aj_arete
-
Posts
1,376 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by aj_arete
-
-
Do you think Schertz keeps any of the Billiken assistants? As for me, I'm good with cleaning house and starting a new slate.
-
So is this bracket from the WNIT incorrect: https://womensnit.com/documents/2024/3/27//WNIT_2024_Bracket.pdf?path=post_wnit
It shows that SLU would face Wisconsin, rather than Purdue.
-
Looks like MO State is prepared to hire Cuonzo Martin when the speculation was with McCollum going there. Or is McCollum content with remaining at the Div II level where he can just focus on coaching ball.
-
1 hour ago, TheA_Bomb said:
I think that's a good hire by WVU.
Mack is still not hired somewhere which I find interesting. If it's Vandy why isn't the deal done?
Who else could he be talking to?
Who does Drake get?
Maybe the industry knows more about Mack than the general public does. I'm all for waiting for Schertz. If that doesn't work out, then so be it. I think it's a risk worth taking, if that's the guy that's the best for the job.
billiken_roy likes this -
This is not the greatest of timing as some coaches might balk at accepting a job offer without knowing who the president is. But I agree that Pestello will be missed.
-
A couple of weeks ago, I listened to Doug Gottlieb interview Schertz on his All Ball podcast and I came away impressed. Good get if they can get him. Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-ball-with-doug-gottlieb/id1358843497?i=1000645759088
MusicCityBilliken likes this -
It’s hard for me to sift through all this. Now I hear that McCollum is linked to the Missouri State job but has that been finalized? Why are people dismissing him to SLU. I think he’d be a great fit.
-
17 minutes ago, thetorch said:
McCollum is a different breed. He's as close to Majerus as we can get. Throwing money at him won't just get him.
In all of his videos and stories about him he genuinely wants to make a difference in an area. He loves NW MO St and he has put them on the map. He wants to the same thing in a larger locale.
This is a no brainer to me. This guy wants to develop a regional team and be the guy in a city. St. Louis is it. We have been searching for this for decades. Hire him, let him feel his way around D-1 a bit. He may lose at first but he won't lose for long. He recruits at a D-1 level at NW and he develops players and has a fool proof system. His 2nd best player went to Creighton the other season and averaged 14 ppg. His best player is arguably the best D-2 player of all time, scored nearly 3,000 points. He's had no issues with the portal, his players don't leave. He only brings in guys who buy in for 4 years.
This is the guy A merge of Majerus and Spoon who's only 42 years old. We'll suck for two years and they we'll run off 20 years of 25 wins a season. He won't cost an arm and a leg at first.
I remember listening to McCollum in a podcast and was extremely impressed with him. If SLU is unable to generate NIL money that competes with the top tier of the A-10, then getting a tactician and developer of talent is the route to go. I have not seen NW Mo St play but I remember him saying that he doesn't like to play a pressing type of offense because he doesn't think that style will beat top teams that can handle the basketball. However, how would others describe his offensive style? Can it be appealing?
If NIL is not a problem, then I do believe with SLU's significant investment in facilities should be able to attract some strong candidates. What do others think?
I think Chris May and Travis Ford have done well at SLU, but I'm concerned that both can't take SLU to the next level.
BLIKNS likes this -
3 hours ago, mrjoelabs said:
Look at Dayton...playing in front of a huge crowd instead of in a coffin building for their tournament. Might knock off another power 6 team. Real coach on the sidelines. Meanwhile we lose to an America East team on national TV. I guess thats why our crowd doesn't travel like Dayton's does. Until Ford and May are gone nothing will change. Why can't we have real sports execs and leaders in this town? Look at MO with the cardinals and his little league manager...the former Rams Brass...SLU. I mean come on. I guess the blues are competent, maybe.
One, Vermont is an elite mid major program so it’s no shame losing to them and we were underdogs anyway. My expectations are modest this year and so far, they’ve performed better than I thought.
