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Billiken women's basketball deserves their own GDT. They are the #3 seed in the tournament and this may be Lisa Stone's best chance in her tenure to bring the program's first NCAA bid. Here's how they have faired against potential opponents so far: Richmond: 62-57 Home W on 2/14 Fordham: 72-63 Home L; first game coming off long pause. Fordham will be coming off a long pause playing UMass in their quarters. UMass: Split with them, 2nd and 3rd games coming off pause, second game was a decisive 11 point win. VCU: 66-50 Home W. Dayton: 59-52 Home 2OT L and 64-57 Road W

If we can’t beat a team that is on the wrong side of the bubble we don’t belong in the tournament. We have a chance to get a game that could punch our ticket and it seems like some fans would rather not to play that game and would just be happy to complain about how unfair the committee was when we get left out.

it isn’t just Palm and Joey. http://www.bracketmatrix.com now we can either play a game and earn our way in or people can whine about how mean the committee was to SLU come Sunday. We haven’t done enough to have a spot locked up at this point. If we don’t get another game, we only have ourselves to blame come Sunday if we come up empty.

I wonder if teams are basically being told that an extra game is not going to change anything in the eyes of the selection committee because the selection committee doesn't want to set a precedent for teams trying to boost their resume AFTER their conference tournaments are over. It does seem like it opens a can of worms a bit and could lead to conferences doing something like the A10 did this year in the future. You play the early rounds one week and the championship the next to give teams that lose early another opportunity to add resume boosting wins. If the NCAA / TV networks are trying to protect the "championship week" brand, that could very well be the case.

Im bummed that the playing of an extra game seems like nothing more than lip service and publicity stunts by the bubble coaches. I’d rather get knocked out by watching my team play than by hanging onto the results of a MWC quarterfinal game.

We wouldn’t be having this debate, and in SLU itself’s case, the decision, about playing an extra game, nor would we be glued to watching the Mountain West Tournament, et al., had the Atlantic 10 Conference, in its infinite wisdom, not moved its Men’s Basketball Tournament up a week. We wouldn’t be having this type of week. We would be watching the Billikens play in the A-10 Quarterfinals this Friday, not last Friday. That was a poor, pandemic caused, panic driven move. No other big (second weekend) conference followed suit. The A10 inserted itself into mid-major, low con weekend. In so doing the A10 excised two possible games from its members’ schedules.

You think average Joe fan that tuned into our nationally televised games on ESPN2 against Dayton and Saturday's CBS Sports game against St. Bonaventure thinks we fit the eye test?

I'm fine with both of our national championships being in question because not all of the top teams were playing in the tournament we were in.

It's Friday so positive perspective: I'm thankful this program is in a position to watch Selection Sunday with hope of hearing "Saint Louis University Billikens" announced.

The odds of all 68 teams testing 7 days negative to play in the tourney are slim. There will be substitute teams that play. You read it first here!

Why? None of their top players have chosen SLU for decades.

And on the way to the stadium they were introduced to an adorable monkey by two men in suits who identified themselves as Jake and Elwood.

Or is it Joe’s job to keep things interesting from ESPN’s perspective, click bait, tv viewers, etc.?

Amid all the recent COVID news in the college hoops world, a lot of people have been asking me about the monkeys. "Which teams have the monkeys been in contact with?" "Where are the monkeys now?" "How do you transport the monkeys from place to place?" "What are the monkeys' names?" For a number of reasons, I cannot provide answers to these questions. But I can say this: TRUST THE PROCESS

Russell has shown me little that deserves a scholarship. Yeah, I know, he was 14th man on the roster but I still don't see it. I see Aaron Hines II. If there is all this talent coming free on the transfer market, Russell will be bypassed there as well.

im telling you guys... these brackets dont consider the COVID PASS we will receive. it will tip the scale. we dancing

