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https://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/weaver-hopes-slu-feels-like-his-old-kentucky-home/article_0b8847cd-3011-5f8e-8fd0-5eb41a8afc9e.html I like this little quote. I think it's Grandpa Ford from now on. “Coach Ford being from Kentucky had a lot to do with that. A lot of people speak highly of him and he’s respected in Kentucky. My grandmother knew about him. They’re around the same age, so she’s a fan.”

I love to see this. Thank you President Trump and Betsy DeVos. Sanity Fairness Now how about someone interview Dr P and The SLU Title IX extremists about this.

I don't think Jimmmmmmmmerson gets enough run to lead in scoring this season. French just doesn't finish well enough to average over 12 points a game. Perkins is going to take a while to translate his game to d-1. Top 2 scorers will be our starting backcourt Goodwin and Thatch.

-not sure we should be throwing stones

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This was a poll of coaches, so, opinions are opinions and can't be right or wrong, but just debated. However, some of our rankings seem to be born out of coaches being uninformed. History/Tradition - #12 really? We have less history and tradition than George Washington, LaSalle, St. Bonaventure, George Mason Media Exposure - #7 Didn't necessarily disagree until I saw that St. Bonaventure is #6. Do they even have a local TV package? Budget/Resources - #3 I was actually happy to see that coaches considered us to be 3rd best in this category. Recruiting Base - #9 I think this comes from the other coaches not recruiting or expecting to get recruits out of our City or region. If they looked closer, I think we would have ranked higher. Facilities - #3 Only disagreement here is that I cannot see how we aren't above Dayton. Our arena is better, and our overall facility is better

I thought this would be worth cross-posting here: Local recruiting at the mid-major level is more of a feast or famine proposition. When you have plenty of playing time to offer, you have a counterpoint to offer top 150 recruits: "Hey, instead of fighting to get off the bench for a middle of the pack Big 10 team, come and be a major contributor at a rising program right away." But we just brought in one of the largest recruiting classes in SLU history and the local 2020 class is incredibly top-heavy. So we have all these conditions going against us: 1. We don't have much playing time to offer a top 150 guard out of high school. Given the choice between being a rotation player at a mid-major or a high-major, a recruit will pick the high-major most of the time. 2. A top 40 guy has his choice of high-profile programs. Unless that guy has an intensely personal connection with SLU, you're not even getting that guy's attention. 3. Top 100 bigs are always hard to land at the mid-major level. Everybody is courting those guys, including bluebloods. I think the staff did a good job of being realistic about their options. They shot their shot with Kasubke and Bradford and it didn't work out. They did their due diligence with the other top recruits and moved on quickly. The local 2021 class isn't nearly as top heavy and currently projects like this: Jordan Nesbitt 6'6 SF Top 100 Yaya Keita 6'9 PF/C Top 200 Sekou Gassama 6'10 PF/C Top 200 Nick Kern 6'5 SF Top 250 The good news is that we will have more playing time to give. The bad news is that, so far, there isn't much depth in this class.

Local recruiting at the mid-major level is more of a feast or famine proposition. When you have plenty of playing time to offer, you have a counterpoint to offer top 150 recruits: "Hey, instead of fighting to get off the bench for a middle of the pack Big 10 team, come and be a major contributor at a rising program right away." But we just brought in one of the largest recruiting classes in SLU history and the local 2020 class is incredibly top-heavy. So we have all these conditions going against us: 1. We don't have much playing time to offer a top 150 guard out of high school. Given the choice between being a rotation player at a mid-major or a high-major, a recruit will pick the high-major most of the time. 2. A top 40 guy has his choice of high-profile programs. Unless that guy has an intensely personal connection with SLU, you're not even getting that guy's attention. 3. Top 100 bigs are always hard to land at the mid-major level. Everybody is courting those guys, including bluebloods. I think the staff did a good job of being realistic about their options. They shot their shot with Kasubke and Bradford and it didn't work out. They did their due diligence with the other top recruits and moved on quickly. The local 2021 class isn't nearly as top heavy and currently projects like this: Jordan Nesbitt 6'6 SF Top 100 Yaya Keita 6'9 PF/C Top 200 Sekou Gassama 6'10 PF/C Top 200 Nick Kern 6'5 SF Top 250 The good news is that we will have more playing time to give. The bad news is that, so far, there isn't much depth in this class.

Lazy reporting. Archie Miller and Shaka are long gone. UD arena, even w upgrades, is nowhere near as nice as Chaifetz as 1/2 of the seats are nosebleeds as you sit in the dark to watch the game Location alone, SLU has a huge advantage in that UD Arena is a mile away from and off campus.

