Taj79

Thanks Nate. A lot of newbies may not understand that while we are virgins in this territory, other, more creative veterans\ streetwalkers have walked this walk long before us. I also liked your Moser article. Some might use the word "sustainability" but idf they do, kshoe might yell at them.

"anyone who thinks that we could have "hung with butler" this year is absolutely insane..." Completely disagree. Hung with Butler at Hinkle? Highly, highly doubt it. Hung with Butler at Chaifetz? Absolutely. Even when we were both at our peaks. Case in point ... Xavier lost at Hinkle on what some would call a job call by one or two points. We lost to that Xavier team at home by two. Would we have won? Who knows but "to hang with Butler" is not out of the question and absolutley not "insane."

Not surprising ---- hated top contender Duke with Hossiers-esque little guy Butler in home town area. National brand versus local micro-brew. Royalty versus commoners. Had all the drama a group like CBS would want. UNC versus Michigan State was ho-hum. Expected. No gloss. UNC versus Illinois. Same thing . Sure ocal and affiliated connections but not the draw for the peripherally curious. I watch parts of Bracket Buster Saturday ---- do I care about Pacific, Nevada, Utah State, Northern Iowa? Not really. But I want to see someone other than the ACC dolts or Big Ten Boonies slobbering over each other all Saturday afteroon (Maryland is an ACC area). And I really dislike the SEC.

Bay Area is correct in his declaration of Grawer and Roy can back it up witrh horror stories we had with Ron Coleman and Ron Ekker prior to Grawer coming in. The AD was Dick McDonald and he had recently dropped what had been a very good Division 1 ice hockey program. The last year of hockey, we had Mike Krushelnyski later of Edmonton Oilers fame and associated with Gretzky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Krushelnyski) and Pat Carpenter who would later play with the Capitals (I think). So the worries were that basketball was to follow. Grawer came inb and promptly won five games. Nice start. Grawer was the head coach at DeSmet and he had Mark Dressler and Steve Stipanovich. Norm Stewart hired Grawer after Dressler committed and many back then thought it was Norm's way of guaranteeing Stipo would come the next year. It happened. We at the UNews, probably mostly Bonwich, did a fake April Fool's edition and announced Stipo had signed on with the Jesuits at SLU. The twist was that he signed on to be a priest. It was all in fun. But, as Stipo signed with Mizzou, SLU hired Grawer after one year under Norm, to come home and recruit the home front. He did this well in announcing that McKinley teammates Roland Gray and Monroe Douglas woulkd stay home an dplay and then followed that up with Bonner. Lots of locals stayed home and played --- Anthony Jones, another bust but PD POY, Ramon Trice, Redditt Hudson, Luther Burden, Claggett, Highmark and others. The Upchurch fiasco hurt bad. Grawer even got Jim Roder to come home from Kansas State, Ted Mimlitz from Mizzou, PeeWee Leonard from Georgia and Evan Pedersen from Northwestern. Grawer probably peaked with the NIT final teams in Bonner's junior and senior years ending in 89-90. In 91-92, Grawer inked what was considered a national-level class with Claggs, Highmark, Julian Winfield and Eric Bickel. They went 5 -23 in the newly formed Great Midwest, bookending Grawer's tenure with identical records and leading to his ultimate dismissal. Who fired him is immaterial; I thought Yow was concerned that Rich was too burnt out and the dismal first year in the GMW said something had to be done. So Spoon comes in from SW Missouri State, brings in Donnie Dobbs and has H Waldman in the wings sittin gout a year from UNLV. Winfield transfers to Mizzou when his dad is hired by Stewart as an assistant coach and Bickel leaves the program. Spoon goes 12 and 17 his first year, catches fire for two year swith Waldman at the lead, gets lucky with the signing of Hughes but leaves a year after Hughes citing "burn-out." While Grawer is indeed to be honored and venerated as the SLU program savior, I have never seen a burnt-out man as bad as Rich was after that last season. Maybe he was mistreated in the long run but he gave SLU his all and was really running on empty. I blame that on the administration's inability to commit 100% to going where they claim they want to go. We always seem to want to get there, but on the cheap. The charters are the current example. This isn't a hobby, cultivated whgen you have the time. It's big business and it deserves the attention as such.