However given the investment in the program, I expect more than what Ford has delivered over the last few years. Finishing in the top 4 or 5 in a diminished A-10 isn’t good enough.
-
1 hour ago, Lord Elrond said:
UMass wins, 4-3 in PKs
So what’s your take on the season? I know the team is young. While a disappointing end, should we be excited about the future?
-
So is our AD Chris May savvy enough to pivot and develop their NIL. I would think our capacity for NIL should be greater than our A-10 brethren.
-
I want to be optimistic, so do we think we can finish in the top 4? I think those preseason rankings appear reasonable to me. There are just so many new players here that I just don't know much about. We can take comfort in Coach Ford having an eye for talent, but it's hard for me to get excited about this year. I just think SLU is set up to be much more than an also-ran in the A-10. Hopefully, we can get some new blood to coach this team as I would think it'd be a very attractive job given the resources that have been poured into it. There's no reason why SLU shouldn't be a title contender every year in the A-10.
SLU-Geo likes this -
On 4/26/2023 at 6:47 PM, Basketbill said:
Wondering the same thing perhaps Harriman can re-recruit him. He does have big experience with Loe and Ellis.
My question is...What Have You Done For Me Lately?
All I know is Harriman was part of a hideous Cal team last year. To get excited about him, I'd like to know what bigs he's developed since Ellis and Loe. Have any made the NBA... top levels of Europe... Australia... or G League?
I don't know, but maybe someone has done the research.
-
On 3/19/2023 at 2:19 PM, thetorch said:
The teams that we want to be like are Gonzaga, Xavier, Butler, Creighton.
Us and Dayton are stuck in purgatory Juan Bid hell of the A10.
What did those teams do differently than us and Dayton?
They all established themselves in a low major conference, won multiple conference championships, built up their budgets, hired good coaches for the long term then they steadily moved up the conference ranks. In the case of Gonzaga, because of geography, there was nowhere to go so they made themselves a national brand and also dragged the rest of their conference up with them.
SLU & Dayton became transients, jumping from conference to conference, coach to coach, in an effort to cheat the system, ie we will automatically be a good program if we are in a conference with other good programs. We didn't invest in our program in any way until recently and by that time it was too late. Dayton did the same, jumping from conference trying to skip steps.
The above schools all have 20+ years of steady focused program building behind them. SLU & Dayton have about 5 years between them.
It may be too late but there is a proven way to build a winner outside of being a football school. We need to embrace it. Drop down in conference, maintain and slowly build up our budgets, keep the same coach for 10+ years, win multiple conference titles and get into NCAAs regularly and then move up our programs.
The A10 is a dead end. Sadly VCU is the flagship. Not us. We won't be and we never will be. We have two choices keep churning out top 75 teams in the A10 and never make the NCAAs or keep churning out top 75 teams in the Horizon or OVC and make the tournament ever year. I choose the latter.
With the current level of spending, there’s no reason why SLU can’t dominate the conference with the right coach. It’s either the Big East or stay in the A-10.
-
SLU had a good enough schedule to get an at-large bid, but the near miss at Auburn hurt. They outplayed Auburn for much of the game, but couldn't seal the deal. Then on the other end of the spectrum was the bad loss to SIUE. If they could have pulled out a couple of more wins, then I think they could have gotten the at-large bid. Having said that, I think the SLU administration made a short-sighted mistake in not pulling the plug on Travis Ford. I think he's a solid mid-major coach, but I expect SLU to be making multiple at-large bids with their facilities and NIL infrastructure. We need to stop thinking small and do an upgrade.
-
21 hours ago, HoosierPal said:
Gregory took the Flyers to 2 NCAA's in 8 seasons
Miller took the Flyers to 4 NCAA's in 6 seasons
Grant has 0 NCAA's in 6 seasons albeit with a HUGE asterisk in '19-20.
That’s surprising about Grant not having 1 NCAA bid in his tenure. Given the institutional and community support that Dayton provides, that’s simply not good enough.
