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I found of a copy of Perkins' speech tomorrow (or at least I hope it is) Perkins.mp4

22 points, 0 turnovers on 54 and 55% shooting last night!!! #benched

The Double Bye Chart Step 1...Rich & Bonnies lose...Complete Step 2...The Bills beat RI...Complete Step 3 ...Bonnies lose to Rich Step 4 ...The Bills beat VCU Step 5... Double Bye Step 3 coming up...btw step 3 ...ESPN2 Chance to Dance VCU....57%...up 14 pts Day......54%...up 6 pts SLU.....48%....dn 2 pts Dav......44%...up 4 pts As you can see by the Dou Bye chart...time is running out...which is weighing on the Bills chances. We are favored in this game and the Bonnie game could go either way depending on whether Osinniyi plays and if so, will he be at 100%. ...If we get the combo...Bonnie loss and we win.. our Chance to Dance will take a pop up...one for beating VCU and another for making the double bye. Finally , if the A-10 wants 2 bids... 2 of these teams need to make it to the final game and then it will still be iffy for the 2nd team. Next up VCU...The theme for this post will be...What happens when an unstoppable force (SLU's offense) meets an immovable object(VCU defense) SLU's offense is almost straight As...VCU has one of the top defenses ITN. The computer says the unstoppable force (infinite energy) is able to move the immovable object (finite mass) just enough to give The Bills a victory... Let's look at the report card... ...................SLU.....................VCU.........................SLU.........................VCU .................................OFF..........................................................DEF............. PPG...............A-......................D-.............................C+............................A+....15th ITN FG%...............B+.....................B...............................B-..............................A+.. 12th ITN 3P%..............A-.......................B-..............................B-..............................A+ ...2nd ITN FT%...............A.......................D.................................................................... Reb...............A.......................D-...............................A-...............................C OFF Rebs = total rebs...DEF Rebs = opp reb UP....Off.....PPG...Reb........Def.....none Down....Off...none.........Def...FG% Top 100 ITN (In The Nation)/ gm SLU Assts...Collins... 1st... unch ...If Collins averages 7.8 assts (currently 8.03 over 30 games) the rest of the season he will win the D1 Asst crown. Stls......Collins....30th....up Dou-Dou....Collins...71st...dn FG%..........Okoro....44th....dn Tot Rebs...Okoro...85th...dn Off Reb...Okoro...98th...dn FTA/FGA....Linssen...28th...up Injury/ Illness... Tsohonis...3-1-22... Concussion...Questionable for Sat game Word on the street is Williams(VCU) has a bad ankle but will play Sat....watch his 3pt shot...If he is missing .... the ankle is bothering him. Keys to the Game...TOs...VCU is 4th ITN (A+) in opp TOs... one of the paradoxes is VCU also is very TO prone (F)..so the mantra is protect the ball and pressure VCU . Another strange twist is, it is not just the number of TOs...In the VCU/ Bonnie game, St. B had 16 TOs vs VCU's 20 ...a lot of TOs for St. B but less than VCU....but it didn't work out because VCU turned those 16 TOs into 24 pts vs St. B getting only 12 pts on the 20 TOs. ...keep the TO number down........It will be difficult to get good shots especially 3s...shot selection will be important. The good news is we should be able to out rebound them. WWN2D2W...47/37/77...make some shots especially the layups and dunks. ...score at least 70pts...11 TOs and pressure them into 15....keep their top 3 scorers to less than 40.... Rebs 6+ Bottom line... Just win one for the Seniors...btw, did I mention protect and pressure?

Billiken talk 2 min to 22 min. Rammer liked the Rhody win, even though 'style points' weren't there. Rocc thought the Bills were mentally tough, with the runs on both sides. When the game was slipping away, they put their foot on Rhody's neck and pulled away. Down 10 in the first half, Bills went on a 19-3 run. Moved the ball well and hit the threes. Then up to 15 points in second half, and Rams went on a run, taking the lead. Unlike earlier in the year, Bills came back. Pace dictated the SLU runs. Early in the game Rams were running Jimerson off his spots but he came back with this new move, that side step back three pointer. Complained about the discrepancy of FT between Jimerson and Burton. Rammer will investigate with League Officials. Thatch has become a unique matchup. 6'2" going against bigger guys. He muscles over smaller guys and out moves larger guys. In conference play Thatch is shooting 48% from the Arc, best on the Bills. He has become a leader on and off the court. 20th win of the season. Tradition says 20 wins is an earmark of a good team. Senior Afternoon, honoring Perkins is not indicative of what he will do. Ford said it is yet to be determined if he comes back. The door is open. They want to honor him, just in case he doesn't come back. Looking for a third transfer big and backup transfer PG for next season. Thames may be 6'8" by the time he gets to SLU. He is a PG in high school but may be more of a wing here. Won't be surprised if Williams goes hunting for another team for next season. Rammer "And I wouldn't blame him." But can Nesbitt and Thames handle 10 min of PG next season? Rammer - Ford being a former PG, he will want a PG, not a wing. VCU - can SLU dictate pace and speed up VCU? VCU has one of the most methodical, slowest pace in the league. But they will fly down the floor off of turnovers. VCU has the most assists per game in the league. Vince Williams has jacked up his shooting. He has gone up to 45% from the arc. SLU has a size advantage over VCU rotation players. SLU must outrebound VCU. Paint defense has done better since Davidson.

