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Saw this at work this morning. Congrats, Doc!

One of my favorite Eckerle stories is when SLU was playing against Memphis in a closed-door scrimmage, and Eckerle was having trouble staying in front of his man. Majerus kept laying into Eckerle during timeouts until eventually Porter Moser said something to Rick about the player Eckerle was guarding and Rick turned around and said "wait, THAT'S Derrick Rose?"

I for one think Carter rarely gets the credit he deserves. He regularly breaks stories before our actual beat writer and puts out the most written Billiken content. Just because we don't agree with every take means he deserves the hate he gets here. I really just don't understand the negativity he gets every time his name is mentioned.

Everyone talks about mental health until they trash a dude online just trying to make it in the world. Carter is proud Billiken in the media, maybe we shouldn’t try to tar and feather him. That’s just my humble opinion though.

This should end any Valley speculation, if there ever was…we are not upgrading our facilities to downgrade our conference.

the list of donors at slubillikens.com in the article about the facility is a nice touch as well. https://slubillikens.com/news/2021/10/19/billiken-athletics-billikens-introduce-o-loughlin-family-champions-center.aspx personally i would like to thank these boosters for doing their part to enrich our billiken athletes.

Obviously being accepted to the Big East would be great for SLU. If not chosen the A10 is our next best place to be. It's really not a bad basketball league except for the bottom. The most important thing for me is that they are like minded schools. Exposure on the east coast is a plus. We have little in common with the AAC school's But don't worry, we are going to the Big East. We are the perfect fit for what they need.

Source of mine said by May 2023, operational for C/O '23 recruits arrival. Also confirmed it will be Chaifetz-adjacent filling the grassy area between the NW end (south of softball fields and main walkway to Olive garage) and overlapping into some of the Fred Weber VIP lot. Carter has some questionable takes but for the love of God we all do, he's great at what he does and the hustle is unparalleled in Billiken media coverage. He loves his job and that's apparent so let's show him love for what he does. That being said, @billikenfan05 to insist that any of the comments made RE: Chapley were compromising of his mental health is a big stretch. If they actually are, as another poster mentioned, being any sort of a public figure is not a healthy decision for him when PG-rated levels of criticism become life threatening.

Just offered a 7-footer:

At least one future league MVP tweeting about the addition:

I think under Fred/May we have committed to being a top tier program. I believe the days of penny pinching over ice cream are long gone.

message boards are no place for facts and statistics, please stick to wild conjecture.

Trying to keep it separate from the Big East talk. I guess the announcement is about facilities but don't sleep on the idea that it's my 1 year old son becoming the Billiken

He's a lot higher on Traore than I would've been. Huge ceiling but don't think he's that close to it yet. My cousin and I did too, I was thrilled to be sitting in the Andre Lorentsson fan section. Best part of the scrimmage was when one of the ladies' team said "They get more fans for a practice than we do for conference games"

What I have always loved is his effort forces the other guys, Stu specifically, to work harder than they would've otherwise. Stu's content has doubled in quality and quantity alike since Carter came on the scene.

But can he do it over a trash can?

I, for the record, think this timeline is irresponsibly optimistic. I work a career that is directly related to the construction industry and I deal with supply chain and labor delays on a daily basis. I can't in good faith believe that a $25mil project in city limits will be completed in less than a year and a half's time.

Well, he shows a mid range jump shot.

Just keep winning and we'll change their minds

If we can get Memphis on the schedule regularly (ideally annually) we'd have the best of both worlds.

Thanks for you and HoosierPal's honesty. It takes a big MBM to admit they got this one wrong. I recall a heck of a lot more than two people wanting us to move to the AAC.

I join Wichita State in raising my hand.

Fred Thatch Jr appreciation post:

I don't think Butler is a fair case. The Butler before the Big East was coached by Brad Stevens. The Butler after was coached by a few different guys. A fair question is whether Butler could have survived Brad Stevens leaving if they weren't in the Big East. They may have ended up like George Mason reliving the glory days of back to back championship games. Instead, they've come out OK. I doubt you'd find a serious Creighton fan anywhere that regrets going to the Big East. They've had a 2 seed in the dance, a sweet 16 and conference championships since going. Some things are just bigger than rolling through the Valley and getting a 9 seed in the dance. Xavier is an interesting one but even with the fewer NCAA tourney appearances, I'd bet the vast majority of their fans don't regret leaving.

His take is an attempt to generate engagement on Twitter.

I think I hear a bit of jealous talk there.

SLU shooting it's shot. This is positioning for BE and that's positive. Need Pestello to work the BE University presidents. Need May to convince the ADs and conference commissioner that it's a net financial gain. A move to the BE puts SLU in a better position to go toe to toe with the big state schools in the region for recruits. We have a selling point now, if you like urban, east coast travel... but that is amplified with bigger opponents and TV exposure in the BE. Plus BE financial outlays are bigger and can be spent on more sports investment. More exposure in bigger city also equals more NIL opportunities.

Really like the announcement. SLU will have the best facilities for athletes in the A-10, and will be able to continue building the Billiken brand. A great day to be a Billiken!

essentially that there are a few programs in the league where admins just don't really give a sh!t about athletics and it shows - and how ours does

LOVE the shot Travis just took at the league

Our Multimillionaire donors are not the most compelling speakers. But I think it would be rude for us to tell them to shut up and give us your money.

When the school doesn't hype something then they get criticized and when they do they get criticized. I can assure you that at MO they would have done the same thing.

Fred is not Mr. Excitement.

A new baseball stadium that competes with the one at Vianney High School?

If it is going to be an athletic facility that is only matched by programs in the P5 conferences for their non football sports, it will live up to the hype. Everything I have heard leads me to believe that this facility will top that of any athletic program not in the SEC, PAC 12, Big 12, ACC and Big 10. It will be better than what any Big East member currently has. That seems like a huge deal and huge recruiting advantage for all the university's athletic teams going forward.

My expectation is that it’s going to be a pretty substantial building project. I also think that were it not for the Big East tease, we would look at this as a pretty huge deal. I have jokingly said that for every tweet today building this up, I add an extra $5 million to my expectation for the cost of the facility.

They mistakenly already dropped the big news on twitter. Huge.

https://www.a10talk.com/4-takeways-from-slus-friday-scrimmage/

I agree with your first statement. I will not be OK with staying in the A10 at all.