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Two years ago, Saint Louis was picked to win the Atlantic 10 in a preseason poll. The Billikens were coming off a 17-16 season and a .500 finish in the conference. Travis Ford told anyone who would listen the prediction made no sense. His team backed him up by being mediocre for most of the 2018-19 campaign, though it did rally to win the A-10 tournament. Flash forward to present day, when Saint Louis most likely will be picked first or second by conference prognosticators. Don’t expect to hear any objections from Ford this time around. “I get it this year,” the Billikens’ fifth-year coach says. “We’re not hiding from anyone. When you have as many guys returning as we do, there are going to be high expectations. And there should be.” Ford brings back all five starters and his top eight rotation players from a team that went 23-8 and won nine of its final 12 games last season. He has three legitimate league player of the year candidates in Jordan Goodwin, Hasahn French and Javonte Perkins. Goodwin and French were the only teammates in the country who each averaged a double-double in 2019-20. Ford also adds an experienced big man in UNC-Wilmington transfer Marten Linssen and gets back two players who missed most of last season with health issues in Gibson Jimerson and Fred Thatch Jr. The last time Ford can remember coaching so much veteran talent was the 2013-14 Marcus Smart-led Oklahoma State team, which began the year in the top 10. The Billikens may not crack the national polls in November, but they could be as good as any mid-major come March. “We’re hoping it’s a positive even more so for us because everybody is a little behind right now,” Ford says. “Everybody had to take three or four months off, and it wasn’t a normal summer for anybody. So we’re hoping that (experience) pays off for us.” The big question The Billikens were a tough-minded group that excelled defensively (No. 36 nationally in effective field goal percent defense) and on the glass (22nd in offensive rebound rate) last season. The problem came whenever they had to shoot behind the two most important lines on the court. There’s no kind way to describe the team’s free-throw shooting performance. It was atrocious, a nightly calamity at the charity stripe. Saint Louis ranked dead last in Division I at 57.1 percent from the line. For reference, Dwight Howard’s career free-throw percentage is 56.5 percent. Worse, the main offenders were three of the team’s most indispensable players. French somehow made less than a third (32.9 percent) of his supposed freebies, while Goodwin bricked his way to a 54.3 percent mark. Yuri Collins finished at 54.1 percent, an unacceptable rate for a starting point guard, while Jimmy Bell Jr. and Terrence Hargrove Jr. were both under 64 percent. In their two-point, overtime loss to Dayton at home, the Billikens missed 17 free throws. They clanged 11 of them in a six-point December loss to Auburn. This area simply has to improve, or other teams will go to a Foul-a-French (or is it Hack-a-Hasahn?) strategy in crunch time, and Saint Louis will lose games it should win. “It’s been a point of emphasis for us all summer,” Ford says. “We all see it, we all know it. We’re going to do everything we can to get better at it.” Perkins says that each player has been required to make 100 free throws before practice begins this offseason. Goodwin has been trying to double that. The quarantine gave him a chance to rework his mechanics. He and his father broke down film of his jump shot and then took videos of him shooting in the backyard. They discovered a small hitch in his form and noticed he was often releasing the ball near the side of his face. So Goodwin rebuilt his shot with a more classic technique, focusing for the first week and a half on nothing but free throws. Then he extended his range in an effort to improve upon his career mark of 26 percent on 3s. “I’m shooting it well now, and I feel like a totally different player,” he says. “It’s going to change how people guard me this season. I felt weird at first, but now it’s like second nature. I just have to beat it inside my brain every day that this is the way I’ve got to shoot it.” Neither 15-foot unguarded shots nor those from long-distance were strengths for the team last season. The Billikens took just 27 percent of their field-goal attempts from 3, which ranked 347th out of 353 teams. Only eight teams in the country scored more of their points on 2-point field goals. There are different ways to win in college basketball, but not being able to make free throws or 3s is usually a poor formula, especially in a win-or-go-home scenario. The return of Jimerson, who was hitting 42.9 percent of his 3s before a foot injury ended his freshman season after 10 games, should provide some relief. Ford also says