Box and Won

Right now, I just want us to qualify for the conference tournament. Baby steps. I think the team definitely played with confidence last night - they didn't get down on themselves after blowing the lead, and showed a lot of composure. It's too bad they couldn't have done that against Charlotte, which was really a waste of a great effort. I'm excited about Saturday's game (a NIGHT game!) and hope that a LOT of students turn out. Ever since the Iowa game, we've been playing so much better, and it would be great if we could get a nice little winning streak going.

I was thinking the exact same thing about Drejaj with regards to a plus-minus rating!

Well, we did have a poster here ripping on Plavich and Lutz before the game. I'm sure any Charlotte fan who saw that would not be happy.

What about Sanjay Watts at Jennings? Is he a DI recruit?

My sis currently attends UD law school and likes it. I think that SLU's ranking is higher though, if that means anything to you.

I actually love visiting Milwaukee - it's a very underrated city. It has a lot of character, and there are tons of great bars to discover. Unfortunately, the weather sucks during b-ball season. Dayton, on the other hand, is pretty dead. There's a small historic district called Oregon Street that is pretty interesting, but other than that, there isn't much to do.

I plan on making the Cincy and Dayton road trips regularly. We're going to have a family rivalry in my house when SLU plays XU or Dayton! Unfortunately, neither of those cities is as much fun as Chicago.

Cool - hopefully we'll get the same block this year. I'm not in the Billiken Club (yet), so hopefully, they'll let me buy tickets. Not being able to take road trips to Chicago, Milwaukee or Memphis is an unfortunate side effect of the dissolution of Conference USA. I hope that we're able to at least continue playing DePaul and Marquette after we go our separate ways.

Spring Hill is a Jesuit school in Mobile - I wouldn't guess that they're Division I.

Is anyone making the road trip to Chicago for the DePaul game next month? Will SLU have a block of tickets reserved, or should I just buy my tickets through TicketMaster?

I wonder how many assists Dwayne would have if his teammates did not have a knack for missing easy shots.

Frericks Sidelined for Season Concussions end senior center's career. Jan. 14, 2005 St. Louis - Saint Louis head men's basketball coach Brad Soderberg today announced that senior center Tom Frericks (Bowling Green, Ky. / Greenwood) will miss the remainder of the 2004-05 season for medical reasons. Frericks sustained three separate concussions during this season, and the Saint Louis University medical staff has determined that an extended period of rest is necessary to manage the condition. "It's a tough break for Tom and a difficult way to end his college career," Soderberg said. "I know Tom expected to contribute significantly to the success of our team this year, and it's been frustrating for him and everyone connected with our program." Frericks appeared in 11 games this season and started eight. He was averaging 3.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game when he was sidelined after the Southeast Missouri State game. In 2003-04, Frericks finished as C-USA's leading percentage shooter at .574 and was the Bills' leading rebounder at 6.0 rebounds per game in just 20 minutes per game. Frericks transferred into the Billikens' program after a single season at Chipola (Marianna, Fla.) Junior College. He played his freshman season at UAB in 2000-01, but sat out the 2001-02 season with an injury. His SLU career consisted of 35 games in which he averaged 6.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. The Billikens make their first Conference USA road trip when Saint Louis plays at Charlotte tomorrow night. Tip-off at Halton Arena is 6 p.m. (CT).

Amen, brother. We definitely need a rowdy student section, and for everyone else, all I ask is that they just clap their hands. There are those of us who will yell, but at the very least, even an arthritis-stricken 70 year old can clap.

I can only speak from my experience, but during my four years 93-97, student interest was high. DavidNark was in school at the exact same time, and he would probably agree. During my freshman year (the year of our first trip to the big dance), students could only get their tickets on the day of the game. I remember camping out at the arena so that I could get tickets for the big games, and the local news came out to tape us. The student section during those years would sell out pretty quickly. During the Iowa State game freshman year, I remember having to sit in the upper deck (where the banners once covered the seats) because there were no seats left in the student section. The Spoon years were fun. On game days, it was not uncommon to find the campus lawns covered with plastic spoons everywhere to help promote the games! I think the success of the team while I was in college (along with all the SLU games that my dad took me to when I was growing up) is a big reason why I'm still such a big fan.

Are you talking about Brendan Plavich? He's still there and can shoot the lights out. They still have Curtis Withers as well, and he absolutely killed us last year. I think Lutz is a very good coach - he's built a solid program at Charlotte. They always seem like a very underrated team to me.

Should Luke have redshirted this year?

There was a show on ESPN2 last night called "The Season", in which is chronicaling this year's Cincinnati basketball squad. It shows the team's pre-game preparations, road trip experiences, etc. Anyway, last night featured Cincinnati's trip to St. Louis. Once the team arrived in St. Louis, they practiced at West Pine Gym, and several players were asked, "What's a Billiken?", and of course, no one really knew. Huggins commented that we once had a coach (Spoon) who bears an uncanny resemblance to the Billiken, but he still wasn't sure what it is. James White said, "I don't know what a Billiken is, but whatever it is, I'm not scared of something called a Billiken." They then proceeded to show us getting our butts whipped by UC.

Are we recruiting Alex Barnett from Cardinal Ritter? He's averaging 21.3 ppg, 13.9 rpg and 2.44 blocked shots per game.

nm

I'm with Skip on this one - that stuff really doesn't bother me.

The WCC has really emerged as a tough conference, eh? It's no longer just Gonzaga and Pepperdine's show!

Santa Clara's gym, the Leavey Center, is a really great-looking facility whose construction just happened to be facilitated by our own Cheryl Levick. It was small - only about 4,500 seats - but first-class all the way, and the atmosphere was fantastic.

You're crazy - if you have the choice of both, you have to go with Jennifer. Although maybe if Bailey took off those enormous glasses, she would look better.

The Polk to Brown play in the first half was awesome! It seemed to me like all the guys played with a lot more energy tonight. Reggie looked great on defense, and you could tell that Polk was fired up. His confidence seems to be growing, and he really showed some flashed of his excellent jumping ability. I thought that JJ and Ian played pretty well also. What is it with Drejaj and layups? I always cringe when I see him about to attempt a layup.

After a time out had been called and it started to get a little quiet, from my seats in section 120, I could hear someone yelling at the ref from across the court (perhaps near the Billiken bench). Most of it was uninteligible, but I could hear the words "high school" at one point - was that you? If so, great work!