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To be fair, there are my posters on here that have reached 3/4 of a century and aren't making sh*t up about players or saying they need psych evals.

Given Travis Year 1, pass for lack of ripeness, taking over for a program that went 22-42 the previous 2 seasons; Year 2 derailed by Situation 2; Year 4 NCAA Tourney canceled due to Covid, hence impossibility of performance) and Year 5 (SLU team shut down by Covid, including a near month hiatus and 5 games postponed, only 21 games played overall); and Year 7 still in progress, you Travis dissenters need to change the denominator (7 seasons) you are using to judge this coach. We have a good team, potentially a great team. Let’s give hope a chance.

If SLU was in any of those leagues their recruiting would be very different...... high 3 star and 4 star players with the occasional 5 star, a whole different roster.

We do not need to rehash the "situations" and other setbacks that have left us disappointed/frustrated at times. There are bumps in the road particularly as related to getting to the tournament that virtually all mid majors deal with. The overall trend of the team, though, is very good. And why do you put all your emphasis on the conference tourney? Does the conference regular season mean nothing? For all the admiration I had for RM, he only had a winning record in conference in 2 of 5 seasons. This will be the 5th consecutive winning year in conference under Ford. He's elevated the schedule, players seem to enjoy playing for him, and the team plays entertaining basketball. Under Ford the level of recruiting is consistently good. He represents the university and the city well. He also hasn't viewed SLU as a stepping stone. And you don't understand why some people don't want to consider his seat warm? If you choose to be miserable every year that is on you but don't criticize those who aren't.

I don't agree he's had the support and the time and we have 1 NCAA berth to show for it. Rick Majerus had a proven track record getting Utah...UTAH to the final four! He also coached SLU in a much better A10. The A10 is waaaay down the last few years and so it inflates the T Ford record. Travis Ford needs to go he has a track record over many years of never winning in the NCAA tournament even with top talent. The recent run is fools gold. Remember SIUE!

I absolutely love Fred. One of my favorite all time players but I think you can make the point that losing him could have helped the team. It opens up minutes for Parker and TJ. Parkers offense may be more beneficial than Fred's defense.

This is actually the exact opposite. They will get SOS credit for playing a difficult non-con schedule. The reason the NET is so low the overall weakness of the A10 and losing @UMass and at home vs. SIUE. Those are quad 3 and 4 losses. Giving away the Boise and Auburn games also blew a chance to have a winning record in Q1 games which currently stands at 1(Providence)-4. Maryland and Iona were blowouts that never were going to be Ws. 3-2 would have the NET probably in the 40s.

Something that is pretty disgusting with the net rating is the incentive to run up the score on weaker opponent. This also destroys a lot of garbage and non-garbage time opportunities for the end of the bench......

With this team (not higher level recruits) we'd beat Georgetown home and away. DePaul, Butler, Villanova, Seton Hall, and St. John's are all winnable (particularly at home). And we've already beaten Providence at a neutral site, which was really more of a home game for them. So, we'd be right there in the mix in the BE.

I never get the "mid major whining" about bids on here. How do you think SLU would do in the Big East? How many road games would they win? How about the Big 10? Does anyone remember the Maryland game? SLU had a large "margin for error" this season. That margin evaporated when they lost to SIU, Boise St. at home, blew the Auburn game because they missed 40 FT in a row, got blown out by Iona, and let a UMass team ranked 223rd ranked in offense drop 90 on them (UMass has only cracked 80 2x this year, against C Conn. and Albany). The margin also evaporated when the conference stank and Dayton turned out to be a massive disappointment. Here's SLU's margin: go 9-1 down the stretch and start blowing crappy teams out instead of letting them hang around for 30 minutes. SLU is ranked right around where they should be. Their defense is mediocre, their offense flashes elite but lacks rim finishers and consistent post scoring, and their coach has for most of the season buried Sincere Parker, who's the one guy who can get his offense going off the bounce and can't be worse on defense than our other scoring wings.

PA Announcer messing his last name up? He’ll feel right at home with Gus.

Ford is the highest paid coach in the A10 and has never finished higher than fourth in conference. There comes a point where you have to stop making excuses for him. I have been a big Ford defender up until now but this is supposed to be his “prove it” year. No big injuries, it’s a team full of guys (many have been here four years) that he recruited, and no worldwide pandemics to derail the season. We have the best pass-first point guard in the country and we’re not even close to an at-large. I’m not gonna let this 6-1 run fool me. We haven’t played anyone! GW was a solid win, but outside of that we barely beat George Mason and all of our other wins were to teams that will be fighting to stay out of the pillow fight. I’ll start changing my tune if we win at Belk or start beating teams like VCU and Dayton but until then, I’m a skeptic. I am willing to give Ford a chance to redeem himself but I’m not gonna get excited because we beat some a10 bottom feeders.

