DeSmetBilliken

Final score 2-1 SLU. Will John scored both goals in the first half on feeds by John D. Earlier in the first half, Ryan Wileman almost scored on a bicycle kick which would have been the best goal I'd ever seen had it gone in. I can't remember if the keeper got a piece of it or if if hit the post, but it looked destined for the corner then rolled along the goal line. UVA scored early in the second half on a header off a free kick. Three UVA players received yellow cards for some hard tackles they made. The game ended in some controversy as a UVA player went down in the SLU box in the final minute. The UVA players and coaches went nuts over the no-call, though I thought it was a good no-call. Anyway, when time ran out, the UVA players and coaches tried to go after the refs only to be kept at distance by a couple cops that escorted the refs off the field. All in all, a good win for SLU after the tough loss Friday night.

David, I had a hard time believing that 657 people were actually behind me, and now I really have a hard time understanding it, especially considering that I'm not completely sure what I did to accumulate 3 points. My printout sheet is almost completely covered in zeros. I have only been a Billiken Club member for 2 years and have donated a combined $100 in those two years. Since I'm not a season ticket holder, I didn't even get the second sheet. Is there any chance that you misread the printout and the 1900 figure is actually your point total? I would definitely check up on that with the Billiken Club because something definitely appears to be very wrong. My Dad also got that today and apparently he is ranked in the 100s.

I got that new points system thing today as well. I only have 3 points total, which is good for a ranking of 1843 of 2500, so I doubt that I was affected by a change in the system.

Can you share anything with us? Are the streets talking?

Here's a look at the schedule with each regular season opponents RPI at the end of the 2003-2004 season: 2004-05 SAINT LOUIS MEN'S SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT November FRI., 5 UMSL (Exh.) SAT., 13 TRUMAN STATE (Exh.) Fri. 19 Paradise Jam (Arkansas(111), Austin Peay(94), Winthrop(210), Troy State (66),TBA(?)) Sat. 20 Paradise Jam Sun. 21 Paradise Jam Mon. 22 Paradise Jam SAT. 27 ORAL ROBERTS (157) December SAT. 4 HAWAI`I (73) TUE. 7 UW-MILWAUKEE (75) Sat. 11 at Gonzaga (9) WED. 15 OAKLAND (233) SAT. 18 DAYTON (40) Tue. 21 at Southern Illinois (25) WED. 29 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE (267) Fri. 31 at Iowa (86) February 14/16 IPFW (303) With the exception of the game in February with IUPU-Fort Wayne, we have avoided the games with the teams that have 300+ RPIs. My guess is that game is a result of our NIT game against Notre Dame, which was played in Fort Wayne. Hopefully those teams on the schedule that had Top 100 RPIs, like Hawaii, UW-Milwaukee, Austin Peay, and Troy State, can maintain RPIs like that this year. Stan Heath has been recruiting well at Arkansas, and even though prized recruit Al Jefferson went to the NBA instead of Fayetteville, I think that the Razorbacks should be an improved team this year.

While I can't comment on the lunch at the Amana colonies, I can give my input on the drive to Iowa City. Unless there is a better way I don't know of, the best way from St. Louis to Iowa City is basically entirely old, beaten-up state highways. I had to drive through that area a year ago when driving up to Minnesota, and the roads are not good. Once you get around Hannibal, signs start counting down the mileage to a town called Alexandria, MO, which one might think is actually a decent sized town considering all the publicity it gets on these signs, however the town turns out to be no more than a gas station and two fireworks stands.

In Marque's freshman year, SLU had John Redden and Dave Fergerson as seniors. Redden started the first game against Air Force, but got injured in the first few minutes of that game. Fergerson started a couple games after Redden got hurt, but within a few games Marque had taken over as the starter until his freshman year ended with an ankle injury at Louisville. Redden came back at the end of the season and was there to play a pivotal role in the "Miracle in Memphis."

Currently there are signs around campus that say "Nike All-American Camp" and directing people to the Simon Rec Center and other places. I know the Jamboree was a couple weeks ago and I thought the Nike Camp was last week in Indianapolis. Does anyone know what this is that appears to be going on at SLU this week?

It definitely does leave a bad taste in my mouth that Tommie didn't have the common courtesy to let Brad and Angres know about this. I just hope he doesn't let this Lewis clown run his life, because that could be a serious mistake for his future.

Wow. I've waited a couple days to comment on this so that I could see if any new info came out about this, and we still have yet to come to anything conclusive, except that this Ricky Lewis clown is nothing short of a bum looking out for only himself. It's times like this that I truly understand why Kevin Lisch and his family hate AAU basketball. I have to say that now I'm really worried about Tommie Liddell. He has some people speaking out for him who obviously aren't considering his best interests, which could potentially seriously hurt his future. I think that right now we must wait until sometime this week when Tommie should be back home in East St. Louis with his family, hopefully with Ricky Lewis a long distance away from them, where they can sort this out and a definitive announcement about his future can be made. Wow.

I remember SLU recruiting Snyder, but he did get somewhat lost in the shuffle in the minds of SLU fans as more attention was being given to players like Jamal Sampson, Chuck Hayes, Jamal Williams, etc, as they were all the same age.

As far as I know, the Catholic Church is clearly against abortion, but doesn't have a set position on capital punishment. While they're are groups within the Church that are against capital punishment, and Pope John Paul II has made clear his opinions against it, the Church's position on capital punishment is more open than its stance on abortion.