Longtime lurker, first time poster. Using the latest Lunardi projections, here is the recipe to get in - and I don't foresee any other scenario being possible assuming Colorado State beats Fresno State tonight AND SLU doesn't play another game. Current Lunardi Last Four In - Drake, Colorado St, Syracuse, Utah State First Four Out - Ole Miss, SLU, Boise St, Seton Hall Next Four Out - Xavier, Memphis, SMU, St. John's I think Drake and Syracuse are in the First Four. A third spot will be taken by the winner of tomorrow's Colorado State/Utah State game. I don't think the Mountain West gets a third bid to the Big Dance. Ole Miss absolutely HAS to lose to LSU tomorrow. I think SLU would pass Ole Miss in this scenario - especially with SLU having beaten LSU earlier this season. If Ole Miss wins tomorrow, SLU is done. Seton Hall plays Georgetown tomorrow. That is not a good enough win to jump SLU in my opinion. I think Seton Hall has to win the Big East Tournament to get in. I think Memphis and SMU have to either win their conference tournament OR beat Houston to get in. If all that works out and there are no other bid stealers like Nevada or Georgetown, I think SLU is the fourth team in the First Four. That's a lot that has to go right, but none of it is unrealistic.

Whether Russell remains at SLU or not won't affect SLU's relationship with Vashon. Ford really really likes Philip. Philip was told he wouldn't get many minutes this year. If Ford however decides to upgrade and go a different direction at point guard it won't affect future recruiting down at Vashon.

Sure SLU lacks road wins, but that's partly because most of the road games got cancelled. Remember last summer when our schedule had us playing in the Orlando Invitational from Nov. 26 to 29 with a field that included Gonzaga, Michigan State and Auburn? It's not SLU's fault those games were cancelled. The out-of-conference schedule that got cobbled together had just one road game. Instead of nine conference road games, we ended up with only four (LaSalle, Dayton, Fordham, VCU). At VCU, we were tied with five seconds to go, and we had the ball, about to cross midcourt, when a delayed mystery-whistle time-travelled back to a "foul" before the previous shot. During the A10 tournament, we were 1-1. (Plus SLU ended up having to play at two venues.) Here's the point: In response to the tendency to hold it against SLU for a lack of road wins, let's point out that the shuffled schedule gave us only five road games total before the tournament, plus two in the tournament. In a year of constantly shuffling schedules, we need to examine why SLU's schedule didn't produce more road wins. SLU planned a schedule that would have had us playing a lot more road games, including quite a few against very good teams, but Covid changed the schedule.

This unlv-Utah st game is bad basketball

Everyone assumes that the Committee will use their normal process for selecting teams. No bracketologist and no basketball fan has any indication as to how the Committee will look at this year. All these bracket guys ALWAYS change their brackets at the last moment before the NCAA announces the true bracket so that they can say, Ha, I was 100% correct.

So we want a Q1 game but at Xavier doesn't suffice? Who the f else are we gonna get? That seems like the dream scenario to me. Play a Q1 team who is fading fast. I would agree we need a game away from home so might as well play a team that can't beat anyone right now

With the caveat of limited minutes, I saw nothing from Russell to make me believe he can be a contributor at the top tier of the A10.

Minnesota beat two top 10 teams and two more top 25 teams. Your entire body of work matters. Or so we're told.

Whatever happened to “coulda had Gregory” guy?

The beauty of this suggestion is that 1. We will be well in the way of our celebration if the verdict is good for SLU, and 2. We will be well in the way to oblivion if the opposite happens. Just make sure you are home and do not have to drive.

Agreed. I'm starting to think @NextYearBill may be right in that the selection committee will be more forgiving with our 30 day COVID pause than Lundardi et al. have been. I also think at this point we can drop the additional game discussion and focus on rooting for SDSU, LSU, and Georgetown (among others). In honor of St. Patty's day and Selection Sunday, I suggest everyone procure a lovely bottle of Irish whiskey and get nice and toasty before they announce the field. That way we will all be well on our way to a celebratory black out by sundown!