I am willing to let the season play out before saying Ford has to go, but I don’t get posters who act like his seat shouldn’t be at least warm. At some point you need to produce more than one great conference tournament run in seven seasons.

On the Press Box this morning, Dr. Chaifetz called Collins a Branded Ambassador for several of his companies. He mentioned Collins has insight on social media that has helped them out. 'Why Pickelball' Fastest growing sport in the country. "I want to buy, or I will invest in, a professional sports team in a big way." (He was talking about NBA). Mark Cuban, LeBron James, Tom Brady, etc. are investors in PB. I was a little confused but it sounds like the team won’t play league matches in St Louis. There will be exhibitions here. On the NBA, 'I have been close before'. You can't pick where you want to have one. "I want to own a major sports team, and NBA team is one of my top preferences. It is up to the League where they want to place an expansion team. It would be unbelievable to have an NBA team in STL."

Thank you for the compliment Brian. I do not know for sure about the NIL roll out, but I think we can rest assured that the same athletic director that finally got chartered flights approved and raises the funds for them, raised $1 million for new locker rooms, is currently building the O'Laughlin Center, has built the new soccer locker rooms and is now working trying to get another big project off the ground is on top of the NIL situation. To agree with my long time friend, Willie, Chris May is the best athletic director at SLU since the 1960's when he and I were in school. Chris will find a way to get the NIL up and started and make it work for us. Unfortunately that means raising more money and you can only go to the same people so many times.

Why are you a former Billiken Club Member? If you care enough to be on this board you can still support the program thru the Billiken Club.

The average NET ranking of our 5 opponents during our current win streak is 201. Encouraging signs on both sides of the ball during our current win streak, and Ford has seemed to embrace in-game adjustments more than in the past, but I will reserve judgement on whether or not this team is looking like a tourney team until we face a true test. This Friday is a good start. While Davidson may be down this year we all know our troubles at Belk. Would be a huge win psychologically for this squad. A W at Davidson this Friday and this team has a lot more confidence going into Dayton Arena and Siegel Center. Of course like every Ford team of the past, our only opportunity to make the tournament is by winning the A10 tournament. Still trying to determine if people are honestly arguing that Ford is ≥ RM as a coach....

Yes. He’s real and so is the nonsense he’s. posted, sadly.

What do you think Ford’s record would be if: Adonys Henriquez who was projected to be our leading scorer and outside threat, would have been allowed to play for two years? Luis Santos a potential all conference center been allowed to play for two years? Jermaine Bishop, who averaged 15.6 points per game for Norfolk State wasn’t run off by the university? Jordan Goodwin wasn’t suspended for the last two months of a season?? oh, and let’s don’t forget the fiasco during the Covid season where even healthy individuals were not allowed to practice during the shutdown. All of these issues weren’t Ford induced, they were SLU administrative issues. I know the truth is difficult for many to accept.. we are still suffering from those transgressions, as they stalled our momentum. Even with that we have a coach who is keeping us highly competitive with a bright future.

i've been saying that about Ford since day one. and in the big picture, if i have to pick one needed trait of a coach, it is recruiting. if you dont have the talent you are always going to be limited to how far you can realistically go. however, talent that overachieves can take a team a lot further. as to bringing in even better players, i think that limit is based on results first. a player isnt going to attend a bottom feeder school if he or she is a top 50 player. so to move the talent needle even higher, we have to win. second, we dont know yet how much this horrible NiL thing is going to affect getting players, but it only makes sense that the program with the biggest open pocketbook is going to win most of the time. i do not have confidence our BoT is going to allow the buying of players big time. thus, i probably am going to grit my teeth and hope and pray that ford's talent is enough. i too am getting restless that we see the same fails year after year. However, i truly think this stretch we have seen in the last few weeks seems to show some changes with this roster in the way they are playing and the way they are being used. i say let's play out the season at least and see what happens. i just dont want to start over again. total rebuilds, which a new coach is always going to bring, are painful and too long for us long time fans. i dont know if i have the strength to endure another. for those of you thinking we are going to bring in another HoF coach like rickma, do you really think saint louis university will do that? I dont.

And are we really comparing Majerus and Ford? Majerus built a team that was ranked and made it to the tourney three years in a row. Ford has only made the tournament once and that’s only because Tramaine Isabell turned into prime Allen Iverson for four games.

