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I know we all feel disappointed by today's outcome but I want to offer a little perspective. First off, going to Florida and getting beat handily by Florida State is not an embarrassment. That is a Elite Eight/Final Four caliber team. It is a lot like what happened in the 1998 Big Dance against Kentucky. We were simply outclassed. I reference that 97-98 team for a reason. That season we started the season with high expectations. We got off to an 8-0 start winning home games against Illinois and Vanderbilt. Good wins, but nothing impressive. We then lost at #11 UCLA. We went to a holiday tourney in Puerto Rico and lost to #19 Syracuse, a weak rebuilding Iowa State team, and #12 Arkansas. We came back to SLU and opened the Conference USA season with a disappointing loss to Memphis before the students got back from Christmas Break--making 5 losses in a row. The feeling when we got back to campus was much like how I imagine we are all feeling today. But we kept getting better, and even though the only ranked CUSA team (Cincinnati) beat us twice including an absolute de-pantsing at the Savvis Center. We finished the season strong and got an At-Large bid and got the Big Dance. We even beat UMass in the 1st Round. I think that is probably what this team can still accomplish this year. Yes, the turnovers, stagnant scoring, and FT shooting leaves a lot to worry about. But Coach Ford has showed the last two seasons that his teams get better as the season goes on. Have faith that this will continue to be the case. We can still take it to our conference foes. We just need to learn how to play to our strengths and away from our weaknesses. The season is far from over. Have faith in this team. With a leader like Bess and a great defense we can still make a tourney trip. These games can really be beneficial to the Bills later on in the season. Let's give this team a chance to prove itself in the conference season before anyone jumps off the bandwagon. Go SLU! We believe!

This is one of the worst post of the year. Goodwin is a sophomore and a leader on a team picked to finish top in the a10. He's had some good moments and some bad. He's human. He went 3-15 from the field, sometimes shots don't fall. He found a way to contribute in other facits. You don't see him sulking around after making a bad play. Goodwin wasn't the reason we got steamrolled. I blame pestello personally. (Blue font). Let's go fuok up some a10 teams.

we need to overwhelmingly win the conference. The closer to 40 NET rating the better. not sure how even going undefeated in the A10 will get us there (we have no historical reference at this point on the NET system) and i remain in the camp that no further wins vs top 50 programs will not get us there (our conference will be mostly 100+ rankings) but we have ourselves in a position that our chance of getting an at large bid is not going to be good because the A10 is the weakest it has been in the entire time the billikens have been in this conference. That said, being desparate in Brooklyn with a 2 game bye wouldnt be the worst place to be. should make brooklyn fun. coach ford, from this point forward, let's play havoc. turn up the pace.

Ty Graves. If this team still had Graves, Henriquez and Santos they’d be a top 20 right now.

We don’t have a point guard. It’s that simple. That’s why we aren’t living up to expectations

Our shooting isn’t going to get any better. Yeah, Wiley coming back will help some, but one guy that will get 20 mpg game at most isn’t going to fix what’s is wrong with the offense. We need to ditch whatever was the plan going into the season and take advantage of the athleticism on the roster. We need to start playing a full court game for much of the game.

They're all gone. Not an excuse for this team outside of Santos but even his loss would be less noticed if Foreman and French hadn't regressed

Man f u c k off

This. I think the fact that Graves dad and the PR firm that was working for Graves both went silent right when he announced he was transferring makes it pretty clear SLU bought silence from Graves and his crew.

main reason the 2 sops have a few less minutes this year is they have a much stronger supporting cast. 6-8th player is not a complete drop-off as it was last year.

The eye test certainly agrees with your statement. However, the stats don't show a total downturn. Goodwin's minutes are down (from last year full season) by almost 2 mpg, and his scoring is down 1ppg, but he is shooting 3% better from the field and 4.5% better from the arc. Rebounds are down 1.4 rpg, assists down 0.4 per game, and TO's up 0.2 per game. He isn't handling the ball as much, so you would expect assists to be down. I do agree with most everyone else, our backcourt needs adjustment, reconfiguration, or a total burn it down and start over. Both he and Isabell aren't what we expected. French on the other hand, yeah. Minutes down somewhat, scoring down almost 3 ppg, shooting down 11%, with rebounds up 0.2 per game. I don't think Coach has figured out how to maximize he and Gordon.

I contend what will turn goodwin and french and frankly the rest of the team's offense is putting the players in the best position to succeed. Standing on the preimeter or running the weave till the shot clock is nearly expired doesnt seem to work. Turn up the pace!

The future is now!

This is a fun and maddening team to watch. It should at a minimum be an NIT team and have a shot to win the conference tournament. Ford is going in the right direction, and his teams have improved as the season progressed in prior years. Maybe we get our fairytale run.

I'd like to make a wager. I'll say the 5th place team in the Big 10 or ACC won't make the NCAA tournament if their NET ranking is worse than 90. Any takers?

I liken this to that Oregon game we lost in Rd 2 of the NCAA's. OU was not supposed to be a good 3 pt team yet they shot lights out and we couldn't buy a 3. FSU was not billed as a good 3 pt team and they go out and hit 10 of 18. Go figure.