Championship Week isn't going anywhere. It's a win for the networks. It has fans like us paying attention to a bunch of games we wouldn't otherwise watch.

Like seeing this thread.

Root for CSU to win large

A developer has purchased Jesuit Hall and will be renovating it as apartments. They're also proposing building a garage and a new apartment tower behind it for a total of more than 300 apartments.

also what could this mean for Syracuse

Classic Stu. I don’t even know what he’s implying

Memo to the NCAA: Pick SLU. The Billikens are legally and medically cleared, good to go.

That isn't a risk for SLU. Even if someone tested positive today on the Billikens, the 11 guys that had it in January would be eligible to play in the NCAA tourney because they are within the 3 month legal immunity window.

Something appears to be going on at the ACC tournament. If I'm them, I seriously consider shutting it down

They didn't really game the system. They just didn't play any non-conference games. In a normal year, they'd have enough games against power conference teams that this would be impossible. (They were actually a very good team last year - after losing consecutive games to Clemson, Auburn, and Syracuse, they took only one more non-conference loss and even won a road game at Cincinnati.) So I don't think there's a big lesson to be taken from their ranking this year if we go back to normal full schedules next season. The only thing I'd add is that as power conferences lengthen their conference schedules to 20 games, non-conference schedules for everyone will get shorter and if a team like Colgate is able to pull off a couple non-conference upsets, look out. Then you could have a lower conference team with like 2 losses in March and a bunch of .500 power conference teams trying to convince us that they're more deserving.

This is it boys and girls!!

If LSU wins and no bid stealers I think we have it.

It may all come do a LSU win today and the favorites winning the Big East and AAC tourneys

As of Friday morning X is out per Jerry Palm and SLU is in......

Bubble Games Tomorrow: 2:00- SMU vs Cincinnati 5:00- Seton Hall vs Georgetown 8:30- Ole Miss vs LSU 9:00- Memphis vs UCF 11:00- Utah St vs Colorado St —> Need the bolded teams to lose. Bid-Stealer Watch: American: Need Houston or Wich St to win Big East: Need UConn or Creighton to win Mt West: Need SDSU or Colorado St to win PAC 12: Need Oregon, USC, or Col to win SEC: Need anyone but the Mississippi schools to win

I’m sure Russell came to SLU with some understanding of what it would take to earn a scholarship. Based on how much he played this year and how Ford speaks about him, I would be shocked if he were not on scholarship next year. The thing is, I don’t think we don’t really need extra scholarship spots. The days of having 13 guys who all expect to get playing time some day are likely over. With the transfer rules kids will be more likely to leave if they’re not playing rather than wait till they’re an upperclassmen. Everyone on our current roster seems outwardly happy, but it would still be very surprising if nobody transferred.

More these games are played out, less I’m getting interested in the extra game.

If the Bills aren’t “in”, is there a risk?

No that is not what I saying. But, you do not give a scholarship to an ex-Vashon player just to keep the Vashon coaching staff and players happy. The player receiving it must project as a key contributor, a "player". If Russell has the potential to succeed Yuri as lead point guard in Ford and his staff's opinion, then give him a scholarship. I would be very surprised if the Staff sees him that way. If not, then do everything possible to keep him as a walk on. Or help him find a school where he might fit, like was likely done for Diarra. I'm just a fan, what do I know? But pretty sure SLU recruits players they think can become starters or key rotation players. There are only 13 scholarships and so two true point guards is likely the absolute maximum number on the squad. Seems to me, there is no room for roster charity.

Lunardi and Palm keeping Boise State in there is a farce. That team finished in 4th Place in the 12th ranked Mountain West, has lost 4 straight, including to a sub-.500 (10-11) Fresno State team (NET 188), and just lost FOR A THIRD TIME to Nevada (NET 98). There is no way Boise State is better than the Billikens. Period.

If we can’t beat them at X, we never belonged in the tournament. They aren’t that good.

I just think an 18 point loss being the last time the committee saw us play is going to be hard to overcome without another game no matter what the other teams do.