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Roster bits: Avila is 99% a Billiken Expect 3-4 of ISU’s starters to be Billiken locks, with potential for more Strong mutual desire for Gibson and Larry to stay and be strong parts of the rotation, with heavy playcalling revolving around Gibson Strong interest in Turnbull (appears mutual) Christian Nitu out of Canada looking very positive

If Josh Schertz is a man of his word, which all signs indicate he is, everyone here will be pleased. Further, there’’s no sense in rooting against this ISU team this week. The more post-season experience this team has, the better.

I was there. About what I expected. Probably 60-70 people in total, wide age range. I'm 28 and was older than ~15% of the room. Schertz accidentally went to the downtown MAC and didn't get to the Des Peres location until about 6. Troy spoke a bit, Chris May spoke a bit, then Schertz took the wheel. Good speech, dude is very funny, then he took a Q&A. Most of the questions were pretty worthless but he did drop a couple of noteworthy things: 1) Last year's ISU team was paid a combined 80k in NIL. Their market value today is as much as 2 mill. 2) One of the recent recruits on campus brought their 12YO sister who made a fat joke towards Schertz - he found it very funny (as did I). 3) Gibby was scheduled for a visit to UConn this coming weekend before recommitting to SLU. We beat the two-time reigning national champion out for a transfer portal player, and arguably more importantly the two-time reigning national champion was interested in our shooting guard. Think about that next time anyone wants to talk down on Gibby. 4) Coach is still VERY confident that we get commitments from RA and IS this week. I'm very confident that those commitments will open the floodgates. 5) I asked coach 1 on 1 afterwards what he thought of the Billiken vs. "Team Blue" and it sounds like we can finally but that bullshite boring @$$ moniker to rest. 6) Charlie Gitto's is his favorite restaurant so far. Had it during the MVC tournament.

Tomorrow

Trilly is reporting on his discord that the deal is done with Schertz.

Pictured: a legend, and also LeBron James

I'm not sure I understand the animosity sense I get from the billiken.com mbm's for Schertz wanting to finish his season. My gosh, any man of character would have made it clear from the first communication about the billiken opening that he wanted to finish his season with the sycamores. He owes it to Indiana State, the fans and mainly his team to see the season to the end. Personally, I like Schertz even more for taking this stance. I am rooting for all the success he can accomplish.

Jesus Christ. It's an event at MAC West. Quit complaining about everything, grab your checkbook and f'ing go. I bet they let you in and take your money. It's not rocket science.

From Trilly: Indiana State Transfers Avila and Swope are locked in to go with Schertz Kent more than likely going Waiting for more info on Larry Conwell has the biggest market and will likely test it before deciding

He got the start which was awesome! I wasn't there but this 10 year old had a blast!

I agree. A few weeks back , I responded to the question ...How would ISU do in the A-10? (and conversely , how would SLU do in the MVC). In the simulations, it showed SLU finishing 2nd to Day. In those simulations where we played Day twice, we split with Day and tied for the conference championship. (and SLU finished 2nd from the bottom in the MVC) To the uncertainty question, there is always uncertainty BUT there are 2 things that are clear...Successful coaches have 2 qualities...they win games and they have a system. That is Schertz. Will we get 1 ISU player or 5? It doesn't matter. This was the guy that recruited and put "the five" together. Whatever he brings over, he will be able to fill in the pieces and make it work. With better facilities , more NIL money and a higher profile, he should be able to make it work even better. And yes... there are no guarantees. In Schertz's first season, where he truly started from scratch, he was 11-20. For the fans, that didn't throw in the towel, he rallied the next year with a 23-13 record. And finally for the ..."yeah but" fans he finished this year at 32-7. Of course, to those who say this is different...this is SLU....all we have to do is look back a decade and remember the hiring of HOF Coach Majerus...a coach who had never had a losing season. First season...12-19. Of course the naysayers were there with the..."I told you so". I remember early in the next season the computer started flashing red(as in big change) and I posted the highly controversial statement...we are a top 20 team. The naysayers said that I was way off...80 or 90 at best. And as the season went on the doubters would bend a little and say 60 or maybe 50 and when we finally made it 20 and below those posters disappeared (as they always do). I am sure that if we hired UConn Coach Hurley, there would be posters that would say....so he has back to back National Championships... "yeah but" can he win in the A-10. Bottom line...Doubters gonna doubt. Winners gonna win. Schertz is a winner....and he is gonna win.