The season came to an end last night for Thames and Pattonville in a 56-46 overtime loss against Francis Howell in the District 3 semifinals. FH will now take on Chaminade in the district final; Chaminade just edged out Hazelwood Central on the other side. Thames finished with 17 points (7-19, 2-5, 1-3), 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 turnovers. Francis Howell had a steal and made a half-court heave at the halftime buzzer. Booker Simmons from FH had 15 in the fourth and OT and Pattonville couldn't hit a shot in OT. Kramer and Parker are still playing, with both SLUH and Moberly in action tomorrow.

Us mbm’s should put together a nice nil package so Perkins can have a further incentive to return

I shouldn’t answer this because I’m not sure. But I think there is a period you can get an assessment of your future through some sort of tryout. If u sign with an agent after this you’re done with college hoops. If u don’t sign u are still eligible.

Reminds me of when Ream hit the league years ago with the Red Bulls.

The last time SLU hosted VCU:

Even with the caveat that he hasn’t made a decision yet, I’m in the same mindset as you. I know what TheOne said a few months back, but I’m also very inclined to believe what Coach314 has been saying (what everyone else has blissfully ignored). Word around campus is that it’s a 50/50 chance. Everyone that I’ve talked to has said they don’t know but just based on the way they framed their responses, I think it’s more likely than not that he leaves. Time will tell I guess. *blue font* let’s bring on Caleb Love, he’ll be the Yuri back up we’ve been looking for.

I was just listening to a podcast yesterday. I guess it's getting really common for people to have multiple senior nights. With testing the NBA waters, no one is really gone until they officially declare

Fred has so much going for him he could play pro in another country or use his brain to make money. I am sure someone in St. Louis would love to hire Fred. I hope Fred stays at SLU uses up his eligibility and get his doctorate. Players like Fred make it easy to be a Billikens fan.

From what I’ve heard pro ball isn’t really his route.

I wish they would go back to doing it before the game. A lot of people leave and skip the ceremony especially if the team is losing.

I say that his ceiling is higher, because Ford has never had a chance to showcase a fully intact team in a fully intact season. Whether it is one of the Situations, to Covid, to Perkin's injury, it seem like he's never got the opportunity to put together the season that, I believe, could propel the program to the next level. When you can recruit like Ford and motivate your players to play hard like Ford, I think that this is within his reach to get the program to a regular spot at the top of the A-10. The next step after that is regular success in the tournament.

Agree, just got back from the game as well - bit of a drive back to Boston. I was very impressed with the Ryan Center. Didn't think refs called nearly as bad a game as we usually get (and as some of the comments on the blog indicated). As for the student section, we sat near that end of the arena. I think there were more students in the cheerleading/dance squads than there were in the student section. Pathetic student support. The university honored the student-athletes who made the Dean's list last season from all the different sports at halftime, and there were definitely more students honored at halftime than were in the student section. They came for the halftime walk out to center court and then left the building (and weren't really there for the first half either - just showed up for halftime). It definitely helped the Bills that it really wasn't that much of a hostile environment. Great to see the Bills win on the road. The Billiken's zone defense in the first half really took the wind out of their sails. They made a run in the second half, but we righted the ship and withstood it in the end. Good road run to set the team up for VCU. As a side comment, Perkins didn't appear to be wearing a brace tonight, but he also didn't seem to be walking very well. I don't know what the usual recovery is, but he still has a way to go. One last comment some of you might find interesting. My wife and I sat next to two long-time season ticket holding Rhode Island fans (nice guys - never met them before - we had a good chat during the game). They have been quite impressed with Ford's run at SLU. They were mumbling that they don't think much of their current coach and said they hoped that Rhode Island would make a run at Ford. Apparently who's a good coach and who isn't is relative. Go Bills!