I agree with you that conference affiliation is a big issue. Also, I think you are correct in that we have little margin for error in the A-10. But that margin of error is not just about getting an NCAA bid...it is about getting out of the A-10. You will need almost a perfect record to make a conference move. The biggest difference between the A-10 and the Big East is the SOS....The average A-10 SOS ranking is 171...the average BE ranking is 27. The Bills have the best SOS in the A10 at 98...the worst SOS in the BE is 67. You mention in your post Xav, Marq and Creighton. Here are their SOS's and overall team grades.... ....................SOS........Overall team grade Xav................16......................A Marq..............14.....................A Crtn................5.....................A+ These teams are good even though they have 4 -8 losses....all their numbers are good. Any of them would be 1st place in the A10. But the point here is not how good they are ....but can we compete in the BE now. The answer has 2 parts...no not now ...and yes, we are close. The issue for SLU is... are we up to the challenge to do what it takes to not only make the Dance but to have a schedule that is good enough to be in the BE. The answer for this year is yes...our schedule was good enough. If we can have that sort of schedule every year and do a decent amount of winning then we will be worthy of moving. And for those that say, the BE is not going to take us...doesn't matter....11 teams in the BE is a weird number ...it will not stay like that....recruit and play like your in the BE now and good things will happen.

Yes but all those wins that Crews got were really RM wins. He got us closest to a Sweet 16 game and got us in the top 10 for awhile. To equate Ford and RM by simply looking at wins and losses is simplistic.

Coach Rich Grawer was included in yesterday’s Alumni group, received a nice ovation.

Sincere Parker highlights discussed first. Great spark off the bench yesterday. First team wasn't doing much and Parker came off the bench with a huge spark. Bench stepping up has been a big part of the recent games. 6-1 in the A10 is Ford's best start as a Billiken coach. We've played more road games than normal for the early part of the season. Glad to be 6-1, but it will get tougher from here on out. Okoro's 20 was second most boards at Chaifetz, second to French's 24 record at Chaifetz (Nov 2019 v Belmont). Okoro kept us in the game early. If he doesn't get 20, we don't have the success we had. It was a 'effort' stat. This was the difference in the game. How did the team change without Collins? The team 'grew' without knowing it. So much pressure is put on Collins on both ends. For the one game he was out, it caused other players to do things they usually don't do. Gave guys some confidence in other areas. Team is best defined as a whole and by the bench. Different guys are stepping up on different nights. Pickett one night, Parker the next game. Defensive numbers are improving. [Thought our offense was not very good, but still scored 84.] TJ Hargrove playing better on both ends of the court. He has shown progression year to year. Ford calls him the most athletic player on the team. Players feed off of his energy. He has helped fill in for Pickett, who has been dealing with a serious injury. Some games Pickett can give us more than other games. Two road games coming up, Davidson and Fordham. Next home game is VCU on Feb 3. That is a national TV game. Would like to see 10,000 at the game. [Note: I looked up the Billiken rebound record, and Jerry Koch grabbed 38 rebounds against Bradley on 3/3/54. Anthony Bonner had four 20+ rebound games.]

That's what the nurse said when I walked into the sperm bank

I'd guess both. Coincides damn near directly with the announcement of the collective and pickleball shows a lot of growth potential and the franchise was probably pennies on the dollar in terms of investment cost.

We don't believe that.

-root for Tennessee all you want but after what you posted about SLU last year on the UT message board it is real easy to question any allegiance you have for the Billikens

Neither I nor my wife who is the UT Alum send ANY of our money to Knoxville. How can a goof like you even write something asinine like that about anyone that you don't personally know. Yes, I do root for my wife's alma mater just as she did when she attended Billiken games both home and away games when we lived in St. Louis. I don't see any reason why I should not root for the Vols. Their sports teams have been very successful and fun to root for.

Far be it for me to tell you how to spend your money but this is how you can support the team you root for. There are no meeting and few perks. It's how you financially support the program.

I’d be fine crying after conference losses and wiping tears away with the millions of dollars in TV revenue.

Our at-large chances arguably died with the home loss to Boise St and definitely died with the loss to SIUE. Since Fred was there for both of those, his injury can’t be used as an excuse for us not getting an at-large this season.

-I've been away a few days so I'll catch up -will Parker get minutes to score 30? -the second half bench shortens again and the yanks for mistakes by some players is returning -Larry sitting there when other players are honored is beyond belief, if it is because he didn't earn his degree then change the event, yes change for one guy- this guy, I don't say we have to kiss his ass but I think we should honor/recognize when possible -I'm glad there was not introduction of the Cardinal manager, when celebs are at the games just let them enjoy it and not have to worry about an autograph line starting -the older ref could not keep up, why he is still getting games is a mystery to me -I don't admire the behavior CFord consistently exhibits on the sideline, I don't think that is a good representation of SLU -Look at Loyola moving from the MVC to the A10 and imagine us in the BEast, depending on the schedule I could see that we would be 1-6 in the BEast -CFord has not treated the job as a stepping stone, what P5/6 would hire him? where are the results that a P5/6 would see to make him their hire? -again we have nonsense posted about the Board of Trustees having a say with NIL money -I am glad we are 6-1 but all of us knew, or should have known, the back end of the conference schedule is where the money is and it starts on Friday