I choose my wife because she has a nice rack. It’s worked out so far. I do know one thing, if I turned down a job paying 2.5 million for a job paying 800,000 I’d have to find a new wife.

Trilly just gave an Avila prediction.. Trilly Donovan — Today at 7:49 PM COMMITMENT PREDICTION: Robbie Avila @Portal

Mike “fan” is Billikenbooster.

I love 6’11 guys who can run, shoot, and pass. We are so back. (I saw the posts in the recruiting thread but Commits get their own thread, let’s not get lazy)

Can you'll just stop. Do you all not see this isn't the thread for this sh!t. Both sides are equally annoying and it is old now. Everyone just move on. It really is pathetic behavior from all sides. Grow up!!

Schertz is expected to be SLU’s Head Coach. The deal was negotiated St. Patrick’s Day Weekend, and, it was finalized last Tuesday. For the 2nd straight year, those involved with SLU’s Head Coaching decision reached out to Chris Mack to gauge his interest.There was a specific group of SLU boosters/donors who reached out to Porter Moser regarding the job. Those people were very confident about Moser. When I refer to boosters/donors, these are recent 7 figure and up donor/boosters. Schertz, DeVries, Byington, Drew were the other list of names. SLU didn’t have to go past Schertz because they knew for some time, through Kyle Bowlsby, among others, that Schertz was interested in the SLU job. Byington has a connection with Kevin Eastman. Drew had interest for the 2nd time. There were some other names beyond that if it came to that. But it didn’t even get to the above names. Blake Ahearn was not a candidate for the job. He was never considered during the recent process. Last year there was a group of boosters that wanted him to replace Ford. And they made enough of a fuss that it had to be addressed. At no time was Niele Ivey a candidate for the SLU Men’s Basketball position. She also is a former St. Louisan who was an NBA assistant to Taylor Jenkins. (after 11 years as a college assistant). Good luck to Niele as her team tries for their 3rd straight Sweet 16 this afternoon. A very small group of decision making SLU boosters/donors and a small group of SLU Admin handled the new SLU head coach hiring process. That included an additional familiar to many SLU employee that hasn’t been publicly mentioned. The mutual interest with Schertz was for several weeks. It was negotiated, finalized, and it’s been waiting to be announced. Bart Lundy and Cuonzo are two of the names contacted by Indiana State through a search firm to gauge interest as possible replacements there. For reference and perspective, Grant McCasland was hired by Texas Tech last year. It wasn’t announced until March 31st, in part because his previous team, North Texas, won the NIT Championship.

Just signed up for Trilly's Discord. Trying to figure out WTF Discord is and how to navigate it has single handedly made me feel @billiken_roy levels old... We are so incredibly lucky Steve has made this website so easy to navigate and use!

For today let's forget our hatred of the Dayton Flyers and their fans and instead mourn the loss of their greatest coach, Don Donoher. Donoher was a 3 year letter winner for Dayton Basketball in the early 50s. He is the all time winningest Dayton HC with 437 wins. His 67 team lost to UCLA in the National title game. He went to 2 elite eights, 5 Sweet Sixteens, 9 NCAA tournaments & seven trips to the NIT. His record in the Arch Baron Cup 1-0 as a player. 6-6 as a coach. Donoher was a mentor to a generation of midwestern coaches and has a prolific coaching tree. He was a mentor and dear friend to Rick Majerus and his advice was instrumental in Coach Majerus coming to Saint Louis.

Roll bills

This reply by WestPineBills made me LOL. I'm imagining Mr. Murkens at Pappy's. Of course he's clad in his polo shirt with too many buttons undone and no undershirt, gold necklace resting across the top of white tufts of chest hair that no one wants to see, and his signature St Louis Cardinals cowboy hat sits askance on his head. He strolls up to the counter with the self-assuredness that only a Boomer can have. "I'll take a full slab of ribs, bean, and slaw" Tony boasts. "Sure. Anything else?" inquires an unknowing Pappy's employee. "What's the latest on the Billiken's coaching search?" "..." "..." "Uh...I...I don't know what you're talking about. Your total is $31.09." "Did Fred Pestello put you up this this? You know Yuri Collings should've gone to Texas. No heart." "..." Both parties glance down to see Frank Cusamano stroll over. "Tony! How you doing! Let's talk about Blake Ahern!" -scene-

He probably doesn't get the credit he deserves from most people.