Thatch and Hargrove are better shooters than they have shown so far. Collins only averaged one 3-point attempt per game as a freshman but connected at a 36.7 percent clip; he could look for his own shot a little more this season. And if Goodwin can become even a respectable outside shooter, that changes the dynamic entirely. “We’ve got to knock down open shots from the perimeter a little bit better,” Ford says. “We need somebody to space the floor and be a threat to make shots.” Roster analysis Guards Start the discussion of guards with Jordan Goodwin. Actually, start any discussion about Saint Louis basketball with Goodwin. He was a key local recruit early in Ford’s tenure, one who signaled it was cool for hometown kids to play for the Billikens. He’s also the team’s heart and soul. “He and Marcus Smart are probably the two toughest, most competitive players I’ve ever coached,” Ford says. Goodwin often gets compared with Smart, the Boston Celtics glue guy, and with good reason. They’re both 6-foot-3 but play much bigger than that because of their alpha dog mentalities. Both are tenacious defenders. Smart was a 29.5 percent 3-point shooter at Oklahoma State but found ways to lead his team in scoring, as Goodwin did last season (15.5 points per game). Last week Goodwin spent a couple of hours watching college highlights of Smart to learn how he maximized his skills on offense. All he has to do is turn on the NBA playoffs to see his own potential future path. Smart has turned himself into a useful, if not always reliable, outside threat and through Tuesday was connecting on better than 35 percent of his 3s in the postseason on nearly seven attempts per game. “That’s motivation for me,” Goodwin says. “I watch a lot of the things he does on the defensive side of the ball and think, OK, that’s something I do too.” Goodwin also led the Billikens in steals and, most remarkably for his size, rebounding. His goal was to beat out his roommate, French, in boards, and he did so by a 321-312 margin. “First of all, I think it’s just me wanting it more,” he says of his rebounding prowess. “I try to work angles, and I watch a lot of film of how guys box out. A lot of big men don’t really even box out. So I just get into position and maybe hit them in their legs to get them off balance and create opportunities for myself. Coach Ford says you can be selfish with rebounds. So that’s the only thing I’m selfish about.” It’s hard to find much that’s selfish about Yuri Collins. The sophomore point guard commands almost as much respect from teammates as Goodwin, in large part because the speedy 6-footer is always looking to get his teammates the ball. He led all Division I freshmen and set a school record with 5.5 assists per game while taking only 11.1 percent of the available shots, the lowest among team regulars. His generosity and unflappability make him a popular guy in the locker room. Ford would like to see Collins look to score a little bit more when he’s open and perhaps become a little more flappable. “He’s so even keel,” Ford says. “He’s quiet and never changes expressions. That’s not a bad thing. But sometimes I want a little more out of him emotionally from the point guard position.” Demarius Jacobs can get overlooked at times on a team with other stars. He’s more steady than spectacular. But Jacobs started 29 games last season and understands his role as a do-everything player. He shot 38.2 percent on 3s for the season and led the team with a 42 percent mark during A-10 play. So, like Collins, Ford wouldn’t mind if the 6-2 junior hunted his own shot a little more. Fred Thatch Jr. played in only six games last season because of a mysterious ailment that caused him pain and fatigue in his legs. Weeks of blood tests, exams and even a muscle biopsy finally revealed he was suffering from a form of myalgia. Team doctors figured out a treatment plan, and Hatch is healthy now, Ford says. The 6-3 guard is one of the team’s best defenders and can play multiple positions. Joshua Hightower is a former team manager and walk-on whom Ford is not afraid to put in at key moments. The Billikens also have several interchangeable players at the guard and wing spots. Wings After the team’s first nine games, Javonte Perkins was scoring 7.6 points per outing. There was little to indicate he would become the team’s top producer in conference action, averaging more than 18 points per night against A-10 opponents. “In all my days in basketball, not just coaching, I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody’s numbers go up like that in conference play,” Ford says. “It’s usually the opposite.” In Ford’s view, Perkins just needed time to get comfortable with the Division I game after transferring from junior college. The 6-6 senior is most comfortable in the midrange game, but he also shot 40.6 percent on 3s during