DeSmetBilliken

I have to say that this comes as a surprise. While I didn't know too much about O'Brien and Ohio State, I've always gotten the idea that he was a respected coach. In fact, when I wrote an article on Coach Soderberg before this past season, one of the questions I asked him in an interview was "Aside from Coach Bennett, what other coaches around college basketball do you look up to or highly respect?" The three names he mentioned were Tom Izzo, Bill Self, and Jim O'Brien.

I know Highmark went to West, but not sure about Pederson. I think he may have gone on some kind of religious mission during his career, so he and Scott might not have played together. I could be wrong though. If I had to guess, I'd say that the St. Charles West team that had Ryan and Troy Robertson that won the state championship(1995?) was probably one of the best teams to come out of that area.

With Catholic high schools, especially in St. Louis, some of the MCC schools do have good baseball teams. DeSmet won state in 2000 and SLUH, Chaminade, and I believe CBC have had good teams in baseball. With soccer in St. Louis, it does make sense that the Catholic schools are better at soccer since the game has been historically played by Catholics in St. Louis, especially a few decades ago. The only Catholic college that I can think of that has a good baseball team is Notre Dame. It has been posted here before that St. Louis' location hurts SLU baseball as well as high tuition with small available scholarship money. Many really good baseball schools are located in either the South or California where the weather is much warmer. If you look at those areas, there are not all that many major Catholic universities there, with some exceptions in California. That could explain why Catholic schools traditionally have good baseball teams.

I hate it too when they boo our National Anthem, but on the other side of the coin, Canadians have been very kind to me when I have gone there, so I'm willing to chalk the booing up to some idiots who poorly represent Canadians. Plus, I am 25% French-Canadian. I never said I thought the Lightning weren't any good, they are a very good team. I just think that the phrase "The Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning" sounds a little strange, partially because of their location, and partially because I guess I still forget that they aren't the Lightning of the 1990s, when they were a perennial doormat. Probably the same feeling some people had when the Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV.

Sorry Schasz, but I'm going to have to root for Calgary. I think it's cool to see a Canadian team make the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in ten years. Hockey is Canada's national sport, and I'd like to see the Flames bring the Cup back to Canada. Plus, I haven't been a huge fan of the massive expansion that has gone on in the NHL over the past 15 years, which I think is one of the biggest reasons the NHL is in such bad shape, there are too many teams in the league. Some of them have gone well, but to see the Stanley Cup reside in Tampa just doesn't sound right to me.

Last year, they decided to have the game between two prep schools for I think the first time, and one of them was South Kent. Maybe it can happen again. Dorell Wright, who committed to DePaul but last I heard he was going to the NBA, played there. Looking through my program from the Shootout, South Kent had Wright, who was an absolutely stud, plus Cheyenne Moore, who committed to Clemson, then a guy going to College of Charleston and one to Siena. They were handled pretty well by Mount Zion, who probably could've made the NCAA Tournament this season, that how good Mount Zion was. South Kent should be good for Tommie because they aren't a powerhouse like Mount Zion, yet are still very good, so he should get plenty of playing time against great competition, while his PT might have been limited had he gone somewhere that had a few D-1 players coming off the bench.

I went to the Hall of Champions two years ago. It was awesome. In the entry area they have banners of every national championship team from the past year. If SLU wins a national championship in soccer n the next couple years, I might have to go back there to see the Billiken banner hanging from the rafters. I probably could spend an entire day in that place.

I saw Leonard and Tyus each play a couple times last season. Right now, Tyus is the better player. It will be very interesting to see how they both do as juniors when they become the star of the team, as Mike Kalicak and David Ward graduated from DeSmet and Kalen Grimes and Aaron Jackson graduated from Hazelwood Central. Since I read here that SLU was interested in Jared, I would watch his play closely when I went to DeSmet games this past season. I am very excited to see how he progresses over the next two years, as he is silky smooth out on the court and very talented. He also showed an intensity that I haven't seen in DeSmet basketball players since I graduated 2 years ago. Overall, I think that Tyus probably does have the skills, assuming they continue to develop, to play at one of the schools he is listing. I also would be very happy to see Jared Leonard in a Billiken uniform in two years.

Roy, I'm almost positive that Dr. Ross teaches mainly graduate students, but he does teach a section of the Intro to Psychology course each Fall. I had him for that class my first semester at SLU, and he was a very good teacher. I just thought that this info might be of some benefit to you since your son will be starting at SLU soon.

It said that Dr. Michael Ross, who is the faculty athletics representative for SLU, will head up the search committee.

From Saturday's Bernie Bits: "An intriguing candidate for St. Louis U.'s AD job is St. Louisan John Lewandowski, who for the past eight years has served as an assistant athletics director at Michigan State. Before that, Lewandowski was an assistant AD at Utah State, and he also worked at Auburn for nine years. Lewandowski, 42, is a 1980 graduate of Chaminade and an '84 grad of Notre Dame." http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/co...+SkyHawks+coach

The little e-mail campaign actually did slip my mind, probably because I don't remember participating in it.