I have looked in 2 places for the stats and have not found them as of yet. So, you may very well be accurate on your listing but there is something to be said for when all this happens. When you are trying to make a run and you give up second and third attempts by not getting rebounds that kills the run - this happened at least 3 times that I can remember, same goes for TOs - we gave them up so easily at all the wrong times and FLS converted them often into points. We are still missing layups and I find it hard to believe that we actually shot better then them at the FT line - I know you are saying we took more shots and made more but what is the point to that if you can not take advantage of that by making FTs - I thought the announces said we were shooting 58% from the line at one time. The problem is we started getting TOs and making a a few FT shots as well as hitting an occasional 3 late in the game - too little too late. I never really expected to win this game but I did expect that we would compete and that simply did not happen.

Also, if I'm Hankton and I'm one foot behind Mann, as he goes up for the dunk with 15 seconds left, I knock the sh¡t out of him and swat that ball down his throat.

I have watched every game.....and if you think this is going to be an NCAA Tournament team, well, I want what you are smoking.

That is all true but the A10 is way down this year and we don’t have an at-large resume as of today. Better be good in Brooklyn, or they can go after is a league title and NIT autobid.

Come on Wiz. This is not just math. There is a reason we had all of those turnovers. There is a reason we shot like . They made a lot of those 3’s because they were wide open because we needed to protect the paint. Hey I’m the biggest homer in the world but there was no way we win this game. We were outclassed.

Not going to read this entire thread. I figured a few have already jumped off the cliff. The big problems that seems to be consistent this year is that they just do not protect the ball - too many TOs and they give up too many second and third chances to the other team. If rebounding was suppose to be a positive this year it has not been consistent - by the way scouting does not keep you from being able to rebound. I agree not having a real point guard is a problem. I know the FT shooting has been terrible but they were not particularly good last year either and I have just about given up it improving by any significant amount this year. It is in their heads and they can not shake it. At this point, I will take an NIT bid with a bit of run in it to help build their confidence. I was cautious about this year because until you actually show you can win and play with the big boys you don't get credit for it from me. I also agree that FL State will destroy lots of really good teams if they play this way.

Sometimes, as Tony LaRussa would say, you just have to tip your cap. We really sucked today, but on the other side, if FSU plays like that every game they could win the ACC, and the tournament for that matter. They have easily double the talent of any other team we have faced or will face for the rest of the year. They defended with passion and hit a super high percentage of 3's, while we missed chippies all day ( although their tremendous length has a lot to do with that) I'm definitely tipping the cap to those dudes, and hopefully we learn from the experience.

Goodwin and French have regressed offensively because scouting at this level is very good. There's plenty of film on these guys. Coaches know what kind of shots these guys want to to take. So they clog up that area of the floor and force Goodwin and French take shots under duress or take shots outside of their comfort zone. This is how the rest of their career will go until they develop a counter. Simple to say but incredibly tough to do. Goodwin and French have dominated their whole lives playing bully ball. They've never failed before.

After the early signing period last year we were supposed to have Johnson, Welmer, Pearson, Santos, Henriquez, Bishop, and the transfer from BC (I can't remember his name). There are our shooters. We have 6 left playing from that 13.

Exactly this. And you can add French to that list.

I’m not in any way ready to call Goodwin an overrated Billiken but his regression this year has been shocking.

In addition, Welmer is officially off crutches. Still recovering, but the team has set a goal for him to be game-ready by February. Credit to Welmer for never giving up on his basketball career after injury and injury again. A truly passionate player. Kid deserves to get a few more games under his belt, and to take part in a magical run in March.

It would but it would have a negative context to the headline. Billikens overcome sloppy play to eke out win vs Fla St..

he will simply be remembered as an overrated billiken.

Totally agree. Good post. Glad to see you are coming around. The problem with your sarcasm is that currently the acc has 11 teams 90 or better and 7 teams under 40. They will get more than 5 teams. Likely at least these 7 teams will be in if they maintain their sub 40 rankings. The big 10 has 12 teams under 90 and 9 teams at 40 or lower. Likely these 9 teams will also get spots. Too bad the A10 has zero top 40 teams.

Possible I guess. Wouldn't think likely. So SLU suspended two of the players and expelled one of them and paid them off at the same time? Then said players left? Why bother with the lengthy Title IX process then? If SLU knew they were wrong just end the investigation. Possible not likely. So SLU admits they were wrong to the players by paying them off but wants people to think they were right? Again, possible not likely. I wouldn't think SLU would be THAT eager to part with their money. Players Attorney: We are going to sue the school. SLU Attorney: Don't do it we will write your client a check. I don't believe it was that easy at all. Keep thinking that though.

I don't want to be That Guy, but maybe Oklahoma State fans were right about Ford.

So this is your first post? Troll, next.

The fact that Graves, Henriquez and Bishop aren't at SLU is their fault and no one else's. They made an extremely poor decision and paid the appropriate price.