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We already have our stretch 4. Jankovic had his shot but his heart was set on a high-major team. Actions have consequences.

My mother is retired now, but she was a nurse that worked in that department for decades. They don't just develop the vaccines, they also develop better delivery methods. SLU was one of the leaders, if not the actual developer, of the nasal mist delivery method for the flu vaccine.

Perkins is truly an amazing scorer. Just in that video, he has every shot in the book. Having watched Billiken basketball for 30+ years, I can't remember a scorer as good as JP. I know he has been compared to Rogers but I somehow missed the Rogers years, possibly due to working out of town a couple of different times.

I would hope a coach would also add what the player specifically needs to do to improve enough to gain playing time.

I think we'll still see a lot of moving parts in terms of rules being flexible to accommodate extraordinary circumstances. Even the NCAA knows they can't just screw players over in a very public way because of this unusual year. In Obi's case, Roy is right. He's a lottery pick. He's not coming back. For someone like Daly, who doesn't exactly possess what scouts call "upside" in large quantities, he would be wise to see his online classes through for the rest of the semester.

Griffin will be in high demand, but trying to land an impact sit one transfer to step up following the departure of our big 3 is a recruiting strategy that makes a lot of sense.

there is no reason/scenario i can think of that makes sense for obi to go back to dayton for his junior year. take the money and run obi. has anyone been college player of the year multiple times? alcindor? walton? oscar? i dont know. but one has to believe obi's value will never be higher.

It is pretty amazing how much changing one player next year, will change the type of team we are. Start with the base group of 4: French, Perkins, Goodwin and Yuri. Add Bell and we are a big physical team, Bell 6 10, French 6 7, Perkins 6 6, Goodwin 6 3 and Yuri 6. A team that can match up with the big boys and neutralize a high scoring inside big man. Add Jimerson, now it's a 4 guard team with 2 strong outside shooters, who are creative shooters with quick releases. Add Hargrove and you have a 4 guard team with crazy hops that is always looking for a steal and a fast break. Add Thatch and you have a 4 guard team that can put a lot of pressure on ball handlers and shut down a high scoring guard. All we are really missing is a proven stretch 4 to add to the mix. Someon who can defend a legit inside player and step outside and drill an open 3. Hopefully Andre or KC can make that happen.

I prefer all in one podcast.

If he ever considered dropping down to a lower division school where he would have gotten PT. Walk on at SLU never play vs Going to UMSL and getting 25 minutes a game.

I’ve always agreed with your philosophy, that players shouldn’t be run off if they are meeting basic requirements. That said, if players are going to be allowed to transfer without any restrictions, which seems likely, this is going to make coaches think long and hard about the wisdom of doing that. Look at Wichita State... you can be wiped out in a blink of an eye.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2020/03/12/meet-the-slu-department-on-the-frontlines-of.html?b=1584013271^21634720 A SLU degree not only helps you get admitted to a graduate program/school or your first job... but also a little pride... to know your alma mater is 1 of 9 medical research centers working on a vaccine. Proud to “Be a Billiken”

The funny thing about vaccine research is that it's not incredibly "lucrative" in the sense that while it certainly brings in some amount of federal funding, it doesn't generate a whole lot of extra dollars for institutions in general, since there's a lot of financial risk involved due to the inherent trial and error development process. It's certainly not profitable for companies, not like running clinical trials for new heart disease pharmaceuticals or anti-cancer drugs. While those things are important in their own respects, I feel like vaccine and antibiotic research has really been dumped to the wayside by a lot of big name medical institutions across the country because vaccine development doesn't really generate enough revenue for their burgeoning research departments. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/opinion/contributors/pharma-vaccines.html Good on SLU for truly being an institution working for the "Greater Good." This pandemic has really highlighted just how critical vaccine research is for our future.

Do you have inside info on Diarra? Otherwise, he was a freshman big that was coming off of a serious injury. I have seen next to nothing on him from the coaching staff or anyone close to the team. It isn't unusual for a 6 10 freshman to ride the bench his first year. I am hoping that he makes progress over the summer and picks up reserve minutes this coming season.

