Taj79

I think I tried to address the same point jbizz made -- but you have to have discussions behind the closed Chaifetz doors with Crews, Majerus, Biondi, May, Chaifetz, Novelly --- whomever the power thrust is here and come forward with a collective, agreed-upon path forward and plan of attack. You don't talk to Crews and allow him to be wishy-washy on it ---- but you make sure all are aware of an donboard with any conditions. Maybe some of the same conditions outlined by larry72 elsewhere. But you address the devil's advocate stuff raised by jbizz and go from there. You also have to address Rick's situation. Are we moving on? Does any recovery of any sort matter? What's the cut off date? i would think that if this is to such the nth degree where they're talking Justin Hughes II, then a decision is made for you. Like it or not, I don't think such a condition warrants waiting around for something more. Sure, it will be perceived by some as hearltess, but I think it was somewhat heartless for Biondi to issue a statement on Majerus and not stand up and do it himself. Amost every move will be guessed and second-guessed.

My situation involves a coach already hired, not unemployed. I would think that's a huge difference although again I don't know if its legal. I don't know that Harriman is the answer. He might be, he might not. I am leaning towards Whitesell and Crews not being the answer. So that must give Harriman a lead in my book in that scenario. But I don't get all warm and gushy when I think of Coach Harri on the bench. But, you have to start somewhere, I guess. This program is nothing but weird in its coaching moves. Albrecht was a local CC guy. Coleman a local high school coach in the city. Ekker a real unethical hired gun. Grawer a local high school coach from the county with one year of experience at the D1 level. Spoon was a regional entity of low D1 experience. Romar came out of nowhere but would be as close to a national example of a young coach moving up as ever we've had. Soderberg was in the right place at the right itme, wasn't he on LoRo's staff for one year before the knock of opportunity by alma mater u moved Zo back to the NW? Then the aberration that was/is the Majerus hire. Given that track record, god only knows where we going on this next one.

Does hiring him now place recruiting restriction on him? I am unaware ... What I'm saying is that if you know Crews is a one-and-doner, let him do his thing. Could you also augment that by interviewing for the replacement (if indeed Crews and Majerus are out) and put him to work concentrating mor eon the recruits an dno ton the game day stuff? I admit, it might be radical and unallowed for all I know but we see "coaches in waiting" all over the place. Just a thought....because I think like kshoe that if we wait unti April, we will suffer in the long run.

I can't see how Mitchell would NOT be one of the all-time greatest Billikens. Have to be top three in all-time point guards with Waldman and Fisher. Easily.

I've said it before and I'll say it again .. SLU is a graveryard for coaches. Given the current coach's status and the uncertainty with his health, that statement was never meant as anything along the lighthearted vein but is much more grave now than before when I said it. My apologies for that. This is nit a stepping stone place ala Xavier, Duke or even, heaven forbid, Dayton. Dayton? Yep -- Ollie Purnell parlayed it into Clemson then DePaul. Brian Gregory took it and used it to get to Georgia Tech. Even Jim O'Brien had stints with the Celtics and Sixers. We've had maybe two .... Randy Bennett who likely claims no ties to us and LoRo who went home to alma mater u. Up-and-coming coaches don't come here. And this is not a landing spot for guys like Pitino or Martin. Now Stallings .. that might be a special case ala Majerus in that it would be a homecoming IF he has any interest in that. I doubt it. And if Biondi and company balked at $1 mill for Rick, who I think is much more marketable than Kevin Stallings, he ain't going to buck up for someone "less" nationally known. Plus some already said he doesn't care about athletics so if that is true, expect him wanting to make a lasting mark in this area seems ludicrous. To me, this is where a national search committee, led by alumni and boosters who want the most for the unviersity, do the scaling work and then go off to May and Biondi with their list of recommendations. You couidl add a player or two to the committee. Then the trigger is pulled. I think you have to be fair to Crews. What's his take on all this? Again, sitting behind the walls at Chaifetz, does he want the job and if so, put a premium on his one, interim season. Call it a job audition. Is Majerus out for good? Waiitng for that call may take a while, maybe not. Establish a fish or cut bait schedule. What's Biondi et. al willing to shell out? Another discussion. Maybe Gaudio doens't even want the job. If he (or someone like him did) and you got Crews and Majerus info in your pocket, you could hire now as kshoe has advocated. He could start doingis part while Crews closes out his part. We all have said that Majerus was a special situation. Frankly, given the curse that seems to hang over this program, I think we are back to addressing the vacancy in a similar fashion and recognize that SLU doesn't seem to be NORMAL. And I really wish I knew why.