-
45 minutes ago, JMM28 said:
You just agreed with everything I said. I just made it in 5 words and you took a pontificating 200 words.
No, I don't agree with what you said. He got the job because he knows how to interview and not because he's black.
-
50 minutes ago, JMM28 said:
He is young and black. That is the resume.
That's offensive. What makes Kim English stand out is that he's articulate and knows how to set a vision. I can definitely see him excelling in an interview, even if he was white. This is so ignorant when looking at the landscape of college basketball where the coaching profession is hardly representative of the talent pool (that is the number of blacks who played college basketball exceeds the number of whites at the Division I level).
Having said that, there are plenty of people who know how to excel on the interview, but then flop on the job. I'll agree that the jury is still out on whether English will be a highly effective coach, so we'll just have to wait and see.
slu72, AGB91, billikenbill and 1 other like this -
On 1/28/2023 at 8:30 AM, SluSignGuy said:
I sadly learned last night that about 17 months ago, we lost a long-time member of the Billikens.com Community, Terrance Hicks. His username was @Quality Is Job 1, but for most of his time on this site, people knew him as thicks. Terrance was a teacher, photographer, and a man sincerely devoted to his faith.
I did not know Terrance well personally, but he was a valued member of our community, going back to our days on Rivals.com. Reflecting this, he is the only person to serve as a moderator of this site outside of myself and @davidnark. Terrance was active on the site until very shortly before his passing on August 22, 2021. On behalf of the Billikens.com community, I bought a Memorial Tree in Terrance's name, following guidance in his obituary.
I ask that all users of this community who were lucky enough to interact with thicks to take a moment to reflect on his passing and devote your thoughts to his family and loved ones.
Steve
I had no idea as I haven't been on this site for awhile. We were Facebook friends and noticed that I hadn't heard from him in awhile and that's where I learned about his untimely death. He is surely missed.
SLU_Lax likes this -
12 hours ago, dennis_w said:
but apparently they win with a terrible coach with players that dont want to play for him, that is the narrative, interesting line of thought
There needs to be context. I believe SLU's resources far exceed their competitors in the A-10. The facility is top notch and I believe is unmatched in the conference. Then they've got the new athletics complex that is second to none. This is a program that appears to be funding at a level that would be extremely competitive in the Big East. However, the results don't show that. SLU is not getting enough bang for their buck and that lies at Ford's feet. Now if SLU didn't have the Chaifetz Arena and their spending was in line with the A-10, then I'm fine with the 20 wins and upper half finishes. But that doesn't appear to be the case here. I think the Billikens can do better.
Adman likes this -
I think Travis Ford should be commended on stint at SLU. He's certainly raised the profile from the Jim Crews era. However given that SLU's facilities and spending far exceed their rivals in the A-10, I think we can do better. I just don't think one NCAA appearance in 7 years is good enough. It's time to cut bait.
-
Must admit that I didn't like the coaching hire, particularly after their rough start. However, I'm glad to eat crow in this instance.
-
I have no problem with Nick trying to follow his dream. I only fault Travis Ford granting him the scholarship. Do you think this was done as a favor to the St. Louis Eagles. I'm just hoping that Larry Hughes Jr gets his scholarship now.
-
On 6/8/2020 at 2:08 PM, cgeldmacher said:
I don't know if it has anything to do with Situation 2 and Gordon, but it seems like Travis is really trying to bring in high quality guys who have their heads on straight. I obviously like the talent on our roster, but also love the fact that they all appear to be good, hard working, driven guys.
Character and chemistry can take you a long way.
Quality Is Job 1 likes this
Josh Schertz hires first Assistant Coach
in Billikens.com Main Board
Posted
Was the issue with Coleman was that he committed recruiting violations? I know his record was terrible, but he was only given one year. I was curious what happened during his tenure. I was born at the time, but was real little. When I think about when I started to seriously follow the Billikens, it was during the Ekker era.