Normally, I might agree with you but this is a different era. As much as I DON'T want anyone to leave, the "transfer season" is still in full bloom. I have heard things, from a source that I will call more wild-eyed and over-reactive. So I am hoping that is the usual case. But one never knows. As to the idea of anyone coming in and redshirting, well, I don't like that. That would mean a subtraction from the roster with no addition. If someone came in now, it would seem that a current skinny front line player would be the most obvious for redshrting.

Yeah, real successful coach, ----- never "won an NCAA (tounament) game." This guy is readily becoming a basketball gypsy. Radford, Old Dominion, Dayton, Clemson, RuPaul. How long's the contract? He'll likely get one extension but he won't get two. While I might tske $1.6 and Chicago over $1.3 and Clemson, SC, I don' think I'd give up Littlejohn for All-State and 12K rowdies for blank-stare chairbacks. Just me. How's the Brian Gregory watch going? Good news --- my buddy played golf with YouDee's assistant athletic director Friday and said all of Dayton is agog from their NIT Champeenship! Brian Gregory ain't going anywhere for another 10 years. I say we all send them thank-you cards. Good to know we got the mental midget right where we need him.

I have seen Bill Cosby, Tim Taylor and David Letterman all wear one of our shirts on their show at a particular time. When we are not the "oddity" only then will this kind of stuff be overcome.

The problem I have is with something like I saw at my daughter's school ... School colors are what? And yet, I can find hoodies with yellow bodies, green bodies, pink bodies and th elike. And then the writing for the school name is white background with puyrple dots, pink dots, black dotes, tie-dyed dots and other crap on it. School colors are school colors. Wear them or fah'get'abow'dit! Slightly different take on the diatribe.

If, as kappy says, the Butler saved tons of money with reduced travel expenses, and put it in their coffers, so what? They going to reconstruct Hinkle? Add to benes given to their players? Increase chsarter flights for a year or two? The Butler also plays football -- same league with Dayton I think ---- I'll bet financing that sport and all their non-revenue others will more than eat up realized travel expenses.

You can build all you want for years and years but you still need a whole lot of luck as a mid-major to get there. I agree with the statement that the Butler got a little lucky --- Onuaku being out for Syracuse, Lucas gone for Michigan State, some stories focused on the refs further impeding MSU, KState palying at altitude after a two overtime game, and so on. Good players can help sure but sometimes, the stars have to line up. The Butler is the lord of the manor in the Horizon, much like Gonzaga is the cream of their conference. The Colonial is a hellova a conference but outside of the toruney winner, its rare they get a second. I also like to offer the state of Indiana as part of th ehotbed as we all know the Hoosiers all play ball. Of course, identifying them and recruiting them is a talent, one our previous coiaches did not seem to possess. I've been to Butler and like the campus. I've been to Hinkle and LOVE it. But c'mon ---- an aberration at best with lcuk ridin ghigh. It could happen again. I'm not saying no but there is no guarantee the same mojo and chemistry is there next year, even is all players and coaches return. Maybe Hayward realizes he needs to dominate to get to the NBA and changes hhis game. Maybe Mack's shot goes south. Maybe Howard gets rapped in the head in the first game and not the next-to-last and that concussion goes the route of Reid's. last night was a great story and i wish it would have ended even better but to predict the future and where Butler goes from here is ludicrous. End of chapter. End of book. Put the romance novel down. Maybe move on to a horro story. Maybe read a sequel. Sequel's are never as good as the original it seems. Time will only tell.

I thought the opening was crap too --- with Diddy doing whtever it is he does. Everybody acting tough. Even the ladies looked like they'd cut you with a knife when all was said and done. I also think that the championship, if they are going to insist on it being in domed football stadiums every year, should lock into Indy. A great venue. A great sports town. A great downtown. And home to the NCAA. Everyone else would b*tch and moan but I loved it. And I don't think having Butler there was an addition.

