Sampaio’s 25 yard free kick hit the bottom of the post and grabbed by Puricelli. No rebound. Colbert was unmarked as a runner standing on the doorstep. And Jacksom got around Sawyer. This will be important later as USC scored on a rebound. Mentioned pregame that Sampaio is a dangerous set piece taker. She scored from distance to defeat Penn State in the final minute. 57th minute. Houck drew a foul from Jackson in a midfield aerial duel. Heckel another flick on for Larson and Gaebe over the end line. Elise Le jumped a Harris pass to Sampaio, and she took it to the 18, cross for Larson middle of the 18 was knocked away by Derrien. After more SLU pressure. Colbert wide, played a long diagonal ball over the top for Jackson in behind the defense. Puricelli came out to clear. Jackson a late knee to the inside of Emily’s knee. Yellow for Jackson. Emily exited the game. 59th minute. Nimu long ball down the middle found Simon. She chipped Larson in space 1v1 with Courtnall. She got around Courtnall and she played it back to Simon inside the 18. Julia chipped it just beyond Gaebe at the 6. 62nd minute. Colbert won a 50/50 ball wide. She played it up the line to Alagoa. Her middle of the 18 cross made it past the first runner in for Jackson but Nimu made a nice diving save on the cross. But she couldn’t hang on to it. Loose ball pinballed to Hayes from 20. She chipped it over Karani off of the post. Jackson beat 3 SLU defenders to the ball for the tap in as SLU was caught ball watching. Nimu was caught standing beyond the 6. If she had made it back another yard she catches the first shot. It was a hustle play by Hayes who tipped it away from Nimu to Sampaio who played it back to Hayes. SLU defenders were slow to get in position to clear. 1-2 against the run of play. 64th minute Gaebe won a corner v Courtnall because Gaebe wins corners. Houck service was headed out by Farmer to Sawyer edge of the 18. One time Hannah volley shot was tipped in by Stram who got around Harris in front of Gladu. Mentioned pregame that Gladu like to stay back in those situations. 2-2 67th minute. Colbert wide pass other side to Harris up to Jackson on the wing. She turned inside and she made a long diagonal run in space. Shot from 18 was wide. Too much cushion in transition. Nimu did a good job coming out and cutting the angle to force it just wide. 68th minute. Colbert and Alagoa combo play to Colbert in the corner with pace. Her low service for Hayes was knocked away by a sliding Stram saving a possible goal inside the 6. 71st minute. Sampaio combination play with Jackson back to Sampaio. She turned and she elbowed Larson in the nose. foul called. Yellow Card given. That knock bothered Larson the rest of the game. Howard won a 50/50 ball to Gaebe 1v1 with Farmer. Gaebe shot blocked for a corner. Houck service punched out by Gladu headed back in by Le. loose ball high shot by Schwartz save Gladu 75th minute. Off of a throw in, Sampaio placed a through ball inside the 18 for a cutting Colbert but Nimu was super quick to come forward and slide and cover it. Many keepers wouldn’t have gotten to that with the speedy Colbert. 77th minute. Gaebe won a 50/50 ball with Farmer middle of the field, headed 3 v1 on Courtnall with Larson and Simon, but Farmer poked it away from behind while on the ground. 78th minute. Colbert to Alagoa and her service to a cutting Hayes was knocked away by a sliding Houck. 79th minute. Gaebe flattened Courtnall running into a Simon pass in space. They battled all game. Then Simon stripped Courtnall from behind to Gaebe who found Sawyer 1v1 with Farmer but Farmer was able to knock it away as Sawyer was cutting inside the 18 all alone. Farmer saved a goal there. Loose ball Alagoa diagonally to Jackson in space but Nimu came out again and she knocked it away 20 yards from goal. Alagoa had a good look from 20 yards after a long ball to Cortland. 85th minute Nimu came out again edge of the 18 to make a sliding play after a Jackson flick on header for Alagoa in behind the defense. Hexkel was injured on the play in an aerial duel with Hayes. She had to come out of the game. The next minute Colbert was able to get past Schreiber wide and provide service to Sampaio. She controlled top of the box to Alagoa wide. Alagoa chipped it over Schreiber for Colbert behind the defense from 25 yards. Colbert settled and shot it 2 touch into the near corner for a goal. Colbert left early and she was clearly offsides even beyond the central defenders away from the ball. VAR review and the goal stayed. 87th minute. 2-3 88th minute Hope Kim won a foul from Jackson. Houck set piece headed by Larson to Stram whose left footed shot found the far post corner. 3-3. 89th minute. Courtnall long ball to Jackson in behind Houck and Heckel. but Jackson had a touch that sent it wide and she slipped on the turf after that. Nimu was well in position for a save there. 93rd minute, Sampaio diagonal ball over the top for Jackson who ran into the 18. Shot blocked by Stram on the run as the last line of defense. 94th minute. Long Larson run through the USC defense. One last player to beat was Courtnall for a walk in goal but Courtnall was able to knock it away as Hannah cut back with wide open space. Saved the game for USC there. Larson steal, played it up to Sawyer wide, long shot wide near post. 98th minute. USC throw in front of SLU’s bench. Schwartz and Heckel marked Hayes 35 yards from goal from behind. But Hayes was able to maintain possession and make a short give and go with Colbert who was marked by Schreiber. Hayes cut into the 18. She was fouled by Stram for the PK. 3-4 OT Final. The PK call is a tough one there. I have long been for a rule change about non goal prevention fouls inside the 18 being outside of the 18 free kicks. PK’s are for goal prevention. Sophia was trying to use her shoulder but she wasn’t in front enough of Hayes and her arm was extended 50/50 call there. If she had kept her arm down and just used her shoulder to knock her down it wouldn’t have been a PK. Even with that I wouldn’t have called a PK there. It would have been a poor angle shot or service to a cutting Jackson who was marked well by Houck. Stram saved 2 other likely goals in the game and she scored 2 goals. There are tons of plays in a game that define a 98 minute game, not just one play in OT. Nimu guessed the correct way but she went low and the shot was a no chance upper 90.

