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Santa Clara fan here.....very much enjoying reading your board and analysis. Santa Clara opened in Vegas as a 1pt favorite so this appears to be a true coin toss game. From everything I have watched/read, your Billikens are a much improved version of the team that battled Santa Clara last year so it will no doubt be the Broncos' toughest game to date. This is the "longest" team of the Coach Sendek era. I believe 5 of the guys in the rotation have wingspans of 7 feet or greater ( Oboye, Darlan, Graves, Mahi, and Chukwudebelu). The Broncos are picking up full court and really trying to take it to the opposing offense. One consequence of this is too much fouling but I think the staff is ok with this because they are really trying to instill an aggressive and physical defense to take advantage of the squad's depth and length. The Broncos are without Michigan State Transfer Gehrig Normad due to injury but he has not played in any game this season and I am not certain of when he will make his first appearance. Bukky Oboye's early season breakout has been a pleasant surprise. He redshirted his freshman year, played garbage time last year, and has emerged as a potential Draft prospect out of nowhere in this early season. On opening night, he he left after the second play of the game with a tweaked foot so the averages are a bit misleading. His per minute production is insane (with the exception of rebounds!). With the caveat that almost anyone can look amazing in a highlight package, here is one of his from the early season. Thierry Darlan is the Broncos' G-Leaguer. He comes off the bench and is turnover prone but has the potential to be an elite defender with his 7 foot 3 wingspan. He really disrupted Xavier's perimeter in the first half of that game. I imagine Darlan will get the Avila assignment whenever the two are in the game together. I wish the Broncos had at least one more guard that was strong with the ball. Mahi might have to help out in that regard in this matchup. Knapper and Mahi both shot over 40 percent from 3 last year, and Darlan shot 37 percent from 3 in the G-League...so I am hoping the outside shooting woes are still just small sample size. I could go on and on but will leave it there. Should be a fascinating chess match between two excellent coaches at ascending programs.

I just watched the recording of Sunday night’s Sports Plus with Frank C . It’s on U Tube if you are interested. One of the biggest travesties of SLU basketball is Harry wasn’t on the All Century Team . If Harry wasn’t number 2 behind Easy Ed he certainly belongs in the top 5 He did everything. If people from the AD department read this board you should have a Harry Rogers night .

Well, we have had a few games to warm up. Now the real show begins. The Bills remain as a B+ team. We have come through the first 3 games unchanged. It is not that the computer was unimpressed with our start. To the contrary, the machine thought we were good from the beginning. So winning by big amounts was expected. The computers logic is I gave you a good grade from the start even though there were many unknowns and the Bills have done what they were supposed to do. Now show me something against a tougher team...which takes us to the game preview. Game preview... G Cany comes in as a B team. The Antelopes are a good team with some skilled players. This will not be easy BUT as you can see, the computer has faith in the Bills. One of the GC starters is injured (Moore) and is questionable for Sat but GC has pretty good depth. They don't have a lot of weaknesses EXCEPT defending the 3. If we can have a good day (or even an average day) from the arc, we should be able to beat them. One of their strengths is keeping the opponent from rebounding. Let's make our shots on the 1st try. Their key players are Henley ( a 6'7 guard who can shoot...I am not worried... he is a 6 - 7 )....Anane (a 180 player who is a double -double threat) and Williams (Their 3pt shooter). We have the players who can defend them. If we play our game minus a few TOs we should win. Now let's look at the Card and see what's up.... Report Card.... I have added a new line on the report card...2P%...The short 2P shot is important in the Schertz system so I have added it to the report card. We have a great offense that is better than the Lopes and a pretty good defense ...slightly better than the Lopes. ................SLU..................GC.....................SLU......................GC ...........................OFF...................................................DEF.......... PPG...........A+..18th ITN....B-......................C............................C- FG%..........A+..15th ITN....B+......................B-..........................C 2P%..........A+..12th ITN....B........................B.............................B- 3P%...........B+...................B-.....................B..............................D- FT%..........A......................A-....................................................... Reb............B.....................C.......................A...............................A+..9th ITN OFF Rebs = total Bills rebs...DEF Rebs = opp total reb Tops In The Nation SLU... FTs....Jones & Otieno...1st ...tied with many players Stls.....Thames...36th Injuries... GC Moore...Questionable....Face injury SLU...none Keys to the game....Make 3s...GC is weak defending the arc....but they are good at keeping the other team from rebounding. Since this is a much better team than the ones we have so far played it is crucial to keep TOs down especially in the first half. WWN2D2W..... Target slash...55/ 60/ 40 / 80....Keep TOs down...12 would be good ...6 in the 1st half would set the tone....PF 17... Hold their big 3 (mentioned in the game preview) to 35 pts combined. Bottom line... Sung to the tune of Home on the Range.... Oh give me a home Where the Chaifetz all roam and the Bills and the Antelope play Where seldom is heard about the Dance bid word A win and we will be all on our way.