I respectfully disagree. As I said elsewhere, Butler is only the next in a long line of programs that get to this point. They are rare, yes, because money runs the golden rule and the top tier conferences will always be here. Outside of mighty Butler, the other three final four guys were royalty conferences --- Big Ten, Big East and ACC. The four losers in the Elite Eight were two Big Twelves and two SECs. The Horizon was a nice aberration. We've seen this act before --- Indiana State with Larry Bird, the column-mentioned George Mason, Rick Majerus' Utah squad, Seton Hall against Rice's Michigan squad, Houston's Cougars, Pennsylvania, and others. Nice shooting star stories --- high glitz and gloss burning itself out in a short itme. I think Butler is at its pinnacle, as is Xavier, Gonzaga and some of the other "little programs that could" teams --- at a level whereby they can and will sustain for years down the road. An off year or three out of a typical decade. The real burn-outs are the Mason's and the Davidson's and the Cornell's and the ISUs --- one shining moment etched in lore, remembered with nostalga, repeated nevermore. Wad shot, check please. Can you say "Larry Hughes?" Much like the perfect storm and stars aligniing, a low-budget, small conference team can do what the Butler did. But such a feat, while doable, will be rare. If the tournament goes to 96 teams, the cases of a Butler coming out will be further impeded ---- the non-bye teams will have to play two more games to get to what is today's starting block. And I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the new 32 teams will be BCS schools all the same. The rich get richer. As for the Bills, I would like to get to the level we now see Butler --- who can believe earlier in my tenure wiht SLU they were a laughing stock team in the MCC --- and Gonzaga and Xavier. Where getting to the NCAA becomes more of a reality and the quesion on Selection Sundy is not "are we in" but rather "what's our rank and who do we play?" or "did we get a bye?" A good leader is said to be three or four steps planning ahead in the future. Don't know if I believe that crap all the time but a lot of sentiment on here is "boy, i can't wait for next year While I agree, I certainly hope someone is looking down the road two, three, four steps and gameplanning that. Do we want to be Mason? Dpo we want to be Indiana State? Better question yet is will we be Butler and Xavier whne Majerus leaves or will we be the next coming of Utah? Sure we need to get there first but living in the moment doesn't discount planning for the future.

There's only so much one can do on defense and what you are describing is prevalent among the teams that Bill Rafftery idolizes in his "men-to-men" statement at the beginning of games. Dribble-drive offensive schemes are just that ... driblbe and drive to the basket with a kick out to a cutter or a three point shooter, wherever the help defense comes from. Because the dribble-drive will start somewhere on the perimter, the jump out by the big man forces their guard to bow out further, giving his original defender the chance to catch up at which point the big man moves back to his man. However, you will notice the rotation that is key --- if the big man is the five, then a lower posted four defender will slide over and deny the roll part ofthe pick-and-roll. Of course, that either leaves the four's original man open, or the four is essentially covering two men at once. I think the key then, and what Majerus scrams about in terms of defense is #1) the point defender figthing through the big man pick and getting back to his man, the big man jumping out far enough and long enough to be more than a token obstacle, the four man sliding inot hte void and defnding two and the big man thne recovering and getting back to his man or sliding to the now uncovered four. This is a lot of movement and switching and rotating so it eventually means manning up and boxing someon eout when the shot goes up. I saw Mack and others going toe-to-toe with the behemoth Zoubek last night. Zoubek was winning a lot of those but the swarm rebounding seemed to work well. What impressed me even more than was despite the swarm, Butler was still able to get out and run a few times up the court. This seemed to add to Butler's ability to keep all opponents, even Duke, somewhat off-balance. Butler showed me a team aspect again. A mix-it-up five, a garbage man four, a star power three, a shooting star two and an adequate point. Plus their bench became that "X" factor some of the announcers said was needed. To me, this is Butler's pinnacle. They should have won last night as I suspect they will never reach that height again. Look down I-70 and say "Indiana State." Its a great story, but without a Jimmy Chitwood, its not "Hoosiers" but more "Gettysburg." We have witnessed the "high water mark" of the Butler program. Duke on the other hand is MacArthur --- "they shall return." But getting seven points, I won the Last Chance Sweet Sixteen Pool. Thanks a lot, Dawgs.