One of these years this program is going to break through and make a final four. Thought we would be getting more respect from the Tournament committee by this time. We were much better than an 8 seed. Eventually we will get that respect and we will make a breakthrough final four appearance.

Another way to think about it, she scored two goals so without her we would have never been in OT. That is a LOT to process for for a single player in her final game.

Nothing will change until we fire Chris May. Not sure how it's not obvious to everyone.

My 3 trial gifts are now gone. Stu is doing great work and I hope he gets enough subscribers to continue his coverage. We've complained for years about the amount of coverage, we have this site, now we have a podcast, a dedicated Substack (professional journalist), part time SLU enthusiast writing on A10 sites and various other coverage. So it's incumbent on us hard core fans to support those doing good work providing insight on the team we love. So post, subscribe, buy pickles/salsa and keep the Billiken momentum going.

Yeah, so it started around 2016(?) with one of the drummers finding a hubcap on the side of the road during a women's tournament trip to Richmond and bringing it back home. Eventually, he started using it as a free-throw distraction from behind the drums as kind of a one-off. He graduated in 2017 and the drummer you're all familiar with took up the mantle and started using it during games. We kept finding discarded hubcaps on tournament trips and the collection grew. Around 2019 and through the pandemic, people in the band would just find and donate hubcaps they found. The collection grew large enough that for the last few years, most of the front of the band have been using the hubcaps to distract opposing players during free-throws. It has about a 50% success rate with no basis in statistical reality, lol.

Who cares? The corollary would be that since they beat us by 7 or 8, we suck too. I'd prefer to look at it as we lost on a neutral court, with our trigger big man out with ice on his ankle, as we try to put an entire new team together and gelling come the conference schedule. That's the one true goal here. Focus anywhere else seems immaterial at this point.