>4) DeSmet gets good, solid players to play basketball most >years. There have been many years they have beaten superior >athletic teams on coaching and discipline. That is simply >fact. Most years they have better players than a lot of >teams, but not necessarily better athletes. when DeSmet >beat Vashon for title in 1999, they weren't as athletic, not >close. When they then beat Hazelwood Central in quarters a >few years ago, by 30 points, they weren't as athletic. The year DeSmet beat Hazelwood Central in the quarters by 30 was 2002, which was my senior year at DeSmet. Keep in mind that Blake Ahearn missed the entire postseason because he got injured late in the regular season by trying to be a big-shot and dunking the ball. He broke his wrist on the play. As much as it pains me to say it, I consider my senior class of 2002 to be somewhat of a dying breed at DeSmet. We didn't have the amazing athletes like some of the other clases after us did, but my classmates were some of the grittiest, most determined bunch of guys I've seen play. In soccer, we came in 4th in state playing with a lineup of all seniors, none of which played D-1 soccer. It was all heart and determination. In basketball, even though the season ended poorly with a 55 point loss in the state final to an incredible Vashon team, they went from a team not considered to warrant any votes in the PD preseason poll to a state runner-up. Once again the seniors never gave up, even though only one of them went on to play beyond DeSmet. Unfortunately, in the two years since my graduation, I have seen too many DeSmet players play like they don't have to hustle or play with grit like so many players that graduated from 1972-2002 did. By the way, one of my favorite things about Jared Leonard is that he plays with the grit that I think all DeSmet players should play with.

While Chaminade has had great success in recent years with their state titles in 2001 and 2002, plus their runner-up finish in 2003, MCC soccer is still very even. Normally each year 4 of the top 5 teams in the area are all form the MCC and it is very common to see 2 or 3 MCC teams ranked in the national top 25. When it comes to regular season success over the last 10-15 years, I'd say that CBC is a cut above the rest. DeSmet won 4 state titles in a 7 year span from 1991-1997. Before finally getting over the hump and winning their two titles in 2001 and 2002, Chaminade had had championship caliber teams that couldn't get it done in the postseason. SLUH won in 2003 with a great team, but had some great teams with Taylor Twellman in the mid to late 90s. I'd say that each year at least 4, possibly all 5, MCC teams have a legit shot of taking home the state soccer title.

I meant beast in high school. My bad.

While talented players do come to DeSmet, I wouldn't say that has incredible talent. If you look at most successful DeSmet teams over the years in any sport, the common link you will usually find is hard work, team play, and determination. I would say that Jared Leonard is probably the most physically talented player to play for DeSmet since Matt Baniak graduated in 1997. While Matt was a disappointment at SLU, he was a beast in college from what I understand. That's also no knock on players like Joe Ries, Bob Keppel, Eric Blancett, and Blake Ahearn, I just think that Jared is better. It will be interesting to see DeSmet play over the next two years with Jared as the star of the team, since most DeSmet teams are made up of hard working, interchangeable parts.

While Dawkins would be a possibility, I would also have to consider Tommy Amaker and Mike Brey as possibilities as well.

Gee, now I'm upset they didn't go with the name I liked. SEMO had a website where people could submit ideas, and my favorite from the list was the Fighting Okra. I think its about time that a team is named after a vegetable. :-)

If the press conference had been in the afternoon, I would have definitely been there. I don't get off work until around 12:30, so 11:00 was out of the question. I considered making a quick run over to the reception afterwards, but in the end decided against it. I'm glad Levick was impressive. It's also great to see that the St. Louis sports media flocked to this press conference where they could see in person just how impressive Levick was.

>I believe it was Winston Churchill who said something along >the lines of the following: if you're twenty and you're not >a liberal, you don't have a heart, but if you're forty and >you're not a conservative, you don't have a brain. Well, I'm 20 and definitely a conservative, so when I hear that quote I prefer to say that I am just wise beyond my years! :-)

I'm not suggesting that Kroenke was a billionaire. Honestly I don't know how much money he had before he got married. All I'm saying is that he does sound like he had some business success prior to marrying, and that he and his family sound like they are good, classy people from what I've heard from someone who I consider to be a good source on this. Bill Laurie is a different story. He was a high school basketball coach prior to marrying a Walton(nothing wrong with that, in fact the person I heard this from is also a high school coach). My guess is that Laurie was probably always a jerk, just the billions of dollars gave him a better opportunity to exhibit it.

From what I've heard, Stan Kroenke had money before he ever married into the Wal-Mart money. While that definitely increased his wealth, it is my understanding that the Kroenke family owns a very successful construction company in Columbia, similar to something like Alberici in St. Louis. Apparently the Kroenke's company has built quite a few buildings and parking structures on the Mizzou campus. A lifelong Columbia resident that I know speaks very highly about the Kroenke family and speaks very negatively about the Lauries. From what I've heard about Paige Laurie of Paige Sports Arena fame, she sounds like the Columbia version of Paris Hilton, and I don't mean that in a positive way. So yes, I do agree that there must be something about Bill Laurie that quite a few people don't like, but Kroenke seems OK to them. The only other way to explain it is if the only reason Laurie kept getting shunned by the other owners was solely that they didn't want him moving a team to St. Louis while they were confident that Kroenke would keep his teams in Denver.

Actually, I think Biondi and Joe Weixlman(University Provost) will both be able to make the official press conference, which will be Tuesday, June 29. I think they were both leaving to go overseas tommorow and are supposed to be back on the 28th, so I think the reason the press conference will be on the 29th is to make it possible for them to attend. Great hire by SLU.

Apparently the announcement hs been put on hold because of an illness in Levick's family. At the current time, her meetings today, as well as a press conference to announce her hiring were cancelled. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...+placed+on+hold

:-) Congrats David!!!!!!!