thetorch

The skyhawks roster is incomplete because they did not ahve a team last year so nobody is held over and most teams rosters are not set till opening day and change constantly during the season. That in itself is no big deal. Kern got picked because of legal pressure. DJ, apparently working with the team, has said that a local player with college eligibilty left was suing Irons and the team if they did not allow him to play. Irons picking him was placating Kern and his lawyers. If Kern had any sense he would be at MAC getting an education.

I feel confident that Brad will get a very good PF. His track record is a good one. Last year as we were all waiting for the signing of a JUCO center I think many of us were dissapointed by the signing of Frericks. We had heard rumors about recruiting some top 10 JUCO centers and then Frericks an unknown is signed. We all know how that turned out. Frericks was a top player, while another guy we recruited from Wabash CC was a 5 minute a game backup for UAB.

Brad was upset about people having knowledge of the Duke game? It was in the newspaper.

Taking Nick Kern with the 3rd pick in the draft??????? I have lost alot of respect for Irons. Irons has said repeatedly that he was not going to draft guys with college eligibility left. He was going to encourage kids to stay in school with this policy. Well Kern raises a stink and threatens to sue and Irons caves. Irons always takes care of his own doesn't he. Kern with a free ride to college now gets to play pro ball for peanuts. What a future he has. Travon Bryant was also picked by Cedar Rapids.

Actually I think the Skyhawks games are now played at Forest Park CC. I believe I heard Floyd say so on the radio. Floyd is making an effort to get some local flavor on the Skyhawks to generate some interest. I would not be surprised to see many former billikens, tigers, illini what not given a chance to play for them.

He only shot 41 of 135 (30%) from beyond the arc for the season. Shot 53% from inside though. I think you are right this kid is just a contingency plan for Tommie. He seems like a similar player, a rangy SG who can score and likes to board depsite a small frame.

The opposing part means players we hated to see play the Billikens. This would mean players that we play on a regular basis. Considering we have played Missouri twice in the last 25 years and some other teams 25 times in the last 25 years like Depaul and Marquette I think Missouri players would not be most people's top choices. If I had to pick a missouri player it would be Wesley Stokes since he made the shot that beat us.

Favorite - Monroe Douglas and Pee Wee as a kid. More recently gotta love Marque, H, Claggs, Hughes, Dobbs, and Highmark. Overachiever - John Redden and Carlos Macauley Redden of course was a walk on who became one of the best defensive players in billiken history. Macauley not who you may typically think is an overachiever but after starting every game his freshamn year, then being buried in the rotation his soph and Jr, to come back and be the pg leader and defensive dynamo his senior season was pretty remarkable. Alot of guys would have been just left for dead. Underachiever - As a kid Travis Tadysak and Tony Manuel were two high profile JUCOs who came in as lauded players who did less than squat. Melvin falls into this category somewhat. Still the Big Chill barely even started in HS so some of the strides he made were pretty remarkable. He had a lot more potential and wasted it though. Matt Baniak - I was surprised at his play his freshamn year. I played against him some in pickup games in HS and occasionally matched up inside with him (I was 6'3 in shoes). He was weak and had no fire in him. He had alot of skill but no real competitve heart. His final 3 seasons were more indicative of what I thought he would be like. Unfortunately for Billiken fans there are so many more underachievers to add to the list. Lets hope for less and less under Soderberg. Hated Opposing - Tyrone Hill and Derek Strong along with Pete Gillen. Those guys broke my billiken heart several times as a youngster. Wardle of course. He is a guy you hate playing against but wish he was on your team. Nick Van Exel - He was always making clutch 3 against the Billikens.

Larry Simmons underachieved? He was not a great player but he was not highly touted coming in either.

Kalen is a different player with the Eagles than with HC. Posters have said that we need a more mobile PF and Grimes does not fit in with that. He is a post up guy and will not be handling the ball anywhere beyond 15 feet from the basket. I would take Kalen in a heartbeat over 99% of JUCOs. At worst I think he projects to be a Justin Tatum type player. At best he is an undersized bull of a center in the mold of tractor Traylor or Corliss Williamson. UB can get anybody to play, he has done it with JJ, Izik and Reggie. I don't worry about kalen's effort, if he doesn't show it he stays on the pine. Still McKinney would be the more likely option in coming to SLU at least in my mind.