Santa Clara is not a bad team ...they are a B- team as they were when we played them. B- is not going to be good enough for post season play but that doesn't make them bad. A loss to ASU is not damaging because the Sun Devils are rated as a B team. The loss to ND St is one that will keep them from going to post season play but that one loss doesn't make SC a bad team. This thread reminds me of GDTs ...When we miss the first shot of the game we are the worst team in D1 and when we make the 2nd shot we are Dancing. Long way to go.

Sure. This obviously seems to be on Chris May

Time for a review. In the past I have done a preseason review. I have decided to pass on that because CBB has changed. Between NIL and the Portal there is just to much change in regards to player movement to have any chance at forecasting anything before the season starts. For The Bills, the addition of a new coach on top of almost a brand new team creates a lot of turmoil. One of the effects of big change is inconsistency. The Bills are seeing that in spades. A team that has shot over 60% from the arc in 1 game down to below 20% in another. A team that was 13th ITN in FT shooting suddenly can't get to 40%....Inconsistency...brought about by massive change. A schedule and players added at the last minute because we are in coach transition ...more change...more turmoil...more inconsistency. The good news is that while there will be change in the following years it will be more controlled if for no other reason than we will have more time to get players and build a schedule. Now is a good time to probably discuss expectations. Change always brings excitement and hope until the season starts. Then stuff happens. Let's look at some numbers from Coach Schertz. ..................Lincoln Mem U..........Ind St U...........SLU 1st yr.............14-14.......................11-20................6-3 (so far) 2nd yr...........20-10......................23-13.................? 3rd yr............27-2........................32-7...................? Strange but impressive numbers.... There are those on this Board who are ready to move on from Schertz. If history is any guide then that would be a mistake. It takes time for Coach to work his magic. Judging by GDTs and posting in general, patience is not a virtue of this Board. Should we give the Coach more time? Yes.....How much ?..more than 1 year to see results....3 years to see great results. Is this a lost year? No We could still see good things this year if we get some players back and stay healthy. Bills forecast...We now have 8 D1 games under our belt. For my system 8 is a magic number. It is not an ideal number but the minimum number of games to play where there is enough data to make some observations and forecasts. We currently are 6-3 (8 D1 games) with a C+ rating on a C- schedule. As conferences go the A-10 is a B conference. If we are to compete this year will have to get better in a fairly short time...as in getting our team grade up to B. Here is what the computer sees at this time for the Bills.... ................................Over all.................A-10 Best Case..................20-10..................12-6 Most probable...........17-13....................9-9 Worst case.................12-18...................4-14 A few notes here ...a 12-6 record would be enough to get a top 4 finish for the A-10 tourney. A finish of 16-14 would be Schertz 's best 1st year start. The Bills need to win 2 of the next 3 to get to B. That would #1... make us competitive in conference...#2 put us in to a position to reach B+ by the end of the season...the minimum grade you need to reach to have a chance for post season play. While all conference games are important, the computer sees 8 league games as crucial to getting to post season play...Day (2), VCU (2), Loy (2), RI and St. B. If we win 5 of those games, we are in good shape. The 1st 4 will be in Jan( 3of 4 @home)...the last 4 (H&A 2-2)will be part of the last 6 games of the season. We need to start strong and finish strong. Time to look at the A-10...Here are the grades and the projected finishes at this time. 1...Day...A...90% NCAA...5th seed 2...Loy...A-...54% NCAA...90%...NIT 3...RI.... B+...84%..NIT 4...St. B...B+...64%...NIT 5...VCU...B+...58%...NIT 6...Dav.....B 7...GM......B 8...St. J....B 9...Bills...C+ 10...GW... C+ 11...LaS...C+ 12...Duq...C 13...Ford...C 14...UMass...C- 15...Rich.....D+ Bottom line...Bills need to start making their move by winning 2 of the next 3 games.