Twenty five years? Really? Don' t they rotate priests and nuns through some sort of rotational set-up. Or does that end at the big collegaite level. What do I know .. to some 25 years is stability. To some its stagnation. Oh well ... Back when we were deeply involved in "the situation" I had a friend who's kid was close to the violated. Neither here nor there, just close. At that time, I had heard some rumblings of the student body's outrage with the goiod reverend but wrote that off to utopian liberalism, the sign of the youthful times, business as usual, same-old-same-old, disconnects between the leaders and the led, and whatever etc. I didn't get along with Neil McDermott and Mary Bruemer when I was there; shat happens. There were some disquieting topics too that need not be discussed on here. But the general theme, no matter the topic, was general unrest, disillusionment with the U's leadership, disenchantment and disenfranchisement and general failing morale. I happen to think that is everywhere and rises to the fore when situations like these get thrown out there but the general tone still seems to sound all sorts of fire alarms here at the U. Glad I'm gone. Glad both my kids are out of college. They chose their own schools for their own reasons but I think SLU is highly overpriced along with tons of other schools. How does one deliver a "truly caring environment with committed individuals" as my one daughter's school advertised and what does that really mean? And how do you measure it? I could say us in the Fed ain't too big on morale right now but would expect no sympathetic sobbings just the same.

This is typical coachspeak on Crews part. What else is he going to say .... Majerus was fouked and I know better and I'll do whatever I damn well please so let's move on? Really? REALLY? If you subscribe to what larry72 said in another thread, that Crews gets the main job based on 1) winning a title, 2) getting to the dance and 3) getting to the sweet sixteen, how else will he accomplish this if not using the bullets in his chamber, provided he actually wants the job? As I recall, he only came out of retirement to help an old friend when that old friend lost a young coach to the NBDL and Canton. He was supposed to be a one and done --- that does not bode well for the future here either. He has about six weeks to go to the start of practice. Then about a week or two before the exhibitions start. He ha sno time to chnag emuch of anything -- getting in two or three variations of on-ball to off-ball screen smight be hard enough, he won't change it all. Just like I doubt he decides Loe and Ellis are inside players. Ride the horse that brung you. This season should be fine. We have a veteran team who know the coach's system and now have a "rally around the flag" mentality. Forward-looking people had better be paying attention to the long range goals --having a here-and-now plan balanced against a "what if" plan that includes success and interest in the job from Crews.

Crews went from Evansville to Army? Anybody else see this as a demotion? I mean the Missouri Valley to the Patriot League? Does not seem to be an upwardly mobile assignment if you ask me. And he likely did not recruit at Army --- you all know that academy spots are by Congressional appointment for the most part, right? I believe Army and Navy and Air Force all get who they get, then decide if there's any athletic talent in the group. I know Knight and Coach K started there, but that's the point, they started not ended there. Crews ended there as he was then fired. Whitesell started at Elmherst at age 28, Moved to Lewis University at 33. Then to Loyola at age 45 where in seven years he was 109-106 and 50 - 70 in conference. He was fired after finishing 7th, 8th, 8th and 8th in his last four years there and they only added a ninth team in 2007. To me, neither is the choice when moving a this phoenix so quickly out iof the ashes of medicority these last ten or so years. Jensen? Count me as not sold. Harriman? Ditto. Neither has been at it long enough to give me any confidence that they are a long-term answer. All were hired guns --- with little to no local attractions or hold. Not saying that would work but if you're gonna hire a gun. hire the biggest one you can. I think this was the rationale behind the Majerus hire. Again, I was content to let Brad go another year, banking on the horizon that was the supposed connections to the local AAU class with Kramer. I was stunned we let him go when we did ---- BUT was even more stunned Majerus was the hire. That was the only thing we could have done at the time. It was akin to getting Al McGuire off NBC lo those 30+ years ago when he cam eto town to do the Mizzou/Louisville game. Majerus has shown that it can be done here at a moribund program. Its going to take a lot of hard work and luck, and I don't see the current regime being ripe with such candidates. Againb, wiht kshoe on his thoughts but think we can let thi splay out in th ebackgroudn while Crews and company play in the immediate foreground. As usual, it ain't gonna be easy .... And I'm really tired of getting .... as larry72 says ..... kicked in the cookies.