Another thing to take out of this article is Frease's statement of "Lunken Airport." Lunken is the old Cincinnzti airport east of town on the Ohio River. Xavier is on the east side of town as well. How nice is it to have not only your own plane, but your own airport? This would be akin to the Bills not only having a plane but flying out of Parks. On some maps, Parks is listed as "St. Louis Downtown Airport." its akin to selecting Reagen or Dulles in DC. Ever been to Dulles? Arguably the worst airport in the world. Worst I've ever been in. The hassles Xavier must avoid!!!! No early to the airport. No overcramped seats unable to handle a 6' 4" guy, let alone a 7-footer. Downgraded security issues with less of a crowd to inspect. Leaving on your time and not some cxontrived airport schedule. Take it from a guy who travels alot ---- if avoiding the problems of actually "going to the airpot" existed, I'd be about 50% happier with travel. And I wonder where we stay. I'd probably be surprised if it were above a Holiday Inn Express. After thjis expose, someone should also do one on Butler. Our two old MCC friends that got away ...... and go toplaces like the Sweet Sixteen and the Final Four. Butler could win a national championship tonight. I remember whne Butler didn;t make the conference playoffs back in MCC days. Butler's the new Gonzaga which was the new Xavier which was the new Georgetown and Villanova and Seton Hall and St. John's. Its there for the taking --- you have many examples to follow.

Call me when the second domino falls. Domino #1: Big Ten goe sto twelve. Domino #2: Ancillary reactions.

The A10 is really a hard league to get ranked out of. Temple got there with a big splash win over Villanova. Then they hung around and I believe a part of that was name recognition. Other A10 teams sniffed the top 25, only to sink forever and never to return after their loss upon making that level. Richmond. Dayton. Rhode Island. It took forever for Xavier to rise into the ranks. It seems doubly hard for teams like that to get to that point and, given its usuallly conference dog-eat-dog time, they will lose and will drop pretty quickly and very hard and never return. We are not alone. Wasn't Portland or Portland State at #25 some time this year? Wasn't Davidson up there too? Non-typical teams from mid-major conferences seem to take forever to get there and then burn out when there, almost never to return. This coming year will be interesting ----- for two years now, we bemoaned the fact of being "the youngest team in college ball." We will no longer be that which is good. However, now the dynamic changes --- how well the incoming guys mix with already established guys is the key. I still don't like our bulk along the front line and I still believe our shooting skills are weak. But the skills got better as the year progressed so I kind of expect that to continue on the ups. Front line strength will only improve based on dedication in the weight room. I am also aware of some rumblings about another transfer. I can honestly say I don't like that part of this at all and am really not happy about whom I'm hearing about. But rather than spew it out here, I want to sit back and see what transpires. If it happens --- I'll say "told you so" if its right, or "I was wrong" if its not --- which is what I'm really hoping for. But transfers or kids leaving early to the pros, it seems we need to accept them all as its a part of doing normal business on the college level now.

I believe that in the NCAA realm, you get one chance to declare your intentions and then go to the pre-draft camps and get "evaluated." This is that "declared but not hiring an agent" thing we all hear about. It's literally a one-and-done deal. I believe Chris Wright at Dayton did it last year. I seem to recall Ian doing it after his junior year. You get put through the ringer and see what you've got versus what "they" think you've got. If its not to your liking, you then return to school and wait for the next year. But you can do this only once --- Wright obviously came back and tried to work on the things he was evaluated short on. In my opinion, he did not improve enough this past year to warrant coming out a year early. So he's back for his senior year. Willie can and should go to these things. Unless you are John Wall or OJ Mayo or Lebron Jmaes, it would do a person good to see how much they stack up to this measure and go in, get evaluated and then take the year to work on it. If Willie comes back and knows what the league is looking for in him, he can concentrate on that and demonstrate in college next year how much he's come along. If that fails, he has one more year as a safety net. I hear all the announcers gush all over Wright but he ain't ready. Is he better than Reed? The debate will rage on.