Thanks Lord Elrond Still in recovery from last night’s elements BTW I will mail our good luck flag to any Bills fan who will proudly raise our colors in Akron Go Bills!! - Mainiken and son

This is not how the Internet works. When you make a mistake you are suppose to dig your heels in and double down on what you originally stated even if you know you were wrong. Then you are suppose to start calling people names. Try to do better next time.

Gonna respect the kid that waived his redshirt when the team needed him. Tough too. Wishing him the best

i agree miserable is a little extreme considering we are now 4-0. my take is that we have quite a few low basketball IQ that wont be happy till we are duke. a little unreasonable. i am estatic over last night. i dont care about the last 4 minutes. wiz even says we would have graded out as straight A's if we end the game at the 4 minute mark. it there is anything to not be happy about it is bryce drew leaving his main players in the game when he knew the game was over. but it's his team. and i have long given up on respecting any coach with the last name drew. they have no soul. the best thing that happened we dont know the context. grand canyon came out in the second half ready to play and it appeared they were going to even things up and possibly roar by us. Scherz calls that early second half timeout, and judging from body language and his ferocious talking in the huddle and then the results of the next few minutes of play after that timeout, the message was heard and the billikens played their best basketball to basically finish the game. the intensity was off the charts. we were running around in top gear on both ends of the floor and the lopes didnt know what hit them. we havent seen that kind of fire for a long long time from a billiken squad. i take that as a preview of what we could be and i see no reason we cant expect that to become the norm. hats off to dion brown, who is fast becoming my favorite player of this team. i love what mccottrey has evolved into (however i dont want him shooting threes. we have big time 3 point shooters. let them have those shots.) amari needs to continue being able to get to the rim, playing exceptional defense and energizing the team. he and brown are the motors of the team and it seems to me they are our keys to success at this point. sit back and relax all and enjoy the ride. all signs show we are going to have a lot of fun this year.

Current photo of Jeremi Abonnel

Wait why are we hating on one of the best coaches in SLU History, in any sport? What are we doing here? The problem is that SLU can't keep itself funded so that one sport doesn't have to impact the other. I don't think it has as much to do with Janet as you think. Of course her being a champion of women's soccer is important. I think Katie Shields is a really really good coach who is in one of the best jobs in the country. You've got a Soccer program that spends a LOT on the Men's side and therefore has to do the same on the women's side. You have a University that's tailor made for the majority of Girls High School soccer players, nursing, PT, education, etc etc. I don't think she deserves some sort of lifetime contract, but she went to 7 straight NCAA Tournaments, I don't care what league it's in. Finishing 2nd and not making the tournament sucks, but it's going to happen. It happens to everyone.