The athletic department was trying to hype up an announcement of new jerseys and make money. I have seen a ton of responses on social media holding them in high regard and most likely doing decent sales for the athletic department. It blows my mind how much people on this blog whine. As a long time enjoyer of the blog, it is making this place unbearable.

Oh I don’t give a sh!t. Very on brand for a troll like you to feign ignorance as if you’re entire existence here isn’t to be a jacka$$.

Assuming the following happens we'll be 9-4 in OOC: Taking care of Chicago State, Wofford, and William Woods at Home Sneaking a win out at Illinois State Losing at Grand Canyon At the beginning of the year we had a lot of 10-3, 9-4 OOC record predictions. We really wanted to win 2 out of SC, WSU, SF, GCU. That was assuming we had 8-9 healthy guys in the rotation and we were playing closer to how ISU was playing at the end of last year. I get why we're losing so I'm not placing any blame on Schertz or the team yet. I know it sucks to get blown out like we have been, but it would suck just as much to lose them all by 5. They're still losses in the eyes of the committee. Lots of season left to get a couple guys back healthy and start to click before the A10 tourney.

Jimerson passed him in his 140th game. Bonner played 133 so not a huge difference. They also said on the broadcast that Jimerson has played fewer minutes so .

I get the feeling your assessment is biased and not objective. Why might any person change jobs? Better pay, location, office amenities are normal reasons. What School ISU or SLU is better at all those? As to your other points. A billionaire doesn't run the program the coach does. A billionaire and other boosters support the program. There is no evidence that meddling to recruit certain players, play certain players, run certain offenses or defenses exist. In today's college sports, rich boosters are needed to support NIL. Which school has more NIL support? A10 vs MVC which conference is better? I see the better MVC coaches get hired to work at A10 schools not vice versa. Does that answer the question? One thing you are right about you can't buy success. In the high turn over NIL/transfer world I think we'll see large swings season to season in success. For example FSU football had a good mix last year that worked, this year same coaches wildly different results. I pointed out last game thread there is a lot for a new coach to do at a different school in a different conference. Some hit right away and some take time. I've complained that the SLU AD is bad and our NIL collective was ineffective. Those things take time to fix. That was my objective rebuttal of your argument. Here's my non-objective version but I think still true, you're a bitter lil' bish and you can f right off.

If you are seeking more information about some of these topics, feel free to ask. SLU recruits goalkeepers every 4 year recruiting cycle, as well as twice a year transfer cycles. Some are superstar national keepers. Some are under the radar. Some are in between. Idealistically SLU would like to have 3 goalkeepers annually. They often have this number. They have even had 4 a few times. Unique circumstances made the number 2 a few times including unexpectedly losing a keeper from Spring to Fall once Kasey Hartmann transferred when she did, in part, because it was the first year players could transfer without having to sit out a year. Katie Shields does not have a policy of playing only 1 goalkeeper. SLU is not having trouble recruiting goalkeepers because they play only 1 goalkeeper. The biggest challenge with recruiting is not being a P4 school. SLU has an incoming 2025 goalkeeper (Kate Lewis) that has been committed to the program since September of 2023. SLU has targeted 3 goalkeepers in this current transfer portal cycle. A few other goalkeepers have targeted SLU. (Those things can be explained later) SLU also targeted a transfer keeper this past Spring. (She’s USC’s back up keeper) The current goal is to add 1 keeper in the Fall or Spring, for a total of 3. (2 are from Minnesota and South Carolina, the geographies not the schools. One is local.) Offer types also vary amongst goalkeepers. Some high profile targets aren’t getting the same offers as others. There are goalkeepers currently playing for Michigan State, Texas, Virginia, etc elsewhere that were once targeted by SLU. SLU targeted 4 additional local goalkeepers in the past few years alone let alone regional and national keepers. (Arkansas, Indiana, Stanford, UPenn,) Interest varied both ways. Sometimes the keeper has no interest in SLU. Sometimes they gave high interest. Sometimes SLU has high interest. Sometimes SLU has lukewarm interest. In the 2026 class, SLU targeted goalkeepers that committed to Georgia, Kansas, Penn State, Pittsburgh, TCU, Washington, West Virginia. Again, some had zero interest in SLU, some had high interest. A few, SLU was runner up. As some people may know, I don’t specifically discuss outgoing SLU transfers until long after they are settled elsewhere. (happy to provide that info, including 1 who transferred a 2nd time this cycle) The SLU players mentioned haven’t even spoken publicly about their situations. Few players enter a situation wanting to leave and having to start over elsewhere. Also keep in mind some players enter the portal, knowing they are less likely to land elsewhere. Some simply retire from their sport. An additional thing is that SLU expanded its roster numbers in recent years, as did some other schools. That is no longer an option with the new roster limit. So there are teams that have had to cut many players due to the new roster limits. Not having to sit out a year (2021) also means more players, including goalkeepers, will transfer. And now with unlimited transfers available, that means some players will transfer more often too. Many 1st and 2nd year keepers have to wait their turn for playing time, just like any other position. Every team has players on it at every position, that are going to play very little in their career. It’s part of playing a team sport. There’s nothing wrong with that. Some others will transfer or retire. There’s nothing wrong with those as choices as well. In the portal, SLU has reached out to a few 1 year highly experienced grad transfers, along with some younger transfer players at every position. Some played high minutes elsewhere. Some did not. Some are on the rise mid major players. Some are P4. There is also a Spring transfer portal. SLU has added players in both.