IMHO a very attainable goal for the Billiken hoops program considering the facilities are light years better than when I graduated from SLU in 1971 (West Pine Gym) is to get an NCAA bid every 3 out of 5 years. Certainly, playing in the A10 that isn't asking too much. I don't see Travis Ford ever reaching that goal, he's had one bid to date. If some do then that's fine we'll never agree that he is a good HC. Does not mean I don't root for them. As an Alum, former season ticket holder, former Billiken Club Member...I will always root for them even if I don't happen to like who coaches them.

I always thought he was A.I. programmed by some mad scientist.

My concern about Ford is that everybody always points to how great his recruiting is. well if that’s the case his coaching isn’t very good because these great recruits have brought one NCAA tournament in 7 years and that was from a lucky run in the A10 tourney. If he is bringing in such great players he either isn’t developing them properly or coaching them properly. I’m not saying I want him gone, I will wait until the season ends to have an opinion on that but if these recruits are so awesome why aren’t they living up to expectations? If these recruits are so great can he land better ones to get us over the hump?

11 is a good number to play everyone twice. 20 total conference games. Not arguing for or against it, but it does have its benefit. Going to 12 means you’d need 22 conference games to play everyone twice and that is generally seen as too many. 20 is already high (although with Power Conferences playing more and more buy games 20 might make it easier to lesson the scramble every year to find good games).

Kobe Bryant turned the ball over 4,010 times in his career. The all-time NBA assist leader is John Stockton, he is also third all time in turnovers with 4,244 The guy with the most turnovers in NBA history with 4,900 (and counting)? Someone named LeBron James

Everyone who walked had a degree. Larry does not.

Here is a list of 13 MLB players who all have 2 things in common.... 1...They are all in the top 38 of the all time strikeout list 2...They are all Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson...#1 Jim Thome...#2 Willie Stargell Mike Schmidt Fred McGriff Tony Perez Derek Jeter Ken Griffey Jr Craig Biggio David Ortiz Lou Brock Mickey Mantle Harmon Killebrew Based on negative records of great players, I guess we should just go ahead and nominate Yuri now to the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Feels like this is a standard now on social media, might make him relatable to kids.

You’re making a fool of yourself. You want it both ways. Yes RM was a good coach but to say someone who actually has a better record is TERRIBLE, is ludicrous… it’s sad that you haters won’t even allow the season to be played out before passing judgment. Here however are some facts. Travis Ford has won 60% of the games as the Billikens head coach. He has recruited better and more consistently than any coach they’ve had in the past 50 years. He has a strong relationship with the current AD and our most generous booster. He has represented the university in an admirable way and is well respected in the community. Travis has actually built a program and is in a great position to take it to even a higher level with the proper support.

And if they ever decide to have a “Put a di.khead in charge day” Coach Ford should get worried as you seem like an obvious choice. However, until then, no one cares

Yes and yes. Johnny’s fine. He had surgery after the SLU season for his Osteitis Pubis (sports hernia) injury. And he is rehabbing that. If you recall, Johnny sat out a little but in August with it. As mentioned last season, patience is virtue. Marathon not a sprint. The other half of “Shake and Bake” (Simon Becher) played his first season on the 2nd team in Vancouver before signing an MLS first team deal this season. He’s looked good playing half of the game in his first two preseason games so far.

Ford has commented a numer of times this year about the team lacking consistency. Here’s some numbers that back him up on that. This team is either very good or bad in the extreme. For example, yesterday, in possessions 1-11, the Bills had 7 points on 3-10 shooting, 1-4 arc with 3 turnovers for a ppp of .64, way too low. From possessions 12-28, 21 points on 10-15 shooting, 0-1 arc, 1-4 stripe, with 2 turnovers for a ppp of 1.24, excellent. Possessions 29-41, 5 points on 1-16 shooting, 0-3 arc, 3-4 stripe with no turnovers for a ppp of .38, horrific. Poss. 42-72, 51 pts. on 17-22 shooting, 6-8 arc, 11-16 stripe, with 4 turnovers. Ppp of 1.65, stellar. The numbers show this team is either excellent or awful. How does Ford get the good Billikens to show up more often and for longer stretches?

Bri Halverson has accepted an invite to the preseason training camp of the Houston Dash in the NWSL.

Shout out to the most recent celebrity Billiken fan: Oliver Marmol!!! Lunch with Chaifetz prior to the game and sat beside him courtside, cheering on the Bills. For those of you not familiar with the name, he is the Cardinals manager.

Bruce is back at Skill Factory. Good sign for him getting here.