We enter this game still at the B+ level. But the underlying numbers have improved. The GC game was a booster. We are within striking distance of A-. Unfortunately, this game will not give us much of a jump. Possibly if we win by 26 and some other teams ahead of us lose ...it is possible to move to A- but not probable. PFW comes in as a D+ team. Not a full cupcake but a cupcake lite. The trouble is that if we take them lightly (or litely) we could wind up in a close game which is not a good thing if you want to keep moving toward A-. The A- level is key to the season. If we make the A- level we should win the conference. win the A-10 tourney and get a Dance bid. Game preview... The Mastodons can shoot. Their 3s look weak but that is deceiving. Their leading 3PA guy is their worst 3P% shooter. Meanwhile, their defense is missing in action. We need to not help them find it. This could be another triple digit game for the Bills. If we make our shots ...we win the game. If we shoot well, we win by a lot. Now let's look at the Card and see what's up.... Report Card.... Straight A's on offense and the Def is looking good too. ................SLU..................PFW...................SLU......................PFW ...........................OFF...................................................DEF.......... PPG...........A+..16th ITN....B+.....................C+............................D FG%..........A+..15th ITN....B+.....................A...............................F 2P%..........A+..7th ITN.....A-......................A..............................F 3P%..........A-...................C-......................A-..............................D- FT%.........A+..14th ITN....B....................................................... Reb............A-...................D-.....................B+...............................C OFF Rebs = total Bills rebs...DEF Rebs = opp total reb Top 100 In The Nation SLU... FG%...Thames ...62nd...McCottry...76th 2P%....McCottry...30th....Brown 86th Stls...Thames...33rd FT%...Jones...1st (100%)...tied with many PFW FG%...Duffy...81st 2P%...Duffy...31st PPG....Hadnot...73rd Injuries... Paul Otieno F Ankle Sun 16 Nov Ques Fri Otieno is dealing with an ankle injury, and it is unclear whether he will play against the Purdue FW on Friday. Kellen Thames G Undisclosed Sun 16 Nov Ques Fri Thames exited the game with an undisclosed injury, and it is uncertain if he will play against the Purdue FW on Friday. Keys to the game....We need to make shots against a weak defense. If we slack on our defense it will be a close game. WWN2D2W.....Target slash...53/65/ 38 / 80....Keep their top 3 players to under 40 pts combined...keep TOs to 12 (we are currently 10th WITN)...Keep PF to 17(we are currently an F team in PF)...Score 100 pts...don't take out the regulars till we get to Shake Shack. Bottom line..If we play our game, we can pound the Mastodons back to the stone age.

JGood had another clutch performance last night scoring 5 of the Suns’ last 7 point enroute to a come from behind 114-113 victory over the Timberwolves in an NBA Cup game. The Suns are tied with the Thunder atop West Group A at 2-0, but trail by point differential. The Wolves now trail by half a game at 2-1 in the same group. In addition to his late game heroics, JGood played 29 min, scoring 13 points on 6-9 shooting (1-2 from 3), with 6 boards (4 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 TOs, and was +8 without fouling!

In this day and age you can’t worry about next year, just enjoy this year. If we have a dream season , make the tournament & win a couple of games our coach and our players will be coveted by bigger programs with more money to spend. I hope that happens.

You suspect right. Overall the Bills are about the same...still B+. But no mercy from the computer. The computer was annoyed after the game. It dropped the Bills NET equivalent numbers about 6%. Again , no major damage BUT guess who else was annoyed about how the game ended and showed no mercy. Coach Schertz. His post game interview was delayed as he "spoke" to the team. Unlike other games where he meets and greets after the game...He was first one into the locker room. He stated that he was upset with how the game ended. We went from a 36pt lead to a 22pt lead in the final 7:44 minutes and he said this was unacceptable. Finally, he mentioned he would make the team watch the final 7:44 min ...frame by frame. His thoughts were, we stopped playing/ letup at the end of the game. Further, had we played it out in in a decent fashion we could have won by 40. He does not want the team to take its foot off the gas pedal. This is not Schertz ball and he let the team know it. If we can win by 50 we should do it. It is almost like he has been reading my stuff on how to beat the NET...by using the scoring margin. But he is a smart guy and has already figured it out. So what does all that mean? It means poor old Lindenwood will run into a buzz saw on Monday...an unrelenting one. Here is what I consider the key part of the game ...the best and the worst all rolled up into one. At the 13:33 mark of the 2nd half we led by 8. We just couldn't seem to break away up to that point. Chi St just kept hanging around AND THEN we exploded into a fun run which turned the game into a 95-59 lead. AND THEN we letup and went from 36pt lead to a final lead of 22pts. Here is what I noticed about the 2 runs...In the good run there were no TOs. In the bad run there were 6. In the first half when we couldn't break free we had 8 TOs. Turnovers are the Achilles heel of this team. In the first 2 games we have had 16 and 15 TOs...way too many. But it hasn't mattered because these teams were weak and we could roll over them. But if we don't fix this issue , it will come back to bite us. It is early and that is what the beginning of the season is about...fixing things. Take care of the ball. This game tough was not all about fire and brimstone. There were a lot of good things that happened too. Let's take a look. Let's start with the Bills slash...53.2 / 70 / 37.5 / 90.9 which translates to... A+ / A+ / A / A++. In addition, those numbers add up to 181.6...without the 2P shooting (it is redundant ). Majerus always use to say that any player or team that could do 180+ was a winning player or team and one he wanted to coach. Btw, that FT mark was no small feat. That was 30-33. A refreshing change from early years where we struggled at the charity stripe. Also let's look at Chi St....39.4/ 42.5 / 31.6 / 80......F- / F- / D- / A+. So the shooting defense was decent. Shooting defense was not why we didn't make the spread. Think TOs. Bills Min played ...Top 5 players averaged 21-25 min...a big difference from last year's upper 30s for the top 5. Bills FTs...6 players with no misses....21-21...100%...nice Bills Bench pts 58 pts..a strong bench. 108 pts ...2nd highest scoring total at Chaifetz.....Highest for a D1 game. Bottom line...We are still going through some growing pains but we are progressing over the bumps. Even after scoring 200 pts in 2 games, this team still has a lot of upside potential. On to Lwood.