No way I'm clicking on this.

I feel like there is maybe a little creative over-emphasizing on the uncertainty he had regarding SLU at the beginning and the value that he got out of him and May talking every day for the next few weeks. It's a smart thing to do because it makes him look like there was a larger chance he was going back to ISU and it makes Chris May look good. It's a win/win for him to cast it this way and all coaches are good salesmen. I'm more inclined to believe that when Trilly and all the national media guys said it was close to a done deal shortly after they didn't make the dance, it was really done at that point.

With last night's performance, Jordan Goodwin passed Willie Reed on the SLU alumni NBA all-time scoring list...a rather short list but an interesting one nonetheless Ed Macauley 11234 Larry Hughes 10242 Bob Ferry 5780 Anthony Bonner 5594 Jordan Goodwin 767 Willie Reed 751 Bevo Nordmann 571 Robin Jones 370 Barry Orms 181 Marv Schatzman 115 Rich Nieman 113 DC Wilcutt 77 David Burns 23 NOTE: these are strictly NBA regular season numbers, no playoffs, no ABA, no BAA

Goodwin another monster game tonight vs the Lakers. 23 points, 17 rebounds, 4 steals Pay The Man

Does this mean Ahearn didn’t get the gig?

It depends. Frank is very tight with Corey Tate and has been a very good source of recruiting news - often breaking it. If Tate is no longer in the picture, who knows if he'll be able to develop other good sources. The Ahearn stuff is silly, but it's really more editorializing on his radio show, rather than providing "news." He's probably connected with the Ahearn family and got wrapped up in that nonsense. He is a media member who actually gives SLU a lot of coverage and catches a lot of crap from fans of other teams for giving us too much coverage. I expect he'll provide a lot of positive coverage on the Schertz hire.

Sounds like Ahearn is the guy. 23 year contract, $7.2M per year. $1M per year NIL and $2M per year to DeSmet endowment. This per my group chat and people I go to away games with and 7 figure boosters.

Fwiw Trilly insists both sides continue to affirm SLU/Schertz

I really feel bad for ISU fans and, assuming what we've heard is true, hope they win the NIT. I'm fine waiting another week or so. But I feel particularly bad for some of their more delusional fans on the Sycamore board who think Schertz should stick around because he is the "toast of the town" (Pop 58,000) instead of making a "lateral" move to SLU. Is SLU in a P5 conference? No. Is it a lateral move? As Trilly Donovan said, "hardly". I mean, just off the top of my head: 1. General resources/school support - SLU - For all of the crap we give him, Freddy P has done a decent job navigating this tricky landscape 2. Basketball spending - SLU - I believe ISU spent roughly $2.5M versus SLU's $8M last year. We obviously know head coaching salaries aren't even close either. 3. Facilities - SLU - Hulman is nice however Chaifetz is nicer. Not to mention our brand new $20M Champions Center 4. Boosters/Donors - SLU - Not even close. Chaifetz isn't the only billionaire that cares about SLU basketball or the school. Comparing endowments: ISU $110M versus SLU's $1.4 BILLION 5. NIL - SLU - Going to assume Schertz was given assurances that boosters would not only empty the briefcases for his starting 5 but for additional recruits/transfers this year and beyond. 6. Market - SLU - Terre Haute is the 159th ranked tv market. St. Louis is 21. Additionally, the A10 exposes you to the following tv markets: Chicago, Philadelphia, DC, New York City, Pittsburgh, Richmond, etc. I guess the Valley held onto the Chicago market with UIC and now has Nashville. But outside of that it's Des Moines and Springfield? SLU basketball is also the highest level of hoops in a metro of almost 3M people. 7. Conference* - SLU - A10 ranked higher in KenPom and RPI. Last year was the first time in 2 decades the A10 only had one team in the tournament. Gone are the days of 3-4 every year but the A10 should remain a 2+ bid league. Loyola Chicago moved to the A10 because they knew it was a superior conference. It also sounds like the big knock on ISU was non-con SOS. Going to be hard getting P5 schools to play in Terre Haute. SLU doesn't have that issue. Recent HOME games (I'm Sure I'm missing some): Auburn, LSU, NC State, Memphis.... 8. Local recruiting - SLU - St. Louis metro has an abundance of talent and Ford was able to snag a handful of those 4-star talents (shame he just didn't know how to coach them!). Would love to see what Schertz could with them. *With Pestello retiring next year, now is the time to get a president in there who will make the Big East their goal. We need someone who sees how valuable a BE landing spot would be not just for the sports programs but for the school in general. I'm sure this was also discussed during conversations with Schertz. Oh, and no crappy football team at SLU to suck away resources.