league play. If he can do that over an entire season, watch out. Ford recruited Gibson Jimerson to fill an outside shooting void on the roster, and Jimerson lived up to that role in his first 10 games. He shot 42.9 percent from 3, averaged 10.8 points and was named Atlantic 10 rookie of the week in back-to-back weeks. Then Jimerson broke his right foot at practice Dec. 16 and didn’t play again. Now healthy, the 6-5 sniper should keep defenses from always packing the paint. Terrence Hargrove Jr. was courted by Big 12 schools but chose to stay home after leading East Saint Louis (Ill.) High School to its first state title. Hargrove saw limited action as a freshman but at 6-4, he “has incredible athletic ability,” Ford says. “He can play multiple positions and affect the game a lot of ways.” Freshmen Markhi Strickland and Andre Lorentsson fill out the wing position and probably will have to wait their turn for playing time. Bigs Remember how we said Goodwin plays much bigger than his height? The same can be said for his fellow senior, Hasahn French. Though only 6-7, he has often played center for the Billikens and already owns the school career record for blocks, including a single-season record of 77 in 2019-20. In a December game against Belmont, he erupted for 24 points, 21 rebounds and seven blocked shots. The 240-pounder also had 16 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks in the season finale against St. Bonaventure. His defense bothered national player of the year Obi Toppin as much as anybody in the A-10 did. Simply put, there are nights in league play when he looks unstoppable. “He’s not the tallest one out there, but he’s one of the strongest,” Perkins says. “You’re not moving him. Then he’s athletic too, so if you get him in strength, he’s going to jump higher than you.” Jimmy Bell Jr. lost nearly 100 pounds before arriving at Saint Louis to get to 270 on his 6-10 frame. Bell has shaped up a little more this offseason, focusing during quarantine on his conditioning and stamina. He’s the lone traditional big man on the team and showed potential in short spurts last year while averaging 3.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. The former offensive lineman has nimble feet for his size. “I look for him to make a huge leap from his freshman to sophomore year,” Ford says. Whenever French and/or Bell got into foul trouble last season, the front line got thinner than a St. Louis-style cracker crust pizza. Ford attempted to solve that problem with Marten Linssen, who has already played at Valparaiso and UNC Wilmington. The 6-8 grad transfer averaged 10.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in the Colonial Athletic Association last season and is comfortable in the post or putting the ball on the floor. “The man’s footwork is crazy,” Perkins says. “When I see overseas players in the NBA, he just models that. And he really talks on defense. He was talking the first day I met him.” Spotlight on: Javonte Perkins After starring at Miller Career Academy in St. Louis, Perkins had no Division I or II scholarship offers. He blames this mostly on his skinny frame. Perkins weighed just 145 pounds at the time and had never lifted weights in high school. So off he went to Southwestern Illinois College, where the coaching staff had him eat six meals per day and live in the weight room. He also worked on getting his academics in order. During his second season, he finished third in the JuCo ranks in scoring at 26.4 points per game. Now he had better options, including Texas Tech and Southern Illinois. But the pull of home won out. Perkins had played against Goodwin since both were in elementary school. He also played high school games against Collins and Hargrove. The Billikens needed an offensive jolt, and Perkins knew what his job would be. “That’s why I’m here, to score the ball,” he says. “I didn’t really want to play defense or think about defense.” That approach wasn’t going to work for Ford, whose teams have become known for toughness and grit. Perkins also didn’t get to practice in the summer as he was finishing up coursework at SIC. All of that contributed to his slow start. But Perkins worked to improve his defense, and when he put up 18 points against Southern Illinois on Dec. 1, he felt as if things were clicking into place. Perkins went on to post seven 20-plus point games in A-10 play, including 33 at Saint Joseph’s. He did that despite starting only one game; he was named the A-10’s Sixth Man of the Year. “I always knew he could shoot the ball, but I didn’t know he was a scorer like that,” Goodwin says. “He took our team to a whole new level. There wasn’t as much pressure on guys like me and Hasahn to score, so we could go and just rebound.” Ford plans to start Perkins this season, and he once again should be the team’s go-to player on offense. As for