Sharma rules.

Anyway I was at the game last night and here is my first-hand summary! Summary of SLU vs. Bryant (2–2, SLU wins 4–3 on PKs) (All details below are taken directly from the provided match notes.) Formations & Availability SLU played a 4-4-2 without a right wing, using the same lineup and formation as vs. Indiana, with O’Neil available only for limited minutes. Bryant used a 4-2-3-1. Unavailable for SLU: Pitarch Bayot. Delgado replaced him and provided physicality plus a goal; Umar added pace and playmaking. Game Plan & Tactical Themes SLU’s early focus was on taking away Jiana and Amaro, but Bryant countered by bringing in Amaro for long stretches, where he again scored a big goal (2nd straight game). Both teams had limited substitutions due to a week of preparation and match load. Early on, SLU made brief adjustments to Bryant’s sporadic high press. SLU countered this press by: Having Carlos play both right back and right wing, Keeping an extra defender on the left side of midfield. How SLU Attacked SLU created chances through: Combination play up the middle leading to set pieces, Wide buildups that isolated Theo, eventually drawing the PK, Repeated patterns similar to their goals. How Bryant Attacked Bryant scored through: Sustained set-piece pressure, A turnover in midfield followed by a rapid transition counter. Goal Breakdown (From Match Notes) SLU Goal (1–0) Blair → Schramm → DiMaria → Heckenlaible, who won a corner vs Talabi. Corner routine: Jack to Quentin. Design: Schramm set a pick on Rodríguez; Quentin left unmarked near post for a back-post header. Secondary option was Fournier back post. Bryant Goal (1–1) After SLU’s goal, Bryant forced turnovers and earned corners. On the scoring play: Multiple attackers ran near post, Delgado stayed back and outmuscled Barnett on the aerial duel. DiMaria left his mark (Rodríguez) trying to win the header. Delgado headed it to Rodríguez who finished. Service came from Fernandez. Bryant Goal (2–1) (Described as against the run of play while SLU was controlling late first half.) Fournier → DiMaria but DiMaria’s heavy touch caused a turnover. Fernandez & Veintimilla forced the mistake. Veintimilla sent a perfect through ball to Umar, splitting Blair and Cortez. Jeremi rushed out but Umar pushed the ball wide and finished into the open net. Bryant subbed Umar afterward for added pace both centrally and wide. SLU Goal (2–2) Early second-half pressure from Xavi, KP, and Theo. Fournier → Carlos → Franca, who pressed Carvalho into a misplay. Theo used his physicality to win position and draw a PK vs the 6'5” goalkeeper. Blair buried the PK in the upper-right 90. Second Half & Overtime Notes Sub rotations: KP and Xavi with Tanner and Heckenlaible, and Coughlan for Barnett for added physicality. SLU nearly won it in regulation when Franca shot over the bar, missing a wide-open Anderson to his right. In OT, Schramm again played Franca through, and his shot from 10 yards was deflected off Carvalho’s shoulder—otherwise the match was over. General Match Themes SLU varied their attack: middle combinations, wide patterns, long balls, and full-field width. Strong in 50/50s and aerial duels. Officiating was consistently good, which mattered given the game’s physicality. Penalty Shootout SLU has been excellent in PKs, with Jeremi often good for 1–2 saves. Jeremi intentionally gets yellow cards during PKs for motivation and psychological disruption. SLU used the same order as usual, except Tanner shot 4th instead of Jeremi.

