davidnark

LHJ, shot 35% from 3, which is very average for a D1 combo guard. He was also a starter on one of the worst defensive teams in the country. I don't recall him shutting down anyone, and he didn't light up the steal stats, so I am not sold on the good defender narrative.

If coach wants to keep LHJ for reasons beyond just basketball talent, I understand, but Thames has an entirely different level of athleticism.

100% agree. I wish every one of them well in their basketball and college careers, but no one else besides Gibson is a good fit for the new system. Move/cut without the ball and elite passing and shooting--that is what is needed for all 5 positions.

Chain of Rocks bridge is bike and pedestrian only.

Fully agree. Resisting the parochial reflex that often plagues this city and program would enable broader strategy and vision for the university and its men’s basketball program.

After over half a century of being used and abused by the system, the players finally have the leverage and rights they should have had all along. The law won't allow the NCAA to take away these rights, but market dynamics will settle and stabilize things in years to come.

I would hire an AD who would spend the bulk of his or her time networking with, and influencing, those who call the shots in the Big East, which presumably should be easy because the AD should be hired because of his or her knowledge, strategy, influence, and connections in this area. The SLU AD's primary job is to get SLU in the Big East and ensure we are always top 75+ in men's basketball. Anything else is a failure. I would identify and hire as the men's basketball head coach the most dynamic and connected assistant coach who has prior experience with a Big East team and who can be hired for a million a year or less. I would then redirect all fundraising efforts towards NIL money for men's basketball. I would ensure the AD hired and empowered a staff who can effectively manage the other day-to-day stuff, while the AD focused on the conference affiliation and men's basketball success.

At least when we bottomed out in 1992, we were in a top conference and had a top freshmen class. There is no upside here unless Ford and May resign, and we refresh everything.

I know this is a post about a new coach, but I hope the priority is to hire a new AD who has connections with both Big East leadership and a close network and vision for a new coaching staff. The school has out-invested pretty much every other basketball-only program in the country in facilities and charter travel, now it is time to develop a leadership team and strategy to get the top return on this investment.

This is as bad as the program has been in the last 20 years. We have an AD and coach who simply have no idea how to compete in the new NIL/transfer portal world. We have a massive asset allocation issue. We doubled down on upgraded facilities and a big contract for our expensive and overrated coach and now have left our roster in awful shape. The only good news is that it can be fixed real fast with the right decisions in the spring.

He was truly a bully and a jerk.

Does someone have a complete version of the current roster as it stands today? It has before very difficult to track and monitor who has committed, where they are from, etc.

It is possible that Yuri is a supremely gifted point guard and last year's team struggled with him running the show. I am ready to move on from Yuri. I wish him the best. I would like to see an offense with good movement on and off the ball. I was so tired of watching Yuri go possession after possession forcing pick and rolls to get his own shot while two of the best shooters in the conference sat open on the wings watching. It was insanity.

I somehow missed this post and news. I am really sorry to hear about THick's passing. I only met him a few times, but he was such a genuine person and fan. My thoughts are with his family. I know he will be missed by many.

Some of us have morphed into a weird combination of all 3.

Yuri needs to avoid stretches where he gets focused on just driving and looking to dish to the big man. We went about 10 minutes straight during the drought not even looking at Perkins and Gibson on the wings. Coach should pull him out for a few minutes if he goes down that path in the future.

Except that when Tim was called up for a qualifier over a year ago while he was killing it in the English Championship, the US Twitter Soccer Mafia blasted Gregg and trashed Tim. Now, over a year later, Tim is killing it the EPL and the Mafia is bashing Gregg because they thought he wouldn't call up Tim. The reality is that Ream was playing at a the same level during this entire period, but the Mafia fan base determines 99.99% of a player's value solely on their club and league affiliation. When the mainstream soccer media even suggests anything the coaching staff does may have merit, crazy conspiracy theories tied to SUM and MLS are always thrown about the Mafia. It is nonsense.