his defense? “I’m working on it,” he says. “Right now I’d probably rate myself as a 6 or 7 (out of 10). A 7 on a good day.” He needs to be an adequate defender. Because he’s really good at his main job: getting buckets. Recruiting Despite not having much immediate playing time to offer, Ford brought in four intriguing prospects in the 2020 class. Linssen might be the only one who has a major impact this season, but the others should contribute in the future. The group includes Oregon transfer Francis Okoro, a former four-star recruit who averaged just over three points and three rebounds per game during his two seasons in Eugene. He was raised in Nigeria but went to high school in Normal, Ill. He was EYBL teammates with Collins, Hargrove and Thatch. With the NCAA seemingly handing out transfer waivers by the barrel this offseason, the 6-9 Okoro could have tried to play for the Billikens this year. But Okoro has decided to take a redshirt year and hopes to rediscover the form that made him a top-60 recruit. Ford’s two high school signees were Markhi Strickland from Florida and Andre Lorentsson from Sweden. Strickland is a versatile 6-5 wing whom Ford describes as “a high-level athlete. An active player and a great offensive rebounder with a scorer’s mentality.” Lorentsson, a 6-8 forward, had not yet arrived in the U.S. as of Monday. Ford calls him a “big, big, big-time shooter.” Both most likely will serve in understudy roles this season. Schedule analysis Like everybody else in college basketball, the Billikens have a schedule that at this point is a giant shrug emoji. Which is kind of a shame in this case, because Ford originally put together an aggressive and challenging slate full of opportunity. Ford is hopeful the Orlando Invitational will still be held. The field originally included Michigan State, Gonzaga, Auburn, Xavier and two other solid mid-majors in Boise State and Belmont. Saint Louis also had a home game contracted with Boston College and road contests against Memphis and Minnesota. The Atlantic 10-Mountain West challenge was postponed, meaning a highly anticipated home game against San Diego State isn’t happening. As for the others? “There are no definitive answers to anything right now,” Ford says. The ceiling Saint Louis finished 49th in the NET last season, ahead of NCAA Tournament bubble teams Indiana, Arizona State and Cincinnati. The Billikens were rolling at the end of the season and were a threat to win the league tournament. They gave Dayton their two biggest scares of the conference season. They did that mostly without Jimerson and Thatch and with freshmen Collins, Bell and Hargrove filling key roles. If you assume the sophomore class makes a leap, and Jimerson and Thatch are healthy, this is the most purely talented roster in the Atlantic 10. The only team in the conference that can match it in experience is Richmond, which has five senior starters. FYI, Saint Louis won at Richmond by 16 points in the teams’ only meeting last season. There’s little question this should be Ford’s best team in the Gateway City. Even without the A-10 auto-bid, it’s a team that’s good enough to get into the NCAA Tournament — and do some damage in the bracket. The floor Counting on an at-large bid from the Atlantic 10 is a risky proposition. Ford’s team still isn’t overly explosive offensively, and free throws remain a massive concern in close games. Saint Louis would have been NIT-bound had it not won the conference tournament last season. Without improved performance from the 3-point and foul lines, the team could face a similar fate this year, especially if its opportunities for nonconference prove-it games are limited. Final report If all this team had to brag about was Goodwin, French and Perkins, that would still be pretty good. There’s arguably not a better trio at the mid-major level, and all three are seniors. “All three can affect the game in different ways too,” Ford says. “I’ll go to war with those three any day of the week.” But Saint Louis is more than the emerging Big Three. Ford has assembled a roster full of athletic, tough guys, with a pass-first point guard leading the way. His biggest challenge might be finding minutes for all the deserving players, but that’s a problem he loves to have. The Billikens also just can’t assume success will come. After all, their highest finish in the Atlantic 10 under Ford was last year’s fourth-place showing. “We can’t just rely on the fact that we did play well at the end of the season,” Ford says. “We want to build on that. We want to study that and say, hey, we did play well, but we can play even better. We must be better. We need to be better.” All the pieces are in place for Saint Louis to be better, perhaps better than any non-power conference team in the country. As long as things don’t come down to a free-throw shooting contest.