Kenny Frease was a 95. Brett Thompson a 89. Chris Johnson a 78. Means nothing. Both dayton and X have three guys rated in the 90s for next year. Ya think?

The NIT may have gone to "automatic spots for fallen regular season champs" but they had to be salivating at the chance to jump at UNC. Even as a fourth seed, they got their wish bringing them to NYC and even into the final game. UNC was a bad team this year. From what I saw of Ol' Miss, they exhibited no court smarts and were run-n-gun from the get go. And we all know that URI is an up-tempo team. So Dayton was in its element. London Warren's hootin' and hollerin' at the end was done for the camera in my opinion. Put me on Sportscenter. My point is still "who cares." It was a nice diversion to watch this year because I did follow the two A10 teams. But still, the NIT. The CBI. The college.insider. NIT still says it all -- Not In Tourney. All ---immaterial except as another option for my disposable entertainment dollar and my alternative viewing distraction. The CBI did what I wanted it to do --- it gave our guys a chance to further play together and develop. It also showed them what is going to hurt and what is expected come playing long into March and April. The next "title" game they make it to will NOT be played in front of 5000 fans. But in the end, did i want to win? Sure but not at the expense of a kid like Jordan or an injury even more severe. We all knew Cody's legs were gone -- gone enough that fatigue causes an ACL tear? Luckily, no. But losing that thing was immaterial -- it served it purpose but we won't see the results for some months.

Strickland's comments make sense --- in terms of an anti-Billiken basher. Of course he's going to say Reid was forced out. I really don't know what the deal was and suspect we will hear it ten ways from Sunday. If roy wants to believe that, its his right. Unoless you are talking to the Reids, how do you really know? Also, from a distant view, it makes complete "sense" to then target someone else. As I look at the roster, who do I see? Guess what --- its Jordan and John. Not that I'm advocating any of it but it makes the most "sense." How and why? First Jordan. Is Jordan a point guard? If so, he's looking at two more years behind Mitchell. Is he a shooting guard? If he is, then its two more years behind Cassity and all three years along side Salecich. Now factor in McCall. The guy appears physically to be Jordan's mirror image. With the same mirror questions. So now, it you place McCall above Jordan, Jorden drops a slot on each list. Plus recovering from an injury. Let me throw this wrench into the equation --- the wonderful gurus at ESPN gave Jordan an 87 rating last year. McCall has a given 82. Jeff Reid also had an 87. Smith and Salecich had 88s ---- both higher than Ellis also with an 87. Rob Loe has a 91. Conversely, both Cassity and John received matching 40s the year before. Ah yes, Femi John. Strickland seconds what I see from afar. Why? Two years of Femi and two injuries. Can anybody say Floyd McClain? All I'm saying is that for an above-average Billiken follower like me to see this, it makes complete sense for a deadbeat like Strickland cto ome to the same conclusions. It's not that hard. The highest number any Billiken has received in this system was Brett Thompson's 89. Loe is two points higher. What does that mean? Chris Braswell at Charlotte got a 90. Dayton's Paul Williams a 93; Chris Johnson a 78 (I'll take Johnson). Matt Kavanaugh an 89 (Thompson-esque). Look out -- incoming Flyers Staten (94), Spearman (91) and Berry (91) are all at or above Loe's grade. Yikes. Justin Martin is a 95 coming into Xavier. But so to was Kenny Frease. All I'm saying is Strickland is making a really easy guess when he looks at our roster and plays the what if game. But the A10 is going to be competitive for years down the line. Any of us that think "yeah, buddy, we're over the hump now" is fooling themselves.