It is crazy to care that he took Roldan and Morris. He took Roldan because he is his best bridge communication between the staff and the players, and if he plays it will be a few minutes to run his butt off and help kill off the last few minutes of the game. He took Morris because his workout data shows he still has world class speed. He is only on the team if they need a direct winger to stretch the game in the last few minutes. He took Long because he is apparently the best athlete among his center backs in the absence of Richards and Robinson (both of whom would have played ahead of him). Pefok has been awful for the last month and a half and does not press or track back. Pepi got a raw deal, but he has many great years ahead and will star in the Olympics and U20 World Cup. The whole Brooks narrative just provides the madness of the fan base; he hasn't played league minutes in over 6 months. I don't know what happened with Steffen and feel for him, but Turner is better. The top 20 selections were spot on, and the last 6 are coaches preferences for every team.

USMNT "fans" are the weirdest group in all of sports. No group is more critical and pessimistic than any other fan group in any sport. It is almost a point of pride to degrade the team or players. The reality is that our top group of players (Reyna, Musah, Adams, Pulisic, Aaronson, Weah, McKennie, Dest, Turner, Sargent, Ream, and Jedi) are better than the top group at Wales and Iran and are more than capable of competing with the English team. It is also an absurd hobby to watch these same fans argue passionately over spots 22-26 on the roster and trash Gregg for his choices even though none of these players will play a minute in this World Cup. Everyone trashes Aaron Long and Jesus F., but when both transfer to England next year they will be magically considered great. Just track the perception of Tim Ream and Brenden Aaronson over the last couple years.

Am I correct in understanding that there is no way to access season tickets through the Ticketmaster app and we must instead use the mobile browser? Does anyone know why?

Court cases have held that players have a legal right to monetize their image and likeness. This isn't an NCAA decision.

Hey, thank you guys. I really appreciate it. I haven't been on here for a few days, but my dad who is a serial billikenboard browser told me about his thread. It really makes me appreciate this great community!

Are these announcers drunk? They are sort of funny.

You state a very specific 14th best league in the world with a certainty even though it is highly subjective. I have seen rankings that put it anywhere between 7 and 15. Ironically, the valuation of teams in MLS is actually greater than nearly all the teams in Europe outside of the Champions League regulars. Soccer leagues are difficult to rate. There are 5 leagues in Europe (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France) that are universally considered the top leagues in the world, and the English Premier League is generally considered the top league and generates the most money. However, the top teams in MLS actually have bigger budgets and nicer facilities than the bottom teams in France, Italy, and Spain. For example, Venezia (in Venice) plays in a largely makeshift stadium that only seats 7,400, but AC Milan plays in the same league with a 75,000 seat stadium. MLS is unique in that the teams can spend unlimited amounts on 3 players, about a million dollars on 2 players, and then only has $5 million to spend on the rest of the rosters. That makes for some really disjointed teams and talent levels, and makes it very difficult to compare the league and its teams to others in the world. The interest level of MLS teams in some markets such as Atlanta, Austin, KC, Seattle, and Portland is comparable and better to teams in the other major sports. However, the teams in NYC and a few other notable markets have really struggled to keep a fan base. MLS has some of the best facilities and wealthiest owners of all the leagues in the world and has all the resources and potential to be a top global league if it takes some calculated risks. The 2026 World Cup in the US is considered a critical inflection point.

MLS and soccer show great popularity relative to traditional sports in the US in recent sports surveys. The TV rating numbers for soccer in the under 35 age metric are good. Also, if you combine the TV ratings from the English and Spanish broadcasts, they are respectable across all ages. The step-change in soccer in this country will come when MLS pulls off the training wheels (aka salary cap and limited DP, TAM, and other rules) and permits the ambitious owners to compete with the top 5 leagues in Europe to fill rosters. The new media contracts are under negotiation, and they are expecting the rights to the annual 48-team MLS/Liga MX to substantially drive up the value, which we hope will be invested into new roster rules. It may be another decade or so, but MLS is being positioned to eventually compete with MLB and NBA to be the 2nd most popular league in the US. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/01/morning-consult-survey-generation-alpha-favors-soccer-basketball-and-football.html