Thanks for the concern! I am still sailing the seas from time to time, but my boat has been mainly docked since Espn+ rolled into dock. That said, I did happen to watch this game with @MusicCityBilliken and decided to check Billiken.com after since he was on it posting on it and managed to see this post. Thankfully, I still had access to my old email and was able to reset my password on here. No promises, but if people still want pirate links, then I can attempt to post streaming options before games as time permits. But if someone has already filled that role then that is cool too.

The job Otieno and Thames did turning around the situation on the boards should not be overlooked

Saint Louis with 2 votes in the AP poll, 2 in the Coaches poll.

After rewatching the game I think this is an incredibly harsh post. From rewatching both Dayton and Kentucky, I understand that the announcers are not getting replays directly on their monitor. That monitor by the way is likely smaller than your TV. They are apparently getting them on a separate iPad. Which is smaller than the monitor. Now in your defense I was able to pull up the replay on my phone and tell that it was offside and why, but McDermott is in his 70s? I get that he’s not the best, and I get that he makes corny a$$ references and isn’t the best color commentator but the guys a St. Louis and Billiken legend. He was the sideline reporter on the first MLS game ever. The guy has credentials, and like others have said he’s a Mike Shannon, you roll your eyes, say “that’s just Bill” and move on. He’s been nothing but a first class representative of Billiken Soccer on and off the microphone. I think he’s miles better as a Public Address announcer. But when SLU can provide a two man booth, that’s good for the broadcast. Contrast that with a Guy Phillips who is some radio guy who is friends with SLU boosters. A guy who’s done less for SLU athletics in his career than Bill McDermott has done in the last 24 hours. I can’t think of a better option to be honest. Especially at the amount they are paying him, if at all.

Ability to retain your position regardless of results seems like the main job description for this position. I think we have found our man.

First the computer changed the spread about 10 hours ago to 7 pts...but that is still double what was predicted. Of course, the computer is greedy because of the scoring margin factor in the NET. The computer's answer is 14 is great but 21+ would have been even better. My take is Schertz should have left the starters in for 1 more basket. Why?... because With 3:28 left in the game we had a 78-53 lead. By going for the shake shack basket you would not only have pleased the crowd but would have held onto a larger scoring margin. How do we know this?... because I ran a simulation of the final 3:28 of the game. In that simulation we score with 2:40 left making the game 80 -53. At that point we put the subs in and play a little slower ...we don't score anymore and GC scores 6 more pts...Final 80-59 ...we win by 21 pts and the crowd is "shacking". In Schertz defense, he apologized to the crowd after the game saying he had a dilemma. He wanted to get the 80 but he also wanted to give the subs some playing time. The simulation shows how he could have done both. In addition , Schertz also said he thought we made 80 on the last play of the game on the shot Jaden Schertz took as time ran out. He thought there was goaltending on the play and probably should have had it reviewed. But all in all a great win for the Bills or should I say a Grand win. McCottrey was the star of the game with 20 pts shooting 61.5%. Brown was flying through the air with a staggering 15 rebs and Green had an amazing +26 plus/minus. Here is the simplest summary of the game.....Bills shooting slash....B+/ B+ / A / A+...GC slash ...F- / F- / F-/ A+ ...and if we grade the Bills slash minus the final 3:28 min...they finish with straight A+s. So back to your original question...does the computer like the outcome of the game. The simple answer is yes. For the next question ...How much will this help us? It should give us a nice boost. Enough to move us to an A- ? ...maybe but if not we will be a lot closer to it. For the final answer , we will have to wait till tomorrow. Our ranking, grades and spreads are not just dependent on our game but on all the other games played in D1. Everything is connected in the D1 Universe. In any case , we are in better shape now than we were yesterday. Just keep winning.

I care about SLU. Harvard and SLU operate under the same model, with Harvard being the most extreme example of a well funded not-for-profit university. If you care about SLU, you shouldn't be rooting against Harvard. Grand Canyon should be treated as a peer of DeVry, Capella, or Antonelli, because that's what it is. Instead, its image has been laundered by being allowed to compete in the NCAA, Mountain West, etc. These places can serve a purpose, but there should be more transparency, not less.