Realistically, it was always going to come down to the wire with this commitment in my opinion. Nesbitt knows our staff well and he knows our players well. If he feels somewhere else is a better fit, then more power to him. But SLU handled his recruitment well and we won't have to spend any time second guessing whether we recruited him hard enough. These are 16/17 year old kids trying to make decisions with a million people in their ear telling them what to do. Sometimes they make good ones, sometimes they make bad ones. Sometimes decisions are rational, and sometimes kids change their mind. All SLU can do is continue to put ourselves in the best position for recruits like Nesbitt who are interested.

From the Athletic piece. Looks like J-Good has been working on the mechanics of his jump shot. If he can become even a respectable 3-point (and free throw) shooter, thinking about how good this team could be...oh man. I can’t wait for November!

I don’t know how much of a role the coach at St. Louis Christian is playing in Nesbitt’s decision, but it wouldn’t shock me if the coach was was pushing the Illini or any other power 5 program over SLU and Memphis. Coaches at those type of programs sell their programs to players by placing players at the highest profile programs possible.

Box and Skip have upgraded their operation. I'm confident that they've done all they can.

6 days to go. Hoping for the Billikens to be the pick, but prepared for either way. “If you aren’t with us, you’re against us.”

The only masters this jack off got from anyone was in baiting

Fan Guy has returned to let you know you should leave.

People do love semantics.. perhaps it should have been phrased, "I believe this is the first time that Coach Ford has gone on the record that the plan is for Perkins to start this season."

Yeah, but Big Steve's father-in-law.

Everyone relax. If we get him awesome if we don't oh well. I don't feel as needy as we did back when goodwin was committing. We have a base and I trust Ford to find quality wherever with the momentum we have now. If he wants to go be another guy at one of those schools let him. We will be fine.

That's what you're supposed to say to the Memphis beat writer.

Radio Boy, thanks for the heads up on Frank's show when he talks about the Bills. I'm not able to listen to much of his show but when you mention it, I always go the the 590 website and listen to it in the evening.

Of course the athletic department is going to discuss their payoffs with the medical school administration. All payoffs have to have their stamp of approval.

With Perkins in the starting lineup, the first player off of the bench is not nearly as predictable. An early foul could dictate the first sub. The need for a shutdown guard could bring Thatch or Hargrove in. The need for an outside shooter would bring in Jimmmerson. An extra ball handler could bring in Jacobs. Ford has a lot of options to respond to early game situations.

It's all part of the game for there to be drama coming down to the wire. It is more fun for the kid to have people hanging on his decision, its more clicks for the recruiting experts if there are dissenting opinions, and its good for the coach of any high school program to keep all three college coaches happy that their effort isn't wasted. Obviously, don't love that there is dissenting opinions coming in multiple directions but still feel good about our chances here.

Yikes. Ad hominem much?

Jerry Meyer switched on the morning of Goodwin’s announcement from the Illini to SLU.

Didn’t Piper and Snow have Goodwin going to the Illini? Personally, Memphis still scares me more in this recruitment.

Can’t say I agree with your other Tatum posts but this made me laugh.

I’m not sure that condo will be big enough for ALL your mistresses, Larry.

I’m assuming she had to move when Gordon transferred? So her condo is probably back on the market? I’m Looking for a nice weekend place to take my mistresses.

Well it definitely makes sense that if the family wants to get paid to have Gordon commit 13 months before he can sign, which very few kids do so that way they can reduce the amount they get paid as much as possible. That makes much more sense then the fact his girlfriend just committed there to play soccer.

I could care less who starts. I look at wins and then minutes played, as the key to the wins. TeamBlue, not TeamMe

too soon

That’s not proof. That’s speculative BS. How many 5* or even 4* recruits has Ford brought to SLU? Goodwin wanted to stay home. Gordon had a lot of red flags going back to high school. That’s looking at realistically. He gets the most out of his players. Go troll somewhere else

P.S. when a new member shows up and their very first post is about SLU paying recruits, using the pronoun “we” isn’t as clever of a disguise as you think it is.