You are not comparing apples to apples. A college basketball team is not the same as a business owner/employee relationship. I think that Billiken Roy and DLarry had it nailed down. It is best for a coach to be honest with a kid about his prospects for playing time while also stressing that he is welcome to stay four all four years if he wishes.

I'll assume Roy isn't against a coach having an honest and frank conversation regarding his future and potential playing time with a team. (sorry if I'm wrong Roy) but if after that conversation the player wants to stay and has done what he's supposed to do, the coach shouldn't run him off anyway. I'd imagine plenty of transfers happen this way. I know if I was a player I'd want complete honesty without any sugarcoating from my coach

I agree. i think they should be given the option to stay but I think honesty from the coach is the best route. Some kids just cant hack D1 ball and I think the coach has a right to tell a student that. The student should also be given the choice to stay.

gordon is a great example of a bad teamate. and even then, the coaching staff did not boot him. he left on his own. same with Santos. we dont know what he exactly was involved with or did, but again, he was suspended by ford and santos chose to leave. i think welmer was ready to become an adult and gave up on his basketball dream because he had a foot condition that he will live with the rest of his life (see bill walton). again his decision. at this point, if hankton loves being a part of the slu community he should be allowed to get his degree and be a part of the team

Gonna really enjoy kicking UD's sorry arse next year.

i'm assuming he means ford has to run off players to be able to get more than the 2 players that he has commits from already. hopefully that wont happen. if a player chooses to transfer, that is their choice, a coach shouldnt run off anyone unless the player concerned is a bad teammate, a bad student or a bad citizen.

Archie Griffin. Oh wait...

I'm curious, what decisions does Ford have to make?

sheltie says louisiana - monroe. i never heard he actually committed to them but was recruited by them. but sheltie isnt known as the cliff clavin of billikens.com for nothing. so i'd go with the louisiana - monroe.

Looking back through our international players and not even just the Euros, this is still true. We've had a lot of low-to-the-ground teams over the years. Not anymore. I think we've had more dunks in individual games this past season than in entire seasons from the relatively recent past.

dude..... why didnt i know this

I took my young family and mother to Hawaii for the tournament. Our son is sitting on the bench with the team. still think we got hosed by the refs. We had a great time, and Grawer and the team were terrific to our kids.

Here’s another one (sorry if I posted this before):

Sounds like this is going to be a series of articles. Cool idea. Good job Stu. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/billiken-beat/quarantined-with-slu-s-hargrove-tyler-perry-tiktok-and-school/article_736fa2af-1295-52d8-81cb-3f43e93648de.amp.html

Also one of our graduate assistants, Chris Lowe, was a coach at Archbishop Stepinac when Griffin was there in HS. Not saying it will make a difference, just pointing it out

Just watched the whole thing - my adrenaline was up

Gotta love the werewolf intro...

seems like he's just a higher level recruit than Thor?

Myself and @Pistol have finally finished our write up for this season. It's about a 26 minute read so it's a long one. As you will hear on Wednesday's episode we were initially going to have Carter Chapley involved as well but schedules have been hectic with everything going on, and 26 minutes already feels long enough. You can read this blog at the link below: https://www.bigredworld.org/post/2019-2020recap If you have comments, thoughts, hated what I said, etc. I will be on here for another hour or two to talk this blog with everyone on here as well. With this pandemic cutting short seasons or canceling them altogether, we know there is a vacuum of Billikens content so here's hoping we can fill this somewhat. Coming the next few weeks we will have what looks like two interviews per week, plus a couple of other shows that we have been developing. The schedule as it stands is in concrete: - Former Billiken Aaron Burg on Wednesday - Jack Raboin Part One Friday - Jack Raboin Part Two Next Wednesday (4/1) These are the ones I'm confident posting about at this time but we have a lot more on the way to hopefully make this more bearable. Look for more updates on our show schedule Wednesday.

Bring on everyone next year