people that were expecting an immediate final four team were being unrealistic. schertz told everyone before the season started that getting the team to jell and play like a team was going to be the biggest challenge. i believe that is what we are going through. we only have two losses and while disappointing, losing to santa clara and witchita state are not losses to be declaring the sky is falling. billikens in the past have had much worse early season losses. think about marquee perry's senior season, we had so many bad losses in early season. by season end we went on a winning streak and even beat (i think they were 2nd in the nation) louisville with a fantastic last few seconds. my point is i am not ready to declare the season a fail. lets let it play out and people just need to come out and have fun watching the team develop.

I was never one of those who had such high expectations for this team because there simply was too much to figure out. Schertz was left with 3 players - one a starter and two role players. He brought in 2 players from ISU but that team was a team and you should have not thought that it was stocked with great individual players. I do think we saw Robbie have a fairly representative game last night despite his TOs. Swope came back to reality a bit. The FT shooting a bit perplexing but last night seemed like a snowball rolling down the hill thing - they did clean it up a bit late in the game which helped. Schertz was not happy thus them basically missing the shoot around before the second half begun. For those of you who think Ford would have won that game last night by 15 let me leave you with just one reminder - SIUE. I think he would have lost last night with the team not seemly having their head in the game. I am just going to watch it develop.

I can always gauge the night's attendance by the pre-game crowd at Humphrey's. When we walked in at 5:45, there were 4 people at the bar and 1 of them was in our group. We need a solid win to breathe some optimism into the fan base. Currently, I am just seeing sloppy basketball against bad opponents.

Jesus what a bunch of whining B's! I like to be entertained, and that game was off the charts entertainment. If this team continues progressing like I think we will, the rest of this season is gonna be awesome.