I don't have a problem with Perkins starting.I also don't have a problem with Perkins being sixth man. The article points out the problem we all know ... free throws .... so who finishes is a bigger issue to me. If Goodwin has improved as much as he says, the finishers should be Collins, Jimerson, Perkins, Goodwin and a selection from Thatch, Bell, Hargrove and Jacobs. If Linsson can shoot free throws, that's nine guys. If French improves so much ..... well, but three years of history suggests otherwise. I expect a lot of offense-for-defense subs closing close games this year. Unless we don't have many of those.

Basically just that the momentum for SLU had stalled and the point man for Illinois never kept his foot off the gas.

Think this is the first hint that the plan is to start Perkins this season? I'd then assume we're going with YC, JG, JP, HF, JB?

Exactly. I don’t think anyone really knows what’s gonna happen next week. I want Jordan Nesbitt to be a Billiken as much as anyone. I really really do! But if there’s 1 thing we know, it’s that coach Ford is gonna find talent here at SLU. Hopefully, that includes Nesbitt. But if it doesn’t, there’s no doubt in my mind, our staff will find someone else. That being said, I still really hope Nesbitt chooses SLU next Thursday.

You mean Linssen, right?

He must have springs implanted in his legs.

This might be one of the most anticipated Billiken seasons in history. We have some straight up ballers on this team and it will be interesting if they can put all the pieces together and do something special. I think I'm most excited to see how Javonte Perkins game has improved. He has the potential to be an NBA guard and I hope to see him just absolutely take over games.

I think he does get away with the leading with his arm thing more than most because it seems so unthreatening as if he's protecting a birthday cake from the wind. The whole playoffs have been must see tv for me.

Honestly, we will be better than more than half that list.

A lot depends on how this season goes, but it looks like Goodwin will have made all those marks on the record book with 3 of 4 seasons shortened in some way. And French will be all over the record books with 2 of 4 cut short. (Don't forget about him.) What they've done in 3 years is absolutely remarkable.

Status? Same as his eyebrows... missing

-this is bizarre, an article on ESPN written by an ESPN Staff Writer about ESPN bball events and it is claiming "sources" are telling them, it's your house for goodness sake

... Unless it's Jayson Tatum.

I never said any such thing. And I never will. I’m perfectly capable of accepting that people might be happier at another school besides SLU. But you come on here and your very first post ever is accusing us of cheating. How do you expect regular posters to react to that?

Another write-up telling us what we already know. No surprises here. Semantics here and while Welch may be a prolific "shooter" I don't see 12 ppg as a prolific or more importantly a consistent scorer. To call Osunniyi a "complete" big man is a bit of a stretch., But if hehas developed a more consistent offensive game,look out. The bench remains an unknown. Much like Richmond, they only go five deep right now. Good spot for them I guess. Cincinnati comes in at #59.

They've hit the top 60 what with Bona's listing with 2 left in the A10. That means 8 in the PAC-12, 4 in the American, 1 in the Valley, 7 in the Big East, 1 in the Mountain West, 8 in the SEC, 9 in the ACC, and 10 in the Big Ten for a total of 50 of the 59 remaining spots.

Haha. Fair. I've decided hating Tatum is going to be my shtick on this board, so get used to it.

Prove it. Otherwise troll somewhere else.

So your father in law, who works in the med school, knew about us paying for Gordon’s mom. Funny, because my father, who holds a much more “in the know” position within the administration that working in the med school, has always stressed how clean our program is. But glad you got that great intel from a med school faculty member.

I'm out of reactions for today. So you won't get a good post out of me, but you're absolutely right. I for one am all for it. Is it really cheating if everyone is doing it? I actually think it's a complement that people think we're cheating. Means were doing something right.

You’re the one throwing around accusations with zero evidence outside of the word of your father in law who happens to work at the med school. I’ve received contradictory testimony from people I trust far more than you and your med school father in law. Gordon being at 4 schools in 2 years prove his red flags. Believe whatever you like, but take it to the Illini board, where you can all compliment each other on how fashionable your tinfoil hats are.