Old Guy, I'm not sure why you keep posting stuff like this. Every available piece of information (both public reporting and private discussion) is that Schertz has agreed in principle and it will be announced as soon as his team is done playing. Just relax for a few days. Good things are coming.

Parker is more Malik Yarbrough than Larry Hughes.

The end of team blue is better than any recruit

Why are you comparing us to Indiana State? We were paying our coach more than they spent on their entire basketball program. We are not the same. Our soon to be all-time leading scorer is going to start his SIXTH year in a row at SLU. He isn't playing for free. We kept the nation's leader in assists on our roster for four years - he wasn't playing for free either. We won't keep everyone, but no one is keeping everyone. College sports are different now, but we're a lot higher on the totem pole (and spend like it) than some people are making it seem

A few thoughts on ISU and the internet: - I haven't gone over to the ISU message boards. I'm sure some of it has been nasty but it's to be expected. - Fan bases don't speak as one unified voice and definitionally anyone that posts a lot on a message board is going to be an outlier. Taken further, if all you do is read the loudest, most obnoxious voices in a group that is already loud an obnoxious (i.e. internet posters) you are going to get a bad view of that fanbase/group. - I've seen a lot of people on this board and twitter over the past few weeks say something along the lines "I/we won't react poorly if this happens to us in a few years because it means we will have had a great couple of years." I think that's complete B.S. If the same thing was happening to us that is happening to them, people would be naturally pissed and it only takes 5% of the posters to make an entire fanbase look crazy. Is Billikens.com and Billiken twitter really so unified in thought that 5% of this board couldn't make us look stupid and unreasonable???

The good doctor has weighed in. We’re so lucky to have him and other boosters SLU as benefactors!

You are right ...computers use past data to make forecasts. And people tend to do the same things over and over hoping for different results. After awhile the changes become predictable too....Let's keep the weave going a little longer and see if we can generate some more offense. As the computer gathers more data on players and coaches, games become more predictable. Once I have 8 games under my belt, I can start to zero in on outcomes. As for the "people" part, that will become less important as Artificial Intelligence reaches singularity and the machines become smarter than us. Machines may be the Coaches of the future. But even before that happens , AI will take over the message boards. There will be an AI Old Guy. It will study the thought patterns and writing style of Old Guy and then produce OG posts ...nonstop... causing all AI MBMs to put AI OG on ignore. Of course, there could be an AI Wiz ...or has that already happened.....HAL is that you??

This upcoming season is the last possible time to use a COVID bonus year. I don't disagree that the market has gotten out of control. I still think we're going to see it cool when some of these really high dollar signings don't pan out, or at least don't turn out to be worth high-6 or low-7 figures to the fans who funded the deals. I like the endorsement side of NIL. Every time I see a college athlete pop up in an ad, I remember there's no reason we couldn't have had that all along. And had they allowed that all along (back before CBB and CFB became multi-billion-dollar industries), it probably would've prevented the out of control super PAC-style unregulated NIL market that we all hate- expensive to compete, devoid of transparency, and chock full of unscrupulous actors.

I have already seen two “welcome to St. Louis University Josh Schertz” billboards. One at 44 and Lindbergh and one on 141 at 44.

Best day for SLU athletics in the last 10 years by far! Congrats ladies!

Is it too soon for Tillet to give Schertz sh*t for NOT winning the NIT?

All of this. Also, he blocked me.

As much as I hate the waiting game, I think it’s bad juju to openly root against a team just so we could potentially get a coach faster (not to mention potentially get some of the same players too)…