Not that someone wants to hang out at Chaifetz before a game as opposed to Humphrey's, but the food at Chaiftetz has taken a dramatic turn for the better this year. Each food station is themed. There is a Pappy's station and at another one they are serving G&W brats. Also, they did good things with the lines to prevent clogging the concourse area. Good job to whomever was responsible for making those changes.

Another very good article about JGood posted today. It includes a detailed analysis of Goodwin's defensive style and contributions. The article is linked here: "The importance of Jordan Goodwin in Phoenix’s defensive ecosystem: The Suns’ defense has a hidden engine driving it forward". Here's the article's conclusion: "Jordan Goodwin reminds us that a player’s value — especially a defender’s — is not defined by highlights, but by the number of decisions the opponent never gets to make ... Goodwin is the first blade of a system drawn by Jordan Ott. Collin Gillespie carries the second unit offensively. Jordan Goodwin carries it defensively." https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/suns-analysis/93874/goodwin-defensive-impact-phoenix-elite-metrics-coverage-versatility-screen-navigation

SLU’s NET today is a very good 35, best in the A10. Winning big by 21 in a true road game matters.

We limited turnovers the last 2 games and still found a way to play poorly. They need to show they can shoot the ball outside of Chaifetz, too.

Making my venture capitalist buddy RV me and my lobsterman son to the big game. St Louis U vs the World Make sure to bring rain gear We plan on tailgating ( if allowed) Go Bills!!

After reflection, I am pleased with the California trip to this point. We were the best team in that group of 4. I would’ve taken a split if you asked me last week. I expected the 3 point shooting to take a hit. Better defenses and outside of Chaifetz. Transition remains our best source of offense and we leaned on it. Last night was an anomaly. 4 ppg journeyman turned into Steph Curry. The 2 late threes with their eyes closed. If we play a normal game we win by 10+. Also, Santa Clara beat up on Minn. That could easily be Q1 win. Important resume win. I’d take that win over a Stanford win 10/10 times. This is a still a very good team with a good at large chance

I was in the second row on the SLU side of the scorer’s table. Adman will be joining at LMU. It was a great win for SLU in a game the Billikens did not play or shoot well. Santa Clara had more energy the first half. The refs kept bailing out Santa Clara in the 2nd Half. But thank God the refs swallowed their whistles on Santa Clara’s last possession. Coach Schertz went small, played 5 guards, midway through the second half, which turned the tide of the game, gave the Billikens more energy. Steve Kerr has successfully gone small with with the Golden State Warriors. It is good SLU had Josh Schertz coaching down the stretch, and that Santa Clara had Herb Sendek … It was euphoria, New Year’s Eve in our SLU section when the Billikens won it.