I find it extremely hard to believe that there is no constructive discussion going on in the halls of Chaifetz Arena. Whether its Harriman getting a better offer, Jensen taking off for Canton, Majerus taking a health leave, or Crews/Whitesell takes over. I am with Kshoe in wishing this were handled as soon as possible but I also think doing so might take some of the steam out of Crews' and team's current sails. The talent pool has to be light right now ... almost every team is prepping for October 15 and looking to ink prospects for fall signing day. Ah, another year of typical Billiken fall signings ... NONE!. So I see us just focused (languishing) on the current year and edition of the team. Not that THAT is such a bad thing given what's already in the stable. I have to believe they had to rip Rick into the hospital given his passion for basketball and knowing what he had coming back this year. So I'm certian its serious. He goes to the round of 32, followed by a Sweet 16 and then walks/does not have contract renewed and legend cemented. I find myself in a really gray area as far as the rumors of conflicting egos go with Biondi and Majerus. Getting the next great assistant or up-and-coming coach doesn't always work. For every Tom Crean on Tom Izzo's bench, there's a Brian Gregory. Mike Brey and Johnny Dawkins did okay; Quinn Snyder and Tommy Amaker did not. Make no bones abuot it, here comes another critical junction for the Billiken program but I suspected this would eventually be the case; Rick wasn't gonna go on forever. I think we can begin a national search and do it from a distance while we let Crews and company guide the current boat. I don't like that idea because it will leave us in the lurch for our next coach and his recruits come April but does doing whatever now distract from the prep for the season at hand? I don't know -- six of one, half a dozen of another. This program is nothing if not cursed. Just once wouldn't it be nice to linger over the flowers of success and breathe in the delightful smell of victory as opposed to having the bouquet whisk by at 90 miles an hour barely giving us a brief wisp?

Like larry72 I have heard some of the rumor and talk that he verbalized in starting this thread. I am slower to post it because, well, I don't know facts. There is too much unknown here to make a comment. Believing what you read in the paper because its inthe paper is dangerous. Bernie appears to be out a friend that made Bernie feel really important and connected. It would not be outside human nature to attack the person responsbile for that loss if that's the way you feel and you have the means to do it. Didn't someone recently say May spoke somewhere and passed on the (now) illusion that Majerus was locked up or extended in some way? I will say this, I dramtically enjoyed Columbus this past March. I know larry72 did, jbizz, kshoe, Willie and sshoe and some of the others i met there. I met Dr. C and thoroughly enjoyed it. We beat Memphis and gave State all they could handle. Meg was overwhelmed with the support and we all made believers of the fans of others schools that were there. I believe (still) we will be back this year once again. The future, however, is quite clouded past that. Welcome to being a fan of Billiken basketball. This seems the norm, eh?