10 stud freshmen to watch: Tre Mitchell, UMass Nah’Shon Hyland, VCU Terrence Hargrove Jr., Saint Louis Yuri Collins, Saint Louis Hyunjung Lee, Davidson Maceo Austin, Duquesne Justin Winston, St. Bonaventure Ayinde Hikim, La Salle T.J. Weeks Jr., UMass Gregory Hammond, URI — A10 Talk (@A10Talk) October 11, 2019 I think Jimmerson will be the real star out of the freshmen.

Deivon Smith called it for Mississippi State last night. We weren't among his finalists but had previously offered. General observation: There are way more early commitments happening than last season and there will be way more fall signings overall. I don't have the numbers in front of me (hopefully have a better idea around signing time), just sharing what I'm seeing. I've seen it hypothesized that the new official visit rule might have something to do with it, as it allows juniors to take official visits, too. I'm not sure that accounts for more than a small piece of the puzzle, though. With so many players making decisions early, we're going to see way more players asking out of LOIs, too. There will be some who change their minds, then plenty of coaching changes every spring, and of course add to this mix transfers - about 1,000 this past season, which is by far an all-time record. This means that there will be a massive flurry of activity in the spring and summer, and some really short recruiting cycles for a lot of players. Bottom line: Whether we fill the last open spot in the fall or not, be ready for a crazy spring - and that will be true every year.

New nickname for Mizzou? DUIU.

Smart ass. Cottontail.

I really don't want to re-litigate the incident. Of course I'd want to know what the report recommended and want those involved held accountable in a way that is fair for all. But without knowing exactly what happened or what's in the report - and none of us know - I just can't say for sure what accountability looks like. It sucked and it seemed like overkill based on the rumors we heard, but we don't know and I would personally never use such harsh language without being sure. In terms of the AD budget, they're basically making it rain compared to my years there (2001-2005). You haven't seen penny pinching until you've seen a department run by Doug Woolard and Lori Flanagan with little to no involvement whatsoever from Biondi (they preserved his bottom line, I guess). I could tell stories for hours about what it was like to work in that environment. What we see today vs. what it was like 15-20 years ago is a bigger transformation that most schools undergo when they move from D-II to D-I. There are still a lot of things to improve but I actually get the feeling now that there are people within the Department who care about improving facilities, personnel, equipment, marketing, game experience, etc. I don't know a lot about how Pestello and the Board interact with the AD and I have no idea to what extent their annual budget has grown. I just know that based on four years of direct experience under the previous school president, we appear to have an actual athletic program now compared to an embarrassing dog and pony show.

The consequences for drinking and driving now versus when me and my idiot friends did it in the late 90s/early 2000s are infinitely different. We were told to pour the beer out and drive home immediately. Now you spend thousands of dollars and have to install and maintain an interlock system to drive your car, possibly wear a SCRAM, some are even given weekend shock time at county jail, AA, tons of legal fees, miscellaneous fees, community service, etc....and rightfully so. No excuse is good enough to justify drinking and driving and with UBer and Lyft and various other ways to commute these days you have to be downright stupid to do it. Particularly in a city like Columbia where those cops are out to get you every single night.

we have forever been nickeled and dimed to death. while we have one supposed fan at the leadership of the BoT, not much of what has happened for the men's basketball program would be identified as a hard core fan of the program imo. as to fred, i dont know how anyone could be a fan of that spineless man. well maybe krafty and stormy would be a fan with the power he indeed gave them to ruin the program for no good reason.

SLU also has the advantage of not being in Carbondale

the only advantage slu over siu is/was the better conference. the fact siu is a public school with access to lot more money imo doesnt make it an easy decision. none of us know the slu athletic budget as they are not required to disclose being a private institution, but i would bet that siu has a larger overall athletic budget AND men's basketball budget. while rickma got some concessions we never saw before expensewise, it was no secret by the end of his life, he like all coaches before him was fighting for budget concessions to try to be competitive as well. the biggest problem our basketball team still has imo is our BoT. overall they couldnt care less about billiken athletics.

One thing in our favor is that I don't think the "big boy programs" will come around for quite a while. He is regarded as a "re-tread" at this point because he ultimately failed in the Big 12, and that works in our favor. IMO, Ford will have to have a LOT of success here before he gets another shot at the "big time" and that would be fine too, because it would mean we're doing very well. A lot of the BCS programs will go for who they perceive to be the young up and coming coach or some young mid-major guy who made a run in the Tourney - example, the Illini's horrible hire of Groce. Ford does not fit that profile at this point. He's nearly 50. And as long as Ford has the resources, a strong recruiting strategy, good facilities... he'll figure he can have a long run here of kicking butt in the A10 and getting to the Dance.

Ka-Kaw

Remind me again. The B in NBA stands for Beijing? Another reason to prefer the college game.

It's a pro sports town and the Bills are at the bottom of the totem pole.

I see a certain someone downvoted me, but it's the truth. Start winning consistently and it'll change.