I remember seeing some of the UMASS game in 1998. It was a low scoring game at 51-46, and I only remember two plays in the game. In the first half, I remember Hughes going down the court for a layup with a defender reasonably close to him, missing the layup, but Baniak was there to follow up the miss and jam the rebound through. The other was very late in the game as Hughes came around a screen, with his defender still right in his face, and drilling an impressive fade away to put the game away. As far as the first round game against Minnesota, well my family left to go on a trip to San Diego the same day (had that not been planned we might have been off to Baltimore for the game) and once we landed in San Diego we couldn't find a TV showing the SLU game. We didn't find out that SLU had won until later in the day when another game in SLU's region was on and they mentioned that SLU and Wake Forest had won earlier in the day.

I have the 1995 NCAA games against Minnesota and Wake Forest on tape. I haven't watched the game against Wake too many times, but I will watch the Minnesota game occasionally. I also have the Louisville game from last year on tape. In 1998 I taped the first round win against UMASS and the first half of the second round loss against Kentucky(pretty sure I stopped it at halftime or early in the second half because it was a blowout), but those games either got taped over or I lost the tape because I haven't been able to find that tape, even though I have spent some time looking for it. Some games I would like to have on a DVD would be: -Win over #2 Louisville -The four games at the Miracle in Memphis in 2000 -First Round loss to Utah in 2000 NCAA -1998 NCAA First Round win over UMASS, as well as the second round loss to UK(even though it was a blowout, it still was an NCAA game) -1995 First and Second round NCAA games against Minnesota and Wake Forest -The come from behind game in the 1989 NIT at New Mexico in The Pit -The first round NIT game this year against Iowa -All three Mizzou games -The win over Kansas in December 1998 -Road game in 1998 against Marquette where Larry Hughes went for 40 -Win over DePaul in the 1990 NIT Quarterfinals -I don't need to see most of the game against Houston this year, just the last few minutes and overtime would suffice -Win over Illinois in December 1997 It's a rather lengthy list, but I probably still missed some.

Basically says that hiring the right AD is crucial to the long term success of SLU Athletics. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/co...sroads+--+again

>you have described above exactly what i think they believe >the extent of their job is. provide statistics and >information and write a media guide. if that is what you >want the department to settle for, fine. but the world is >run by salesmen and the relationships they develop. it is >my belief that if we develop better relationships with the >media on all levels, we will be treated better by the media >when they produce their product that concerns us. sure the >media will still report facts. but as a reporter yourself, >surely you know that the writer has the ability to paint a >picture in many ways and still provide the facts. i just >want our picture to be the best picture. I think that one problem with your argument is that most of the writers that write disparaging articles or commentaries about SLU are not frequent attendees at the Savvis Center. The only times I have seen Brian Burwell, who sometimes writes positive articles and sometimes writes negative ones, have coincided with a column by him about SLU being printed in the next day's PD. I don't think I've ever seen Gordon in the press room after a game and have only seen him on press row once or twice in my two years as a student at SLU. Charlie Tuna has a tendency to spout off on SLU, but I have only seen him at Savvis once. Those are just a few examples, but my point is that most of the negative press about SLU come from people who do not frequently cover the Billikens, thus it could be a little more difficult to develop a stronger relationship with those guys than it is to work with guys like Frank Cusumano, Earl Austin Jr., Bob Ramsey, as well as others who have had longer associations with SLU. Heck, Gordon is considered to be below Bernie Miklasz(who has apparently been saying good things about SLU lately on the KMOX morning show), and Tuna is considered by many to be an absolute nutcase, so not only are those who criticize SLU not frequent spectators, but they also carry much less weight in the St. Louis area sports media. As far as Burwell is concerned, he wrote a column saying SLU should go to the MVC, then a week later wrote another one that said he was wrong and that they should go to the A-10. Maybe someone at SLU did sit down with him and show him the light. Finally, I think that the St. Louis sports media as a whole is a lot more positive on SLU than we normally give them credit for. As is the case with just about anything, people seem to be more drawn to the negative things that are mentioned. They also seem to respond more to things they disagree with rather than those with which they agree. One SLU student who occasionally would write commentaries for the University News is without a doubt the most outspoken conservative voice on the SLU campus, and he definitely presented those opinions very strongly in his commentaries (which as a Republican I personally thought were very good and agreed with), and as a result his pieces were probably the most talked about things in the UNews since so many people were offended by those remarks, which has also led to him having quite a few enemies around the SLU campus. I, on the other hand, try to present things in the best light I can and as a result have no name recognition for my writings, nor any enemies as far as I know. It could be because I'm a sportswriter and this other writer writes about more serious things, but still it proves my point that people will more likely respond things with which they disagree rather than agree.