Crews is a dinosaur. Just like Majerus. Ony Majerus has hall-of-fame numbers that create more slack for him than for Crews. Whitesell is old enough to be a dinosaur. How he relates to today's brand of ballplayer, I don't know. Maybe they do,maybe they don't. All I can say right now is I don't think I want either leading us onward and upward. We lost the one thing that made any difference over the last few years, the one item that raised us above the low mid-major programs, and that was "playing for Rick Majerus." What other reason would kids come here from the Down Under? What other reason would Keith Carter and John Manning leave Chicago and Virginia respectively? Chris heinrich and Justin Love enrolled to "play with Larry Hughes." There hasto be a hook, and for SLU to stand on itrs own, well there is none. No tradition. No history. No nothing. Majerus might have been one of those once-in-a-lifetime coups -- doing what he loves, resurrecting a corpse of a program, cementing his legacy, lore and place in the game. I still recall thinking "no fouking way" when the announcement came down and Soderberg was shown the door. Like itor not, I believe we've lost the one special plank in our platformthat gave us a chance. Only time will tell. Much like a recruit has to ask "what's in it for me" I think a coach will ask the same. I have said SLU is a place coaches come to die, not advance and move on. I meant that figuratively despite Rick's current and obviously serious condition. Despie the morbidness of the comment, the fact still rings true. As somehave noted, we allknew rickhadonly somkuch gas left in the tank and this day was coming. I had hoped he could ride off into his chosen sunset and left us with a legacy of wins and sustainability with a successor in place to step up and continue on. I was willing to trade Rick an enduring legend and place in history for an ongoin, relevant program. I don't think Jim Crews is it.

You can fault the barometer methodology all you want and I won't argue that but ESPN is the main stream media when it comes to athletic politics. Vitale. Bilas. Digger. Knight. All sorts of secondary folks that step into it. Hubert Davis. Doug Gotleib. So I think it does help to have some items like this to understand where your role is in these things. Call it situational awareness. The 50 over 50 is sustainability. Biondi's thankyou note to Rick said "returning SLU to national prominence." My argument is we've never been there in these past 50 years. Not when your composite is 216.

Great f*cking Friday. I don't like the line in the stories that talks about "SLU having not decided on the coach for 2013-14." My first thought is to wishing Rick a full recovery. My second thought was that Crews was the natural choice. I'll take him over Whitesell for now. This year should be somewhat more doable on cruise (Crews) control what with such talent returning. But my third thought is why even bother with discussing the 13-14 season if there isn't some smoke to the Biondi/Majerus issue noted by some above? If the statement about Biondi believing there isn't merit to athletics playing arole in school profitability,awareness and enrollments, then one only need to point out the changing landscape in both college football and basketball these past few years. It's allbeing done on the account of the money. Last time I checked, money and profitability were kind of hand-in-glove cousins but that's an uneducated guess on my part. I've long talked sustainability. I didn't know it would come up this soon nor in this way.

@ARon ---- true. Here's a question .... how many NCAA Division 1 programs were there 50 years ago? I know currently we are approaching 350 or so. Only reason I ask is that with 350 teams, and we are 216th, that puts us like in the 32nd percentile or so. However, I can't help but wonder where we'd be in a lesser number of teams as far as ranking is concerned. Not that it matters much but it might add saome more perspective to things. You know the number was a lot smaller way back when. Which futher amplifies our futility as a program if you ask me. @kwyjibo --- no argument here. However, it does spur some interesting debate. Thank goodness the times they are a-changing.

Again, a fascinating read, proving, once again, you can prove anything you want depending on how you measure it. Tons of surprises today .... #22 is a tie between Princton and Penn?!?! Ivy League schools? Maryland wins a National Title after being Final Four the eyar before and is only one notch better than Murray State? Notre Dame, who hasn't done squat, is not only #29 but between Murray and Western Kentucky? And then there's everyone's example of a favored mid-major Gonzaga .. sitting at #31 behind these two Ivy League schools and an OVC and Sun Belt school.

The inability to retain focus is amazing. Title of thread: Huge loss for Xavier. Opinion: Agree. Rationale: Losing your one lone returning starter who was an all-conference selection will kill.

Or is Anderson really Johnson. If I read this right, Johnson is a high school FRESHMAN? I can't believe then that the "blow up big time" reference is to a high school freshman but what do I know. Please correct the post Eck.

ESPN's attempt to rank the best 50 college basketball program over the last 50 years. http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/tag/_/name/50-in-50-series An interesting read and/or attempt to verify said ranks via statistics. Illinois at 33. Xavier at 34. Mizzou at 37. St. Joe's tied for 40.