If a school is penalized by suspension of postseason play then a player has carte blanche to transfer wherever he wants to without sitting out. Conley or anyone else for that matter could end up playing on a big 12 team next season. Mizzou cannot hold their players back or not grant their release if they do recieve a postseason ban.

While I do not have a transcript of the broadcast I did tune into the show at about 10:30 and thought I heard Tim expressly say that you were not a college whackjob. He compared you to some Illini and Mizzou fans who he did say were whackjobs and described you as simply a passionate fan. I could be wrong but I believe that is what I heard.

If they are on post season probation he gets a free pass to transfer doesn't he? This year the Big 12 POY was a transfer from penalized Baylor. Wouldn't it be great if that happened again but this time to Mizzou.

It is not too late.

If a kid is offered a visit take it. If I was in a kids shoes and offered a weekend trip that sounds anything remotely like what the recruits have gotten at Miami or Colorado I am taking as many as I can regardless of where I really want to go.

true, but we regularly do.

I don't buy that GT is as big of an underdog as NC State was. Not even close. GT is a 3 seed and probably deserved higher if not for Maryland advancing so far in the ACC tourney. GT has basically 4 high quality point guards. Add in a solid post player and that equals tourney success. Maybe not many picked GT to win it all (I did) but no one should be surprised that they are here. Okafor is a much better offensive player than Hakeem was in college.

I was looking for something like that to bring to the Iowa game and rooting around I found a rally towel that had to be close to 20 years old. It was blue and had the old style Billiken on it. I also found a white one that I can remember getting from the old kiel. Just by coincidence the person who sat next to me at the Iowa game brought his along too. He commented on how old it was and he was the only one who probably still had it. He was surprised when I pulled mine out. Also does anyone remember when they gave away miniature billiken basketballs away at the old kiel? I had mine for years and played with it till it literally fell apart.

That is Floyd Irons minor league team he coaches. Justin Love and Johnnie Parker have played for them.

Izik has to learn how to finish. After watching him this year and seeing his obvious improvement on defense I can't help but hope we haven't seen the best from him. Still I am only expecting Izik to be a every now and then offensive spark who can create matchup problems. I don't think he is capable of being the star on the team. I wish we had more time with him because he is still learning the team game. A couple more years and he has the skills to be a very very good player. I just don't think his learning curve is great enough to see it at SLU.

The owner of the spirits gets several million dollars every year from the NBA. He gets like a 5% share of the TV take of the remaining ABA teams in the league. Marvin served two stints for drugs. He still struggles with it. He hangs around Rhode Island and Virginia nowadays running a charity program. He pops up in the news every once in a while. He has no job, the old owner of the spirits still supports him. He says Marvin is the nicest con man he ever met. Marvin was the craziest player in a crazy era. He would come to game late dressed in big pimp hats and floor length fur coats with his uniform on underneath. He hads big Rolls Royces he would drive around and he was a huge drug user. Late in his career when he was w/the celtics Marvin claims he snorted coke on the bench while wearing a towel over his head. He was a great great ball player, such a waste. I still don't think he has fully kicked his drug habit. Every couple years he ends up back in rehab. People still treat like a god in Providence.

There has been talk that road games will be added into the equation for the RPI. If this happens next year I have no problem with some tough road games. As long as they help us. I hate to see SEC and ACC schools never leave home before conference play while SLU plays tough road games without some sort of extra credit.

I only worry about not getting enough practice time at the venue and also practicing at the right time. Probably first thing tomorrow they will have to practice there and then knowing college students (and myself) they will probably take an afternoon siesta which makes them flat for the first half. If they had gotten there this afternoon they could have played at the gym tonight and then not worried about it so much tomorrow.

Our Bills have had a tough go of it trying to get to Fort Wayne. They were supposed to be arriving there on a chartered jet early this afternoon. The jet had problems on the ground here. Then the charter company said they would send another plane but that one couldn't leave wherever it was due to more mechanical problems. Finally after several hours The Bills boarded a bus for the trip to Ft Wayne at about 6:30. 20 miles over the river in Illinois they got a call from the Charter plane company that they had a plane on the ground ready to go. The bus doubled back and the team finally got off the ground shortly before 8:00 tonight. How this affects the team's performance tomorrow will reamin to be seen. Get a good nights sleep boys.

Considering that the best PFs the Billikens have had in the last 15 years have been 6'3 and 6'5 I would galdly take a 6'6 guy. He just needs to rebound.