bauman

At least 3 of our lost match ups against good teams (on original schedule) BC, Penniville and S D St looked pretty good yesterday. I was especially impressed with S D St's big win over UCLA and BC and Memphis both look like they will be tough when we play them next year

I guess Javon Bess knew what he was talking about before the season began last year. Wasn't JB's comment something along the line of JP being the best player on the team.

Can we wait until after the LSU game to answer that question?

I would rephrase to "at least $10." For all the enjoyment Board regulars get from Billikens.com I would hope that most of us can do better than $10. If not, Steve has said he understands and appreciates whatever you can do, but $10 each ain't gonna cut it for all Steve has to do to keep this ship afloat. I sincerely hope many of us are in a position to do better than $10.

And in the minutes I was able to watch the U KY game, I was impressed with C Fletcher. In all the hype and pub given to the UK top 2 or 3 recruiting class Fletcher is never mentioned. I thought he looked really good in the minutes I saw him play, in fact one of the announcers commented on how much he liked him.

Az St 94 URI 88. URI looked good on offense but fouled like crazy, couldn't defend and they have a starting center who makes Has look like a good FT shooter. We can go "Hack a Mitchell twin" when we play them.

Wiz, I don't understand your calling Rutgers a bottom feeder in the Big 10? They are ranked in the AP top 25.! Hardly a bottom feeder.

Wow! Really?

....and he wouldn't be seeing the floor as a Billiken this year either except for SIU-E and another one or two cupcakes. I wasn't happy when he decided to pass on the hometown team, but I think we have his skill set/position covered for the next few years. I hope his family enjoys the trips to the Little Apple, once fans are allowed.

They are. Just like last year. The top 6 or so teams in the league all present a challenge, but if we are as good as we think we are going to be then I think we could take them all. It's a shame the A 10 has enough bottom feeders to bring the image of the league down, although I guess some of the weak sisters could just be going through a cyclical period e.g. St Joe, GMU and GW.

2 buck Chuck

I'm going to pop open my best bottle of wine at tip off tonight. Here's hoping today is the start of a special season.

I would not put the LSU game in the "should" have won category. I have it in the "hope" we win category-I think we have a reasonable chance (as OG would say---50/50) but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Concur with your comments re the Wiz. I really enjoy his work and comments throughout the season. One key element for us moving "up the rankings." We have to beat LSU. If we don't it will be a long hard pull to get into the top 25. Looking at the Wiz's pre-season W/L predictions, IF that's where we wind up, won't get us ranked. With all the high expectations we, as a Board have, I for one will be disappointed if we lose to LSU, MINN and 2-3 A 10 games. I think we will do better, but to get us some immediate national respect in the polls (like UD got last year as a result of the Hawaii tournament) we need to beat LSU and solidify that respect with a win at MINN. Winning the rest of our new OOC games won't carry much weight with the voters. It's a shame our original OOC schedule fell apart. That gave us numerous chances to prove we are a top 25 team. Now for the first month of the season it all depends on one game.

I'm very surprised to see MINN as an A level team. They are picked to be towards the bottom of the Big 10, which I know is going to be a streong league this year, but I don't think the whole league will be A's and if MINN is then there aren't many below them in that league. I see one game that is the most important for many reasons. It's the second game against LSU. I think we will beat MINN and have a reasonable chance of running the A 10 schedule, IF we stay healthy. But then, I'm not The Wiz.

Good grief, OG

Bills by 20 to start the 2020 season!

Speaking of "crickets," just a few days away from our opener and zero communication from the Ath Dept to season ticket holders, even with just a general status of the situation as of the moment. I know they are working hard, but we deserve better. Are they afraid to communicate with us knowing they will generate questions about what is the plan for the $$$ we paid months ago?

I really miss not being able to get SIU-C on the schedule. They are the only school you could make a case for as rivals (OOC). I don't know the number, but it seems like we have played them annually for many, many years.

There is an interesting tweet from Stu D, showing a few seconds of the Billikens returning to practice after being off 2 days. The clip shows a nice move by JB Jr, while being guarded by HF, putting in a left-handed hook from about 5 feet. I assume it will show up on the first page of this Board.

Agree about Linssen. Also, didn't we read that Lorentsson is around 85-90 % and wasn't Russell around the same? Based on how they play this year, either of those could be outstanding options to go along with JG, JP, YC and GJ.

Fan Guy, you have missed numerous references to the BC game being moved to next year.

The "neutral ESPN " announcers were Mark Plansky and Mike Corey. If we never have them again it will be too soon. At the 10:30 mark in the second half with us leading by 12, Plansky interviewed TF and as he was trying to get a 3rd question in he put his arm around Travis like they were good buddies and Travis blew him off by walking away to get back to the team. Making the broadcast worse was an extensive interview with the smug Joe Lunardi at half time and, true to his constant underrating of the Bills, he didn't even give us a chance as a next 4 out. Now he is picking the Bills to be a 11 seed in this years NCAA's , meaning rating us somewhere in the 44-48 grouping. Hopefully we get off to a good start next week and prove him wrong, but I am worried about playing LSU our second game. They are supposed to be really good.

If you are referring to the TV broadcast of that game, let me correct you. Those were NOT the R. Is. announcers. They were supposed to be neutral ESPN announcers. However, the entire game was announced as if they WERE on the Rhody payroll so I can understand your confusion. I have the game recorded and have watched it a couple of times since it was a significant road win lat year. It is almost unbearable listening two those two "neutral" announcers. Conversely, the win at Richmond last year was on a TV feed from Richmond, and knowing that allowed me to listen to a pro-opponent set of announcers and understand that their audience was Richmond fans, not SLU.

It seems clear that UNI wants no part of the Billikens.