What a game...it had everything...Let's get to the meat of things...all bolded phrases are from the original post... 60.7/ 62.2 / 57.9 / 77.8....Bills slash...This is why we won....we easily made the target slash. 59 / 57.1 / 63.2 / 75......River Hawks...This is why it was close.... Two unbelievable lines ...in the same game. I took a friend from out of town to the game and told him at the start of the game that the Bills would shoot 40% from the arc...He said...get out! By the end of the game he was a believer. Breaking down the spreads even further...UM-Low had 1 extra 2PM and 1 extra 3PM...we had 8 extra FTM and that was the winning stat. I had mentioned in another thread that this could be a double Shake Shack game...both teams score 80+...not a surprise...2 good shooting teams. (UM Low) a good shooting team. Get ready for a high scoring game. Many shooters ...many ways to score... Turned out to be true. A fairly large difference in the spread...Turns out I was within 2 ...the official line was 7.5 off...A couple of bookies response to me post game...we are not worthy. A note here to the gamblers ...although these spreads are for entertainment purposes only, when you see a difference of more than 3pts between me and the official line...be aware of an opportunity. TOs and rebs...we need to win both...we didn't and that is why it came down to the wire...We lost the TO battle by 3(pts off TOs 18-9..UM-Lows favor) but we did nicely on rebs...Bills favor 28-22 (2nd chance pts...12-5 Bills favor)...so these 2 stats pretty much canceled each other out. Hold Brooks and Mincey to a combined 25 pts...Final combined total for the two... 25 pts...perfect. Anya wins the Reb battle over Brooks by 3. .. Anya wins big time...10-1 and remember Brooks was 30th ITN with a 9.4 Reb ave...nice job KA I will close with a few questions...questions I don't have an answer to, but make me go... hmmm. With 19 sec left in the first half and the shot clock off and a 14 pt lead, why did we take a shot with 9 seconds left in the half instead of 2 seconds left....Of course the River Hawks got the reb on our missed shot and sank a 2 at the buzzer...hmmm......Also at the end of the game in the final seconds (3.5 and 1.4 sec) and the Bills with 5 fouls... did they not foul them(once or twice) and eat up some clock....hmmm. Bottom line...This will probably be one of the Bills best shooting game of the year and we needed every last bit of it to win. The key word in that previous sentence was win. Keep the wins coming by any margin. There are no bad wins.

Given that Avila is the key to the team, has not been practicing and is about 70%, I am good with where we are. Thames has worked his way into the top 5 and is clearly not up to speed. McCottry looks like a very promising player, but has freshman moments. In my view get Thames back to full speed and just keep working and improving.

Irvine, California. USC 4 SLU 3 OT Fun game. Tough result. It’s a game that SLU expected to win, and, a game that SLU played well enough to win. Credit to USC, who is a great experienced team that played well. It was a later tournament matchup and feel, played in the Round of 32. SLU has been able to elevate its level each round of the NCAA Tourney in recent years. The game was everything expected from the pregame scout and then some. (Separate follow up with that) SLU was able to get the style of game they wanted to play with pace and pressure. USC had a few early build ups of connecting 9 passes in a row, 7, and eventually 4 on their early goal. But SLU was eventually able to ramp up pressure on the USC back 5, turn the Trojans over in the middle of the field, win 50/50 balls etc…And SLU was efficient with its scoring chances. USC played their unique version of a 4–3-3. They started their 10 Seniors. Their only change was moving Farmer back to center back next to Courtnall, and inserting Derrien as their lone defensive midfielder. This was in part because Farmer is a more reliable defender and Derrien is better at getting forward offensively. SLU played its 4-2-3-1. Unavailable: Luebbert who picked up a longer term foot injury in the A10 semifinals The pace of Cortland and Jackson at outside forward was a handful at times. Hayes found ways to score. Sampaio can put the ball on a string at times in the midfield. Alagoa can make plays. Courtnall, Farmer, etc are solid and experienced in back blocking shots or knocking away the final pass. But SLU gave as much as they got in all phases. Pace, physicality, combo play, individual and group defending, set pieces, aerial duels, 50/50 balls. Gaebe, Larson, Kim, Sawyer, Simon, Le, Schwartz, Houck, Stram, Heckel, Schreiber, Puricelli, Karani, Howard, Brinkman. Full team effort. SLU was pretty efficient with its scoring opportunities. Dangerous on set pieces. Veteran players came to play in the post season all over the field. There were long stretches of 1-1 and 2-2 where SLU was close to getting a lead that would have changed the game a bit. SLU was the first team all season to score 3 on USC and only 3 teams had scored twice on them. The 2020 and 2021 classes at SLU will be remembered for being the most successful classes in program history. ……………… USC has already advanced to the Elite 8 with their 3-1 win Sunday over Wisconsin. (They host Wake Forest at the Track Stadium in Carson where they played the majority of their home games this season)