Count me in the group with kshoe that always wants a strong A10. If we are doing what we should be doing and doing it the right way, our wins will take care of themselves. Wells wasn't going to carry thi steam to some unforeseen heights. He did present huge match-up problems for whomever might have drawn the assignment not only from the Billiken bench but all around the league. He was a deserved all A10 rookie selection last year. While I suspect I'd be on the down arrow side of Mack right now, this whole sitautiuon wil certainly define him. He inherited players from Miller and won. Lots of guys can do that. Let's see what he does now because this is all on him now. His recruits. His program. I don' know where his contract stands but he shoudl get a pass for the next 1.5 to 2 years. Let see progress in his rebuild. If after two years there is no discernable progress, he'll be gone. As someone pointed out, this is the plight of a mid-major. Like when we got Hughes. The big boys don't have to recover, they just reload. It is not so simple in the next echelon down. Gonzaga has lost a lot of luster since the Morrison era. Butler is searching for a rebirth with their downer after two Final games in two years. VCU is still hot. Mason has been inconsequential since their Final Four run. Now X is on the edge of the cliff. We shall see.

I don't understand the love fest surrounding Butler. At #6, versus Indiana, it says "Butler will be a transformed shooting team" yet questions abound as to whether or not they have anyone coming in to help offset last year's woes, Rotnei Clark not withstanding. And at #13 against Gonzaga, it says "that both should be ranked at the time." For real? If the predicted 8th finisher in the A10 is ranked, that's one hell of an A10! And #14 is Cincy and X? I disagree ---- X lost their whole staring line up what with the Wells expulsion so this should be a cakewalk for UC. St. Joe's/Drexel? Oh wait, the author admits to his being "a Philly guy." Interesting though that he claims these two to be the "two best teams in the city." How Temple and Nova have fallen. I agree with the notes above about us and Texas A&M, us and Kansas and woukld oiffer us and New Mexico coul dhave been added as well. I mean us and New Mexico has got to be better than Davidson and New Mexico by a couple of furlongs.

Found this interesting over at ESPN: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8274359/nike-schools-commit-16-team-mega-event-honor-phil-knight What is interesting is not so much the blue bloods to me, we all know who they are. But rather, who "else" is in here ... such as Xavier, Gonzaga, Butler and .... sheesh ... Portland. (Wonder who the whippinmg boy in this is gonna be?) I understand it is all "Nike teams." Wihtout looking it up, who sponsors us? Given that this will be set up for 2017, a scant five years down the road, things could change radically. Heck, the birthday boy might not be alive either. Never know. Of course, then it becomes a memorial tournament so it stil works.

Much like my stance on Jett's mid-range jumper, I will let this topic run its course and see how the results turn out based on performance. When I need to eat crow, someone I'm sure (kshoe) will direct me as such.

Great stuff bizz. Thanks a lot. Are you sure May wasn't just covering up for Biondi on not wanting to spend the money for the extra nights on the west coast as some had said? I do feel bad for BAB and the other left coasters tho. I like keeping home-and-homes with X, Butler and Dayton. Duquesne's rise from the ashes has suffered an enormous setback what with Everhardt's firing.

C'mon kshoe ---- no one said all players do or don't improve. We said some do but not all. To arbitrarily accept that all will advance just due to age is not true. In that world, Justin Johnson would've seen the bright lights of game day. Same too for Va'shone Newbourne. Tommie Liddell would have surpassed the like sof Douglas, Gray and Hughes on the all-time Billiken list. Not in my book, he didn't even keep up with Kevin Lisch. I'm not saying all will improve. I'm also not saying all will not improve. I am saying to just be slow to count those chickens. As noted, Chris May told me what I said he said. Clear as a bell, second row, mid-court, halftime of the La Salle game. He also said some more. Which, frankly, I am hoping he is wrong on. Because, if he's right some of your expectations are going to go sorely unfulfilled in some areas this year. As with MB, I too have faith in Majerus. Folks can choose to set the bar as high as they want. I'll bide my time.