I've heard of the Washington Post and thne ther's the Washington Times. What the heck is the Washington Examiner? Not that it matters but I'm just saying ...... is that like the St. Louis American or something?

The hyping of our recruits has been a self-inflicted wound for the most part. Cranford. Adkins. McClain. Seyfert. Newbourne. Eberhardt. Knollmeyer. Maguire. As for Lisch and Liddell panning out --- maybe one or one-and-a-half out of those two. Hughes panned out --- the rest went to pot without him driving the show. I can't help but wonder how good Baniak, Heinrich and Tatum might have become had the legned extended his stay. I think if we were the coach we would all self-hype .... we'd have to or we would be ousted for not doing the job. I just believe that this staff seems to have an eye for developing AND more importantly an eye for recognzing who fits just ubder the radar. Next year, my educated guess is this: Temple and Xavier will be the favorites. Temple will return Allen, Eric, Moore and Fernandez. They have to replace Brooks and a little more moxie from a senior like Guzman. But Dunphy will get a recruit or two. Xavier only loses Love and has Frease to step in --- although i think Kenny is too slow for the college game. That is if Crawford hangs around. Crawford is technically a senior ... fifth year high schooler, frosh at Indiana during a normal sophomore year, sophomore-but-really-junior-year sit out year due to transfer, and now this year as a senior-sophomore. He's as mature as its going to get in my book. If he treturns, they are a favorite. If not, second tier. Second tier teams are out there in Dayton and Rhode Island. Dayton loses its entire backcourt in Lowery, Warren, Perry, Marques Johnson and throw in center Heulsman. They have the point from Oak Hill but what if Gregory bolts to Iowa? Understand they have a transfer from Drake at point who's good but each will learn a new system and who knows what happens if the coach leaves? Rhode loses Ulmer and Cothren and I didn't see much otherwise. Richmond can shoot, but he made all his shots in one half in AC and unfortunately it was against us. He's inconsistent and small. You cover him the same way you do Redford. Charlotte was exposed, is just not that good plus they lost Lutz and point guard Harris. Who gets the ball inside to Braswell and Spears? What if the new coach changes styles? I wonder what would have happen if Michael Beasely HAD gone to Charlotte and not KState with Huggins and the assistant coach? The Bonnies are on the up arrow. The Nicholson kid has lots of potential. He lost his outside help though so let's see. Duquesne has everyone of note back, I think. Fordham, UMass, and GeeDub showed no real improvement and two seniors key to those teams -- Harris at Umass and Hollis at GW --- are gone. Plus Karl Hobbs can't coach. Which leaves us and Richmond. Richmond lost Gonzalvez and Butler but should move Cedric-Martel and Kevin Smith up. The loss of those two will mean some things will change but with Anderson and Harper, they still look tough. Put then back in the top tier. Which leaves us. We should very easily be top four, what with everyone back plus McCall and Evans. I think we have to lose someone to add Loe. I don't think we will know much until the season is over. I'd hate to lose Smith or Remuken at thi spoint. Which means the onus points to the guards. I like the way Jordan progressed over the year. I like that Salecich seemed to come up off the floor after a bad start. Reid and John are unknowns at this point. That's where Loe might come from. 1. Xavier, 2. Richmond, 3. Temple, 4. Saint Louis, 5. Duquesne, 6. Bonaventure, 7. Rhodey, 8. GeeDub, 9. Dayton, 10. La Salle, 11. Charlotte, 12. Umass, 13. St. Joe's, 14. Fordham.

Mike Deane? That Mike Deane/ He's still in coaching? Key-Riste!!!!!!!!

Rumors in SW Ohio have Iowa after Brian Gregory from Dayton AND, if he goes, the PG Saten drom Oak Hill Academy goes with him. Dayton folks are split; some like Gregory, some don't.

This might be a credible plan --- to add to the issue, as I've said, I had tickets to both La Salle and St. Joe's thi syear and ate them due to snowstorms. We won both. If you're going to kidnap me, please do it right. Somewhere with "All-Inclusive" in its title.