I think a good place to begin is an answer to a question from @Lord Elrond I wrote on a post game PFW spread thread. He asked ...was the computer impressed with the PFW win? I answered as follows... The answer is yes, the computer was impressed. Not that this was a great win.... great in this case meaning a big win over an important opponent. But this was an an important win. It was the win that has propelled us to A- for the first time this season. It was the previous win over GC that moved the needle and put us close to A- that allowed this step forward. This win over PFW by 31 was just enough to push us over the finish line. Again the significance of A- means we are worthy...Worthy of 1st place in the A10...worthy of winning the A10 tourney....worthy of getting a bid to the Dance. But it is only the first step. Step two is can we stay at A-. That question will be answered in the next game with Santa Clara. If we beat them then the answer is yes we belong. The goal for the season is to reach the end with at least an A-. The computer thinks we can do it but it wants the team to "show me". So now it was my turn to ask the computer a question. If we are an A- team and SC is a B+ and we have the better offense and at least as good a defense why is this game a tossup. The computer responded by saying it loved our team and that it thought we were a potential A10 champ and a likely Big Dance team BUT there were 2 things it didn't like ...both which will be resolved in the next 10 days. First was our SOS ...our grade on this category is an F. Our next 3 games will all be against high ranking teams (B to B+) on neutral or away courts. So no matter what... our SOS is headed up. We can win all 3 games. If we take 2 of 3 we are still ok. One of three means still have work to do. The second issue the computer is struggling with is TOs. We come in with an F- on TOs. (8th Worst ITN). So far it hasn't mattered because we have played weak teams. What concerns me is these bad TO numbers have come against bad teams. What happens against good teams? Some will argue that when you have a big lead you may not play as careful. On a positive note during the first 5 games we have had some 15-20 min stretches with no TOs ...so it shows we can play mistake free for long stretches of time. Playing at a high level mistake free will show that we can compete at an A level. Also playing together as a team against other good teams will show that we are ready for prime time. Game preview... WE are a much better on offense than they are. And they are about even with us on D. They have a 7 ft 1 guy who plants himself under the basket and makes bunnies but only grabs 2 rebs /gm. Their leading rebounder is a 6' 9 guard (8 reb/gm). SC can make 3s but only if no one is guarding them...bother them...They are F+ at the charity stripe. This game should be a close back and forth game EXCEPT... if we make shots (see target slash below) and we beat them on the boards ( we should) and keep the TOs down (hopefully) we can win this game by double digits. The best team we have played so far is GC. When we played them they were a B+ team. SC is a B+ team. We whupped GC...No reason we can't do the same against SC. We just need to keep doing what we have been doing. As Elvis use to say ...Taking Care of Business. Now let's look at the Card and see what's up.... Report Card.... Straight A's on offense and the Def is looking good too. Up ....Off....3P%...FT%...Rebs.........Def.....PPG...FG%...2P%...3P% Down....Off & Def...none ................SLU..................SC...................SLU......................SC ...........................OFF...................................................DEF.......... PPG...........A+..12th ITN....C+.....................B..........................A+..17th ITN FG%..........A+..18th ITN....C+.....................A+........................A 2P%..........A+..9th ITN.....B.......................A-.........................A 3P%..........A.....................D......................A-..........................B+ FT%.........A+..3rd ITN.....F+....................................................... Reb............A...................A-.....................B+...........................B+ OFF Rebs = total Bills rebs...DEF Rebs = opp total reb Here is an interesting quirk... SC is 4th ITN in OFF Rebs and SLU is 4th ITN in DEF Rebs...should be a good battle on the boards Nice looking report card...Dean's list on Off and Honor Roll on Def Top 100 In The Nation SLU... FG%...Brown...25th...Thames ...59th 2P%........Brown 31st...McCottry...72nd 3P%....Avila....89th Stls...Thames...59th FT%...Jones...1st (100%)...tied with many SC... Off reb....Esminger...56th... Graves...77th FG%...Oboye...62nd Injuries... None reported for either team at this time...This is good news as McCottry had a leg injury in the PFW game and had to sit out the final minutes Keys to the game....Beat them on the boards...Make the slash...keep TOs down... WWN2D2W.....Target slash...53/65/ 40/ 80....Hold their top 3 players to 32 pts...Win the Reb battle...Keep TOs to 12..play at a fast pace but not at an out of control pace. Bottom line....We need to show the Broncos there is a whole new rodeo in town. "We win because we play together as a team"....John Havlicek...Boston Celtics

Here's the link to Frank C's interview with Harry Rogers. Four-minute story/interview. It's worth watching:

Stepping down right as they release the Epstein files.....hmmmmm

100% Agree. Even when men's soccer was routinely a Top 10 team and a threat for the Final Four in the McBride/Sorber era, the entire media coverage consisted of a 3 paragraph game write up in the PD and if we were lucky a 5-second mention on the local news. I think the pod is great and is worth supporting. No one on this board has more disregard for the current AD than I. I emailed the president and board members asking for his removal after the baseball coaching situation. However the back and forth does get stale. SLU92 makes a post critical of May. Then the 3 May bots chime in with Thumbs Down and counter attacks and it hijacks the thread. It very circular and unproductive. But I will support the new coach and players unequivocally. We probably won't be as good. Hendo was a generational hire. Did I mention we will be opening the season in beautiful Pensacola, Florida?

Things I would rather see on here instead of another Chris May discussion, a guy playing music using rubber chickens:

For $50/yr. you get the best SLU coverage available at Stu on SLU. Highly recommend it.

I can't believe no one is talking more about coming back from that 44-0 run Marymount made to open the game.