Brevity is not my strong suite ...... @Cowboy --- what I meant by quick sand was that Conklin was an inside player but none of us expected him to do what he did. But he was going to stand and operate in the paint, that we all knew. So we knew we had an "inside presence," we just didn't know how solid it would be. We had a footprint, but a soft one. He exceeded expectations, yes? Conversely, this year, we have nothing but huge unknowns ----- can Remekun deliver based on less a resume than Conklin? Will Glaze, Manning or both provide this inside presence? In all three cases, the jury is out. Can Evans provide this option regularly? A lot remains to be seen based on his perchant for missing "bunnies," as roy likes to call them. Will Evans give up on his seeming desire to be a "three?" Frankly, I think the answer may be Evans. The others are so unknown, I just don't know. I also base this analysis on the belief that one area compliments the other. I think it was last year's X game at Cintas ---- and even as far back as the Nova game. We lived on the perimter in both in the first half. But in the second, the defense concentrated so much on the bombers, Conklin took the inside apart. I still remember the dumber-than-usual look on Kenny Frease's face that second half at Cintas. So it's a hand-in-glove kind of complimentary theory. It worked with Dobbs back in the 90s. Dobbs would never had been so good on the inside without the room created in trying to cover Claggs, Hmark and Waldman. @waldo --- WOW! Great numbers but the most interesting one is his differential in going to the line. He received the entry pass and took it to the hole. It appears he shot about 90 more free throws by going strong to the hole from his place in the paint. That tells me he had established in his mind his ability on what he could do. That would appear to be the result of an intense Conklin summer. Evans rushed, and the other three remain unproven pending the OOC schedule. Having played games, let me attest to the power of self-confidence. And you are right, it was not a "magical transformation" ---- whereas I think it certainly would be for Cory, Grandy and John. Conklin showed some flashes his junior year especially when he ate Frease up at Cintas that year. But it COULD happen. @ACE ---- I have no basis to argue your points 1 through 4. And I agree. Core is key. Winning can become habit when you consider my self-confidence point to waldo. Mitchell, McCall and Jett could all do as you say. Two out of three would not be bad in my book. Points 5 through 8 and the wild cards are exactly as you say, your opinion. I expect the same but am not so quick to count those chickens before they hatch. As for Cody inside, let's just agree to disagree. Cody's defense involved a lot of flopping and a lot of charge taking. Good ploys no doubt and certainly a nice part of the defensive arsenal. Let's see how those wonderful A10 refs see it however. And there is something not to be overlooked in terms of a guy doing his job and boxing out --- Conklin keeping a body on a Frease or a Dunston or a Braswell might very well have led to some additional totals for Evans to record the second part of his many double-doubles. Its a team game, whereby the whole is the collective sum of all the individual parts. And I expect the world of Evans as you do --- he is likely the key cog this team can ill afford to lose. @kshoe --- if you don't like my monologues, stop copying the whole thing. It WILL shorten the threads. But seriously, I do believe in a ceiling. I do not think growth as a player is a given. Some would offer Cassity as an example. There is also Remekun. Jury is still out. Billiken lore is rife with players who did not exponentially advance. Deiner. Liddell. Baniak. I could go on but maybe that's because they didn't play for Rick Majerus. But no and double wowser I don't believe that age and growth as a player are cohabitating givens. @jbizz --- none of my paragraphs were devoted to the silliness that is trying to predict a seed in August. Joe Lunardi is irrelevant in every month but March. I see the glass and lots of ingredients in containers around it with tremendous potential, and believe its all there for the making. But I see a very key ingredient lacking right now. Or at least undefined (maybe unrefined is a better word). @skip --- in the short run, maybe replacing his 14 ppg is indeed easy. Glaze and Manning average a bucket a game and Barnett throws in a three and we're halfway there. But there was a lot of intangibles in Conklin's role that need replacing and that's what I'm talking about. James and Wade didn't beat OKC two-on-five. Guys like Rodman and Rambis and Ben Wallace won titles too. @roy --- stop defending me (you too bonowich). Keep it up and you'll lose your position as one of this board's top three favorite posters of all time. You've been warned! I think this is the greatest preseason in Billiken annuls. I am going to rest a whole lot easier when that donut hole in the center gets filled. Or at least accounted for. The preseason out-of-conference schedule and results are going to tell me a lot.