KMOX Sports on a Sunday Morning, Nov 24 Coach Schertz repeated a lot of what he already said about Wichita State game. (See Timmermann's and Durando's coverage.) Pleased with the control in the first half, down 3 at half even 3-14 from 3. Good teams buckle down when they aren't shooting well. Came out second half, a few good looks that didn't go down, then we 'got sad', and it went the other way. Didn't have a collective purposeful response to adversity. No court practice yesterday - just a long film session and discussion on what we want to be moving forward. We just can't lose this way, you can't give in when things get hard. You can control how you compete and how connected you are as a team. These two things don't require talent, just effort. This game can be a springboard for growth. You can't transfer in culture. Lincoln had a good culture. First year at Indiana State, they had games like this. They developed the culture with the seeds planted in the first year, 11-20 at ISU. Have to refocus on our standards and everyone understanding those standards and what the consequences are for not playing up to standards. Avila making process. Did some 3 on 3 in half court yesterday. Did some work last night with walk on's. Will try to practice today, first time in 20 days with 5 on 5. Can't say if he will play tomorrow, or Wednesday. Trending towards coming back to court. Make a decision tomorrow. Dotzler done. (Nothing on Casey.) Link will be available later today.

Jesus, it's been a bad few days in Billiken land.

I just think there's more information available now. We also have a coach who's a lot more forthcoming with details than previous coaches. And sports medicine, training, and strength and conditioning have come an extremely long way in a relatively short amount of time. Plus, rules/laws have evolved to keep players safer and teams/leagues/associations protected from liability down the road. If the argument here was that players used to be tougher or more willing to play though pain, a lot of that just has to do with having less information available to them. If they were told "You can play but rushing back from this injury will probably cut short your season and/or career", a lot of players wouldn't have played through pain/injury. There are a lot of retired athletes who will tell you they wish they knew then what players know now. We went through a rash of injuries my senior year (2004-2005) and disagreements about whether guys should be playing or not spilled over into locker room arguments between coaches and players at times. It was ugly.

Turn it to UHF

I have a Philco TV set. It seems to be relatively smart. Does anybody know which channel I can use to tune in to the game?

It's the first game where he's implementing a new system that was unfamiliar with some of the players. When looking at the game, I really liked the flow and rhythm of the offense, but they just couldn't stop anybody. Actually, I thought Santa Clara looked good, but their recent stretch says otherwise. I'm encouraged and excited about the team, mainly because it is appealing to watch them. Watching the team last year was dreadful, so I'm just glad to see a new look.

It's pretty simple, either he's still dinged up from the pre-season injury or the coach simply doesn't think he's good enough to be a key contributor in the rotation.

As big as LMU is I would have thought Casey would have got some minutes. Anyone know what’s keeping him on the pine. A W is a W! And the Wiz calls another perfectly.

