jjray

Here is my theory on Loe. Some mysterious force in the universe causes all college basketball players in the United States hailing from Oceania to struggle their sophomore year. Let's call it the Cody Ellis effect. If they are able to survive that year (see Christian Salecich), then they thrive their junior season. I expect a huge bounceback year for Rob next season but am not optimistic that he'll improve this season. Would love for Rob to heat up in the spring when tournament time rolls around this season. That could really give the team a lift.

I don't know shoe, my take on coach's methods would differ subtly from yours. He makes excuses for his freshman explaining away their flaws. That's different from saying they have a bright future. By sophomore year, he gets frustrated with them if they haven't progressed as he expects. No more excusing flaws in their games as he expects the players to work hard and improve where they need it. We saw this with Cory (getting stronger) and with Cassity (his shooting). I never recall coach criticizing bonecrusher or Evans. But you make a good point to take words coach gives out for freshmen with a grain of salt. After bonecrusher graduates, we'll be without a low post presence. Grandymama is only one on the current roster with the size, hops, quick feet to be that player. Manning could develop into being useful in the post through hard work but Grandy is a natural post player. He just needs to want it.

Glad to hear he is praising Grandy. It's OK that he is raw because we don't need him to contribute this season but he must be coachable and work hard. I doubt coach would give out praise to a player who doesn't work hard. Grandy could be an absolute beast by his junior and senior seasons. I wish we would have redshirted him.

I'm quite certain Doc Rivers graduated from high school more than 20 years ago.

Creighton is the team from the Valley I would like to see us play on a regular basis. Not only are we both Jesuit schools but they have a significant alumni base in St. Louis (meaning I expect that could put rear ends in the seats). They are solid year in and year out. My guess is that we have been trying schedule Valley teams within bus distance to cut down on travel costs. It's 7 hours to Omaha. A bit long but doable by bus.

And while we are correcting the record, I'm not sure if Nick posted it or someone else but the comment was made that RM never yanked a scholarship from a player at SLU. That's a false statement. It happened. I was critical of Rick on this board when he began running off Sodie's players including the poor kids who were recruited to SLU by Sodie but never actually played for him ... only to arrive at SLU and be informed they really weren't wanted. That was four years ago. Since then he has methodically upgraded the talent level of this team and run a disciplined program. This program is light years ahead of where it was at when Brad was fired. Just this season I finally glimpsed the offense RM wants to run at SLU. It's a thing of beauty. Excusing the way he dealt with players he did not recruit, I am thrilled with what Rick has built @ SLU. I just hope he is healthy enough to ride this thing a few more years to a higher level. I'll occasionally make fun of Rick's quirks but don't have a negative word to say about the way he runs the team. We at SLU are lucky to have Rick.

I look back at the Legarrette Blount cheap shot and wonder how that in any way differs from the Yancy Gates cheap shot on Frease. Oregon suspended Blount for the rest of the season after that hit. Six games seems inadequate to me in the Gates case.

Words of sanity from ESPN. Rare.

This! Mack sat on the bench with his thumb up his ass while his players continued to verbally taunt not just the UC players on the court but the entire bench including the UC coaching staff. It was a sickening display by Tu and Lyons. Mack should have yanked them both off the court when the game was already decided.

It looked like X initiated it.

"I'd also like to thank ... what they call them other girls?" ... just classic, classic Rick!

I already did.

Bonecrusher must have telepathic internet access. He up'ed his game just after I posted this.

Conk is being exposed by a smaller, quicker player.

Man, we suck.

I too hope Jake contributes in future years but my view is that he played more as a freshman @ Toledo than KC did as a freshman @ SLU. This is his third year of college basketball. Thus, I am lowering my expectations for Jake. He's a hard worker and that helps the team more than one sees on the court game day so I don't think we should be troubled he was taken as a transfer. Transfers are always a risk. And he just might blossom in the role of catch & shoot scorer off the bench rather than as a combo guard (as you suggest above).

Is Mike McCall a scrub? Barnett wasn't on the court surrounded by scrubs in the Vermont game. This is a fallacy. None of the walkons played and, other than the walkons and our one redshirt, we have no scrubs in positions 1-3.

Thanks for the report. Enjoyed the read. I'm not worried that GG is raw if he is coachable and willing to work. Glad to hear he stayed after practice.

I'm not giving up on him either. We've seen very little of Jake in other than exhibition games. However, I think a lowering of expectations is in order. I expect him to battle for minutes next season but make very little contributions this season. I am sure coach will give him every opportunity next year to make his case to be in the rotation but he'll have to play his way into a role. ... The expectations issue with Jake is not his fault. It lay with coach for saying during an interview last year that Jake will be an all league player on day. I still am having trouble reconciling that statement with the player we have seen so far.

Before H, my favorite SLU point guard was David Burns.

>>I too see him as a nice replacement fo rCassity<< Jake looked horrible yesterday. The two turnovers were just ugly. I'm not sure how one views the little glimpses we have had of Barnett this season and concludes he will be a proper replacement for Kyle next year. It might happen but Jake has not shown any flashed that would lead one to that conclusion. The good thing is the progress of Jett this year. We don't have to rely on Barnett to step into the rotation next season. If you read Timmerman's article in the Post from the Vermont game, I don't think we will see Barnett in the rotation this season from here on out absent injury or foul trouble. "Jake Barnett played nine minutes and didn't score. He's 0 for 5 from the field, all 3's, since the opener. Majerus said afterwards that 'he must be getting old,' because he decided to put Barnett in because he had been doing so well in practice, even though it messed up his nine-man rotation, particularly how he uses Jett." http://www.stltoday....19bb30f31a.html

This might be Willie's last shot. I think the D league would be ideal for him. Hope he sees the writing on the wall and realizes what the deal is.

+1 I'm with you on T. Greene. He tore it up in AAA and deserves his shot. At worst, he gives us what we would have gotten from Furcal. At best, we get a power hitting, base stealing SS who is still cost controlled.

The 3's were nice but I was actually happier to see Dwayne put the ball on the floor during our first offensive possession and blow by the defender for a layup. It looked like he hesitated when he reached the key looking to pass but then realized that he had the defender beat and decided to take it all the way to the rack. It's nice to see our team make an aggressive, decisive move that leads to an easy basket early in the game. SLU often comes out sluggish / passive on the offensive end as they whip the ball around the perimeter without ever really probing the defense. Kinda funny to see a SLU opponent trying to slow the game down because they can't match our speed / athleticism. Sweet.

I expected Willie to be trying to latch on with Alex and Cleveland's D league team. Perhaps this is the first step in this process. Congrat to Willie for getting an invite to Cleveland's training camp. We can all be jaded about Willie's wasted opportunity at SLU but it only helps the prestige of the program if Willie succeeds as a professional.