NIL and free agency helped us build what is one of the best Billiken rosters top to bottom in my lifetime. I don't see why any Billiken fan should be complaining about the results of NIL and free agency right now. We should be thankful to the boosters that made this roster possible.

SLU is listed as an eleven seed in the first Lunardi 2026 NCAA Tournament Bracketology s

By far the most impressive player in our recent run has been DiMaria. 110 great minutes against Bryant after an amazing 90 vs Indiana and of course we wouldn't even be here without his brace against Kentucky.

Good teams will avoid this trap. We are fond of saying things like P4 schools that are 500 in the conference not being good enough to be in the Dance - well you are making their argument that it is OK that they don't excel in conference. The top schools in the A10 just need to take care of business.

We have been on the other side of games like that way too often in the NCAA tournament. We were way past due to actually get the win when we were the team that wasn’t playing at their best form.

WCC Risers: Loyola Marymount & Santa Clara Breakdown NIce read on Santa Clara and LMU on Substack. Should not be behind a paywall (apologies if it is, I'm old). These are the teams we need to beat to be in the at-large discussion. They look a lot like us in profile and have better chances for signature wins in conference with St. Marys and Gonzaga in the WCC.

It needs to be pointed out that GCU went on an 11-0 run in the final 3:30 with three of their starters and their 6th man playing against primarily our 3rd string and two walk-ons. In fact, we were winning 78-56 with 2 minutes to go when Jaden and Isaac checked in. That would have been the time for Drew to respond in kind. Schertz may have have underestimated how big of a tool Drew is. Drew was getting embarrassed so I guess he decided to leave his best players out there to try to save face.

KMOX Sports on a Sunday Morning, Coach Schertz with Tom Ackerman, 11/16. (Schertz phone contact was bad.) Started with some Rammer highlights. I got to listen to the replay on Varsity Network. Coach complimented the student section...lot's of energy. Latest on Paul "I think he is okay. Landed on a GC player. He and Thames will get looked at today." On Thames, he didn't know if he heard Robbie calling under. Thames had a poor first half for him, but he started the second half very active. Hope he is fine and ready to go tomorrow. Started 8-0 on fouls. Wondered what was going on. Team was really dialed in. They are a very good ball screen team. Our attention to detail was good. Hallmark of a good team is our defensive efficiency. Dion Brown rebounding is crazy. He has a nose for the ball. Super impressive rebounding in the second half. He has the ability to guard several positions. McCottry is as good a finisher as there is in the Atlantic 10. He is a hard cover. Put a bigger guy on him he goes around you. Put a smaller guy on him he goes over him. Seeing a major step in his year two. He is understanding where he can attack. Just starting to scratch the surface on his talent. Didn't like the last 6 minutes. The team that wins is the team that stacks the most possessions. Takes a lot of maturity to not let the scoreboard dictate your effort. Standard of play cannot change if you are up 30 or down 30. You are building habits. Have to get Jax and Cam comfortable. They are 10 and 11 in the rotation. There will be games when we need them. They have to get ready to win games. It is a hard scenario for them. But we will need them down the road when injuries mount up. Jordair Jett was asking if people were going to Humphrey's after the game. AB was there. City's Timo Baumgartl was there. Sophie Cunningham was there. Coach: "I was disappointed to find out she wasn't there to see me coach." Coach will be at Hermann today for the A10 Championship.

I do think there’s something intangible about getting the walk ons in and kerr and Hudson. It keeps them engaged and helps to build a program. Also, avoiding injuries is more important than the difference between 14-21 point win. Remember when Avila got hurt in the non conference last year? It essentially ruined the season. after sleeping on it, I feel better about it. Last night I was annoyed like Brian.

I am jacked for this game. Most important game in years. This is the game that can increase coverage and attendance! This is the game that can get the casual fan back. A big win here and Chaifetz stats filling up again. LFG!!

Dude, WTH with this personal attack??? There was a controversy about GCU not paying property taxes as a for-profit entity. I really wasn't taking sides. I really don't care. Chill the f out.

Thanks for having Earl Austin Jr on. I could not agree more with the notion of emphasizing the Missouri and regional opponents on the schedule. More Southeast Missouri and UMKC Less New Hampshire and Central Michigan