Roy, first of all, I never touted Doug Mc as a potential AD. I simply pointed out that Doug Mc has been at SLU longer than Lori Flanagan. Since I have seen Doug and his staff in action, I felt that I should add that they do a great job, which I still believe, and none of your arguments today have come close to changing my mind. If the SID spent as much time as you think they should kissing up to the media by wining and dining them, then nothing else would get done. If you want someone who will do that, then a new position of Assistant AD for Kissing Up to the Media would have to be created. People in the media are not programable robots. As far as Jeff Gordon is concerned, I don't think that Mizzou fans are always happy with what he writes, especially since he is a former Antler. I guess the Mizzou SID isn't doing a good enough job of wining and dining Gordo either. You suggested that if someone writes a condescending piece on SLU, Doug Mc should get on the phone and suggest that they write differently next time. I would guess that professional writers would not take too kindly to an SID trying to control what they write seeing as many writers are big proponents of journalistic freedom. You mentioned Tom Timmermann and Stu Durando. While I agree that Stu has done an outstanding job as the SLU beat writer, I wouldn't say that Timmermann hates SLU. While I haven't read all the articles he's written, I am of the opinion that maybe basketball just isn't his thing. He's the head soccer writer for the PD and is a fixture in the press box at SLU home soccer games and writes very good articles on SLU soccer. If he's not covering soccer, then his next assignment is Blues hockey. I think that he is just more into soccer and hockey than basketball. As a writer for the University News, I could be considered to be a member of the media and have been helped by the SLU Sports Information Office on a number of occasions. I can definitely say that I have never been at a loss for stats or info on SLU or the opposing team when I have covered games. I have always been treated very well by Doug, Betsy, and Diana at SLU basketball and soccer games, when I could have very easily been looked over since I am just a college kid, not a professional. I've been treated like any other member of the media whether its been at SLU basketball games, soccer games, and also the C-USA tournament this season.

Actually, Doug McIllhagga, SLU's Sports Information Director, has been at SLU longer than Flanagan. Doug and his staff do an awesome job.

I don't know, but when I posted earlier about support I didn't exactly mean financial support.

Another intriguing candidate is Mark Hollis, who is the Assistant AD in charge of Marketing at Michigan State. He seems to be a marketing machine with big ideas. http://bulls.tbo.com/bulls/MGA5616TUTD.html

Roy, I think your guy is Jon Oliver, the Assistant AD at Virginia, who was the other finalist at USF. The article linked below mentions that Oliver believes that strong academics are absolutely mandatory as well as having a clean program. It also doesn't hurt that Virginia is in the process of building a new basketball arena and Oliver led the design and construction team, as well as secured a $7.5 million donation for an electronic scoreboard. http://bulls.tbo.com/bulls/MGAFDN5HTTD.html Come on Fr. Biondi(or whoever else would be involved in this process), get on the horn and talk to Mr. Oliver.

I agree congratulations to Doug on his new position. With that said, I myself am not upset about Woolard leaving. He's done some good things like hiring Brad and Dan Donigan, moves into C-USA and the A-10, plus SLU's student-athletes have garnered many honors under his watch, but as a Band member I feel that he hasn't supported us in the way he should. I believe that I read that one of the candidates for the USF job was the Assistant AD in charge of Marketing at Michigan State. I would like to see us bring in a guy who is big into marketing and publicizing SLU Athletics.

Lids and Hatworld are the same thing. In St. Louis, it is called Lids, and I guess it is known as Hatworld in other places. It for the most part is the only place that I buy hats. I'm not sure if this is still offered, but for anyone who buys hats reasonably often I would suggest joining the Passport Club that they sponsor. I'm pretty sure that it cost me $5 and it gives me a 20% discount on hats and 10% discount on accessories until the end of 2005. It works at any Lids or Hatworld store as well as their online store. I think they offered me some deal to join, so the discounts I've gotten have far exceeded the $5 I paid to join.

Apparently Charlotte center Martin Iti is about to declare himself eligible for the NBA draft. They are talking about it on the Charlotte board. At least he isn't signing with an agent, but it still is an insanely stupid decision. Iti averaged 6 points a game and 4 rebounds. I don't remember him doing anything of substance against the Billikens. In fact, I think that Ian owned him in the second game.

http://ilprepbullseye.com/page35.html Spectacular get for the Billikens. I would have joined in on the "Welcome Kevin" signs, but first of all I'm not in Blue Crew so I wasn't notified, and the dorm where I live isn't as well placed for that kind of thing as some other dorms. We've been focusing on Lisch so much, does anyone know who we are targeting now, and for that matter how many scholarships we will have to give?