kevinfootes

I guess it depends on how you want to define "interesting". If college basketball teams had only 4 non-conference games it would look pretty similar to football IMO. If you want to pick one random team, let's look at UConn's baskeball schedule http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/schedule/_/id/41/connecticut-huskies They played 2 good teams in a tournament and play at Texas in January. Otherwise they play 8 really bad games at home. How is Uconn vs. Farleigh Dickinson interesting? Most of their non-conference home schedule is a glorified exhibition. I don't really see the difference. I like both basketball and football. They both have plenty of warts, but I don't see a major difference in the scheduling other than the overall number of games that gives the opportunity for basketball teams to play a couple of fairly interesting nonconference games. You have a clear preference for basketball, and there's nothing wrong with that. Also, in college basketball just about any team in a conference is in the postseason. Call it what you want, but the confernece tournies are nothing more than an extension of the big dance. In football Vanderbilt, Kansas, Indiana, etc. have no chance to go anywhere this year. The 1 vs. 16 games in the basketball tourney are pretty much worthless. Obviously there are some bad bowl games in football, but most are fairly interesting to me and it's a fun time of year to watch some unusual matchups IMO. What else is on during that time of year...Uconn vs. Coppin State in basketball? One more thing...don't you think basketball conferences also swallow up teams? How many teams are in the A10 now?

I think much of this is driven by the number of games played. Most BCS football schools play 3 or 4 non conference games. Generally they play 1 pretty good game, 1 okay game, and 2 games that are essentially wins. In basketball you play 12 or so nonconference games. You will sometimes see a team like Duke this year play a lot of good nonconference games. However, most basketball teams play only a couple of good non-confernece opponents...and many of those are on a neutral floor in a tournament. They may play one true road game against a good opponent. The rest are essentially buy wins at home. The other difference is 350 D1 hoops schools vs. 120 or so D1 football schools. IMO there are so many more hapless teams in basketball than in football. You may have a few more interesting games sprinkled in, but IMO there are many more games that are pretty much extended preseason.

Do we? By the time he would be elgible we might not need him.

That's becasue we'er making so many shots.

I'll go ahead and assume it's because FSMW is a paying sponsor and we need the money. I don't think Fox has a problem with SLU. Isn't it the bad TV deal that the conference entered that prevented Fox from braodcasting any games?

somehow triangle and too is back on the board. Is there a bug in the programming? I actually get a kick out of t&t.

Now that's a wild one!

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/other/article_be3987ca-f685-5b21-840b-751fc47c33d7.html A really nice article by Rick Hummel. This is a good read for newbies to the program.

Texas still holds many cards, but I thnk it's funny that they finished tied for 10th in the Big 12 this year and had the 5th or 6th best football team in the state It sounds like the team forgot they had to show up and play games.

IMO, the Big 12 has little to gain by adding another Texas school. They already have the state covered and then some. Expanding conferences are typically doing so in new territories for them in order to broaden their TV appeal. I'm not sure the Big 12 will add teams any time soon. The extra money of a football playoff is somewhat negated by having to share with 2 more teams. Plus you run the risk of having your better team knocked out of the BCS by losing the championship game. (pure speculation on my part) IMO, if the Big 12 is looking to add teams, Boise State, Cincy, Louisville, and Memphis are among the better possibilities.

TCU is light years ahead of Memphis in football. Most years we seem to be the 4th-7th best team in whatever conference we're in.

IMO, a very strong play by the Big East. TCU is the best "available" school in the state of Texas and football is driving things. Heck, they're the best football team in Texas this year. I'm not sold on the idea that the Big East won't implode. In most years they'll have at least 9 or 10 teams sitting out the big dance. As we've speculated before, SLU could be pretty solid if a new league had 12 teams, but maybe not so much in a 10-team formation.

+1 I like the way you think.

Maybe he got a deferment for coaching the 8th graders at St. Sebastian.

As I've posted several times, there are many reasons why I felt the the game was a must win. I re-hash a few of them if you like... we hadn't beaten a D1 opponent Until we had actually beaten a D1 opponent, no one knew how bad this team might finish our young players need to learn how to start finishing games an 0-3 start is bad for the program, much worse than 1-2 IMO, for reasons like recruiting, attendance, media coverage, etc. etc. I've posted many times that this is most likely not a tourney team. I can still see 16-18 wins coming from them, which is a heck of a lot better than going 8-22 or something like that. However, if you started losing buy games you're in really deep trouble. That was an important win to get IMO. I called it a "must win". You view it however you like. If you want to continue debating semantics that's fine. You wrote :"Nothing hinges on any one game at this point" As I've posted MANY times already, I want this team to have a winning season. Starting out 0-3 makes that MUCH harder to do. If your only measure of success is an NCAA appearance, then you might be correct. Since we both know that is highly unlikely, I've changed my expectations.

I'm not a lwyer and can't speak to the merits of the case, but a lawsuit would be bad for the school and bad for the program.

I'm not an attorney and don't have all of the information, so I can't really speak to the strength of either side's position. One thing we do know for sure is that a lawsuit would be bad for SLU and bad for the basketball program no matter how you look at it.

Again, I have different expectations. Per your posts, you think that the only meanigful games are related to the NCAA tourney. I completely diagree. If I'm being "asinine" by saying that we needed to win a buy game against TN St. to avoid going 0-3 and do further damage to the program, I'll own that. Do you think Majerus felt like they needed to win the game? Do you think the players felt like they needed to win the game? I want to see out team have a winning season. They most likely won't go to the big dance this year, but I still want them to win as many games as possible for the reasons I've already stated (attendance, recruiting, etc.).

So you wouldn't have a problem with an 0-3 start? I'm worried about the perception of our program as much as the perception of our conference. That's why I felt like last night was crucial in terms of setting up the rest of the non-conference schedule.

On 590 this morning Frankie said that he spoke with Willie Reed Sr. Sr. claimed that Jr. had gone to St. Louis to see his girlfriend and got caught up in the moment. Sr. is still saying that Jr. is not coming back to SLU. Sr. was also going to have a metting at SLU today (didn't specify the audience). Also, per Frankie, Sr. is still threatening a lawsuit against SLU. One more thing...Frankie says that Willie Jr. has done none of the community service that would be required to get him back in school. Does anyone know how many hours were required...and if it could be completed before the next semester starts? (sorry if this has already been posted)

I guess I must apologize for wanting my team to win. Apparently, anything short of an NCAA tourney bid is not worth paying attention to. As I've mentioned, I still want my team to have a winning season. An 0-3 start would not have been a good way to make that happen. I'm being realistic here. Without the 2 players we've lost this isn't a final 4 team. I've adjusted my expectations. There are many reasons why winning as many games as possible is good for the program...recruiting, attendance, etc. So, for me, tonight was a "must win". If you don't care about going 8-21 or whatever that's fine. You don't have to agree with me.

That's probably a good number.

As I've posted already, I'd like to have a winning season. Why have you essentially given up on this team after two, 2-point losses? I'm willing to bet that this team will have better results as the season goes on. They're very raw, but they're also pretty talented.

I'd like to have a winning season for one thing. Are you ready to punt in November? I don't think this is a final four team, but I'm a little surprised by the negativity here.