From the PD story: in SLU’s game at home against UMass Lowell on Nov. 27, Hughes did not play in the second half after taking a shot with nine seconds to go in the first half as SLU worked for the last shot. The shot didn’t go in, Lowell got the rebound and scored, with Hughes not getting back on defense. Schertz went onto the court after the buzzer and talked with Hughes. Schertz said after the game that Hughes wasn’t alone in not getting back on defense and he didn’t play him in the second half for other reasons. “In the second half,” Schertz said that day, “I felt like we had to go with our best defensive players because (Lowell is) so talented offensively. Amari (McCottry) and Kobe (Johnson) give us off the bench our two best defenders on the perimeter. And so that’s why. “There’s nothing with Larry in terms of benching him for that. Larry’s going to play. He’s going to, I think, play a really significant role for us. And in his shots, I think he’s got a chance to impact the game. And more than just shooting, and that’s what we’ve talked about for him, is taking care of the ball, taking great shots and really competing his tail off defensively. And if he does those things, he’s going to play a major role for this team.” In seven games this season, Hughes averaged 4.7 points and shot 34.6% on 3-pointers. In his two-plus years at SLU, he averaged 5.1 points. He made five 3-point shots in SLU’s win over NAIA school Avila and had 15 points. But even before the Lowell game, Hughes’ playing time had dropped. After playing a season-high 21 minutes against Wichita State, he played 11 against Quinnipiac. In the one game he played after the Lowell game, he played 12 minutes against Jackson State, was the third choice at guard off the bench in the second half and took just one shot.

Absolutely LOVE the front of the jerseys, but I dislike the fact you are forced to get #18 on the back. I understand it's symbolic of 1818, but for $110 let me pick my number.

I am sitting courtside tonight. Look for the only guy courtside in blue. I will be coaching, demanding shooter closeouts and calling out screens on my side of the court. Coach Schertz is responsible for the other end of the court. Go Billies!

Earth to TheA_Bomb, that’s not how it works anymore. Bills need to win now. Millions of dollars are being given to players and coaches; they need to produce now.

Respectfully, I saw the game much differently. SLU was the better team in the game. ”SLU could have had 4 goals in the first 15 minutes of the game.” “I’d like to have the first 35 minutes back.” Kansas Head Coach Nate Lie after the game. I had SLU for 9 first half scoring chances and 13 overall. I had Kansas for 5 total in the game, all in the 2nd half. 4 were good chances, Wimes, Watts, Gregorski, and another one of both Gregorski and Watts. Castans set up every one of them. One couldn’t have asked for a better first half from SLU in all phases of the game. SLU won almost every aerial duel, and almost every 50/50 ball. They played to the scouting report very well. Kansas had all kinds of problems defending the middle of the field, and left side of the field. Scoring chances slowed down in the final 10 minutes of the 1st half for SLU as they subbed out 4 attacking players. Kansas was going to make some adjustments. Good teams do. Kansas is coming off of 8 straight Big 12 wins including the last 3 over the best 3 teams in the Big 12 this season. They hadn’t given up more than 1 goal in a game in 10 games. So they were going to adjust a bit. And they hadn’t been shut out in 10 games offensively. In the 2nd half Kansas played almost exclusively through Castans at left wing back. She barely touched the ball the 1st half. She’s a 2 time 1st team all Big 12 player for a reason. Kansas defended the middle of the field much better in the 2nd half. And when they didn’t they smartly fouled SLU several times there to limit SLU’s transition. It’s tactically part of the game. In the pregame I mentioned that the space for SLU was going to be in the middle, between Gregorski, Merlo. and Langfelder. And SLU owned that space. Nate Lie laughed after the game and he said it felt like getting run over time and again in that part of the field. He’s a good coach, and they made adjustments. KU moved its center backs up and its 2 central defensive midfielders back in the 2nd half. At the same time KU pushed up its wingbacks into their attacking 3rd pressure. SLU just took over the middle of the field in the first half. And SLU had numbers and space between the 3 center backs. (Also a pregame scout thing) Good positioning and tactical changes for KU. They were effective getting Castans much more involved. She was by far their best player. (lLarson was SLU’s) SLU could have done a little more to make an adjustment to force KU to play through some other players in the 2nd half. They also could have been a little more proactive on set pieces in the middle of the field. And they could have tweaked their strategy a little bit when KU adjusted to the game especially on the wings. Risk/reward also comes into play with some of those SLU decisions when you are leading and managing a game. Back 6 was good for SLU all game. SLU missed some chances to blow the game open in the first half. Kansas made it a more competitive game. Overall SLU was the better team over 90 minutes.